Since it’s still officially summer we can still officially talk about patios! I love patio season and getting the most from our backyard was at the top of our to do list this year. Last year we made lots of upgrades to our backyard, you can see them here. This summer we continued the work by enhancing our pool side sitting area. I love the space we have but hated staring at the all the laundry and furnace vents that stuck out the house right beside it.

Here’s what we started with:

And here’s what we did:

We (I mean an HVAC professional) moved our air conditioning earlier in the season to the other side of the house. It was sitting to the left of the basement window and would kill any conversation when it cycled on. With the AC out of the way we were left with an ugly wall of vents and pipes and a window that looks directly into our scary laundry room.

The screen is actually two screens attached together and then drilled into the concrete and attached to the house with brackets. Below are some loose instructions on how it came together:

We (when I say “we” I totally mean “he”) dado cut the centre of three 2x4s. This became the frame of the screen and was joined with mitred corners.  

Once the outside frame was complete we slid the 1×10 fence boards into the track inside of the frame. We used small bits of scrap half inch square blocks to create a consistent space between the pieces of board.

By varying the width of the boards, it looks more modern and less fence-like.

A fourth dado cut 2×4 with mitred corners was added to the top of the panel to finish it off.  Each panel has a supporting piece running down the centre to make it extra sturdy.

The entire project took half a day to complete and about an hour to install. The best part is that the patio area has become its own cozy destination and will help to extend the season once the pool is closed.

 

I first read In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore over a decade ago and it changed the way I looked at at many things, especially eating. If you haven’t heard of this book it’s definitely a must-read. Naomi Klein’s No Logo made we sickeningly aware of how manufacturers have hijacked the clothing industry and turned me into a slow fashion convert. Blogs like Reading My Tea Leaves and Design for Mankind helped me embrace slow living. Now I think it’s time we take slow decorating into the mainstream.

Slow living isn’t putting off making choices about fashion or food, but rather thinking about where the items you use everyday come from. Who made that shirt? Where? Did they get paid enough to make a living? The steak you had for last night’s dinner, how was is raised, butchered, transported? All these questions we don’t often consider. Slow living is pausing to answer these questions, think about where our everyday goods come from, how we use them, and the time and money it takes to create our current lifestyle. The decisions we make about decorating our homes should be no different.

Our culture says we can have it all now, but that doesn’t mean we should. We can take a step back, take a breath and focus on what we need in our homes and how we want them to look. I want the kind of house that reflects who we are. That shows we are thoughtful, careful with our resources and mindful of others.

But How?

Choose furnishings and décor items that are made well and ethically. The resurgence of the maker culture has made finding locally made furniture and home goods easier. Even large chain stores like West Elm, Pottery Barn and even Ikea are shifting to include more sustainably made products.

Choose to have less. Ask yourself these questions before you buy.

• Do you really need that ceramic rabbit, faux succulent or that thing that only-cost-a-dollar-from-the-Target-dollar-section (this is still a tough one for me – so many cute things, for so cheap!).
• Will the new item help you function better in your space or add to your quality of life or will it just end up as clutter?
• Do you already own something similar that could serve the same purpose as the item you’re considering buying?
• What do you want you home to feel like? Open and spacious, minimalist, cozy and warm? Think about the feeling you want to create when choosing furnishings for your place.

Choose to buy second hand. I’ve talked lots about my love of second hand home goods. You can find everything you need to set up a house or redecorate using preloved items.

Creating a space that mirrors you is a process. Being purposeful and selective in your decorating allows you to consider where items are from, how they’re made and ensures that you’re not impulsively buying something just because it’s trendy. It’s okay, for example, to take your time to find the perfect sofa. You don’t have to settle for something you don’t love. It’s also perfectly acceptable to keep your old couch while you wait for your sofa soulmate. Toss a blanket or bedspread over that thing with some throw cushions and embrace the imperfection! What you’ll end up with is a home that feels put together, collected and representative of you and your family rather than something out of a catalogue. Plus, it’s a little bit exciting to have something to be on the hunt on.

While hunting and gathering for the perfect pieces to compliment your space is fun, the not-so-fun and much more emotionally difficult part is decluttering. This is the time to be honest with yourself. You probably have lots of items that you’re holding onto because they represent the you that you want to be or used to be. It’s okay to let go. Clothes that don’t fit, gifts you don’t love and the worst – family heirlooms you feel obligated to keep- these can all be let go of. I’m not saying you have to Marie Kondo every item in your home but be realistic and remember that things can’t create or sustain happiness. Clearing the clutter can help you see your space in a new way and help you imagine it differently than it is now.

Home represents so many emotions for people. Painful family memories, moving and even poverty all affect our view of “home.” The good news is that you can change how you feel about the place you live. You can create a place that serves you and your family – not the other way around.  When I think about my favourite memories of people’s homes, it’s the unique or quirky décor that sticks out in my memory, the way people use what they have to create a meaningful home and most of all, the people who live in them. While it may feel great to have the trendiest tiles in your new bathroom reno, remember that trends change faster than most people renovate so make sure that you’re decorating for you. Don’t be afraid to have things in your home that no one else has. Embrace what you love, and your home will feel like a reflection of you.

Once your house is full of the things you love, you won’t feel the need to compare other’s homes to yours. The siren song of the latest trends won’t be as alluring. When your favorite most meaningful objects are on display, you won’t feel the impulse to fill your cart with cheap trendy tchotchkes. Slow, purposeful and personal decorating is more than filling your space with furniture and décor, its creating home.

Creating home takes time. It’s lovingly curated over years with things that are meaningful and useful. Finding great second hand pieces is the same. It’s  Saturday mornings spent at garage sales, hours combing Kijiji and Craigslist and a few late night covert missions smuggling curbside finds into the house without my husband knowing. “What? This chair? No, it’s always been there.”

We buy a lot of our furniture second hand. A brand new piece just doesn’t have the same soul as a previously used one.Here’s a few of our preloved beauties:

In these pictures almost everything is second hand. The only items that are not are the picture frame above the desk (but the art inside is) and the dining table (centre) and the handmade picture above the blue dresser. EVERYTHING ELSE IS! The best part is that each piece has a story; where we found it, who gave it to us and how it almost didn’t fit in our car and thank goodness for bungee cords!

(teapot, coffee table and dominos were all sourced from Goodwill)

Here are some tips for ensuring the used pieces you bring home are worth it:

1. Turn it over. Whether it’s a plate, a table, chair or rug, examine it well. Does it look as good on the inside as the out? If a piece is starting to crack (split, rip etc.) on the back or inside, it means that eventually it will make it way to the front.
2. Don’t collect projects. Buying used doesn’t mean you have to settle for items that need repair. Only buy things that you can actually repair or have repaired for a reasonable amount of money and in a reasonable amount of time. The longer a piece sits waiting to be finished the less likely it will ever be.
3. Of course you can paint wood! There are many people who still feel it’s sacreligious to paint over wood. It’s not. Here’s the proof:

Before

After:

Make sure to prep the piece first. There are over a million tutorials on the best way to paint furniture on Youtube. I’m sure you’ll find at least one that will give you what you need.

4. Measure your space. Return policies at second hand stores and garage sales don’t exist. In my phone I keep a list of all the things I’m looking for and the dimensions of the space it will live in. It may take a year or more to find the exact thing in the exact size. Also, always carry a measuring tape.

5. Don’t shy away from textiles and soft furnishings. Most things can be washed. Rugs and upholstery can be vacuumed and professionally cleaned. Before you buy, look under chairs and sofas and examine the lining. If there are signs of insects or small unexplained holes – run away! Be cautious of odors. If it’s been sitting in someone’s basement it may just smell a little musty, deep cleaning can help this. But beware of mothballs, smokers and crazy cat ladies – there are some smells that will haunt you forever. Check in between the seat cushions and the back – stick your hand in there (wear gloves if you want) to see if the frame is sturdy. This is important since you can’t see the frame. Feel for loose joints, springs and fabric – take a pass if you find any of these. Most importantly sit on it! Is it comfortable? Can you imagine sitting/lying on it for an extended Westworld binge watching session?

Real-life preloved sofas bought from total strangers.

The popular 1970’s faux velvet is almost indestructible and can be found in some really fun colours!

and remember:

• Don’t be afraid to take a risk and shop out of your comfort zone.
• If you love it buy it now. It may not be there later.
• If you’re buying from a seller don’t be shy about asking for a better price. My favourite lines are “what’s your best price on this?” and “will you take less?”. The worst thing is you’ll be told no.
• Learn the story of the piece, especially the unusual and the unique.

Happy Hunting!

Hopefully you already have something special in mind for your mom, but if not here are some inspired suggestions.

1. Remade tote made from recycled leather
2. Garden City Essentials natural perfume
3. African Print Robe
4. CXBO handmade chocolate
5. Repurposed book journals
6. Louve Montreal wood and leather necklace
7. Endearment brass napkin ring

The Good List is a curated list of things that are good for you, your community and the planet.

Now that spring is finally here (fingers crossed) if you’re like me you want to your home to reflect the changing season. Before you head to the home decor or big box store to buy some faux forsythia branches or ceramic bunnies, try these simple, stress free, clutter free, minimalist-friendly ideas to freshen up your space.

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I first saw this project on Better Homes & Gardens and filed it away (okay, actually bookmarked it because who files things anymore?) waiting for just the right space to come along.

via

The perfect space turned out to be the main floor powder room in a house I’ve been working on. This bathroom is just off the main living/dining area so it needed to be a bit classy to fit in with the rest of the house.

The panelling is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White CC-40 and the space above the paneling will soon be covered with the most amazing wallpaper, but I’ll share that another day. The faux bamboo regency mirror was a Kijiji find, it still needs a quick coat of gold spray paint to tone down the 1980’s brassiness. The light fixture is from Lowes. This powder room needed a towel bar that added to the lux feel without looking too “bathroomy”. Know what I mean? Lucite to the rescue!

The plastic acrylic rod came from here but there are other suppliers from Canada that carry this and you may even be able to find it in your local hardware store. The most difficult part of this project is finding curtain brackets that stick out far enough from the wall. These are similar to the ones used in the picture. Gold spray paint classed these guys up a bit and tied them in with the rest of the room’s accents.

Don’t forget to paint the screws. A KFC bucket proved to be very helpful in this project. Styrofoam would also work.

Once the brackets were painted, the acrylic rod was cut to size and hung. We had enough acrylic leftover to make a toilet paper roll too.

Ta da! These new fixtures add a pop of colour and warmth, I love how this space is coming together.

The acrylic rods also come in black and white. I’d love to do a modern towel bar with a black rod and black brackets. But I’ll just have to file this idea away until I find just the right space.

Happy Hunting!

We’re friends, right? So we can chat openly about the big issues. Just because I talk about decorating here doesn’t mean I endorse that you blindly follow or buy into every home decor trend that comes along (the 80’s reboot is just too much for me). Even some of the trends I blog about I don’t always love in real life or think they’re practical for my house or my family. I feel the same way about renovating. My husband and I have renovated three houses but this by no means makes me an expert. Sometimes I think it makes me a fool. HGTV, renovation blogs and Home Depot commercials make renovating look like a breeze. It is, in fact, not a breeze, but rather a Category 5 hurricane ripping through your house. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I think people shouldn’t renovate, but  they should know exactly what they’re getting themselves into.

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