Uppin' the Kitchen Ante

Good Morning friends. As I mentioned last Thursday, we have a parade of guests, arriving VERY SOON, so I got my butt in gear, starting mid last week and have been crossing things off my to-do list like a champ. Why yes, I am patting myself on the back right now, but you'll see why in a moment (and for the rest of the week for that matter).


First room first. While creating my to-do list last week, I decided one room that needed some loving was the kitchen...

It was looking better after adding some art and curtains, and refinishing our free bentwood chairs, but it still needed more. I figured it was finally time to give our other kitchen chairs some love. I'd spent quite a bit of time going back and forth on whether I wanted to paint them white, or the same Cornflower Blue that I used on the bentwood chairs. Finally, I figured since we had a ton of the blue left, they were going blue. So last week, I pulled out the paint and got to work slowly getting them all covered. 

It's a small change, that in person really makes a big impact. Before I painted them up, these chairs were looking a little worse for wear. Dirty and chipped and just not very nice. Today, they match and just look so much better than they did before. I love the personality that the blue chairs bring to our otherwise neutral dining space. It's nice that we are able to add some colour, and make it ours without putting any money into the actual home itself. So far, everything we have done to spruce up our dining space will be able to come with us when we leave, and that's exactly what we want to do. 

If you're observant, you may also notice the addition of some shelving. Those are actually two smaller LACK shelves from IKEA that B put up side by side. They used to hang in Halle's room back in Toronto, but the wall space she has here is much larger so these shelves were just too little to use in her room. I'm glad I found somewhere new to put them, and have some plans up my sleeve to hide the seam that is visible down the middle.

Currently the little shelves house a water colour of the Spanish steps, that I bought in Rome back in 2005. It also holds my little cupcake stands that I bought at Scout Market a few months ago. I need to do a bit more shopping of our home to find some other accessories to add, and already have a few in mind, I just need to find them amongst the boxes in our storage room. I'd also be thrilled if we could add two more shelves below these for some additional display space. We already own one, so I just need to snag one more and get it up.

Next on my list for this space? I'd still like to track down another light fixture that we can put here for now, and take with us when we leave. I'm also planning to make a faux Roman shade for the big window. It's such a large empty space, and I think that addition would really help make the space that much more cozy. 

B and I really put our head's down this weekend, especially during Halle's naps and after she went to bed, and accomplished a ton, so be sure to check in tomorrow to see how our Master Bedroom is looking after a little work.

What projects or rooms have you been paying extra attention to? Also, if you missed my post late last week, I'm looking for some guest posters for the month of September to help me out while we have visitors here. I'm hoping to get some people to share their own guest rooms, and/or how they prepare to welcome guests into their home! If you're interested, be sure to shoot me an email - I'd love to hear from you. 

The Comfort Factor

While yesterday I was talking about our weekend exploring and our kitchen chairs, today I'm pulling out something completely unrelated that we have recently added to our home. For a while now we've been looking for a nice area rug to add to the living area in our rental.

Well, I'd gone back and forth a few times after checking our rugs at a number of different places. Yesterday, we finally bit the bullet and picked up a new 8x10 from Home Depot.

I loved the hits of colour it provided in our room, and also the pattern that will hopefully help hide any dirt  from Halle or the pups. It's also nice and soft, and a great place for Halle to hang out and play with her toys.

We were especially happy that we were able to use a gift card we had received for my participating in Home Depot's Match the Look contest, as well as some store credit that we had. After all was said and done, we only had to shell out just under $70 to bring this home.

I'm really liking how this place is coming together for us. Since we are a young family, it's nice to add some more fun and colourful pieces to our home. I can't wait to add some more accessories to this room and pull out more of those colours from the area rug...

I'm happy that we waited to find the right rug, and didn't make an impulse purchase when we first moved here about two months ago. This one just works perfectly and makes me so happy. It not only helps to define our living room space, but it also helps to warm it up as well. Every day this place feels more and more like our home...

Two Guest Posts In One!

Hey everyone! Today you can find me visiting Anne-Marie at 10 Rooms, talking about my current Colour Crush. While I am over there visiting, I have another wonderful blogger visiting today with a guest post. My dear friend Christine was quick to step up and help when I put out a call for guest bloggers... and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that as I know just how busy Christine is being a first time Mama as well...

Hiya my fancy friends, it's Christine from just bella. I cannot tell you how excited I am for Kerry's adventure out west! Not only is it a great opportunity for her and her family but hey, I'm out west! I'm crossing my fingers a trip to Edmonton might be in her future.  Kerry has been such a great bloggy friend of mine and I would love to meet her and little Halle one day! Friends help friends move, it's just what you do, and since I'm a few provinces away I thought I'd pop in and help Kerry out this way. I'm super excited for spring and am loving all the bright colours in fashion and home decor. There is nothing like something bright and cheery, especially when paired with a great neutral, to spice up your decor.  Here are a few "spring brights" to brighten your day:

1) Ampersand Print, shopampersand etsy 2) Industrial Task Table Lamp, West Elm 3) Chroma-logical Order Clock, Modcloth 4) Fluro Pink Random Spot Pillowcase, Castle 5) Marimekko Bedding, Crate and Barrel 6) Bird Pillowcase, Classic by Nature etsy 7) Jordnot Flower Pot, IKEA

Happy moving, Kerry!


Thanks a ton Christine! Not only am I thankful for your help during our prep for the big move... but I'm so thankful for these fabulous spring picks! Everything is so pretty and has me feeling inspired for our new digs... can I start decorating yet? I'll see you all back here tomorrow with another great guest post from Elizabeth over at The Little Black Door!

Finishing the Front Door

First off, I NEED to start by saying thank you all SO MUCH for your sweet, sweet comments yesterday on our little peanut's nursery! It means so much to both of us to have such positive feedback on a room that we put so much of ourselves (and our family) into. You are all truly the best! Also, a big thank you to Megan over at Honey We're Home, who is featuring our little nursery today on her fabulous blog. So to all of those who are new to First Time Fancy - welcome and I hope you enjoy looking around!


Today - I have another new project to share. Yes... we're still crossing stuff off of our list as we inch closer and closer to the big due date (Two more days...). Over this past weekend and into yesterday, we were working on sprucing up our boring old front door. In my last post about improving our curb appeal, I made it no secret that our next step was to get it all painted. So, as we worked on painting the exterior the other weekend, our front door looked like this...

We had picked up this selection of yellow paint chips from Home Depot quite a while back, and left them laying in one of the drawers of our console table for future reference. We eventually both agreed that yellow was indeed the colour we wanted to use, so we whipped the paint chips out and lined them up. After staring at them for quite some time, I narrowed my choices down to the top two paint chips, and after a bit more consideration, B and I narrowed it down to the top chip...

The final choice was the third from the top. It's a CIL colour, called "Cheers" for anyone interested.

Last Friday, when B got home from work, we decided it was time to get the paint on. We knew it would take a few coats for the yellow to look right. So first things first, off came the hardware...

... and on went the first coat of our cheery yellow...

Friday night we got as far as the first two coats before we headed over to our friend's for dinner. Sunday morning we were back at it, and while B got the final coat of yellow on, I was inside working on the next step of our front door project. A step that was inspired by this image, which I found on pinterest...

I sent my oh-so-wonderful Mother the above photo and she found a gorgeous font and printed "Welcome" for us on some heavy card stock. I then used my x-acto knife to cut out each of the letters so that we ended up with something like this...

Next, we measured the door and used some small pencil marks to ensure that our stencil was centred and level on the front door...

We gave the back of our stencil a quick blast of tacky spray to help it stick to the door and to try and avoid any bleeding of our paint. (Make sure you only spray the paper, or you'll have one heck of a time trying to get that paper off your door!). Then, we proceeded to use newspaper and painters tape to tape off the door around our stencil and B sprayed it completely with some exterior black spray paint...

Unfortunately, as B was spraying, he noticed that parts of our stencil were starting to lift. So he got all of it sprayed and we let it dry for a bit before peeling off all of the paper and the stencil. From far back, it didn't look half bad (with the exception of the little lines that we needed to keep on the stencil so the middle of the "e's", "l" and "o" would not fall out)...

However, up close was a whole different story...

Not quite as sharp looking! After it letting it dry up some more, I went after it with some black paint and a small paint brush to clean up our edges and then B touched it up with some yellow. We were thrilled with the results...

I think with this project we have truly hit the mark. We got the colour we were looking for, and added a little something extra to make our home that much more welcoming for our guests (which I'm sure we'll have a lot of not long after Peanut arrives!). 

Has anyone else been working on sprucing up their curb appeal? Any fun elements that you've added to take the front of your house up a notch?

Ruby Red Rooms

Unless our little bundle is very late, she will be born in July (God I hope she arrives in July). While thinking of this the other week, I went to double check what her zodiac sign should be, along with what her birthstone will be. She'll be a Cancer (as long as she arrives before July 22, otherwise she'll be a Leo), and her birthstone will be a Ruby. In honour of our little girl's red birthstone, today I wanted to share some inspiring red rooms. It's not always an easy colour to do right, but I think these rooms nailed it right on the head!

This tone on tone space from House to Home. may not be to everyone's taste but I think it's done quite nicely. The bold red is broken up quite well using a neutral sofa, and the neutral carpeting. With just a coat of paint on the wall, and couple changes of inexpensive pieces, the whole look of this room could be completely different!

Another bold space, this time from Style at Home. Some of you may recognize this beautiful dressing room from one of their "high-low features" (we all love 'em, right?). Much like the first room, with the flooring and many of the accents kept neutral, this room could easily be transformed with a coat of paint... but really, I love the cheery shade of red in this room!

For those of you who are not so much into the bold spaces, this kitchen from Style at Home might be a little more to your taste. Rather than going all out, this room incorporates a hit of red with some gorgeous wallpaper, which seems to pull the red tones out in the wood. A hint of red, done tastefully - I like it!

I think that this red bathroom (found on this blog) is absolutely adorable. I'm always a fan of white subway tile in washrooms. The hardest part about changing this room around, would be committing to a red tub. Yes, you could have it painted again down the line if you so desired, but that may involve some more work and money than simply slapping a coat of paint on the walls. Regardless, this room gets two thumbs up from me!

What do you think of red used in rooms? Would you or have you attempted red in your home?