Spring Cottage Wreath

As cold as it is outside right now, we know that spring is on
it's way.  I usually put a different wreath on our front door,
but I think it's about time for a change.  So I have been
collecting all sorts of items, tucking them away
until I had a plan.


Pretty, small treasures that caught my eye, got put
aside.  This little tarnished silver crown was the piece that started the theme. 


I wanted the wreath to look fairly natural. 
Almost as if the bird came, found a bare wreath and 
then created a home.  A nesting wreath.


This little wooden bird hadn't been painted yet. 
So I did the first coat on her body dark brown and the wings grey.  
Once dried, I used chalk paint, and a dot of brown for her eyes. 
Then she was aggressively sanded  and waxed. 


I hot glued dry moss, extra twigs and raffia
into all the bigger openings along the wreath.
The nest is layers of fabric, recycled paper,
 burlap and a lot of hot glue.


Using some of my leftover fabric, I stencilled 
a tiny WELCOME banner. Then a few skeleton keys
were aged and hung at beginning and end of
 the welcome banner.


I love the texture of the wreath against
 the strength of the black door.
It makes a nice contrast.


If you look closely you can see the sparkly beads
that I added.  They are beads that I have had in my bead 
box for about 2 years.  I never could make them work in any 
of my projects, until now.


I wanted just a hint of color, a  little touch of blue...
yes, like a robins egg blue! The ribbon was too bright, so I Chalk Painted it.  
Not an easy task, but made it look 
weathered and aged. 






Now I am waiting until I can do a little
planting out here....
Brrrrrrr.


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Industrial Cottage Style Basement


When we bought this house
the  basement was bare boned.
Except for the outer walls, they were gyproced,
not filled, but just gyproced.
The bedrooms had the 2x4 skeleton walls in
place, wiring and duct work for heat.
There was a bathtub where the bathroom 
was to be and plumbing.  It was COLD.
We knew we needed the space immediately 
for our girls, so we got busy and finished
the two bedrooms and then the bathroom.
You can see the teen bathroom here.



The basement family room has not
been a priority, as long as it was warm and
comfy we didn't worry about it being 2X4s.
But, bit by bit, very slowly, the family
room is coming together.  I thought
I would show you how we have
 been spending our free time.

If you have any sort of storage
war phobia or like wise, please
turn away!
If you are still here.... the fireplace is electric,
but it heats up the family room nicely...
with the help of our furnace.  


This is looking from the office into the storage space.
We made the opening for the door extra large
 for the stand-up freezer, and any larger
items.


The family room has a lot of windows and
gets beautiful sun light through all seasons.


Yes, sadly, like most unfinished spaces,
it was our dumping ground.  I am really hoping
that when the downstairs is finished
everyone will put away after themselves...
please..:))


The picture below is standing at the girls bathroom,
looking down the hallway toward
 the family room.  To the left is the
 doorway to the office and storage,
I was planning on putting a
large barn door there. 






In the picture below, you can see the beam I am 
planning to cover, and make look like 
an aged barn beam.

 Yep, my husband has his priorities.
As soon as the paint was dry the
TV went up and Hockey was back on :))

One of my favorite things we have done in the basement....
STAINED CONCRETE!
It was a TON of work,
 but soooo worth it!
(The green tape was to prevent me from overlapping
 the stain and has been removed.)




We still have a ways to go...
 trim, window covering, furniture, and 
the list goes on!
Right now we are mudding the 
office\computer area....
just waiting till the dust settles!
;)


I can't wait to get decorating down here!
I have been pinning my plans here.


 It is definitely feeling
a lot more Industrial Cottage
then Basement Dumping Ground!
Hope you enjoyed seeing our 
progress.

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A French Touch

A few weeks back I did a
picture tour on

Today I am showing you
another gorgeous store, 

A French Touch.


Again, it is a lot of eye candy,
so please get comfy and grab a
hot coca or coffee.


And for this tour bring your truck!
So many beautiful pieces of furniture here.


Conveniently A French Touch and
French Vanilla are next door neighbors.
AND
Debra is a
Stockist for Chalk Paint™ by Annie Sloan,
Sadly I was too busy picking
my next Chalkpaint  color I didn't
get a single picture of her beautiful
display!


Beautiful stencils. 


Workshops!






Lovely treasures tucked all around.




















I hope you enjoyed my pictures, 
if you would like a closer look you may go to
Or if you are in Victoria,
1850 Oak Bay Avenue

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'French Industrial Cottage' Valentine

It doesn't matter where we have lived,
from our first home to the house we are
in now, I nest.  I can NOT help myself.
I take down, I put up, I paint, I rearrange...


I just can't help myself.
And I bet you are the same too.
But its FUN!


And this last weekend ...I was having some FUN
 I got new lights over our island and changed
the bulbs in the pocket lights to halogen.
(Look at what Halogen lighting does to a room...
and the wall color, and the wood tones.)


This time I moved my wine holder over,it is covered with burlap and
tucked into the top left corner above the cupboards.
 I put parts of my teapot and pitcher collections together.
  Our kitchen is EXTREMELY dark, I always
 try to keep it light and reflective up above 
the cabinets.
I just can't decide if I want to paint the cupboards or not.
I always love the look of a light kitchen,
but fear is taking over for the moment.


See this would be beautiful....

 I am going to think on it,
maybe play with some color samples.
Which always puts fear in the eyes of
 my husband and family ;)

I am however, loving my new tea towel from..
French Vanilla, it goes perfectly with
the tea cozy I made this fall.
:)


I am slowly incorporating more and more
wicker into the mix.
I have always liked the texture and
warmth it creates, but this blue/grey wicker
is really beautiful.


The frame on this mirror, I feel , is the
culprit of this change.  And so the
domino effect begins.


I guess I am going 
for a french/industrial/cottage look.
So for Valentines,
I added a little burlap heart over the mirror,
put up my banner from last year.
I left some of my Silver Christmas hearts out
for Valentines Day.


The table runner is one I had made from,
you guessed it, drop cloth fabric and paint.
It is stamped with our Wedding date. 


I have always mixed old with new. 
Difference being that I did it because I had to,
now it's because I like to. On the shelves
I put Antique Cook Books,
 silver, bottles, pictures, and FAUX flowers...
I know, I know, but I still love 'em.


The little runner in the middle of the table
has been passed down through our family,
the needle point looks like
Valentines to me.


The table setting is very simple,
with an assortment of styles.
I didn't purchase anything for this
setting, which always makes me happy!




This chair will be headed to the
sewing room soon.  It  needs a little
slip of some sort.  A skirt maybe...


Ok, its time for a little truth,
a few minutes before I started to take photos
for the first time on this clean,
candle light, staged, open concept space,
 EVERYONE decided they
needed lunch, then maybe watch a little
hockey. Sorry family for my melt down. 
A tiny melt down, but
A LOT of pacing. 







Hope you enjoyed my Valentines Table
and a little peek at some
of the changes going on here.

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