Aging an Old Milk Can

  

A few weeks ago when we were in Oregon, we went to one of my favorite stores in Eugene.  Barb, from Treasures From the Heart was having a "Junque in the Trunk Sale" with lots of vendors.  What perfect timing!  Ok, we weren't planning to go to Eugene until the next day, but I didn't want to miss her sale, so we changed our plans.  :)

I always find great things at her store.  I need to walk around several times so I don't miss anything!

 

One of the fun things I found at the sale was this milk can.  The couple who was selling it had worked hard to clean it up and paint this very cute cow on it.  I loved it, but it was a little too bright for me.

 

Enter some handy-dandy Minwax Provincial stain and the brightness was toned down.

 

I put a couple of coats on with a foam brush, then lightly wiped it off with an old sheet.  I let it dry (not hard in our 100+ degree heat the past several days!)  I then put a coat of clear flat spray on it.  And now I love it in the house.

 

 

Thank you for your visit!

 

Pam

 

 

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so I apparently have no life because this excites me....

I was at Metro and saw my favourite summer drink - Simply Lemonade both in stock AND it was on sale. I actually gasped out loud. And quickly put two in my cart. And then snapped a picture to show Aubrey. Nerd alert. Happy Friday. ;) xo

bathroom renovation updates

Although some may have seen some updates on my Instagram last night, I thought it was time for some decent photographs of the process of the washroom. :) Above was one of my biggest concerns, the bump out. As you may recall we chose to take up unused hallway space and give it to the washroom - I was terrified it was going to make the hallway seem small, but after it was done, it's not even noticeable. Surprisingly, it feels like it should have been like this all along. We still have to add back trim and I have to do some painting - but you get the idea of how this looks. On the opposite side of the wall this made room for a nook for the new vanity (not yet installed)

Although in the hallway it doesn't feel (or look like) much space was given to the washroom - While you stand you in the washroom it feels quite the opposite - You realize that a lot of room was taken from the hall. In this nook our vanity will fit - giving us more floor space. It's not much - but every inch counts. I'll explain more about this nook later, when we have more pieces of that puzzle put in place.

Aubrey finished installing the tile and grouted the walls last night. I may have done a jig when I saw it - It was *exactly* as I had hoped it would look. Like a fancy hotel bathroom. It feels clean, clutter free and well - clean.

 The bathroom floor has yet to be grouted but will also have white grout lines.

New pot lights. I looooooove pot lights.

The bathroom is feeling larger, cleaner and brighter than our old washroom did. I'm really happy with our choices so far. We still have a few steps (as you can see) including me picking a wall colour (likely white) but I thought these pictures may be fun to post. We're also changing up our toilet. We had installed a new one a few years ago but because of budget got a really inexpensive one. We didn't love it, it ran all the time, and so we've decided to do the same toilet as in the basement, the Kohler's Memoir that I think is so pretty.

Baby steps!

Read more about the tile we picked in this post. / Floor hexagon 2" tiles

cookbook recommendation

Cookbook recommendation! My Mom made me home made pasta for my birthday and revealed that it came from one of her favourite cookbooks. Sharing the Table by Amanda Stine and Mary Garland. Amazing. Also available at Amazon.com

Bringing Home Some Family Heirlooms

 

 

 

Last week we headed to Oregon for my son's college graduation.  

We also spent some time in Southern Oregon helping my Dad go through some of his things.  He was kind enough to let us take these pieces that mean so much to me.  The dry sink has been in my parents' house as long as I can remember.  I'm guessing that this picture is from the early 60's. 

I think it still looks amazing after 50+ years!

We were able to make the drive home in 11 hours and everything made it safely.

Besides the dry sink, we were also thrilled that he gave us this church pew.  I'm thinking that Bailey (the cat) will discover it soon and have it as his 'watching the neighborhood' seat. 

 

What are your favorite family heirlooms?

 

 

Thank you for your visit! 

Pam

I am linking to the following parties:

 

  

front landscaping

Our front porch planters that I've blogger about here and here didn't make it through this season. So sad. :( The metal rusted and dirt started spilling out the bottom earlier this week.  When I was at Lowes this week  I spotted these plastic planters that were gooooorgeous. They don't look like plastic at all. They were $88 each - which depending on how you look at it could be ridiculously expensive, or, a great deal. As I told Aubrey - similar styled planters would run a few hundred at places like Restoration Hardware. Granted - you may be able to find less expensive ones elsewhere but I have yet to see any that looked this good and were of this quality for any less than what we spent.

In other landscaping news, I've put on hold my intentions to tear up my front lawn. Truthfully - I don't really have it in me to do the labour, and I'm not overly confident that my initial design idea was right. I'm now considering maybe 1 tall tree and a boulder of some sort. But I think on the list of priorities this is pretty low.

And lastly - Our front deck needs replacing .... badly. As you can see above it is carpeted and also has no railings. It's a bit of a safety concern for me with Oscar - as I worry he'll fall off. But design wise, I think our home would look beautiful with a railing. It's not a project that is totally in vain - the deck has developed some soft spots and does need addressing over the next year...

Anyhow, my real intention of this post was to rave about my new planters. :) Have a great weekend - Sunday is my birthday. Wheeee!! ;)

In other news -- thank you for "liking" me on facebook. I've also made my Instagram feed public which you may have noticed on the sidebar of my blog if you visit my actual blog to read my posts. I'm still trying to find balance with my concerns with over-sharing and on the other side of things - my love of technology and photography. So hopefully I'll balance it well. xo

50% off calling cards

If you're on my shop's e-mail list you would have heard that I brought back calling cards to my shop and about the crazy sale of 50% off that ran all last week. My calling cards been absent from my shop for almost a year while I searched for the perfect paper for the cards - so to celebrate their return we hosted a pretty awesome sale. Since it was so popular of a sale (and because a lot of the orders we did last week were for bloggers) I thought you may like to see the new designs and take advantage of the pretty crazy savings too. The sale have been extended until Friday - be sure to enter SAVE50 in the checkout and get 50% off the calling cards.  xo Lindsay

bits + pieces

I was going to do this bits & pieces post last Friday but the Netflix giveaway took priority.... so here are a few things that have been worth blogging about but never got their own post. ;)

• I joined 2013 and made up a Facebook page for my blog. I thought it would be a good spot to post all of the pictures that don't make it to here. I'd love a "Like"! ;)
• I picked up this awesome Nate Berkus rug for the basement at Target last week. (I can't order rugs online - it's one of those purchases I need to see in a room before committing.) The price was awesome, so I don't worry about drinks or food spilling .... 
• I was included in SavvyMom's list of the Top 75 Mom Blogs. Get. Out. Holla. 
• Jenny picked up one of my pieces of art at HomeSense and used it in her son's room!
• Style at Home Magazine listed my custom stamps as #1 in their top ten list of Wedding projects.
• Speaking of Weddings, see how Krista used one of my stamps for her gorgeous wedding....

That's it for now - some more tiling this week, grouting, then I'll get my paint brush out and hopefully soon we'll have a working bathroom!

Win a Year Subscription to Netflix....

Did you ever get into Arrested Development back in the day? Aubrey and I were hooked and I was so bummed when it ended. I thought the writing was brilliant, had an crush on Jason Bateman, and obviously now can see the need for a banana popsicle stand. And Buster. Oh. Buster.  It was also a show we liked to watch together, which sometimes isn't easy to find. So you can understand that I may have freaked out a little awhile ago when I heard that it was coming back on Netflix and they were streaming them all-at-once. It actually got me to look at Netflix as something that we should subscribe to but haven't had an opportunity to subscribe.

My obsession with that show aside, fast forward to this week and Netflix sent me an e-mail suggesting that a subscription to their service would make an awesome Father's Day gift. I actually agreed - Although I'm not big on substantial gifts for Father's day or Mother's Day I do think something like this - that the whole family could enjoy would make a pretty awesome exception. As part of this e-mail,  Netflix offered me a subscription to give to the man of our house, as an early Father's Day gift. Yay! So this is maybe a heads up that blogging will be hikacked for awhile as I get on my comfy pants, a bag of chips and watch 10 hours of Arrested Development in a row. Of course Aubrey will get a chance to watch too....

Want to join me in some much needed couch time watching movies all night? Of course you do. Netflix has offered a year subscription to one of you. The value is $200. Yipppeee! This is open to my Canadian readers and read below on how to enter.

How to enter: Leave a comment letting me know what show/movie you'd like to watch first if you won Netflix for a year. (See their collection of shows here)  Contest closes Wednesday, June 19th. Winner will be notified by e-mail. If no reply for 7 days, a new winner will be drawn. Open to Canadian residents only. Good luck!

*I was given a subscription to Netflix to try as well as a years subscription to give away to one of my readers. No further compensation was provided. 
CONTEST CLOSED! Thanks for entering. Winner will be drawn soon and updated on this post.

Installing tile

The bathroom reno is still going on as you may have guessed. :-) Thankfully the lack of bathroom on the top floor isn't disrupting us that much - Except at midnight when I'm lying in bed and I have to pee and I try to tell myself to fall asleep instead of having to walk down two flights of stairs.

All that being said - we're almost at the finish line. I'm loving how the choices are coming together and Aubrey is doing an amazing job at tiling. I'm debating a wall colour for the walls but knowing me, I'll likely stick with a white. Anyhow, here is a video I happened to catch while I was snapping the photos above with my phone. Oscar adores Aubrey and wants to help with all of his projects... (Ps., I love his little voice so much)

Movie Night

I love our neighbourhood. My friends Elizabeth reached out to our councilor, Mary-Margaret McMahon to see if we could get a movie in a little parkette that is off our street. Ask and you shall receive. This last Saturday "Puss in Boots" played on a big screen outside along with free popcorn for the kids. Aubrey was out of the country for the weekend so Oscar and I had a date night. He was sooooo excited. Oscar is still a little wee for a late night like this so half way through the movie he wanted to wander so it was time to go - But it wasn't without some fun memories of watching a movie in the park and unlimited popcorn. He's still talking about the popcorn.

I love when communities get together for things like this. This was the first time we've had a movie night - Do you do anything like this?

Ps., A bit thanks to Mary-Margaret for hosting this for our neighbourhood and to Elizabeth for reaching out to her. xo

balance bike

One of Oscar's birthday gifts was a new shiny red bike. For the better part of the last year Aubrey and I went back and forth trying to decide if Oscar should have what I considered traditional toddler bike or a balance bike. (See this site for a great explanation on them plus some videos)

So how did we come to decide on a bike with no pedals? When I saw a child on the street with a balance bike I would run over to the Mom and ask her opinion. Always the response was the same - that the kids loved it, and that if they had older kids, they skipped the training wheel stage.

Prices on balance bikes seemed pretty high which contributed to my hesitation on getting one - until I happened across a Radio Flyer Balance Bike and fell in love. The fact that it was Radio Flyer (a brand I really liked from my days working at a toy store) and the price was right, made me feel a lot more comfortable taking a leap. Anyhow, here is the little guy on his way down the street.... :) (He'll get the hang of it)

Helmet from Spokes in Toronto. 

Ps., I appreciate he's not really riding it - but for his second time out I think he's pretty good. :)

Oscar's 3rd Birthday Party

We threw a BBQ for a small group of friends this past Saturday to celebrate Oscar's third birthday. I almost didn't throw the party as I was plagued with self doubt about what to do and overwhelmed with seeing really detailed parties online. I finally realized I didn't have to do anything - all Oscar wanted to do was play with his friends, and have some balloons. So I went with that.

My Mom had given me some advice a few years ago with regards to setting up traditions with children. Although I forget her exact phraseology, the underlying advice was to be careful at what you do for an event, as you'll have to keep that up year after year with kids. I think the advice was originally was a reference to Christmas traditions (and Santa) but I've applied that same philosophy to other traditions over here.

I decided to throw a super low key BBQ.  I think sometimes we all get intimidated because of the explosion of Pinterest and people show off these amazing parties - and the parties that are low key just get forgotten. Or maybe they aren't forgotten - they just aren't blogged about. ;) Read more after the jump.

Read more »

Costco. Go in for salad, come out with .....

So I went into Costco with my Mom two weeks ago and went in for salad and left with a monster sandbox. They get me every-time.

I had been on the lookout for a sandbox so it wasn't too much of an impromptu purchase. The fact that it was under $200, a really nice design, came with a cover (for sun protection) and an additional cover to protect the sand from rain, and animals, I did a happy dance at the find.  I was a bit worried that the cover - blue, green and red - would look circusy from the house but where we've have positioned the sandbox it's hidden from view because of the lilac tree. We now have a nice little nook in the backyard where Oscar and his friends can play with the sand and his playhouse (also from Costco). 

We went to Home Depot and loaded up 16 bags of play sand into our little itty bitty car and drove home really slowly because it was about 1,000 pounds worth of sand in our car - so we were riding realllllly low. But we managed to get the bags home without breaking our car.

We were in a bit of a rush to build it because Oscar was having some of his friends over for a birthday BBQ - and I'm so glad we did have it ready as the kids had so much fun with it. Anyhow, more pictures of his party tomorrow but I had to share this find!

*I unfortunately couldn't find the sandbox on the Costco website, however I did find it here (but it's more expensive than at Costco) The official name of the sandbox is Gorilla Playsets, Play-ZeeBo Children's Sandbox. It's also at Target in the US.

June Bloom and a Winner!

My absolute favorite time of year here is May and June.  After enduring months of cold, it is so welcoming to see all of the perennials come up and show their beauty.

These Lupine are stunning!  I love the plant in front with magenta, pink and purple flowers.  (and of course I love the "all pink" one in the back too!)  :)

 

The reflections in the pond look so neat!  The lilies and irises are blooming inside the pond.  The creeping thyme is really filling in around the rocks.

We love to sit here and relax.

The Delphiniums are so pretty in bloom.

 



Oh my gosh, the peonies are in bloom! 

 

 

 

 



 

The milk crate I planted last week is starting to fill in.  I used Wave Petunias and a Wallflower.

 

 

 

 

This clematis is starting to take off. 

 

 

 I'm eager to see this clematis start blooming all around the birdhouse.

 

 

 

Wave Petunias, Dahlias, Cosmos and Snapdragons in a pot on the driveway. 

 

 

What are your favorite flowers?

 

The Winner of the Graco Paint Sprayer is Jessica!  Congratulations to Jessica and thank you to everyone who entered!

 

Thank you for your visit!  

 

Pam

 

 

I am linking to the following parties: