THE PREPARATION BEGINS…

We are Halloween people and usually we start our Halloween preparations at least a week or more before the big event.  This year we’ve been so busy it was tempting to just carve a single pumpkin and buy  candies – c’est tout!   We just can’t do it!  We even tried to put out just a few things – can’t do that either.  Wednesday is Halloween and we’re just getting everything up tonight only to be taken down in a couple of days.  In the midst of all the preparations, my oldest decides to make chocolate chip cookies for the gang that’s coming over Halloween night.  I’m thinking there will be enough candy  and chocolate bars to last us until next year!  He insisted and rather than complain about the mess –  I said go for it!   Tomorrow I’ve got one big pot of chilli to cook and a house to clean.  I can leave the dust because dust and Halloween go together.  Lots of work but look at those smiles, makes it all worth it…Wishing everyone has a safe and fun Halloween..

Hockey Night in Canada

In the post “Bye, Bye, Great Pumpkin” I talked about getting rid of our orange family room.  I hired a painter and re-painted the room a calm and soothing grey.  Took me a while to put the room back together because once I removed everything from the room, I didn’t want to put it all back.  Several years ago my husband won this big picture of Bobby Orr.  It is a nice picture but how do you decorate around Bobby Orr.  Now, now ladies if you’re saying get rid of Bobby Orr you have to remember that it’s not all about us.  Our hubbies have decorating preferences too – even if you don’t agree with your man’s taste he does have preferences.  My husband loves his Bobby Orr picture,  so being a hockey family we decided to put the picture in our family room.   One night while looking through blogs, I came across Micheline’s blog and really liked her art work.  Why I don’t know, I e-mailed Micheline to ask her if she would consider painting a  hockey picture of my children.  I sent the above picture of the boys, but I wasn’t really sure what I wanted or expected.  Micheline politely said “thank you, but no thanks.”  Part of her reluctance was she thought I wanted a portrait and I assured her I wanted something abstract.  The painting took about two months as she had other commission work to complete.  I had no idea what artistic brilliance Micheline would come up with and other than telling her what number jerseys the boys wear, and a few other tidbits of information, I left the professional part of painting up to the expert.  I guess you can say that this project was a leap of faith for both artist and client.  Glad to say we are both happy with the results.  I love the picture and Micheline took on something out of her comfort zone.   Thanks Micheline for helping me complete my decorating project, the picture looks awesome in our family room and compliments Bobby!   Below is the awesome pic Micheline came up with – I love it -hubbie is still warming up to it!

 

BYE BYE GREAT PUMPKIN!

It’s done – I’ve sent the great big pumpkin room to a room in the great big sky!  Gone forever, although I have to appreciate that the great big pumpkin served it’s purpose for my need of bright colour at that time of my life.  I now want something soothing, relaxing a place where I can breathe – think I’m getting old.  I posted So Inspired as I was inspired by the Schmitt house.  Cara does deserve a medal though she did all the work herself.  I was all set to paint the room and trying to figure out how I was going to fit it in to my already busy weekend schedule and then my girlfriend told me she hired a painter.   Got the painter in to give me a quote and hired him on the spot. I’m not use to hiring someone for something I can do, but have to say it was worth every penny – done in one day!  Would of taken me two weeks!  Here are the results – I’m still trying to get the room back together:

Pumpkin – gone, gone!

Still trying to figure out what pictures to bring back -has to be the right one!

Gone is the lego battleship!

Not Better Home and Gardens but it works for my family.   My son’s artwork framed – can’t get much cheaper than that!

Bought this baby at Salvation Army for $24.00 – painting it white – I’ll show results when it’s finished!  Good productive weekend at this house!

SO INSPIRED!

Recently I’ve come across a few blogs about thrifting and what people can do with a $1.00 item to spruce up their house.  Life as a thrifter shares so many wonderful ideas for decorating on on a budget and everything she does looks completely unique and chic.  The Schmitt House has inspired me to re-paint my family room which has just thrilled my husband to pieces – I’m including him in the plans and the work!  Cara Schmitt painted a feature wall red and she loved it when she first painted it but grew tired of it.  I fell in love with the colour terra cotta 5 years ago and decided to paint our kitchen and family room this colour.  My husband told me in 5 years I would tire of the colour, here we are 5 years later and I’m tired of of the colour.  He’s right and I’m wrong – betcha Cara’s husband told her the same thing.  I’m adding another category to my blog  – thrifting and what I do with my finds.  I’ll start out with my living room – I’m going to paint my pumpkin room and show before and after pics.  Here’s a few  before pics of the pumpkin room – don’t hold your breath for the after pics – it may be a while.

Cara thought her mantle was busy  – take a look at this – I’m not even sure how this happened – there is still a Christmas decoration up there and how about that lego ship – my son decided it looked pretty good up there along with the art he drew and shaped into a ball… Keep you posted..