Our table is ready! I couldn’t wait to share it with you.
It’s even better in person than it was in either the rendering or the art show picture. It has perfect proportions and it feels so smooth and comfortable. I could sit here for hours. Continue reading
The kids love their room and I can honestly say I’m jealous. Who wouldn’t love to sleep in a “bunk-bed-sunken-ship” (as per my 7-year-old) with shark sheets and fish swimming around the walls to boot? They also love the bubble light which casts fun shadows and light rays in the night-time as well as the octopus rug.
Amber did an amazing job with decorating this room. I was very worried that it would be 20 shades of pink but I was pleasantly surprised by my girls picking a palette of blues (with help from Amber). The sharks really sold it for them. Not that there is anything wrong with pink but we just have so much pink in the toys and dolls and dresses…it’s nice to have a few different colours around 🙂
We got all of the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids except the name quilts which were specially made when they were born. 
The decals are from Etsy and the rug was from Wayfair. The light is from Robinson Lighting and is worth the crazy dusting it needs. The reading nook/book cabinet is from Ikea and works so well to contain the hundreds of books the girls read constantly.
Ryan is working hard on getting us the perfect wine bar and liquor cabinet. Amber has designed a great setup and Ryan is upping the ante with custom features. I’m excited to see if ties in with the kitchen but still matches the decor planned for the living room.
I still need to find the perfect dual zone white and red 48 bottle wine fridge. I have a few leads but they won’t be ready until mid June. I guess I’ll have to use the old standard fridge for a little while yet 🙂
One of the things our family loves to do is to entertain. This is especially important for big holiday dinners but for us happens all year around. Armed with the knowledge that our new dining room just needs to be a dining room, I was left with the want for a big solid wood dining room table to fill it up. However, I looked everywhere. Cheap stores, expensive stores. Local stores. Shipping from Italy. I couldn’t find the mix of mid-century modern and big, bold solid wood that I had envisioned. I talked to my designer about this. She wasn’t able to source anything that worked either. So, she contacted this amazing local furniture designer and artist Kate Duncan and asked her for guidance. Could she marry the two things I want and still make it work in our home? Continue reading
Our coffee machine is finally here and installed. Happy days!
We are one step closer to having a functional kitchen! The appliances are here. Now to get them working 🙂 I think the one below is going to change my life, and the life of my house guests – who wants to come over?
Our coffee machine!
The kitchen is getting closer to being ready Continue reading
Our countdown is on….2 weeks left.
I’ve been assured this is when the magic happens. Everyone works together to get all the big and little things done. And I believe it. We have come a far way and while there is still a lot left to the untrained eye, it is getting there. This week we saw the cabinets start to take shape and got our first view of the blue cabinet covers. The boxes are in place and the plumbing is ready. The floor is down and the appliances are here. Now to put the cabinet doors in, the backsplash on, the countertop cut and installed, the workplace desk and shelves installed…really not much. OMG, maybe it won’t be ready. Billy? Continue reading
This room is going to be wonderful. The girls love it already. Amber really hit the nail on the head with them. All they told her was that they wanted an underwater theme and she went wild. It’s awesome.
Here is the bunk beds the girls picked out from Berg:
Berg Bunk Bed in chestnut
They are totally cool and have so much space for storage and for homework or crafts. The girls love the stairs (they pull out into storage drawers!) and it is safer for the little one to visit her bigger sister 🙂
They come in a bunch of finishes and with different nob colours. We have decided on natural with purple nobs to help the sea theme.
Then Amber took this as a starting point and came up with this idea. It is fantastic. Here is the idea board she designed.
It’s feminine but not over-the-top girlie. It’s exactly what they wanted to feel like they are sleeping underwater. It all ties together. What else can I say. I’m blown away!
The sheets are from Pottery Barn. They are called Preppy Shark. Isn’t that cute in itself?
Then when you add in the octopus pillow and the turquoise duvet cover, it just all pops.
The rug is a real show stopper. They will literally be sleeping with the fishes and sea creatures.
The light fixture I showed you before, but even after not seeing it for a month my two-year-old looked at it and said it was her light and how much she loved it. I have to say, I’m a little jealous!
Then there will be the reading nook. This will give lots of storage for the many, many books they have as well as a few toys. Plus they can read together there or do make-believe. So many options.
The wall colour is yet to be decided, but it will be a shade of turquoise to simulate the sea. The wall paintings are actually decals that can be ordered in a tonne of colours and configurations. That will be fun to design as well. (Courtesy of Etsy).
For the girl’s crafts, I am thinking of getting this Ikea rolly cart. It has the right colour scheme and structure and can fit in small spaces but is functional. Hopefully they will like their room and play area so much that they won’t drag their toys into the other parts of the house too often 🙂
Well that’s the design for now. I still need to think about stuffy storage. Likely a big bin, but most of them may head out to the playroom. That might be a last-minute decision once we are in the space. Not long now!
We have been living in a white box forever. We can’t wait to actually be able to plan a space, pick out pantone colours and go shopping for furniture that will actually match and fit into our space. It feels nice to be a grown up finally!
The problem is, we don’t have a single interior designer bone in our combined bodies. I feel like I can see “good bones” in spaces, but then I over think it, put too much stuff in the place and nothing ever comes together. We need help! The first thing we did was try to figure out our style. We had an artist friend (Sarah Gee – check out her website) come to our house a little while ago (ok actually a few years ago if I’m being honest) and look around our space. She is amazing and I hope to bring a bit of her art into our space. She looked over our furniture. Most of it had come from Ikea but there were a few other more unique pieces as well. She looked at the curves of the arms on the chairs, the wide sofa arms, the geometric design in the hutch, the retro feel and came up with Midcentury Modern. When I googled that term, I loved everything about the design. It has a 60s feel with a modern take. Very much Scandinavian influenced. Funky but practical. So we had a point of view to start with.
Sarah Gee
The Black Wave by Sarah Gee Miller
Mid Century Modern Furniture
Mid Century Modern examples
Then we were lucky to visit NYC for a graduation trip and went to MoMA for a day. It was magical. So many great artists. So many different points of view. So much colour! Brad got hooked on Piet Mondrian (as above in the feature picture). He loved the lines, the colours but it was still abstract. You could guess anything about the mood of the artist and that of the viewer. It was totally up to you. And he was from the Netherlands too! Point 2 for midcentury design.
Then we saw Henri Matisse‘s Blue Nudes and Dance Prints and we were hooked on the primary colour of blue. It has to be a focal point somewhere in the house. However, I am a lover of red in all things. Just ask anyone who knows me even a little bit. But, I can’t really have a bright red kitchen, so that will have to be brought in through accents and art I think.
Matisse
Blue Nude by Henri Matisse
Dance by Henri Matisse
So, we just need a designer with a great eye to pull together midcentury modern design using Mondrian and Matisse for inspiration yet strong enough to tell us when things are just not working together. I’m excited to get going on this reno and design.
A home worth waiting for 