It’s Friday! Woot! And it’s hot – a great excuse to take it easy and sip lemonade :-) And maybe create a painting or two… these are a few of my most recent pieces:
Space Mosaic
Kaleidoscope
And this is a little 6” x 6” painting that an interior decorator friend asked me to create for one of her clients. It’s going to be part of a gallery wall in the client’s bedroom.
Coral Circles
Happy weekend! Stay cool!
It’s been a while since I did a “favourite things” post. Here are some of the things I’m loving…
Purple & cowhide & rhinos, oh my!
This may be my most favourite kitchen. Ever. Mark & Duncan & Dale designed this amazing kitchen on The Block All Stars. The lower cabinets and island are glossy augergine. BEYOND COOL!
The cowhide backsplash is so funky and unique (although I would have used a cowhide print, not the real thing).
And this rhino art is awesome! I also love the combination of the old wood church pew with the modern glass table and Eames Eiffel chairs.
Images via e & s trading, Jeld-Wen, The Block Shop
Australians know how to do kitchens right!
Artist Christina Baker
I love discovering new-to-me artists – Christina Baker is my latest art crush. She’s located in Tennessee, and she paints gorgeous abstracts in the most beautiful soft colours…
Basket of Kisses
Cake Batter Ice Cream
Blue Rain
Lipstick Love
Suntan Lotion
All images are from Christina's Facebook page. She also writes a blog.
Dog people
Yesterday afternoon, I saw this picture & caption on Facebook:
Being put down today.
This cute guy was at the vet clinic waiting to be euthanized. Why? There was no space for him. My heart just sank, as did many other hearts – the flurry of messages that followed was just incredible. People offered to transport him to safety, to donate money for boarding, anything they could to do help save this dog. And after what was a very stressful afternoon for everyone involved, Gloria at Catahoula Rescue Ontario, Susan in Ohio, and Marshall County Animal Shelter in Kentucky worked out a way to save him.
This boy is one of the lucky ones – there are soooooooo many sweet dogs out there who aren’t saved. If you can volunteer at a local shelter, foster, transport, or make a donation to a local shelter or rescue group, you’ll be helping to save lives. And believe me, there’s no better feeling in the world.
Image via Cactus Thorns
Current food addition – veggie wraps & hummus
I came across this recipe for nori veggie wraps at A House in the Hills and had to try it – hummus and veggies all rolled up together into a neat little package, how could you go wrong?!
I didn’t have nori on hand the first time I made these rolls, but I was totally psyched to try them so I used rice paper instead. And they were YUMMY! I bought nori and used it the second time, but I decided that I prefer the rolls made with rice paper – nori has a fishy taste & smell that I didn’t like with the veggie flavours.
Click here to check out my go-to hummus recipe from Zahra at Edible Moments (who I just now realized is in Ottawa too!)
FYI, these rolls are also good with refried beans instead of hummus – you know, in case you have leftover refried beans from your Mexican meal the night before ;-)
Meet our newest foster dog, Sophie :-)
You can’t tell in her pictures, but she’s a pretty small girl – but her personality and zest for life are huge! She loves to run and play with pine cones at the dog park.
Her foster brother Gator tries to beat her up, but she tells them “Uhhhh no, I don’t think so!” and stands up for herself. But at the end of the day, they’re best buddies :-)
I always come up with nicknames for our fosters – Sophie has become Sofia Vergara, my sexy little Latina :-) Or Potato Chip :-)
Sophie inspired the name of these dog biscuits I made for a Catahoula Rescue Ontario event this past weekend – Super-Cheesy Sophie Snacks.
Our other foster Gator inspired these treats – I call him Gator Potator…
Both Sophie and Gator are looking for their furever homes. So if you’re looking for a Catahoula buddy…. :-)
In yesterday’s blog post, I told you the “Before” story of our loft makeover. And today is the “After” – a day I’ve been looking forward to for almost twelve years! Who says I don’t have any patience? ;-)
So the story left off with Charles the orange sectional and some blue colour chips. And what colour did I decide on? The loft is primarily a home theater, so I wanted to go dark on the walls. I decided on PARA Paints Rainy Skies. The trim is Climb The Mast.
I have to admit, I had an “OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!” moment when the painter (a friend of ours)started rolling on the first coat. But as the old colour disappeared under Rainy Skies, I loved the transformation more and more. The dark blue went onto the walls and right up onto the vaulted ceiling – which you might think would make the room feel small, but the dark ceiling actually makes it feel like there’s no ceiling at all – it’s like you’re looking up at the night sky.
Click here to read the railing saga, complete with a fire at the paint shop!
When the painting was done, it was time to have some decorating fun! Which was a bit of a challenge, because I really couldn’t condone going out and buying new stuff when we already have so much stuff in our house. The only things I bought are the cushions and orange throw and a piece of art. And we bought a few pieces of furniture at Ikea to hold the media components. Otherwise, everything in the loft came from somewhere else in the house.
I slightly modified my plan to create a reading nook with a chaise:
And opted for a leather arm chair, cow print foot stool, and small side table. I prefer to buy original art, but the colours in this piece were perfect and for $15 at HomeSense, it was too good a deal to pass up :-)
I put my telescope in the opposite nook.
This little seating area in the corner has two more leather arm chairs, an orange ceramic drum stool (originally bought for the back patio), and a floor lamp. I couldn’t resist buying the orange bicycle cushion :-) A triptych I bought years ago from my friend & artist Matt LeBlanc will go on the wall above the chairs.
When we bought the sectional for our family room a couple of years ago, we needed to put the sofa somewhere. Of course, it ended up in our loft, the home for wayward furniture :-)
My $7.00 lamp on a craftsman desk that I bought on sale at Pier 1ages ago and never had a real use for – till now :-)
Originally, the colour scheme was going to be navy blue, orange, and purple. But I really liked the bright green on the floral cushion, and decided to add more bright green. This green & black plaid throw that I bought last summer in PEI at MacAusland’s Woolen Mills is the perfect addition :-) And it keeps me warm when I’m watching a movie!
A couple of years ago, I convinced hubby to make a metal & wood table like the Brickmaker’s tables at Restoration Hardware that are way out of my price range. My original plan was to use scraps of wood that we already had for the top, but then we found a beautiful piece of live edge spalted maple at KJP Select Hardwoods that I loved. It wasn’t quite wide enough for the metal base that hubby already made, so he added a strip of a dark African hardwood down the middle.
A few years ago, I bought four chairs and a pedestal table from Kijiji. We refinished the table and refinished & reupholstered the chairs, and now they have a new home in the loft as a games table.
Click here to read about the chair makeover and click here to read about the table makeover
Of course, you can’t have a home theater without a big-screen TV, right? Well, hubby grabbed the motto go big or go home and ran with it – he bought a projector and used Screen Goo to paint a HUGE 12’ wide screen on the wall. To hold all the components, we bought three tables at Ikea – a LACK TV bench and two LACK coffee tables – and lined them up together. The bench in the middle was shorter than the coffee tables, so hubby added pieces of oak to the bench legs to make it the same height.
Projector off:
Projector on:
With a dark colour on the walls and ceiling, you really get an experience similar to watching a movie in a theater (especially at night when there’s no sunlight in the room).
She approves ;-) (Sorry the picture is crooked, but it was too funny not to use it :-) )
It took 12 years, but our loft has finally been transformed from a big empty unfinished space into a room that’s perfect for watching movies and sports and entertaining friends. Who wants to come over on Saturday night for a game of Rock Band? ;-)
Thank you PARA Paints and Bonds Decor for providing the paint :-)
Coincidentally, Rachel at Hue recently wrote this blog post about why it’s best to paint a media room a dark colour. Rachel, I couldn’t agree more! :-)
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