Winter Light

 Winter light might be a nice, but I think we are all ready for spring light to make an appearance. 

Festive Flood Lights

I've opted for the flood light option to brighten up the house over the holidays.  It looks good and took 10 minutes to set up. I call this a win for laziness.  They are even set up on a timer so I don't even have to turn them on and off.  Score.

Displaying Your Pay Cheques

Check out where our pay cheques have been going since June.  Our exterior restoration. Worth it. She's a beaut.

 

Bloomin'

Our giant chinese silver grass has bloomed.  I like perennials, they just do their thing and look good doing it.

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Den Living

This is the Den. Eye Spy: Travel Licence Plate Collection. Sweater Blanket. Bamboo Blinds. Painted Pot Coasters. Oversized whitewashed coffee table. Niece and Nephew.

Super Moon

Our view of the Super Moon.

Western Australia Round 3.

Here are some of my favorite pics from our most recent trip to Australia. Most of our time was spent with family in Perth, Western Australia, but we took a side trip to check out Sydney.

Bondi Beach, NSW

 A Bondi Sunbather. NSW.

Bondi Beach, NSW

The Busselton Jetty, Busselton, WA.

The BF and his brother and sister at Cottesloe Beach.

Sunset at Subiaco Oval during the Dockers season opener.

Delicious macaroons at the Fremantle Markets

The Balloon release at the season opener for the Freo Dockers Aussie Rules team.

The Pinnicles, Cervantes, WA.

Filling the Walls

I worked on some art for the halls over the winter and ended up with three textured pieces. They are done on canvas and I added some some 2 inch casing to the edges for a frame.

Painted Runner Update

I painted the runner on the stairs over a year ago and it is holding up really well.  There is one chip where we hit a tread as we were hauling a table down from the attic. I didn't put a clear coat over the runner so I can just touch it up with the original paint.

My favorite part about the painted runner is not having to use the vacuum on the stairs, a damp cloth is all you need.

Other people's kitchens

I want to make these kitchens mine.

Step 1. Hate the room Step 2. Start fixing the room.....1.5 years later finish the room

This is the awesomeness which was the main floor bedroom of the former Victorian Rose.  Pink painted wallpaper, sweet window swags, ugly ledge, a TV nook, I could keep going.  

So we started by knocking out the TV nook and turning it into a walk through pantry to the kitchen.  Knocking down is the easy part.

 I attempted to remove the painted wall paper .  After 5 hours chemicals, steam, scoring, tools. nothing worked. I made it no where.    I needed a new plan because my fingers were raw from trying to find loose edges.

I started skimming over the textured painted wallpaper with drywall compound, layer upon layer, like icing the largest cake in the world. and the realization that this was going to take forever set in. This is where the extra year came in.  The room became a 'hide the junk and close the door' room and we never quite found the motivation to finish off the skimming.  Until my brother and his family were scheduled in for a visit this summer.  There really is nothing like impending house guests to get your ass in gear.  Skimming, sanding, touch ups became my nightly routine until the walls were as smooth as the babies bottoms who were less than a week away from arriving.  

Paint selected.

Painting commenced.

The cutest visitors arrive and get to watch some 'kids TV' in comfort.

Now to decorate it...  Hopefully we get another motivating visit soon! hint hint.

The Civilized Firepit

Found a use for the Candelabra project (other than dust collector) from a few years back. Now it just needs a name. The Smokeless Urban Camp Fire... Townie Fire Pit.... ?  Perfect for those calm summer nights in the backyard and the best part; your hair won't smell like a camp fire at the end of the night.

O Blissmastree

The tree is up and looking purdy.  And all of the ornaments, snowflakes, tinsel, feather boas are from a super trendy store...you may not know it...  *coughcoughdollarcoughstorecough* and *aaaahhahhhh choooodollaramaoooooo* 

Excuse me.

Stairway to DustyRose Heaven

Our hallway makeover is finally complete. The summer has been crazy, so from start to finish it took about two months to get this project done.  All of the trim, doors, walls, spindles, risers and railing were painted, and unfortunately, more than a few coats over foot prints on the steps.

Hallway on the day we took possession of the house in April.

Dusty rose stairway to heaven. One of the hazards to your health when you buy a B&B named A Victorian Rose...

We ripped the carpet off before changing the wall colour back in July. When my 3 year old niece saw this she questioned "why did you take the fuzzy off the stairs?" ........."because the fuzzy was buttugly"

The trim was too yellowish-grayish-greenish-barfish, and the railing was too yellowish-orangish-shineyish

A couple of coats of a light grey called Luminarie on the wall, then it was on to the BM Cloud White for the spindles, spindles and more spindles. I darkened the railing with a dark walnut low lustre polyurethane. (4 coats)

Wall colour and cloud white trim on the left.

Started the runner, it's a beige colour to warm up the gray to get a natural sisal look.

Measured out a band because the runner was boring on its own



Finally finished.

Clean and fresh.

***Update: check out how the finish is holding up 1 year later

So that part of the project seemed to take forever, but the other sub project took less than 48 hours from brainwave to operational. 

I really like the look of the Moooi string pendant lights.  Since I am cheap/poor I would never buy one. So I came up with my own version. 

Cheesecloth, Stiffy Stiffener and a pendant light.  The idea came from when my mother made a nativity scene in the 80s by draping and stiffening cloth over the molds. I skipped spray painting the shade gold, but the idea was similar.

Picked up a pendant light at good ol' Canadian Tire. Put a call in my brother in-law and offered beer for a wiring job. 30 min later it was up and working.

The big shade fills the hallways high ceilings.