A New Bed for Miss P

A few years ago I went to a sample sale for duvets for a Christmas present for my mom.  I walked out of there with an awesome deal for her and a sample sized duvet used for promo purposes in store for $5.  You know, the mini-mini sized ones where you can see it without taking it out of the packaging.

For years it was in a plain white cover that it came in and sat in the living room in our old bungalow.  In the new house, it found a new home in our bedroom and Penny couldn't have been happier but I wanted to spice things up. 

I headed over to Fabricland and found some textured fabric on sale, which made me very happy.  I was originally looking for something with a pattern to hide the mix of white and black dog hair but couldn't find anything that was suitable for sitting on the floor and a dog laying on it.

This project actually started two months ago and was finished a month later but I'm just getting around to posting some pictures.  This was what actually started the fight between me and the sewing machine.  When I got my new beauty machine, I finished this is mere hours.

It's a bed fit for our queen, Penny.  I took the measurements of the duvet and then shrunk the cover down by a couple inches to make sure it is nice and fluffy for her.  I often find her up there taking a nap at the same time as Audrey.  She is now sleeping in style we're happy that she isn't asking to come up with us.

You can see on this side of the room we've installed Pax wardrobes from Ikea.  A must considering our master bedroom closet is less than two feet wide.  We opted for the drawers on the outside to maximize what we can stuff in there, since we weren't able to fit a dresser in too. 

The chair was a find at the Fall Home Show here in Toronto for $125!  $125!!!  When I got it home, I started to clean it and found the original price tag from Decorium for $1299.  Most of it's use comes from Audrey in the mornings while I'm getting dressed and a place to put some clothes that are in between the closet and the hamper. 

Lots more planned for our bedroom and the whole upstairs but it will come in time!

Nursery Sewing

I usually learn things the hard way.  So when people told me not to spend a lot of money on bedding and whatnot for a nursery, I didn't listen.  When we found out we were expecting our first, my first trip to look at baby stuff was to Pottery Barn Kids.  I fell in love with the Sweet Lambie collection in warm whites and beige and, since we didn't want to know the gender, built the nursery around this.

Then Audrey was born and suddenly her gender neutral room wasn't girlie  enough for my little lady.  Over the past year, there have been additions to the room to make it more "her," but I am still longing for something that fits her little personality more.  Especially since the nursery phase just doesn't last that long.

So, for our boy's room, I wanted something that would grow along with him.  We also want to keep things reasonable price wise, so budget is a very important word around here.  I set to work trying to make what I could.

My first stop was fabric.com to search for all of the material I'd need.  I chose quite a bit of gray and white to keep things neutral, knowing that a lot of the accessories were going to give me the colour I am looking for. 

First up was the crib skirt.  I used the crib skirt from Audrey's crib as a template of sorts and then just winged it.  Here's the finished product.

 

I used an iron on hemming tape for all of the edging just to make sure everything looked crisp and clean.  Then, to make sure it was really secure I used my sewing machine to reinforce it.  With four finished pieces, I attached it to a piece of material as flaps and was finished!  Much easier than anticipated but measuring is super important.

 

Then I set to work making a couple change pas covers.  I chose a minky fabric with a dot stamped into it in a deeper gray.  Again, I didn't have a pattern and used a cover that we already had as a template.  This didn't go quite as smoothly, it was my first time sewing elastic into a project and that was a challenge.  Overall, I'm happy with the finished product, it's just a little looser than I'd like it to be.  I love crisp, tight linens.

 

 

You can see a little peek of red in the bottom picture, to the right.  That's the apple crate insert from this post.  The room isn't close to being finished but the basics are there.  Important since D-date is 10 days away! 

 

The list of to-do's is a little daunting.  We still need to purchase three of these shelves, build a pelmet, purchase drapes, and pick up some picture frames for some art that I won (more to come when actually framed!) and another piece from Etsy.  I'm also back on the hunt for a new rug after a disappointing first pass.  Friends, never trust colour descriptions on the internet. 

 

And now I'm off to pack my bag for the hospital!





Spray Paint Project #1

Months and months ago, I bought some Ribba frames from IKEA with the intention of spray painting them.  Since I was changing the colour, I chose a frame that appeared to be a medium wood tone because it was on sale.  Yea, that medium wood was actually a sticker.  Ugh.

Way, way back in October, I set to work lightly sanding all of the sticker so the spray paint would adhere to frame.  I finished one coat on one frame and it started to bubble.  Double ugh.  It would seem as though spray paint (or any paint for that matter) doesn't like the cold air.  So, the 1/20th finished project was shelved for the winter to wait for the warmer weather. 

This is what our room looked like for the past year.  I snapped this quick before photo just as I was getting ready to hang the pictures.

Finally in late May/early June, the weather was warm enough and I had some motivation to get going on this.  I finished spraying all of the frames last weekend and spent the past week searching through our honeymoon photos to fill the three frames.

And because who doesn't love the Italian Riviera, here are the three I chose.

We were in Cinque Terra, Italy in September 2010.  It was stunning.  We had spent the week and a half before arriving in Italy touring major cities and hoping on and off planes and trains so this was almost like heaven.  We spent two days relaxing on the beaches and touring the towns.  It will be nice to have a reminder right above our bed.

The matting that came with the frames meant I would've had to make a special trip downtown to pick up the over sized pictures so instead, I decided to make my own matting.  I like the look of off-centre pictures and knew if would be easier than trying to centre it so this was an easy decision.

Here's the finished project

When you walk into our room, it instantly feels more like intimate.  It feels good to finally have something up on the wall in our bedroom.  Starting to feel a little more "ours." 

I do have some more I'd like to change, but I move at a snail's pace due to things like budget, time, and man power.  I'm not in love with the wall colour and would like it a little warmer white.  It almost looks like a greenish white and that's not my thing.  Also, those lamp shade covers are begging to be replaced!  All in good time.  Oh, and the drapes that should be hanging in there are currently being used in the living room to avoid the fishbowl effect from the street.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads and soon-to-be dads out there.  I'd like to wish a special happy Father's Day to my husband, J.  He is a wonderful father to Audrey and I know he will be to our son, due to make his appearance July 5th.

Today we will be spoiling him with some breakfast in bed andlots of love.  We don't go crazy on gifts, so this year Audrey got him a few books about Daddy love that he can read to her before bedtime.

Father's Day is also a day of mixed emotions for me, having lost my dad a little over three years ago.  Today will also be a day to remember him and what a great father he was to me, my sister, and brother.  I know he would have been a fantastic grandfather to Audrey.

A Little Landscaping

Our backyard has a very serious case of the uglies.  After we had signed our names on the line to purchase the house, the previous owners came back and asked if they could take their grape vines with them.  This was fine by us!  As dog owners, we knew they had to go because they are poisonous to our precious Penny, the Boston Terrier - French Bulldog we call our first daughter.

Here's where we started:

Non-functioning water fountain of concrete with a couple rocks thrown in

 



Aftermath of the grape vines being dug up and the support structure across the roof of the garage

 



Another look at the beautiful water fountain and side garden

 

There was another grape vine structure running perpendicular to the garage that also turned into a bit of a pit with the concrete supports still anchored in the ground.  We also had our very own fruit market going back there - we had apple trees, pear, and cherry.  Four in total, that weren't in the greatest shape. 

First things first, we decided to put up a big wooden fence the weekend we took over.  Being on a corner lot, it was important for us to have our privacy and not have to wave at people walking by as we ate our dinner.  Additionally, for security and peace of mind, the old turquoise wooden door was replaced with a steel door. 

To assess the trees and see what needed what care, we decided to give it a year and see what happened. 

The action started back at the end of April when J took a week off to get things going.  He started with sledgehammer, crow bar, and rotary hammer drill to get that monstrosity you see above out!  A few trips to the transfer station later, all 3000lbs of debris has been cleared. 

Next up were two trees right smack in the middle of the yard which we cleared with a chain saw and a helping hand from a kind neighbour.  As the tree trunks were being cleared, another neighbour came over and suggested we use his friend's services - who happened to be a landscaper with a stump grinder.  For a little more than we would have paid to rent a machine from the Home Depot, they were out of there in less than a half hour.  Fantastic!

Once we finally had a blank slate, J started to lay the sod.  Hours later, it looked like this!

We also took action on the roof of the garage.  It was replaced shortly after the grass went in, it wasn't so nice after the grape vine supports came out.  We got even better news from the handful of people who quoted for us - the roof on the house has at least 10 years left on it.  Although, it might be replaced sooner - we just don't like the colour.  Green?  Really, people?!

A few weekends later, we decided to add a small garden in the back corner.  We were planning on holding off on creating a garden but some rogue lilies started popping up through the grass, so a garden it was.  And there it is

 

The shadows make it seem much smaller than it actually is, but it is about a foot and a half to two feet wide on the left side there.  I didn't go crazy with plantings, just a few perennials, some tall-ish ground cover and a few impatients to fill it.  Once things start to fill out in the next few months, I'll post some summer living pictures! 

 

Yes, we know the siding on the workshop of the garage is a major eye sore, but we're holding off on replacing it.  Time is ticking away and baby number two will be here in less than four weeks!