Bathroom Progress

Can you believe this is all that's left of our computer room?

So, we've been working tirelessly on the Powder Room, formally known as the computer room. The realtors are coming today at 4 to take photos and everything has to be picture perfect in there.
I'm not going to lie, we've had some set backs, for example, Lee grabbed the white paint we have for trim and painted the wall with it :) I was going. . . to paint the room pale gray like the up stairs ensuite, but alas, there is no time to re paint. The pedestal sink we bought (for a steal by the way), the base is too small to cover the hole the previous owners left in the tile. Yes, instead of removing the very easily removable sink to tile, they just cut the tiles around it (insert angry face here).

But other then that it's gone swimmingly. Right now Lee's touching up paint, installed the toilet yesterday (also for a steal $40 low flow, dual flush, toilet from Home Depot, with warranty), the only thing that implied that the toilet was inexpensive was the plastic white handle, but with a less then $5 chrome handle the toilet now looks like a higher end fixture, bringing the grand total to $45.

We picked out a chrome faucet, for $12.25 also from Home Depot, I was amazed to say the least.

Bought the toilet paper dispenser from Homesense on clearance for $12.00 and the best part is we can take it with us when we move.

So that's what has been keeping us up until the wee hours of the morning, although ordering pizza and chinese food has been kinda fun, we have a weird tradition that anytime major reno's are happening we call for pizza or chinese, last night was chinese food, YUM.
Stay tuned for finished photos.

Getting Ready for Fall

For some reason I'm always on to the next thing. Summer's not over and I'm already thinking of fall. To me, come September 1st it's fall and we wanted to make sure to get the fall must dos out of the way before we need them. For example our gas fireplace, It needed to be cleaned very badly, and before fall's cold weather demanded that we use it, dirty or not.

So Lee picked up some Gas fireplace cleaner,

we removed the glass,

spread the cleaner on, rubbed it in and nothing. I mean seriously nothing happened. It was just as dirty as before, it's almost as if the dirt had been burnt in, weird :)

Lee's extremely smart solution was to use a Scrunge, you know, the ceramic glass cooktop scrubbers. He spread the cleaner on the glass, gently rubbed it in, let it sit for 30 minutes and then scrubbed it with the scrunge. Although the word "scrubbed" doesn't really convey what really went on. Lee put so much elbow grease into cleaning it, he looked as if he'd run a marathon when he was done. I couldn't have been prouder if he had.

But, the results are CLEAR (pun intended) the glass is clean and no one enjoys it more then Max.

This weeks a big week for us, the house will officially be on the market by the end of the week. And assuming everything goes well we'll have a new powder room to show you. Along with some more gett'in ready for fall.

Flowers on Friday: Red Carnation

Now, I know I said I didn't like carnations and I've now done two posts on Carnations, but I think I might be changing my tune. I think carnations get a bad wrap.
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want a house or wedding full of the little buggers but a couple of carnations around the house, can't hurt.
Here's our carnations for the week. They came out of a larger bouquet we had the week before, the rest of the bouquet had died but the carnations were still going strong. So I pulled them out, rinsed the stems, made a new cut and popped them into a bud vase. I really like the red against the white, almost like a rose. But WAY cheaper :)

Have a great weekend and we'll be back on Monday, we've got some good gett'in ready for fall posts.
To see our Carnation Topiary follow the link.

10 questions on Joey and Lana Make a House a Home

I was so excited to find in my inbox an invite to Joey and Lana's 10 questions with . . . .
If you haven't seen Joey and Lana's blog, take a jump over there and I'll wait . . . .

Pretty nice huh?
Anyways, they sent us 10 questions to answer. It was a lot of fun answering them.
Questions like:
What's your favorite post?
Where do you go for inspiration?
What's you favorite piece of furniture in your house?
If you had unlimited funds what would you buy?

They also asked me sum up my personal style in three words (that one was harder then I thought).
In case your wondering:
SIMPLE, FUNCTIONAL, GREEN

So if you've got sometime, pop over and see my answers, complete with pictures to illustrate my answers, and let me know what you thought, interviews always make me nervous :)
Thanks Lana and Joey!!

The Library get a Ladder!

If you can remember back, we showed you our Billy Bookcases all Trimmed out! Well because of the height extensions we put on the cases, it made it very difficult for me to reach the books on the top shelves (even at
5' 9" tall, although all 6' 8" of Lee had no trouble). So I devised a plan, reusing what we already had. I knew I wanted a ladder, but I knew I didn't want to invest a lot of money into a sliding library ladder (since we are moving), so the next best thing would be a leaning ladder.

Meanwhile we had taken down our old Ikea Rexbo shelf that was replaced by the new living room side table.
 We had already taken the shelves off and were using it as a blanket ladder.

We tested if it would hold my weight, it does, easily I might add (thank you bowflex . . . Just kidding :) we decided not to test if it would hold Lee's weight since it probably wouldn't and he doesn't need it anyways.
We filled the holes with drywall filler, Lee had some reason for doing it that way (?), also we didn't have any wood filler around (most of the filler was sanded off once it dried)

attached some L brackets to the back, so that the ladder could rest on the well secured shelf. We also attached L brackets to the bottom step I would be using, for extra stability and support.

and painted it white.

Now I can easily reach my books on the very top shelf.

(Please excuse the pink shorts with flamingos, not my most stylish outfit)

Safety Note: It's not meant to be used as a ladder, I only need the bottom step and Lee re-enforced the bottom step with small metal L brackets, and the shelf that the ladder leans on is also secured to the wall with L brackets to make sure it doesn't flip up and hit me in the head. For what we need it for, it works great. The bottom rung lifts me up the extra 8" I need to reach the top shelf, however I wouldn't be using it if I needed any more then one step :) Safety First, and after Lee's safety upgrades I feel very safe using the ladder.

Scents: Room by Room

I love the idea of each individual room in our home having it's own feeling. I want all the rooms to flow together but I also want them to have their own distinct feel. Part of my plan is for each room to have it's own scent. I haven't gotten around to assigning each room it's own scent yet, but some rooms are harder then others. For example I am having the hardest time with the bathroom. I think it might be impossible. The hand Soap is Almond Scented (Dr. Brommers castile soap), my shampoo is pomegranate, Body wash is Tea Tree, Shaving gel is Jasmine, I might just be fighting an un-winnable war with the bathroom, I'll keep you updated and let you know how it goes.
In the meantime I've assigned the Kitchen and Master Bedroom.
It's perfect that We just bought a meyer lemon tree because the kitchen scent is lemon. I just think that Lemon smells so clean, and fresh. Now I know that the smell is artificial and "real" Cleaning products don't have a smell, but I chose the most eco friendly products I could find and feel very safe using them in our home.

 Palmolive ECO is our dishwasher detergent, it's phosphate free so it is better for our lakes and streams. And we use Mrs.Meyers for the rest of our kitchen cleaning team. I love the counter top spray, and the surface wipes. The hand soap and dish soap are also Mrs.Meyers and smell amazing.

The Master bedroom is Lavender Scented (no surprise there). We use Mrs.Meyers Lavender Laundry Detergent to wash the sheets (we make our own detergent but when it comes to our bed sheets we use the store bought stuff, I can deal with my clothes smelling like nothing, but not when it comes to my sheets, I love the light lavender scent the sheets give off when you hop into bed). And yes I know the smell is fake and yes I know it's probably not good for me,  but I buy a very natural brand and I only use it on my sheets. :)
We also have a little french Lavender plant on the dresser, and a little french lavender candle. The Candle is from target, follow link Here.

We also have a lavender plant on our juliet balcony, and on a warm summer night the wind blows in the faintest Lavender smell from outside our bedroom window (sounds idyllic, but once that warm summer breeze blew in the biggest spider, so it's not all, lavender and lemons around here haha) Seriously that spider was huge.  Sorry there's no picture of the lavender plant, If you've ever seen a juliet balcony you'll know there's no room to stand, let alone take pictures.
So there's our rooms scent by scent. I'll keep you updated on the bathroom scent although, I'm not holding my breath.

Kitchen Organization Update

I think that good organization is an important part of every room in a home, but no where is it more important then the kitchen.
If you've scrolled back a few dozen posts you've seen many of our kitchen organization posts, including
Kitchen Organization, Even More Kitchen Organization, Kitchen Organization: Spices, Kitchen Cabinet Cork Board. I thought I'd offer a Kitchen Organization Update. Since we bought new drinking glasses, 100% recycled drinking glasses, we needed to do a bit of re-organizing of our dinnerware cabinet.
Here's the result, Our Drinking glasses are now within easy reach, along with our stacked dinner and side plates.

And our next up grade was a large white utensil crock I purchased at Target this weekend. $9.99 for a very large white ceramic crock was a great deal, I'd been having the hardest time finding one, but target had the goods.

These are two examples of kitchen organization that I think are worth the time and/or money.  To read more about how we organize our kitchen you can follow the links provided above or click on the category Kitchen.

Feathering The Nest, so to speak

Birdy decor seems to be every where these days and The Maillardville Manor is no exception. We've had our birdy touches around the manor for some time now, but it was the most recent addition of a seed canister,  that sparked a spotlight on all things feathery.
We have been storing Carson's seed in a plastic ziploc bag, but this canister is a much more stylish, and functional, way to store his dinner. In case your looking for one it's from Chapters on their summer clearance rack.

This luggage tag isn't really considered home decor, but it's just so darn cute. I keep it on my camera bag! It's from Target.

You've seen our little ceramic birdies during our Coffee Table Chic post. They are from Pier 1 imports.

And last, we have Carson, he counts, although please no angry emails, I know animals are not accessories : )

The Manor was on The Lettered Cottage

Today our little Manor's Mudroom was on The Lettered Cottage. It's been super exciting I've been a huge fan of Layla and Kevin's for a long time now, my mom and myself get on the phone and go through The Lettered Cottage page by page, although I think we spent a good hour in their kitchen alone.
Thank you so much Layla and Kevin, for spotlighting our teeny, tiny mudroom.
If you haven't been over to the Lettered Cottage (although I'm sure you have) they have a beautiful home, with a lot of fabulous ideas to steal :), and they have an adorable little doggy named, MAX too.
If you're interested you can follow the link to the post about our little mudroom on The Lettered Cottage.

Flowers on Friday: My Favorite

I love lilies, I love the way your home smells the second you open the door when you have lilies in the house. Lee knows my love for lilies and because we've had a lot of  changes happening and kind of a stressful week, he went the extra mile this week and got me a beautiful bouquet of lilies and pink roses, with some alstroemeria. All the flowers are in the pink family and I think this is my favorite bouquet of all time.

I love the way the pink looks against the green lamp. If we could get married all over again (to each other, of course) I would use this for the centerpieces.

Max also loves the smell of lilies.

Canary Cage Cover and Seed Catcher

I'm not much of a sewer, truth be told I don't have the patience for it, or the attention to detail. But I know someone with tons of patience and lots of attention to detail, and you'll never guess who: It's Lee. My 6 foot 8 inch tall, weightlifting, electrical engineering, motorcycle building, car repairing,  husband. Honestly I'm not that surprised he's good at it. He's incredibly meticulous, and picks up anything in a second, we stumbled upon his talent during a recent Doggy Belly Band marathon (more on that next week) where I was stuck behind the old needle and thread for 2 hours and to give me a break he stepped in, stepped on the petal and sewed like a regular seamstress, seamster.

If you can remember back Carson Canary needed a cage cover so I found some Tea Toweling with a lovely yellow stripe down it (which Matched Carson's Yellow Color perfectly, Max isn't the only one who wants to coordinate). So because I had sewn the cage cover, and we had recently un-earthed Lee's hidden talent, He took on the task of sewing the matching seed catcher.

For anyone with a bird, you understand the necessity of a seed catcher,  for anyone who doesn't have a bird, the seed catcher does exactly that, catch seeds. Most birds, spread seeds, well, everywhere. I don't know why the food at the bottom of the dish is that much better then the food at the top but according to Carson Canary it is. It's a very simple solution (most of the best solutions are), the fabric wraps around the bottom of the cage and fastens with velcro at the back, holding in all the seeds and seed shells.

I love using tea toweling for the catcher and the cover, I think I might make a matching table runner out of the same material, or maybe I'll put my new favorite seamster to work. :)
Turns out all of our pets are hams! Carson was probably jealous of all Max's attention :)

Canaries make fabulous pets! They are easier then most caged birds, they are a part of the finch family and require very little maintenance. The Male Birds have a beautiful song, and are more then willing to share it with you. One day I hope to have a large cage and many canaries but for now Carson alone keeps me and Max entertained with his singing (and if you ask him Disco is not dead, it's his new favorite genre to sing along too). If you were thinking of adding a Canary to your family, Martha Stewart has a wonderful starter guide to Canaries and Canary Care, linked Here. I found it very helpful during our first few weeks with Carson.
Happy Chirping!

Max wants in on the action too!

Around The Manor Max is included in on everything from shopping trips, to wearing cute outfits. So it only seems natural to include him in our decorating.

With all the Green changes going on in the living room, Max's bed was clashing big time. His keen design eye caught on to the faux pas and demanded a new dog bed (at least that's how I remember it). His old bed wasn't very old and I couldn't get past the guilt of buying a new bed when the old one still functioned, after all it wouldn't be very GREEN of us to throw away a perfectly good bed.
I did some research and came across Molly Mutt. They make dog duvet covers. It's very smart, and she sells the dog duvet covers for very reasonable prices (ours cost $20)

What's so smart about them is you fill them with what ever you have around. We used Max's old dog bed and simply wrapped a couple towels around it to beef up the snuggle factor. They also sell Mesh Stuff Sacks separately which you can fill with anything from old sheets to old pillow stuffing, It's a great way to reduce your waste and reuse what you already have.

I fell in love with many of the Molly Mutt designs, they are cute and playful while still being sophisticated and sleek (something that's very difficult to find in dog bed design). And, I love that the cover is washable.
If you're looking to buy a Molly Mutt duvet cover you can find them at many retailers in the United States or you can buy one from Amazon.com.

Max also loves his Molly Mutt duvet cover. Notice the matching toy in his mouth, I told you he had an eye for design :)