tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6206093328372353012024-03-14T00:03:56.613-07:00Live, Love, Laugh and RENOVATE!My name is Meghan, I am a working mom to a gorgeous baby girl and married to a crafty/handy husband. We renovated our first house by ourselves, this is a blog about all our house projects and other crafty projects we undertake. Enjoy!Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.comBlogger199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-61543997978320276912013-07-23T10:54:00.002-07:002013-07-23T10:54:49.984-07:00Big Girl Room Complete!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This is a story of a little lady... Ok I'm totally singing the Brady Bunch theme song right now! My little ladies big girl room is finally (mostly) complete!! After painting/staining her dress (see <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2013/05/under-20-dresser-makeover.html">here</a>) I have been desperately wanting to work on this little desk that was Ryan's moms desk when she was little. </div>
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This dresser needed a little love, about a year ago my dad repaired one of the drawers because it was in 5 different pieces. Then it sat in Norah's room... untouched and completely unused. Its hard to tell but the hardware on the drawers is broken... as in there are no actual handles! So I knew that would be a challenge for me. And so it sat this way since we moved into the house almost 2 years ago. <br />
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Until this weekend when I decided it was time to make it match the dresser we redid for Norah. I asked Ryan to pull out the primer and paint while Norah and I went to a playdate Saturday morning. I came home to find that my loving husband had primed and painted the whole thing. <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G92BY-e8fbg/Ue65S0Zn6cI/AAAAAAAACu4/RDHTy9wNBHE/s1600/norah2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img bba="true" border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G92BY-e8fbg/Ue65S0Zn6cI/AAAAAAAACu4/RDHTy9wNBHE/s640/norah2.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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GREAT... wait... NO... NOT GREAT!! The plan was to make it match the dresser and the dresser we stained the top!! AHHH! This is when I learned not to leave my hubby home with paint and no direction!! OOPS! At first I thought well maybe I'll just stencil something fun in purple on the top to match the room. So I slept on it, and when I woke up Sunday morning I looked at Ryan and simultaneously we both agreed we needed to sand the top and stain it like the original plan. I figured meh its a small desk I should be able to sand this bad boy down no problem... I pulled out the power sander and almost 2 hours later it was sanded... Yep you read that correctly... 2 hours!!! That zinsser primer is MAGIC!! My sander barely survived!!! We were back to this! <br />
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And after one coat of stain it was looking pretty awesome! But of course we did a second coat.<br />
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As for what I did with the handles (sorry for lack of photos I was too excited!) I filled the double hole that the old handles had in with filler, sanded it down and painted the drawers. Then Ryan measured for a new hole in the middle. Luckily I still had ONE green and white polka dot handle left over from the dresser so at least one of the handles would be the same as the dresser. Remember I wanted these babies to tie together. And we found in our basement 3 left over silver round simple knobs... we can't actually figure out where they came from but they have been in our stash since the old house. I thought they were from our current kitchen but they aren't the same... the mystery of the silver knobs!! Anyway! This project was ultimately free!! We had the stain, the primer, the paint, the knobs!! I love free projects!!! Ain't she purdy!!!! You might notice the bottom drawer has a missing bottom edge... we couldn't do much about the missing edge so just left it as it was... its hard to tell unless you point it out. Maybe I shouldn't have pointed it out... oh well!<br />
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And with that this bedroom is DONE (other than needing a new light fixture which I'm desperately on the hunt for but haven't found just what I'm looking for yet!).<br />
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This is Norah's desk nook complete with:<br />
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<li>The white shelves on the left were the book holders from the back of the church pew that we have on our back deck (<a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2012/03/repurposed-church-pew.html">here</a>) which we painted and hung. </li>
<li>There is a chalk board made out of simple picture frame with chalk cloth in the middle. </li>
<li>My pretty little butterfly art that I made similar to <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2010/10/love-it-shadow-box.html">this</a>. </li>
<li>The NORAH letters my mom picked up for us at a warehouse sale for next to nothing which I Mod Podged in left over scrap paper. </li>
<li>In the frame is a photo my brother and sister-in-law took of butterfly eggs on a leaf when they were in Honduras (ok I just realized the photo has fallen crooked in the frame... mental note... fix it!)</li>
<li>A wood cut out of a butterfly that Norah painted and a peacock feather we picked up at the High Park zoo.</li>
<li>And finally the purple metal flowers that I picked up on a clearance rack at Bouclair Home. Which is the only thing in the entire area that I actually spent any money on and I think they were $5 total. </li>
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Now to show the other side where the dresser is. We have the following:<br />
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<li>The dresser that we made over which cost less than $20</li>
<li>A butterfly painting made for Norah for her 2nd birthday by my ever so talented friend! </li>
<li>The light switch which Norah painted ever so nicely in pink and purple!</li>
<li>The mirror we saved from the trash when our old neighbour was getting rid of it. Its a solid mirror that was hideous in a yellow gold paint that we spray painted white.</li>
<li>The lamp was a shower gift before Norah was born which is super cute and has a bunch of animals on it. </li>
<li>The random butterflies my mom gave to Norah awhile back that she had used for a wedding shower.</li>
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This is the view from the bed, see I need a new light fixture... that one is a simple white shade that I added purple ribbon to for now but its cracked and isn't anything special. I want a white chandelier but I haven't found any that I am willing to fork the cash over for... I'm perfectly happy painting something just haven't found one that works yet!<br />
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The famous butterfly tree that I painted for Norah! <br />
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Her bed nook.<br />
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And the other 'corner' The desk that is behind the door will eventually go but for now its the only place it fits so its staying. So just ignore that! <br />
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The cost breakdown:<br />
* Desk - Free<br />
* Dresser - About $20<br />
* Metal Purple Flowers - $5<br />
* Canvas above bed - $20<br />
* Book Shelves - Free<br />
* Art - Free<br />
* 2 Wood Butterfly Cutouts - $4 total from Dollarama<br />
* Quilt - Free (given to Norah by Grandma and Grandpa)<br />
* Curtains - came with house!<br />
Total Big Girl Room Cost: $49!<br />
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I love using what we've got to make over a room!!! <br />
Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-460215216912737582013-06-14T07:07:00.001-07:002013-06-14T07:07:31.858-07:00Floating in the Clouds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After making sooo much progress on the baby's nursery so quickly I kinda just shoved the room full of baby crap and closed the door... literally. It was (and still is) a storage room for all things baby! But this week when Ryan decided to take Norah for a walk in the rain (its been soooo rainy here lately he decided to bite the bullet and just go outside in the pouring rain anyway) I got my crap together and pulled out the drill to FINALLY hang my cloud shelves!</div>
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Before I get to that I should explain how the cloud shelves were made. I can't take much credit for them at all! When we moved into the house out in the shed were two random pieces of wood, one cut into a blob and the other one was supposed to be a smurf's (remember them) head. I only know it was supposed to be a smurf's head because it said 'SMURF' written across it. They were both painted brown and we were going to throw them out... but Ryan kept them for whatever reason. THEN when I decided to do a sky themed room Ryan pulled them out and the original plan was to just paint them white and hang them on the wall. Until I came up with the shelf idea. Ultimately all we did was cut the 2 pieces in half and hang them on the wall using L brackets. They look fantastic!!! SUPER simple since we didn't have to cut out the shape to begin with!</div>
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Now as for where I wanted to hang the shelves... I am lazy... and I didn't want to have to finally fill in the holes from where the old owners had shelves hanging... so I used their holes for one of the shelves right by the doorway! This was the 'smurf' shelf! I still need to do some touch ups on it but it looks amazing!</div>
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The other shelf I hung above the change table so I can keep creams etc up there out of babies reach. I also hung a canvas that my friend bought for baby that suites the room perfectly!! I actually already had screws in the wall to hang the canvas which was perfect. Now I just need to paint more clouds on that wall.
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Finally I got around to hanging the rain cloud mobile I made awhile ago. I opted to hang it above the change table so baby can look at it while I'm changing her. (Please ignore the mess... the room as I said earlier is still a disaster!!)</div>
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So that is it for now! I just need to paint a few more clouds and Ryan needs to finish spackling the crown moulding. I also want to add a valance to the window eventually. Then its cleaning and organizing the room because it is 100% a disaster zone!!! </div>
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-70755426537951462012013-05-27T08:06:00.000-07:002013-05-27T08:06:25.022-07:00Under $20 Dresser Makeover!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This weekend was cold but BEAUTIFUL outside! Which made it the perfect weather for this pregnant lady to work on making over a dresser for Norah! Just to remind you I purchased this 'beauty' at an online auction for $6!! YES that is correct! $6!!!</div>
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It was the perfect size and had plenty of small drawers that Norah can easily open herself. I was super excited when we won it!! First up we (read: ryan) hauled the dresser outside and Ryan sanded the whole thing down. Originally I had planned on painting the whole thing white but after the finish on the dresser came off SOOOO easily we changed out plan. <br />
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Side Note: Ok I just spent 10 minutes trying to get these photos the right way and when they are turned the right way they end up being stretched and blurry... argh!! So you'll just have to deal with 2 sideway pictures!<br />
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The new plan was to stain the top of the dresser and then prime and paint the rest white. I started by staining the top with a Minwax stain and seal in one. We had a can left over from when I helped a friend stain her bed. This was after one coat... it always looks ugly after only one coat!! </div>
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Then using Zinsser Stain Cover Primer I primed the sides and front of the dresser as well as all 9 drawers. I managed to get that all done during Norah's nap on Saturday!! </div>
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Then Sunday morning I did a second coat of stain on the dresser and painted about 5 drawers before having to head off to baseball and gymnastics. So during Norah's Sunday nap I painted the rest of the drawers and the dresser with their first coat and did a second (and final) coat on the 5 drawers I had painted in the morning. Then I sat in the sun enjoying the warmth for about 10 minutes before the little lady woke up!<br />
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I finished painting the drawers when Ryan decided to take Norah to the park for a bit later in the afternoon! After it dried we lugged (not the right word because its actually an incredibly light dresser) it upstairs and I put new knobs on the dresser. I had picked as many of these lovely handles up at a warehouse sale months back!! I used a few for the play kitchen I made for a friend (<a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/search/label/DIY%20Play%20Kitchen">here</a>) but I had a tonne left. They look exactly like these but I used lime green and grey ones with white polka dots. They are ceramic knobs and I have found them online for around $3.50 each. I however picked up as many of these as I could for a whopping $0.69 EACH!!! </div>
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I didn't have enough of one colour so I alternated the green and grey knobs and love how cute it turned out!! </div>
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Just so you don't have to scroll here is a before and after photo!<br />
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Now I just need to move Norah's current dresser downstairs to make room for this baby! She loves it!!!</div>
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As for a cost break down:</div>
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Dresser - $6</div>
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15 Knobs (at -$0.69 each plus tax) - $11.70</div>
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Primer - Had on hand from one of many projects</div>
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Paint - leftovers from one of many projects</div>
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Stain - left overs from one of many projects</div>
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Total Cost - $17.70!!! I couldn't be happier!!!</div>
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And to leave you with a pretty photo, we took Norah to the park to fly a kite Saturday morning and she couldn't have been happier about it!!!! </div>
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-89991444364168932582013-05-10T12:15:00.003-07:002013-05-10T12:15:57.176-07:00Weekend Updates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Last weekend we took a step back to enjoy the GORGEOUS weather that we were finally presented with!! On Saturday morning we were randomly all up ridiculously early so we headed to High Park to check out the Cherry Blossoms. Oh they were soooo pretty!! It was fantastic to get out!!</div>
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Then we went home to play in the backyard. Thats when I came up with a brilliant idea! I have been missing out vegetable garden in from our old backyard so I decided it was high time we created a garden in our new backyard. I knew the perfect spot was right next to our fence because in the summer its one of the few places that gets sun since our huge tree covers almost everything!! So while Norah ran around playing in the backyard I grabbed a shovel and started to dig up and till about a foot wide section all along the fence. About 2 feet along I realized I was STUPID for starting this... holy crap tilling up grass and dirt is a LOT of work!!! But I kept at it!<br />
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While I was sweating away, Ryan started to pull up the stones that were in front of our shed. I don't know if they did a crap job of laying the stones or if years of frost has moved them but they were a mess!! Many toes and little knees have been scraped and bruised on the uneven stones that were there. You can kind of see the unevenness in the photo below, but in some spots the stones are about 2 inches up! <br />
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Ryan pulled them all up, planted grass seed and then started using the stones to edge in my new vegetable garden. <br />
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Here is a not so finished photo of my garden. I did end up tilling the ground more plus we added some new dirt to the top but I couldn't be happier with it!!! Mind you I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day!!! <br />
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I tried to get a picture of it from the deck however since the sun was in a bad angle all you can see is shade!! Ultimately the garden goes from where Ryan is standing to about a head of the shovel in the far left of the picture below! Thats almost 30 feet of garden right there!!! I've got loads of vegetables to grow this year!!!!!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xelQguqXcJ0/UY1EDaxHYdI/AAAAAAAACqY/TFzsvGTBuA4/s1600/garden3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" mwa="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xelQguqXcJ0/UY1EDaxHYdI/AAAAAAAACqY/TFzsvGTBuA4/s640/garden3.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Then after it was all said and done it was time to relax! We turned our hot tub temperature down low so Norah and I can enjoy it as well!!! Norah LOVES it!! She calls it her mini pool! </div>
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This weekend we are hoping to actually install the basement floor for the LAST time!!! Fingers crossed!! If the weather cooperates I have a dresser to paint as well. I picked this lovely lady up at an online auction for a wonderful $6!!!!! We just have to pick it up Saturday and she's all mine!!! I plan to paint her white and put some fun new knobs on. I may even do a fun purple accent on the drawers... not sure yet! Its for Norah's room so we can get rid of the one that is broken!!<br />
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Have a great weekend everyone!<br />
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-35458507652817873492013-04-29T09:26:00.000-07:002013-04-29T09:26:02.751-07:00Front Hall Heaven!!!!!I can't express how completely awesome and talented my Dad is!!!! As you know (from my past post) my Dad was coming this weekend to install our custom made front hall closet that he made! I was super excited for it and it turned out WAAAAAAY better than I had imagined it in my head!! To take a step back I want to remind you that I more or less designed this baby. I had an idea, I drew a ROUGH sketch. Then I gave it to my dad, who took my rough sketch and turned it into actual plans. Then he built it! He even said he spent more time on the plans than he did on actually building it. The trick with this was that he couldn't just build it and then bring it into the house. He had to build it in pieces in his workshop so that it could then be installed at our house. I still can't believe how amazing it looks!<br />
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Just to recap, this was what our front entrance looked like before. <br />
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We had a crappy 10 year old Ikea wardrobe and a white bathroom cabinet for storage. Lets just say the shoes were ALWAYS everywhere and the coats were permanently hanging on the stair banister! <br />
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I wasn't at the house for the entire installation process as Norah had dance class and we had to run some errands. But I came home to this. The sides and back had been installed. <br />
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Here is my Dad and Ryan installing the door frame and doors. They had a few issues as my walls aren't square and my floors/ceiling aren't level either. But with a little trimming and a lot of jimmying they got this baby done.<br />
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So without further adieu, here she is!!! We have LOADS of storage up in the top cabinet for out of season items. Plus we have shelves up the side that I put baskets in to store all our hats, mitts, umbrellas, purses etc. We added extra glass door knobs that we had in the basement. Those knobs are on every door in the house so it was only fitting to add it to this door too! We did add the same knob to the top cabinet as well but apparently I don't have any pictures of it.... We still have to put the crown moulding back up, add some trim to the edges and caulk it all so it actually looks built in. But isn't she PURDY!!!<br />
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Here is the view from the stairs.</div>
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My FAVOURITE feature about the entire thing is my hidden shoe shelves. This was definitely one of my best ideas yet!! Since it is a corner closet, I knew there would be wasted space in the back corner. I hate wasted space! So I told my dad that it would be great to be able to store shoes back there if possible! He put small shelves in the back that hold 1-2 pairs of shoes. It just gives us that tiny bit more room maximizing the space!<br />
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Miss Norah definitely approves. It is her new favourite hiding place! She loves that she can put her own shoes away and so do I! I plan to put a hook inside just off to the right where she can hang up her own coat too. <br />
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Here is a before and after. I will update when we finally get it painted, trimmed, and caulked but its amazing how much better it is!! </div>
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THANKS DAD!!!!!!Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-70192353156131610252013-04-26T07:31:00.000-07:002013-04-26T07:31:07.992-07:00Front Hall Closet Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I am very excited for this weekend!! My dad has been working hard at our front hall closet and this weekend is installation time!!!!! I'm finally going to have a FUNCTIONAL AND PRETTY front entrance! Still no heat... but pffff who needs heat when you have a new closet!! (FYI new furnace comes Tuesday...)</div>
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So just to remind you, this is our front closet as it looks when it has been cleaned up... normally there are shoes and jackets EVERYWHERE!!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b5e5oQFkrrM/UXqK0dgqMAI/AAAAAAAACm4/81K7iT4Jk2E/s1600/Front_Hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" lwa="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b5e5oQFkrrM/UXqK0dgqMAI/AAAAAAAACm4/81K7iT4Jk2E/s640/Front_Hall.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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This is the problem area... As I said in <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/search/label/Front%20Entrance" target="_blank">this post</a> the Ikea wardrobe I have owned for about 10 years and it was used in the meantime until we could come up with a plan. We had originally thought of doing a storage bench with hooks but have since decided against it as I want doors to hide the mess!!! The white cabinet next to it is actually a bathroom cabinet we had in the old house in the bathroom (who would have guessed!). We use it for Norah's mittens and shoes and my purse storage. It worked but lets be honest it looks horrid!<br />
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As I already said originally we wanted to build a bench with hooks but we have too much stuff and I wanted to be able to easily hide it. However, doing a rectangle closet wouldn't work with our stairs since the bottom landing is angled. So we just sat on it until I came across an awesome idea on Pinterest <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/91690542384896638/" target="_blank">here</a>. A corner bench. I still knew I didn't want a bench and hooks BUT the idea of utilizing the corner intrigued me. So I searched further for a corner wardrobe.</div>
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That's when I found <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/91690542385080853/">this.</a> Yes it is an entertainment cabinet but the idea of a corner wardrobe just kept building in my mind!<br />
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I called my Dad and we talked through it. I measured the space and using excel I put together a SUPER rough drawing of it. I knew I wanted a corner closet that went all the way to the ceiling. I knew I wanted the top to be a smaller extra storage cabinet for off season stuff. I knew I wanted there to be a shelf unit up the right side of the cabinet where I could put baskets with hats/mitts etc. That is what I knew. Everything else I left up to my Dad. He spent some time researching and came back with an awesome to drawing and got working on it. It will be installed this weekend so I'll have an update for you next week but for now this is how it looks. The majority of the project has to be built in place but this is the door and frame as well as the side shelving unit.</div>
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This is the side shelf. I am SO excited to see this all put together!!<br />
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Have a great weekend!!Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-83412106320306558262013-04-24T07:32:00.000-07:002013-04-24T07:32:13.678-07:00Up Up in The Sky Nursery Part 2The nursery is progressing and I couldn't be happier!!!! Its turning out better than I imagined!!! This is very exciting for me because last week we had another AHHH WHAT THE @#(<a href="mailto:$*@#(%">$*@#(%</a>&!(@!#! moment when our furnace crapped out on us!! We have been without heat for a week now... argh! Luckily it hasn't been TOO cold so space heaters are enough to keep us warm but it sucks! The new furnace comes this week sometime. Anyway, back to the nursery!!<br />
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In my last post I had already showed the painted rainbow above the crib (see plans and rainbow <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2013/04/up-up-in-sky-nursery.html" target="_blank">here</a>). I was so excited to start the hot air balloons that the next day I ran out to Dollarama to get chinese lanterns. Of course I could only find them in green... but that didn't stop me! Using craft paint I painted white on all of them and then decided to paint one blue and one a yellowy green. The original plan was to paint one pink if it was a girl (which I am happy to announce it is!) however after seeing the look of the greens and blue I decided I love it just the way it is!!! I also bought little woven brown baskets from Dollarama and using ribbon and a TONNE of hot glue I glued these babies together! Then to hang them I used dental floss and screwed them right into the ceiling. I LOVE THEM. We decided to hang them over the rocking chair because I don't want them falling into the crib (always being super cautious!!!). Falling on my head is ok... but on baby it is not!! <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-picQkC30Y6I/UXfoS9COuuI/AAAAAAAAClo/5OZ7oAzuyo0/s1600/nursery6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" lwa="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-picQkC30Y6I/UXfoS9COuuI/AAAAAAAAClo/5OZ7oAzuyo0/s640/nursery6.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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As you can see we also installed crown moulding in this room (as well as all the bedrooms). We came across the crown moulding on a random outting to Rona. It was $4.76 for an 8 foot section! AMAZING deal... thats like 50% off! Plus we got 15% back in gift cards. So for $121 we had more than enough moulding for all 4 bedrooms upstairs. We still have to caulk and spackle the gaps but we'll get to that! Here is the one side of the nursery complete! I am in love with it! <br />
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Next up I found some super awesome prints on an Etsy shop <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/LilyCole?ref=seller_info" target="_blank">Lily Cole Designs</a> and immediately fell in love!! The issue was that the 4 white frames I had in the room were only 5 by 5's. So I messaged the shop and asked if it was possible to get them in that size. To my luck they had no problem with it and quickly adjusted them. I haven't received the prints yet but I printed off the crap quality photo sample of them and put them in the frames just for reference.<br />
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I did splurge on the prints... but at this point I had spent about $3 on the hot air balloons and about $25 on crown moulding for the room. So forking over $40 for the prints I was ok with since I knew I didn't need to buy much else for the room!</div>
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I randomly decided this weekend to throw together a rain cloud mobile using felt scraps for baby. I have a tonne of scraps left over from the <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/search/label/Quietbook" target="_blank">Quietbook </a>I made Norah (which she still LOVES). So I cut out little rain clouds in pink, white and black (always need a little black rain cloud!). I then sewed them by hand with white thread and stuffed them with random small bits of left over felt that was too small to do anything with. Then using bright colours I cut out little rain drops. Using white thread I attached all of the rain drops to the clouds and attached the rain clouds to a small dowel I had lying around. Then I used yellow ribbon to hang the mobile. I haven't hung it yet but I think this is going to hang over the change table... not entirely sure yet! I will update you soon!<br />
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We are currently working on cloud shaped shelves for over the change table... should have that completed this week! The room is almost done!!! </div>
Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-18992935525359950062013-04-17T09:56:00.003-07:002013-04-17T09:56:46.577-07:00Basement Regression<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I am going to try my hardest to not cry my way through this entire post!! I mentioned in my last post my basement had slightly regressed... Well I THINK I'm ready to talk about it... be prepared... its UGLY!!!!</div>
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When I left off on our basement progress we had turned our basement rec room from an ugly carpeted mess into this beautiful newly floored and ceiled space!! Before and Afters below</div>
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Wasn't she pretty!!!!!!<br />
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WELL this is where I start to cry... literally... this pregnant lady was a big ball of crying mess!! A few days after finishing the floor when we were installing the crown moulding in the basement a few things happened. First off the newly laid floor came unclicked together in about 6-7 different spots!! ARGH!! We realized that installing the laminate on top of carpet underpad was a big NO NO! It was too soft and spongy. No big deal... we figured we'd just take the the flooring super carefully (keeping all the pieces in the right order), take up the carpet under pad, install the new under pad and then reinstall the flooring. Annoying yes but not a huge deal. So during Norah's nap I went down there and took up all the new flooring. Ripped up the underpad and I believe the words that came out of my mouth were something of AH @#$*&@%#(*"&)!&*!&$%@#*"&!<br />
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Under the old underpad were super old cracking vinyl tiles.. We knew the tiles were under there. However when you stepped on some of them (ones right in the middle of the floor) the entire floor moved about a half inch. BIG PROBLEM!! We knew if we installed the new floor on top of it it would just keep coming unclicked!! ARGH!! Next problem... the old vinyl tiles were 9 inch tiles... and since our house was built in the 40's there was a REALLY good chance that they were asbestos tiles!! MORE ARGHs and !#$(&)&#%*&!#$&(@#*$!! So we did nothing... we stressed about what to do! Finally this week a friend came by and ultimately solved our problem. We had the entire floor ripped up!! When they ripped it all up they found the subfloor was all rotten from old water damage! There was black mould down there and just nasty grossness! (thats my technical term for it) I don't have any pictures of the grossness as I was at work (thankfully because apparently it smelt awful!!!) I came home yesterday to find my basement looking like this!<br />
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They got rid of all the nasty floor and laid a brand new concrete floor for us!!! By 6pm last night this is what my basement looked like!!<br />
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So yes we moved backwards... BUT all the mould and asbestos are gone!!!!! It cost us around $500 to do because we pulled in a few favours. Gotta love friends!!!! Next up we need to reinstall our floors and baseboards! Thats for another day!!!! Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-18707765715370610062013-04-08T10:08:00.002-07:002013-04-08T10:08:36.177-07:00Up Up in The Sky Nursery<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
To start this post off yes I am pregant with baby #2 who is due September 2013. With that said I have been planning out the new nursery now that Norah is 100% moved into her new room and loving it! To recap, this was previously Norah's room but we have moved her to her new butterfly room (<a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2013/02/big-girl-room.html" target="_blank">see photos of new room here</a>). </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RifV7UF654w/UWL1PjlU-eI/AAAAAAAACko/KuZfWzMKxyM/s1600/oldroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" mta="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RifV7UF654w/UWL1PjlU-eI/AAAAAAAACko/KuZfWzMKxyM/s640/oldroom.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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When we moved in I added a few butterflies here and there but really didn't do much to it. <br />
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Now that Norah is out of that room it is honestly a big storage pile of stuff since our basement is under renos... I don't even want to talk about the basement today because I'm frustrated! We had to rip up the BRAND NEW flooring... ARGH another post for another day!!</div>
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Anyway, I had been thinking about what kind of room I wanted. Since the walls are already nicely painted I decided to keep them blue and go with a sky theme. At this point we don't know if it is a boy or a girl so I'm in the beginning phases of the nursery. Here is some of my inspiration and what I plan to do with the room! </div>
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First off, I want shelves over the change table. I always wanted to put shelves over it to store diapers etc but never got around to it! I love <a href="http://www.kokokokids.ru/2011/05/bookshelves.html#more" target="_blank">these cloud shelves</a> which would be super easy to make!! </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rVN0bOGHKC8/UWLz9GFARGI/AAAAAAAACj4/zxD6B1I47z4/s1600/!cloudshelf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="472" mta="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rVN0bOGHKC8/UWLz9GFARGI/AAAAAAAACj4/zxD6B1I47z4/s640/!cloudshelf.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I want to incorporate lots of clouds all around the room, and came across this idea from Pinterest (<a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/91690542385864154/" target="_blank">here</a>) I think the saying is super cute and may add it to the walls. But I love the hot air balloons! I debated making puffy clouds out of felt and realized the dust would be gross to clean up so I'm opting to sponge paint clouds to the walls! </div>
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As for balloons I found <a href="http://heybernice.com/2012/06/18/nursery-time-hot-air-balloon-mobile/" target="_blank">this tutorial</a> over at Hey Bernice and thought it was adorable!! I ran to Dollarama on my lunch and picked up 3 green lanterns and little brown baskets to make these! Unfortunately they only had green lanterns but I plan to add fun material to them anyway! I may add some pink if we have a girl but I haven't decided yet... for now my colour theme is RAINBOW!</div>
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Every sky needs a rainbow!!! I saw this one over <a href="http://www.colorfulkidsworld.com/wall_stickers_decals_kids_rooms/over_the_rainbow_giant_wall_decals.htm" target="_blank">here</a>. And loved it!!! </div>
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So on the weekend when I was super frustrated about the basement I decided to work on something that would make me happy, the rainbow!! I looked through my paints and discovered I didn't have any red or orange paint. Bummed out again I kept looking at what I did have. Thats when I remembered all of the glass/ceramic stain that I had bought. Guess what? The pack I bought had Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple!!!! I figured if it looked awful I could always paint over it! I thought it would be perfect because I wanted my rainbow to fade into the room not over take the entire room! I still wanted the blue walls to come through. So I quickly drew (with pencil) my rainbow and using a sponge brush I started to paint it. I loved the result! It took me about 20 minutes to do this and cost me nothing because I had everything I needed.</div>
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This picture is blurry but is a good shot of the room.</div>
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The chandelier is more than likely moving into Norah's room we just haven't gotten around to doing it, however I may leave it there if its a girl... Now the plan is to sponge clouds under the rainbow and sporadically around the room. I want to hang the hot air balloons either above the change table or above the rocking chair. As for a mobile, I have a cute felt rain cloud with colourful rain drops idea in my head. I may even add the odd flying bird into the room as well. That is the plan for now! </div>
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-84424665332787999832013-04-05T10:49:00.000-07:002013-04-05T10:49:14.906-07:00Dungeon TransformationWe have made substantial basement progress in the past month!!! First up we sent Norah to grandparents for an entire Saturday to Sunday morning. We spent that Saturday from 9am until about 6:30pm down in the basement!!! I'm telling you we were on a mission! <br />
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Just to recap, here is a true before picture of the basement (I finally found it!!) and remember we have already ripped out the old ceiling and installed a new ceiling and pot lights, <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2013/03/basement-progress.html" target="_blank">see here</a>! This was taken just after moving in so the basement is a DISASTER!!! But you can see the crack in the ceiling. What you can't see is off to the left of this picture a HUGE hole in the ceiling!</div>
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And the view from the fireplace.<br />
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When most people get rid of the kid/s for a day/night they relax and go for a nice dinner... nope not us! We had already done one coat of primer on the ceiling and the walls on the Friday night after Norah went to bed. Since the primer covered so nicely on the ceiling we started Saturday morning by doing the first coat of paint on the ceiling and adding a second coat of paint to the walls. The walls are stucco and a royal PAIN IN THE BUTT to paint!!! As we started to prime the walls white we realized just how disgusting the old walls were... I am assuming they were once white... WAAY too many years ago. The picture below is primed with one coat on the left and the original walls on the right! EWWWW<br />
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Here it is zoomed out, can we say GROSS!!<br />
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After the walls were finished being primed and the ceiling was completely painted it was time to rip up the carpet! We got out of masks because we knew this was going to be dusty and overly gross! Getting the carpet up itself was no problem and we discovered the underpad was still in great condition which at the time we thought was a big bonus! (hindsight... argh... I'll come back to this!). We also discovered that under the carpet there was a subfloor followed by 2 layers of tiles!!! We didn't want to open a whole new can of beans so we just ignored the layers of tiles and leaving the underpad there we decided to install our new flooring. The biggest pain was getting all of the tack strips up from the carpet. Those were installed right which meant crowbars and manual labour to rip it up!<br />
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At this point we SHOULD have finished painting the walls before working on the flooring but we were both so exhausted we wanted to do the flooring! We had picked up some amazing laminate at a warehouse near us for 99 cents a square foot! We started to install it according to directions (and the same way we installed the floor in the <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2011/09/why-didnt-we-do-this-sooner.html" target="_blank">old house here</a>) and ran into a problem because it kept sliding towards the wall or going crooked. We realized we needed spacers to keep it from bumping up against the wall as we tapped new boards in place. We hummed and haaa'd about it for 5 seconds and then I noticed our bookshelf FULL of DVDS... PERFECT. Ryan laughed at me at first and then realized this made a HUGE difference. Use what you've got! </div>
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We knew we wouldn't get the entire floor done because there was a spot that we needed to level the concrete on which we hadn't done yet. But we really just wanted to do half the floor! We had gotten almost there when I walked over a spot a few rows back and heard a crunch... I froze and looked at Ryan! Upon inspection one of the lips on a board about 4 rows back had broken (faulty board probably). Which meant we had to uninstall 4 rows of flooring to get all the way back to the one board and replace it. This is when we realized we should have lifted up the original underpad and installed thinner less squishy underpadding. But at this point we weren't starting ALL over again! So we went backwards, replaced the board and moved on. We made it half way across the floor and were hungry and exhausted so we called it a night! Then the next morning we got up early and just before heading out to pick Norah up and take her to the zoo we rolled a coat of the yellowy green paint on the walls. I was thrilled that it looked like I wanted it! I'm always worried about colours in basements because they can look sooo much darker than you really want them. So this is how we left it.</div>
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Fast forward about 3 weeks. The basement sat in the state above for about 3 weeks before we managed on the Easter long weekend to send Miss Norah to her grandparents for a night. On the Sunday morning we knew we had limited time so we moved fast. We finished up the flooring (which took about 2 hours this time), touched up some paint, cleaned the floors and dusted up all the crap lying around from when the ceiling was removed. And this is where we are today!<br />
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The area to the right of the photo above is where we play to build a built in custom couch! We opted to not install flooring there because it is a round alcove and the cuts to do the flooring would be a real pain in the butt. Plus with the custom couch being permanently installed there would be no point because you wouldn't see it! <br />
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If you look back to some of the progress photos you can see an ugly light hanging in the middle of the room. Because of the way the house/basement are wired we had to leave the original electrical box in the middle of the room and it needed to be accessible. We had originally decided to just put a white cap over the hole to cover it up until Ryan came up with the brilliant idea to wire a smoke detector there!! It is functional AND covers the ugly hole!!!<br />
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We have bought baseboards and crown moulding which we plan to install this weekend (these can be done while Norah plays down here!) Depending on how Norah naps we may also start the custom couch construction! </div>
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Here is a side by side photo of the Before and the In Progress. Just for reference the pot lights REALLY bring in that much more light!! The old basement was SUPER dark and you could never see anything in there!</div>
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-37750480891126071642013-03-01T11:45:00.003-08:002013-03-01T11:45:42.379-08:00Basement Progress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This is a lovely little story about a sad depressed hurting basement. Unfortunately I can't find any before pictures of our basement... so let me paint a picture. Our 'finished' basement when we moved in consisted of a brown builder grade carpet that was so dirty and painted on etc if you wore white socks on it they would instantly turn black. The walls are cinder blocks that they have stucco'd with a popcorn like texture. And the ceiling... oh my favourite part... was plaster and lathe... but not just any plaster and lathe... it had a concrete compound built into it which meant over time it had gotten heavy and started to crack and actually fall down! Just to add to it.. when they installed cable into the house they decided it would be smart to put a hole the size of my body in the ceiling! Yep our basement had seen better days!</div>
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Fast forward a year, Ryan, Norah and I went on vacation and came home to find that my super awesome parents and our super amazing friend had the ceiling torn down and replaced with super pretty drywall as well as pot lights installed!!!!! SO without further ado here is what our basement currently looks like!!</div>
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The rec room of the basement is directly below our living room so it has the same bay window shape as upstairs. Our plan is to actually build a curved couch into this space for the basement so that we can maximize on the space. The couch will be a storage couch too for storing extra pillows/blankets etc. <br />
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The built in bookshelf will be painted white and I want to install doors on it to hide Norah toys in the future<br />
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This little corner will be where the TV zone will be eventually!<br />
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Now that we have a new ceiling here is the master list of what my plans are for down there eventually!!<br />
* New laminate flooring - we may actually go shopping this weekend for this!!<br />
* Paint Ceiling<br />
* Put quarter round on the edge where the new ceiling doesn't exactly meet the wall<br />
* We can't do much about the non installation issue or the stucco'd cinder block so we just plan to paint the walls and repair any of the spots that look bad.<br />
* Build a built in shelf similar to the current one on the other side of the bay window to keep it symmetrical<br />
* Declutter!! Part of that happens this weekend as the current loveseat and the 2 chairs will be done soon! <br />
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This area will eventually be the kids play zone so I can reclaim my living room for myself!! Eventually... not just yet.Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-11481401028598041202013-02-22T08:17:00.001-08:002013-02-22T08:17:37.383-08:00Big Girl Room<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
Over the long weekend Ryan and I worked hard on 2 seperate projects. He worked on the basement (post to come) and I worked on Norah's big girl room. Norah turns 2 TOMORROW (where did time go??) and I wanted to be closer to completing her room for her. </div>
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I had bought some large wooden butterflies at Dollarama for $2 months ago! I had originally planned on decorating them with pretty paper but when Norah asked to paint on Saturday I thought hmmm what better way to get her excited for her big girl room!!! I painted the background of them a light and a dark purple then gave her some green and some purples and let her go to town! She had a blast!!!</div>
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Next project I worked on was taking some wooden letters that my mom had bought at a warehouse sale for about 50 cents each and adding colourful paper to them. This took about 10 minutes to trace, cut and glue with Mod Podge. Hanging them was a different story altogether!!! These lovely things had predrilled holes and a tack. The idea was 'simple' put the tack in the hole then put the letter on the wall using the tack. Simple in theory yes but the stupid tacks were on an angle!! When I tried hammering the letter into the wall the tack bent everytime!!! Don't ask how I ended up hanging them... just know I went through a LOT of tacks (which I then had to unbend) and there were a lot of curse words spoken! (luckily Norah was napping!)</div>
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Remember waaaay back when we used the church pew as an outdoor bench on our porch? (<a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2012/03/repurposed-church-pew.html" target="_blank">here</a>) Well on the back of that pew there were shelves that would have kept the church hymnals. When we put the pew outside we took those shelves off and stored them in the basement because I knew they would make fantastic book shelves! Then last summer I primed them and painted them white, I believe I did a post on that but for the life of me I can't find it right now! We hung 3 of them in what I like to call Norah's book/art nook! There is one more to be hung below the lowest one in the picture but we ran out of wall plugs and since the right side doesn't hit a stud we haven't hung that one yet! I also added a simple chalkboard next to the shelves. I have a tonne of chalk cloth so I just cut the material and threw it into a random frame we had lying around. To complete this corner I plan to paint the little desk white and add new knobs to it. Plus there will be a picture being hung above it shortly.</div>
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My mom brought over the purple quilt she bought at an auction for Norah. It looks fantastic with what I had done!!</div>
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Here is my little helper!</div>
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Now I just need to hang her mirror, a few other pictures, paint her desk and find a proper dresser for in there and the room will be done!!! Oh I also need to clean out my crap from the closet as it is currently overrun with my dresses!!<br />
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-13831199445163959052013-01-21T10:09:00.000-08:002013-01-21T10:30:04.841-08:00Butterfly TreeLately something has been bugging me. I couldn't figure it out for awhile and when looking at photos of our old house I realized I missed Norah's old room. I spent hours making the tree for her old room and it is the only thing from our old house that I miss. Oh I was so proud of this tree in Norah's first room!<br />
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To see how I did the first tree in Norah's old room go <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2010/07/natures-nursery.html" target="_blank">here</a> for the trunk, <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2010/07/leaves-leaves-everywhere.html" target="_blank">here</a> for the leaves and <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2010/08/look-what-dad-made-tree-shelves.html" target="_blank">here</a> for the shelves. Norah turns 2 in February... AHHHHHH when did she get this big!! And lately she LOVES taking her naps in our spare bedroom bed! When I say loves I mean she refuses to nap in her crib and will only nap in her big girl bed. She is ready for the bed and the only thing holding her back is me.... This bed was mine growing up and its VERY high!! Ryan and I just haven't found the time to drop the mattress by taking out the box spring and installing the safety railing on the bed. Plus I don't want to move her into a room that isn't decorated!! This is a horrible photo of the spare room but apparently its the best one I have... Since this photo we have actually turned the bed sideways into the nook on the right side. </div>
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I realized about a week ago that I REALLY wanted another tree for her room! And when I get a thought in my mind I just can't get rid of it. I also knew I wanted to do butterflies this time! So I did what I always do when I have an idea... I spent a few hours hunting Pinterest for ideas and found this tree decal on <a href="http://www.etsy.com/" target="_blank">Etsy</a>. I loved it but realized the swirling branches would be difficult to do for me... I wanted to keep this simple just like last time. <br />
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Then I found this one and thought it was perfect. So using a pencil and an eraser I drew my tree using this one as a rough sample. It took me all of about 15 minutes to draw the tree. Then using brown craft paint I painted the tree. Last time I went out and bought a can of wall paint and barely used the can and then left it at the old house... SO to keep things on the cheaper side I just used dollar store brown craft paint. I used less than half of a tube of it too and I love how the tree looks!! <br />
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After drawing the tree I pulled out my butterfly stencil and using different colours of purple dollar store craft paint and a sponge stenciling brush I randomly put butterflies all around my tree. This maybe took a half hour. When I was finished I took a step back and starred at it for awhile. I wasn't overly happy with it... something was missing! So I pulled out some green craft paint and added random leaves by hand all over the tree until I was happy. So here is the new tree for Norah!<br />
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I do still plan on adding some 3D butterflies on the branches and the wall but as for the painting I am finished!! I LOVE this tree!!! I'm SO proud of myself!! You have to remember that I'm an accountant and although I may be a crafty person I CANNOT DRAW OR PAINT if my life depended on it!! When Norah asks me to draw Mickey Mouse she will look at my drawing and shake her head saying "No Mama Wrong!" SO just because you have zero skills doesn't mean you can't create something like this too!! I had to constantly remind myself that trees are not perfect so I really can't make a mistake with this!! </div>
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Just for reference the walls are still a pale yellow, closer to the colour in the original photo of the spare bedroom above. This photo makes it look beige but its definitely yellow!! I'm so excited to decorate the rest of her room... now I just have to gather up ideas from Pinterest!! </div>
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<br />Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-4494376827024307142013-01-03T11:02:00.001-08:002013-01-03T11:02:33.967-08:00A Smorgasbord of StuffI would like to start off by saying I had no idea Smorgasbord was an actual word... Who knew spell check would correct my spelling!! Moving on!<br />
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I had high hopes of writing these posts before the new year however my little lady had a horrible cold and we spent the holidays sitting on the couch watching Monsters Inc more times then I want to admit!!!! So this is a post about all of the projects I have been dying to post for some time now!! <br />
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At the beginning of December a friend threw a Cookie Exchange Party. Norah and I were in a sugar coma for weeks afterwards!! But my one friend made these amazing 'cookies' that I HAD to make again! Mostly because they are SOOOOO simple!!! Literally they are Ritz Crackers dipped in chocolate... um yep its that simple!!! I had a bunch of candy cane Hershey Kisses on hand so I melted them up. I don't have a double boiler so I just used 2 small pots I had and put the water in the bottom one... worked just fine for me!<br />
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Then I rolled out some wax paper onto a cookie sheet and using a spoon I put a drop of the melted chocolate on the wax paper. Then put the Ritz Cracker on top and squished it around a bit. Then added another drop of the melted chocolate on top of the Ritz Cracker and smeared it around and threw the tray in the fridge so the chocolate could harden. They were DELICIOUS!!!!</div>
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Remember back <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/search/label/Quietbook" target="_blank">Here</a> when I showed my Quietbook pages. Well I finally finished it and presented it to Norah on Christmas Eve. We decided to give it to her then because we were going to church and what better place to play with it!! Here are the rest of the pages. </div>
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I showed this page before. I sewed a rectangle onto the opposite page to hold all of the dolls clothes. Norah LOVES that the doll has shoes... its her favourite part!</div>
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This is the cover of the book. Norah had these 3 little finger puppets that were in a birthday card from her first birthday that she still loves playing with. So in the interest of time I sewed another rectangle on and shoved the puppets in the front! <br />
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I previously showed the Mr. Potatohead, all I did to make the page was sew on part of Mr. Potatohead leaving the top open so the pieces could be stored inside him. (sorry no pictures) The same went for the flower counting page. You can see those <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/search/label/Quietbook" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Finally I made a shape page using puffy paint! I traced out some shapes and cut them out of felt. Then using my puffy paint I traced the shape with a corresponding colour onto a page. Norah has a blast matching the shapes and colours!!</div>
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Now onto a fun last minute Christmas Gift that I made for all the little people in our life (ie. babies under 8 months). At that age Norah LOVED touchy feely books!! I decided to attempt to make some! Now mine didn't turn out like I wanted but the babies still love them! </div>
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I made the pages out of sheets of foam (non-toxic too!!) and used pinking sheers to make the edges pretty. </div>
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Then I thought out what I could use... puffy paint was an obvious choice for 'BUMPY'. Actually this was my favourite page of the entire book! I used a yellow paint marker for the lettering.</div>
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Next up I had some sparkly paper left over from a previous craft. I had planned to write 'sparkly red circle' however this was a key lesson in what not to do while watching tv... somehow I wrote Bright... OOPS!!! I think on at least ONE of the books I got it right... Oh well!! Lesson learned!<br />
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Next up I knew I wanted to do a 'Soft' page. And since I still had a bunch of felt leftover I pulled out some green and cut an oval!<br />
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Finally I had some shiny blue material left from the wings I made for Ryan and I for Halloween and cut a triangle out. I had some issues gluing it on but eventually it stuck on!<br />
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Finally I used a hole punch to punch some holes and tied the whole book together with some ribbon I had on hand. This project probably took me about 10 minutes per book but the kiddos love them and I couldn't be happier with the result!!! Plus it cost next to nothing to make!!</div>
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It is now 2013 and most people are setting out their resolutions. I have never been one for setting a resolution because I know I won't stick to it. However this year I am setting a goal of sorts. My goal is to organize my life... Yes its a broad topic but I have so many things on the go and everything seems to be in shambles. Organization would be key to making 2013 a fantastic year! To clarify a bit I have a million areas of the house that are literally a disaster!! I need to take the time to organize them better so they are functional for us. For instance, currently I can't even get into our storage/tool zone in the basement because there are a million boxes and tools blocking the way! Next our front hall is a disaster of shoes and coats constantly... I plan to enlist my dad to help us organize that. Our tiny main bathroom has non-functional storage that I plan to fix up. The office upstairs needs some serious TLC. Our laundry room has so much space but nothing is in its place so its a constant pile of junk. We have a huge shed but have never properly organized it so its bursting with junk! Life just needs organizing... I have yet to figure out how to juggle work, a little lady and cleaning a house! </div>
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With all of that said... we got on our organization plan over the holidays. Previously Norah's toys were in baskets in her play area... then we were given a toy box which I thought would answer all of our problems. Nope... I would like to refer to the toy box as the box of 'wherediditgo'. It wasn't a deep box but Norah couldn't get anything out of it without help and it lead to frustration on her part. So over the holidays we invested in a toy shelf with baskets. It has been in the living room now for about a week and I LOVE it!! Norah LOVES it too! She can get all the toys she wants and her books are even in one spot (instead of all over our book shelf) which gives me more room for MY stuff!! </div>
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Finally on the organization track, we have a blank wall in the kitchen which we had previously hung a corkboard from a nail that was left by the old owners. The corkboard was functional but MUCH too low! When at Ikea a few months ago I came across some awesome organizers for the wall that I loved so I picked them up (I think they were like $15 or something). We rehung the corkboard higher and put the organizers on the wall. Now all of our bills/paperwork/pens etc that used to sit on the kitchen counter have a proper space for themselves!! I still plan to do something fun with the corkboard I just have to find the time and figure out what I want to do with it!!! </div>
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-54334037774606975582012-12-13T06:45:00.001-08:002012-12-13T06:45:32.231-08:00Giant Ruler Growth Chart Tutorial<div>
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Lately Norah has been growing like a weed but I didn't realize it until my daycare lady mentioned she had grown about 5cm in 4 months!!! Then I realized I didn't have a growth chart set up for her... We have 2 growth charts but one has velcro pieces which Norah loves to pull off and the other is too pretty to mark up with pen. SO off to Pinterest I went to find something easy to make and found <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/208573026462678047/" target="_blank">this pin.</a> Which took me to <a href="http://www.dearlillie.com/product/oversized-ruler-growth-chart" target="_blank">Dear Lillies</a> website where you can buy this for $49.99.</div>
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I LOVE the look of it!!! And it would be SUPER easy to make! SO I had Ryan run to Home Depot and get me two (I planned to make 2 of these) 1 by 6's. Then they sat in my hallway for a month. I had planned on staining the wood with some leftover stain I had from back when I helped a friend stain her bed. <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2012/01/1-bed-2-girls-and-4-posts.html" target="_blank">(see here)</a> However its now super cold outside and staining outside is not an option. I could stain it in the basement but then the house stinks and its not properly ventilated... so that was going to happen. I had also planned on bringing the wood to my parents house and staining it in their garage because they have a heater in there. But I forgot the wood when we went to visit. Thats why the wood sat there for a month!! Then last Friday I took the day off work and decided it was time to deal with it!! I sat back and brainstormed what I could do without using stain! Then I thought meh lets try something new. So I pulled out some brown and silver paint and mixed them one a plate. </div>
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Then using a rag I wiped the paint onto the wood letting it truly soak into the wood. I tried using a paint brush but it looked bad. The rag was the way to go! It made the paint smooth and even and I only had to do one coat!!!</div>
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I honestly wasn't sure how this would end up turning out but I figured it couldn't look that bad!!! And I was right.. I LOVE how it turned out and I'm so glad I used the silver because it gave it an awesome yet subtle shine!</div>
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Then using a measuring tape, a ruler and a marker I marked the lines onto the wood. I made the foot markings 2 inches in length and the inch markings 1 inch in length. This took about 5 minutes to do. Then I freehanded the numbers. I had wanted to use a stencil for them but couldn't for the life of me find my numbers stencil... so I freehanded it!! </div>
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And there you have it, Norahs growth chart!! Now we just need to hang it!! I made it so it starts at 6 inches, which means we need to hang it 6 inches from the floor. <br />
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-22075599072820816512012-11-26T09:42:00.002-08:002012-11-26T09:42:49.710-08:00Santa Claus Parade!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We have been SUPER busy the last few days getting ready for the Mississauga Streetsville Santa Claus Parade!! Ryan's new company (not sure if I mentioned it but Ryan started up his own insurance brokerage... couldn't be prouder! Message me for details if you need help with you insurance if you're local!) decided to create a float and walk in the parade!! Oh boy was it work!!! We decided on a gingerbread man theme! So one Saturday a few weeks ago Ryan's entire office came to our house and we made a Gingerbread House float!! Couldn't be happier with the result! It wasn't huge but it was perfect!! We painted it a nice reddish brown and decorated it up with dollarstore decorations! I don't have a photo of just the house but here is the float with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew!</div>
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The next task was costumes!! As you saw in the photo above they turned out amazing!!! My sister-in-law made hers and my brothers! They were completely AWESOME!!!! I had the task of making 4 pairs of brown fleece pants, 2 adult sweaters and Norah's little sweater as well as 4 hats. SO I got my sew on and hammered them out in a week! Then I had to decorate everything with large white rick rack! In the end I couldn't be happier with the result!!!! Ryan got to dress up as the 'Baker' for the parade! <br />
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Norah had an absolute blast!!! She waved and smiled the entire parade and was SO happy to be sitting in her wagon most of the way.<br />
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My nephew was 'Frosty the Snowman'.... Ohhh I just wanted to squeeze him the whole time!! He actually fell asleep for part of the parade... hilaroius!!! <br />
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Overall the parade was so much fun and we learned a lot!!! First off... 6,000 candy canes is NOT enough... oops! Second off, it gets VERY hot no matter how cold it is outside when you are running around giving out candy canes dressed in fleece and too many layers!!<br />
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And to just finish off because I know everyone LOVES a good screaming child pose.... As much as Norah LOVED her gingerbread costume this time (remember the incident with the <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2012/10/pumpkins-and-peacocks.html" target="_blank">peacock costume here</a>) she did NOT enjoy sitting on Santa's lap at my work Christmas Party the day before the parade.... <br />
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Poor child.... Just for reference she isn't normally a screaming child... I just love those photos so much I have to share them!!! They make me laugh! Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-40074118357653651922012-11-08T09:55:00.000-08:002012-11-08T09:55:18.770-08:00Stairway to Heaven<br />
Yesterday when I got home I just about had a heart attack, I was running up the stairs to grab something for Norah. I didn't have the lights on so I could barely see and on the back of one step there was a LARGE thing... It looked like a tarantula sized spider. I froze! For those of you who know me you know I HATE spiders and what I hate more than spiders are those house centipedes with there freaky freaky legs that go everywhere and they refuse to die and they secretly plot against you on how they are going to eat you!! Ok maybe that is an exaggeration but I HATE all large crawly things!! Totally just shivered describing the bugs that haunt me!! Anyway, I freaked out and ran downstairs to grab a shoe and turn the light on. <br />
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WELL I discovered it wasn't a bug after all.... (silly me) it was just the paint peeling off the back of our stairs... BOOO!! Not as bad as a bug but equally crappy!! I think the old owners of our house quickly painted the back of the steps... they looked great but its a thin coat of paint... its streaky and starting to crack/peel in areas. <br />
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Sorry for the quality of this photo I can't find my other photo! This is our stairs... will update with a better picture later.<br />
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There is nothing wrong with them other than the peeling paint... I know I need to repaint them but that got me thinking. Remember in the old house when we <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/search/label/Wallpaper%20Stairs" target="_blank">wallpapered the stairs here </a><br />
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I loved the look but it took a LOT of work to wallpaper those stairs. Mostly because they weren't even. But the problem with wallpapering our current stairs would be because of the banister. The photo doesn't show it but part of the stair goes to the other side of the banister... making it VERY tricky to wallpaper. Thats why I hadn't even considered it before. </div>
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While browsing Pinterest I came across <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/91690542385033442/" target="_blank">this</a> which is from <a href="http://marthastewart.com/" target="_blank">Martha Stewart</a>. I LOVE this idea!! I know I have to repaint the stairs... why not add a super cool stencil! </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TMmBYuih864/UJvwnk8nOhI/AAAAAAAACZ4/0Vtn9VwpsJg/s1600/1829656068149772_4RNzmSp8_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" rea="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TMmBYuih864/UJvwnk8nOhI/AAAAAAAACZ4/0Vtn9VwpsJg/s640/1829656068149772_4RNzmSp8_c.jpeg" width="512" /></a></div>
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I'm thinking of a nice grey toned stencil of a flower or a vine. Something neutral... I may even add the stencil into the front hall on the walls to tie the stairs in... we shall see. First step is getting Ryan on board with a stencil we can both agree on. I want something neutral that adds a little fun to the stairs... maybe even a butterfly or dragonfly.... Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-63773666378310279222012-11-07T08:02:00.000-08:002012-11-07T08:02:10.457-08:00Family Fun ArtworkWe have been absent lately... that doesn't mean we haven't been busy working on MANY projects... just busy having fun as a family!!! I have a bunch of updates I just need to find the time to write about them!!<br />
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Norah LOVES to paint!! When I pick her up from daycare in the evenings the first thing she says when she gets home (other than Daddy Daddy) is paint?? She LOVES it... however she also HATES getting dirty... my little princess! When painting she must use a brush so she doesn't get paint on her hands and when she does get paint on her hands she freaks out until I wipe it off. I decided we needed some art work in the upstairs hallway. I had previously hung a few of Norah's paintings but it was sparse and I had a plan in mind for the hallway. SO stealing an idea from Pinterest I taped off the word LOVE onto a canvas and let Norah have fun painting!! </div>
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I let her chose the colours. She was hilarious! She kept wanting MORE paint. When she painted with the brush she would make the noise 'swosh swosh' and when she painted with the sponge she would dab it and say 'blob paint blob paint' so funny!! <br />
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After letting it dry I peeled off the tape and this was the pretty result!! <br />
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I opted to hang it at the top of the stairs, I need to add something else to the wall but for now this is what it looks like. I definitely need to centre it a bit more... the light switch (which is NOT centered) throws it all off... Oh well you get the gist!</div>
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For my birthday my brothers and sister in laws took some gorgeous family photos for us!! Lets just say we like to have fun!!! Yes we hula hooped!!! I knew I wanted to frame the photos and decided the upstairs hallway was the perfect spot for them. Here are two of my favourite photos! <br />
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I have seen people make their own photo canvas on Pinterest and I decided I would try the same thing. Instead of one photo on a big canvas I wanted to do a collage type canvas. We had this one canvas that I had previously painted... I put lace over the canvas and spray painted it. I loved the result just not the colour... too bright blue and green.. not what I was going for. So I decided it would be a good canvas to cover up! I pulled out the Mod Podge and Norah helped to cover the canvas. She didn't like getting her hands sticky... this photo is captioned "Mama stick, wash ... PEEEEEESE!"<br />
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I used eight 4 by 6 photos that I loved from our photo shoot and Mod Podged them onto the canvas, let it dry and then did a few coats of Mod Podge overtop. I am SO happy with the result!!! They were hung on the one wall in the hallway upstairs along with some older Norah paintings that she did when she was super little with her fingers! </div>
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This is where they currently hang, I plan on adding Norah's future art work to this wall!! <br />
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Then on the other wall I used some frames my brothers and sister in laws gave me for my birthday to hang the rest of the family photos! <br />
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This is a work in progress that will probably never end... I will add photos here when I get some more or switch up older photos. I just love that my upstairs hall is fille with love and amazing memories!! </div>
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-36535897293296582082012-10-22T06:41:00.002-07:002012-10-22T06:41:57.561-07:00Pumpkins and Peacocks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Over the weekend Ryan and I hummed and haaed about what to do with the pumpkins this year. In previous years we have carved our pumpkins. But this being the first year that Norah can participate in Halloween we wanted her to help out with the pumpkins. Now giving Norah a knife to carve a pumpkin would probably end with childrens aid being called! That wasn't an option. So I thought maybe we would carve something that she wanted and she could help us take the insides of the pumpkin out. Then I remembered that this is MY daughter... Here is why that wouldn't work. When Norah gets ONE speck of dirt on her hands she comes running and asks to wash her hands. If she gets a tiny dot of paint on her hands she immediately has to wash her hands. She does not like being dirty and she certainly wouldn't like putting her hands inside a pumpkin where its all slimy! I thought maybe we'd try it anyway but figured it would just end in a big melt down. Next year we'll introduce her to the fun times of carving a pumpkin. This year I opted for painting a pumpkin!! On Sunday I pulled out the paints, Norahs little pumpkin and some sponge brushes (so her hands don't get mess... god forbid her hands get dirty!!)</div>
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She had a blast painting her pumpkin yellow and purple (her requested colours!)<br />
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Then it was time to decorate the big pumpkin!! I picked up these Mr. Potato Head like faces at Dollarama and asked Norah where each should go. There were 2 sets of faces so the pumpkin has 2 sides!<br />
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She had a LOT of fun with these!! Great alternative to carving a pumpkin. I figure if the pumpkin lasts till Halloween we'll cut him open afterwards and roast some seeds.... we'll see. <br />
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For Halloween I am making Norah a peacock outfit. I got some blue and green feather boas from Dollarama and sewed them onto a little tulle blue skirt we already had for Norah. I made the back feathers a little bit longer for a 'tail'. I wanted to see how it looked on Norah however she did NOT want to try it on for mommy. This was the result.... My Not so Happy Peacock.... (Yes I'm that mom whose child is screaming and instead of taking the skirt off I run and grab the camera.... )<br />
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I tried to snap a photo of the back before I took it off but Norah just wouldn't have anything to do with it. Lets hope I can get her to wear it for Halloween.... Don't worry I have backup wings if she refuses!<br />
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This is the back of the skirt lying on the ground... see how its a little bit longer! I didn't want it too long because I didn't want her to slip!<br />
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I have made her some brown leggings that she can wear with the skirt. She'll have a brown shirt on the top and on her hat I've attached a Peacock feather that we picked up at the High Park Zoo for her. Plus we have a mask that is on a stick that she can carry around with her! If I ever get her in the costume I promise to take more pictures!!! Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-92083808314883496032012-10-15T10:34:00.001-07:002012-10-15T10:34:49.446-07:00Norah's Quiet Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This year I am ahead of the game for Christmas... OH MY GOODNESS I SAID IT! Yes Christmas is fast approaching and normally at this point I wouldn't even have a list of gift to make/buy yet. However, I'm turning a new chapter called "Prepare Now and PAY LESS". I'm doing Christmas on a budget this year... not for any particular reason but I realized Norah doesn't need a million toys that she will never play with just for the pure fact of giving her something at Christmas. Instead we're making her some gifts and making gifts for friends and family (sorry guys you'll just have to wait till Christmas to find out what we're making you). Moving onto one of Norah's Christmas gifts this year. I'm sure everyone has seen the Felt Quiet Books all over Pinterest lately. I love them and everytime I saw them I was like THATS AWESOME... but a lot of work. Well I decided I would tackle that project and I must say I'm having a BLAST!!!!! I found a BUNCH of templates online and last night I started cutting out pieces.</div>
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First up I found this awesome dress up doll template over at <a href="http://racheldenbow.blogspot.ca/">http://Racheldenbow.blogspot.ca</a> the template I used is <a href="http://racheldenbow.blogspot.ca/2010/12/dress-up-felt-board-tutorial-and.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I grabbed my felt and started cutting. This is what I ended up with! I still have to attach them to a page but its a good start!</div>
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Next up I wanted a Mr. Potato Head page.... I looked at a few templates online and didn't like them too much so decided to make my own... maybe I should have stuck to a template.... Oh well I like it! He still needs more options. I decided to make it a Mr instead of a Mrs. since I already had a dress up doll. <br />
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Next up I found this amazing template over at <a href="http://servingpinklemonade.blogspot.ca/2011/01/quiet-book-templates.html" target="_blank">Serving Pink Lemonade</a> They actually have a bunch of templates there... I may end up using more from that blog we shall see. This page has removable flower petals with the numbers on them to teach kids the proper order of the numbers. I used yellow puffy paint to paint the numbers on. <br />
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Thats all I have so far but tonight is another night of cutting!!! I think my next page is going to be animal oriented... I also want to make an alphabet page... stay tuned!Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-66285494042554758382012-10-05T10:32:00.001-07:002012-10-05T10:32:57.118-07:00Happy Thanksgiving!!!This post is going to be a smorgousborg (yes thats a word) of stuff so be prepared to be tossed and turned all over the place!!! ITS A LONG WEEKEND!!! WOOO to the HOOO!!! I am in desperate need of a long weekend... this week has been EXHAUSTING!!! <br />
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Since it is fall I decided to Fallify (once again a word) my house!! Now in the old house I NEVER decorated the house based on the season except at Christmas and then it was a half assed attempt at 'decorating'. Now with the new house and actually having space and a fireplace mantal I have decided to decorate the BISNAAAAAS (once again... well maybe that isn't actually a word... ) out of it!! So not having much in the way of fall colours I ran to my favourite place in the world... DOLLARAMA! Yes people I love the store to death! SO many things you can get for under $2!! I picked up some fun fall branches and some other fun things for around the house. I also picked up some small gourds that I had planned on spray painting but decided I loved the orange and yellows that they naturally were! Here is my mantle (I have since added more gourds on the left of this but you get the gist)</div>
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I would also like to disclose the reason the books on the right side of the photo above are all over the place.... I came home one day to find ALL of our photo albums on the floor and the shelf on the floor too. Apparently those shelves are only held in with the cheap crappy plastic tabs!! SO when I loaded the shelf up with photo albums eventually the tabs gave way... we just haven't had a chance to get wood or metal tabs to hold the shelf up. <br />
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I picked up 3 of these bunches of branches at Dollarama, they are made out of wire and beads. I originally had them shoved in the back of one of my plants on the mantle but found this awesome small orange vase that I have no idea where it came from. It was probably from some flowers we received at some point. I had forgotten about it because it was so small it was hard to fit anything in but it was perfect for this!<br />
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Next up this lovely display was actually a gift last Christmas that has been sitting hidden on the mantle in the far corner since... Christmas! I pulled it out and spruced it up a bit! Can you see the cute card in the background? Thats Norahs bday card to me... its brown and orange... perfect colours!!!</div>
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That was it for the living room. But talking about fall... when I was painting our chairs I noticed this in our backyard!! The mums that were planted in the planters on our back desk when we got the house have decided to bloom!!!! I'm hoping they will be in full bloom this weekend for Thanksgiving!!!</div>
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Speaking of Thanksgiving and fall! I made Apple Butter last weekend!!!! I have no idea why I hadn't done it before... its SUPER EASY!!!!</div>
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You just peel/chop 10 lbs of apples and throw them in a slow cooker. You add a mixture of 3 cups of sugar, some cinnamon and ground gloves to the apples and stir it all together. THEN you leave it on low for 12 hours... I stirred mine periodically but pretty much just left it!! I woke up in the morning to this (well I jarred them... but you get the point)</div>
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mmmm Apple Butter!!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!! </div>
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-44023892886163145082012-10-03T10:02:00.000-07:002012-10-03T10:10:15.988-07:00Dining Room Chairs Revealed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Last March I started transforming my dining room rooms. The first step was to reupholster the seat cushions as they didn't all match and needed some updating to say the least. This was what I started with. </div>
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You can go <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dining-room-chair-reupholstered.html" target="_blank">here</a> to see how I recovered the chairs to make them look like this. </div>
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Then I stopped because I wasn't entirely sure which direction to take from there. I knew the table needed to be refinished badly and at that point why not restain the chairs too. OR should I go in a totally different approach and paint them?? So for the spring/summer my dining room looked like this. (well lets be honest, it only looks like this when I am taking pictures... most of the time it is a disaster zone with projects piled high on the table)<br />
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Now to be completely clear, there was nothing wrong with that look! I liked it... didn't have any problem with it... but I didn't LOVE it. Also the chairs had some well worn spots that started to bug me. SO I primed them (see <a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2012/09/birthday-paint-party.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and then I painted them!! I opted for a creamy white spray paint! I used Rustoleums Ivory Bisque spray paint! It was actually fairly easy!! The first coat took the longest but I had all 7 chairs done in about 45 minutes. Then after letting it dry for 24 hours I lightly sanded down any areas I wasn't thrilled with and did a second coat which only took about a half hour. I LOVE the end result!<br />
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Here they are at the table. As you can see the table is full of 'stuff'! </div>
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I love the look of the white chairs with the stained table. As you can see in this picture the table top is in rough shape and needs refinishing. </div>
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I will eventually get to refinishing the table. I have finally decided I want to keep the table the same way, I don't want to paint it or stencil it (that was an option) because I'm afraid its going to be too busy in there. Striped chairs with a stenciled table top is a bit much. I also love the look right now so I just need to refinish the top of the table and I'll be plenty happy with it!! </div>
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So you don't have to scroll to the top, notice how much brighter the white chairs make my dining room!!!<br />
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This room isn't complete by any means. I have a future plan to make a built in cabinet on the right side where the dresser is currently. There is more than enough space to do built in drawers/cupboards below and wine rack above with glasses etc. But that is down the road. </div>
Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-74368501267712895212012-09-20T17:18:00.002-07:002012-09-20T17:18:38.923-07:00Birthday Paint Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This week I turned 29... ahhhh last year in my 20's!! Well I took my birthday off work and being ... well me.. I decided instead of sitting back and relaxing on my day off I would be productive. I pulled out all 7 of our dining room chairs, yes we have an uneven number. Our dining room set was my Grand Omas and it came with 4 chairs. We randomly found another 3 at a an antique store by our cottage for $25 each!!! So now was have 7 chairs. As previously mentioned<a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2012/04/stain-or-paint.html" target="_blank"> in this post</a> I have been debating whether to paint or stain the chairs. I finally decided I wanted to paint them and I have an awesome plan for the table, details on that at a later date!! I pulled out all of the dining room chairs took off the seat cushions and gave them a thorough cleaning!</div>
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Then I pulled out a foam brush and the can of Zinsser primer and got to work priming these babies with the best primer out there!! I LOVE that I didn't have to sand them down!!! <br />
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It took forever and I decided to paint them I will definitely be spray painting them! But I'm sooo happy the priming is done. At about a half hour a chair it took me about 4 hours to finish these!!<br />
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And that is how I spent my birthday, most people think I'm crazy but it was the BEST day! I LOVE projects!!!<br />
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<br />Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-28892540415459783162012-09-12T10:39:00.000-07:002012-09-12T10:39:40.323-07:00The Behemoth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I know I have mentioned the massive tree that we have in our backyard. But I can't remember if I have ever truly shown any pictures of it... well you are about to get more pictures than you probably need!! When we moved in we knew the tree was overgrown and in desperate need of a 'hair cut'. Ryan initially said he could trim the tree... I just laughed hysterically and said 'Yes Hunny'.... It wasn't until we hung Norah's swing from the lowest branch that Ryan quickly realized trimming this baby was not in his 'reach'. Without further ado meet 'THE BAHEMOTH' as I like to refer to her (yes I consider my tree a female... a VERY LARGE luscious female). Just for reference... I couldn't get about 30% of the tree in the picture.... Because of the way our yard is there is no way of getting the entire tree in a picture!! Its that big!</div>
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So I picked up the phone in the spring and got 3 quotes for tree trimming services. The first quote shocked the crap out of me at a whopping $1600!!!! I just about died!!! Next in came a quote at... wait for it... $2300!!! FOR TREE TRIMMING!!! Ok I get that our tree is RIDICULOUSLY HUGE But really?????
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At this point Ryan and I were trying to convince ourselves that the tree didn't need trimming and that it would be just fine... aka denial!! Finally I came across a local tree company called <a href="http://karmatree.ca/karmatree_tree_services.htm" target="_blank">Karmatree</a> and figured it couldn't get any worse why not try for one more quote. Their quote came in at $900! THAT I could deal with. However, I wanted to make sure they weren't going to put spikes in my tree (like some companies do) which ruins the tree!! Luckily they don't use spikes, they use suspension ropes and a big bucket truck. I was excited... well lets rephrase that.. I was not thrilled about forking over $900 for a 'hair cut' for The Behemoth... but I was excited that it wasn't $2300!!!
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THEN we forgot all about poor Behemoth.... it was summer and we were enjoying the fact that she kept our backyard cool and shady. </div>
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Until last week when I realized fall was coming up and that meant Behemoth was about to shed her 'clothes'... Oh goodness... the thought of all those leaves makes me exhausted already!!!! </div>
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So I picked up the phone and called Ryan over at Karmatree. They are honestly the nicest guys ever. They were at the house 4 days later trimming the tree. They did an amazing job of cleaning up every last branch they chopped off. I came home from work to find that I could actually SEE my beautiful tree!!! Here she is after her $900 hair cut!</div>
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Just so you don't have to scroll up and down, here is the before and after side by side.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SPOKUY1xHd4/UFDCU2ibi3I/AAAAAAAACOI/g_0JMYNAYI4/s1600/comparison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="416" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SPOKUY1xHd4/UFDCU2ibi3I/AAAAAAAACOI/g_0JMYNAYI4/s640/comparison.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I think I can safely say we will have about 30 less bags of leaves to rack up this fall!!! Our neighbours have always been telling us that we have a family of raccoons living in our tree, but we never saw them... until the tree was trimmed. When I got home last Friday I was talking to Ryan of Karmatree and he pointed out our backyard pet who apparently had been sleeping on this branch the entire day while they were trimming the tree. Brave little bugger! (if you can't spot him he's in the middle of the photo)</div>
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We are both so happy with our trimmed tree and can't thank Karmatrees enough!! They did an amazing job!! If you live in the Toronto area you can find them at <a href="http://karmatree.ca/">karmatree.ca</a>. </div>
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Disclaimer: We have not been paid by Karmatree these are 100% our opinions. </div>
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Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620609332837235301.post-35346550123646178112012-09-07T12:07:00.001-07:002012-09-07T12:07:55.953-07:00Don't Judge This House By Its Front Entrance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know I have mentioned a few times that eventually Ryan and I want to build a super awesome front hall storage bench/closet. But I have never actually shown our front hall in its current state.... SO let me do that first before I explain what my future plan is for our front entrance! This is here what our front hall looks like 50% of the time.... the other 50% of the time there are shoes everywhere and coats hanging on the stair banister!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-esfUONGqiAI/UDUI4lP1IlI/AAAAAAAACFs/TCBAjutTDZ0/s1600/Front+Hall+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-esfUONGqiAI/UDUI4lP1IlI/AAAAAAAACFs/TCBAjutTDZ0/s640/Front+Hall+3.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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I LOVE the slate tiles in the front hall. And I LOVE the black front door, I think it looks amazing!! I also LOVE the light fixture. As you can see from the photo above<a href="http://livelovelaughrenovate.blogspot.ca/2010/06/look-what-dad-made.html" target="_blank"> the table my dad made us</a> for the hall in the old house fits PERFECTLY next to the stairs and radiator in the hall and I love it there! The problem we have is storage since there is no closet! So we have temporarily used what we had on hand. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_uQklx-Yc_o/UDUIyBLzAXI/AAAAAAAACFk/F-SxMKph0UM/s1600/Front+Hall2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_uQklx-Yc_o/UDUIyBLzAXI/AAAAAAAACFk/F-SxMKph0UM/s640/Front+Hall2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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That is an Ikea Aneboda Wardrobe that I have had since 2nd year university!! I'm actually shocked it has lasted that long... we all know how well Ikea products last when moved a million times. That wardrobe has lived in 2 apartments, 2 storage units and 2 houses being moved a total of 7 times!! In the last house we had it in the living room temporarily and it was moved to the basement for the majority of the time we lived there. It works for now but it doesn't tie in with anything!! Next to it we used the storage cabinet that we bought for the bathroom in the old house. It moved from there to the bedroom in the old house for a little while and now it is in the front hall housing Norah shoes, my purses and random other things. The baskets above the wardrobe have all our hats, mitts, scarves, umbrellas and other accessories. Here is the other side of the front hall which I have actually hung art on. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qz3eLLnNJd0/UDUI8gmBmPI/AAAAAAAACF0/JwI6b62slW0/s1600/Front+Hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qz3eLLnNJd0/UDUI8gmBmPI/AAAAAAAACF0/JwI6b62slW0/s640/Front+Hall.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Now lets get to 'THE PLAN'. To start off we have decided to go for a non-closet/closet.... We don't have the room for a proper closet so we will be using hooks. This will also limit the number of jackets we can have at the front door which is JUST FINE WITH ME!! Means I can't buy 100 jackets and saves money :-) I do however want to have a side cubby with a small door to hide all those things you just don't know what to do with. I LOVE this front hall idea!! <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3rQ_C38MsJ8/UEpCvfRSovI/AAAAAAAACLg/lpdvK0sLyr0/s1600/219550550554381499_drXFiMDc_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3rQ_C38MsJ8/UEpCvfRSovI/AAAAAAAACLg/lpdvK0sLyr0/s640/219550550554381499_drXFiMDc_c.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div>
(source: <a href="http://www.houzz.com/photos/users/countrywillow">http://www.houzz.com/photos/users/countrywillow</a>)<br />
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However I would like cabinet doors hiding the cubbies above like this idea. And I also like the layout of the shoe storage here a little better. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mj6IquCUMDI/UEpC_6uUTCI/AAAAAAAACLo/re0hI-C5AlU/s1600/82472236896336113_hA3hEXjY_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mj6IquCUMDI/UEpC_6uUTCI/AAAAAAAACLo/re0hI-C5AlU/s640/82472236896336113_hA3hEXjY_c.jpeg" width="422" /></a></div>
(source: <a href="http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/159902?d=0&w=48055">http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/159902?d=0&w=48055</a>)<br />
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Just to add more complexity to my project I really like the look of using an old door as the back piece for the front hall like these!! <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u9Fvq3Hkqeg/UEpDZfRLdwI/AAAAAAAACLw/H8W3oRLSpq4/s1600/bb-old-door-bench.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u9Fvq3Hkqeg/UEpDZfRLdwI/AAAAAAAACLw/H8W3oRLSpq4/s640/bb-old-door-bench.jpg" width="596" /></a></div>
(source: <a href="http://buildingblocksintupelo.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/love-these-doors/">http://buildingblocksintupelo.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/love-these-doors/</a>)<br />
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After looking at what we have lying around the house a few weeks ago Ryan and I discovered we may just have almost everything we need on hand to do this project!!! This is what I'm thinking right now...mind you I haven't measured a thing yet so it may not work out as I have planned in my head!! Ultimately we are going for the look in the first photo but with doors instead of beadboard for the backing and doors on the cabinets above. <br />
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We have about 5 old doors of various sizes in the basement already we just have to pick 2 of them to use. We also have some old kitchen cabinets in the basement that are being used as extra storage in the laundry room which we don't need down there. Those would work perfectly as the cubbies above for hats/mitts/bags etc. One of the cabinets already has doors we would have to figure somethign out for the other cabinet. For the bench we actually have an old piano bench that we have been holding onto. I think it would work perfectly as a bench and we could build some built in storage next to it to make it longer. Once everything is built we can add trim to make it look like a complete built in! I figure this is the perfect fall/winter project so don't expect any progress on this until then. But I'm excited!! OH for colour I plan on painting it white and adding some fun splashes of colour maybe in material for a cushion for the bench or with fun handles/hooks!Meghan and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03618548893281324573noreply@blogger.com0