Our Master Bedroom

Last week I mentioned that our bedroom had changed slightly since my previous pictures were posted. It's by no means "done" (will it ever be, as my style seems to change as I am inspired by new images everyday??), but here's what we have so far....



You can see how YELLOW those lamp shades actually look....(see here for before the base was painted, and here with the first color I tried...I thought this color pulled out more of the color in the canvas across from the bed)  I thought they looked yellow before, but the teal certainly brings it out even more!!

 

Ignore the mess of papers in the left corner...My hubby's not very good at putting his "pocket junk" in the garbage when he gets ready for bed...so I move the miscellaneous items from the nightstand into this old candle holder for him to go through later...."later" then turns into months and months turn into...you get my point... ;) Any suggestions on where to store it? It apparently contains lottery tickets & receipts that he may need in the future or to expense....



Our dresser is directly across from the end of the bed (yes, it's THAT small of a room...maybe 3ft between the end of the bed and the dresser....) And that the lily canvas I found at Homesense a few months ago, and pulled the smoky teal from it for the lamps....

I also recently saw this canvas at Homesense, and am wishing I had it instead of the lily painting...it even has my colors!! But I have nowhere to move the lily painting, and this is probably gone already...things move fast at Homesense!!

   

When I finally hung my baroque mirror above my make up desk, this full length mirror moved to the bedroom. I love having a place to see what your WHOLE outfit looks like! (do NOT get me started on that hideous ceiling fan...I love having the fan, but I HATE those glass flowers!!)




This mirror used to hang above our dresser, but has since moved the left of our bed, over the laundry basket/hamper.  My grandparents got it as a wedding gift when they got married...in 1955ish. If you look closely, you can see it has a few scratches in the silver.  They're basically unrepairable (it would cost more than the mirror is worth to fix them due to how they were made back then), but the beauty of the mirror itself overpowers the imperfections

 Obviously, in Blue Ribbon fashion, I couldn't have my pictures QUITE up-to-date now, could I? I've since purchased this 100% cotton (breathable!!!) "Cyrus" duvet cover from Bouclair Home. 

I've been searching for something VERY light (so the duvet can breath and let us not sweat to death in the summer, and still keep us warm in the winter!), clean lines, and that actually fits the duvet (my previous attempts, even though a "queen" size, were WAY too baggy and made the bed look sloppy and the duvet oversized for the mattress...). This one is the PERFECT size (no extra material! The duvet fits right inside it!).  The material itself is a little stiff, but for $49.99 it certainly fits all my needs!!  I still need some throw pillows, new lamp shades, and I'm working up the courage to start my stencil wall.

Stencil Wall

You may recall that I've wanted to do a stencil wall in our Master Bedroom for some time now (I even have the stencil -- since February!!).  Well, I just stumbled upon The Hills blog (via Just a Girl) and now I really really really want to finish the project!! What do you think? Here is their master bedroom:

{Images above via The Hills}

She used a handmade stencil and pearlescent craft paint...

And here is my current bedroom:

(except my lamps are a dark smoky teal, and my lamp shade DIY has yet to be completed -- haven't even purchased the material yet -- and I just purchased a duvet cover, and we replaced the bird pictures with wedding prints)

Originally I thought I was just going to use a clear coat (polyurethane?) for the stencil... now they have me rethinking the idea.... Maybe I'll go with our trim color, so it stands out, yet still works with the room. What do you think?

Some other finds...

Here's a quick glimpse into some recent (well....not so recent anymore...) finds from Homesense (I LOVE that store!):

Fits perfectly with the other "travel" themed art in our house!

Fits perfectly with our love of wine (oh, and it matches almost perfectly with our red feature wall!)

To add more blue to our master...more to follow on that!

Stair progress

Today's renovation progress! Tomorrow they should be done (minus a few touch ups and baseboards)




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The Reno's Continue....

Since July 9th of last year, we have been doing renos.  July 9th (my hubby's birthday) is when we discovered some major water damage at our back door. That kick started a new door frame and sidelite window, new floors (which also meant new baseboards/casings), finishing up our kitchen renos that we had already started (adding cabinets under our peninsula, upgrading to granite, adding backsplash and a new sink).... and much, much more. 

We are ALMOST finished. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!! The carpet has been removed from the stairs, MDF has been applied to the stringers and risers (to give a nice smooth finish, since ripping the carpet & underlay off leaves the rough plywood/lumber visible), and a coat of primer has been applied. I picked up the paint to match our trim, and a few coats will go on later this week. Hopefully my hubby can the finish the stairs with the laminate flooring this weekend, and then all we have left is installing the baseboards & casings (which are sitting in our great room)!!  And, I'm happy to say, I convinced my hubby to go with a 5 1/4" baseboard! It's going to look AMAZING!! (luckily, we have vaulted ceilings and an open concept house, so the height won't look overpowering to the walls!)

Here is what our stairs look like now, just WAITING to be finished....

Stay tuned!!!

My Perfect Score

A few weekends ago, my work had a Showhome Furniture Sale for it's employee's, friends, and family....and I scored BIG!  Other than our bedrooms, the sectional, our kitchen table and our televisions, everything in the house is furnished by old showhome furniture. And I LOVE it!!

I had volunteered and helped organize the storage units a few times through the weeks leading up to the sale, and also helped with the sale....so I knew what I wanted ahead of time... However, what I didn't realize (and what didn't happen last time!) was that the longer I sat around, the more items we found (and I wanted)! I started out just wanting the pictures (and the couch for my brother)....and ended up with everything else!  Plus, the longer the sale went out, the cheaper things got!! (YAY!!)

Here's what I scored (this time 'round):

I scored the glass vase on the right (actually, my hubby's Oma bought it for me, as by the end of the day, I was all out of cash!!) and the flowers/branches in the vase on the left

My hubby spotted these as the storage bins were being unloaded of all the big furniture at the beginning of the day, so that you could actually see and get to all the little items.  We scored these low back leather dining chairs (4 white/cream and 2 chocolate) for $30 each! And to think...he was MAD that I had volunteered him for some heavy lifting!! (he found the best score of the day!!)

These pictures were the only things I saw at first during my first few trips to the storage bins to help organize (I guess all the other goodies I found later were all tucked away at first...it was probably better that way!). We scored these for $15 each (which was pricey, considering how much we spent on everything else...but they were one of the first purchases of the day). They go great with the rest of the travel theme we have going on on the main floor.

I scored this vase at the last sale ($20) and topped it off with the remaining flowers I got (for free!). I'm not usually a fake plant lover, but these fake flowers look really good and add another hit of color -- and my favorite one too!)

This was my last purchase of the day....I was able to scrounge up $5 in change (yes, change!!) out of my car, and offered it up. The longer I looked at it, the more I wanted it...and they took it!  Again, fits right in with the rest of the travel theme (we have two pictures over our kitchen table that are etched glass of the Arc d'Triumphe and a building in New York) and some other Homesense finds (post to follow soon...)

Halfway through the day, my mom phoned and asked me to purchase some more hand towels for the cabin...On the way to the towel bin, I came across this Eiffel Tower and just HAD TO HAVE IT! I then passed by some red wine glasses that have a crackle/broken glass look to the bottom of them (forgot to take a picture, sorry!) and HAD to have those as well!! The purchase of the wine glasses, the Eiffel tower, and the remainder of the hand towels is what emptied my pockets (of a whopping $20!!).  And the Eiffel tower stands perfectly in the bathroom across from a painting of the Moulin Rouge (painted on the streets of Paris during our Europe trip)

We also walked away with a couch ($50), a chair ($30), and 5 throw pillows ($2 each!) for my brother and his family (I don't have pictures to upload...but I will!! They're GORGEOUS!!!) and a dining room table ($100) for my mom (she has been thinking about it non-stop since she past it over at the last sale - and was listed for $250 at that time - so she couldn't pass it up this time!) It does have some damage to it, but nothing that can't be fixed!  My hubby's family also scored some pretty good finds for themselves, and even came back a second time!! (which I was lucky they did -- as his Oma bought me that vase I was saw I couldn't afford -- for a whopping $5!!!)

UPDATE: Here are some pictures of the couch ($50) and the chair ($30) I scored for my brother's house (no, this is not an image of the furniture in their house...but it does look just as gorgeous!)

Wedding Pictures = Bedroom Art

Please forgive me for my blogging hiatus, I've been extremely busy. This will be a short post as it is.... We finally received our blown up, photoshopped wedding pictures from our photographer (for better images, please see my previous post here), and I absolutely LOVE them!!! Here's a quick snap from my iPhone:




I wish I could give you a better pic, but my weekend was spent traveling to Calgary for a birthday, walking the Calgary Zoo (where I snapped hundreds of pics and now need to go threw them before I have time for a bedroom photo shoot...sorry!!), off to my nephews 2nd birthday party tomorrow, then back into the full swing of work, baseball season, and renovations... I promise to fill you in soon, but for now, I just hope you'll bear with me as my posts are irregularly timed....

Thank you!!


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My Other Find...

Yesterday, I told you of my mirrored makeup chest find in Lloydminster this past weekend.  Today, I show you my other find.  It's not much, but it'll help keep our back door looking more organized!

Our new shoe rack!!

Yes, that's a rag (to wipe the dog's feet)...(in the background, you can also see yet another Homesense purchase - a subway-art(ish) canvas [listing different wine types]. I purchased it [along with a few other canvas' when I returned my "buy now, think later" purchase]

Since we don't have an attached garage, we often park on the gravel pad in the back, and we don't have a closet at the back entry of our house. Our pile of shoes was often out of control!

The wall looks a lot brighter than it really is...it's a nice medium-deep red [Global Spice by General Paint], and is a feature wall that runs from the front to the back of our four-level split house.

Now, it'll be nice and streamlined, with a special spot specifically for boots!

It may not look like much (or cost much - $19 at Canadian Tire!), but you don't understand how long I've been searching for a decent looking shoe rack!  I'm quite happy with it too!

We'll be prepping the house for paint this week (painting on the weekend!!), and I can't wait! To ensure the [ugly] yellow doesn't interfere with our new color (Portobello by Sico, which I found through my friend Andrea over at Ginger Flinch last summer - check out her renos, by the way!), we're priming the walls too.  It'll be a whole new house (again!), and then we can move on to finishing the renos (starting with the transition strips between floorings, as you can see in this pic). Stairs and baseboards/casings to follow this spring!

**It was brought to my attention that I haven't posted updated pics of our bedroom, since I repainted the lamps. I'll try to get some soon! We're also in the process of replacing the bird pictures above our bed with wedding pics, so maybe I'll wait 'til it's all done...maybe....**

My Makeup Desk

This weekend I visited a friend in Lloydminster. Of all the places, I made a few finds.  And, to top it off, at stores that are also available (and I regularly visit) in Edmonton.  Today, I show you my makeup desk. The desk is an old computer desk my hubby grew up with when he lived with his parents.  But when I moved out on my own, they let me use it. Ever since we moved in together, it has been my makeup desk.  Our bathroom is EXTREMELY small, so there was never enough room for the two of us to get ready at the same time (and I like my routines!).  An office/makeup room was born.

At Winners in Lloyd, I came across this mirrored beauty.  It now houses all my makeup (pretty comfortably too!), and looks gorgeous at the same time.

How much do you love that mirror?? OMG. I also found that at Winners (in Calgary), last summer.  I finally hung it, as I thought my new cleaned makeup desk deserved a fresh look, with the mirror.

The room also doubles as my office, so in the background you can see my filing cabinet

Now, the entire desk. I warn you (and don't judge me) there is a lot of stuff stacked into this thing.  Our house lacks storage space for such goodies as hair brushes, blowdryers, nail polish, etc etc.

I warned you...there was a lot of stuff in this desk! The desk (although not the most comfortable as a computer desk), works well for all my needs (I keep telling my hubby I want an ACTUAL makeup desk, but really, this has more storage than any makeup desk I've seen. It's not the prettiest, as it's all out in the open, but it works). 

The top left shelf houses my extra perfume (I love Escada and I love choice!), and all my nail polish and pedicure paraphernalia. The bottom left is miscellanous items, the middle holds all my hair brushes, headbands, etc.  The right holds all the goodies. Until the mirrored box came into my possession, all my hair product was sitting on the top (where my perfume is), and my makeup was in the green basket.  I could easily pull it out, set it on top of the desk, apply my makeup, and put it back. Now, I will do the same with my hair product (as this often looked disheveled anyways).

Behind the basket, and on the bottom shelf, lies my stock of professional hair product.  That's right. ALL OF IT.  My hubby's sister is a hair stylist, and she recently relocated to Bali with her hubby.  With only seeing her once a year now, I had a panic attack and we stocked up on supplies at the distributor before she left after Christmas.  I may have went a little overboard, as I spent closet to $400....(sigh). Good thing is, we have more than enough shampoo & conditioner (located on the bottom) to last us awhile (she's not returning until Christmas, but I'm thinking this supply might last longer than that, what do you think?).  Behind the green basket (my current use of hair product) is all the extras...that's right, you see 4 bottles of hairspray (I like Rusk W8less), another bottle of shine spray (Bed Head Headrush), two bottles of mousse (Catwalk Root Boost), two bottles of smoothing serum (Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum), leave in conditioner spray (It's A 10 --> wonderful and light!!), and two bottles of smoothing cream (Bed Head After Party).  (My $400 purchase at the distributors also included a new clipper set, as I cut both my brothers' hair and my hubby's, as the old one just wasn't cutting it....haha..literally!)

I may have went a little nuts, but I definitely won't need any product while she's out of the country!

Tomorrow, I will show you my other purchase....



How I spent my Sunday...

This is how I spent my Sunday... What about you?










More pics to follow at a later date... For now, just know that spray painting is a little more complicated than it sounds and looks! I was glad my dad was willing to help me out. We had a few hiccups. But got through it just fine! I'm happy with the results!

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My Master Bedroom...lamp dilemma #2 (continued....)

As you may recall from last week, I want to turn my lamp (and my hubby approved!) from this:

To this:

But I need this:

Any ideas on where to get Krylon spray paint from in Edmonton?  It seems to be the most recommended spray paint for projects like this.... (and I hate running around across town chasing a product I have no idea where it's located....).  If I can find out today, maybe I can jump start the project tomorrow??  I also need some burlap...but that can wait (for now).

Let me know! Have a great weekend!

Your weekend...

Wow...a whole week of posts on MY HOME!!! (see here, here, here and here)....I hope you all have a pleasant weekend ahead of you...what are you going to be up to this weekend?  My hubby has been staining the drawers for our kitchen cabinets this week, so we should be installing those soon!! (finally, the kitchen will be FINISHED!!! -- well, until we add crown moulding on top of the cabinets...and repaint the entire house....hee hee)

Here's what the cabinet that we added looks like now, incase you forgot:

He stained and hung the wine glass holders earlier this week (the drawers took a few more coats of varethane), so the top box above the wine rack now holds hanging wine glasses.  Can't wait to show you the finished product soon!! (as long as we get handles on this weekend....).  For more pics on my kitchen, see here and here

My Master Bedroom...lamp dilema #2

Thank you for all the responses on my lamp dilema yesterday!!  After a comment from my friend over at Ginger Flinch, I wanted to expand on my post from yesterday, as she took me to a link that I had also saw over at Just a Girl.  Could you imagine a lamp like THIS?? Not to mention, a super cheap DIY!!! What do you think? Blue base and DIY lamp shade?? Is THIS what I should do??

{all images via Just a Girl blog}

The inspiration they found (Anthropologie - $88)

{Mama Says Sew DIY lamp -- see link for tutorial}

{Chris, over at Just a Girl's finished DIY lamp -- see link for her tutorial}

My Master Bedroom....lamp dilema

Since I first posted my master bedroom changes and dilemas, why stop? I still need to finish it, right?  On top of the art dilema, I also want to change up the lamps.  The lamps are nice, but a little boring.  Should I buy material and recover the lamp shade?  Just buy some ribbon to glue along the top or bottoms to infuse some color? Or, inspired by several blogger DIYs like Leah from The Way We Are, should I paint the base????

{personal photo}

{Here are the lamps that Leah from The Way We Are painted}

And her finished product {via}

{via Knight Moves}

{via Knight Moves}

And dependant on the color in the room (of course...), but is that blue like the curtains and my own artwork? Or purple, green, or yellow like the other artwork??? So many decisions....

My Master Bedroom...Artwork dilema

As I mentioned in my last post, I have an artwork dilema.  Our master bedroom needs some color.  And I have no idea what to do.  First, I bought these curtains via Homesav.

{image above via Homesav}
{all images below are personal photos}

Next, I bought this art from Homesense.

At first, I thought I could infuse purple and green into the room. (afterall, I do have this vase on the dresser...).  Because this art is larger than I thought it would be, it wouldn't go above our bed (too large!!), and would probably (if we go with this one) replace the mirror above our dresser and I'd hang a full length mirror on the small angle wall in our room...

But then I thought that since the curtains already shimmered blue, would it be too much to have blue, purple, green AND yellow in the room?!?  The art doesn't have any blue in it, but it does have the perfect shades of our wall color...was it meant to be?

And then I remembered we had a blue bedskirt in the spare room.  So I removed that and put it on the master bed, and voila.  Looks good, right? But do I return the purple, green and yellow art? Or integrate the four colors into one room?  (I don't have to keep the bedskirt, we just had it..I'd actually prefer a wooden frame and no bedskirt!)

After pulling in the blue, I also remembered that I had a painting I did and haven't hung yet.  Originally this was meant for the bathroom, but when the two canvas' turned out to be too large for the bathroom wall, it was left sitting around.  It's not the same color blue, but it's in the family, right?

What do you think? I need some opinions! Do I stick to blue? Or try all 4 colors? Do I go with the purple, green, and yellow art? Or my own painting?  (note: the bird pictures above the bed are meant to be replaced with antiqued wedding prints...I bought the frames simply for the gorgeous matting, not the prints inside)