My Great Clean Out!

Today I'm joining in on a little clean up / organization blog party that Anne-Marie of 10 Rooms has put together! 

When Anne-Marie emailed me about taking part in "The Great Clean Out", I just knew I had to say yes... what better motivation to get my butt in gear and start cleaning and organizing? I also knew right away what room I would be tackling... My Craft Room / Office / Laundry Room...

Yeah - it was looking pretty rough. Left over Christmas pieces were stuffed in boxes in here. Construction materials had been placed here to stay out of the main basement living area. Basically, it had been a giant catch all for anything that didn't have a proper home.

With me back to classes as of last Monday (I'm soooo excited about my class this term!), I knew I needed to whip this space into shape so that I would have somewhere to escape to and get my work done. My first step was just to get EVERYTHING out... which meant relocating it all (with the help of B) into our living area. My #1 rule was that anything that didn't belong, was not to go back in! I knew that by keeping it out in the open in our living space, I would be more motivated to find a proper place for everything. After running the vaccum around quickly, I got to work organizing.

With the help of B, we moved my brand new IKEA "As-Is" dresser into the spot that was previously occupied by our big, ol' ugly filing cabinet (which we no longer needed).

There was a lot of stuff to sort out and organize. Old school projects, paper (LOTS OF PAPER!), crafty items, fabric and other samples... and pretty much any other thing you can possibly think of. 

It kept me busy for quite some time, and I definitely did not complete this in a couple of nights, it was an on going process. Items were moved, and moved again. At this point it is by no means "perfect", but it's exactly what I set out to accomplish for now. It has more storage, and it's a lot more functional than it was before - take a look at the before and after...

I can actually get INTO the room again... and with all that new drawer space, everything has a home!

The top left drawer contains ribbons, my blog cards and some other crafty items (and yes, it could still use some organization... I'll be working on that). The drawer on the right is looking a little better with a utensil organizer keeping all of my pens, pencils, markers, etc. nice and organized. This will make looking for a pen and other writing utensils a lot easier!

The next drawer down is home to all of my paper. The far left is craft and painting papers, the middle is blank and lined paper with some smaller pads down at the bottom. The right side is all notebooks - yeah, there are a lot of those around here.

The third drawer down I have dedicated to "gift wrapping/giving materials"... kind of. You see blank note cards, some tissue paper and a LOT of tape... that could also use a little extra organization.

This drawer holds a lot of my old writing stuff. I used to be big into writing poems and short stories, and they are all housed here. I am hoping to condense everything so I can free this drawer up... I have a feeling my bottom drawer contents will only continue to expand in the future...

My fabric drawer doesn't look very exciting right now, but they are all organized by colour, and my neutrals ended up at the top. 

My cleaning also got B motivated, and last weekend while I was back home spending some time with my family, he made some more progress on finishing up my desk. He finished painting it white, got the final trim attached, put up my cork board and attached my pistons... check it out in action...

I have a bunch of stuff that I stumbled across that needs to be added to my inspiration board up there, but I think that it is so perfect! What a lucky girl I am to have B make me such a fabulous desk! 

So, that's everything that went back in... what came out? Well, of course the old desk and filing cabinet - both of which are waiting to be relocated to my parents house. All of the Christmas stuff that had ended up in there was packed up when we did a proper clean up after the holidays, and then this...

Quite a lot to toss and recycle, as well as quite a few things that we will donate / add to our garage sale pile (we are determined to make a little bit of cash off all of the extra / unused stuff we have laying around).

Organizing, cleaning and purging our home of things always calms me down and makes me feel good, so thank you to Anne-Marie for lighting the fire under me, and getting me going on cleaning up this room! I'm already dreaming of all of the great projects I'll work on in here and all of the great blog posts I can write from my nice clean desk! Make sure you head over to Anne-Marie's blog to see her Great Clean Out and find out who else participated!

Have you taken on a major cleaning / organization project recently, or do you have one coming up? I would love to hear some of your best organizational tips!

Fancy Friday Love

Another fabulous Friday... and of course, another week closer to spring (Hooray)! I don't know about the rest of you, but I am so done with these cold, grey, depressing winter days. Bring on the sun!.... and also my fancy finds from the past week...

Erin, from House of Turquoise, shared this gorgeous bathroom last Friday. Do you think we could make our upstairs bathroom look like this when we reno it...? Maybe? We'd only have to sacrifice the whole top floor of our home, right?

Yes, I have some serious bathroom envy right now... how could I not?

Speaking of envy... how calm, relaxing, refreshing and comforting does this white bedroom look? Vanessa shared this beauty last Friday... and it has me thinking I would love to have an all white bedroom, what about you?

I think I'm adding this "Baby Makes Three Book" to my "Mommy-to-be wishlist". Kate Spade has got it all figured out, and I think this gorgeous silver-plated book would be great for us as first time parents, don't you? The bonus... it's only $50! Awesome!

Rhiannon always shares such beautiful weddings and great DIY projects! This Save the Date Puzzle that she shared this past week was just so sweet and so smart... what do you think?

Oh, of course, I also loved picking up the latest copy of The Nest and homemakers this past week. "Why?" you ask. Well, a big thank you to "The Nest" for including me in their "How to Organize Everything" feature - I must say, I felt pretty special being a name among many of those bloggers we love!

homemakers magazine has me in there too... but completely unrelated to my blog! If you were reading around this time last year, you may remember that I entered me and B into a contest to win a trip to Grand Cayman (we came in 2nd place - *cue sad music*). The other month I heard from one of their editors, asking if it would be okay to print the story on how we met in their magazine this month! B and I agreed... so if you pick up this months copy, you'll find our little love story nestled inside! Thanks homemakers! :)

I've recently discovered Brittany's blog, and I'm loving it! When she posted this room the other day, it immediately filled me with inspiration for a baby girl nursery (no, we don't know what we're having yet... only 15 weeks now, but I'm trying to come up with some good colour schemes, for both genders, to go with our brown baby bedding...)

Lastly, another gorgeous find from Kate Spade! I adore this fun and flirty ring and for only $55, I think this would make a good Mother's Day gift... or maybe a "way-to-carry-a-baby-for-nine-months-and-then-deliver-it" kind of gift... B? (I know you're reading... I'm just handing this one right to you... no thought required!)

This weekend, we'll be sticking close to home (finally). I hope to have some lazy mornings and productive days. Cleaning, sorting, purging, organizing! We also have our follow up eco-energy audit tomorrow. Hopefully that means some money coming our way soon... god knows we could use it! Hoping you all have a Fancy weekend... I'll catch you on the other side! :) 

Perfectly Imperfect - Anne-Marie's Playroom

Today Anne-Marie from the incredibly inspiring blog, 10 Rooms is here to share her Perfectly Imperfect kid's playroom. I not only love reading Anne-Marie's blog, but also love reading the comments she leaves on my blog - they are so insightful and helpful! Let's check out Anne-Marie's space!!

Hello everyone! My name is Anne-Marie and today I am going to show you a perfectly imperfect space in my home. Thanks so much, Kerry, for inviting me to take part in this feature. We all have loads of "real" space in our homes that don't often get shown, and I really like that you are having us take a second look with less critical and more loving eyes!

This is my kids playroom. It was my office, but their playroom upstairs was twice the size and has since become and office/craft space for all of us. The kids are at the age where they really don't play with toys that much, and so this is a transitional room, in a year or two it will probably become an exercise space.

This room has no storage, so two large cupboards and an old shelf moved from our storage area into service. I would have loved charming wood cabinetry but they function really well to hide the chaos inside.

All Cam's toys are put away. He really only uses the board games now, but he wasn't ready to part with the other toys just yet :) Chloe's cupboard is rarely full! When I told her I was taking pics for a post she recruited her big sis and they set up a bratz world..complete with concert, sushi bar, pool...

There are empty picture frames on the window sill, just haven't gotten to it yet.. Chloe's best friend made the giant pic for her, and it was immediately taped to the wall!

The chalkboard and magnetic boards really need to be lowered a bit.. the slightly tacky (LOL) gallery of Mandarin pics are from bdays past - my in-laws have a tradition of meeting there for the kids birthdays. The darlings love to reminisce..

The table and chairs were a present from my parents, unfinished so I could customize them - stained one chair and that's as far as it got. Chloe said last night her white chair is her favourite! Add that to the list :) The rag rug was from Ikea about ten years ago - it lands wherever the kids do, so inexpensive and it is practically indestructible...

This wee playroom not going to compare to co-ordinated Pottery Barn spaces, but it is a fun little spot in our home. The kids have friends in almost every day, and Coco and her girlies put on fashion shows and play school, giggles galore. They seem to think it's absolutely perfect!

Thanks, Kerry for having me over today. I love your blog, its warm and lighthearted, like you!

Thanks so much Anne-Marie, for the sweet words and of course for sharing your Perfectly Imperfect space! I think this space is exactly what it should be a fun inspiring space for children full of all of their favorite toys! Plus, who doesn't love a play space where you can simply shut the door - out of sight, out of mind, right?


I have some more great bloggers Perfectly Imperfect spaces lined up for you... but if you have a space you'd like to share I'd love to hear from you too! Email me at first(dot)time(dot)fancy(at)gmail(dot)com.

Designer Love - Jennifer Delonge

When I stumbled across the website for designer Jennifer Delonge, I just knew I had to share her talent with my readers! Jennifer is a fantastic interior and furniture designer, whose focus is on the modern family. Her rooms, furniture and accessories are stylish and fun, as well as being functional for today's family... this is what spoke to me most about her. I could happily put every single piece she designs into our home!

Check out some of her gorgeous rooms...

Loving the simplicity of the dining room above. The armless wing backs are perfect for the heads of the table and really ground the space, which is otherwise light and airy. They also bring the perfect balance to the table, since the table and remaining chairs all sit at the same, low height. It's absolute perfection in my opinion.

How about that gallery wall? I love that she took it from floor to ceiling, and that the windows are incorporated into the design. My guess is that this wall resides in a basement... aren't those great basement windows? I wish ours looked like that! Of course, I also have some serious love for the tulip table and oversized floor lamp.

You may be able to guess that this is the room that lead me to Jennifers website and her portfolio. I love how big and bright this nursery is! The modern clean lines of that crib are exactly what I want for our peanuts nursery, and that day bed is fabulous in both shape and pattern!

PERFECTION! What else can I say? The Eames chair... the Union Jack, the lucite table, the glass lamp with coral inside. Really, this space could be a great bachelor apartment, or a young couples condo in the city. Pretty versatile if you ask me!

So yes, I cannot hide the fact that I love Jennifer's design style... which means, I also need to share with you some of the beautiful furniture pieces that she creates (and guess what!? You can purchase her pieces on allmodern.com!)

As soon as I saw the glider below... I knew I wanted it for the peanuts nursery...

It's called the Daddy Glider and I love the lines of it! There is a wide variety of fabric options to choose from... so many that I'm not actually sure what colour or pattern I would choose!

Of course, since she caters to the whole family, she does not only have some gorgeous gliders, but also some seriously beautiful children's pieces! Look at these...

Parker Child Sofa

Milo Table and Bench

Yes, I have a serious designer crush on this lady! Thank you Jennifer... for designing such beautiful and inspiring rooms and pieces!

If you love Jennifer as much as I do (or want to buy me the Daddy Glider and Ottoman) you can find out where to purchase her pieces right here!

... And Then I Saw...

Recently I've been scrounging for some really great nursery inspiration for our little peanuts room. I want to make sure I know what I really want before we go any further (we've already got our baby bedding - you can see that here if you missed it). During my research, I of course had to turn to my biggest design inspirations - Sarah Richardson.

Of course I love the room's she designs, but I'm also a big fan of her furniture. While checking out her website, I took the chance to look at her Zoe Nursery Chair (which sounds exactly like what I want... but I'm too scared to find out the price right now). Have you seen what fabric it's covered in, on her website?

YEAH! It's my Robert Allen Fabric that I plan to use in our Master Bedroom! Don't you just love when you make a decision, and a designer does something (or has something in their portfolio) that just confirms that decision for you? It almost has me thinking that if we have a girl I'd love to do a chair in this fabric for her room... decisions, decisions!

While I'm on the topic of chairs, I'd love to hear what chairs other Mommy's (or Mommy's-to-be) have bought for their nurseries. I'm definitely looking for something similar to this, all upholstered so it's cozy to sit back in, and I'm thinking I'd prefer a gliding motion to a rocking motion... but again, I'm open to hear what other Mom's liked and used! All suggestions are welcome!

Dream Home - Private Paradise

It's January in Toronto... YUCK. January and February are my least favorite months in this city. It's cold, grey, slushie and just plain depressing. I'm already finding myself dreaming about the spring days that lay ahead and the warm months of the summer... so for this weeks Dream Home, I knew I had to find a gorgeous place somewhere warm! Once again, I turned to trusy Sotheby's Reality and found this gorgeous home (suitably named "Coral House") tucked away in the Turks and Caicos Islands, listed for a cool $9M US! 

It's large... and gorgeous and set right on the water. Of course, that's only the beginning of all of the wonderful things that this stunner has in store! I mean... check out the privacy that comes with the $9M price tag...

Private beach? PUH-LEASE! But if you want to switch it up a little, there is also the option to kick back and take a dip in your pool...

Equally as gorgeous at night as it is during the day...

And also the perfect place to kick back at the end of the day with some cocktails and good friends...

Of course, the outside isn't the only perfect place to entertain. Look at all of the gorgeous rooms (and space) INSIDE!

The Lighting! Those cool white floors and walls! It all just compliments the gorgeous blue water and white sand so perfectly! Just so much SPACE. Turks and Caicos blogger meet-up anyone? No worries... there are all kinds of bedrooms for us to crash in too...

And I'll be sleeping in here...

Mainly because of this...

Are you sold yet? Anyone else packing their bags to join me in the sunshine? Seriously, with over 12,000 sq. ft there is more than enoug room for us all to go... oh yes, and of course there is also the private guest cottage, and staff quarters for some extra room.

If these rooms haven't won you over just yet, check out the rest of them over at the listing. Believe me, there were a few stunners I had to leave out just because I wouldn't have the space to share them all.

Where are you dreaming of running off to, or retiring? Let me know what kind of dream home or escape your thinking of and I'll take on hunting it down for you!