I sent my hubby to the new place with the camera today. He took a few shots of what he is dealing with as he gets everything ready to paint.

Don't you just love the avocadoish/sage greenish 1970's paint colour? It looks even worse in person. And the carpet is filthy! I wish we didn't have carpet and will probably try to cover it with a runner of some sort eventually.

The past tenant left a gazillion holes in the walls. We (I say we, but I really mean my hubby!) had to fill them and then sand them in prep for the paint.

Yes, the room really is this yellow! Both of the bedrooms are painted in this really vivid banana-ish yellow. It is not pretty. Trust me. You would not want to try to get any sleep in there!

Yes, these are stickers, a lot of stickers on the ceiling of our bedroom. I am not looking forward to getting them all down!

You can tell that we are going to have to put in some time fixing up the door frames. For now I think we will just get the walls done but eventually something will have to be done with these.

And check out the kitchen cupboards in the background. U.G.L.Y. The counter tops are totally dirt brown and are hopefully going to be replaced in the new year. My fingers are crossed because I don't know how to make butt ugly brown counter tops look good. The cupboards I can work with.

I am going to go take some pictures that show more of the rooms than the ones hubby took. I want to be able to show before and after shots as I work on the apartment. It is crazy that this is probably the worst looking place at move in but it is the place that I am the most excited about living in. I can hardly wait until we are sleeping in our new (non-yellow) bedroom. Only 9 sleeps until the furniture is moved in!!!!



We got the keys!!!!

So, today we got our first look at the apartment. All I can say is that we have our work cut out for us. The previous tenant was meant to get the apartment paint ready and cleaned up before he left but he didn't. You name it and we probably have to do it!

I had figured we would have to paint but it is going to be a BIG job! All the walls are currently avocado green or banana yellow. There are spider webs hanging everywhere, stickers on the walls and tons of holes to be filled in. YUCK!!! I am off to find just the right paint for the space. I know that I want most of the walls white - but not a cold white. I want a warm, cozy white and then I want to do the baseboards in the same white but in a gloss. There is very little wall in the kitchen and I am contemplating doing a turquoise or blue there. We'll see. 

I forgot to bring my camera home with me from work but I will go in on Monday and get some before pictures to show. You will not believe it when you see it!

I know that it will look wonderful once we are all done but looking at the amount we have to do in the next two weeks (while working full time no less!) is very, very overwhelming! The furniture will all be moved two weeks from today. We have to paint, move everything else AND get ready for Christmas before then. So, I am off to make a list so that I can keep my stress under control. Wish me luck!

I have completed two more projects in the last couple of days. One was inspired by pinterest and the other I just felt like making. The pinterest one came from this image:

You know, of course, that I love the colour - I mean, it's turquoise, isn't it? - and so I had to have one for myself! I used an old cookie sheet instead of a frame and I am really happy with how it turned out. See?

This will be in our new bathroom. It is more of a pale blue than a turquoise but I was mixing colours up using my acrylics and I am pretty pleased with it. I had some good magnets on hand and used a dab of E6000 to glue them on to the backs of all my make up. I can hardly wait to get this into the new bathroom!

The other crafty thing that I made was just for fun. I have a big box of buttons - some from my mother, some I have bought, some my friend gave me. I decided that I wanted to show off some of them. And so I did this - lovely buttons in beautiful shades of blue and green and in my favourite shape!

Did you notice the apple shaped button right in the middle? I got it years ago from a good friend - you know, the whole give an apple to the teacher idea - and never figured out where to use it. I love it in the centre of this piece. I will be hanging this in the stairwell gallery at the new house. It is making me crazy that I can picture it all so clearly and, yet, I have to wait before we can get in there. Only 6 days until we get the keys!

A thing for words...

I have a thing for words - well, for quotes mainly. I have collected them in little notebooks, scraps of paper or written/painted/drawn them in my art journal for years. Since becoming a pinterest junkie, I have discovered the joy of quotes framed on the wall. I now have so many that I want to hang up in the new house that I am not sure I have enough walls!

Here are a few of my favourites...

via hello darlin

(this one makes me think of my dad)

via a month of sundays

via happy deliveries on etsy

(I actually ordered this one!)

via tumblr

via desmobilia

(so true - my hubby would like this one)

via pitter patter art

Don't be surprised to see some of these turn up in the stairwell gallery in our new home. I can see it so clearly in my head. Now I just want to be living there already so that I can make it a reality! 8 days left until we get the keys. Yippee!

Our new home is going to be the smallest space in which we have ever lived. It is roughly 800 sq. feet. I feel equal parts excitement and trepidation. Excitement because I love organizing and decorating. I get a real charge out of figuring out how to use a space in the most efficient manner and still maintain our eclectic sense of style. Trepidation because it is so small!!!! We will be getting rid of about 6 pieces of furniture and at least 40% of our belongings. In the last two weeks I have sent 6 boxes and 1 bag to the Sally Anne. That probably amounts to 2% of what we need to get rid of in the next month. Yikes I still have a lot to do!

One thing I didn't expect to happen is that I would start to feel lighter as I fill box after box. As the rooms clear of books, decorative accessories, picture frames, crafty stuff I never use anymore, clothes, shoes and more I feel better and better. It is a lightness in my soul. I am left only with those items that we truly treasure.

One thing that I can't decide  what to do with is the papasan chair that our daughter saved up her money to buy when she was around 12. It came from Pier 1. She doesn't want it anymore - her room now has a black and white/Marilyn Monroe/Audrey Hepburn theme going on and the papasan just doesn't fit. And....my hubby hates it. And I do mean he HATES it!

But it is one of the most comfortable chairs ever! It is just the right size to curl up in under a cozy blanket to read. I really, really want to have a chair in the corner of our master bedroom. And today I found this pillow that goes on it. In teal! In fuzzy teal! In come over and curl up on me cozy, fuzzy teal!

I find that with small space living there are only so many places to go for privacy. Basically, the only times I can have true privacy are in the bath or in bed. So, I often end up reading in one or the other of these locations. But I really, really want a place to curl up. Only problem (well, besides the fact that my hubby hates it!) is that it is not a small chair. It takes up space. Keeping it will definitely mean getting rid of something else - most likely one of the pieces that I really want to keep.

So, what's a girl to do? It would be a heck of a lot cheaper to buy the new pillow for the papasan and call it a day. But do I want a piece of furniture in our bedroom that my hubby hates? Wouldn't that be bad karma or something? And does a papasan chair really fit in with the vision I have of the new place. Maybe I should leave that corner empty until I have the means to buy the just right chair. Maybe something like this?

via tumblr

via pinterest

via tumblr

vie the virginia house

via re-nest

via pinterest

Hmmmm....have to say that after looking over these pics of such lovely, cozy chairs I think that I am going to thank the papasan for being in my life and then let it go. I would rather wait and find the chair that really calls  my name. Gee, I love when I start a post with a question and manage to answer it myself by the end! Go me!



More Pinterest Inspiration...

I have been inspired by the many signs I have seen on Pinterest about house rules. Signs like these ones are floating all over Pinterest.

via etsy

via etsy

via amygregson.blogspot.com

So, I decided to make my own. I am really, really happy with how it turned out. Sorry the picture is a little dark. The very bottom line says "Love is enduring." That one came from my hubby. Sweet, huh?



I can hardly wait to hang it up in the new house. 10 days until we move!!!!

There is nothing good about being sick. I remember when I was a kid and was thrilled to miss a day of school when I was sick so that I could lie on the sofa, sucking on popsicles and watching cartoons. A sick day was like a holiday! Now, it is just boring. And painful... Bronchitis is just one cough after another resulting in really, really sore muscles! 

So, while my body is not co-operating, my mind is (of course)  buzzing with a zillion and one things it wants to do right now! So, on my mind right now:

• wanting to invent a cough suppressant that really works
• wishing I had the dimensions of the new house so that I could plan better
• thinking about school and wondering how the kids are doing
• planning Christmas gifts
• wondering how to make something like these cool purses from circle craft by noelle hamlyn. My old Power Boys and Trixie Beldens are calling out to have this done to them!

 

• how pinterest really is addictive
• how I have pinned far more ideas than I will ever, ever have time to create!
• how watching tv becomes really, really monotonous after awhile - who knew?
• and some new ideas for our new home - tentative moving date mid December sometime



via apartment therapy - we have an old bike in the backyard that came from a friend who moved away. It is beautifully rusted and would look great as a potrack!

via tumblr - I want to paint over one of my old paintings and do something like this for the new house

via tumblr - I would love to do this for Georgia and New York with a little heart pin on my Dad's hometown and my mum's hometown

a way to show off my fave fabrics via purlbee.com

via curbly.com - I have the table legs and the suitcase. Now I just need the energy!

via bijoukaleidoscope - so, so cool!

via cloth to creation - I really want to do this in our small storage closet. I think the closet is about the size of a double bed and we already own at least 10 of these suitcases. Our storage is going to have to be super efficient and this idea is a definite to do on my list!!!!

And now I am going to take a nap. Again....

losing steam...

I am back and forth these days...one minute I am excited about moving to the co-op and the next minute I am exhausted (simply exhausted) by the thought of moving again only 3 months after we moved in here. I think about how this place was not so long ago...

Am I INSANE???? Do I really want to be back in this reality by  moving again?!?! I know that it will all work out in the end but it really is hard to imagine all this stuff - even when we have pared down - turning into something that feels more like this...

via prettypetals

via shabby chicks

via southern hospitality

via down size my space

via shannon berrey

via remodelaholic

I am determined though. It will mean a much smaller Christmas celebration and having to basically do three jobs - work all day at school, pack and sort at the old house and paint, unpack and set up the new house - for at least 8 weeks but I will get through. One day I will look back on this and be very glad that I put the time into building a home for my family. After all...

via eighteen25





Consumed

Do you know this show on HGTV? It is where the home organizer goes into the house of a family that is overcome by clutter and disorganization. She lets them keep the bare essentials - and I mean the BARE essentials - for one month and packs up the rest of the house into storage. This show appeals to me on so many levels. The room that is opened up by the packing off of the stuff, the letting go of items &/or memories attached to items that are holding us back, the moving on to a new kind of living...I want that for our family.

Our move next month will allow me to do my own version of this show. We are in two places at once for the month of December. I plan to have Christmas at the new house. All I plan to have there is a tree, a table and some chairs. A very pared down Christmas. I want the new house to be different from this one. I only want items that I love or use all the time to move with us. So far, I have filled four boxes with give aways and made a list of 8 pieces of furniture that we will not be taking. Lucky my hubby, the crow, does not really care what goes or stays.

I want clean lines, bright open spaces and a sense of peace when we walk in the door.

via bhg

via junkgardengirl

via englishmuse

I want the house to be a true home and not just another stopping place for our family. I know that it will happen. I just have to remember to be patient since I always want everything yesterday!!

My family likes to move... a lot. We have lived in nine places in the same city since our daughter's birth 15 years ago. It seems crazy when I hear myself say it but it all made sense at the time! We have lived in everything from basement suites to apartment buildings to houses. We moved for a variety of reasons... mold allergies, having the house sold by our landlords, having crazy landlords, needing to be in a certain school catchment, you name it.

BUT...we are finally moving into a place that we have wanted to live in for years. We got into a co-op in a neighbourhood that is dear to our hearts. We lived in this neighbourhood for the first two years of our life together. Our daughter was born in this neighbourhood. We shop in this neighbourhood. Our doctors are here. Our weekends are spent here. And, now, we will be living here for good. No possibility of crazy landlords, having our place sold out from under our feet or being in a poorly maintained house filled with mold.

I am beyond excited. I have plans to live here for a long, long time. Maybe even until I retire! We are getting a two bedroom suite with hardwood floors and a small deck. It is on the top floor in a row of houses that are like brownstones in New York. We have a lovely front stoop and will get lots of natural light. It is in our favourite neighbourhood and, best of all, because it is a co-op, it is affordable. No more spending almost 50% of my salary on rent each month. Hurray!!!!

Since finding out that we were chosen to become members at the co-op, I have become a pinterest junkie! Searching for images that call out to me in terms of decorating. This house is NOT going to be just one more house on our life's journey together. This house is going to be a HOME. In every place we have lived before, I always knew that it was a stopping place NOT a staying place. Finally, we are moving somewhere where we won't be at the mercy of landlords. I am beyond excited.

I have created this blog to track my journey as I work to create our first real home - a place that is painted, decorated, fixed up by us. My inspiration for colours is coming from a mug given to me by a dear friend on the death of my father. It is the mug I go to each night to warm me at the end of a long day.  It is a reminder of my father, a holder of his memory and of the love my friend has shown me over the years.

I love these colours. The blue makes me think of the beach in Florida where we spent childhood vacations visiting with my dad's Southern family. And, brown? Well, it is one of my favourite colours and I just love, love, love the way the two work together. I want our new home to be filled with white, turquoise and the rich, dark brown of our antiques. I want it to be a place of light, relaxation, and country in the city charm. I want it to be the staying place I have always yearned for in our lives. A place where walking in the door allows me to let go of the stresses in my outside life and enjoy quiet time with my family.

So, welcome to 9 Houses, 1 Home and I hope that you enjoy following me on this journey to create a one of a kind home for my family!