Zebra Skin Rug FOR SALE

So...this might be a liiiitle bit unorthodox, but I just wanted to let you all know (because I know these rugs are hard to find)...

I've just listed a zebra rug on ebay!

SEE EBAY AUCTION HERE

Here are a few pictures of the rug (in our office), as well as some pictures of other beeyoootiful rooms with zebra rugs :)

I love this neutral room...it really makes the zebra rug stand out.

Via Houzz.com    Room: Kate Jackson Design

This room is so glamorous! Love the touches of gold against the zebra :)

Via: Houzz.com     Room: Huntley & Co

This office couldn't be more different than ours, but I love the rich colours and black lacquered desk.

Via Lonny Mag (July/Aug 2011)  Designer: Lauren Gold

I love love love the zebra rug on this whitewashed wood floor! This room has that "French" feel that I always gravitate towards.

Via Country Living

I had no idea a zebra rug was so versatile! It works equally as well in a neutral room as it does up against pops of bright colour :) Love this happy room!

 Via Porch Light Interiors

I've had a rotten head cold all week, and am just dying to feel "normal" again!! ugh. Hopefully at the tail end of it now :)

xoxo

Tufted Wing Chair Makeover (Painting Upholstery)

It's been wayyyy too long since my last furniture project!

I seem to have lost my "oomph". 

When it comes to making changes/improvements around the house, it seems like my inspiration and motivation comes in spurts. I'm either super into it, and working on little projects in my spare time....or I'm just not into it at all.  

We've had the new flooring (a sort of white-washed wood-look laminate floor) in our basement/lower level for about 6 months now, and I still haven't finished decorating the space! Unbelievable. 

It's still nowhere near being finished, but at least I've started!

ok...now...on to the chair.

This lovely big wing chair was picked up by my sister in law, Dayna, for me at our local thrift shop's collectibles sale. How awesome is she!!!?

 :)

It was a great burnt orange colour, and I tried to make it work, but the room was sort of "rejecting" it ;)

so....I did what all good little bloggers do, and started googling/pinteresting (is that a term now??), etc and found this link.  The amazingly innovative Kristy, over at Hyphen Interiors had the guts to paint an upholstered chair.

heck....if she's brave enough, then I should be too, right??

So...I gave it a go.

Now...before you start wondering why mine doesn't look as vibrant as hers.....this is only one coat of paint (so far).

Here's the clincher....I kind of like it like this! 

What do you think??

It has a vintage-y "worn leather" look, reminiscent of copper that's turned green. 

I'm still debating whether or not I'll give it a second coat, to end up with a more solid, vibrant turquoise hue. Not sure. Still deciding.

This is the "before" shot :)

The big piece of driftwood that we're using as a little "side table" came from the beach...hehe.....you know...borrowed ;). Dustin was such a good sport and carried that sucker all the way to the car! VERY heavy. But totally worth it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts/opinions :)

Finally...a little DIY project....White dining chairs with navy trellis fabric!

I've had these chairs sitting in our garage FOREVER. 

They were $2 each at my local thrift store....yes, you read that right...$2 !

A few coats of white semi-gloss, and some new seat fabric, and they're as good as new!

I decided that I wanted to add some navy blue to our home....something a little bit dramatic in the middle of all the pale, calming colours :)

I found this P. Kaufmann "Slick" indoor/outdoor fabric on Amazon, and I LOVE it!

It's a really heavy canvas-type material that I'm hoping will hold up a little better than the Kelly Wearstler linen "Imperial Trellis" fabric I almost bought. With two small boys around, I don't want to have to worry about it at all. The best part is that this fabric is only $22/yard (a heck of a lot less than the coveted Kelly Wearstler stuff.....as lovely as it is!). So, if and when the stains happen, I can just grab my trusty staple gun and add another layer of fabric on top :)

I had some help from my talented friend, Astrid, which made the job a lot more enjoyable :)

This girl can do anything. I'm not even kidding you....she literally knows how to do everything. Check out her jewelry here and her blog here.

Absolutely NOT loving my hideous glass-top table with these chairs....so I'm on the hunt for a new wood table. I'll keep you posted!

But....even with the ugly table, I'm excited to have something new to look at. As always.

I hope you're enjoying these last few weeks of summer!!! 

Sharing at: Primitive and Proper

A pink Union Jack dresser...for Royal Wedding week!

I found this adorable old dresser at a yard sale....while we were out on our sunny-day bike ride on Saturday.....

Nice curves and casters....what more could you ask? :)

I've been itching to do a little project, and considering it's the Royal Wedding this week...

I figured I'd jump on the Union Jack bandwagon!

Just in a slightly untraditional "girly" way :)

It's hard to tell in the pictures since the lighting was really bad, but it's actually a very light coral pink, with grey and white stripes.

I wanted it to look a little rough and worn, so I hand-painted the white stripes after having taped off the grey ones (they just looked a little too perfect for my liking).

So here she sits in our front entrance...mostly because I simply have nowhere else to put her right now.

Once we finish our basement reno, I think I'll use her for my "craft/sewing" area.

But for now, she's housing shoes and bags and Hunter wellies :)

Love those little brass keyholes!

I added some new dark pewter style knobs, mostly because that's all I had on hand....but I actually kind of like them. Not perfect, but they'll do for now until something better comes along :)

And those are my fave little vintage silver flats under there. I found them basically brand new, for $3, and have worn them almost every day since. They just happen to go with everything!

Anyways....there she is.....a little piece of my British heritage! (I figure I qualify as being British...both my parents are British, and although I was born here, I could have just as easily have been born there....so weird.)

ps....two posts in one day???? what??? ;)

I'm sharing this at Today's Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, DIY Show Off, Domestically Speaking, Primitive and Proper, Someday Crafts, Blue Cricket Designs, Beyond the Picket Fence

A little light decorating.....vintage mirror, gallery wall, paris map...that sort of thing.

Once again....it's been weeks since my last post...

that must mean we've been having an action-packed summer.

Or....maybe I've been off doing all sorts of glamorous girly things like having spa days and afternoon tea parties.

Or...more than likely I've just simply been caught up in life with two little boys...riding bikes and splashing in paddling pools....wiping sticky popsicle hands.....that sort of thing :)

Isn't that what life's all about? 

Oh....and giggling.

We do a lot of giggling.

And in the odd fleeting moment where I have 3 minutes to myself, I sometime like to switch things up a bit....decor-wise :)

So...I went around our house just now and photographed a few of the little changes that make me smile when I see them......yes.....little "fresh" things around the house do that to me.

First of all.....this mirror was a recent thrift shop find ($8).....I gave it a quick coat of white, and then another quick coat of light grey....a quick bit of sandpaper distressing, and up to the living room she went. (*quick* being the key word here). Our little Finny has turned into a chronic 20 minute napper these days (he just learned to walk), so this project literally took 12 minutes from start to finish. Who needs dry paint between coats?....I mean...REALLY.  That would be a luxury. My trick.....paint outside in the hot sun and by the time you get around again to the second coat, the first is already basically dry. :)

So.....I had all these paintings gathering dust, and an ugly wall that needed cheering up. I know they aren't exactly hung in a way that would be "correct" design-wise....but it works for me, and I kind of like the haphazard gallery look. There....a new design term for you ;)

When I painted our bedroom, and moved the pink camellia painting, I needed some quick art for the living room. This is a vintage-style piece of wrapping paper that I found at a little boutique for $5. It's verging on being a little "generic" for my liking, but I like it none the less. The subtle pinks and blues sort of work well for our room. It's a good "stand-in" until something else comes along :)

I found this globe at our local thrift shop (really....do I ever shop anywhere else?)...hehe.....well, ahem....my husband might beg to differ, after I broke the news about a new little Nicole Miller dress that I just couldn't leave behind. C'mon...the thing fit like a glove. And you know that feeling when you zip up a dress and it's like it was just meant to be?.....well.....that's how it was. The dress....not the globe. 

Well...ok....maybe the globe too. I mean, look at the colours in it! Perfect!

And this is where I sit....right now....in that very spot :)

This vintage Paris map was also a piece of wrapping paper from the same boutique as the living room Eiffel Tower, and I fell in love with it. I like how it adds a little softness to our kitchen, alongside the black chalkboard wall.

I like this view a lot better now.....looking from our kitchen into the hallway.

I found an old IKEA table runner that I had bought several years ago...and it works perfectly in our kitchen now...thanks to the Paris map :)

I now enjoy sitting down at our table just that little bit more.

Small pleasures.

And who could resist cupcake print tea towels? Seriously.

My new tea-towel "system".....blue buckets :) Sitting out. Easy to reach...no more drawer stuffing.

So there you have it.....it's amazing how little changes can make a big difference to your every day life. 

Ok...maybe that's just me.

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer!

FINALLY....Our new Grey and White Striped Bedroom!

Definitely been neglecting my blog here...

It's been over 2 weeks! yikes.

But.....I promised a newly painted bedroom, and a newly painted bedroom you will get :)

I am LOVING it! 

I just can't believe I didn't paint it 3 years ago!

It's probably the smallest "master" bedroom in the world...but somehow it feels a lot bigger than it did before. Every little bit counts. Trust me.

I had 2 "naptimes" and a short evening to get it done, so there wasn't a lot of planning or preparation involved. I popped down to Benjamin Moore for a gallon of Cloud White and got started.

As for the stripes, I loved the suggestion of using a satin/glossy paint and alternating the paint finish, but as it happened, I had to get the job done before Finn woke up, and I just went to work with what I had. (ie.. some old black paint that we'd used to paint the back steps, which I added to the cloud white to end up with a nice french grey).

I'm not gonna lie...it was a pain in the butt to tape the stripes and make sure they were somewhat straight. But so worth it. I used a foam roller to roll the grey paint, and was informed by a paint-expert friend of mine that it was a good move. The tape didn't bleed much at all, and apparently would have bled if I had used a regular roller.

The quilted coverlet was a $70 Home Sense purchase. I wasn't sure about how it looked with the stripes at first, but once I hung the painting above the bed, it all seemed to come together nicely.

The chandelier was an impromptu IKEA purchase ($50), but when I got it up, it just looked a little too plain. So....I "adorned" it (Dustin's words). And I think it looks quite lovely.

Nothing like some good ol' thrift shop pearls to make a girl feel pretty, right?

The table lamps were a $3 thrift shop purchase (this morning!), and were a sad colour of peachy 80's pastel. Nothing a grey spray bomb and a new WalMart $8 shade can't fix!

Isn't this mirror beautiful? My sister-in-law Dayna nabbed it for me at her neighbour's garage sale a month or so ago. I've been waiting for the perfect spot to hang it.

And yes...I couldn't keep the ballet shoes out of the bedroom. They make me happy :)

So...I'm weird. What're you gonna do? ;)

As for my pink camellia painting, I think this is where it belongs. I was getting tired of it in the living room (I know...already!).

So there you have it.....my little piece of white and grey striped bliss. 

And if you don't remember what it looked like before...

This is what I've been up to lately.... www.gigglesweets.com :)

And I am eating WAY TOO MUCH salted caramel!!