Happy Wednesday!

Wow..time flies and here we are at Wednesday again.

It is a good one out there in Blogland people! Full of colour, design inspirations, and art.
If you haven't already check out these posts;

Check out the stunningly delicate work of artist Diem Chau over at Designwali here's a peek, but head over to see more of this beautiful work.

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Jen over at Rambling Renovators once again manages to inspire with a great shot of the bathroom...the door is amazing...go look!

Elizabeth over at Mustard Ceiling had her husband Alfred post today about their kitchen remodel. A small change here has made a big difference.

Shannon Fricke has some wonderful inspirations for using colour in the home...wish I was so brave...I chicken out every time...fingers crossed I carry through with the turquoise in the powder room.


It is Surf's Up with Kerri at Driftwood Interiors as her husband has added to his collection of surf boards and her daughter is coveting a new one as well...I think they are perfect decor pieces, fun and funky.

Finally head over and see why Sue at The Zhush is inspired by Swedish design...who wouldn't be?

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Hope you've enjoyed your Wednesday in blogland as much as I have.

Happy Wednesday all!

Late to the game...

I might be late to the game here, but I just read the January issue of House and Home (thanks BlogPodium for the copy!) and just have to say WOW! to Tommy Smythe's spread.



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 We all know and love Tommy as Sarah Richardson's sidekick, but not often do we see Tommy's own design work.  In the January issue he is front and centre with a stellar Victorian Makeover. If you don't have or can't find a copy of the magazine, check out the House and Home website for the photo gallery.

The kitchen above with it's three tone cabinets, and wonderful pops of red (look at that lantern!) is perfect for the home and the family living in it. Do I need to say anything about that floor...OMG!

While I am not a fan of it all, the zig zags on the walls in the bathroom are bit out there for me, much of the rest of the house is a study in tastefully bold as far as I am concerned.

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What do you think? Should we be seeing more of Tommy's work, or he destined to be Sarah's right hand man?

Enter through the back...

Happy Monday...it is a beautiful but very cold morning here in Muskoka. Last week saw the snow storm as predicted, and I would guess we did indeed get the 10 cm they were calling for...perfect snowman snow.

Alas it warmed up considerably and the snow is all but gone, and our snowman is looking a little worse for wear. I have reassured the girls that was just the beginning of the snow.

I was a busy little beaver over the weekend working on the rear entry to our house. This is the door we use daily, many times a day. It leads to the driveway and garage, but it is a small space that is perpetually untidy with coats, shoes, boots, umbrellas etc. It is really just a landing with stairs up to the kitchen and down to the apartment.

Some of you may remember some of my before photos of the house...this one of the hall shows the lovely (note the sarcasm) carpeted walls...yup carpeted...glued to the wall, and glued well. It has taken me three years to get this space as far as it has come. I'll tell you now there are no after photos just yet...they will come in the next few days.

We started three years ago by pulling the carpet off the walls, however it was foam backed carpet and every...and I mean every, square inch was glued to the wall. The carpet came away, the backing did not. We toyed with the idea of re-drywalling, but the hassle of it all seemed too much to deal with. So with chisel in hand I scraped away the backing...then sanded the walls, but it still wasn't enough...so we decided to use a bead board panel over top...that was completed probably two years ago...but left unfinished, unpainted trim, unpainted panels. So this weekend I sanded all the nail holes, and painted away...of course the rest of the walls needed a coat of paint as well which has been done as well as the ceiling. Now we just ave some touch ups to do...and by we, I mean my husband, as I do not do ladders...not past the third or fourth rung anyways...so once that is done and everything back in place I will post some after photos...until then enjoy my before...go ahead laugh...I do.

Just know that if I could I would have an entry way (front or rear) that looked more like this:



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 Or perhaps this:

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But these would require a whole new house...and that is not happening any time soon.

Have a great week everyone! Once again Happy Monday hope your weekend was a good as mine!

Aesthetically confused...

Let me first say that I love the blogging world. It has opened up so much to me that I cannot imagine why it took me so long to begin this exploration. Having said that, it has also left me confused.

Before I embarked on this blogging journey and started exploring others' blogs, I thought I had a clear vision for my home, and it's design and decor, I am after all an Interior Designer, but every day I see something else that inspires a new and utterly unpredicted direction for where I want to take my still fairly blank canvas of a home.

In my defense, I am primarily a corporate, retail, restaurant designer, that is what my background is, tho I did move to Muskoka to do cottage design...which I did but do not do anymore. Also in my defense, I am a Libra and we are notorious for being indecisive.

My choices for my home have always been a little sedate and neutral, which is strange because I love colour!

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I would love to have this in my home, and yet my kitchen is neutral as seen here. Now don't get me wrong, I love my kitchen (well if I could afford to reno it I would but all things considered...) but as hard as I try I always end up choosing neutral...and not white neutral, beige neutral. In my living room I have this Ektorp sofa from Ikea. Again I like the sofa; it was inexpensive, comfortable and slipcovered, but it is, at the end of the day, beige.

Which is why I want to add this area rug to the living room...

But cannot spend the money on it right now...so I have ordered something more along these lines...

Anyhow I digress...I am all over the map when it comes to design these days.
I love white rooms and I often say I dream in white...


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I love the simplicity of this (above), and yet I also love this (below) for it's ordered chaos and colour...


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 There is this...

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And then there is this...

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Sigh...I just don't know which direction to take...sometimes I think I over think and when I do that I get overwhelmed and then it is just easier to do nothing (and it is cheaper too).  So as I sit here doing nothing I will continue to ponder which direction to head...and hopefully after some more blog reading and more 'pinning' a trend will emerge and all will become clear...fingers crossed.