Dishwasher Woes: New Cabinet

Before and After:

It finally happened: The old dishwasher gave up the ghost. It clunked and chunked, and generally didn't really clean well any more, so we had to replace it.

Work Perk: Flux Lighting

Every year, Flux Lighting drops by the office with egg rolls. The best egg rolls.

It is a real treat, especially since this time of year brings on so many sweets.

This year was a little different, however.
Flux wanted us to come and see their new showroom, so they were going to send a bus to pick us up.

Mission Chair: Sneak Peak

About a year and a half ago we found 4 chairs (find post here) destined for the dump. The owner happened to be curbside, and told us that the chairs had been saved from a hotel that was being demolished.

I am working on one of those chairs now - a mission style - year unknown.

The cushions had to be thrown away since plants were growing out of them.

Art Deco Hutch - Part 2

So last you heard, things rapidly went downhill from the last post, which you can find HERE.

In the description of this blog, I say "the sometimes disastrous, sometimes fantastic results of D.I.Y.".
This post definitely fits into the "disastrous" category!

the whole finish came off within minutes of putting it on... kind of pilling like an old sweater.
SOOO in for a penny, in for a pound. I began the arduous task of scraping of the sticky, goopy finish.
Gross.
And messy.

Awesome Interiors: The Collector

This years Ottawa Magazine: 2013 Interiors Edition came out, and yet again, it did not disappoint.

There was one particular article that caught my eye, however. It was called "The Collectors".

The description reads:
"Baseball cards. Butterflies in shadow boxes. Vintage couture. What is is about collectors and their collections? What objects do they pursue and why? Five gatherers discuss their flights of fancy". By Cindy Deachman

Renovation: Victorian in Powell River

A few years ago, I was visiting my parents in Powell River. Their friend, Victoria, lived across the street, and was renovating a home exactly like their house. The area is called, 'the Old Townsite', and the style of home is found throughout the area. According to the Powell River Historical Site, this architecture was defined as 'the street facing gable'.

There is a fairly good chance that the second house in this photograph is my parents home, about 100 years ago. My Mom can confirm...

This house, however, is absolutely the one across the street.
Victoria and Steve had passed by this house many times, always feeling that one day they would buy it and renovate. One day, it went up for sale, and so they seized the opportunity. Of course, this is not the condition that the house was in the day they bought it...

Ellen's Ranch: Eclectically Gorgeous

Elle Decor recently did a photo spread of Ellen & Portia's ranch in Southern California.

You can find it at http://www.elledecor.com with the whole article.
The ranch is made up of cabins, barns and the stables.
 

Cabin 6: What struck me, was the absolute easy-going eclecticness of their ranch's decor.
They certainly have some signature pieces, like mid-century Danish shairs, but also a lot of rustic and antique furniture that makes the space so much more interesting.

Architecture: Beautifully Creepy

This beautiful home listing came to me by way of RV in Montreal...
I was stunned by its haunting beauty...

From the outside, it is pretty unassuming.
There is certainly some age there, as many Montreal homes have.
This one dates to 1920.

Architecture History: The Imperial Theatre

I present to you, the beautiful and majestic Imperial Theatre!

 Okay, maybe not...

Boring TV Wall Part 1: Chalked full of fun

This is the plain wall that the TV is in front of. Hence this room is called "the TV room".
Weird, eh?

I Love Lamp: Abacus Table Lamp

You might remember reading my blog about finding this lamp a month ago when we went garage-saling.

Chair Reveal: Mid-century modern

I originally spoke of this chair back in the post: Chair-palooza.

Reclaimed Window: Following the Curve

As you will remember, we brought home an old door from a neighbour who was renovating. A few days later, I realized that they put out a large window as well!

Trunk Treatment: Sneak Peak

What a Find!

My husband and I drove down to Lansdowne, ON, yesterday and on our way back drove up the back roads. The foliage this time of year in Ontario is just breath-taking.

We drove through the many villages and towns along the way, and happened to come across an antique store in Lyndhurst. Out front were 2 trunks. We took the bigger of the two. It is a 100 year old (at least) hump-back trunk.

Reclaimed/Repurposed Door Reveal

This is the easiest project I have ever worked on.
In a previous post, I discuss lugging this solid wood door about six blocks home on my head. Not the smartest idea I have ever had, but what a great find.

Luckily, one of our neighbours is renovating, so there were cabinets and windows and doors. I am even considering going back to inspect some of the windows...

Art Deco Hutch - Part 1

We found a hutch at our favorite second-hand furniture store.

It is a waterfall front Art Deco piece that just needs a little bit of love.

The biggest issue with the hutch, is the hazing on the top. The hazing can likely be buffed out using super fine steel wool. That is really dependent on how deep the haze goes, though. Hazing is usually caused by moisture or heat.

Artwork: Garage-Sale/Sail-boats find a home!

I bought these fantastic sailboat watercolours at a garage sale... I spoke a bit about them in this post.

I bought the artwork just because I thought the line work in it was phenomenal, and the watercolour was good. Also, each of the works were fairly local to here. When I got home, I started to do some research on Ben Babelowsky. Turns out he is a well-known Ottawa artist, and has work in collections throughout the world. Soooo Yay me! This four-part is called "Tall Ships" from 1984.

Reclaimed Wood Door

Women in developing countries who carry things on their heads, are remarkably strong! How do I say this with such conviction? I just carried a solid wood door 6 blocks on my head and I thought my neck was going to snap like a twig.

On a side note; I discovered another use for my roller derby helmet...

This is my new (old) door:

So what am I going to do with it? Well there is an awful lot of inspiration to draw from on the internets.
Click 'read more' below to see some of them.

Teepee Coat Rack

We need a coat rack.
I don't really want to spend $75 on a sub-par and boring one, so I figured I would make a simple one myself.

This is what I started with: 1" dowels, twine, and paint.

Then, I used the twine to test the placement, and to see how far the feet would spread.

Space Planning... for TV?

As a designer, I can tell you that floor plans and space planning is one of my favorite things.
That is exactly why I am so excited to stumble across Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde's webpage.
He has drawn the floor plans based on what you can see in popular sitcoms.

For example, Friends; Monica & Rachel's apartment and Joey & Chandler's apartment:

Then there is Frasier, of about the same era: