Wall Letters in the Master Bedroom

 

 

At first I was going to call this post "Love Letters in the Master Bedroom" but I thought it would give you the wrong idea. Don't worry..... I will forever stay true to myself and continue to avoid mushy and / or sentimental stuff like it's my job.

 

I must explain, then, that when I chose to spell out the word "love" on our master bedroom wall it is clearly because I love:

 

Sleeping in. ;)

 

I keep waiting for the perfect time to take pictures of our bedroom. I'm slowly trying to find the right accessories, ceiling fixture, etc. But if I keep waiting for things to be perfect then my posts sure would be few and far between. So, even though I had to kick dust bunnies out of the picture because Alex lost the broom in the basement - here are a few recent pictures of our master bedroom.

 

After debating whether or not I wanted to display a shelf, a series of pictures, or a mirror over the headboard I decided to go with some reclaimed wooden wall letters instead.

 

Even though I am fully aware that I could have gotten Alex to cut out some letters with a jigsaw - I asked for these letters as a Christmas present so that I could make some progress on our bedroom without having to do any projects. (Yup, I'm lazy now.) Plus, the fact that the letters came in random colours added a little bit of anxiety excitement to the purchase. I thought it would force me to use colours that weren't too matchy-matchy. (Um, why does my brain do that?)  

 

 

 

I bought the wall letters online. I'll share where they are from at the end of this post in tiny letters because I'm not sure if I would recommend them. Poor Alex had a nightmare and a half trying to order them and get them shipped to Canada. After a few headaches we ended up with not one but two broken letters and shipping charges in excess of $150. Not cool, people, not cool. I just keep telling myself that broken-and-then-glued-back-together letters add to the charming, cottage-y look that I'm going for.

 

Despite the shipping stuff, I do think the letters look pretty cute up on the wall.

 

I might even admit that I LOVE them. Get it, love them?!?!?!

 

Wah, wah, waaaaaaah.

 

 

Please try not to be jealous of our Sony alarm clock from 1995. And the piece of scrapbook paper that I threw in a frame so it wasn't empty for this picture.

 

I'm liking how the room is coming together so far, minus the scrapbook paper, alarm clock, and dust bunnies.

 

Here's where things are from in case you were wondering.

 

Quilt - Homesense

Duvet Cover - Ikea

Nightstands - Homesense

Task Lamps - Restoration Hardware Baby and Child

Wall Letters - Anthropologie

Headboard - Sears Home

Curtain Panels - Crate and Barrel

Wall Colour - Old Prairie, Benjamin Moore

Trim Colour - Simply White, Benjamin Moore

 

P.S. I finally figured out why my other duvet was so lumpy. I had no idea how much good quality, down duvets actually cost. When I bought our previous one I thought I was paying a decent price at $49.99. It turns out that king sized duvets cost as much as $600. Wait, what!?!?!?! Alex and I bit the bullet and purchased a better quality duvet from Costco last week for around $230. The reviews were pretty good online. I feel a bit wasteful getting rid of the old one since we only had it a few months but it was poorly made and just had to go. 

 

P.P.S. Happy Canada Day and Fourth of July and all that jazz!!! Yay for lemonade and fireworks! What are you up to?

Sharing Here:

 

Inspire Me Monday @ Sand and Sisal
Show Me What Ya Got @ Not Just a Housewife
The Inspiration Exchange @ City Farmhouse
Inspire Me Please Weekend Blog Hop @ Love of Family and Home

Mini Task Lamps for the Master Bedroom

Back in January I wrote about how I had just ordered some mini task lamps for our master bedroom side tables. I was nervous about the purchase because a) they were a bit of a splurge, and b) I had never ordered anything from Restoration Hardware before.

 

Mini Academy Task Lamp - Restoration Hardware Baby and Child

 

Well, let me just say, that I absolutely love them. The lamps arrived practically two days after I ordered them, they were packaged really well so there was no damage (I've had a few bad experiences with shipping lately from other stores), they are really heavy / well-made, and they look real good.  

 

Since I made the bed this morning AND dusted this afternoon I thought I would finally share a picture. Here is the side table on my side of the bed.

 

 

Keep in mind that I do not like this combination of accessories. But, it's what I have lying around the house so I'm sticking with it for now.

 

 

Maybe this week I'll take some more updated photos of our master bedroom. I've made a little bit of progress in that department with a quilted bed-skirt, some linen curtains, and some wall art over the bed.

 

However, before I take any pictures I need to replace our duvet. I've decided that I cannot live another day with the lumpiest duvet of all time. I'm sucking it up and using some of my birthday money to get another new one.

 

:)

 

Back to the lamps though - aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen!?!?

This, That, and the Other Thing

Oh, hi. I hope you had a lovely weekend. Ours was jam-packed with yard work, trips to Lowes and Home Depot, swimming lessons, bike rides, visits with Dads for Father's Day, and......... a baseball game.

 

Yes, you heard that right. Cute friends of ours were short a girl for their co-ed baseball team. They asked if I could help. I do like helping. But, the truth is, I haven't played baseball since the seventh grade. And even then I tried to hide behind the bench when it was my turn to bat. The good news is that I survived, I apparently didn't suck too badly, and I ended up with a really cute baseball glove. It's pink. And I sure look sporty when I wear it.

 

 

 

I did, at one point, have to bake some muffins. I told Alex they were a Father's Day breakfast treat - which they were. They were also for lunch and snacks though because we sort of had no groceries.

Alex liked his Father's Day card. I debated whether or not to write a cheesy line on the bottom. You know, like, "Dad, you're a great catch." I decided to keep it short and sweet. I really hope you like my pretend-kid writing. I can't play baseball - but I sure can print some scribbly letters!

This kid loves his little bike to the moon and back. We're working on saying the word "bike". For now though, all I hear all day is, "Mama, I want to go. I WANT TO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And last, but not least, my little Charlie Brown perennial garden that I talked about here is surprisingly looking quite pretty.

Today I'm treating myself to a blog post. My report cards are done, my photo sessions are all caught up, and I only have two baskets of laundry left to fold and put away.

 

Today it feels like I'm not doing too bad at all.

 

:)

The Deck: A Light Fixture, A Galvanized Planter, A Trellis, and some Flowers

As I mentioned in my last few posts, I've been really trying to make our bland and boring deck more inviting this year. I've been working on one little area at a time, starting with a small section of wall behind our outdoor dining table.

 

Here is an old picture of the little spot I'm referring to:

It all started when I fell in love with galvanized steel planters.



Image Source - Rejevenation





Image Source - Pottery Barn

They are easy enough to find online - but locally? Not so much. Just when I started to lose hope I started to notice some galvanized items coming in at Homesense. That's when I happened across a set of three long, rectangular, galvanized planter boxes. Dreamy.

 

{Dear Homesense: You are a girl's best friend. You always come through in times of need.}

 

 

 

I placed the largest box along the bottom of the boring, old wall. I thought a trellis with some kind of climbing vine would be nice. I found a narrow cedar trellis and was able to pop it right into the planter box.

 

 

 

 

 

In the box I planted some sun-loving, white annuals as well as one pink Dipladenia to climb up the trellis.

 

Homesense also saved the day a few months ago when I came across a lantern-style exterior light that is almost identical to the one we chose for the front of our house. There was only one left in stock so I grabbed it - hoping and wishing that it would fit next to our exterior back door. We needed something to replace the bare bulb (yes, I'm hanging my head in shame) that's been beside our back door since Alex installed it in 2010.

 

I tried to clean all of the pollen off before I took the picture. Um, I think I missed some.

 

 

The last thing I added to the little area was a tree in the corner. I've had the tree for several years now. The poor thing has had three near-death experiences so far. Miraculously though, I was able to bring it back to life once again. Check out all of the new growth. Oh yeah.

Even though our backyard still has quite a few eyesores I thought that a few pretty things might distract people, especially me, from noticing them.

 

It's nothing too spectacular, but it's a start.

 

P.S. I'm really loving the galvanized steel with the wood and the black. For someone who used to only ever pick light coloured everything - I'm starting to learn that sometimes contrast can be a good thing.

 

P. P.S. I'm taking Cooper to swimming lessons tomorrow morning. Does it make me a bad mother to admit that I feel  completely ridiculous bopping around the pool singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm with 20 other adults? I know I teach kindergarten and everything but usually I am alone with the kiddos when I'm singing, dancing, and doing other embarrassing things. :)

 

P.P.P.S. Only ten more teaching days left and then Coops and I are on summer vacation. Lazy mornings, two cups of coffee, play dates at the park, popsicles and ice-cream sandwiches..... oh I just can't wait!

The Deck - Some Finishing Details, Finally

After quite possibly the coldest, snowiest, and dreariest winter of all time I have vowed to spend every spare minute this summer enjoying the sun and fresh air on our back deck (that is, when we're not at the family cottage or going on road trips).

 

Let's rewind a little bit. We started the whole deck project in 2010. By 2011 we had both the upper and lower decks built, and then later added the deck railing. We had plans to add some wide stairs with a stair railing, build a low stair around the bottom deck to access all areas of the yard, and to finish everything off with skirting.

 

And then Coops came along. And then we bought The Fixer Upper. And then we finished none of those things.

 

So, for the past few weeks we've been trying to finish up and fix some areas of the deck. Yes, after three Northern Ontario winters, parts of our deck already need fixing. {Insert cry here.}

 

We started with building wide stairs to replace the temporary ones (that were actually there for a very, very long time). 

 

Here is a picture of the temporary stairs:

 

 

And here is a picture of the finished stairs. Yay!
 

 

Wide stairs are the bomb-diggity. Just sayin'.

 

 

 

For several weeks the stairs were done but the stair railing was not. In order to solve this dilemma I sneakily added stair railings to my birthday list. What do you know, Alex and his dad surprised me by showing up on a weekday afternoon to build them a few weeks ago.

 

 

 

The little railings look great. We had to leave them unattached to the upper deck railing because the lower deck is floating on deck blocks and tends to move around with the seasons.

 

The next thing we worked on were the post caps. After living with the posts for a few years I decided that we left them all a bit too long. My patient husband went and cut them all down an extra inch with a circular saw and added all new post caps. Since the old ones were never attached, they ended up curling up in the corners and separating. Booooo. This time Alex adhered them with construction adhesive.  

 

 

 

The last project we tackled was by far the worst.

And I mean the worst.

The deck boards accumulated a layer of dirt and mildew that desperately needed to be scrubbed clean. After doing some reading I decided to try using Oxyclean instead of traditional deck wash to clean the boards.

I poured a solution of Oxyclean + hot water onto a section of deck boards, let them soak for ten minutes, and then scrubbed them with a deck brush until I could no longer feel my arms. The amount of black sludge that came off of the boards was unreal. And pretty gross. After scrubbing I rinsed the grime off with the hose on it's jet setting.

 

In the next picture you can see the difference between the clean boards on the left and the dirty boards on the right. It really made a big difference.

It took two afternoons with the help of my parents (my dad helped scrub and my mom wrangled the baby). I'm glad that I got the job done but,  it really was the worst.  

 

I prefer projects like the deck stairs where I get to tell Alex what I want and he builds it while I go to Homesense take care of the baby.

 

Since these not-so-fun projects have been done I've been able to pick up a few things here and there to liven up our deck furniture.

 

Think: cushions, lanterns, planters, and flowers! Sa-weet!

Oh - and here a few random pictures of Mini-Coop. He is absolutely loving spring!

In case you hadn't noticed... his favourite colour is "ba-looooooo".