Breakfast Area - Ceiling Light

I needed a light fixture for my city home and absolutely refused to pay full price. 

In fact my goal was to furnish entire home with NICE second-hand finds. 

Here is what I came home with one day: $10.00! 

Of course there was more to it... but I forgot to take a picture before I took it apart for painting.

Sorry :)

I spray painted it dark gray, it was almost silvery and we all love it!

And a close up!

It truly looks nice and classy in our Breakfast Area

That fabric on the chair by the window is the future drapery for that window.  Entire home is done in those creams, soft blues and browns.

Here is the "before" of that same space...

More transformations coming soon!

Our Home in the City ~ Kitchen ~

About three months ago we have purchased a second home in the City.  We live in the country and have been commuting back and forth for about 5 years. 

It wouldn't be a problem, but when you have to get up at 4:30am Monday to Friday... be in the city by 6:00am and stay there till 6-7-8 at night... at some point it gets to you and you simply have enough. 

So the solution presented itself in the form of a home, walking distance (700m) to where my son trains (figure skating - dance) and to his highschool and 3 minutes by car from my work. Could I ask for more? 

Now we (older son & myself) stay in the city Monday to Friday and go home for the weekends.  My husband works on jobs up north most of the time and my younger son is still in Higschool too.  We usually never had time to be together during the week when we all lived together. 

Now, we make a point of spending every weekend doing something fun as a family at our place in the country. 

So this is what the "house in the city" looked like when we bought it:

~Kitchen~

That will stay the same for awhile... until IKEA has a kitchen sale.  I refuse to go with anything else... I love Ikea pullouts, that's what I have in my other house. Love it!

~Breakfast Area~
Just before the previous owners moved out...

When we got the keys...

There was a nice maple flooring almost everywhere on the main floor, but it was installed wrong and there were gaps between the boards.  We decided to pull it out and install a new, pre-finished wood flooring. 

Here are our sons at work... following in their father's footsteps :)

Not bad ...

You will see the after soon...

Master Bedroom Flooring

We've been in our "new" home almost 5 years now(!), so time came to re-buff the floors. 

We have beautiful ash floors, custom stained in warm brown with red undertones.  At first we opted for a high gloss finish, since it was most durable and we have a cat, who at that time was quite frisky and we were afraid, that when she runs around, the floors will get damaged.

This is what our bedroom floors looked like two weeks ago.

Since the cat is 5 years older spends most of her time sleeping... this time we chose to go with a satin finish. 

This is after the first coat, one more to go:

I can't wait for that last coat, so I can start moving the furniture back into the room.

Crowning the Master Bedroom

 After that long painting process, we were finally done. Paint colour just the way we wanted, calm, welcoming and soothing. But there was still something missing.

The wall seamed unfinished still.

 So we decided to add the Crown Moulding to those bare walls...

It always amazes me that my Hubby knows how to do all those things at home, lately he has been teaching our son to do the same.

Here's my talented Husband...

And here is our son...

 

This is what those walls look like today:

Now what I need is an old headboard from Salvation Army that I could paint white just like this one from My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Here is how Kristin worked her magic in the guest bedroom.  

I LOVE the look! 

 
 

My Parent's Reno

My Parents have lived in their home for about 15 years.  In the Spring they decided to put the house up for sale and move a bit further South, so their garden growing season would be longer. 

They love to grow vegetables.  Their long-time friends already lived there and so the decicion was made. 

The house, however was not as ready as my Parents...

It needed alot of work.  Mostly cosmetic, but non-the-less.

You've already seen the staircase, here are some pictures of the Master Bedroom "After"

We didn't even paint... the idea came from that fun bed cover.  Don't you just love it?   I know, I know everything is dusty blue and white nowadays, but I wanted to have some fun in the Master Bedroom.  So we re-arranged the furniture, and I went through what seamed like thousands of bed sheets in their linen closet...

Finally I found those hot pink and orange sheets and pillow cases.

Those worked perfectly with the new bed cover, that we both loved so much. 

My Mom made the curtains from a fabric I bought years ago for $2.00/m.  The white lace curtains were there to start with. 

We didn't have anything nice to hang on the walls, but I had 4 IKEA frames... I needed something nice to place in those frames...

I bought Watercolor paper at Walmart and searched flower paintings and pictures on line.
Than I printed those on the Watercolor paper, cut to size and fitted them into the frames.

Those were placed above the bedside tables on both sides of the bed.

and two more...

What do you think?

This will also works with your own pictures... In fact, I love to take photos of my favorite garden flowers... than I print my own pics on the watercolor paper... Instant ART!

Master Bedroom Blues

Of course I didn't do my before shots... before we started painting... I can tell you that we had light yellow walls and that I couldn't wait to paint the bedroom the softies blue...

I finally got the nerve to ask my Hubby to paint.  We went to Home Depot and chose a soft blue. 
Behr Celtic Gray 490E-3 and mixed a 5 gallon bucket of it.  We got it home and Hubby started to paint around the door frames.  I started to get a bit worried. 

This beautiful paint color should look like this: (source)

But on our walls, in our light the color looked very bright and somehow it had a very aggressive feel.

So off I went to a craft store, to get some pure black pigment to tone the brightness down. 

After several tries, full craft bottle of black paint and a gallon of white latex, we finally managed to get the perfect blue for our bedroom.

Here it is: 

We are supper happy with this choice, just wait till I show you what it looks like with our furniture.  

Staining the deck

Our beautiful deck has been used often for Family gatherings, and Mid-Summer

Night Suppers followed by bonfires in the back yard.  We are planning one in July... can't wait. 

The deck however... well it could use some sprucing up... it's only two years old... but it could use some sprucing up!

We used the water based finish, applied with a foam applicator. 

Here is the AFTER:

We plan to apply the second coat as soon as the weather permits.  It`s been very cold and damp lately.

Dinning Room Excitement Buffet & Hutch

Our home has a 500sq.ft open concept, kitchen, dining & family room combination. 

There is a door leading to our bedroom between the kitchen & dining area.  The wall on the right of the bedroom door has been begging for a buffet and hutch since the day we designed this space.

But I could never find what I wanted at the right price...

Till two days ago!

Look at my newest purchase:

Someone was selling this because they got a brand new one for their dining room. 

It's exactly what I wanted because....

I will be painting it!

It was $100.00! and it's in perfect shape.  All I need to do is grab a sander!

It's sitting in my garage now waiting for me to transform it into my dream...

Here, take a closer look:

It has a side glass panels too:

I love the thin mullions on the front

But I'm not so crazy about the design on the bottom doors; I think it's a bit too busy. I may have to come up with an idea to modify the doors a bit.

So stay with me on this one, I will try to do this soon.

This is my inspiration...

It's from Life In the Fun Lane

Isn't it beautiful? 

Wait and see how mine will turn out. 

Dreaming Softly Master Bedroom Secrets

Intrigued by the title?

We have been in our "new home" just over 4 years now... and I'm finnaly ready to transform the Master Bedroom into the relaxed oasis it should be.

The Secret about it is the simple fact that my husband doesn't have a clue yet.

Of course I will help him! I can do it all! Or almost all!
It's just getting him to agree to disturb the hectic-as-it-is-life and get it actually done...

That is my challenge now... or is it finally deciding what it is that we will be doing?

Here is couple of ideas I love.











This is from Divine Design (I LOVE Candice)

All those pictures somehow provide a sense of serenity. 

It's not that I like any specific item in any of them...

It's about the feeling I get when I look at them...

Just look at that quilt, you just want to reach out and touch it, don't you? (It's from Pine Cone Hill)

Here are few more pics: (from willowdecor.blogspot.com)

Some have nothing to do with a bedroom; they just give me that calm feeling I love so much...

This one is quite seasonal Christmas Decor, but I love the bead board and the sea foam colour on the walls.

I'm a bit afraid of all the white that is required to achieve this look...

But, I figured I can always add some black into the mix to ground the look.

Or just use soft hues to bring in the peaceful serenity.  (from Pine Cone Hill again)

So now, all I have to do is to gather the courage to let my Hubby know that this is his next project... the bead board, the painting... the refinishing of the floors...

Wish me luck!