Olioboard

Ok so maybe I'm behind but I just discovered http://www.olioboard.com/ and I LOVE IT!!!! Now I have a Pinterest account but haven't really gotten into it that much... to be completely honest its just too much work for me. Yes its a great spot to collect all of the projects that I would love to do one day BUT Olioboard puts it all into perspective for me!



Basically you can create a mood board out of items you have either found on the Internet OR you can browse Olioboards items that are from different stores. The best part about it is that if you find an item you MUST HAVE on Olioboard you can click on the link and it will take you to the spot where you can buy it!!!!! Now it is a US website so some of the places you can't buy it online but it gives you an idea.



Now that I've gushed about this I'll show you what I created! My best friend Jen just moved into a rather tiny condo. Basically her room was originally supposed to be a den. Needless to say its small. BUT the condo itself is GORGEOUS!!!! I was over there yesterday and helping her get some ideas on how to decorate the tiny space. She has ample closet space between her room, her own bathroom and 2 other closets in the condo. BUT it was a matter of making her room look sexy! After browsing the newest Ikea magazine I came up with this wonderful theme for her room. (Some of these items are from Ikea some of them are similar to items Jen already owns).

Basically its a purple, silver and white romantic theme. The headboard would either be some lacy flowing curtains in white. OR we would find a silvery white material to iron on to the wall as a fabulous headboard. (see my previous iron on projects here) Jen has a gorgeous dresser that is similar to the one above (but white) that adds a nice touch to the room. I just love this chandelier which is actually from Ikea. Now there is no overhead lighting in Jen's room so this probably wouldn't be a functional like, more a decoration and we would bring lighting into the room by a lamp on the bedside table. Then lots and lots of white and silver pillows.

Now this is just idea #1. I already have a million other ideas in mind too!! I had SOOOO much fun on olioboard today... omg I think I'm hooked!!!

Small Things Make A BIG Difference

I have been searching for some type of towel rack solution for the basement bathroom. We had this amazing poster that was given to us by a friend ages ago that I realized would be PERFECT for down there. After we found a reasonable priced place to get it framed it looked fantastic on the wall but it looked odd because we hung it at the top knowing we wanted a towel rack below. I searched everywhere. I had an idea in mind but just couldn't find what I was looking for. They were all either too expensive or not long enough... we had a LONG picture and wall to fill up. Then when perusing the web the other day I found this cute little shelf/towel rack on www.goinghometoroost.com and LOVED IT!!!

So I thought hmmm I could make a shelf like that. While looking downstairs for something completely unrelated I found an old shelf of Ryans that he had originally hanging under the window in the basement. I honestly thought I'd told him to throw it out because we'd never use it... good thing he didn't listen to me!! haahaha!! Only problem was that it was the wrong colouring. Since the bathroom has a cream and black theme going this reddish brown just didn't work for us. BUT we were lucky that it had previously been stained but not sealed... so all I had to do was stain and seal it a nice black!

In 2 days (takes forever for a coat to dry) I had transformed it into this! I opted for inexpensive silver hooks from Home Depot as the places to hang the towels.

After a long process of trying to figure out where the studs were and a few wall plugs later we had this lovely piece hanging in the bathroom beneath the picture we both LOVE!!

Here is a better view of the picture.

Now I just have to get some cute little baskets for the shelf and fill them will soaps and creams!! I'm SO pleased with the result!!!

Quirky Door/Wall

I have been meaning to post this for awhile now! I don't remember if I have ever mentioned our bedroom door before. Picture Mr. Ed in his horse stall.... that's our bedroom door. Yep its cut in half. We figure the old owners did this because they had a window air conditioner in the bedroom and wanted it to circulate but they also had dogs so they wanted to keep them out. Its honestly the only explanation we could come up with!!!

Now you might be wondering why we have never changed it... well that's a VERY good question and I don't really have an answer to that. Maybe its because we love the quirkiness of it. Or maybe its because when I'm mad at Ryan I can leave the top half closed at night and he'll walk right into it without knowing... haahaa joking!! Who knows why we haven't changed it. We'll MAYBE get around to changing it soon but who knows!!

To top off the weirdness... the old owners instead of putting in door stops decided to just cut out a hole in the wall the PERFECT size of the door knob.... They did this in most of the rooms too but we have fixed all the other rooms... only this one hole in the bedroom remains! I have no idea what they were thinking!!

But on a less weird note. Look at the new curtains I made for the kitchen!!! I know its a dark picture but I love them! They look GREAT!!! Plus my sister in law a little while back brought over gerbera daisies!! I LOVE THEM!!! So bright and cheerful!!!

And with that I'm off to paint the back stairway!! Stay tuned for that update soon!