Our new room

Our bedroom was driving me NUTS - it had too much furniture, was arranged all wrong and generally made me cranky.  So I convinced Chris to help me move all kinds of furniture, take a dresser out of William's room, and bring one down the basement.  (I think he was tired of listening to me complain about it!)  Then I found some curtains at West Elm (on sale for $10!), got a mirror at Winners and some stuff at Ikea, and after another long weekend of work, we have a new room!  It is SO much better, it now makes me happy to be in there. :)

Fresh flowers always help...

One of my all-time favourite things about the room is our gallery-style wall of art and photos.  I had been wanting to do this for a long time, and the walls in here are so nice and long, they seemed like the perfect place for it.  I looked at a LOT of examples online, laid it all out a million ways, and Chris painstakingly hung everything just right.

I think it turned out great.  And a bedroom with a huge window - what a novelty!

A closer look at the things we hung.

wear them in the snow

How awesome are these shoes? Some dude named Okat painted these and I think they are awesome. I woudl lvoe to do a mini pair of these for Will and watch him try to figure it out. :p

Found on my latest favourite blog, BeachBungalow8.

Rock ON.

The most necessary "design" element in any kids room - FOR SURE.

Found on Ohdeedoh, where it is point out that they would also be awesome in a pillow fight. :) Made by The Grateful Thread.

a "good" chuckle

I have a feeling Sue Mott would "like" this site. The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation marks. For those grammar geeks out there, you can upload your photos of blatant quotation mark misuse to be mocked by all. Here are a few examples of the photos and the commentary. "Enjoy."

So we had these bottles of grape juice and they expired, so we just re-sealed them with a cork and they are in this crate. buy it!

Audrey saw this at the hospital. I guess somebody is disgruntled about not being treated like a real employee...

calling it a "business" day does not imply that we actually do business on those days.

my craig's list find

I was inspired by some of the design blogs to look on Craig's list for a buffet for the living room.  Imagine my glee at finding this gem for $75, and not to far from me!  Any others were at least $300-500, and not nearly as nice.  (There is a LOT of junk on Craig's List!)  So here it is, in its happy new home!

Mona Lisa Chair

Not sure if these are comfortable (are any folding chairs?) but how fun would it be to take the 'art' off your wall and turn it into a chair for your guests? That's right, a lot.

From Treehugger.

DIY Baby slippers

William has outgrown his Robeez slippers and I have been searching for a replacement pair.  Apparently Robeez has been bought out by a bigger company and will no longer be manufactured in Canada, but in China.  So a bunch of stores have stopped carrying them, and others are between inventory while the switch happens.  Anyhoo - long story. But how happy was I to find this cool pattern FREE online?  Not that I will probably ever make them... but the idea of making them is fun all by itself.

These are some of the photos posted on the flickr group and the pattern can be found at Great Turtle.  I found the pattern, along with a bunch of other fun DIY projects that other, more crafty people could make on a blog called How About Orange.  

SIGH....

I wonder if there will be room in our new kitchen for this beauty??? Judging by the space, probably not. And seriously, I don't use nearly that many spices. Ever. But I can still admire it.

From here.

Wall Blank

There is so much wonderful art online, I had no idea. It would not have been the first place I would go to buy original art, but I might be changing my mind! (Not that we need ANY more art - judging by the huge pile of artworks leaning on the wall in our bedroom, waiting for us to find a space to squeeze them in!) However, I did run into this fabulous site called Wall Blank. They list one limited edition artwork for a week or until it is sold out. This first one is available now - I kind fo love it (I have a thing for bird silhouettes.) Here are some other samples of the kinds of things you can find on their page - great stuff for a gallery-style display.

Steel Art

I LOVE these amazing "drawings" done in steel by artist Frank Plant. They looks like cool sketches jotted down in a spiral notebook, but when blown up and sculpted of steel they turn into incredible works of art. Kind of makes me wish I lived in a loft! Here is his blog and flickr page.

Artist Falls off his Soapbox

Fingerprint

Converse

Headphones

Corkscrew

I found these fun sculptures on please sir - another cool design blog! There are so many it is a wonder I ever get any work done...

Make your own font!

How cool is this? Spotted on Design Mom, YourFonts has a programme where you can turn your handwriting into a font. Or your mom's, kid's or friend's handwriting! I am thinking of turning my granfather's handwriting into a font - he had such amazing and distinctive handwriting. Such a cool idea.

fishs eddy

I seem to be drawn to dishes lately. These are so awesome, mostly because they are actually affordable. Didn't check about shipping though - sometimes I get all caught up in something online and find out they don't ship to Canada - or it will cost more than the item to get it here.

I super duper want this Brooklyn tray.

Love all the fonts. They have a whole line of alphabet stuff!

Do I love the pitcher? or the roses? or both?

Bird on a wire collection. Would make for a cool bathroom cup.

Salt and pepper shakers.

I worry about becoming one of those women with a salt and pepper shaker collection...

Thanks to for me, for you for posting about Fishs Eddy!

Jill Gallenstein

Also on Modish were images by Jill Gellenstein.  They are just fantastic swirls of colour, so amazingly detailed.  They remind me of chaos theory.  In her artist statement she writes:   The temptation is to see one's own life story in the drawings: rocket ships, Christmas tree ornaments, a grandmother's baked goods.  The goal, however, is to suggest that point particles exist as infinite waves of possibility until some measurement locks them into place.  With that suspension of finiteness, the world is perpetually fresh and new; the possibility for both good and evil exists, and there is an awareness that each needs the other to define itself.

I love the colours in this one.

And the colours in this one!

Nina Dinoff

Google reader is soooo awesome.  Now that I have collected such a number of blog subscriptions, it is giving me great recommendations, one of which is Modish.  Going through their posts I found all kinds of drool-worthy stuff, including the jewellery made by Nina Dinoff.  Such gorgeous stuff.

Her signature orecchiete necklace.  In her words:  

"Each orecchiete is a little cup of silver with the edges formed downwards to create an unusual shape.  they reflect the light at all angles."

Black and Silver bubble earrings

Oh wow I looooove this bracelet.  Would be gorgeous with a crisp white blouse.