New Living Room Cushions

Do you ever feel like decorating is two steps forward and one back.  Well that is certainly how it is around here.  I recently noticed how grubby the cover on our sofa was looking so I took it off and washed it, but then when I put it on I noticed that some of the throw pillows were stained as well.  One thing led to another and I had to drop by Home Sense and get some new pillows for the sofa.  

Now selecting cushions for the living room is always a little tricky because of the colours in the carpet.  My Great-grandparents were missionaries in South China in the early years of the last century and they brought many wonderful things home with them when they finally returned to Canada in the 1920s.  This silk carpet was one of the treasures they brought back and we are very pleased that it has made its way to our home.  While I love the connection to my Grandmother (as I always remember it being in her living room) and her parents, the rug has a variety of colours some of which I find difficult to decorate around.  

As you can see the carpet has some peachy - salmony colours which are not my favourites so I avoid decorating with them.  I do like a darker version of this colour, however, like rich rust colours so I looked for some cushions in that shade.   The colours I like best in the carpet (surprise, surprise) are the teal and turquoise colours.  So I looked for cushions that had either the turquoise colours or the the rust colour or both in them and these are the cushions I found.
Home Sense only had one that I liked in the rust colour, but I may keep my eyes peeled for another one to balance the sofa out.  

The ones on either end are my favourite as they remind me of a William Morris print.  Here's a close-up view:

I also really like the pale blue linen one on the right hand end of the sofa,

and the one in the middle is a nod to the ever popular chevron pattern (although it almost looks like a zebra and a chevron stripe got together and this is the baby they produced).

Having new cushions on the sofa means I have to have them arranged perfectly at all times so that I can admire them whenever I happen to go by the room.  Anyone else do that?

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Come on in for a Visit

I'm so glad you stopped by for a visit - welcome.   

The front porch has a few Christmas touches - twig stars, shiny balls hung on twigs and placed in the lanterns,

and touches of white on the wreath and the little girl's skates.

 Come on inside out of the cold.  Would you like a cup of tea?

some cookies?

Let me show you around.  


I kept the mantel pretty simple this year - just the spindle Santas and some pine cones.  Can't get much simpler than that, but I love it.  Those spindle Santas are near and dear to our hearts - each one has a special story which you can read about here.

I did something a little different in the dining room.  I've never done a colour scheme before, but really wanted to try doing the sideboard in red and white this year.  I love how simple and fresh it looks.  (You can read more about the sideboard and see more pictures here).

I've been meaning to show you how I created the plates.  I wanted to let you in on a little secret about how easy they were to do.  They really depended more on my ability to copy designs and do some good Googling than on any actual inherent talent.  Oh, and it definitely helped my psyche to know that I could wash the Sharpie off the plates - I'm not sure why it would scrub off as usually Sharpie is permanent, but when I found out I could remove it I felt a lot freer to experiment and try designs.


The Christmas lights were from an image I found online.  The first time I drew the bulbs they were all different sizes and shapes and looked ... well ... not right.  So I made a little stencil out of cardboard and used that so the bulbs were similar to each other.

Lighting Pictures

The idea for the Christmas balls came from a Folio Society ad that we got in the mail.  I knew I couldn't draw the gorgeous designs they had on the balls so I improvised.

The snowflake picture came from an embroidery design that I found online.  I simplified it as well as you can see below.

Green Crafts

And the Christmas tree was a modification of the many scribble trees you can find online, like the one below.

Want 2 Scrap

I'm so glad you dropped by for a visit.  We're putting our tree up this weekend so pop back to have a look.   We would already have it up, but Kate isn't back from university yet and she's a Christmas-loving girl so we thought we would wait for her.

Linked to Virtual Christmas House Tour at The Inspired Room,
Holiday House Tour at Hooked on Houses,
DIY Ornaments Holiday Crafts Link Party at Centsational Girl,
Christmas Crafts at Bower Power

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Stepping Back

I finally had the perfect trio of time, daylight, and a clean kitchen to get some photos of how the shelves look (you can read about them here).

And as for the details on the shelves:

• Bowls from Anthropologie - check.
• Toy truck from Bangladesh - check.
• Condiments container from France - check
• Baskets to corral junk like tape and candles and batteries - check, check, check, and check!

Did you notice the collection of vintage mason jars on the counter?  They are an early Christmas present from a friend and I'm working on the details of using them on the sideboard at Christmas.  Stay tuned!

Oh, and did you notice the chocolates that coordinate with the accent colour on the shelves.  Very important to always have chocolates that coordinate with your decor.

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The $3 Addition to Our Kitchen

As some of you know I had a wild and crazy spring and was away for most of the summer so not much got done around our casa.  In fact, more like the opposite happened - things rather deteriorated.  The main floor was fine, but if you opened any cupboard or went down to the basement the disorganization became apparent.  I've been spending my time over the past two months putting things aright.  I'm not, by any means, finished yet, but I'm working on it and it feels good to declutter and claim back the house.   I really wish it was more interesting blog material though.  


So let's talk instead about something much more interesting than decluttering and tidying. I've been working on an insanely labour-intensive, but very frugal $3 addition to our kitchen.


Here is how things evolved.  I painted our kitchen cabinets last summer and love them (you can read the details here).  However, one of the things that remained undone was finishing the open shelves.   I had always wanted to put something on the back of the shelves to liven things up, but I wasn't sure what to do and what colour to use.  

I collected inspiration photos and let the ideas percolate through my mind - for over a year!  Apparently I have a slow percolation time.  Here are a few of the photos I love.  I considered painting the back of the shelves a solid colour, but I wasn't sure what colour would work since the kitchen is open to the dining room and family room.  I love these two photos below:

Our Humble Abode

Domino

Then it occurred to me that what I really wanted was a modern simple pattern to liven things up like in the photo below.

Manola Home

That still didn't solve the colour problem however.  One day when I was staring at the kitchen trying to decide what colour to use it occurred to me that gray would be the perfect choice.  Not only would it be flexible enough to coordinate with any colours I put on the shelf, but it would match the colours already in the kitchen since the cupboards are painted gray and white.  I considered wallpaper, but had no idea where I could get the small piece that I needed without spending a fortune on a whole roll.  Then I thought of a solution to the problem, which was to paint the pattern using the dark grey paint that I had used on the lower cabinets.  That way the colour would be a perfect match and it would be free since I had leftover paint.  And I do love freebies.  


My next problem was where to get a stencil or a pattern that I could use.  When I came across some of the remnants of the patterned material I had used in the basement I thought I would try using it (you can see the material rolled up in the photo below and on our basement wall here).  

The plan was to cover some foam core boards with the fabric and paint it using the cabinet paint.  But that wasn't how things turned out.  Why, oh why, do craft projects always have more twists and turns than a mountain road.  I guess it's all part of the fun.


When I put the paint on the fabric it bled into the material.  Oops!  I guess that's why they invented fabric paint.

On to Plan B.  


I decided to trace around the design with a pen (you can see that I've started in the photo above) which left a slight indent in the foam core board that was underneath the fabric.  Then I painted the sections that were orange in the fabric with the grey paint.  

You can see I needed to use two foam core boards to cover the back of the cupboard which means there is a seam.   Not to worry though, the seam is behind the shelf.


It took a couple of days to fully dry and then I put the painted boards up and did a bit of styling.  I went for a limited colour palette of yellow and white which is a combination I love.

I'll add another photo of the whole kitchen when I have time this weekend.   


Oh, and the $3 was the cost of two foam core boards.  Since I already had the paint the project was otherwise free, unless you count my time that is!  It took me a ridiculous amount of time to paint the grey, although I did find it very relaxing and peaceful to paint (and drink copious amounts of tea) while the rain poured down and the wind howled outside.   Using painted foam core board has the additional advantage of being easy to change if I decide I want to do something different in the future.

p.s.  You can see more photos of the shelves in this post.


Linked to:
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming, 
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style,
Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating,
Inspiration Friday at At the Picket Fence,
Potpourri Friday at 2805,
Thrifty Thursdays at Inspired by Charm,
White Winter Vignette and Linky Party at Songbird

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Is It Wrong to Decorate with Beer Bottles?

Decorating with beer bottles really is a win-win situation.  Hubby is happy to drink the contents and then I soak off the label and put some pussy willows in the empty bottles for the mantel.  

Aren't the bottles lovely with the St. Peter's Brewery seal pressed into them.

I love watching pussy willows emerge in the spring.  They seemed just the thing to put out on our mantel right now.

Linked to Countdown to Spring Party at Domestically Speaking
and Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
and Spring Mantel Party at Women Who Do it All

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Christmas House Tour

We've truly and finally decorated for Christmas.  I'm pretty late getting the decorating done and this post up - there have been Christmas house tours all over blogland for weeks - but nonetheless here is a tour of our Christmas decorations.

 Welcome to our home.  You will notice that there is a winter wreath up now on the front door instead of the fall one.  Always a good start to have a winter wreath up when it is wintery weather outside.

Let me take your coat - come on in and I'll show you around.  First stop is the living room, where we have our little Christmas scene on the cabinet.

I love the little play being performed in the window of the puppet shop.

 On one side you can see a little girl making a snowman,

and on the other side St. Nicholas is coming for a visit through the holly-covered archway.

This year I limited the decorations in the living room to blues/turquoises and silver/gold/metallic shades as those are the colours in the carpet and furniture.

I bought these glass pine cones at Loblaws, the local grocery store.  I love that they look woodsy and elegant at the same time.

I found these glass balls at a thrift shop recently and bought all the turquoise, silver, red, and gold they had.  I'm not sure if they are really vintage or just look vintage, but either way I think they look pretty.

I love how this aqua glass vase, that we bought in Bath, England several years ago, looks with all the turquoise in this room.   I put some salt at the bottom to be faux snow and then put a little votive candle inside with some shiny turquoise and silver snowflakes standing up around the edge.

These silver and blue balls also came from Loblaws.  I bought them last year in the 75% off sale to make one of those glass ball ornament wreaths - you can see how well that went!  I rather like them in the tall vase though. 

I made the little bead star that is lying on the table (there is another one on the coffee table) several years ago with Kate and her friends, following directions from a Martha Stewart Christmas magazine.

Maybe you would like to come into the dining room for a bite to eat.   

We put our Christmas tree (you can read more about it here) in the biggest space we have available, which is in between the dining room and the family room.   There will be nine of us here on Christmas morning so it will get a bit crowded and we will need lots of room for presents and people.

The table decor is very simple largely because this is our only table to eat at, do crafts at, decorate cookies at - you get the picture - so the centrepiece is always being moved around.  I usually put a group of candles in the middle of the table as we like to eat dinner by candlelight every evening.  IKEA has the most wonderful grouping of pillar candles which you can see in the photo below - there are five in the package all in different heights and widths so they make an interesting grouping.  I always put the candles on this silver tray that my Father gave us - it was given to him when he retired from teaching, but he and my Mother are not really the silver sort so they passed it on to us.  I especially like that my Father worked for the same school board that I now work for and the name is engraved on the centre of the tray.

The sideboard seemed like a good place for our homemade nativity scene.  Every year our church had a Christmas craft event and about ten years ago this was the project that we worked on.  It was such a big project that we actually did it over three years - first Mary, Joseph, and Jesus; the next year the three kings; and the last year the angel, shepherds and animals.

Here's a close-up of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus,

and the three kings,

and the shepherd with the animals.

The runner is one I bought a few years ago at Pottery Barn after Christmas at a huge reduction.  I like that I can use it all winter as it is trees and snowflakes, rather than anything too Christmassy.

Did you notice the piece of white painted antique trim that I bought recently along the back of the sideboard.  We didn't have time to attach it above the sliding door so I thought it would look nice on the sideboard.   I like it there, but you can't really see it too well.

I also put two wooden candlesticks on the sideboard to give the vignette some height.  These candlesticks were made by my Father's Grandfather and I love having them out.  For the rest of the year they are on our mantel, but the mantel is crowded with spindle Santas right now so I moved the candlesticks to the sideboard.

Let's make a cup of tea in the kitchen, shall we?  I did decorate a bit in the kitchen, but only the new open shelves - that was enough let me tell you.  I spent quite a bit of time messing around with the top shelf and got many opinions from family members as to how I was doing.  This is what I finally settled on.

I put these pretty glass candles on the top shelf.  We bought them eight years ago when we spent Christmas in England and I love the delicate gold and white pattern against the pinky-red wax.

The top shelf also has the Anthropologie bowls I bought last summer when I finished painting the kitchen cabinets - but only the more Christmassy colours.  Because I needed to fill the shelf up so I could stop messing around with it, I put out the red jug and two Christmas balls - and called it a day!

On the middle shelf I put a gray-blue oval platter against the back wall.  I thought it would look like the moon or at least a nice colour contrast with the sweet Santa and sleigh that my friend gave me a couple of years ago for my birthday.

 

It's made in Germany and has the most wonderful details.  Here's a close-up of Santa and his lantern,

and here's the sleigh loaded with toys and being followed by some deer.  Isn't it just too cute for words.

On the bottom shelf I put a wooden Christmas tree that we made nine years ago.  The wood came from a long piece that was part of some door trim from the house my Mother grew up in.  We chopped the piece into segments, which meant they were Christmas tree shaped.  The kids painted them for teachers and Grandparents and we kept one for ourselves as well.

Are you still with me?   For a relatively small house there sure are a lot of decorations.  Right, we are almost done.  Down at the other end of the room is the family room and the only Christmas decorating I did there was the mantel.  You can read my previous posts about the spindle Santas and letters made from twine.

The only thing I haven't finished yet is making a stocking for the newest soon-to-be family member, our eldest son's fiance Christie.  She is joining us for Christmas this year so I'm going to sew her a stocking.  When I show you her stocking I'll also tell you about the other ones that I made years ago in what may possibly be the world's longest lasting craft project - stay tuned!

Oh, and thanks for joining me in the tour.  Come back soon!

Linked to Christmas 2010 Tour of Homes at Kelly's Korner
Saturday Soiree at *a little lovely 
Share the Decor at No Minimalist Here

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