Fun for the Walls

As a renter, you don't want to go to the expense of wallpaper. So I always love a stylish solution to zhushing up the walls! I have blogged about removable wallpaper here, but another favourite are wall decals.

One of my favourite companies that create chic and stylish wall decals is Urban Walls. I have mentioned them before as they generously provided my daughter a chalk decal for her dorm. A local blogger and friend, Danielle, is the genius behind Urban Walls, and she has added more fabulousness to her line of goods. My recent favourite is the dot collection. What a fun addition to a room!

They come in a smattering of colours, but my favourite would be the black dots. Shocking I know, me choosing black?

And she has also designed other designs for your wall, plus signs and triangles, to give your walls a crisp modern edge. If you check out her Facebook page, she shows how other's have used her designs in their homes.

 Check out how Kirsten from Simply Grove used the triangles on her wall.

Now I am dying to use those dots somewhere in my house......hmmm...not sure.

XO Barbara

So Canadian eh?: Janice from Life Begins at Thirty, Right?

I am constantly amazed at the endless amount of talented Canadians that are spread across this county. How they create gorgeous homes from sad dilapidated spaces is astounding!

Janice from Life Begins at Thirty, Right? 

is doing just that...

She is 

Janice, author of Life Begins at Thirty, Right? blog, along with her husband have taken a dilapidated old house in Toronto and are slowly transforming the space into a bright, airy and oh-so fresh house.

With all the trials and tribulations that come with renovating a really old house, it is a fun ride to follow along with her renovation adventures.

They even had their nursery designed by the fabulous Sarah Richardson for a Sarah 101 episode!

So Canadian eh? : Heather Cameron

This week we have the ever-so-talented and creative

Heather Cameron from A Day In The Country and Missing Goat Farm

Photo: Kim Christie

She is

Thank You Style at Home!

Last week I was featured at Style at Home sharing my around the house New Year's resolution alongside a fantastic line-up of other bloggers.

You can read more here.

Thanks Elaine for including me! 

Now let see if I can some of that done!

XO Barbara

My Day As A Designers Assistant

The one thing that I have so enjoyed about this whole blog gig is the amazingly talented and wonderfully friendly women {and men} that I have met. A few have become ones I can call good friends, we get together occasionally and just enjoy each others company, have fun, get silly and talk design!

One incredibly talented yet very humble gal I have met, runs a successful design business who lately has been featured in several Style at Home issues, even making the cover in September, is Karla Amatadsu, Principal at Kerrisdale Design. If you want to learn more about her, you can read my interview with her here.

So Canadian eh? : Chris Kauffman from Just Beachy

This week's guest is the queen of home construction DIY - she can operate a power tool like its nobody's business.

Please welcome....

Chris Kauffman from Just Beachy

She is....

So Canadian eh? : Sarah Richardson

To kick off the new the year with a bang - I am over-the-top-ecstatic-excited-giddy-in-7th-heaven-over--the-moon thrilled to have interviewed one of my all time favourite Canadian designers, Sarah Richardson.

Yes, THE Sarah Richardson.

Canada's design darling.

source

She is...

Thoughts...

The start of the new year always brings a chance for reflection on the year past and the opportunity to think about the year ahead, a fresh new year like a blank book waiting to be written in. 2012 brought many changes in our home, my husband lost his job and I started a teaching job that evolved into teaching grade 2 full time, working full time after 18 years. It has created stress and anxieties that we haven't felt in years. Just when we felt comfortable in our life, life decided to throw a curve ball our way. We are taking it in stride and look at it as a new chapter in our life that we can write! 

Working full time has given me less time and energy to focus on my blog and projects around the house, but it has also given me the time to step back and reflect on the world of blogging and design. I know not posting regularly ruins my stats, doesn't bring new readers, followers, comments, etc. But I am finding it quite refreshing and liberating not being tied to all that. I find the blogging world a fickle one, people "liking" the latest viral DIY or design project that gets tossed by the wayside when something else comes along. There seems to lack of permanence and dissatisfaction for what you have. As much as I LOVE interior design I am torn with the constant want of needing the latest trend. So what if I have pleather Parson dining chairs or *gasp* matching furniture - do I really need to toss it out and start over to prove my worth as someone who is creative or talented? I think it is how I can incorporate it, reinvent it that can prove my creativity, non?

I think living simply and with purpose is what I hope for 2013. Let see if I can manage that!

I am enjoying the rest of my week off before it is back to teaching. My contract was extended to spring break, the teacher I am covering for is still on a medical leave. So what turned out to be a thorn has become a rose, I will have been in that classroom enough days to earn a continuing contract, which means the school district I work for gives me full time work if I want it. That is like gold....but I can choose to work part time, which I think I will come fall so I can dabble in design and teach. Two things I truly enjoy!

 But I am hoping to squeeze in a few projects around the house this year to spruce things up. We aren't sure if we are going to stay in this house another year so they will be minimal changes.

 Wish me luck.

XO Barbara