Category Archives: Decorating

Green and white girl’s room – Ellie’s room reveal

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Ellie’s new room is officially done. It’s green, floral, fresh, vintage, thrifty, personal and her.

When I first came up with the plan to have Ellie move rooms, she was not enthused. But as we started planning her new room, she became more and more excited. Finally she was so excited she gave me a deadline. She wanted to sleep in her new room by Tuesday night (this was about a week earlier than I had planned). So I finished off most of the final touches and our girl moved in.

This was over a year ago.

The final, final touch was some bamboo valances to cover the blackout roller blinds. I finally installed these at the end of June, and her room is officially done.

I actually like that the reveal is a year after she moved in, because she’s added some of her own details to the space now–as she should. (And she’s added even more since these photos were taken, as over the weekend we hung a little cuckoo clock Matt’s Dad brought her from Switzerland.)

Ellie’s favourite colour at the start of the makeover was green, and she chose the paint chip she liked  (Calmness C35-3-0709-4 by BeautiTone from Home Hardware). It’s much brighter than I would have chosen, but it ended up working perfectly with the vintage bedspread I wanted to use. Of course, by the time she moved in she informed me her favourite colour was no longer green. It was purple. But she’s tolerated the green.

In Ellie’s old room, she had my childhood bed, which had cubbies with sliding panels in the headboard. She liked those secret hiding spots and requested the same style in her new bed. I had plans to build a headboard, but then I found a double size headboard with cubbies in a thrift store. I was amazed at my luck and that re-energized me to get moving on the makeover.

I added bead board to the headboard to match Ellie’s bookcase and then painted the whole thing white. I attached the headboard to an old metal bedframe that we had in the barn, and Ellie picked out some handles for the sliding panels. It all came together so well. The cubbies are full of “treasures.”

The bed is covered with a vintage chenille bedspread from my grandparent’s cottage. I love this bedspread so much. The colours are so vibrant and the contrast of the green and the pink is so pretty. Plus the fringe is super fun.

The bookcase and dresser moved from Ellie’s nursery and they work great here. The mirror I thrifted for this space when it was the guest room.

I also moved in her Ikea Strandmon wing chair. It is too large for the space and we don’t use it anymore for reading, but it’s been a comfort to Ellie to have the chair. As excited as she was for her new room, she was only up for so much change.

I kept the same dropcloth curtains that I sewed for this room back when it was the guest room, but I added blackout lining. Probably unnecessary since I also bought blackout blinds. We’ve never had to close the curtains. I like that they’re a neutral colour but not white. They add a little bit of contrast and also soften the bright green walls.

The bamboo valance is a technique I’ve used in all of our bedrooms so far. I even used the same blind, just chopping it up for each window. The delay in finishing Ellie’s room was that I didn’t have very much blind left. I had to reweave part of it to make sure it was long enough to cover the top of the window. This was a tedious job that took me awhile.

On top of Ellie’s dresser is a treasure that I’ve had in mind for her room always. My Mom’s flower girl lamp. My Mom’s grandparents had a furniture store, and she remembers going in when she was about Ellie’s age and being able to pick out whatever she wanted. She chose this lamp. The lamp was in my room for a little while when I was little. I love that it’s in Ellie’s room now.

Above the dresser are four photos of Ellie with Matt, me and her grandparents. I wanted her to see how much she is loved and have these important people present for her every day.

She’s added her calendar to the wall, coffee filter butterflies on the curtains, a sparkly glass ball in front of the window, suncatchers on the windows, lots of toys and treasures in the headboard cubbies and other places too.

It’s become a really fun, comfortable space that is unique to her.

I’d love to hear what your favourite detail is from the room. Do you have a favourite memory of your childhood bedroom?

Home Goals 2024 mid-year report

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We are halfway through the year, and it’s time to check in on how I’m doing with this year’s home goals. At the start of the year, I said that I needed a reset, and I planned my projects with that in mind. As I review the list, I feel like I’m doing pretty good. I’ve made progress in most areas. It’s nice to feel like I’m more organized and getting through things.

I also feel like this update might be a bit premature as I have two reveal posts coming soon.

Read on to see how I’ve done so far.

Driveway

Woman on a small orange tractor dumping dirt alongside an asphalt driveway

Guess what? I can finally say that the garage and mudroom renovation (begun in 2021) is done. Yup. We have a paved driveway. All the details and photos coming soon.

Coop

A new wall being framed for the exterior of a barn

Slowly but surely the coop is moving forward. We’ve had a new foundation wall built and I’ve started framing the exterior wall. I’ve also been working on clearing some of the “yard” around the coop. This long-awaited project is happening.

Vegetable garden

The vegetable garden has been crossed off the list for 2024. I’m a bit disappointed, but I know it was the right decision. We are working off and on in the other gardens, and I’m seeing progress there which feels really good. And despite our neglect, we have had some good harvests. One and a half pounds of asparagus–our best ever–and raspberries, which are starting now.

Clean-up inside

Woman statue lamp and silver box sitting on a dresser in front of a framed photo and mirror

I made a few tweaks to my bedroom, added a craft shelf to Ellie’s soon-to-be playroom, cleaned out a few other spaces and finished off the final details for Ellie’s bedroom (another reveal that is coming soon). I still have a lot to work through, but we’ve made some progress and I can see the future.

Clean-up outside

Uhaul truck in front of a barn

I’ve chipped, I’ve mowed, I’ve pruned, trimmed, picked up rocks, tarped. Our new chipper has been a great addition. I’ve already started rebuilding brush piles, but they’re more contained, and I know I can clean them up again before they become gargantuan. I’ve run the rotary cutter over the septic bed and along the edge of the front field, and I’m confident I can continue to maintain these areas. I’ve “groomed” a few new sections of the property, and getting each of them cleaned up feels like a good accomplishment. I also had a milestone last week when the first big load of Matt’s stuff left the barn.

Personal goals

Earlier this year I also shared some personal goals. Here’s how I’m doing on them:

  • Walking: 290km (48km per month–ahead of my goal of 42km per month)
  • Monkey bars: I still do them every week and whenever Ellie and I visit a playground. I haven’t mastered a chin-up yet, but I’m working on it. I definitely feel that my grip strength has improved.
  • Reading: 19 books (not quite on track for my goal of 50 books this year)
  • 1,000 Hours Outside: 644 (in pretty good shape to hit our goal, I hope)
  • Family albums: I’ve completed 2020 and am hoping to finish 2021 as well. That would leave me with just 2022 to catch up on (and ’24, of course).
  • Rest: Still my hardest challenge. I’m more conscious of my need to rest and I feel like I’m doing a better job of listening to my body. Though I still need to go to bed earlier.

These personal goals are less about making big changes (aside from rest) and more about maintaining a balance for myself. They’re a good reminder of some of the other things that are important to me.

Overall, I feel like I’m making good progress, and that feels good. This mid-year review makes me proud of what we’ve accomplished so far and gives me motivation to keep going.

How have you been doing on your projects so far this year? Is anyone else doing a reset? What are your big goals for 2024 (home or otherwise)?

Consolidating kid’s craft supplies

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It was the scissors that did it. They tipped the balance from crowded into chaos. To be fair, it’s a whole carousel of scissors. And the living room has been maxed out for a while.

The journey to move Ellie’s play zone out of the living room and into her old bedroom has begun. While I had a vision of it being a one and done undertaking, I’ve come to terms with this being a more gradual process.

We started with the crafts.

Ellie is a prolific and varied crafter. Paper, fabric, stickers, glue, beads, wool, she loves it all. We’ve managed the crafting process and supplies with a small table in the corner of the living room and storage in the coffee table and sideboard. For a while it’s been a tight squeeze.

Then Matt’s aunt arrived for Easter lunch with an assortment of provisions, including a carousel of scissors (she knows what our girl likes). This, just weeks after Ellie’s birthday where she received rolls of colouring sheets, cases of beads, and sacks of needle felting, meant we were overrun with craft stuff.

I had the idea to shuffle some things around. As I said in my home goals post at the start of this year, this shuffle becomes like a row of dominoes. I reorganized and relocated some of Matt’s things. That freed up a cabinet and a bookshelf in the basement. More of Matt’s things moved into the cabinet and the bookshelf came upstairs.

After a quick coat of paint, the bookshelf moved into the playroom and became craft supply central. The first item to move in? The carousel of scissors.

While we were stocking the bookshelf, we made a few other changes to the room. (Though we obviously did not clean the mirror.)

Her little table and chairs moved from the living room to the new (soon-to-be) playroom. I also used my knock-off DIY Eames hang-it-all to arrange a little dress-up area for her with all of her costumes and a bin for accessories such as hats, crowns, scarves, Minnie Mouse hands, or an inflated pink dolphin wearing a fluourescent green legwarmer (???).

This is just the start (and it’s definitely not Pinterest-perfect), but now Ellie has most of her craft supplies in one spot, clearly visible and easily accessible.

Anyone else have a crafty house? How do you handle craft supplies? Who else feels like home tweaks are like dominoes?

Guess what?

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Has anyone been around long enough to remember the guess what posts I used to do? In the early days of the blog I would occasionally publish a picture of some part of something and say, “Guess what?”

Blogs have changed so much. This blog recently turned 12. Incredible.

The answer to today’s guess what is that some progress is being made on the finishing details in Ellie’s room.

It’s also that we had a great March Break, so not that much progress was made.

(And if you guessed that I am reweaving a bamboo blind by hand… that answer is also correct.)

How is March going for you? Have you taken any breaks? Are you working on any projects? Do you have any hobbies you’ve been doing for 12 years? Is anyone here who’s been around since the beginning of the blog?

A new pillow palette in my bedroom

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One thing leads to another, as is often the case with home projects. My plan last month to take the old headboard out of our room led to little unintended refresh.

First I bought new pink pillowcases. Then I started thinking about accent pillows. I quickly realized I had some small pillows that I use every night, but I never displayed them on the bed because their covers weren’t coordinated and they didn’t look nice enough. Instead, I piled them on the dresser every morning–which wasn’t a great look either.

So I went fabric shopping. I had planned to buy some pink velvet for one large accent pillow and navy fleece for a pair of smaller pillows. But browsing the velvets, I had a brainwave. What about sage green? I like sage and pink together. I like sage and navy (the colour of our walls). I was already planning on navy and pink. So I mixed in some green for new palette.

I also downsized the king size pillows that didn’t fit properly on my double mattress. I considered modifying my king size shams to make them fit, but then I remembered some simple white pillowcases I had in the linen cupboard. I’m sure one of my relatives knit the lace that edges these cases. A soak in some Oxiclean and a spin in the washer cleaned them up fairly well.

Now I have a fresh, pretty pile of pillows on my bed. They look pretty, and they’re useful too. Every night I construct a cozy nest of pillows all around me. One of the little green pillows even goes on my head (weird, I know, but it helps me sleep).

I feel proud that I put some effort into making my space nice for me. I also enjoy having a home project. This was a small update that felt manageable with the other things that I’m currently juggling. And now, I have a cozy, beautiful space for myself.

What’s a colour combination that you like? Anyone else have a pile of pillows on your bed? Do you sleep in a pillow nest?

The little things

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One of my hesitations about blogging this year is whether I will have enough to share. The commitment of having a new post every Monday is completely self-imposed, but I like writing and sharing. And I like the motivation the blog gives me.

But sometimes I don’t feel like I have anything interesting to share. Case in point, this week. (A whole three weeks into January, and I already don’t have anything to write about.) This week you get a post about pillowcases. Although they are new pretty pink pillowcases.

I often find another benefit of blogging is that writing about the things I want to do helps me figure out how I will tackle them. For example, writing about the old headboard tucked up against the wall in my bedroom last week made me realize I didn’t need to find a spot for it in the cold cellar. I could put it in the barn instead.

So I carried the headboard out to the barn.

Enthused by the new breathing space behind my bed, I bought some new pillowcases. Two summers ago, I saw a picture of a navy bedroom with pink accents. It looked pretty and gave me some inspiration for how to freshen up my space. It only took me two years to act on it.

I’m loving the pink, and I have some ideas of where I can bring a bit more into the room… and how I can adjust the old king size shams and pillows to fit my double bed.

So even though getting rid of the old headboard and adding new pillowcases are little things, I’m sharing them today. Because these little things made me happy last week and they matter.

Have you made any little tweaks in your home recently? Anyone else take time to work through projects in your mind first? Who else has pink in their home?

Home Goals 2024

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Looking ahead to projects for 2024, I feel like I need a bit of a reset. So this year’s home goals list is pretty modest. There are some familiars (vegetable garden), some get back on track (coop), some finish it off (driveway) and some regroup (clean up).

Read on for more details about what I’m hoping to accomplish this year.

Driveway

In 2020 we built the garage and mudroom. In 2023 we built the patio. The last thing to finish off the south side of the house is to pave the driveway. I’m not paving the whole lane, but I would like to have one section with a solid surface. It makes for easier plowing and maintenance. It will also give our girl a smooth spot for biking and scootering, rather than riding circles inside the garage (or testing the limits of training wheels in the snow).

Coop

The coop returns for another year. First up, framing a new wall to close up the side of the barn. This has been on my to-do list for more than a year, and I haven’t done it. I met with one of the contractors who built our garage last week to see how much it will cost to have him build the wall. I expect it will be out of my budget, but talking through the plan with him has made me feel like maybe it is DIYable. And then I can save my budget for other things like eavestrough, electrical and fences.

Vegetable garden

As you saw in my Home Goals 2023 wrap up, the vegetable garden was a bit of a disappointment last year. I’m hoping we can get back on track and make some more progress this year.

Clean-up inside

This goal is probably my biggest reset. I’m currently feeling like every single space in our house needs tweaking, organizing, purging. I’m honestly not sure where to start as I also feel like I’m in the middle of a stack of dominoes. I need to move the old king-size headboard out of my room, but I need a space to put it, which means reorganizing the cold cellar (or stashing it in the barn). Reorganizing the cold cellar means building better lumber storage in the garage. (And I can play this game for pretty much every room in our house.) This goal is a good example of why it’s helpful to “just start,” because anything will be progress.

Clean-up outside

There is always an area to clean up outside. This year I’m focusing on two big brush piles, continuing to maintain the septic bed, and working my way further along the “junk pile.” With 129 acres, narrowing my focus is essential, but I feel like I made good progress on the clean up category last year, and hopefully this year I can build on that.

I’m looking forward to getting back on track, making progress, and crossing some things off my list this year. Stay tuned.

Do you have any home goals for this year? Anyone else feel like they need a reset?

Looking back at Home Goals 2023

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Last year was a different kind of year. I started a new job as a college instructor. We took a big trip to Ireland and had other getaways and day trips. This meant that there wasn’t as much time for working on the farm.

As we start 2024, I feel like I left a lot undone last year. But as I look back at the goals I set for 2023, I feel like maybe I didn’t do too bad.

Here’s a review of some of what we did and last year’s home goals.

Coop

My plan was to have the coop completely finished by the end of the year so that we’re ready to bring home some chicks this spring. That did not happen. Our landscapers cleared the old foundation, Matt’s Dad helped tear apart the roof sections and burned a lot of the old wood. I piled more lumber that I hope to reuse and cleaned up the area inside the barn where I want to build. But we still have a big hole in the side of the barn and no pens inside. I’m not giving up, though. The coop will return this year along with other barn upgrades, like eavestrough, exterior lighting and probably some more electrical.

Patio

The driveway patio was the biggest success of last year. Our contractors were great and the result is fabulous. With a comfortable dedicated dining spot, we ate breakfast outside every day and many other meals as well. The herb garden surprised me with how well it did and we were still clipping herbs into December. The new border of rocks around the garden adds so much to the front of the house. The patio is a small area, but it’s added so much to the house and how we live. I am thrilled with how this project worked out.

Swing set

The swing set was another success–and something I accomplished (mostly) on my own. The swing set is big enough for our girl and strong enough for underdoggies. I think it will also grow with her as she learns to swing more on her own and uses the hanging bar and rings more. I also made a few other playground upgrades at the same time, spreading mulch, attaching a ladder to Ellie’s climbing tree, and adding a flag to her treehouse. It’s become a great play zone for her that will last for years.

Vegetable garden

The vegetable garden ties with the coop for my biggest failure. I started 2023 feeling optimistic and even ambitious, so I think that makes it harder that by fall the garden just… fizzled. The timing of my new job and our trip coincided with clean-up season, and eventually I closed the gate and walked away. The raspberries have not been pruned and dead plants have not been pulled. Never mind new mulch, compost, pathways, or growing beds. The garden is another project that will return though.

Turnaround garden

The turnaround garden saw some progress last year, though it’s still pretty haphazard. We added more transplants from a friend, some garden decor with my Dad’s bike and a memorial for Matt’s Mom with a strawberry hydrangea tree. Every garden is a work in progress and an ongoing project. The turnaround feels all that even more. We will keep working at it.

Ellie’s bedroom

A year ago, I wasn’t sure I could convince Ellie to switch rooms. But once we started the makeover, she was all in and eventually set a deadline for me to finish the project because she was so excited to move in. “Finish” is slightly conditional as there are a few details that I still want to do, but she is fully settled and has added lots of details to make it her own. And we’re both sleeping better with a little more space between us.

Like every year, 2023 was a mix. There is no shortage of work on a farm and a fixer-upper house. Just mowing the grass regularly felt like an accomplishment (and thank goodness my cousin came every other week to help me with that). But we did more than that too.

I used the rotary cutter more than I ever have before and did it on my own. Our septic bed and the upper edge of our front field are now in “maintenance mode,” which is big progress. We also did lots of clean-up: picking up litter, clearing overgrown areas, and cutting trees (Matt’s Dad gets credit for this).

Despite feeling a bit discouraged on the project front, I am proud of the balance we found last year. We did so many things, both on and off the farm, and the year was full of fun, love and joy. For us, that’s what life is about. It’s not what the house looks like or whether the property is perfectly groomed. What matters is the people who are here and the things we do together. Projects are part of that, but there’s a lot more too, and that guided our time in 2023.

Did you do any projects–big or small–at your house last year? Did anything disrupt your plans?

Home Goals 2023 mid-year report

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We’re halfway through 2023. (Yeah, I know. How did that happen?)

We’ve made progress on all of the home goals I set for this year (yay!) and I’m excited about how far we’ll get over the rest of the year.

Are you excited to check in with me? Here’s how we’re doing so far.

Coop

Black dog standing on dirt beside a barn. A hole in the barn wall is covered in a tarp.

The last trace of the 100-year-old coop disappeared last month when the crumbling foundation became part of our (now massive) rockpile behind the barn. It was a huge job, and I was grateful that our landscapers were able to handle it while they were here for our patio construction. Next up, the building phase, starting with a new wall for the (still massive) gaping hole in the side of the barn.

Patio

Black dog laying on a stone patio. An unfinished chair is in the background.

The patio is almost done and it’s fabulous. All the details are coming soon.

Swing set

Pile of woodchips beside a treehouse.

The swing set fittings and lumber that I bought last year are still stacked in the garage. I sold Ellie’s too-small playset, so we have a spot for her new swings. Then I took delivery of a big pile of mulch, which was dumped in the swing set site (say that six times fast). As soon as I spread the mulch underneath her treehouse, I can build her bigger swing set. In the meantime, our girl has mastered the firepole on her own. She’s so proud of herself, and I am too.

Vegetable garden

Tomato seedlings in a garden

I’m still trying to be cautious in the garden. Some days I’m quite optimistic. Others I feel like it’s close to being overrun with weeds (as has happened in years past). We have mostly cleared and planted about half the garden. We have 70 tomatoes, 6 watermelons, plus beans, beets, spinach, carrots, lettuce, zucchini, peas, cucumber, grapes and about a trillion raspberries on their way. I feel like we are getting closer to a no-dig, not too weedy, productive garden. But it takes constant vigilance right now.

Turnaround garden

Pearson Pennant flag flying over a flower garden

Most of the plants Ellie and I moved to the turnaround last fall survived. We’ve added some more, made a path to the flagpole and spread some mulch. There’s lots more to go yet, but we’re getting closer to my original vision to fill the whole turnaround with plants.

Ellie’s bedroom

Ellie loves her new room. She has been sleeping in there for several months (although this weekend she started sleeping on the floor). I still have a few things I’m hoping to do to fully finish off the space, along with convincing her to move back into her bed.

I’m really proud of everything we’ve accomplished so far. Every item on my home goals list has had some attention. At the start of the year, I felt like we weren’t just playing catch up anymore or fixing things that were broken. We are finally making progress. Reviewing these goals makes me feel like we’re making lots of progress. I hope the momentum continues.

What’s your big accomplishment so far this year? How are you doing on projects this year at your house? Do you have any home goals?

The middle

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The part we all wait for in DIY is “look at the beautiful room/garden/furniture/shelfie/whatever I made!” The middle while you’re waiting is less beautiful, less photogenic, less interesting.

I’m in the middle.

I feel like I have little to report. But I like the regularity of writing a blog post for every Monday, so here I am. Schedules and deadlines–even when self-imposed–work well for me. In both blogs and renovations.

Ellie’s room makeover is on track. We’ve had paint week. Last week was window week (curtains are tedious, so I’m not giving you a whole blog post about the HALF A DAY I spent ironing or the wait at Ikea to return a too short curtain rod).

This week is bed week. I’ve washed the dusty bedframe, added beadboard to the headboard, bought a new can of primer and am ready to begin painting the headboard. The mattress is being delivered on Thursday.

We’re on track. In fact, we’re on track for lots of projects. As with Ellie’s room, there’s not much to share yet, but I’m going to mention them anyway.

Coop

I’m halfway through clearing the manure off the old coop foundation. Getting to this point involved detaching the the snowblower from the tractor and recharging the tractor battery, so there was progress on several fronts.

Patio

We had some lovely weather last week, so Ellie and I enjoyed breakfast and lunch on our currently-imaginary-but-hopefully-soon-to-be patio and confirmed that, yes, we would like a proper place to eat and sit. Cigo sprawled in the sun. We set up a small table and chairs and confirmed that they should fit on the new patio. Construction should start sometime in May (fingers crossed).

Gardens

Garlic is up in the vegetable garden. Transplants to the new turnaround garden seem to have survived. I have bales of cardboard and piles of mulch (and a brand new pile of very old manure) ready to be spread around. May may be garden month.

We keep moving ahead. Progress may not always be as quick as I want (I still can’t believe it took me a whole morning to iron curtains), but I know I’m getting closer to that beautiful, photogenic, interesting moment.

What projects are you in the middle of? How do you schedule projects? What tips do you have for persevering through the middle?