Chip Wade Answered My Home Improvement Questions

Recently I was asked if I'd like to submit any questions on home improvement to Chip Wade. Of course I would.  I love watching him on HGTV.

As I've posted before, we recently had our walnut floors refinished.  With Christmas parties coming up, I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to keep the floors looking great while relaxing about having a number of people on them.  Chip gave some very good advice on this.

A couple of the other questions I asked were for a friend with a very old house.  She's recently replaced windows and wanted to make sure the new stucco looked good and didn't leak around the new windows.  He gave very precise instructions on how to make them look great.

My last question was regarding a new toilet.  Chip suggested the Delta Corrente toilet that is made for easy installation, easy cleaning and with little chance of leaking.  It sounds like it's a great alternative to some of the others out there.  And, the best part is that it's under $200 and available at our favorite store, The Home Depot!  :)

Here's the video of Chip answering my questions.  I'm thrilled that he took the time to answer mine!

I was compensated for participating in this.  My opinions of Chip Wade and The Home Depot are my own.

Thanks so much for visiting!

 

Pam

Ikea's Ornaments

Ikea kindly invited me to shop their Holiday collection to see if I could find any items that I could have fun with. Always up for a challenge I popped into Ikea a few weeks ago and I instantly fell for the JULMYS red breasted birds ($8.99 for 4) as they reminded me of my Mom. Mom has a love for birds during the holidays, and finds the cutest ways to incorporate them into her decorating. .
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Sponsored Post / Reallite candles

Like the candles on my console table? Want to know something? They are fake! Shut the front door. Read more about the candles, plus a video bomb moment from Oscar after the jump. (It's a long post with a long intro, which is why I do the "read more" links)
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party

Last night I hosted a two hour wine and cheese shopping night for girlfriends in my neighbourhood. It was a last minute event that came to be when I realized I had left over stock from my gift show. Sometimes you need an excuse to throw a party - so I thought it would be a nice opportunity for Moms in the area to meet other Moms as sometimes it is terribly hard to make those connections. Although many people knew each other already I was really happy to see new faces and see connections and friendships being made. The shopping part of the evening was low key - but I thought it was an integral part of the event as it made it a common denominator for people. You could come, browse, and then chat. It gave the event a little bit of a focus.

Aubrey prepared all the food and an hour before the event and took Oscar out for a boys night so I could have the house to myself. I hired my brother to take jackets, serve wine, and do sales should anyone like to purchase anything. It was awesome hiring help as it meant I could mix and mingle and not worry whether my guests were being taken care of. I think this will be an annual tradition. :)

kraft + bells + greenery

Gift wrap inspiration - Grab Kraft paper from the business supply store, white string (found anywhere) some bells and of course, some greenery - and voila!. A pretty awesome wrapping job. This is a little scene from my dining room - I'm hosting a wine and shopping night for girlfriends so it looks like a gift show in my dining room right now. More pictures to come in a bit. xo Linds

Simple Red and White Christmas Table

I love seeing pretty Christmas tables.  I love gingham and plaid fabrics, especially in red.

 

Yesterday I was on a mission to find some dishes to go with some square white plates that I already had.  I was so excited to find these snowman plates from Pier 1.  They were exactly what I'd had in mind and were on sale to boot!

 

I used my Mom's silver, which I am so happy to have. 

 

 

I was thrilled to find the gingham napkins, pretty bell napkin rings and plaid placemats at Pier 1 as well.

 

 

Even though we always sit in the same places at our table, I think the placecard holders are cute.

 

 

 

 

I used  a Santa that was my Mom's for the centerpiece and poinsettias in galvanized pots.

 

I'm trying to simplify my decorating this year.  I like how this  looks festive and was easy to do. 

 

Thanks so much for your visit!

 

Pam


I am linking to the following parties:

Debbiedoo's Newbie with a Twist Party

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bits + pieces

A little roundup of what happened here this week. A little bit late but for me it's still fun to post. Numbers correlated to photos up until number 6.

1. New ribbon is arriving into the studio. I'm obsessed.
2. My front planters are done. Although I could add more to it, I'm happy with how it looks. 
3. I'm seriously in love with Oscar's little white Christmas tree that sits in our Eat in Kitchen. We're finding new decorations daily to create. I love that it's just his tree. 
4. Oscar and I unintentionally have matching jackets for the winter. They are both from the GAP. My jacket is from last year and I bought Oscar's online when they were having a 30% off sale. I seriously LOVE the hoods. 
5. It's busy in the shop - Holiday shopping is in full swing. In the last two weeks I've had waves of exhaustion and the occasional sense of being overwhelmed. It's hard to complain about any of it because the bottom line is, it's all a great deal of fun. I love running my shop and me being busy means my little shop is busy.... and that is a good thing. 
6. Oscar has been pretty sick this week with a cold. What's made it so much better is the fact that we have the Nose Frida. I can't stop recommending it. If you're a parent, I highly suggest this for your medicine cabinet. 

Anyhow, that's what our week was! Have a great weekend. xo Lindsay

Ps., I'm totally stealing the title of my post from  Blubird Vintage. I feel as thought "Bits + Pieces" just totally fits this style of roundup. 

diy kids ornaments

A few weeks ago I ordered some magnets from Zulily. I bought a whole bunch with the intention of making some ornaments for Oscar. This is the easiest project - the hardest part is finding the right pieces. I was inspired by this a project on Creature Comforts. Originally I intended to do what she did - drill a hole through the pieces - but after some consideration I decided to just glue some string to the pieces instead of drilling - which saved me some time and it didn't ruin any part of the magnet.

I originally tried a glue gun but the glue wouldn't stick to the magnet  So I pulled out the heavy duty stuff - Gorilla Glue. It looks horrible when it dries (it puffs up and looks super weird) but it does the trick.

Ta-da! Honestly, I'm in LOVE with these ornaments especially if you have a "Kids" tree like I've made for Oscar this year. I did a lot of ones that played into Oscar's interests like Sea Animals and Trains (not pictured) Oscar loves to sit in front of the tree and we play "I Spy" and spot all of the animals. It's super cute. Anyhow, just some DIY fun from our house to yours that doesn't require a lot of pre-planning, tools or effort. But the results are pretty sweet. :)

WHERE TO BUY: Magnets, Although I bought on Zulily.com you can also find them on Amazon.com. Twine: My shop (Although you can also just use plain string, it looks just as cute)

Ps., The tree is courtesy of Treetopia. It's a 4 foot white Christmas tree that comes pre-lit. Honestly it is SO CUTE. It is officially Oscar's tree that one day he can even have in his room. (I grew up having a mini tree in my room that was also white - so I feel a little sentimental with this white tree in our house)

DIY Advent Bags, Take 2

In 2010 I came across this DIY Advent Bag Project that captured my heart and a year later I attempted to replicate it. Unfortunately the project totally failed. I think the problem was that the bags were way too big. I couldn't find a spot to hang them all and secondly, the bags were so big that little treats got lost. In the end I felt that the size of the bag was the issue.  So this year I've tackled new advent bags using small mini drawstring cotton bags. Much more manageable.  The size makes it way easier to find a spot to hang them and you can fit little itty bitty treats in.

If you'd like to make your own you can download and print off your own numbers. I've created a free printable for you. There are two pages - one with candy colour numbers (shown above) and then a second page with more classic colours. Follow the instructions that come with the iron on transfer paper packaging, but don't forget to select mirror when you're printing the page. If you just print it "as is" it will be backwards when you iron it on.

DOWNLOAD: Get the free download of 24 numbers (2 Pages)
Bags available in my shop here. Enter SAVE15 to get 15% off your order until this Friday. 

*Artwork is not for resale. If you've read my blog for awhile, you'll know why I have to stress this. ;)

save 15% on everything at the penny paper co.

Save 15% on everything at The Penny Paper Co. Enter the promo code SAVE15 when you're checking out! It ends this Friday. Obviously it's an awesome sale to pick up customized gifts for those on your list but with the expanded wrapping section it's a great sale for picking up some wrapping items for yourself. xo Linds
Ps., Here is the eUpdate that went out.

gift show

The gift show is done and overall it was pretty fun & successful. Here is our weekend via pictures.

[No. 1] The booth. You can spot my Mom helping me set up. I made that paper magnolia wreath hanging in the background.  [No. 2] Example of my herringbone ribbon  mixed with an Enjoy Stamp [both sold out the first few hours of the show]    [No. 3] Mix greenery + twine + bells and a stamped tag and you have insta-holiday decor.   [No. 4] My brother made me the coolest ipad stand for the show. It ran a slide show of photographs of my products to help illustrate ideas on how to combine products. He's amazing.  [No. 5] Being a Mom that chases after a very active 2.5 year old and working from home I don't invest much in my wardrobe. This show forced me into a last minute shopping spree. New necklace from Joe Fresh + the best black dress from the Gap Outlet. It was a pretty awesome steal. PS., I'm so awkward taking self portraits   [No. 6] I love the mixture of the burlap bag with bells + herringbone ribbon.

Thanks to those who came by to say hello. It was really an honour to meet you and I hope I wasn't a total spaz. Annnnnd ...... it's back to crazyness in my studio. xo Linds

Ps., This show was possible because of my amazeball family. Mom stayed with me the entire time. She never left my side except to find emergency coffee sources when I started to fade. I can't believe my brother made me that ipad stand in a week. And then you have my little sister who was cheering me on via text messages all weekend. And last but not least you have Aubrey who stayed home with Oscar for three days straight so I could do this show. Team effort. 

late night gift show prep

I'm home from setting up my booth for weekend! My little booth just needs a few finishing details (more greenery!) and we're good to go. I'm so grateful that I had my Mom with me tonight - she really helped me display the items in a beautiful way. Excuse the grainy iphone photos - I'll post better pictures next week. Anyhow, if you're in Toronto and are in the area pop by and say hello!  Have a great weekend! xo Lindsay

Ps., Style at Home Magazine is running a contest of my stamps. Go enter!

birch, magnolia leaves and greenery....

I took a break this morning to do one of my front planters on our porch. I love doing the planters as they add such warmth to the front of the house. But because of the cost to do two large planters (it's not inexpensive) I typically skip doing Fall arrangements as the season is so short. I personally prefer to invest in a "Winter" arrangement as it lasts throughout November, December, January and February.

A few days ago I saw a store put out their collection of birch branches and I grabbed three logs for each pot, some greenery and some magnolia leaves. I ran out of greenery for the 2nd pot, so it's 1/2 finished. But you can see one of my pots in progress. I appreciate it may be a wee bit early, but the birch logs are hard to find when you want them. Just a wee break I took this morning to distract from the work that was piling up inside.

Ps., I had two visitors come to the door today .... one real estate agent handing out her card and the UPS guy. The dialogue with the UPS guy was hilarious. He asked.. "What do the three logs mean?". Confused, I said "What do they mean?" and he responded "Yeah, I see a lot of people in the Beach have three birch logs, and I wondered what the meaning was" and then i found myself trying to explain that it was purely a decorative design element and that two logs is too little, four is too many, but three was the perfect number. I'm not sure he was anticipating a design lesson but I laughed at the idea that he thought the birch logs on the porch was some inside cult thing. 

a big moment....

I meant to post this last week so you may have seen this already. But in the event that you missed it...

New shipments of my artwork now have stickers on the corners and some pieces even have my bio on the back! Crazy. When I saw this for the first time in the store, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride seeing my work with my name in a huge retail chain. More people are tweeting me, and e-mailing me photos when they spot more work (thank you!) which I've posted some to my Facebook page. Anyhow, this week will be quiet on my blog as I get ready for this show. But I had to share this exciting development! Have a great week. xoxo Lindsay

quartz countertops revisited

You may recall that choosing a countertop for our kitchen renovation took up a series of blog posts. I loved the look of Carrara marble but felt that it wasn't very practicle for our household.  Even if sealed properly marble is prone to staining and etching. Over the course of a few months I narrowed down my counter top options to three contenders that gave me the look of Cararra Mable, but without the upkeep or worry of staining. As you now know because we revealed our kitchen, I chose Caesarstone in Misty Carrara. So why post it again?
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Thanksgiving Pilgrim Hat Dessert

 

 

I have been making these Pilgrim hats for several years and they are always a big hit at Thanksgiving. And the best part is, they are EASY!

You will need:

• Chocolate cookies (I used Keebler Striped Shortbread and turn them over)
• Reese's individually wrapped peanut butter cups (unwrapped) :)
• Orange frosting in a tube

Place the cookie striped side down, put a little frosting under the Reese's Peanut Butter cup. Set that in the center of the cookie.



Take the orange frosting and put a bead around the bottom of the Reese's.  Make a square on it to be the buckle.  And you're done!  How much easier could that be?!

Some of the orange frosting looks a little crazy, but I don't worry too much.  As soon as the kids see them, they're gone--crazy buckles and all!

 

 

Thanks for your visit!

 

Pam


I am linking to the following parties:

Debbiedoos Newbie Party with a Twist




as seen in ....

I know that posts like this aren't likely to gain much feedback but it's a nice moment in my household so I felt as though it is still worthy of a post. Last Saturday The National Post published the "Ikea Hack Attack" article that I was interviewed for. BUT right beside that article was as another article by Samantha Pynn giving us a huge mention. Thank you to Samantha Pynn for using our cookbook shelf as an example of how to display cookbooks and to Adam McDowell for including us in the Ikea Hack Attack article.

I feel like my level of excitement the last few weeks can be best explained by these animated gifs. ;) 

prepping for gift show

I'm getting ready for the gift show next week so my dining room is filled with boxes of stock and my dining room table is acting as a pretend display table. It feels like chaos. For someone that likes organization + order, this is driving me a little bit insane.

I'm not a stranger to shows, but it has been awhile so I feel a wee but rusty. I used to do the BIG shows and have BIG displays. Pop up signs, lights, tables, I thought that you had to look bigger for people to take you seriously. But this time I'm doing things a bit differently. Maybe it's a comfort in my own skin and after 8 years I've hit my groove. I'm scaling back on the investment of booth displays and going a little more organic. I don't feel like the booth has to stand out as much as I feel like the product will instead. It also is economical this change - the less money I invest in display, the more I profit from sales at the show. I'm keeping things simpler this year, and it feels nice.

Once I've come up with a layout I'm happy with I'll snap photos much like I've shown above so I can remember the layout when I go to set up next week. And then everything gets back back into boxes so I can transport it to the show.

Is it crazy to say I'm feeling exhausted and it's only November 7th? ;)
xo Linds

the power of saying "thank you"

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of Oscar. It was a sweet moment in our house, and I had grabbed my camera to document Oscar quietly sitting at our kitchen table. I posted it on the blog and moved on with my weekend. A few days later I received a knock at the door. When I opened the door a delivery man handed me a big box from the folks at Minute Maid. I was a bit confused. I opened up the box and read a letter that said....

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Nursery to Toddler Room...

The new pine dresser is in Oscar's room. I love it. I actually clasped my hands together, jumped up and down and beamed.  A year ago I don't think I would have put pine in this room but for some reason when I saw the piece it felt like it was meant to be for Oscar. It just feels like a family piece, worn with bumps and scratches from years of love and ready to handle many bumps and scratches from our family.

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a few little updates

I did a little painting for Oscar's room. I debated painting the background a colour - but I thought the contrast of the bear against the black made the bear pop - so for now it's staying as is. I'll show more of the room next week.

• I've been painting some more. Amanda, who bought one e-mailed me a photo of it in her powder room. (love it) I've been so nervous to post the paintings but the response has been so kind. (Thank you)
• The National Post interviewed me a few weeks ago on my love affair of Ikea Hacks. Although I absolutely hate the photo of myself (but love Oscar's picture) the article is worth a read. 
• I'm taking part in a Holiday Show in a few weeks. More on that later, but perhaps you'll come?

Have a nice weekend. xo Lindsay

holiday ornament project....

I know that likely none of you are thinking "Holidays". But I'm posting this now, vs. later because it's a little time sensitive (read below). Do any of you remember the really cute Christmas Tree Ornament DIY that was posted over on Creature Comforts in 2008? I thought it was the cutest project ever - She took ordinary (cute) puzzle pieces, drilled holes and turned them into ornaments.

Read more after the jump....
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and his costume of choice was....

Glow in the Dark Skeleton Pajamas from Carter's. :-) Hope you all had a nice Halloween!

updating oscar's room....

I've been thinking of Oscar's room a lot lately. I think it's important to make his room more for him instead of what I thought it should be when he was a baby. I don't want to do a huge updates   - just little changes to make it more appropriate for him as he gets older.

Earlier this week I spotted this dresser on GUFF's blog, and although we weren't anticipating spending any money on furniture, it was too perfect to pass up. Now, I do love the dresser I have in the room right now, but it's proving to be too small to fit his clothing as he (and therefore the clothing) gets bigger. But that little dresser worked perfectly as a change table when he was a baby. :)

The new dresser has drawers open perfectly, it has a warmth to it and will grow with him. I'll post some updates later on, but needed to show you what prompted some little updates to his room.

Ps., Guff is amazing - they constantly post new products that they get in on their blog. I see new products come in on my blog reader - it's a fantastic way as a business to economically promote your wares and as a shopper, find out what's new without trekking into the store.