Peonies from Mom

I went to my Mom's for dinner last night (The Boy was at the lake fishing) and came home with a beautiful little bouquet of peonies from her garden! They smell so amazing and have been putting a smile on my face since I got them home! :)

Hope you all had a good weekend! Mine has just started. No show today and I don't have to be back at the Ruins until 6pm tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

Lisa.xo

I've Got Two Cars Parked in My Living Room

Toy cars that is. The Boy has a new obssession with vintage and antique toy cars. The most recent ones he bought look great in our living room and have found a home next to my favorite chair in the corner.

Don't they look awesome? I love how they look so much I'm thinking about moving the bottom shelf up on that end table and cutting the legs so it sits closer to the height of the chair arm instead of buying a new table as I've been planning on doing.

I'm 97% sure this is what I'll do. I'm a real believer in use what you've got.

I'm not sure what this top car is.

The bottom one is a '62 (?) Jeep. We have the original box for it as well...I'm not sure where The Boy has it stashed.

This is the kind of "Man Decorating" I can get behind! lol!!

Thank you so much for all the Birthday wishes! :) I had a great day yesterday!




Lisa.xo

A Little Decorating Update

Don't you get so excited when you put another piece of the puzzle together? That's how I'm feeling this week about my living room. It's another small step towards decorating harmony.

After 2 years, I finally hung pictures! As you know, I've had these frames sitting on the floor in my living room for ages:

I haven't really been sure what to do with them. Lots of ideas have drifted through my brain, but none really stuck or seemed right. I also wanted to keep costs down. I don't think big impact needs big dollar signs behind it.
Inspiration struck as I was sorting through my black and white family photos again recently. Why not frame some of the photos? But they are too small for my big frames. And I didn't want to spend money blowing them up. So I used scraps of leftover fabric to use as a matte and used some low tack tape to fix the photos to the fabric.

Voila! Art with impact, meaning and colour! Win, win, win!!

And the best part is that none of this is permanent. Switching out the fabric or the photos is as easy as taking down the frame and opening it up. Love it.

I missed having art hung. This is really feels like a huge step in completing the living room.

I've also got this collection to hang yet. I'm just not sure where they'll live.

I did have a miss in the living room this week though. I bought a cute table for $30 and thought it would be a perfect inexpensive alternative to this one from IKEA that I love:

Here it is:

But as you can see it's a little short. It's actually meant to be outdoors, but who would have known? I'm torn at the moment whether to keep it for another room or to return it. I really do love it still and feel like it could have a home somewhere in the house down the road (I'm a bit of a furniture hoarder).

Once again, the decorating bug has bit me hard and I'm obssessed. I think I'm gonna paint something next...but what to paint...

Lisa.xo

(Sorry for being MIA this week folks! I've been trying to post all week, but Blogger has been giving me some issues uploading photos!)

Got Pot?

We have a new addition to our living room as of last night.

We repotted our Peace Lily. It's been looking a little sad these days.

See? Sad.

We were pretty sure it needed a bigger pot. So we bought one last night at Walmart.
Voila!

Now, not so sad. We also gave it a little trim.

Much better don't you think? Me Likey! :)

Lisa.xo

Living Room Update! The New Coffee Table!

It's here!!!

I mentioned a few days ago that The Boy and I had ordered this coffee table from work a few weeks ago.

Last night it finally arrived! :)

Just so you can appreciate the full effect (thus far). Here is our living room right after we moved in (during paint prep. Wish I had a real "before" pic. This is all I've got):

Here is our living room 6 months ago, post painting:

And after we ordered our furniture and after I spent two weeks sewing drapes and pillows:

And Voila! With our gorgeous new table! (please also note our new lamps!)

I just love it! I really like how it's sparkle and clean lines work with our oversized, slightly rustic sectional. It also has a mid-century modern feel that I really dig. I can't wait to find the perfect area rug to showcase underneath this beauty. This is one coffee table we'll have for many years to come.

btw. This was my christmas present from The Boy. I'm a very lucky and spoiled girl! (and very happy!)

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas! Tonight we're off to The Boy's parents place, tomorrow we're having brunch at my Mom's, then we're off for dinner with The Boy's family. I thankfully have Boxing Day off, so I'll post some Christmas pictures then.

Lisa.xo

Decorating Update!

I've been MIA for a few days because we've been getting ready to have our new furniture delivered!! YEAH!!

It's been a big job! The Boy and I moved our old furniture (all very heavy!!) into the basement on Thursday night and cleaned the living room. Friday was spent in anticipation as we waited for the movers to arrive. After they left, we spent the rest of the evening on our new couch decided what we would buy next!

As a reminder, here's the Before:

And the New and Improved After!!

I still have two more pillows to make out of the drape fabric. They're in pieces on the dining room table waiting to be sewn. We also have to hang pictures. Next on our list to buy is a rug and a new coffee table. Exciting!!

For a peek at the coffee table and other items on the want list click here to see my last post!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Lisa.xo

Living and Dining Rooms: The Next Phase

I'm still having coughing fits and still not ready for public viewing.

So I thought I would share another couple rooms in my house with you. I've already shown you my kitchen. Which is still in the same state it was when I posted that picture. I'm waiting for The Boy's Dad to get well from surgery he had a few weeks ago. Then we'll be tackling painting the walls. Then the cupboards. *Whew* That will be a BIG job.

But first: A few Before photos of the living and dining rooms while we were prepping to paint. As you can see, there were A LOT of dings on the walls.

The Living Room

The Dining Room

Here are their current states:

The Living Room

You've seen this corner before!

The Dining Room

This week The Boy and I will be hanging curtain rods. Bought at Walmart. And I will begin tackling sewing drapes and pillows.

The curtains will primarily be the print with about a foot and a half band of the blue on the bottom.

Curtain Finial.

In the next week or two we will also be ordering this couch and chair from Urban Barn (my new place of employment!).

This sofa has the most AMAZING leather! And it's SUPER comfy!

This is the chair/fabric that inspired the whole room. The colour is a little off in this photo.

The brown leaves and stems are flocked! Can't wait!

I'm hoping to order this tempered glass coffee table as soon as we've got the cash. It's also Urban Barn.

I will also be on the hunt for a small pedestal table for the corner by the new chair. I would die if I could get my hands on something like this for a good price:

I've got new lamps picked out from work which I don't have photos for unfortunatly.  One floor lamp to replace the one in the corner behind the sofa which only works when it feels like it and a new table lamp for the corner with the chair. They look a little like this. Only the base is silver and the shade is white. Other than that this one's a dead ringer for silhouette:

As for the dining room. I've got a lot of painting ahead of me. The table and chairs will be white. The "Hutch" (which is just two bookcases with doors on the bottom pushed together which we found in the garage of our new house! FREE! Yeah!) and bookcase will be painted a deep deep brown or black (can't decide yet) and I will be papering the back with blue wallpaper. This is pretty much exactly what I had in mind (sorry, I got lazy and took a photo of the magazine instead of scanning it. You get the idea.):

From Spring 2010 BH&G "100 Decorating Ideas Big Style for small rooms" magazine

Here's what the "hutch" and bookcase look like right now: I like the way I've arranged the shelves. That will probably stay after I spruce them up.

The "Hutch"

The Bookcase.

We still have to paint this wall. We'll do it when we paint the kitchen.

And finally a new chandelier. Something like this I think:

Heritage Chandelier from Home Depot. Buy it here.

So as you can see, unlike my very retro kitchen, the living room (especially) will be pretty fresh and modern. I have to meet The Boy somewhere in the middle you know. :)

Lisa.xo