Floating shelves

Remember those floating shelves I had taken down in the play room to do my painters tape wall? Well I finally got around to putting them up in the bathroom.

Right above the bathtub in our master bathroom was a big empty wall. I saw it as a waste of space. Since we have limited cupboard space in our bathroom and both girls use this bathroom for their baths, I needed to maximize the wall space. I needed some where to put all their lotions, soaps, toys, and wash cloths. The shelves solved this problem, and now all their stuff is neatly hidden.

Blast of Colour

Over the Christmas holiday, Andrew took off on a four day snowboarding trip in Quebec. I opted to stay at home with the girls, since we were already traveling before and after this mini vacay, and I thought the girls could use a few down days at home in between. With both girls in bed before 8:30, and no tv to watch because of a broken remote, I decided to decorate! Duh.

Two years ago I painted our living room/dining room/kitchen a very light grey colour. I loved it. It was light and fresh. Part of the reason why I picked light grey was because we had cream coloured couches, as well as cream coloured curtains. The couches we purchased off kijiji for $150 for both. A steal of a deal, but they were just temporary until we could afford couches that we actually liked. I knew for two years the couches I wanted, but we couldn't get them...until NOW!

So, the new couches are grey. Grey couches plus grey wall=bleh. So I painted. I just took the same colour as our entry/sitting room and carried it into the dining/living room/kitchen. It was way to much work. I thought I was nuts the entire time doing it. But as soon as I was finished, I was beyond thrilled. It looks awesome.

Along with some new couches, I also wanted some new curtains. My old curtains were a DIY gone wrong. I cut the panels, trying to turn two panels into four, but it just ended up being a big fat mistake. The curtains didn't close all the way on our patio doors, so I had all our backyard neighbours staring into our house all the time. Not fun.

Now I generally go neutral and like to play things safe in my house. This is mostly because I'm in my house all.the.time so I get bored of things quickly. I feared that if I added to much colour that I would get sick of it super quickly. However, that area needed a little boost. It was too bland. Too neutral. So I got some very funky curtains. I admit, I was nervous, and needed a little bit of encouragement from my mom (an expert decorator) , but I'm SO glad I went that route.

And now the couches (hehe I know, I'm teasing you with a lack of pictures....I'm saving the big finale for the end). Yes, our old couches were fine. They were fully functional. However, they were massive.



That's the only picture I have of them. We had this love seat, and a three seater, in our tiny little space. Notice how the arm rests are like a foot wide each...that's four extra feet of space being taken up in that room. So, we got rid of them (had them for two years and sold them for more then what we paid!) and got a love seat and a chair. Yes, it's MUCH less seating in that area, but we figured we can pull up chairs from the kitchen table if we need to (bachelor nights eh girls).

Ahem, here it is...the new and improved living space:













The curtains are so bright and funky with a little retro vibe to them. Goes great with our retro table and chairs set. And the aqua colour matches perfectly with the aqua seats on our kitchen chairs.













The couches are now the perfect size for this little space. We were first going to get two love seats, but I'm glad we didn't. The room is so much more open now with the over sized couches gone. Bonus, the cushions come off the couch and Coral and I can make killer forts with them...AND double bonus, the cushion covers come off, so if my kiddos spill on them, I can just toss them in the washing machine.

Corals thoughts:
"Ooooooooooh I LOVE your curtains mama!!"
"I'm glad we got different couches...the other ones were to slippery for Poppy."

DIY accent wall

This little project was done a few days before Christmas. It was a total I have an idea, I want to try this, spur the moment kind of thing.

Remember about a year ago I had put some floating shelves up in the playroom? Well, they annoyed me all year. Floating shelves are tricky! I could never find the perfect balance between them not looking empty, and them looking cluttered. So off the wall they came (and will go up in the bathroom to put towels and stuff on). That left me with a bare, white, empty wall.

Of course being a huge wallpaper fan, I wanted to wallpaper that wall. But it's a large wall to wallpaper, and would have been very expensive. So I decided to fiddle around with some painters tape to make a pattern on the wall instead.

To get the pattern that I wanted, I first had to test it out on some paper. So I put painters tape on a piece of paper, in the pattern that I wanted, then coloured over top with crayon. It took a few tries, but finally I got exactly what I was looking for. In hind sight, I'm sure I could have googled or looked on pinterest to help me find a pattern, but I didn't think of that until after I was already done.















First of all, if your going to attempt this project, you will need to prime your wall first. If you don't, the paint will peel off the wall when you remove the painters tape.

Here's what I did. First decide how big you want your squares. I made mine 12 inches, which made a lot of small squares on the wall. Next I cut a TON of pieces of painters tape, all measuring 12 inches long. Then start putting them on the wall.




I started at the top of the wall, and worked my way down and out from there. For the over-lap squares I measured 2 inches in, and 2 inches down (if that makes sense). For the first half of the wall I actually used a ruler to measure, but eventually my little helper stole my ruler, so I just eye balled it the rest of the wall. Then once your entire wall is covered in tape (and your nearing the point of going insane) you can start painting! Use a roller and paint just like you would any other wall in your house. I did two coats, and after the second coat you couldn't even see the tape on the wall anymore. Once it's fully dried, peel all that painters tape off, and reveal your new accent wall!

Pros: looks awesome! Has the same sort of effect as wallpaper, but is much, much cheaper.

Cons: it's a tedious project. If your a perfectionist, I don't recommend you attempt this. It would take you FOREVER to make sure every single piece of tape is completely straight and would drive you bonkers.

So after I completed the wall, I did some rearranging. Moved the desk and bench,and the room now feels so much more open. Then Coral and I went on a date and she got to pick the accent colour for the room. She of course chose pink.