OUR FRENCH COUNTRY BEDROOM - wall hooks

Sometimes I look at other blogs and
see photos of beautiful homes that 
make me question if they are real
or not. I wonder how could I ever
achieve that. The finishes cost a 
fortune and my fortune is dedicated
to more personal things like groceries.

READ MORE >>

CLOCKS, CLOCKS, AND MORE VINTAGE CLOCKS

My favorite clock is large with roman numerals. I have had it for years and it is the main clock in my bedroom. It has such a classic look and it feels like a giant pocket watch with the ring on top.

READ MORE >>

THE 7-UP CHRISTMAS TREE

 

 

 

 

 

This year I put my Christmas tree in a vintage 7-UP crate. Our tree is a gorgeous faux blue spruce

4 ft tall tree. I bought it years ago from The Bay in downtown Vancouver.

 

Below left you can see the tree is just being set up and started to get decorated.

Below right all the lights are strung and the tree is all trimmed.

 

 

When your family is young and you have children running around the house Christmas is very much

 about them. And this includes decorating for Christmas too. You trim the tree with the kids and each

 ornament you put on the tree brings back memories of past holidays. Once the kids have moved out

 and are setting up their own homes and their own trees it's time to decorate for yourselves. For some

it is a very hard concept but just like anything in life you must teach yourselves to do. 

 

 

Start out with the thought "I get to decorate the way I want"

And try to start early in the season so you have many days and nights to enjoy your hard work.

My house does not get Christmasified in a day, one area gets worked on each day over a week.

As each area starts to glitter with lights it spurs me on to want to do a little more somewhere else in our home.

 

 

 

 

Decorating for yourself to enjoy is just as important as decorating for your family to enjoy.





A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS - clocks

This week I'm going to share some of my favorite things.

Today it's my love of clocks

PURCHASED AT HOMESENSE

REPRODUCTION CAST IRON FLORIDA FLEA MARKET FIND

PARTS FROM A BROKEN CLOCK FOUND AT VALUE VILLAGE 

OUR KITCHEN CLOCK FOUND AT HOMESENSE

MY BEDSIDE CLOCK BOUGHT AT HOMESENSE

DOLLAR STORE CERUB CLOCK ORIGINALLY BOUGHT FOR KC's ROOM, YEARS AGO

VINTAGE BIG BEN DESK CLOCK, A FABULOUS YARD SALE FIND

 

MIDCENTURY PLASTIC WIND UP CLOCK BOUGHT AT A YARD SALE

HEAVY ORNATE WIND UP CLOCK MY MOST RECENT YARD SALE FIND

********************************************

Stop into FIRSTFINDS HARDWARE STORE to see

if we have any vintage hardware for your next project.

   

CLICK EACH PHOTO FOR MORE INFORMATION

    

CLICK EACH PHOTO FOR MORE INFORMATION

  

HOMESENSE HOW I ADORE THEE - my new birdcage and painted mirror

Last visit to Homesense happened to be a quick

 stop while we were on a peaceful drive to get away

 from the hustle and bustle of life and work. As both

 George and I work at home a great deal in the

 evenings sometimes we just take off for a quiet

 drive and enjoy an ice cappuchino from Tim Hortons.

Recently I had mentioned out loud wanting a bird

 cage. I had really wanted one for a long time but

 never mentioned it. With my retail job I've been all

 over the Fraser Valley as well as different locations

through out the country and really just never see them.

Well during this last stop at Homesense we meandered around

the store together close to closing time, George would pop

 in and out of the isles showing me things he saw.

 Then just as we rounding the final lap to the finish

 line he popped into the isle again this time with a

 beautiful white birdcage in hand.

I gasped and immediately said

"I WANT IT!" 

Then common sense took over and I asked

"HOW MUCH?"

Turned out to be $40, come on!

Well I still wanted it.

While this whole thought process was going on

 George popped in with another bird house of a

 different color and style. Now I was even more

 excited at options. Be careful what you wish for.

 Before the whole thing was done we musta found

 close to a dozen different styles, sizes and colors.

And different prices. 

Including this pretty pretty turquoise one and it was only $15
*** SOLD ***

Another find that evening was this great

*FLYING THE WORLD*

mini suitcase.

We also got our large oval clock that you've seen in the past

and a few book boxes at Homesense.

Before I go I want to share with you some encouragement I received from

AMY from MAISON DECOR

She painted her beautiful mirror frame pink and

 encouraged me when I told her I didn't quite have

 the nerve to do mine.

Well I was finally able to find a bit of time Mother's

 day morning and went for it. Happy Mother's day to me.

Mine's blue, it's bold, it's finished, and it's brilliant.

Did you notice it also matches the bird cage?

Muahahahahah!

A tutorial of this mirror can be found here.

BLOG MOTHERS - thank you for the inspiration

This is a shout out to a couple of woman who have

 inspired me, and I wanted to wish them a happy

 mother's day in a special way.

Gail from

MY REPURPOSED LIFE

did a clock table long before I ever started blogging

but when I first saw it online I saved that image

and patiently waited for the right piece to come to me.

Well it came last week.

The first appearance of Gail's clock can be seen here

then the antiqueing here

and finally mounted on the perfect legs here

THANK YOU GAIL!

I really enjoyed creating this

Then there is the infamous

MISS MUSTARD SEED

She's been doing hand painted signs for quite some

time

 I enjoy them all but never seem to find time to

 make one myself till the copy me challenge.

I ended up going in a different direction for the

 challenge which you can see here but still had

 started something that I did recently get finished.

Take a look at some of Marian's signs here

THANK YOU MARIAN!

I will definetly try more soon.