pinspiration: gallery walls

I have no idea how to create a gallery wall. For the past few months I have anxiously been staring at blank walls with my stash of frames sitting in a closet.  

It really shouldn’t be that hard. And if I make a mistake, it’s nothing a little putty and coat of paint won’t hide, right? But this project seems to really intimidate me, and the more I look to Pinterest for inspiration, the more confused and unsure I become. I want my gallery wall to look a little eclectic and slightly uneven, colourful but cohesive, a focal point but not to overpower the room…see the problem? 

I’ve picked a few pins to sum up the direction I want my gallery wall to take. Soon enough I’ll just have to pick a layout, cross my fingers, hang something up…and just make it work. 

images from top: Domaine Home  |  Rue  |  mscott218  |  Domino   |  Emily Jenkins Follwill  |  A Beautiful Mess  |  ffffound

5 favourite knobs from anthropologie

I’ve always been a little obsessed with Anthropolgie’sselection of hardware.

Having just salvaged a $10 dresser from the Re-Store (paid for by my mom—so technically free), I think it’s high time and well worth splurging on a set. But now comes the tricky part—choosing something to go with my new berrylicious dresser…a few quirky-but-cute knobs I’m leaning towards.

images from top left: Forrest Critter Knob $12.00  |  Gold - Flecked Blossom Knob $16.00  |  Lulu Knob $8.00  |  Faceted Geo Knob $6-8.00  |  Inlaid Filigree Knob $12-14.00

before + after: kitchen bookshelf

 

My aunt found this handy bookshelf in the trash outside of my building on move-in day. It fit perfectly in my kitchen between the two large windows, and has stayed there ever since. 

At first I was a little ashamed to drag a piece of someone else’s garbage into my home, but having salvaged the shelf and a few weeks later, two new picture frames, I’ve started looking forward to garbage day. Free is free and there’s nothing a thick coat of paint can’t fix—right?

Plus, as always, a few of my favourite pins featuring open-concept kitchen cupboards and shelves.

** You can find absolutely everything shown in this post at Indigo, Ikea or wherever your neighbour happens to toss their trash. 

images clockwise from top Janne Peters  |  Apartment Therapy  |  handz Etsy Shop  |  Design*Sponge  |  Heater Bullard  |  This is Glamorous 

diy canvas + saturday morning light

My [not-so] new apartment has tons of wall space and natural light—something the old place had been lacking. And this morning I took advantage of both to create an easy piece of wall art with matching pic for the blog! 

The art was pretty simple to create and cost under $25 in total. I purchased an over-sized canvas from Michael's for under $20, black craft paint and a new package of assorted paintbrushes from the dollar store . The one and only step for this project is to cover the canvas with short brush strokes—which took about 40 minutes. And voila! Cheap, easy and adorable. 

Where did this morning's motivation come from? Well, this week I started a new ecourse with Decor8's Holly Becker, Blogging with Intention and Style. I'm hoping it will give me that extra kick in the butt to continue with my posts and also a little help with my photos.

things i want to frame: Enjoy Your Own Company

Love my alone time.

image: Brinks of Life

eat, drink and be scary

Last night my sister, brother-in-law and I carved a pumpkin. 

I honestly can't remember the last time I had done that, and for my brother-in-law, Kervin, it was his very first time. There's something about the smell of a pumpkin that brings you back to homemade costumes, pillowcases full of candy and childhood parties. I think that's what drew me to these nostalgic-inspired pins on Pinterest. 

images clockwise from top: Craftily Ever After | A Beautiful Mess | Not Martha | Martha Stewart | Whimsey Box Blog | Unknown | Unknown  | Martha Stewart | Mr. P Blog

before & after: that time i painted a nightstand

My mom bought this little bookshelf at the Habitat for Humanity Re-store (which 90% of my furniture is from) for about $15. Thinking it would make the perfect bedside table for my new room, she hauled it down to Toronto pre-sanded (she's the best!) and only needing a "little" paint. 

One impulsive visit to Home Depot later, my bedroom was sporting a Plumage accent wall (Martha Stewart) and a Lemon Sorbet (Behr) table with seven coats of paint. Apparently yellow is a tricky colour to paint....

Don't mind the fuzzy picture above, it was snapped on my phone after a late-night impromptu re-do of my room. I had just finished painting my new bedside table and wanted to see what my tester-sized pot of blue paint would look like on the wall--one thing led to another and I had to send a pic to my mom :)

This little project was inspired by a handful of colourful pins, a few of my faves are below:

images clockwise from top: Livet Hemma | Unknown | Kangan Arora | Livet Hemma | Small Shop | Modern Findings | Design Sponge | Unknown

the ladies' room

Despite moving into my new apartment and posting absolutely nothing within the past four months, I thought I’d start with one of my most unexpectedly lovely projects—the ladies room.

My tiny powder room has an unfortunate set of purple tiles that I could not figure out how to match. Instead I made an attempt to distract the eye as much as possible, and it may have worked. When entering my pint-sized potty room covered in metallic gold polk-a-dots, the last thing anyone seems to comment on is the dreaded purple tile. Mission accomplished? I'd like to think so. 

The entire project cost less than $10 and involved one baking potato (carved into a circle for the stamp), a bottle of Martha Stewart craft paint, painter's tape a ruler and pencil to mark the pattern. And the idea came from Pinterest (of course), a few of my favouite pins below!

images clockwise from top: The Designer Pad | The Lovely Department | A Beautiful Mess | Kelli Murray | Kitty Cotten

good eats: cadbury creme egg cupcakes

New apartment countdown: T-minus 10 days!

Once again, I spent my morning looking over old pics, and came across this little series from last Easter. I had spent 2011 drooling over a recipe from The Cookbook Chronicles, and patiently waiting for my corner store to restock their shelves with Cadbury Crème Eggs—key ingredient.

Finally they appeared and I whipped up a few dozen using Betty Crocker’s chocolate cake mix (the one with the pudding, obviously), popped in some crème eggs and baked. 20 minutes later I iced, topped with micro-mini eggs and voila—my year-long craving was satisfied.

DIY: ikea frames + fabric swatches

After recovering my chairs, I was left with a few fabric swatches that I wasn’t ready to throw away. At the same time, I was also looking for a print to hang above the stove in my kitchen. Despite pinning a handful of Etsy prints (this shop is one of my favourites) nothing really seemed to fit the space—poster-size seemed too big and purchasing a set of smaller prints seemed too expensive.

Then, after a weekend trip to Ikea, I found a set of white gallery frames that fit my budget and the size of leftover swatches I had laying around. One thing led to another and boom—my mismatched swatches found their home and standing in front of the stove became a little less painful. 

White RIBBA frames start at $6.99

Ps...Check out my Pinterest board of random things I want to frame :)

before & after: that time I upholstered a chair

The countdown to my new apartment is in full swing (18 days!), but I can’t help but start to feel a tad nostalgic for my current pad. Hence, I spent my entire day determined to document as much as I possibly could of this little 400-square foot space. I’ve searched every folder in my computer looking for as many first-apartment-snippets as possible, so I won’t forget anything.

My search led me to some old pics of one of my favourite pieces—a set of sturdy old chairs my mom and I found in Barrie’s Habitat for Humanity Restore (find a location here) and I think we managed to barter the set of four down to $20 (from $25…yeesh). I fell in love with them instantly, and had big plans of painting them white and then sanding them down—thankthank god I’m lazy and left the finish as is. But what absolutely, without a doubt needed to be changed, were the cushions.

After what I thought would be an easy peruse through Queen Street for fabric, I was left a little overwhelmed and frustrated by the stacks of fabrics to choose from—I love having options, but I had no idea what I was doing or looking for. Enter, TonicLiving.com—an online fabric shop/dream come true. I spent a few days humming and hawing over patterns and colours, and then purchased a few samples (starting at $2). A few days later, an envelope of generously sized samples arrived, I Hummed and hawed for a few more days, placed my order, and almost three years later I’m still in love. 

The actual upholstery process was easy and really only has three steps: Measure fabric twice, snip and staple (use lots of staples). 

Downloaded the fuzzy picture above from Facebook, circa January 2011. 

good reads: adore home magazine

J'Adore Home. Kinda works, no? Either way, I'm in love with this Aussie-based magazine.

Not only did it convince me that I'm in desperate need of an iPad, but it gave me a pretty hard shove onto that online-magazine-bandwagon. Yes, I still support print magazines (a la Martha Stewart, Style at Home and all the trashy celebrity gossip ones), but Adore Home pulls together the best parts of the internet: one-click access to new products, online shops and international décor trends. Plus, the same features we know, love and expect from print mags: editorial spreads, curated product recommendations, design tips from experts, etc. etc. The tipping point: this little puppy is completely free for readers! Although, it is well stocked with pretty, but totally shopable, advertisements. 

See what they're up to down under in this month's issue of Adore Home

blogroll: 5 faves

 

Spoon Fork Bacon
Stumbled upon this smokin' blog through Pinterest and was immediately smitten with the tasty looking pics, adorable design and the promise of a billion bacon-infused recipes. I'll admit I have yet to make a recipe, but if comfort food were a blog—this would be it.   

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What Katie Ate

Hands down, this blog has the most stunning selection of food styling and photography I have witnessed on the internet. Perfectly imperfect, each shot has a beautifully messy vibe that I wish I could replicate--but unfortunately, I have yet to create a kitchen mess that is anything less than disgusting.  

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Mrs. Lilien 
Mrs. Lilien is the collage queen, whipping together the most whimsical posts packed with colour, typography and products I will never be able to afford. I'm in absolute awe of her design and styling skills—not to mention that classy-fun-and-fabulous persona she's perfected. 

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Smitten Kitchen 

The one food blog I have actually cooked from! ...several times, actually. And every recipe was a definite home run. If it were physically possible, I'd give this blog five thumbs up. The photography looks delicious, the recipes are delicious, and browsing for tonight's dinner is easy as pie.
 

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Oh Joy

Sweet and simple (although I'm sure she pours buckets of blood and sweat into each post), Oh Joy's blog has a really clean and easy-going feel to it. Lover her 'Currently Snacking On...' feature, style boards, outfit sketches and...pretty much everything she posts. 

Tattly: Designy Temporary Tattoos

My indecisive heart is definitely smitten over these quirky and adorable temporary tattoos from Tattly. A pain-free, cheap and chic alternative to the real thing, each Tattly tat is a mere $5 and come in pairs of two with free shipping within the US (though not such great news for those of us north of the boarder…but c’est la vie)

Can’t decide on just one? Browse their selection of prepackaged sets.

 

Smitten designed by Lila Symons  |   Sunglasses designed by Julia Rothman  |  Tattone designed by Josh Smith  |  Arrows designed by Wesley Stuckey  |  Diamonds designed by Kate Bingaman Burt  |  Popsicles designed by Julia Rothman  |  Cupcake desigend by Julia Rothman  |  Freindship Bracelet desigend by Julia Rothman