Saturday, September 18, 2010

beautiful hydrangea trees


The best part about autumn for the Bloomers is seeing the Pee Gee hydrangrea trees at our Dad's house bloom and turn pink. This year, they are especially delicious. Our Mom (truly the original Bloomer) planted them years ago, and had this vision of them being incorporated into the deck. We carried that vision out for her a few years ago, and boy are they ever spectacular. Mom, I hope you can see how beautiful they are.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

bholu

I fell in love with this Australian design company called Bholu a while back. I really wanted to use some of their wallpaper for the nursery but in the end it was a bit out of my budget plus we changed our whole colour scheme and it didn't match anymore. But I wanted to to share it with everyone as it is truly an amazing company. All the designs come from drawings of underprivileged children between the ages 3 -7 years who are living in slum communities. Owner, Jodie Fried, goes into the slums with fresh food and water for the children and gives them a chance to create, have fun and be children. These adorable designs are the outcome of such sessions:





I love the series of wallpaper they have. The Mavis Monkey wallpaper was what I wanted in the nursery...I just love those monkeys! Marjorie the duck and Frederick the Elephant are pretty freaking awesome too!


You can also get the same creatures in rug form...here is Mavis Monkey again {oh Mavis!} and Quintin the Giraffe.




And here are just a few examples of the creatures you can buy just because - Abraham the Dinosaur and Ignatius Critter. Awwww....

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

repurposed vintage suitcases

Over time I realize I collected a lot of pictures for repurposed vintage suitcases. Guess it started with the circus wedding and continued on into plans for my house. As part of my wedding shower gift I was given this gorgeous baby blue vintage suitcase that currently is sitting at my Dad's house just waiting to be craftily used...



I love both of these...I don't have enough room at the foot of my bed otherwise I would totally love a suitcase trunk on teal legs! And this little side table is so cute on its blue stand! One day I'll have one of these for sure. Top pic found via create.love.grow blog and the second pic found via Journal of Modern Craft.



If I had a pet I would totally do this...but I don't...and I probably won't. Found via The Stir.



Another side table of cuteness. Paired with a fan increases the adorableness by three...not sure of the muffin picture though...but if it were an actual cupcake perched there for the taking it would be my heaven. Found somewhere on via Daisy Pink Cupcake



Medicine cabinet suitcase! Found via Poetic Home.




Another medicine cabinet suitcase...I like the pully-outy mirror! And why not make it a booze cabinet? both found via Davison Creators.


Monday, September 13, 2010

gotta love kanye







Ok, let's get over it, Kanye can be a wanker, but he's brillant. He really just is. I always think his music and live performances are so great (I would like to toast all the as*holes and d*ouchebags too btw), but this time I also felt mesmerized by the stage design during his performance on the VMAs last night. SO super awesome cool! The set was just black and then white, and his crazy bright red suit stood out starkly against it. BUT, the ballerinas made it even COOLER! I LOVED the colour of their outfits. They were just so dang pretty, weren't they? Even when they got down and did a bit of ballet hip hop. I wanted to see more of them do the ballet hip hop...it was so neat!! Here's a link to the video...http://vodpod.com/watch/4432354-mtv-vma-performance-kanye-west-feat-pusha-t-runaway-meetthadealer. If this link is taken down due to copyright, you can watch it on mtv.ca on demand here. It's clip # 46. Enjoy!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

a blinds dilemma

I'm having a blinds / curtains dilemma. Our new house has so many lovely big windows in it, but since it's so close to the street and our neighbours...well, we basically have to slink our way across the floor - a la Mission Impossible style - in order to not be seen at night. I DID buy temporary Canadian Tire blinds on Day 2 of living here ... but clearly aren't cutting it for me. So what to do, what to do? I have always grown up with curtains in my houses, so I was thinking of a serious change to blinds! I don't know why but I've been leaning towards roller blinds...I want something very natural, but that looks airy, comfortable and loose too...not too formal like normal wood blinds. Thoughts?
i love the texture but simplicity of these roller blinds, and the little drop shape pull cord it comes with!
a nice papery texture could be cool...look at this cool little pull cord too.

...but also simple charcoal-y linen type of fabric would really be neat, especially with the charcoal-on-charcoal colour scheme to come...{pic 1,2,3 above from New Textile House}

these natural Roman Blinds are gorgeous though! {from french general}

i don't love this green pattern per se, but it could be fun to get a really funky cool colourful set of blinds in one room....maybe something in a bright orangey yellow! I think I might actually do this as a project this winter. Look, Apartment Therapy tells you how to make your own roller blinds here!!

... so the other night i was watching Macgruber with Craig (ahhh not sure if I really loved that movie), and in Vicky's house, she had the coolest blinds. I found out they are called Honeycomb blinds ... they open at the top. Kinda like these (the middle one) from Smith and Noble. I really like this look!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

teeny entryway dilemma: where to fit the stroller?!

So my thinking that we only had the nursery left to decorate in our condo was incorrect...we discovered we have an entryway design problem...YAAAY! I thought my design problems were finished and was a bit bummed. Creative thinking cap is back on!

Our entryway is a tiny little space with a mirrored sliding door closet on one side {bleh...but that isn't going to be replaced anytime soon so don't even think of it!} a plain wall on the other side that can't be touched unless it is adding a paper thin wall art because anything added to it would block the door from opening, and then a little wall that faces you that has an alarm keypad right smack in the middle of it with a jumble of light switches around it...charming.

Right now, against that wall, we have a little tiny side table with a tiny drawer and a funky red tray on top that has worked quite well for my purse, our keys and the random stuff you collect at the front door. Problem is...we need that precious little space for the big honking stroller that will need a parking place in the next couple of months! So we can only use the one wall for storage and every wall storage shelf we find is way too long for the size of that wall so we definitely need to come up with some crafty DIY idea. And today I started thinking maybe we could make it snazzier by jumping in on Melanie Bloomer's chalkboard paint obsession, or painting the little wall a punchy red, or adding some great printed wallpaper...D is going to read about these thoughs right here with the rest of you...surprise!!

Anyways...here are some "storage only" ideas that I found for small entryways...don't worry D, we can discuss the additional ideas above!



This cute idea found via Creamy Life seems like a jumble of IKEA stuff that has been repurposed for the hallway. It definitely says there is a kid in the house which I'm not sure is quite what we want when guests arrive...but cute nonetheless!

I do have a bit of an obsession with different types of hooks - this could cure or fuel my obsession but it would sure be fun! And it would mean I could hang them wherever the space permits {around all those silly light switches and alarm keypads} which is pretty awesome. I like the duck! Methinks this could be a top contender. Found this pic via Apartment Therapy.


These two pics are also found via Apartment Therapy. Very clever how they used simple metal mailboxes for hooks and storage space AND kinda like a bulletin board or fridge for the important scraps of paper you tend to collect! I bet you could get some funky mailboxes out there...I'd like red ones! And these giant paperclips are funny too...not totally my style but a fun hook option for heavy purses.


I like this shelf with the under cubbies. Where to get the under cubbies though...I thought IKEA but couldn't see them on the website. They MUST be there somewhere though. Seems like a fairly simple DIY type thing that you could make fit any size area. I think the distressed stool adds to the look of this area but ours will be a giant stroller...not so whimsical!

Okay so totally not happening in my urban condo but this is pretty darn adorable! The lobster sign is marvelous. Found via Ticking and Toile Blog.

Friday, September 3, 2010

sage's diy nursery

Finally, I present to you Sage's nursery! Remember way back in January when I featured my old office and how it was to be transformed into a baby nursery? And then in March when I was trying to decide if I should paint the walls pink or taupe? Well the nursery has been done for a while but this busy, sleepy mommy just hadn't gotten around to taking some good photos. But now I'm excited to share it with you! Since we were on a pretty tight budget, many of the elements were DIY - which actually made it a really fun and satisfying project.

As you may have noticed, the walls are neither pink or taupe! We decided to go with a really pale yellowy-beige colour that looks like filtered sunlight - Benjamin Moore's Almond Bisque (CC-280) which is really warm and lovely. And just as I was going to add the Dwell Studio bedding into the crib, I spied the cutest little turquoise dresser on Craigslist {scroll down to see it below}. And that cute little dresser, my friends, changed my entire design plan! I said bye bye to the pink accents, and instead went with a turquoise and yellow colour scheme! Or 'goldenrod and robin's egg' if you want to be all Martha and fancy!

In deciding not to use the bedding I originally bought, I instead made my own crib skirt with this fabric from Tonic Living that inspired me at the beginning of the design process here! I didn't actually make the blanket and crib sheet though - they are from Pongo Baby. But I did paint the owl and framed it with an IKEA Ribba frame.

Last year we babysat at a friend's house and they had the most comfortable, cushy glider ever! I swore that I would get the same one, and so we did! That was our only splurge in this room and it was a good one. Many an hour have been spent in that chair already, rocking and nursing the babe.

I created the 'You Are My Sunshine' print to add some colour to the shelf, and it's now available in my Etsy shop. The doll was sewn by my great grandmother! And the little dress is something I made a few years ago - I just mounted it onto a canvas.


The chandelier was on sale from Canadian Tire for $50 - down from $80. Woohoo! But it was gray with pink crystals, so I spray painted it yellow and found these clear crystals on clearance from Rona {don't use Valspar spray paint by the way...they have nice colours but the paint itself is suck
y...doesn't stick well and is slow to dry}.

Another detail in the room that I love is this little owl light switch cover from Anthropologie. I have a little bit of an owl theme going on, and thought this was an adorable touch.

The lamp and side table were cheapy cheapies from HomeSense, and the flower pot was an old one that I spray painted blue to match the decor. By the way - HomeSense has THE BEST lamp selections lately! Lots of funky shapes and colours. The plant is, believe it or not, a cutting from a plant that was in my own baby nursery - yes, the plant is still alive and kicking. And I decided to give the side table a bit of a sprucing, and so painted a chevron pattern on top for fun using this tutorial.

For artwork in the room, my sister bought me this awesome wooden laser cut alphabet from my former One of a Kind Show neighbours, Arounna and John of Bookhou. It's gorgeous! But the colour of the wood blended so perfectly into the wall colour that you literally couldn't see it. I decided to cover a canvas with burlap, and mount the alphabet on top to make it stand out. And my favourite piece in the room is a collage from my friend Céleste Gagnon, a children's book illustrator. It is so delicate and beautiful and so perfect for the nursery - I love to stare at it!

Here she is - the little turquoise dresser from Craigslist that changed the original plan for the room! We use it as a change table too. Above I 'framed' fabric scraps using embroidery hoops - cheap and easy. Sage loves to stare at the colours and patterns when I change her!

BEFORE

AFTER

Voila - the nursery! It's hard to believe it was once my office. But we love it and I hope you like it too :)