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

Feeling Inspired....

Images: styleathome.com; houseandhome.com; sohautestyle.com


Happy Monday!


Nadine

Welcome September!

Now don't get me wrong - I love summer. And by summer, I mean June. By August, although I love the warm weather and wearing sandals and eating at outdoor cafes, some of the pleasure of summertime pursuits has worn off. It's TOO hot. Seriously, it's 39C with the humidex. (That's 102F to my American friends). And the flies, the flies, the flies. Not much of an imposition in the City, but our poor horse is suffering. He has lost weight, even though he is getting supplemental feed, wears a fly blanket and boards inside overnight. Poor Vegas!


Poor sad boy.

At this time of year, I start dreaming of a nice hard frost and nice sunny fall days. And the decorating - the decorating is my favourite kind of decorating! The colours are warm and cozy and natural. There are only two things I DO NOT like about fall are:
1.) it precedes winter. AND winter is very long in my neck of the woods.
2.) Fall vegetables. Blech. Need I say more? Parsnips. Shudder. Squash. Barf. Brussels sprouts. EEWW. And the worst fall vegetable of all is (drum roll, please) turnip. I could barely type the words. Luckily Jack agrees with me on most of the veggies. My kids, however, have been deprived of theses vegetables. Oh well. Life goes on.

What I love about fall is....DECORATING! Big surprise, I know! Lots of cozy colours, pumpkins and football. And I can't forget - the fall Parade of Homes in my city.
What's not to like?

More to follow.


Nadine

Desperately Seeking...

No, definitely not Desperately Seeking Susan (if you automatically thought of this cheesy 80s movie starring Madonna, you're at least as old as I am!)
I am actually desperately seeking chalkboard paint. Look at these beautiful inspiration shots from Canadian House & Home magazine...




Be still my heart.

I am not simply jumping on the latest hot trend. In the 90s I painted a small chalkboard on The Creative One's bedroom wall (notice the film theme and you may also notice I am STILL the skilled photographer I have always been).


I later painted that entire wall with the chalkboard paint, and the other walls in his room in alternating colours (purple, sunshine yellow and lime green - the ceiling was royal blue because he wanted his room to look like the Silver City movie theatre complex in our city). I obliged which probably makes me Mother of the Decade!

So back to chalkboard paint. I loved it before and now I want to use it in our condo. I thought I would paint my entire powder room in it - cool right? And what about my old ugly kitchen backsplash - I saw the idea to paint the backsplash in the July/Aug 2010 issue This Old House magazine which featured the blog condo-blues.blogspot.com. Super cool!

All I need is the damn chalkboard paint! Why am I cussing, you ask?

Because, while there are several different products available, if you look online,
(it even comes in spray paint!) it appears to be a rare commodity in my town...

Since I live within walking distance of a paint store (ICI), I went over and asked if they carried the paint. Not only did they NOT carry the paint, the clerk told me all I needed was FLAT BLACK regular latex paint to achieve the same result!!!!!!!!!!! Notice all the exclamation points! Seriously! This is not my first time at the rodeo dude! Can you imagine if someone actually TOOK this advice (why is the question mark not working on my keyboard) All I'm getting is ÉÉÉÉÉ. If I was a DIY newbie and actually did this - I would seriously be ÉÉÉÉÉÉ all over them!

[Ok, so I talked to The Creative One and he told me I had my keyboard in Canadian French - problem all fixed for now.]

Back to the problem at hand. So I took myself down to the local hardware store - McDiarmid's - and no luck either. Ditto for Walmart. So it was time to go down to the big orange box- yes, you heard me - Home Depot (heavenly lights go on) and guess what - THEY didn't have it either! What is the world coming to? This is a trend that is in ALL the magazines, but you CAN'T BUY IT IN WINNIPEG!!! AAARRRGGGHHH!

But I still have Rona and Benjamin Moore to try out. I was trying to avoid Benjamin Moore because of the price point, but at this rate, folks, I may have no other choice.

I'll let you know how it goes.....






Nadine