DIY Blinds!

Remember the post from awhile ago, where I found out how to make your own Roman Blinds for cheap {thanks to the Little Green Notebook blog}? So, Lynn Bloomer and I tried it out on my new house! I ordered some beauty fabric from Tonic Living, purchased two pairs of cheapo $3 blinds from Walmart. Total cost for 2 blinds = $56 (but I think I ordered too much fabric...so will make a table cloth out of that!). We definitely made some dumbo mistakes along the way, but it was so much fun and my new blinds look marvy. What do you think?

Step 1: Buy the crappy Walmart Blinds.

Step 2: Measure measure measure, cut cut cut (definitely open to dumbo errors)

Step 3: Uh oh what do we do next?! I don't get it!! Good thing Lynn Bloomer is an architect.

Step 4: Ohhh we have to cut out all the ladder-like strings

Step 5: Rrrriiip

Step 6: Oh my, I have glue stick envy

Step 7: Glue them together with the enviable glue stick!

Step 8: Put 'em up...ta da!!

painting interior doors

Original inspiration for painting our interior doors comes from Nate Berkus' apartment, which I will never cease to love (from Oprah.com):

I posted this one before, from Remodelista. This one's more of a subtle colour:

Fun fun fun, I want at least one fun door in my house:

Black is neat too:

Here's some red and yellow for Shayna Bloomer:

Can't tell if this dark blue or black, but i love it nonetheless:

{pics 6 -9 from Little Green Notebook}

This post is for my Craigger. You see, I have my heart on painting the interior doors of our house a funky colour, and I want to show him how cool it looks before I do it (lucky for me that he's always open to my crazy ideas)! I'm having a bit of trouble picking the colours though. I know I want the front door to be a nice funky yellow, but I think having ALL the doors that colour is waaayyy too much. So, maybe I should keep all others white?! But that does not adhere to my need to de-suburbanize, so the thought of white doors really does upset me. So, I'm thinking that maybe I could do them a complimenting shade of yellow that is very, very light. Or maybe a light grey? I don't know! Any suggestions, Bloomers?

my future kid's room

Look how cute this baby / kid room is! Love the natural manzanita branch with origami mobile hanging from it. I love the funny monster paintings on the door too. I am so going to do this one day for my little munchkin! {from Lynn Bloomer via Emmas Designblogg}

who is taylor swift's stylist?! damn they're good.

Ok so, seriously, this girl can't miss. Or her stylist can't miss. I mean, she is an angel, there is NO doubt about that. But her makeup is always flawless. And her hair. I had a conversation about this with Joelle Bloomer on the weekend, but then last night on the America Music Awards, it was a whole different perfect look! My favourite look is the red lips - she does this right! She makes it look really classy, not vampy at all. I think I'd like to take some pointers from Taylor.

Red lip Taylor:

Neutral Taylor:

{this was her at the AMA's last night...I hardly recognized her in straight hair and bangs!}

eat your heart out!

Look at this yum-azing site called MING MAKES CUPCAKES...passed along to me by my Cousin Julia Bloomer (thank you thank you thank). Goodness gracious me, I want to make all of these, this weekend ... please! This lady is just like one of us, realized one day that she had never baked a cake from scratch, so decided to try making a whole bunch of cupcakes and cookies, and then posted the ones that worked well for her on a website! So, recipes and pictures are all included for us. I don't know which one to try first...the marshmallow mint? the nutella one? the key lime one? the espresso chocolate? the fig one? the one made with guiness?
Enjoy your weekend Bloomers - hope you have time to try a couple of these recipes out (and if you do, let me know how it tastes)!
{all photos and recipes from MING MAKES CUPCAKES}

cute lil paper art ... i want one (or two or three)!

Oh my, look how adorable these paper art pieces these are? The yellow bird would look SUPER in my bedroom. I think I'm going to get a series of three...not sure which ones though!! Maybe these three? I love the brown little guy too. So simple. The best part is they are made by a local artist, Celeste Gagnon Smale, and sold out of Markham - which means FINALLY something cute with NO custom and duties for fellow Torontonians :) Helloooo Christmas gifts!!! Check out the esty site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CelesteGS?ref=pr_shop_more

oh but look at this little blue jay! hee. he doesn't match my house colours but I still want him!

desparate search for pendant lamps

Back to my house now for a minute. Things are coming along REALLY well, but there are still details to be figured out! The builders put the ugliest ceiling lamps that could possibly exist in our dining room. It needs to be replaced pronto. And I really have a true love for pendant lamps, but when I actually tried to look for something affordable, it was not so easy! But alas, here's what I've found...I ended up buying the Barn Light Warehouse Pendant in yellow. Can't wait until it arrives!!

Called a "Barn Light Warehouse Pendant." I am biased towards anything with the word barn in it. I picked this one but in bright yellow! It was the most affordable option that had the simplicity I was looking for...see below for what it will look like on my ceiling...{barn light electric}


mine will look like this but in bright yellow...weee!

i love the cage, but mine won't have the cage unfortunately...{barn light electric}

I loved loved loved loved this lamp from CB2. But the shipping was basically the same amount as the lamp! Otherwise I might have picked this puppy. {from CB2}

Ikea USED to stock this lamp, called the Septim Pendant Light...I would have definitely bought this! The shape is exactly right! Poo on Ikea for not selling this anymore. {Ikea}

This is the pendant that Ikea sells now...it is nice, but it's too round and bubbly for me.{from Ikea}

I thought this was super cool too! From Anthropologie. Was just a bit too small for my space, but would seriously consider it for another room in the house, fo shizzle! {from Anthropologie}

baby bloomer alert: Noam Ethan Shemesh

He's herrrreee!! Finally, the little tyke made an appearance. On November 15th at 10:49am, Shayna Bloomer delivered her VERY HANDSOME little sock monkey, Noam Ethan Shemesh. At 8.8 lbs (yes, Bloomers have big healthy babies for such little people), delivered by c-section, the adorable little package of Noam appears to be one chillaxed little dude! He is definitely an old soul. Can't wait to see this little sock monkey grown into the first Baby Boy Bloomer!! Congrats Shayna Bloomer and Dan on a WONDERFUL procreation :)

the apprentice design challenge...oh the horror!

Did anyone else witness the cringe-worthy episode of The Apprentice last night?? The challenge was to create a display for Kim Kardashian's new perfume. The girls team came up with this rickety craft of horrors! I'm not sure these pictures do it justice...it was much worse than it looks! My cheeks were on fire as I watched them pull out glue guns, gems, boas, jewels and a hand drawn sign with sparkles...for a Kim Kardashian display!!! It was like a tween craft fantasy gone completely wrong. Kim's face was priceless when she came in to see it...I don't know how she kept a straight face but she had this funny pasted smile the whole time. I wouldn't have been so gracious I don't think. Poppy, the Project Manager, was so impressed with herself and her attention to detail...she hand bedazzled every gem herself with a glue gun :) Oh it was some good tv...

Happy Weekend Bloomies!

hoop genius

I'm totally inspired by this guy...he's beautiful.

{Click on pic above or click here to watch}

superman's condo

Ok, it's not really Superman's house, but this is what it would look like if it were. It belongs to a physical therapist in New York City...a penthouse apartment in Manhattan, which she bought 10-20 years ago. 600 square feet = squishy. But that didn't stop her from making it look super cool, bright and colourful. Even open and airy if I do say so myself? I'm impressed ... I love it. And will keep it mind if I am ever forced to move to New York City (at which point I will probably only be able to afford a bachelor if even!). All the pics, plus more, including an article about this apartment can be found on NY Times.com}