Projects Around the House

After a fun filled and eventful weekend away chaperoning 25 teenagers on a trip to the Oregon Relays, I am trying to get back into the swing of things. I managed to catch a awful head cold and am really finding it hard to tackle my to-do list. 

When I came home I found this package from Tonic Living waiting for me:

Can't wait to make pillows and a roman blind from these fabulous fabrics.

Also I am finished painting my $25 thrift store find. Here is a sneak peek as I am trying to finish the games room before I show you everything!

And a peek at a pillow I made using the this fabric I blogged about:

First, I need to clean the house and buy a few more sewing supplies.

XO Barbara

{the great clean out}

Today I am participating in 10 Rooms' The Great Clean Out.

It is fitting as we just had The Great Switch at our house to start the new year of with an organizational bang.

 For those of you who don't know what I mean by that, we switched around 3 rooms upstairs in our home in order to create a space for the kids to hang out with their friends. My daughter moved out of the large room {which technically is a games/playroom} and moved into her brother's room. Her brother moved into what was the den. The den moved into the newly carved out games room. A switch of this magnitude required planning. My daughter and I drew up plans to make sure furniture fit in their new spaces. We had to switch the ownership of a few pieces, which are now waiting for an updated paint colour.

What I am focussing on for The Great Clean Out is the bookcase and closet in the new games room, since the room is not quite finished. 

What this great switch forced me to do was to finally go through all the boxes and books we stuffed into the bookcase and closet when we moved in 2 years ago. I failed to take a before picture but here is an in-the-middle of the switch picture.

After sorting, purging and re-organizing...

here is the after.

The bookcases are Billy bookcases from Ikea filled with the kids' books, photo albums {which I hope to either re-cover or replace}, photo boxes, a few mementos and reference books.

Using boxes from Michaels {only $2 each}, I was able to house all the photos {pre-digital days}we have that still need to be put into albums. The labels were just printed onto card stock. Some of the boxes house ipod cables, camera cables, and other small computer "stuff".

Baskets are used to corral other stuff that just don't really have a place.

Out came our "vintage" cameras to put on display. One is my dad's old camera from the early 70's that takes the most amazing photographs. The other was our last film camera. Something the kids probably don't remember using!

Using large canisters from Ikea, we were able to house and display our large collection of seashells from our trip to Florida.

Moving onto the closet...
Which is a work in progress.

The closet in this room is very generous and I was able to house all our boxes with files, momentos, games, my teaching binders, husband's coaching binders, and office supplies. I am still waiting for a wire shelf to come in at the local hardware store to fill in the blank space above the games. so some of the items that are stacked will head onto that shelf.

Into the closet I placed a small Billy bookcase we have had for 16 years. It didn't fit into my son's current space and fit perfectly into the closet! Now it houses, bins with crafts, beading supplies. paper, games, etc.

{sad blurry photo, still learning how to use our SLR}

This closet still has a way to go but I am happy with the progress thus far.

Can't wait for this room to be finished.

Being frugal and a procrastinator it is moving along slowly.

Make sure you check out the other bloggers participating at 10 Rooms The Great Clean Out!



xo Barbara

{art wall: inspiration}

One plan for the games room is to create an art wall, where the television will be incorporated into the art all, such as my inspirational photo from Emily A. Clark.

{Emily A. Clark}

I will be using photos, posters and artwork of and by my children to fill the space.

But the fun won't stop there, 

I also plan on using their artwork mixed in with family photos to run up the stairwell.

Here are some gallery walls I just love:

{Pure Style Home}

{decorpad}

{decorpad}

{Steven Gambrel via House and Home}

This staircase art wall in the home of Emily Norris, a Style at Home editor, is one of my favourites. It is a kid friendly wall with so much for the eyes to take in, an eclectic mix of children's artwork, posters, art and photographs. This is the look I hope to achieve!

{Just wish the landlords would let me paint the railings on our staircase}

{style at home}

This is another favourite from the home of Joseph and Kimberly Mimram, a Canadian dynamic design duo.

I especially love the mix of graphic elements such as typography with art and photographs.

 {via House and Home}

My love for gallery art walls runs deep, maybe because they remind me of the amazing museums that I have visited, full of curated treasures. Our gallery wall would be our family's story running along the wall.

 Hoping to accomplish that not only in our newly created family games room {which is at a stand still because my trip to Ikea was postponed due to the stomach flu making it's debut at our home } but up the stairwell as well. 

Hoping to get to it soon as I have been stock piling frames and art work, where I almost have enough to hang up!

XO Barbara

{guest room: fabric}

I have had an overwhelming interest in the fabric I am using in my games room. Several of you asked where I bought it and do I know the manufacturer? I bought my fabric at Fabricland, a Canadian fabric store, for 50% off at $7 / meter.

Now that has me thinking, do I dare share, or should I keep all of this lovely fabric to myself?

Well, you will be happy to know that after some soul searching I have decided to share ;)

 I searched a few online fabric stores to find the fabric and found the same fabric but with a different coloured background at L&S Fabrics, unfortunately they don't carry it with the cream background like mine.

After reading Little House blog yesterday, Lindsay posted a link to an online fabric store called HouseFabric.com where I found my fabric in the exact colour and for a fantastic price as well!

The fabric is called Lucy Eden and it sells for $12.95/yd.

They also carry it in red, called Lucy Cardin.

Hello gorgeous!

 Now I am off to track down more of Lucy Eden for my games rooms. Since I love this fabric, I could use some more to possibly dress up some Ikea drapes.

xo Barbara

{games room: inspirational photos}

 My attempt is to create the room on a very strict budget. So far I have only purchased paint, the best money spent so far. For only $45, the room changed dramatically. It went from a gray-lavender to a serene watery blue, Woodlawn Blue, a perfect backdrop for this space. On Wednesday I shared with you the fabric that is inspiring the colour scheme of the space.

 Currently we have a wall of Billy bookcases in a dark stain to house the kids books, photo albums and other reference books along with our ugly computer desk, which is now too big for the space. Hopefully I can source a desk, sofa, side table and TV console/sideboard/bookcase for the room.

Want to see the photos I hope will inspired the design direction of the room?

The first is one of my favourites!

source: Emily A. Clark

What great idea Emily had using a circa 70's sideboard Craigslist find as a TV console. Perfect for storage as well, I could get our crafts and games to fit into a piece of furniture like that, freeing up space in the closet. We have the same television and I love she incorporated it into a gallery wall. This really de-emphasizs the television, creating a more visual pleasing wall.

Or I am thinking of lower bookshelves to run along the wall with the TV mounted on the wall surrounded by larger scale art such as this basement room in the 2010 Princess Margaret Hospital Lottery home designed by Canadian House and Home.

 Don't the sofas just call out to you, "sit down, curl up"? They are the Ektorp sofa from Ikea, I am thinking they would work perfect in our space. 

Priced right and kid friendly.

source: House and Home

The newly created games room will have have a office/computer zone in the corner, I love how this is a stylish yet compact office space.

 Perfect for our room!

source: Rate My Space

This is one of my favourite playroom photos.

What a comfortable, casual and colourful space, perfect for a family to hang out, something I hope to create in our room. 

via: Desire to Decorate

I guess you would all like to see photos of the room?

OK, here is what the room looked like on Tuesday.

Scary, 
I know.

You'll have to wait until next week to see the current state of chaos the room is in {if you dare}.

XO Barbara

{the great switch: part II}

The walls are painted in 2 of the 3 rooms.

My amazing daughter {she is the youngest, of the two girls, almost 15} helped me paint all day Monday; she is the one who got the whole switch process going by helping draft out floor plans for the rooms on the weekend.

Yesterday I moved the contents of 3 closets and then decided to purge. Its amazing how easily a family can accumulate junk stuff that just takes up space! Feels good to sort and organize, except my back and hands are sore. Moving furniture, boxes and painting can be a real workout.

 Hmmm... think I need to start running again.

The games room is still in disarray but it feels good to finally get things somewhat under control.

Some furniture needs to be re-painted and sourced, I am always looking for an excuse to hit Ikea, furniture, fabric and thrift shops.  

Let me show you the fabric that is inspiring the colour scheme of our newly carved out games room space. I am hoping to create a cozy, vibrant, family friendly space. This colour scheme is a brave attempt away from my usual black and white. My resolution this year is to inject some colour and to play with patterns. The games room is a perfect laboratory to experiment in!

Pulling colours out of the fabric I chose to paint the walls Woodlawn Blue, a Benjamin Moore colour that I had colour matched using Behr paint with built-in primer. This paint goes on so smoothly and has fantastic coverage, not to mention it is low VOC, so it has minimal "paint" smell.

I am also loving Raspberry Truffle as a great red accent for the room, maybe a side table in this colour?

The fabric was purchased in November on sale for $7/m! I only bought 2 meters and wish I had purchased more. I am hoping the fabric store will get more in, then I might buy more to make drapes or recover a chair? {Taking a cue from Sarah 101 yesterday where she suggested using a large floral print on an accent chair}

I am going to have fun with this space!

Now if I could only win the lottery, then I could go really crazy!

{the great switch}

With New Year's still fresh in our minds, the organization bug has hit our home. We decided to bite the bullet yesterday and finally move and switch 3 rooms on our upper floor. Living in a 5 bedroom home has its advantages, it allows for flexibility in room arrangement, or in our situation, re-arrangement.

Our dilemma:

With the kids getting older {2 teens and a tween}, they need a place to "hang out" with their friends. Conflicts were arising when our kids wanted to watch a movie with their friends while their dad felt it was necessary to watch a hockey game in our family room on the main floor. 

We needed a solution.

{My daughter putting her drafting skills to work}

The solution:

Move the younger daughter {she was technically in the games room} into her brother's room, whereas he move into the room that was the computer room. The computer and bookcases move into the daughter's former {technically a games room} room that would become a multi-purpose room: a room for the kids to "hang-out", to house the computer and second TV.

Current situation:

Furniture has been moved but walls need to be painted in 2 of the rooms, which is what I am doing today.

 I will make sure to keep you posted as I move forward with the re-design of the 3 rooms.