Stylish Blogger Award x 2

Actually x 3 – Ann at Rooms of Inspiration gave me the award little while back too. So now I’m tripley stylish! ;-)

Thanks to Nancy at Marcus Design and Carissa at The Fabulous Design File for thinking that JAX does design is a stylin’ blog :-)

The rules of the award are:

• Thank and link back to the person who awarded you.
• Share 7 things about yourself.
• Award to 10 great bloggers.
• Contact those bloggers and tell them about the award.

Seeing as I recently shared seven things about me here, this time around I’m going to shake things up a bit and share seven of my design projects for 2011.

1. Dining room makeover

This room has been in a state of flux for a couple years. Or maybe more. I’ve lost track! But it’s almost finished, and I’ll be sharing the complete transformation with you soon. Just a few small details to sort out. In the meantime, here’s a little peek:

Hey, I DID say a LITTLE peek – I can’t give it ALL away! ;-)

2. Railing for main floor, loft, and staircases

The bane of my existence – ever since we had our hardwood floors refinished in 2008, we haven’t had any railings in our house. We do, however, have large gaping holes in the floors that SHOULD be surrounded by railings and two staircases that have nothing to hold on to if you should, say, trip and fall.

  

For over two years now, hubby has been saying that he’ll make the railing. Well, no railing. I’ve gotten three different quotes and priced railing components at Home Depot – nothing. Before the end of 2011, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE RAILINGS. Because until we do, we can’t have parties at our house because if somebody has a bit too much to drink and pulls a header down a hole in the floor, it won’t be pretty. And I want to have a party! This is the railing I want:

But at this point, I’ll take any railing I can get… Bryan Baeumler, I need you!

3. Laundry room makeover

The laundry room has pretty much been finished since last spring. But in an ultimate show of procrastination, it took me till two weeks ago to get the last piece into place – a shelf. I’ve had it for years, but was never crazy about the pine. So I figured I’d give it a coat of paint, and hang it in the laundry room to hold coats & mitts. Really, how hard is that to do?! So with my freshly-written project to-do list for 2011 in hand, I finally got to work on it. You’ll see the whole makeover, shelf and all, on Monday. Till then, here’s a colour teaser:

4. Create a painting

I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. But I want to take a shot at creating a painting. Just because :-) Some artists who inspire me…

Matt LeBlanc – not only a talented artist, but one of the most, humble, generous, and kind-hearted people I know :-)

Laura Trevey – I love her “birds on a wire” series :-)

“Love Birds” by Laura Trevey

Fifi Flowers – this little guy has found a new home with me :-)

“ Puppy Relaxing” by Fifi Flowers

5. Loft makeover

Another project that’s taking forever… at least the hardwood is installed and the walls are painted (although I don’t like the colour so it’ll be repainted eventually). I have a plan for a beautiful stone fireplace and low built in storage, which I’d show you if I could find my inspiration picture… there are some disadvantages to having four computers! But here are some pics to give you an idea of what we have in mind… a fireplace like this with stone like this:

 

We bought this ceiling fan:

And this is our one piece of furniture – he’s Charles from Silva.

 6. Cottage rebuild

I don’t think I can handle spending another summer sleeping on the futon in the living room at the cottage. Our cottage has been in the family since the 1950s, and my dad lives there from about May – October. It’s small and basic and has provided us with a place to swim and kayak and enjoy summertime. But there are only so many band-aid fixes you can make before it’s time to stop repairing and just replace. We’ve been talking about building a new cottage for the last 4 or 5 years – this is the year we need to make some decisions and just do it. The Trillium cottage from Guildcrest was the grand prize in the CHEO lottery a couple of years ago. It’s got a great layout, and the optional basement would work on our lot.

But I’ve had my eye on this one for a while (Architectural Designs W21179DR):

7. Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition

And saving the biggest design project for last… My friend, interior decorator Sonya Kinkade of Sonya Kinkade Design, was asked to be the lead designer on a project called Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition here in Ottawa. It’s spearheaded by The United Way and The Yummy Mummy Club (Toronto) as part of their Winterlude Getaway. Sonya asked me and five other decorators (who just happen to be my fellow TBBs) to help on the project.

• Donna Hargrove @ dh design
• Lisa Goulet @ Lisa Goulet Design
• Maureen Coates @ Modecor
• Mary Anne van Gaal @ Otta! Decorate
• Nicole Duguay @ Solace Interiors
• And me! @ JAX Decor & Design

We’ll be redesigning the lobby, reception area, and in-house store at The Good Companions, a seniors center in Ottawa that also provides services to adults with disabilities. The wheels are already in motion for the big reveal in February. Stay tuned for more details!

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And now, time to pass the award along to 10 great bloggers… this is always the hard part, because I hate to leave anyone out. I’m going to pass it along to some bloggers you may not know about but really should!

• Sarah @ quintessentially b
• Tareq @ qerat
• Sharon @ LiveYourStyle
• Jeanette @ jvw home
• Rachael @ A Room for Everyone
• Kerri @ Driftwood Interiors
• Marilyn @ Marilyn’s Design Studio
• Kelly @ Color Sizzle
• Kelly @ Arte Styling
• Jacqueline @ The Pink Chandelier (http://www.thepinkchandelier.ca/blog/)
• Susan @ Susan on Design
• Christine @ just bella
• Kinga @ blueloom
• Diane @ Diane Schuller Photography

OK, so that’s more than 10 bloggers – oh well, nothing wrong with spreading a little extra blog love, right? :-)