Saying Goodbye to the Library Light I Never Had

Woe is me.

 

I just had to say a tearful goodbye to my secret crush - the library light. Take a look at these photos and then dare to tell me that you're not in love.

 

Source: Garden and Gun

Source: Cottages and Gardens

Source: Urban Grace Interiors

 

Source: Unknown

Source: Unknown

Source: Unknown

 

Source: Urban Grace Interiors

We are still planning to have a little built-in desk area in the basement. There was a moment in time when I decided that I needed to have a library light over the middle desk area (where I am planning to have some open shelving)(kind of like in the above picture).

However, Alex thought a library light over open shelving would look weird. And...... it was too late. Right around the time I asked him about the light fixture he had just finished the wiring for all the lighting in the basement.

Now that drywall is up, it is officially too late. Sniff, sniff.

I can't be too sad though. Did you hear the part about drywall being up?!?!?!?! It's only been three years and counting, so this is very exciting news.

And, if I had to, I guess I could always stick one of these or a lot of them somewhere in the house:

Source: Visual Comfort Lighting Store

Have you shed a tear over a light fixture before? You have?!? I'm not crazy!?!?! Phew. ;)

P.S. I cannot for the life of me find any original sources for those pictures. What is up with that?!?  

White Dishes on the Dining Room Cabinet

Every time I go to Homesense I beeline it to the section that houses the plain, white dishes. I always pick up and admire every single white pitcher they have in stock. Every so often I will choose one to bring home with me. On those occasions, Alex can often be heard asking, "Why do you need another white pitcher!?!?!"

 

As if he even has to ask that question. ;)

 

White pitchers are my favourite. I've been trying to collect enough to display together on our dining room cabinet. I've never had enough - until today! (Sort of.) You see, I shopped the house and was able to round up eight pitchers. I had to improvise with a gravy boat and a teacup but I'll take what I can get!         

The super tall pitcher in the middle looks kind of out of place. I'll have to shift things around a little bit tomorrow. OR, I could always look for a better one at Homesense. I've had my eye on one that has the sweetest little beaded detailing around the top. I hope it's still there. I should really go first thing in the morning (wink, wink).   

The white dishes looked really lost all by themselves on the top of the cabinet. So I shopped the house some more and leaned two of my favourite pictures up there, too.

It's getting there.

 

P.S. I tried to take some more pictures of the dining room to update my embarrassing house tour page. Little Coopaloops was working against me all afternoon. I decided to quit after he took out my tripod with the Swiffer. Luckily I was standing right there and was able to catch my camera before it fell to the floor. I think I'd better save my photo shoots for naptime!

The Homies 2014, Random Pictures of the Coopster, Grey and White Polka Dot Fabric, and My Cute Tray Has Been Hijacked

 

The Homies 2014

 

 

So every once in awhile when I'm feeling particularly unproductive I end up clicking around on my blog to see what posts peeps have been reading, or what pictures peeps have been pinning. I probably do it the most when there is a basket of laundry to fold. (Like right now.)

 

I happened to notice that I had a few visitors that linked over from Apartment Therapy today. Since I haven't completed any projects lately.... or renos.... or room makeovers.... or, well, anything.... I was curious to see why.

 

That's when I saw The Homies 2014. It's a sort of contest over at Apartment Therapy where certain home improvement and DIY blogs get nominated. I scrolled through the list. Then scrolled some more. And, scrolled quite a bit more. At the very end of the list I saw the sweetest thing.

 

Five nominations for this little blog. My little heart skipped a beat and I've had a perma-grin ever since.

 

If it was you that nominated my little site, thank you. It really means so much.

 

Smiley face, smiley face, smiley face.

 

Random Pictures of the Coopster

 

Just because I love him to bits and assume that you do too.

 

Colouring.... for 10 minutes straight!

Swiffer in one hand, giraffe in the other.

When the camera comes out, the stink eye comes out!

That time he taught himself how to skateboard around the house on a tray.

Silly faces.

 

A goofy smile. I'm pretty sure it's because he got me soaking wet with some crazy tub splashing.

 

 

Grey and White Polka Dot Fabric

 

I just ordered a yard of this white and grey polka dot fabric from Tonic Living. Isn't it the cutest? I'm going to make something with it - I just haven't decided what yet. 

 

 

I love polka dots. In fact, I'm wearing a polka dot shirt right now. Old Navy for $6, baby.

 

My Cute Tray Has Been Hijacked

 

My grey tray in the living room has been hijacked. One minute it had magazines and a plant on it. The next minute it looked like this:

 

 

The things toddlers do sometimes.... are pretty adorable.

Changes to the Basement Fireplace Area

We had a real woodstove in our basement for, oh, about 5 minutes. Before we moved in the insurance company made us remove it. According to them it was too close to the wooden staircase and posed a fire hazard. Womp womp. 

 

Back then we had an ugly but fully functional basement family room and fireplace area. Behind the old woodstove was a floor-to-ceiling faux brick surround with a large, wooden beam as a mantle. While it may not sound that terrible - it was. Just trust me.

 

Update! I found a picture:

 

 

 

At that point we weren't ready for a basement renovation but didn't want to live with a giant, gaping hole in the wall. We looked into several options and decided to replace the old woodstove with a similar looking gas stove. This is the one we chose:

 

Westport Gas Freestanding Stove - Enviro 

 

We got the flat, black finish like the one pictured. We used it every night and absolutely loved it. {We haven't been able to use it for the last few years since our basement renovation is taking a wee bit longer than anticipated.}

 

Because we still really like the gas stove, and because it cost us a huge chunk of change, we are going to be incorporating it into the new fireplace area instead of using a gas insert.

 

So, to make the area more appealing here's what we've done so far. See the fireplace opening in the first picture? Alex moved it over to the left as far as he could so that it wasn't so close to the wall on the right. Since the opening was still off-centre he also took down part of the fireplace wall on the left so that more of the staircase is showing. Now the fireplace opening is centered and has room for a mantle on either side! Yay!!!!

 

We are still sticking with the plan to either build a mantle or salvage an old one. We will also have to add some painted brick or rustic tile to the fireplace box.

 

There really aren't a lot of inspiration photos out there to help me decide what it should look like. The stove + mantle is kind of a weird combo. But, I'm determined to make it look cute nonetheless.

 

Here are two pictures that might help you visualize how it will look:

 

Image: Unknown

 

Image: A Beautiful Mess

 

We are going to hit up the local tile store this weekend to see if I can find any tiles that I like. I know I'll find some tiles that I like (hello, marble) but they will have to be a little on the rustic side since we will have the gas stove down there as well as some white-washed ceiling beams, etc.

 

Wish us luck!

 

P.S. I thought about submitting our fireplace photo over to The Lettered Cottage so that Layla could work her Photoshop magic for a Pick-My-Presto. Alas I did not - she's too famous and I'm too shy! LOL!

Valentine's Day Treat Bags

I've had this picture pinned on one of my Pinterest boards forever. I used it as inspiration for my own little treat bags. Since the bags I chose were really tiny I decided to skip the stamped tags and stamp the bags instead. Here are the materials that I used for this simple little project:

 

- small brown paper bags (Michaels)

- pink & white baker's twine (Michaels)

- scalloped edge craft punch (Michaels)

- heart stamp (Michaels)

- white ink (Michaels)

- hole punch

 

First, I used the craft punch on the top edge of each bag. Next, I folded the tops of the bags over. I used the hole punch to pop a little hole in the top. With the top of the bag folded over and the bag still flat I stamped some hearts in a little pattern all over the front. Lastly, I filled the bags up with treats and tied them up with baker's twine. Easy as pie.

 

 

 

So now for the important part - the treats inside. I've never made my own peanut butter balls so I decided to give them a try. First I looked for a recipe with a crispy version (a local bakery makes a crispy-in-the-middle-version that I love, love, love).

 

At first I was skeptical because the "balls" looked more like "lumpy blobs".

 

 

But, once I added a little bit of drizzle over top, and taste-tested a few, I decided they were good enough to give away after all.

 

 

I had to be a bit of a peanut butter ball scrooge because only two of them would fit in each tiny bag. Whoopsie.

 

Now all Coops and I need to do is drive around town on Friday to make some deliveries!

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends! You know you're cute, right?

 

Sharing Here:

 

The Inspiration Exchange Link Party @ City Farmhouse
From Dream to Reality @ The DIY Dreamer
Work it Wednesday @ The Happy Housie
Wow Me Wednesday @ Gingersnap Crafts