Cursing a Blå Streak.

Flerm! Florgen! Liilanglorp! (I ran out of English swear words while I was putting together my IKEA cabinet, and had to come up with some new ones.)

I'm not even going to get into how screamy and insane I got while hanging my new IKEA cabinet in the bathroom. We've all been there. All I'm saying is that I should probably have my mouth washed out with soap.

The good news is that my pal J and I went to IKEA today, and got all manner of housey-things. Our boss (who is clearly the best boss ever) drove us to IKEA, dropped us off and met up with us to help us load our heavy flat-packed boxes of frustration onto the trolley! What a guy! We plied him with meatballs in return, but I think J and I got the better deal.

J bought herself a couple of Expedit shelves to help organize her yoga area. We were looking at an 8-shelf one, but when we went to load that sucker on the cart it turned out to be HUGE! She settled on two 4-shelf units, instead. WAY easier to move, and a lot more flexible if she wants to repurpose them in the future.

I bought the aforementioned cabinet, a sink, a faucet, white towels, a ceiling light for the bathroom, hangers for the entryway, two shoe racks, a picture frame...quite the spree. Luckily, I had gift cards from Christmas, thanks to my dad and to my stepmom, and I put them to good use.

I haven't put my sink cabinet together yet, as I try to limit myself to one outright conniption per day. And until my flooring arrives and I install it, there's no rush. Tomorrow I'll get an early start and prep my foyer for painting. Not too keen on the painting itself, but I'll be really happy to get my new entryway system up and running. Can't wait to show you...stay tuned! For now, here are the photos of my new cabinet and my freshly staged bathroom shelves. ("Freshly staged bathroom shelves?" What have I become?!)

Lillangen cabinet.

Staged shelves. The blue DKNY towel was a HomeSense find. 

Stressed Out!

Normally, when I make a decision, I don't second-guess myself. I decide on a course and it gets done (not always quickly!) But  I was lying in bed a couple of hours ago and thinking about how much work it's going to be to move. Not so much the readying of the house, or even the actual move, I'm mostly concerned about what to do with our cats. My plan all along has been to rent a small apartment for a couple of months while the house is on the market (hopefully it won't be longer than that!) My husband and I would take turns staying there with the cats, and it would also give us a place to store our excess stuff so the house is less crowded, airy and properly staged. I just don't think anyone's gonna walk into a crowded house full of kitties and jump to make an offer, you know? I also worry about the cats running off if the house is full of strangers at open houses and viewings. I know it's not ideal, but the only other way is to purchase the new house before I sell this house and that's just not in the cards! (Unless I win that lottery that I don't play.)

After lying around worrying about cats (clearly I'm neurotic, but I've gotta put my pets first!) I thought, 'Well...what if we just don't move?' I mean, it would make sense in a lot of ways. I even made a Pro and Con list (not typical!) Pros: -It would be way easier. -We wouldn't have to worry about the cats. -We probably won't be able to afford to be right in the neighbourhood we want anyways, and would likely end up on the outer fringe of it (not so far from where we are now.)
-We would save a lot of money staying in this house.
Cons: -This place is too small for us, and I don't love the neighbourhood.
I thought, maybe I'm being elitist for wanting to live in a nice neighbourhood. The pros seemed to outweigh the cons, so I woke up my husband and told him what I'd been thinking. If you knew C, and how much he hates change and projects, you could imagine his response!

I racked my brain for a couple of hours about how to make this house work for us, and thought I'd come up with some good ideas. I was kind of relieved to be taking the easy way out. I drew up some floor plans and everything was going alright until I started drawing up the living room plan. I tried every combination of things I could, using my existing furniture. I was going over and over where I could fit my daybed and my lamps and tables that I have in storage and I realized that there was no way to make it work. I would have to buy all new furniture for the room, and either get rid of the beautiful pieces I've had in storage (eagerly awaiting a house that they'll fit in) or keep them wrapped up in my basement, where I don't get to enjoy them at all. I know it seems silly to base a big decision on whether or not my daybed will fit in the living room, after all it's just stuff, but I think it's symptomatic of this house. 808 square feet is small! We've lived here for 6 years and we've outgrown it. I've always seen myself living in my favourite neighbourhood, in a (slightly) bigger house, close to work and friends, and I'm going to commit to doing it, even if it IS going to be a pain in my ass! Guess the easy way out doesn't apply this time!
(I think I'll wait til morning to wake up my husband again and tell him the revised plan. Ooops.)

You deserve a picture of a stressed out cat.

Greige.

I just got back from my quick trip to Toronto, where I attended the CGTA, a trade show for the gift and housewares industry. I also had a good time at the Mode Show, a jewellery and accessories show that happens at the same time as the CGTA. So here I am, back to -27 temperatures (-42 with the windchill!) and back to a house that my husband let fall to ruin in my 3 day absence. How that guy can create that much mess in that short of a time, I'll never know. It's a good thing he's so cute.

The CGTA was better this time around than the one last summer. I found a couple of new suppliers for the store, including a wholesaler that carries fairly traded Cambodian bags and wallets, and an East Indian supplier of beautiful home goods. Great pillows and small tapestries and bohemian metal and glass chimes. All the stuff I bought for the store and for myself will take a month or so to arrive. As far as house stuff goes, I was awfully good! I hardly bought myself anything! Such restraint, but I figure I want to move soon, so unless it's AMAZING I think I should wait until I'm in my next house. I did succumb to a gorgeous East Indian silk quilt and throw pillows, but you'll see why! (The waiting is the hardest part...) And I met Cobi Ladner!! For me it was like meeting Mick Jagger. She is a great designer, who edited Canadian House and Home magazine for 18 years, and she has a brilliant collection of pieces. She was very gracious and liked the motto my boss told her..."Life is short, have nice stuff!"

I did spend a bit of time and a lot of money at Anthropologie, where I bought nothing for myself (!) but many beautiful gifts for my friends whose birthdays are coming up (or have just passed, like my friend and colleague F, who had to work BY HERSELF on her BIRTHDAY while the boss and I were at the gift show!)  I did buy myself something I've been wanting for 2 years...a super cute portable turntable from Urban Outfitters, which worked great in the hotel, but broke on the plane. Heartbroken, but I will try to repair it.

Today I went to Home Depot to choose my staging colours. I bought a gallon of Behr's "Chocolate Froth" which I'm hoping will be the ideal colour for the foyer, hallway, living room and dining room. It's pretty much just a pale greige. I'll try it in the foyer first, and I think it'll work out. Hopefully I'll be able to start painting on Sunday, so as soon as I'm done, I'll post some exciting greige photos! Here's a sample of the colour for now...

"Chocolate Froth" by Behr.

Cobi Ladner of cobistyle

cobistyle couch

cobistyle armchair

cobistyle collection

I've finally started a project!

When I started this blog a year ago, the plan was to put my house on the market in April of this year. Well! That's not happening! A few months ago my husband (who is not a "project-guy") begged me to postpone the move. He's a little concerned about the scope of the work to be done (not that he'll be doing very much of it!) I think he's mostly concerned with the costs involved in fixing up the house for sale. Always fiscally responsible, my husband. Lame!

Anyhow, being a master procrastinator, I agreed to wait until April 2014 to list the house. That gives me a whole year to repaint, fix up the basement, and tackle the myriad of little things that need to be done in order to show a hundred year old house in it's best light. If you saw my list, I think you'd agree that I'll need it!

But for now...I've started a project! I've been working on my bathroom for the past 3 days, turning it from a fiesta to a calm oasis. BOOOOOORING! I started with choosing the paint colours (Aerial View from CIL and White Glove from Behr.) I used Behr's Premium Ultra Plus paint because it's got the primer built in, and the gals at the paint store swore that it would cover even super dark colours. It really worked! It's amazing, and it's what I'll be using from now on. There's still lots to do, but I've ordered my floor, which I really hope will work, cuz I've already paid for it! I've also chosen my sink, faucet, wall cabinet and light fixture from IKEA, I just have to go pick them up. That'll have to wait until after I return from the Canadian Gift and Tableware Association trade show in Toronto. I'm looking forward to the trip, I'm sure I'll find great new stuff for the store, not to mention stuff for me! Mostly I'm looking forward to visiting with my sister A!

Here's a sneak peek of the bathroom, before and after. And by after, I mean "during."

The Before shot! Fiesta bano! I took the Guatemalan tapestry shower curtain down before I took the photo ...ooops! Trust me, it was fun.

Fiesta bathroom.

New shower curtain. Was going to order it from Urban Outfitters for $44, but they wanted $40 for shipping! I found this one which is EXACTLY the same for $35 at Jysk, of all places.

New floating shelves, also from Jysk. I was going to get lack shelves from IKEA, but they were too long for the space.  Baskets were a Home Sense find.

To be styled...crisp white or the perfect robin's egg blue towels. 

Little soap vignette! Thanks to A & G for the skullies and C & J for the cute dish. The tall dish I bought at the thrift store for 50 cents! Go me!

Pierced metal mirror.

Faux Art...I like to call it "Faaaaaaaaaaaaart." This one was a $9 Jysk special. The blank space is where the dark brown cabinet will be.

Anthropolo-joke

 I love Anthropologie, I really do. They've got some truly beautiful stuff, and I appreciate that. When I'm  in a city with an Anthro store, I go. I always buy something, but it's almost always something small or on sale, because MAN, the prices for 85% of their stuff are just outrageous. My friend and colleague J and I were at work yesterday drooling over their website (Ummmm....we were on a break. Maybe.) and we came across the Twinkling Trove Jewelry Box. It's not a piece that blows my mind, but I think it's nice enough. Essentially, it's a teak root box with a small amethyst cluster glued on top. Yours for only $198 US! J and I gave each other our best slack-jawed looks of incredulity (hers is pretty good!)  and then she went over to the pile of teak root boxes that we sell (for $20), grabbed an amethyst out of the rock box ($6) and brought them over to the desk. "So...this is $200?" Man, we are in the wrong line of work!

Well, I bought that box and that rock from work, took 'em home and glued them together. All in, you could make this project for about $30, including the glue. (I already had some silicon glue on hand, so with my discount at work, this project cost me about $18. And it took less than 5 minutes.)

My dear ol' dad suggested that I use a dremel tool to cut the perfect sized notch for the amethyst to fit in, and if I were to make one again, that's just what I'd do. This time, I wanted to make it like Anthro's, and their stone is just on top, not nicely nestled. I thought about making a photo-tutorial, but it would've just been a pic of me dabbing silicon glue on to a rock. Use your imaginations.

Here are the comparisons!

Anthropologie's Twinkling Trove Jewelry Box ($168 for small, $198 for large.)

Aynsley's Bootleg Bounty Box (less than $30 to make.)

This time I win, Anthropologie.

Oh, right, I have a blog.

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions, but here's one anyway. I will go to the gym! I will remember that I have a blog! I will come up with things to post! My three faithful readers, I will try not to disappoint you!

I hope everyone's holidays were full of love, friends and family. And the most important thing of all... presents! (*SORT-OF-JUST-KIDDING!*)

I was thoroughly spoiled and did my best to spoil everyone in my wake. My gifty friend J (who has great taste) went nuts and got me (amongst other things) a great piece of art by Jon Todd, a pillow in the shape of a bat and a Day of the Dead bath towel. My sister A bought me a beautiful cowl and the Day of the Dead bottle opener that I wanted so much, but couldn't justify! My cousin's boyfriend Sean McLachlan had me in the Christmas draw (which I rigged so we could get each other...secret's out.)  He's a great young artist and it was well worth rigging the draw and facing Grandma's wrath as S gave me a beautiful woodcut print of a map of Portage & Main that he made, plus a bound journal and a groovy magnet for my spectacular magnet collection. I got him a small piece by Jordan Van Sewell. I was on the receiving end of a great JVS piece myself, which my husband bought for me. He has great taste in wives and art. One of my other fun house gifts was the new industrial style coffee table from IKEA from my aunt L. My very sweet and generous in-laws bought me a gorgeous, cozy sweater and showered me with jewelry. I saw my super friend Lil' A today, and she gave me a groovy Day of the Dead ring and Day of the Dead top. I'm pretty sure there's a Dia de los Muertos theme going on, and I'm liking it!

My dad, stepmom and mom all got me gift certificates to IKEA and Home Depot, though it almost killed my dad to resort to giving me gift cards. (He's a very generous and gifty guy...it's a family trait.) But it's what I asked for so I can FINALLY start this house project! (More in my next post! I've gotta string this stuff out to keep the three of you coming back for more.)

Great artwork by Jon Todd, thanks to my friend J.

IKEA PS 2012 coffee table, from my aunt.

Day of the Dead corkscrew from my sister A.

Jordan Van Sewell wall piece, thanks to my fella.

Another fabulous gift. Woodcut image by my friend Sean McLachlan.

Bonus! Fossil handbag...looks like an acid trip with handles.

Dia de los Muertos Wallpaper

                                             Just had to share! How amazing is this?

                                                        Dia de los Muertos Wallpaper