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.



House and Home

 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.

House and Home

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

Updates...

Happy Tuesday one and all!

So I realised (thanks to Lisa Roy) that I never did follow up to my what to wear post...so I thought I'd share a quick photo of what my shopping trip garnered...which ended up not really being anything like any of my inspirations, but a great outfit none-the-less.

I finally found a pair of high boots that would go around my apparently large calves...woot! I have been looking for a dogs age and was happy to find a great deal on a pair from Sears of all places! I ended up choosing the blouse and purse (both at a great price) from Laura. It was funny because neither my mom nor I really liked the blouse on the hanger except for the pop of colour it provided, but once I put it on I knew that was it. I looked good, was comfy and above all else felt good. I wore it with a pair of leggings, a scarf, the boots (of course) and some wooden bangles.

So that's it...that's what I wore...sorry no pics of me in it...maybe that's a god thing ;)

Anyhoo...

On to other updates...the laundry room and adjoining bathroom reno/update is in full swing and wreaking havoc on other parts of my home...namely my kitchen...

In the laundry room the washer and dryer has been moved and thank heavens is functional even if the rest of the space is not. The ceiling, trim, and doors have been painted (by yours truly), and hopefully I will have some time this week to paint the walls that are being painted. Once all the painting is done I can wallpaper and once that is done the men can converge and put up the shelves. 



picture the ceiling and the trim white...honest it's been done...just no photos

As you can see I have ended up with one little bit of that fake stone panelling that needs to stay, so the decision was to paint the whole room (what is being painted) white because of the multiple surface issue. The turquoise will go in the bathroom...yikes!

In the bathroom, my wonderful husband and father have stripped the old mirror and tile, and the sink has been removed...the toilet comes out this week and the new bead board goes up, I will then paint in a hurry so the toilet and sink can go back...with two young kids (one of them potty training) we cannot be without the main floor bath for too long.

So those are the updates round here...what's up in your world? Any exciting projects on the go?

Happy Tuesday!

In my household of late...

Good Day everyone in blogland...oh how I am missing you. I have tried to keep abreast of what is going on out there, comment when I can but time is tight these days as many of you well know, and some things just fall to the bottom of the imaginary list...not today!

I downloaded some pictures off my camera this morning and thought I would share all that has been happening in our household of late.

The tree is up and trimmed. This is my favorite thing to do getting ready for the season ahead. Nothing starts until the tree is up for me. My husband tries to hold me off as long as he can, but this year he did a wonderful thing and surprised me with a tree... Or he would have, had I not looked at the bank account and noticed a transaction that did not make sense. Still it was a nice surprise that I totally needed. More important...he knew I needed it. I could love him for that alone.

Last week I came home to find this wonderful craft that my daughter made at school, it is her handprint on a glass ball with the fingers made into little snowmen (I'm sure you've all seen versions of this on pinterest) but it was so nice to receive it along with it's little poem about how fast she will grow up...not gonna lie, I cried...yup it was a nice gift to receive and hang on our tree.

 My tree is steeped in tradition and memory. My family growing up was not big on following the same traditions each year, there was never a right way or a wrong way to do Christmas, but the one thing we always had were our ornaments. The same ones went up every year, I always had my favorites, and I still do today. the ornaments have been passed to me, and for that I am thankful. Each year I realise just how much these simple little things mean to me. I am not one to hold onto things for sentiment, so these things that I pack away every January and dig out every December bring me great joy.

Another thing I try to do each year is to build a Gingerbread house. One year I even made my own gingerbread...only one year because ugh that was a chore, and a frustration to beat all frustrations...so now as un inspired as it is, I buy a kit. The girls and I did this one day last week, it was fun, they enjoyed and I let them...meaning I did not take over too much, try too hard to control the outcome wanting perfection, these moments were perfection enough...

 

A self portrait by Isobel...I couldn't resist :o)

So this is what has been up in my neck of the woods in my moments at home with the girls...the rest of the time I have been in the gallery where I am happy to report that people are shopping local and buying handmade.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to each of you!

2 Days until my big girl comes home...

2 More Saturdays to shop...

10 Days until the big day...

YIPEE!

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:



source

 Or perhaps this:

source

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!

It's beginning to look alot like...

Happy Monday all! I hope you all had a great weekend and that this week starts out on the right foot...I love Mondays for that reason; you feel like it is a clean slate each week.

We had a busy weekend here with my eldest home for a few days and ending with a trip to Ikea...not bad at all.

I am feeling festive today. I love Christmas and it is that time of year isn't it. For me I have had Christmas on the brain since August, that is when I have to start getting my ducks in a row for the gallery. I have been doing a small facebook ad campaign for the last 5 weeks or so providing a gift idea a week for the 12 weeks leading up to the big day...some people are hating on me for that but what can I do? Did you know there are now only 6 Saturdays until Christmas? If you want to follow along, 'like' Silver Bridge Gallery on Facebook and if you see something that is of interest, let me know we can always ship.

So today is the day we start decorating the gallery...yay! I would love to do it earlier, but out of respect for our veterans we like to wait until after Remembrance Day. I am excited, but it is always a bit of pressure to fit in with all the great window displays on the street. Regardless, decorating for Christmas is fun and I am happy to start my week off in just this way.

To add to the Christmas spirit today, Chantelle at fat mum slim introduced me to the Gifted 2011 online magazine produced by Creature Comforts



via Creature Comforts

A great publication with some great ideas...check out last years while you are at it.  It is wonderful as well, with some great little DIY ideas. 

If you really want to get into the spirit, check out Jen at Rambling Renovators' blog today all about Christmas Street at the Bay. Enough to make you want to sing carols...

Happy Monday...ho ho ho :c)