It was fifty years ago today.....

Sergeant Pepper told the band to play Jack was born! That's him "Mad-Menized" (above).
Yes, today is Jack's 50th birthday. He would rather no one mention it. Ever. Again. And what's worse - his birthday is on Boxing Day. That sucks big time. It is hard to have your birthday and Christmas at the same time. So to give him an even harder time, to give you an idea how old 50 really is, let's look back at 1960:

The average house price was $2530.

John Kennedy was elected President of the United States.

John Diefenbaker was Prime Minister of Canada.

A loaf of bread was 20 cents.

A gallon of gas was 25 cents.

The popular films were Ben-Hur and Psycho.

Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuted.

The Beatles made their debut in Hamburg, Germany.

Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup.

Hugh Grant and Antonio Banderas were born, so 50 is looking pretty good!


Love,

The woman you have shared more than half your life with. So don't kill me. Think of the children. :)

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and...

Vegas??????? The cutest reindeer of all!


Merry Christmas, everyone!



Nadine

The Christmas Bakeshop

This is my kitchen island. Well it was. Until I ate everything. I mean, until we packed it up for dear friends and family.

My kitchen has been very busy this December with flour and sugar and all things sweet (especially the H.G.) all around. She likes to give homemade cookies and treats as Christmas gifts. These pictures are a sample of her baking AFTER a Christmas party and 3 gift tins.

This year she made sugar cookies, gingerbread men and gingerbread trees, buttertarts, thimble cookies (also known in some parts of the world as thumbprint cookies), rum balls, peanut butter squares, almond squares and shortbread cookies (there they are in the center of the photo).


And as a special Christmas gift for you, I give you my grandmother's recipe for shortbread (as she wrote it):


Shortbread

2 cups butter
1 cup sugar
4 cups flour

Have butter at room temperature and cream well with sifted brown sugar. Add flour gradually and work with a spoon or electric mixer as long as possible, then turn onto a floured board. Add remaining flour and knead approximately 10 minutes or until the dough cracks. A little more flour may be added if there is a tendency towards stickiness. Do not skimp on the kneading as this is the secret of its tenderness.

Roll gently to 1/2 inch thickness, cut with fancy cutters and bake in a slow oven, about 300F. Yields 150 small cookies.


P.S. We also add chopped candied cherries on top so they look "Christmas-y".

This never fails to get rave reviews. Enjoy!


Merry Christmas to all.


Nadine

{Before & After} Powder Room Reveal Part I

The powder room on our main floor is very, very tiny. It measures a scant 47" deep by 52" wide and that includes a vanity, the toilet and a door that swings IN. However, it is also an important room as it is right at the front door, and it is likely the only bathroom a visitor will see. As the rest of the house is a neutral backdrop, I wanted the powder room to have visual impact. I first came home with some awesome orange grasscloth wallpaper. The verdict? Three thumbs down from the family. They wanted NO orange and NO wallpaper. I then thought that stripes would be a good idea. I also decided to paint them because paint is much less of a commitment than wallpaper. The verdict? Come on, my peeps! This girl is no slow learner...I didn't ask them!

As I love the beachy look, I went with blue and white stripes. I decided to paint the background in BM Cloud White. I already had a 4litre/gallon of it at home because I painted all the closets in it. I also had a litre/quart of blue paint I have already mentioned here. It is called BM Iced Slate and it was a $4 mistint at the local BM retailers. The colour was tinted correctly but the finish was wrong for the previous client - so her loss, my gain!

The hardest part of this project was definitely the math. I knew I wanted the top stripe AND the bottom stripe to both be white (the background AND the ceiling colour). This just made it easier to paint. And (in theory) easier to calculate. Math is not my strong point. I mean, I can do my own taxes and figure out a tip, but math like this is beyond me. Like, way way beyond me. In a galaxy far, far away. But I finally (sorta) figured it out. I knew I needed an odd number of stripes. I found out that the ceiling in the powder room was shorter than the rest of the house. I had never noticed that before. I ended up calculating that each stripe needed to be 6.5 inches and a bit. So I measured 6.5" and "eye-balled" the difference. Professional carpenters and painters are wincing right now.
I did remember that the tape should be level.

Unfortunately, the room is only 47" wide! So this was the alternative:

It worked.

So I continued the taping around and down the walls. It is important to remember to tape inside the stripes that will remain in the base coat colour (in this case, white).

I "x-ed" each stripe that would stay white. My family mocked me for this. However, when your nose is half an inch from the wall, it help to put the "idiot-strings" up.

I then painted the edges of the tape on the blue sides with white. This seals the white and prevents bleeding. This tip really works and will save you a ton of aggravation later.

Once the white paint dried (and since I used BM Aura, it was only an hour), I painted the blue in.
Make sure to remove the tape right away.
And here are a couple shots of the after.

Try to ignore the ugly banjo-shaped, laminate countertop. **shudder** And the black toilet seat. **gag** I will be replacing both soon. Did you hear that, Santa? Momma wants a new toilet! (On a side note, one must be quite the committed DIY-er to want a dual-flush toilet for a Christmas present - or is it just that I should be committed???)

Here is a link to the one that I want:
Excellent!




Nadine

Christmas Chez Greenway

While I am not the biggest fan of the commercialization of Christmas, I did manage to create a few decorating vignettes around the house. I love the juxtaposition of the glossy red balls against the rustic tin pail on my breakfast nook table.

Our Christmas stockings - they're ancient now! Can you guess which one belongs to the Horsey Girl?

The powder room - I placed an old Christmas card in a $2 frame from Walmart.

Over the years, Jack and I have gifted our kids every year with Christmas keepsakes. They each have received around a dozen of these ornaments. We continued this tradition into their late teens until they told us they were no longer interested in getting them. (Kids!!) The Creative One received nutcrackers and the H.G. got Seraphim Classics angels.
I liked the angel (above) so much, I bought it twice! (Albeit in snow globe form!) That was a funny moment on Christmas morning!

The C.O.'s nutcrackers include the Irish one (right) to honour our ancestry and the German one (left) with his own "mini-me".

Jack and I picked up this nativity scene in Mexico on our (slightly belated) honeymoon. Notice the dalmatian? When the C.O. was a little boy, he received a fire truck for Christmas one year. A dalmatian from the set kept popping up in the display, so we decided to keep him as part of our traditions. We call him "The First Dalmatian".

But the best part of Christmas????


Waiting for Santa....



Enjoy the season!


Nadine

{Before & After} Awesome Headboard Project

So here is a before picture of a headboard I found at my local Goodwill store, which now belongs to me! It had been around a couple weeks and was marked down to $16.20. And, as an added bonus, there is no tax charged at Goodwill. Everyone likes that deal, right? I had been trying to decide what to do to update my master bedroom. I considered making an upholstered headboard, but truthfully, I am not the best with fabric or sewing even though I love the look. I was also worried about selecting a neutral material that would go with any future bedding I might choose. I am already starting to tire of my current set. It's the brown that's bugging me now, I think. (I hope Jack isn't reading this.) So when I came across the headboard, I thought it was the perfect solution! Here are some detail shots.



So the H.G. and I loaded it up in the back of my son's Honda Civic (don't ask) and brought the treasure home. Although I will admit when Jack saw the "before" casually resting against the wall in the foyer, he said, "Oh no, what have you brought home now???". Oh ye of little faith.
The Goodwill had the headboard labeled as "wood", but it looked like veneer to me. I wanted to use spray paint because of all the details on it, but I had heard some horror stories about spray-painting furniture. As I was going back and forth, the H.G. put it into perspective. She told me it was only sixteen bucks and that money had already gone to charity, so no harm, no foul. That is true.
Off we headed to Home Depot. Unfortunately, our city has a ban on selling spray paint to minors in an attempt to curtail graffiti, so all the paint is locked up. There wasn't anyone around to help us, so we went to Walmart. This is what I bought:


You may be able to see I couldn't decide which type to buy. I ended up using both - the one on the left first as a "primer" and then the right one as a glossy white finish coat. Each can cost $5.
I started by washing the headboard thoroughly with TSP and rinsing with clear, clean water. I didn't let it get too wet. Then I let it air dry overnight.
The following day, I sanded well by hand and then dusted with an electro-magnetic dusting product.

Then I coated the board with light coats of paint- two coats from each can -4 in total, letting each coat dry an hour in between.
Here are "during" shots:


And now (drum roll, please) here is the finished product in the master bedroom:


Doesn't it look amazing????? Not bad for $26, if I do say so myself. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I ironed the sheets before showing them to you. Yes, that's right. I was channeling my inner 60s housewife (my mom?) The reverberations throughout the universe would be exceeded only if I had said, "Why, yes, I DID sew that all by myself." As an aside, they felt AMAZING to sleep in. Wow! Maybe even enough to ALWAYS iron the sheets before I make the bed.....no wait, I haven't QUITE lost my mind that much.

This is a close-up of the bedding which is available here. The sheets are from the same place - they are 400-thread count.


What do you think? Time to replace my bedding to go with my spiffy new headboard?


Nadine

Rauri's House

Jack and I were lucky to be able to attend a wonderful Christmas party hosted by Rauri and The Horsey Girl! Rauri lives in a small farming community in Western Canada and is fortunate to be living in his grandparents' home. The party had lots of conversation, laughter, food and drinks. It was multi-generational - the oldest attendee was in her 80's and the youngest was just six months old. It also included two cats and one dog, Rusty.

These are the luminary lights on the entrance deck, made of ice and lit by candlelight. They were created by the Horsey Girl from milk cartons. Instructions can be found here. She definitely gets her creative talent from me. (tee hee).

There was no shortage of food (this is just ONE of THREE tables full of food), including a tray of home baking (above) by the H.G. and a DELICIOUS trifle by longtime friend, Danielle (below).

The Christmas tree has vintage decorations. It is a real tree, and it smelled wonderful. Notice the gorgeous wood panelling. The house is full of original details from the 50s and 60s. Take that, Mad Men!

This is the vintage tree topper. I love how so much of the house and its contents are original. Not thrifted or from antiques stores - they were brought in new, and they are still there!

This is the wedding photo of Rauri's grandparents, Doris and Bud. The photograph is hanging in
the hallway. They lived many happy years in this home. Doris' decorating flair is still evident. Rauri's parents were married here, as well.

And, of course, no Christmas party would be complete without a visit from Santa.

Since we didn't get home until 1:30 am, I really should be heading off for a nap, but I'm painting instead. Now that's hardcore!


Nadine

The 80s are baaaccckkk....

Helloo, friends!

So I hear the 2011 Pantone Colour of the Year has been announced and (drum roll, please) - it's
"Honeysuckle". Or as I like to call it: "Pink". Now, listen, I have nothing against pink. I love the colour pink, but I think I am still traumatized by the 1980s. When you think of home decor and pink, don't you think of this:


(Image via uglyhousephotos.com)

EEEEEKKKK!. Especially the faux-painted closet doors. That's really special. That was sarcasm.
And did you catch the cover of the latest House Beautiful (one of my fave magazines)?

Notice the header is pink and the wood is (what was known in the 80s as) bleached?
It's true that design is cyclical. Everything old is new again. I'm just not loving it yet. Maybe I'll get there. With therapy. Yes, with therapy, I'll definitely start liking it.

In the meantime, I have been busy in my blogging absence by working on projects for the blog. Ironic, isn't it? I'll be back shortly with full before and afters, and a tour of a spiffy holiday party. Here are some pictures to whet your appetite.

A queen-sized Goodwill headboard for $16.20 (not a typo!)

A sneak peek at the powder room after:



See you soon,

Nadine

Sandy

Meet my new love, Sandy. Jack will be jealous. I am sanding down closet doors and I am.in.love with my new sander from Canadian Tire. I will post "After" pictures as soon as I actually finish a project around here right away!
In the meantime, here is a little ditty to remind you of Sandy...




Have a great day!

Nadine

Louis' House

Louis is a Halloween fanatic. In fact, he hails from a long line of Halloween fanatics. Louis' brother Andrew married his bride Niki yesterday because of their collective love of Halloween. Now that's a commitment to Halloween! So I thought I would give you a look at Louis' Haunted House. (Notice the hands from beyond the grave, above). Spooky!

The fence was created from Louis' garden pruning all summer long.


A scary close-up!


Two of the hand-carved pumpkins - Louis is a cat-lover. (Hi, Jasmine and Buddy!)

Some friendly ghosts for the smaller trick-or-treaters.



Love the hanging skeleton! And bats in the tree!

Louis hand-carved and painted all the tombstones out of Styrofoam. Talented, isn't he?

More pumpkins.


You dirty rat!


The whole house - fantastic, right? Notice the ghost on the roof?


Of course, the inside of his house had to be decorated for the season, too. Louis is a professional granite installer and his house is full of wonderful granite pieces, like the buffet counter and the dining table.


Yeah, it's a beer on the ottoman - Halloween is a party after all!

Lots of blue and white lights and scary music outdoors completed the look in the dark. Fifty little people dropped by for Louis' hand-assembled treat bags. A great success - and the neighbourhood is already looking forward to next year to see what he will do!

Happy Halloween! Thanks for the tour, Louis!


Nadine