Victor's Room

What's this, a NON PROJECT LIFE post?! Yes, I've finally gotten around to taking and editing some photos of the only finished room in our new-ish house, so I thought I would share them here...a tour of Victor's room :)

I'm not sure why Victor's room was the first one to get finished, probably because it was the 'nicest' room in the house when we moved in and didn't need a lot of work; I also had most of his decorations and furniture when we moved so I didn't have to wait or buy anything to get it all done. There are a few tiny little things I'd like to get to truly finish it off, but for the most part I'm really happy with how it turned out. We spend a lot of time in here as a family, playing most evenings before bed, so it's nice to have it done...if only I could say the same about Violet's room!

Ok, here we go (sorry for the not so great photos, I didn't have my wide angle lens on so I couldn't get full room shots, and it was kind of dark so the photos are a bit grainy.)

                           

His bed (we bought the mattress after Violet was born and had it on the floor until January when my friend Sara gave us the frame...without the box spring it's the perfect height for him to climb in and out of.) If I ever get the time to work on it I have fabric for a quilt that I want to put on his bed, but for now this light comforter does the trick. The room was the beige brown colour when we moved in, I just painted an accent wall with the same green that I used in our kitchen in Halifax and old apartment in Sussex...gotta use it up! Also, I'm going to try and thrift a real nightstand this summer for his lamp and soother dish. The birth date print is from Etsy; I'd like to buy another art print of some sort from Etsy to put next to it, just not sure what yet (maybe something with his name, or a quote...)

I hung a simple photo wire above his bed with some twine and used clothespins to hang photos of all his cousins, pets, etc. It's cute because he looks at them and says all their names :) It's also nice because I can swap the photos out whenever I get new ones.

His Teletubbies pillowcase (loves them) and Bill the lamb, his best bud since birth :)

This is the wall opposite his bed. The shelf and chair are the same ones I had in his room in our apartment, and I kept everything pretty much the same as I did before, with his diapers and toys on the shelf and a picture collage above it. The pom pom is a leftover from his nursery, and is strategically covering a piece of chipped wall paint, haha! I want to recover the chair at some point, but for now the blue fabric works.

His dresser, which is at the foot of his bed. It used to have a mirror on it in his nursery but we had to remove it to fit under the slanted ceiling. It's thrifted and holds a lot of clothes. This area still looks a bit empty to me, so I'll probably change it up once I thrift the right items/art to go on his dresser.

An Ahsleyg print I got from Etsy, and a llama that my sister gave Victor, made with real alpaca wool.

Painted thrifted owl and postcards from various museums I went to while living in Spain.

His closet, which is right next to his shelf. This is where his little 'play area' is. The closet had the built ins when we moved in, which was nice. On one side are his clothes and on the shelves I have his books, diapers, etc, and he also has some blocks in the corner (I like to keep things as neat as possible, but also easily accessible). I put the mirror low on purpose so that he could look in it when standing (which will be good when he starts dressing himself or playing dress up).

His books (the most used ones on the bottom, the rest are for when he's older).

Dino collection :)

His shelf. The baskets hold his cloth diapers, and the buckets on top hold his socks and his slippers.

His toy shelf. The rule with his bedroom toys is that they can be pretty much anything, but they CANNOT make any noise. No batteries, no instruments, nothing like that. Blocks, puzzles. pull toys, books, a doctor's kit...all those nice 'open ended'/wooden toys are up here, which is a really nice change of pace from the other toys he has in the house.

The photo collage above his shelf. I didn't really have a plan when I did this, I basically hung the two 11X14 standouts (photos) on each end and then filled the space in between with whatever I had. Most of this was in his nursery, except for the large "V", which I bought at Michael's (and intend on painting one day). The rosary is from Spain, the Dali postcard is from when Dan and I were dating, the two bird prints were bought on Etsy, and the little postcard in the white frame was a gift from my friend Anna.

The piggybank was a Christmas present from his great nan, and the abacus was a gift from Sara for his birthday.

 Cloth diapers...not much else to say, they're just cute :)

There you have it! If you have any questions about anything in the room, just leave me a comment. I'm not sure how long I'll leave his room like this, I'm thinking maybe once he starts kindergarden or something I'll switch it up to be more 'kid/school friendly' (swap out the shelf for a desk or something), and I'll probably change the colour scheme too since by then it'll be 5 years old. I'm leaning towards orange and grey, but we'll see how I feel then.

The next room I intend on tackling is Violet's, but her room is covered in peeling textured wallpaper and is in need of some major help, so it may be awhile before there's a tour of her room :S Same with our living room, kitchen, our bedroom...well, pretty much every room in the house! Oh well, we have our whole lives to get it done, right?

Back with more PL soon.

G.

What should I put on my walls?

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Apparently, photo collages and large quotes on wood/canvas/whatever.  Looking through my 'Decor' board on Pinterest tonight and I noticed this pattern right away.  All of the walls in my house right now are pretty much blank, so I guess I better get to work!

Happy Saturday night, I'm going to go see if my daughter is finally asleep (the crying has stopped...)

G.

A girl can dream, right?

Now that Dan is back to work and we're starting to settle into life here in Sussex (side note: if you would have known me 10 years ago, you would know that I would have NEVER said I'd be back in Sussex!), we're starting to seriously think about buying our first home.  I've been stalking MLS and the local listings for years now, long before we physically lived in town, but yesterday I actually went to my first house viewing, just to get an idea of what to expect.  I think I may have started out a bit too large though, since the house above is the one I went to see and I fell in love with it right off the bat!

You see, I love OLD houses.  I don't know if it's because I grew up in one or because I've always been into older/antique things over modern ones, but there's something wonderful about a home that has real character, that has seen many people pass through it, that has stood the test of time, and that brings you back to when things were different...I just love it.  I love it despite the many challenges that older homes present, because to me the goods far outweigh the bads.  So anyway, after seeing this house it got me thinking about my 'short list' of what I'm looking for in a home (Dan is far less choosy, but he has a few requirements too, so they are included in the list.) 

Ideally, my/our dream home would have:
*Age (ideally it would be at least 60 years old, or older...my parents' house is about 100!)
*Lots of natural light (plenty of windows with nothing blocking the light from getting in)
*Wood (if painted white even better!)
*Space (though it doesn't have to be enormous, the rooms can be smaller)
*An upstairs and downstairs
*A decent sized kitchen (doesn't have to be eat-in, but it would be nice)
*At least 3 bedrooms
*All the majors up to date (roof, foundation, furnace, etc)
*Somewhere to put the computer that's out of the way (I'm done with this computer-in-the-bedroom/living room/hallway crap!)
*A possible separate office space for myself (though not necessary)
*A possible garage or back room for Dan's instruments (though not necessary)
*Some land (not a ton, but we need a large yard for the kids and a garden at the very least)
*No neighbours (this is more Dan's request than mine)
*A few luxuries (a fireplace or large deck or something similar)

A few things that our dream home DOESN'T need:
*Multiple bathrooms (we're very used to having just one, and a small one at that!)
*New appliances
*New anything really!
*Perfect paint colours
*to be move-in ready

I also want my home to be somewhere in which I'll want to spend my time (since I'm a homebody), in which I can decorate for the seasons, see raising my kids comfortably, somewhere that will be cozy but still kind of grand, and in which I will finally, finally feel truly at home.

So anyway, back to the house above.  It met a lot of the criteria; tons of space, 3 bedrooms, 3(!) bathrooms-one with the original clawfoot tub-a decent sized kitchen with a pantry, dining room, living room w/fireplace, den, large mudroom-possible-office, 2 staircases (I grew up with a 'servant's staircase' that went into the kitchen and I LOVED it), a huuuge wrap around covered veranda (look at it!), a large backyard...it has pretty much everything. 

Not to say it was perfect though.  There is a lot of cosmetic and even non-cosmetic work that could be done (including tearing down the rickety attached woodshed and carriage house, and some major landscaping), but the nice thing is that none of it would need to be done right away.  I also like the idea of a house that you continually get to work on (seriously, what do people do with those brand new homes that need no work?!)  The other not-so-great thing about it is that although the location is very convenient in many ways (it's about a 2 minute walk from the school and right downtown), our neighbours are quite close.  In a perfect world this house would be situated just outside of town on a few acres of land, but that isn't the case.  Still, I love it...but as my mom said, I need to look at several houses before deciding on which one is for us, I can't buy the first house I see without looking around!

So this is the beginning of what may be a long house-hunting journey (we probably won't move until the Spring at the earliest). I may blog about other houses we see, but this first one definitely left a mark on me so I thought I would mention it.

And, of course, one of the most exciting things about owning your own home is decorating it! So I'll leave you with some pretty pictures of "modern country" homes that I thought would suit my style and the style of the house above.

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[This kitchen is actually very similar to the one in the house we saw, the cabinets are painted white wood and there's a double window above the sink...sigh. source]

I've been so bad at blogging and keeping up lately, Victor has had a cold all this week so he's been hard to get down for naps, which means a lot of extra time in mama's arms. I really need to come back soon and do Victor's 6/7 month update though, I can't fall more behind than I already am! 

Oh life.

Be back soon I hope!
G.

An obsession is starting...

I mentioned on Twitter today that I've recently begun an obsession with the colour gray (it all started with a cute little sweater/shirt I thrifted on Saturday...I'm thinking half of my wardrobe will be gray this Fall!)  Anyway, I've also been in the mood to get back into decorating this apartment, Victor's room is really the only one I would consider 'done', so I'm thinking that either our bedroom, the bathroom or the living room will be my next project.  For our bedroom I'm envisioning a gray + yellow colour scheme (the walls being gray with yellow accents).  I'm still unsure of how dark of a gray I'd want to go, I'd worry it would be too dark in the many, many, many winter months we face (ha!), so I'm thinking a lighter/heather gray is probably a better option.  I'd also like to be bold enough to paint some of our furniture yellow, but that's a pretty big commitment, so I'm thinking of adding yellow through the bedding/wall art, etc.

Here are a few pics I've found online as inspo (sorry, no credits, I just googled!)

I like the idea of painting a big canvas like this, or covering it with fabric, a nice cheap solution to filling up big walls (which we have)

Love the dark gray and soft yellow, but like I said, not sure how lovely it would be in February...(it's always all about the weather with me! haha)

LOVE yellow furniture...perhaps I will try to thrift an old dresser to paint?

We have a blue bedspread currently, I like the look if I decided to add a third colour...I'd like to also make my own curtains, something like these would be perfect.

And just to show how much I love gray, this image caught my eye while searching, I may need to try this soon:

What colours are you into right now?

G.

Victor's Room (The details)

(Thrifted chalkboard with cute postcard from my friend Anna.  Hanging on Victor's door.)

So I've been saying for awhile now that I was going to post pictures of Victor's nursery, but I just haven't gotten around to taking any good pictures of the room yet (I tried once with my mom's camera but they were awful so I'm going to re-take them.)  And while these pictures aren't the best either, it's the best I can come up with for now so they will have to do :)

I wrote about my 'vision' for Victor's room before he was born back in November, and while the room of course didn't turn out exactly the way I had imagined, overall I'm quite happy with it.  Not knowing the shape/size of the room before making the plans made it a bit harder, but I worked with what I had and with what little money I had to spend (I basically got everything in the room from 1 of 4 places: Etsy, Dollarama, Wal-Mart and thrifted/gifted).

So without further ado, here are some close-ups of the room, full shots to come soon I hope!

1. The dresser: I got this awesome art-deco dresser off Kijiji for 80$, I love it and will eventually move it into our room once I re-do Victor's kid-size room in our [eventual] house.  I considered putting a change pad on the top but I figured it wasn't wide enough with the mirror and besides, we change him either on our bed or the couch anyway, so we didn't really need a change station.  Instead I keep a little wooden box I tole-painted (remember tole painting?!) with all his toiletry-type items in it, along with some other little decorations.  It works out really well actually because he loves sitting/standing on the dresser and looking at all the pretties on top and in the mirror.  The llama is real alpaca wool and was a gift from my sister, along with the Baby Blessing candle.  The touch lamp I actually got at a local home-depot type store I think for about 20$.  The print is Ashely g, the little ceramic owl is thrifted and spray painted, the leaf 'soother buffet' dish is thrifted, the black rosary hanging from the mirror is from my trip to Spain in '05 and the rosary in the little heart on the dresser (pink, ha!) is from my trip Italy last August, the picture frame from Wal-Mart and the "joy" ornament is a gift (I need to put a pic in there!)   

(Another view of the dresser from the door, along with the only window.  The curtain panel was thrifted a long time ago and the hanging owls were a gift from my friend Heather. I added them to an already existing mobile-type thing I made a couple of years ago, I need to take a better shot of it.)

2. Chair: Right next to the dresser is this chair, which Heather and I thrifted a couple of years ago (it was hers but she gave it to me when she moved.)  I wanted originally to have a glider or something in the room, but there's just not enough space, and this chair is actually just the right proportion for the room.  Heather had re-covered it in this blue flower fabric and I had been meaning to re-upholster it for a long time, but I find it suits the room now so I decided to keep it.  I recently took out some books and put them near the chair, so this is now our little reading area.

3.Crib/Mobile: I had the hardest time picking out a crib; I wasn't sure if I wanted white or dark wood, and whether I really wanted to spend a bunch of money on it or not.  In the end I went with the cheap white one from Wal-Mart :)  I actually like it though, it's super simple with clean lines and looks a lot like the Gulliver crib from Ikea, which was a close 2nd choice.  It also pops against the green accent wall.  Anyway, I knew I wanted to put some pom poms over the crib instead of a mobile (inspired by Ashley from Under the Sycamore, check out her blog, it's awesome!), so I bought a set of 3 from an Etsy shop...the colours are WAY off from the colours I had in mind (the neon yellow is supposed to be the same colour as the wall and the teal one the same colour as the owl on the dresser), but it was too late so I used 'em anyway, they're cute.  The Chinese lanterns are from the Dollarama, I stuck some scrapbook paper to the bottoms to cover up the cardboard.  I'm thinking I'd like to string a few paper chains down and around the poms, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

(White fuzzy 'Yeti' fur rug in front of the crib from Wal-Mart)

(Birth announcement print hanging next to crib, from Etsy)

4. Shelving:  On the long wall of the room (opposite wall from the window), I have a 7ft long low-lying shelf (it was actually the top part of a sideboard I had thrifted last year).  There I keep all of Victor's cloth diapers, blankets, bibs, receiving blankets, toys, books, basically everything non-clothes related.  I wasn't able to get any pictures of the entire thing, but I will get some soon and post.  Above the shelf is a big collage of frames/photos/mirrors, etc, which I'll also have to take a pic of soon.

(The shelf-I keep a pillow on top in case I want to nurse in the chair, and Victor's baby book is in the foreground displayed on a metal easel I got from Dollarama.  The little wooden car was hand carved and given to me as a present.)

(These buckets hold Victor's bibs and his hats.  They're also from the Dollarama.  The little clip on chalkboards were another gift from my friend Anna, she got them from a cool paper store, they're so cute, I have them all over the room! And of course Bill, Victor's newborn buddy.)

And, because I'm such a huge nerd and bored on this Monday night, here's a layout sketch of his room:                  

So that's that.  I'll post some full pictures of the room as soon as I remember to get my mom's camera again (and use the settings properly!)

Hope you enjoyed the little tour,

G.