Celebrating 3 Years!

September 20th was our 5 year anniversary (of being together - we're not married for those who don't know). September 25th I turned 27. Today, September 30th, this blog turns 3! Already! Wow!

When I started this blog, I really had no clue where it would take me. I surely never imagined, that three years after my very first post, I would be spending this morning enjoying a breakfast in Vancouver after a great night with some fabulous bloggers.

I know I haven't been much of a blogger recently. I've seen it in my interactions with my readers, and even in what I've been posting. I haven't been posting a ton of really unique content - stuff that really reflects who I am. Without making excuses, life has just been busy - visitors and being with Halle have been the two great things keeping me busy recently. Next up will be focusing on my venture, but I actually do have some things to share with you this coming week... like my fabulous weekend, some autumn decorating I've completed and possibly even my garage sale chair reveal!

I love blogging, I love sharing things I do and love, and I REALLY love hearing from all of you wonderful people - whether it's how I've inspired you, questions you have or just a sweet note letting me know you like what I do! :) Thanks for reading and following along... you are the reason I love doing this! 

Fancy Friday Love

Can you believe that it's already the last Friday of September. Time is flying! Here is what I loved this week...

Hello cozy breakfast nook! I'll take two please! (via Milk & Honey Home)

Adoring this cozy space as well, found on pink wallpaper. I would be happy to curl up on that day bed with a book for a day and just lounge...

When I saw this sweet space on 79 ideas yesterday, all I could think was - how cute is this room? It's so simple, with it's black and white scheme, but those polka dots just add so much to the space! It's official - I love polka dot wallpaper!

When we moved into this rental I was so excited to finally have a formal dining space. I imagined creating something like this pretty space (only on a smaller scale), photographed by Eric Roth and featured on desire to inspire. Well, I'll give you a look in the coming weeks but my dining room definitely looks nothing like this at the moment...

Well, it's Friday and my parents final full day here! We'll find some fun way to enjoy it! Tomorrow I am off for a girl's day and night! I'll be heading downtown for IDSWest and then a fun night with the west coast blogging crowd! I'm looking forward to a fun time, and a solid night's sleep on my own at the St. Regis Hotel. Keep an eye out next week for my recap, but for now I bid you a beautiful final September weekend! Enjoy!

9861 days

In a way, that seems like a lot... but not really at the same time. If you're wondering, 9861 days is 27 years and that is how old I am today.

No big plans to celebrate. Just spending the day with my parents and Halle, and some time with B in the evening once he is home for work. Okay, I lie... I may have plans to eat a cupcake... or two.

I think that 27 is going to be a GREAT YEAR! I've started planning to do something that I have been thinking of and talking to B about for a couple of years now. The timing finally feels right and I'm working with another talented blogger to get some design work done so that I can finally do what I've always wanted. I hope to share my new venture with you all next month... but with that deadline planned, I have a lot of work to get done! 

Have a Happy Tuesday everyone, and I hope to be around as much as possible over the next little while.

Fancy Friday Love

It's Friday again, and I am SO excited about that for a number of reasons. I will share more on that with you after my fancy finds (I promise there are more than two this week...)

I spent 4 years living in Ottawa, and loved the area known as the Glebe. It was close enough to my school to go for a walk, and all of the trendy shops and beautiful homes always had me dreaming about living there one day. While that was not to be, I am happy enough to drool over this Glebe home tour, featured on desire to inspire last week...

A pretty little girl's space on Apartment Therapy last week. The muted colours and neutral walls make it sweet, and all of the little touches add the necessary playful element. Another space that is being tucked away as inspiration for Halle's big girl room...

I adored this post, from Thistlewood Farm, for a number of reasons. This guest room is so comfy and inviting - something I would love to create in our own home one day. I also really love this idea for the Shutter wall. It's different, and the result is beautiful - don't you agree?

A cozy spot to enjoy your breakfast on these cool fall mornings, care of a life's design. Part of me wishes we had been bold enough to paint our kitchen table a fun colour like this!

I really loved getting another peek at Jen's basement reno, which is so close to finished. It is looking fabulous! Then she shared these cute little jars that she labelled and all I could think of was GENIUS!

Well, today my parents are flying into Vancouver to spend the next week with us! I can't wait to see them and show them around the city that they haven't visited in ages. I'm pretty sure my Dad said the last time they were here was before they were married. It will be great to get some time with them, and hopefully even a date night for me and B. I'm also excited to get to celebrate my birthday with them next week! So much fun to be had! Hope you all have a great weekend as well!

Five Years

Happy Thursday! I'm taking a break from sharing what's been happening around here to celebrate... kind of. Five years ago today, I followed my heart and boarded a plane to NYC. I spent a fabulous long weekend with the most incredible man... the man I now share a home, and a very beautiful life with...

He's also an incredible father to our darling baby girl. Every day I am so thankful that I followed my heart, and blocked out all of those nay-sayers who told me not to go. 

Happy Anniversary B! These past five years have been the best of my (almost) 27 years! I love you more with each passing day!

More of our Travels

As my lack of blogging would indicate, we have been extremely busy travelling around here and sight seeing with many of our guests. Most recently, we had some friends visit from back home, along with my older brother. We saw a ton of great places, and even visited a couple of places we had never been before! Here is a quick post on some of what we did...

On the 8th we took a trip back to Victoria for the day. We spent it with a couple of our friends who were visiting from Toronto, and we were able to do a few things we didn't the first time we were there.

{It was beautiful morning for the ferry ride over}

{Enjoying breakfast at a tea house. Halle has really taken to stirring... all the time}

{She made friends with one of the horses waiting on the side of the road}

{she also enjoyed a trip to the playground in Beacon Hill Park}

{She also made friends with the stray peacocks in the Park}

{Cuddling up with Daddy on the ferry ride back home}

My brother arrived the day after our trip to Victoria. We spent that day doing a lot of stuff we had already done. Brunch at Granville Island followed by a stroll, and then a trip to Steveston where we wandered for a bit and picked up a couple fish for dinners. On the 11th, we decided to head south of the border. So my brother, Halle and I packed into the car and headed down to Seattle. It was my first real trip there as well, and we had a great time. 

We arrived so late, due to traffic at the border, that we almost missed the food trucks outside of the Starbucks Headquarters. Thankfully, we were each able to get a delicious crepe and shared a dark chocolate shake! Halle enjoyed the shake as well. When we wrapped up there, we headed over to Pike Place market where we enjoyed strolling at a leisurely pace (it wasn't as busy as I expected - probably because it was a week day in September).

It was a really great day trip. We didn't get to see a ton, but we enjoyed wandering around and eating some delicious food. It was the perfect way for me to get a glimpse of the city, and I can't wait to go back again with both B and Halle! 

Another new spot was Lynn Canyon. A lot of people who visit head to Capilano suspension bridge, which is expensive. Lynn Canyon is free, and we enjoyed a really nice hike around the area afterwards.

{I conquered my fear of heights... and suspension bridges and crossed}

I took a ton of photos on this hike... but there are really only so many photos of trees that I can show you before you get bored.

We did a few more things before he flew home on Saturday, but I'll save those for another post. My parents arrive on Friday, and we'll be visiting a few new places as well! I can't wait to see them and share some of the photos from those adventures with you as well!!

It's been a whirlwind, but I'm still trying to finish up my chair and cozy up this space a little more. Watch for some of that next week as well.

Getting On Top of Things

Fall is quickly approaching, and before I know it, this sunshine that we have been enjoying out here will disappear and giveaway to the grey rainy days of fall and winter. With that in mind, I've started to think about how we can make our home feel more cozy. A haven, and nest that we can enjoy when the cools days return. One thing in particular I would like to do is make it more comfortable, and more full without feeling cluttered. So, the first thing I wanted to do, was to tackle a project that has been sitting neglected for far too long.

Over two years ago now, I picked up this chair at a garage sale for only $22. I pretty much had to bargain with B to let me buy it, and now I understand his hesitation. It's just taken up space in our garage, and now our sunroom, waiting for me to do something with it for the last 2.5 years...

Well, inspiration finally struck and I have been working away on my transformation on this lovely piece. Just after B's parents returned home from their visit, I popped into IKEA to pick up a few things we needed. While I was there, I stopped into the fabric section to see what they had kicking around. When I saw the BERTA RUTE big check in beige, I knew it was perfect. 

It has pattern, but is still neutral enough to work with anything else I'd like to add to the space. Plus, it will make finding a complimentary fabric for our sofa that much easier. So, I brought home 4 metres for around $40, and was instantly motivated to get moving on the chair, which was looking like this...

Last Sunday, while B and my brother were making dinner, I popped into the sunroom and started the process of removing the upholstery tacks from the chair. I had to be careful to not rip the fabric (too much), since the pieces I removed will be used as a template for my new fabric. I started with a knife, but many of the tacks were rusted, so I moved onto pliers, but they couldn't get under the tack heads. Eventually, I ended up using one of B's chisels, and it worked wonders. (I may owe him a new chisel though).

Removing the red fabric revealed another equally as dirty fabric underneath, with a layer of batting placed over top. By that point, my hands were sore from removing tacks and I decided to stop there - after all, I had the templates I needed, so it was time to get down to business.

Seeing the chair like this had me feeling excited and anxious all at the same time. I was excited to see it looking bare and ready for a new look, but felt a little anxious when it came down to what I was going to do to that wood. I spent quite a bit of time bouncing back and forth between staining and painting it. In the end, my laziness won out, and I decided to paint it. I had already spent a great deal of time trying to sand out the stain in those carvings and it wasn't getting me anywhere fast. On top of that, I already had white paint left over from when I painted our headboard, which meant not having to put out anymore money for this project.

So, I'm now in the midst of getting the final coats of paint onto the wood, and then I'll be able to start the actual upholstering project. Hopefully, I can share it with you next week and have our new chair sitting in our living room (for the time being). 

I'm still keeping my eyes out for other pieces we can use around here to help furnish and organize our place, and essentially just get our home feeling more cozy for the cold months ahead. 

What have you been doing to prepare for the fall? Any big projects on the go?

A Winner & Some West Elm Fun!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. It was warm and sunny here, and we had a ton of fun exploring more with my brother. Keep an eye out for some of our adventures later this week. For now, I want to share with you something I got up to last Wednesday night... and then I'll share the two lucky winners of the Printique giveaway.

So it's official, West Elm is finally up and running right here in Vancouver. The brand new store is located at 2947 Granville Street, and I was so excited to attend the opening night last Wednesday. When I arrived shortly after 6pm the store was packed, the music was going (care of a DJ, spinning live), the cocktails were flowing, and the delicious apps were... well, DELICIOUS! 

It was an incredible night and I loved getting to see the new store first hand. Here's some of my favourites:

This wall of beautiful kitchen wares welcomes you upon entering the store. The styling was perfect, and I loved how they colour blocked the sections. It took everything in my power not to come home with stacks and stacks of pretty bowls. The perfect way to add some colour to your dishes.

Loved this mirror as soon as I spotted it. It was tucked away behind a bed display near the back of the store, so it took me a while to spot it, but I only wished I could've taken it home with me. Perfect for our bedroom, or the guest bedroom. The shape is unique, and could be almost nautical in the right setting. 

Speaking of bedding - I was in love with everything they had...

A lot of neutral and grey coverlets and duvet covers. My favourite being the polka dots in the top middle. There was a beautiful set of embroidered sheets in this section that I wanted to take home with me, but sadly they wouldn't fit our very deep mattress... so the search continues.

If we hadn't just bought our King Size duvet cover from West Elm back in March, I think I would've been scooping this pretty one up! Love the colours, and the pattern. Very pretty without being ultra feminine. I'm sure B wouldn't have completely veto'd it! (as this picture would indicate, many attendees had enjoyed this bed as well).

More beautiful bedding, and a fabulously styled wall. I was so tempted to bring home one of those sweater-knit pillows, to warm up our place for the fall (the dusty blue is perfect for our place), but we're tightening our belts at the moment, so I had to leave it be. They are perfect for the fall - especially in the Raisin colour - loved it!

These pretty and happy pillows would be sweet in any space, but I was imagining them in Halle's newly evolving nursery space. I almost brought home that little pink one peeking out the basket, but thought better of it. Little girl does not need any more throw pillows at the moment.

Overall, it was just a really fabulous night. I loved getting a peek into the new store, and I'm excited to shop there once again. If you're in Vancouver, make sure to drop by the store on Granville! It was also an excellent opportunity for me to catch up with some familiar faces, and meet a few new-to-me bloggers as well. I'm looking forward to seeing all of those lovely ladies again on the 29th a fabulous event being planned by some really incredible ladies! 

Now, for the party many of you have been waiting for! The winners of the Printique giveaway, as chosen by random.org! The first of our two winners was lucky #17 - Areta! And oddly enough, our second winner was #18! Cathy! If neither of you hear from me today, please shoot me an email and I will get you in touch with Monica from Printique right away so that you can go shopping with your $20 gift cards. 

For the rest of you, who would love to go shopping don't forget to use the code FANCY20 to get 20% off your order! Thanks to everyone who entered - I always love doing a fun giveaway for my readers!

Fancy Friday Love

Happy Friday everyone. I've been having such a fabulous week visiting with my brother and showing him around, as well as attending a fabulous event on Wednesday evening! So fun! I even managed to squeeze in enough time to find these pretty things in blog land...

A pretty post on Sunday over on desire to inspire, highlighting some lovely rooms from Heart Home. My favourite had to be this cozy dining nook - every single part of it has me feeling giddy for fall.

I love Meg's new kitchen! It's simple and neutral, and exactly what I would do, if we were to renovate our kitchen back in Toronto - and one day, we will.

Well, this is my brother's final weekend here, so we have a few small road trips planned to show him some nearby places, and just plan on spending some time hanging out. I know I was pretty MIA this week, but I had a lot of stuff going on with him and even my evenings were taken up with other things. I promise, I actually do have a lot to share next week, aside from the winner of the Printique Giveaway! If you haven't entered, head on over now and do so! The TWO winners will be announced on Monday morning! What do you have planned for this fine September weekend?

A Guest Ready Room

I've been lacking in posts showcasing projects and rooms that we have been tackling recently. I guess that would expected with all of the guest traffic we have going on. Well, I'm back today with a peek at how I fluffed up the guest room for those coming to stay. We didn't have a lot to spend, but wanted to make the room feel really comfortable, cozy and inviting for our family and friends.

Back in early June, we had our first house guest, and in a rather rushed attempt to prepare for her arrival, we got the room looking like this:

Not awful, but still incredibly bare, so we had our work cut out for us. The first thing we did, was add a little bit of artwork. We shopped our home for this and pulled out the headboard from our old bedroom in Toronto, along with a print that B gifted me a few Christmas' ago. The colours worked with the bedding from our old bedroom, along with the paint colour on our garage sale find headboard. 

I also figured, our guests could use somewhere to hang towels, purses, jackets, sweaters - whatever they pleased really. Thankfully, we had some hooks that hung in our house in Toronto when we had moved in. We had taken them down when we painted, and never got around to hanging them again - but we did decide to move them out west with us. So, up they went, just next to the door to the guest bedroom. The perfect place for our guests to hang whatever they may need.

I also wanted to make sure that our guests had everything they needed right at their finger tips when they arrived. I brought down one of our newly painted blue chairs and placed a basket of towels, face cloths and goodies on it for them. All the toiletries one could ever need are in that basket, along with a hair dryer.

For the nightstand, we decided we needed a lamp for our guests to flick on before they crawl into bed. Whether they would like to read, or just not have to worry about getting from the door to the bed in the dark, it was necessary. Since it was short notice, we actually moved one of our master bedroom lamps down there before my friend came to visit in June, and it remained there right up until B's parents left. But last week, after they were gone I was at IKEA and found a much smaller lamp in the As-Is section for only $10. Perfect solution for our small table, and it made room for us to add a clock, as well as a place to keep our guest book.

On the floor next to the night table, I placed a basket that I picked up at IKEA for $5.99. Inside of it, I placed all of the brochures we have collected for the surrounding areas, and other places we have visited. I figure this is a great resource when people are coming to stay from out of town. We don't really make a ton of concrete plans in advance, so this way our guests can take a look at the different places nearby, and maybe decide what they would really enjoy seeing. After all, I'm around all day to help them see the sights, and I'm happy to bring them wherever they would like to go...

I'd say, for mostly shopping our home (with the exception of the $15 I spent for the lamp and basket... not including some toiletries I picked up) that we did a good job setting up the space for guests...

There is still room for improvement to cozy it up a little. Maybe a nice chair, or a dresser, and definitely another nightstand. We'll get there eventually, but slow and steady is our best way to go. We enjoy finding the right pieces and not just throwing stuff in there because it was a great deal. I need to really love it. So I'm keeping my eyes out, and maybe by the next month we have a ton of visitors, I'll have some more updates to share.

So far the reviews from B's parents were great! They loved the room and found the bed incredibly comfy! Come back tomorrow to see how we whipped our "office/work out room" into a guest room in a pinch! Yup you read that right. We have three people staying at the moment and needed to provide some privacy for our extra guests, so we made some moves and shopped our home and pulled together a cozy little space for extra over night guests!