Why I Love Jonny!

Happy Valentine's Day.

This post won't be about the day- though I will tell you that I asked for bird feeders from Jonny, and we will be eating lobster and steak (my favourite) at home, instead of wasting a whole lot of money for something less yummy, in a crowded restaurant. 

This post will be about why I love Jonny.... a few of the reasons.

And those reasons are that we both share a hate for coordinated bedroom sets, can see beauty in unconventional things, and love anything simple, from the earth or with its own historic story.

Out of those shared loves, came this beautiful headboard... that I thought up and Jonny executed.

London trying to sleep with this new "monster" at the head of the bed

The life of this headboard started here (as does the life of anything driftwood in our house):

My grandmother teaches me everything important in life- how to cook salt fish, and how to dress for the cabin!

This is what we call the "bottom" of Penguin Arm (read about Penguin Arm here).  When the tide falls here, there is a wide expanse of beach exposed, and it is where the water drags all the drifting material in the whole bay.  As children we LOVED to visit this beach at low tide.  Not only were there dozens of isolated salt water pools, to find fish and shrimp and other sea creatures waiting for the water to come back in, we would find all kinds of things washed up on the shore- balls, sand buckets, anything else that floats!

And then, when I got a little older, I realized this place was a GOLD MINE for old beaten driftwood.  Every summer you can see My mom and Nan (in the picture), Jonathan and I... coming down the beach dragging new treasures to the dory.  

And then, after months of waiting for the some free time, a headboard is born.  A unique, well built, one-of-a-kind headboard that costed us nothing at all, except some hard work and screws!  I am happy every time I see it, and I love Jonny a little more that he is happy every time he sees it also.

We wanted to keep the wood all natural, so we kept everything at different lengths.

I love different patterns together, life this chevron and yellow floral combo!

Three Snow Day Crafts!

I have been so busy lately that I haven't really had time for any creativity... boo!!

But then comes the all mighty snow day... which gives me a full day, trapped in the house, to do whatever I please!!!  

On a side note.  Snow days are going to be one of those things I have to explain to my kids "back in my day, we would have to get up and turn on the local radio station and listen until the school closure announcements come on", because, unlike many people in my staff room, I have discovered that twitter is now the ultimate snow day tool... and requires very little effort before you can roll over and go back to sleep.  I doubt my future children will ever have to waste time listening to cheesy local ads and old country songs to figure out if they have to go to school.

Anyway.... I was fortunate enough to complete three projects on Tuesday.

The first was a valentine's day decoration.  I'm not much into the whole red/pink/white hearts and kisses valentine's day things... but I am a sucker for holidays, so this is what I came up with for my fireplace:

A little pink, and little red, a lot of hearts.  The love hearts were Christmas decorations that I bought for 75% off after Christmas one year, with the intentions of using them for Valentine's day.  It's all about vision.

Speaking of vision.  On to the next craft.  I forgot to take a before picture of this pin board... but I bought it for 3 dollars at Carlton Cards because it said "Grad 2012".  It was a whopping 90% off.... and I just knew my perfectionist husband could re-cover it and make it perfect!!!  

After covering it with a fabric we had around lying around the house... and then me adding a pennant banner across, this is what it looks like:

I'll eventually get Jonny to hang it on our guest room wall.

Last, but not least, is this set of wooden boxes I had purchased at Michaels way back before we even lived in this house.  I knew I'd find a purpose for them at some point.  I decided to give them a white wash and a chalkboard label... and presto:

There you have it!! A snow day well spent!!!

Now lets keep wishing for another one!!

Tara :)

Hello again: 2012 recap!

I know.... and I'm sorry.

I love blogging, I really do... but I guess life got in the way for a while.  I guess life was so busy, I couldn't take the time to share it with you.  

But I'm trying again.  I think the worst part about it is starting again.  I have so much to share that I don't know where to start.

Let's just start with a sneak peak.  A sneak peak at some of the things I have to share... 

Let's look back at some of the highlights of 2012... that I will share with you in greater detail at a later dat (hopefully not too much later)

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2012

1.  A new job... which requires such things as feeding people pudding whilst blindfolded, ghost hunting at the town hall and coming home looking like this:

(This was after dressing as a zombie for our Harbour Haunt fundraiser)

2. Visits from family and friends:

Jonathan always tells me that I just NEED to be with people.  I am so fortunate to have many awesome people in my life... even though some of them live far away.  Here is a picture of some of my favourite visitors:

3.  Reliving our honeymoon on a camping road trip:

4.  Celebrating our 1st anniversary:

5.  A 50th birthday- camping style:

6.  My best friend's wedding:

7.  Buying a house:

8.  Renovating a house:

9. Setter moments:

10. More setter moments:

Tara :)

Reno Update: One month later

Has it really been a month already?  I don't think time has ever moved so fast.

Between us working, doing house renovations and walking the dog I feel like time has become the most precious thing.

So, what do we have to show for ourselves after the last month of hard work?  Well, besides hair that seriously needs to visit a salon, a dog who is getting a little round around the middle (apparently those walks haven't been long enough) and an extremely unorganized closet, this is what we have done:

Here is our living room before move in:

Here it is one month after:

Done: 

-New wall colour

-tv wall mounted

-new door

-semi-decorated

To-do next:

-install new windows

-install new floor

-replace trim and baseboards

-but a cabinet for tv accessories

-freshen up the fireplace

The hallway before:

Hallway one month later:

Done:

-new paint colour (though the picture doesn't really do it justice, it's now grey instead of light dusty-rose

-paintings hung on brick

To-do next:

-paint closet door

-install new flooring

-change light fixtures

The nicely outdated master bedroom before:

Now:

Done:

-carpet and walpaper removed

-new paint

-curtains hung on temporary rod

-shelf hung on left wall (not pictured)

-semi-decorated

To-do next:

-install new window

-install flooring

-paint closet door

Guest room before:

One month later:

Done:

- walpaper removed

-new paint

-closet door painted

-curtains hung

-semi-decorated

To-do next:

-prime and paint trim

-install new window

This is the clock that our really good friend gave us as an house warming present.  It's from an aboriginal shop in New Brunswick... we LOVE it.  Even the lines for the numbers are made from little pieces of tree branch!!

Backyard before:

Backyard after:

Nothing done here except a bit of pruning.  This will be a big project for next summer.

Front yard now (don't have a before).  So happy it's starting to look like an actual lawn!!

House exterior before:

One month later:

Might not look like a big difference but...

Done:

-New shingles

-New soffit and facia

-New front and side doors

-Front bridge installed

-One side of new siding finished

-weeds pruned

To-Do next:

-install windows (that should be happening this weekend)

-install new garage door

-finish siding

Here's the old green door:

And a fresh new white one:

Progress: Home Office/Craft Room

No room in our house can be finished at this time because our custom windows seem to want to take forever to arrive to their new home... but when you work from home chaos = even less productivity than normal (which I certainly can't afford).  So, the first room I had to semi-organize and semi-look-presentable was my office.  

Because the office is the only room in the house that's ALL MINE, I get to make it as bright and cherry and girly as I like.

Here is the transformation (so far)

Sports border, Christmas lights and a whole lot of written up walls.

First goes the border, to reveal a nice blue section of wall.  How did I remove it?

A mixture of 1/3 fabric softener and 2/3 water. WORKS LIKE A CHARM.  Just tear off the top layer, soak it down with a spray bottle and use a plaster scraper thingy (yes, that's all I know to call it) and presto! 

My sister and I did this project together, which was so fun because we are equally lazy/silly.  here we are donning our painting finest.

And.....

Here is the final outcome (for now)

Still left to do:

-new window and trim

-change light fixture

-hang paintings

-buy a nice rug for the floor

-take some better pictures

This is just a work in progress, but I know you all wanted to make sure I was actually doing something!!

Hope you enjoy!!

Tara