Been another while...

Hi all...

This is going to be a quickie, but I felt compelled to share with you something that I found to be amazing inspiring and inspired. Margot Austin blogged today about the late great Ray Staples...as I have commented to Margot on her blog, Ray is quite possibly the reason I became a designer. She was a straight shooter who wasn't afraid to design, and as you will see in Margot's post, if that meant bullying then so be it! She was a phenom and a wonder and designer or design aficionado alike would be remiss if they didn't know who she was.
Head on over to Margot's blog to see what a wonderful and inspired tribute she put together...

From Margot Austin's blog and her Pinterest

Thanks Margot!

And finally...the reveal!

So...after a long journey the bathroom and laundry room are complete.

First I have to say thanks to my dad. The usual deal is that he does the construction and I do the finishing, however with all that has been happening round here, he did it all from start to finish. He hates all that finicky fluffy stuff, and he hunkered down and did it for me. He wallpapered, he sanded, he painted, he even hung pictures...bless his heart...I am one lucky girl and I cannot thank him enough...it looks great!

Just in case you forgot just how bad this space was, below is a quick before,or you can have a look at the original post here,

And this is what the laundry room looks like now....wait for it....

So a recap of what happened here. There was an old laundry sink that went wall to wall where the washer and dryer now sit, and the washer and dryer were along the wall where the shelves are now. It made for a very awkward space and the sink area ended up being unusable space that just collected all the crap that  a household can create.

We removed the sink and relocated the washer and dryer to this corner...they just fit...as in perfectly, as if it was meant to be.

 I needed to accommodate for proper storage, so we put up adjustable open shelving, which works well for storage of cleaning supplies, as well as a place for us to store all our small appliances, and the every day tools. I chose open storage because I know how we live and if we had closed storage nothing would get put away :o)

I am really happy with how it turned out.

Now the bathroom...first the before shot...

Ugly tile, a blush colour sink, wall to wall mirror and a lovely fluorescent tube light.

And now it looks like this...

Here we (and by we I mean my husband and father) removed the ugly tile and put up bead board panel. A coat of a deep turquoise I had kicking around, a new sink we bought more than a year ago, a few other accessories and voila! A marked improvement I would say.

So there you have it...two steps closer to being done this house...don't ask how many more...too many to count.

Happy Monday 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.



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?

Happy Wednesday!

So it is mid week, and once again I thought I'd share where I visited and commented in blogland today!

First up we have the baby bump update from Janice over at Life Begins at Thirty Right? And in case you missed it earlier in the week Janice shared some super exciting news (second to her pregnancy)...go here to read all about it and be as excitedly jealous as I am.

Christine over at An Eclectic Life is having a design dilemma as she compares her current gallery wall to this one:

from An Eclectic Life via

Pop on over and weigh in with your opinion...I'm sure she'll appreciate the feedback.

Erin at His & Hers never fails to make me smile...and quite often laugh out loud. If you have not checked out her blog, you should! Today she and her hubby created a corny vlog as a precursor to their next home improvement project...do you think you know what they are eluding to?

Lisa Roy of a designer obsessed... is celebrating her 2 Year Blogiversary! YAY! Congrats Lisa!

Any Beach Cottage girls out there? Poor Mrs. BC was bitten by a spider and the sweet Mr. BC posted for her...she is resting and we hope she gets better soon...but her Good Life Wednesdays linky party is still in full swing!

So there you have it, my virtual vacation for the morning...guess I ought to get back to work...good thing I'm my own boss!

Happy Wednesday all...been anywhere interesting today?

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!

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.