First of all, thanks for all of the kind comments on my vlog post last week! My friends and I have had a lot of laughs about how oddly deep my voice sounds on the video. Oh well! As promised, here are a few more photos.
The #1 improvement to the room is definitely the fireplace wall.
I wanted to keep the look classic and traditional. But I also wanted some ‘wow’, that’s where the idea for the black fireplace surround came in. I love it! We needed to fix the draughty fireplace anyways, so we replaced it with a much nicer model that keeps our living room and kitchen warm and cozy through the cold winter months.
The photo above the fireplace is of my two boys and was taken by my friend Cynthia.
My favourite part of the living room has to be the new cabinets. Look at all of the toy storage space we have now!!!
The fabulous painting above is by Samantha Sano… you can see more of her work at The Summer Project.
And I love that we can close the doors on the television.
I’m pretty proud of the fact that almost everything in this room was either built by my Dad, made (or made-over) by me, or thrifted.
I sewed the curtains, slipcovered the two sofas, sewed a new cover for the papasan chair, and painted the lamp shades:
I found both of the brass side tables on kijiji, the brass reading lamp used to be my Grandma’s, and the wooden piece above the sofa was from Pier 1 (about 5 years ago):
This room truly is a LIVING room. Or we could call it a FAMILY room. Because my family really does live in this room. This is where we all hang out almost all of the time. We finally have one room that is ‘decorated’ enough for me, yet comfortable and cozy enough for the whole family… success!!!
Whew!!! Kids are off to school… I’m sitting here in my work-out clothes trying to convince myself to hit the elliptical trainer in the basement. Ugh.
But first I thought I’d share some photos from our Stella & Dot party last week… Cristin sent me these cool photos… I love hipstamatic!
That’s me and my sister. (I bought that necklace!!!):
Me and Sacha and Lynelle checking out all of the fun jewellery… I love Stella & Dot!
Cynthia trying on a cool necklace…
The super-pretty pink champagne cake (it really tasted like champagne!!!)
A couple cool shots of my house!
Have a great Monday, everyone!
*** Update! I just noticed that the Apartment Therapy 2011 Fall Cure is starting today! Is anyone else up for the challenge? I did it last year and accomplished A LOT! Think I might do it again… ***
Yippee!!!! The living room is finally done! (Well… the big projects are done… there will be more zhushing and accessorizing, you can be sure. That job is never really done, is it?)
I thought it might be fun to do a little ‘vlog’ to show off the room. Then I thought, “oh crap… I can’t stand the sound of my voice on video. There’s no way I’m posting this”. Then I thought, “whatever, it can’t be any more embarrassing sharing the video than it was recording it”. Plus, it’s proving to be more difficult to get decent photos than to just cruise around the room with the video on. So here it is. Enjoy!
Things I’m loving:
I’ve got a bunch of photos and more details to share tomorrow…
Stay tuned.
OK Canadian friends… it’s time to get creative! I’ve been asked to join in on Earth Day Canada’s Upcycling Challenge, and I think you should too! Because what’s more fun than taking something junky and transforming it into something fabulous!
Projects will be judged on the following criteria:
Sounds fun, right??? And really, everyone loves a great before & after. For more details, go here. Let me know if you are up for joining me in the Challenge! You have until November 27th.
