The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

For me it's the most wonderful time of the year.  White sweet smelling lilacs.

Beautiful white and pale pink peony's 

I love the soft petals and colour.  

This Korean lilac just smells heavenly.

If you love flowers this truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

A Disparate Group

I needed to store my Domino magazine's, some books and other items in my room and I didn't want it to look like a "bookshelf".  I had to take into consideration that the phone was attached to the area, the shelf is "open" & I still wanted it to look nice.

It also had to work in my new find. 

I love this shelf, with it's vintage look and fabulous corbels. As soon as I saw it I grabbed it because I had been perusing vintage corbels on ebay for years & never purchasing because shipping would break me.

This is a good luck shelf as well, a nice man asked me out for coffee with this in my cart - best day ever at Home Sense!

Doesn't it look vintage?

To break up the top I added a this little shelf for some texture.

With magazines and books below it satisfied my need for storage while looking beautiful.

Sorry for the long delay in posting, yard work, painting a new fence, putting in a garden & job hunting has taken my time lately. 

Cheers,

Patricia

Looking Back

After a few years of upheaval I am ready to look back and appreciate what I had. 

Last house Dining Room looking into the living room.  July and that Shabby Chic table cloth just go together.

A different angle of the dining room.  It was the first time I had purchased a paint colour I didn't like so I mixed my own and looking at it now I love the colour.  I did 2 opposite walls the blue and then left the other 2 white - sounds headache inducing but it worked.

I don't like to live with regret but really I should not have let this piece go.  I have no room for it now but it turned out beautifully. I let it go for a song.

Lovey.  (She is beside me as I write this having a bath) She just seems so suited to Shabby Chic. 

I loved these dark hardwood floors against the white but they were awful to keep clean.  Every footprint in the summer showed and I spent too much time washing the floor.

Looking back was fun.

Cheers,

Patricia



Peeking into Summer

Here in Alberta on the prairie spring is a slow arriving miracle.  It's been slow coming this year but today felt like summer may come soon.  It made me feel like brightening my home in preparation.

Two trips to Ikea, one with out a pot in sight and the second trip there was only one:

....and I made a beeline and grabbed it!  I have wanted this pot for a looonnnggg time and now I have it ... for less than $4.00.  It's beautiful iron lacy detail in white is what got me. 

With a maidenhair fern, so pretty.  I love a maidenhair fern, I killed mine in January by accident (I swear!) and had to wait until April to get another.  Give them some fertilizer, keep them moist and out of the sun and you will be rewarded with light green fronds that are delicate and lacy.

On this little white stand it brings a light spring feel to the room.

To keep with light I changed my cushions on the couch as well:

Rachel Ashwell Jubilee Pillow case.  When I'm on my couch I like to lounge with pillows that are soft.

 

It is a lovely pattern with light blue and pink.

After a day in the garden I'm ready to lounge.



Cheers,

Patricia

Milky Grey

I'm having one of those years where every expense is popping up so I'm trying to watch my money.  This new found caution had me looking close to home this weekend for inspiration.  

I purchased this little birdhouse years and years ago.  It was brown so I spray painted it white and I have never liked the outcome but I didn't want to spray paint it again. 

I decided to experiment with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and water.  I was told water will take it off a surface but I wanted to try.

Paris Grey, water & a chalk paint brush.

It went on as a pale matte grey.  As well since it was a "wash" of colour it was easier to coat each rung.

It made this little birdhouse shine.

It helped bring cohesiveness to the area in my dining room with my Annie Sloan Mirror  (http://www.whitecottagechic.blogspot.ca/2012/04/annie-sloan-chalk-paint.html)

I'm snoopy & love to see how people decorate so here is two pictures of this end of the room.



Cheers,

Patricia

Small Discoveries

I have been absent for a bit due to..... taxes (I took my time this year & it worked - money coming back - yeah!), fence issues (in progress and I'm so excited) & my sweet girls oral surgery (wisdom teeth).  

In the midst of all this I discovered some great things like this grey bucket.

It's perfect simplicity only needed a little crown magnet.

This grey.......box?  It's essentially useless but I couldn't pass it up so it came home.

And my favourite favourite app. A few weeks ago Siri came into my life around the same time as my House Beautiful magazine which has this on the cover and throughout the magazine.

In order to access the content the Digimarc app is required.  When the blue HB is scanned with the Iphone videos come up with extra detail about the article your looking at. What I love the best about it is that it has a function that identifies any song! I used it last night while watching "House" and had an answer within seconds (Black Moon - Wilco).  This is going to get so much use!

Cheers,

Patricia

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Last fall I purchased a large mirror at a local antique store and was content to leave it as is. http://whitecottagechic.blogspot.ca/2011/10/change.html

Then the brown started to really grate on me.  It doesn't fit in with any of my colours and it's just brown plastic with faux gold on it (ahh the 70's).  I started to research and discovered Apple Box Boutique (www.AppleBoxBoutique.com)  in Edmonton sells Annie Sloan Chalk Paint &  I knew right away what I wanted to do.

I met Leanne at Apple Box who uses the paint and she explained how to use it & showed me all the colours.  If you are interested in this paint Leanne is the person to speak to.    What I love about it is that you can mix the colours to get what you want and it won't turn muddy.  I wanted a french blue grey.

So I purchased Paris Grey & Louis Blue.  I mixed starting with the grey and then added the blue until I found what I was looking for.

I just painted one coat and left some of the faux gold exposed.

I wanted to see how it turned out before deciding on a wax & now that I have seen it I will use a matte clear wax.  I had originally thought I would age it more but I think it's perfect.

It hangs above a marble table and the mirror looks very french now.

You know when you are so happy with how something turns out that you can't wait to wake up and see it in the morning light?  Well that was me with this mirror.

It's making me wonder why I didn't do this sooner. Now I'm looking for grey/blue pillows to add to my couch.

Happy Easter

Patricia