2 Desks are better than 1

This was a happy reason for a small redo of our office. The 'ol blog is getting bigger (a big thank you to all of our readers!) I needed a place to deal with bloggy stuff (emails, writing, researching, sponsors, moodboards etc . . .). Before I would just use Lee's desk during the day while he was at work, but from time to time Lee is able to work from home, and if he tackles a bit of work in the evening I would be relegated to the sofa or the dining room table. The solution was a simple $75 desk from Ikea (found here). Actually it cost us two $75 desks, but we were able to sell our old desk for $75 (even steven).

Now we are able to work in the office together, it's really nice! It's more than really nice, it's the best situation for working. We are able to talk while we research, we are able to play footsies under the table . . . just kidding.

It also gives me a chance to use my favorite chair, I didn't want a 'desk chair' like Lee's, but I did want a black chair so it nods to Lee's without matching.

We added a couple of Ekby brackets and shelves to the desk, I thought it gave more definition, and more of a cubicle feel. haha I like that I have an extra shelf to hold books I am using as reference for a post, or a cup of tea.

I added a desk pad (also from Ikea, apparently it was an ikea sort of day), I also grabbed some $5.99 fabric and cut it to size under the desk pad. It's pretty! ;)

This weekend we added a couple of drawer units, also from Ikea. They are the Micke Drawer units, they have three shallow drawers and one deep drawer for files. They have been the most useful thing we've bought for the house! ;) I'll share in another post how we organized them all, but even just this weekend they've been so great.

We are so happy with how our office for two is coming along. We still have the rolling ladder to add to the bookcases,

 but we are making some serious progress in the office, with the addition of our new bird cage for Carson, our new bookshelves and now our desks!!!

What do you prefer, a quiet office for one or a busy office for two??

Office Sneak Peek

We are putting some of the finishing touches on the library this week. It's almost done . . . so close. We went and ordered the metal for the ladder in the library this weekend. It was so exciting to move one step closer to my dream library/office. I sometimes talk about "Dream Home elements", those are things that you have always dreamed of for your home. A library with a ladder is my number one dream home element. It feels great to be one step closer.

I mentioned last week that we were planning on adding another desk to the office . . . and we did!!! We've almost finished the changes in the library . . . here are some sneak peeks:

We found a spot for my favorite green lamp. The curtains have a bit of green in them and the green lamp ties in really nicely. 

These fabulous paper weights were something I couldn't resist . . .especially because they were on clearance at Chapters for $2!!! They stack up neatly, and are numbered so if you have piles of paper on your desk you can prioritize the piles!

Lastly, our terrarium is still doing really well!!!

I can't wait to share our new desk and library!!! I think you're going to love it!!!

New Art in the library

We have a couple of new photographs in the library. We've been meaning to add more meaningful art to our home. We added the oil painting from my great grandmother's house in the library last month, and now we've added some more family art work in the form of Lee's Mom's Photography!
Lee's mom is very talented nature photographer and during our last visit I was able to steal (with permission) some of her latest snaps.

The first one was a large picture of a bird on a snowy branch.

The two smaller ones are made up of a crystal clear photo of an owl. And another beautiful photograph of one of her trips abroad.

We are very lucky to have both a painter (my sister) and a photographer (my MIL) in the family. It feels nice to add some pictures with a little bit of soul in them.

In Today's theme of family I'll have a new photo from my mom's living room this afternoon. She did a cheap and cheerful, traditional update on her fireplace I think you are going to like.

Big Changes in the Office

We are planning some changes in the office. Good changes for Good reasons. The 'ol blog has been growing in readership, which we are so so grateful for!!! But working from the dining room table or the sofa isn't really cutting it for me anymore.
We do have the big desk in the office but Lee works from home often so it's usually covered in blueprints. We had a talk about it and thought it would be really nice if we could both work in there at the same time. For that reason we are going to add another desk to the office.
If you remember we did have a smaller corner desk in the office, but it was a bit too small and pretty uncomfortable to do any long stretches of work.
Getting rid of the corner desk also gives us room for a large cage for Carson. I have always wanted a large, 'aviary' cage for Carson, I am so excited!!!
We found the cage from a local bird rescue group and were able to trade our old cage for a bunch of money off so the new cage ended up costing us under $50!

It came with a ugly metal stand but I knew that I wanted a piece of furniture for under Carson. I wasn't sure what piece of furniture but I knew it had to be wood.

We found this piece on Craigslist for . . . $20! It was in rough shape (more on that later) but it was the perfect size.

We are so happy to have our Carson all set up in his new cage.
I always think of the quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"You are responsible, forever, for that which you have tamed."  

I want to do what's best for our little pets, and having a Big cage for Carson makes all of us happy.  We still have to raise one of the white shelves above the cage and paint the parts we had to patch but we are almost there, then we can add an extra desk and get posting! ;)

All time Favorites

Writing a blog is so much fun, but between projects it can sometimes be a stretch to post every weekday. Don't get me wrong . . . I can ramble on and on about HOME, but I'm never sure what's useful rambling and what's just plain rambling. That's why I LOVE reader questions. The way I see it . . . if one reader asks a question, there are probably more readers who were also wondering.
Today's question came from multiple people in the comment section of our How we organize all the books post.

 I was wondering, could you make a small selection of your favorite books for each of your 

personal categories?

1) Your Custom Homestead I know it's available on kindle, I'm not sure if it's available in book form, but any way you get your hands on it . . . it's good. I really enjoyed this book.
2) Simple Country Wisdom, I bought this book for my mom for Mother's day last year and I loved it so much I bought a copy for myself! It has some great photography and some great tips!
3) Happier at Home, this is the second book I've read by this author (the other book being The Happiness project) both are really great! Serious Love going on here!
4) Radical Homemakers, this was a bit weird for me to include. There were parts I LOVED about the book, and there were parts that I really didn't like about the book. But for the parts that I loved, this book is definitely worth a read. If you decide to read it I would LOVE to know what you thought of it.

I spent almost my entire teen years in sweatpants. I played a lot of volleyball as a teenager (it's actually how Lee and I met) I spent almost everyday in the gym so wearing something other than sweatpants never occurred to me. But once I was out in the working world I had to fend for myself and it was a steep learning curve . . . one I still struggle with. These Books helped . . . these books and a great pair of leggings!!!

5) What you wear can change your life, this is the first personal style book I ever bought . . . I was in my very early twenties and saw it on Oprah. It worked really well for me, one of the girls has the exact same body shape as mine (with all the same good spots and trouble spots). But I really think this book will work for everybody type.
6) How to have style, a recent find for me. It's great!
7) No Brainer Wardrobe (link found on sidebar), it's a fabulous e book that I loved so much they are now an affiliate of ours! It was exactly what I needed at a time when my life was a bit busier than I would have liked.
8) Gorgeously Green, just an amazing book! Mostly about earth friendly beauty products, this book breaks it all down!

I have a weird love of finance books. I really couldn't explain why, I have just always LOVED to read books on how to save money, and how to invest money. Very weird I know!

9) The smart Canadians guide to saving money, obviously more for Canadians. But if you are Canadian it's an amazing personal finance book. In my little opinion, the best personal finance book.
10) The Wealthy Barber Returns, a classic personal finance book for a reason!
11) America's Cheapest Family. While I don't use every tip in this book, I found this family inspiring (which is all I can ask for from a book . . . to be inspired!).
12) Smart Couples Finish Rich, we buy a copy of this book and attach it to the the gift we bring to every wedding. We use it instead of a card, and write a little message inside the book.

Right now I am really into what I will refer to as "Simplicity" books. Basically just books about simple living, slowing down a bit, and making sure the way we currently live is supporting the kind of people we want to be and life we want to live.

13) Buddhism Plain and Simple, this is the best book on Buddhism I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It was exactly what it promised Buddhism plain and simple. It was so informative but not at all boring. One of my favorite all time books. 

14) The Power of Less. An amazingly inspiring book, I loved every page. 

15) The New Good Life, I've read a couple of John Robbins' books they are always super entertaining. This one has everything from recipes for a smaller waistline to a chapter about the question of whether or not to have babies. 

16) Less is more. Basically a book of essays about valuing free time, no debt and simple living.

Those are some of my favorites and should keep you reading well into summer! ;) 

Here's what I've got lined up for the next few months: 

Simple Living: One couple's search for a better life

The Modern Day Pioneer: Simple Living in the 21st Century

Live Simply with Children

Small is Beautiful

How we organize all the books

I LOVE getting questions from readers! This one came right after our new Library Bookcase post.
Thanks Jennifer!

I don't have an overly organized bookcase. By 'overly organized' I mean I don't have it organized alphabetically or by the Dewy Decimal system. 
I read mostly non-fiction so our fiction section fits on one shelf alone. As for the rest of my non-fiction collection I organize them by topic.
While I don't have a super organized system, I do have a weird system all of my own. Well the system itself isn't weird but the categories are a bit unorthodox. Here are the topics found in our library:
1) Healthy Living. Mostly heath books, or exercise books.
2) Sewing and other craft books.
3) Finance Books, I love a good finance book. I have no idea why but I love books about saving money. I think it's the organizer in me . . . I love new ideas on how to organize our spending.
4) Spiritual books. 
5) Biographies, every one from Tori Spelling to Sidney Poitier, my tastes vary greatly in this area.
6) Green Living, this section takes up two shelves. Here's one:

7) Gardening.
8) Simple Living. I have enough books on simple living to garner their own shelf. Ironic because having tons of books on the same subject is definitely NOT living simple ;).

9) Style books. Books on pretty clothes and defining your personal style. Choosing clothes and defining my own style wasn't something that came easily to me. I found a lot of help in the writing of people who have it together in that department!
10) Adoption books. This is also where we'll keep the books on babies and kids and subsequently teenagers.
11) An entire shelf dedicated to Home Organization. 
12) Another shelf dedicated to Home Design.
13) Cleaning and Home Maintenance. 
14) I have an entire shelf for Ms. Martha Stewart herself. I have no idea why I have a whole section on Martha. All of her books could fit into other categories in the bookcase but for some reason I like grouping them all together!
Last is my favorite section:
15) An entire shelf for "Housewife" Books. Those are books that have anything to do with being a housewife. Or any retro books about women.

And that's how we do it. I could alphabetize them within each category but so far I don't have enough books to make that worthwhile. Maybe one day when we have more books we'll need to get them in alphabetical order, but now it's easy enough to go to the section and find the book I'm looking for.

I almost forgot to mention that the books that are either currently in use or that I have recently purchased and haven't gotten around to reading yet, get put on top of the lower bookcase between the A and Z. Once they've been read they get put into their respective categories. This way I ensure that I don't overlook or forget about a book I intended on reading! 

Bonus:
I collect Martha Stewart Magazines I have approx 150 of them. They are relegated to the bottom shelves of the bookcase because they are very heavy.
I hold the magazines in magazine holders from Ikea and I group them by month. That way I can grab an entire month at a time. It's really handy for planning seasonal menus or for holiday ideas! Just grab a month and you have am abundance of ideas for each and every holiday!

I hope that answered your question Jennifer!

Library Bookcase: No one got Squished!

One day overdue but it's done.
This was one of those projects that was worth every drop of sweat and every penny spent. The impact is HUGE (and so is the bookcase).

It wasn't without it's trials and small hiccups:

• After hanging the upper cases the lower case looked way too small so we added the wood top. A mere $26 upgrade and I think it makes all the difference. 
• The fact that our ladder was a little too small and Lee had to stand on the TOP step, 12 feet in the air to fasten and paint the top. That was a little, let's just call it a hiccup (a big dangerous hiccup).  But don't worry I stood under him the whole time, steadying the ladder, ready to catch my 6 foot 8 inch tall, 250 lb husband in case he fell. You know . . . so we'll both be seriously injured.  
• And lastly, after the thick wood top was attached it started to come up at the front because we couldn't screw down that close to the edge, so some extra glue and a couple clamps later and it was fixed. 

Nothing too major, Lee stayed on the ladder and I remained my un-squished self. It's probably my best quality . . . not being squished!

But after all the sanding and painting was done we both couldn't be happier with the result. So without further ado:

The top of the wall cabinets is about 15 feet in the air. I have never been a big fan of double height ceilings. I really like seeing exposed rafters and other architectural details but a big empty space above has never appealed to me. If only someone had shown me 15 feet of bookcase!

Wallet Damage:
$26 for 2  2"x12" pieces of framing lumber.
$234 for Upper Kitchen cabinets without doors, from Ikea.
$18  Chair Rail as Crown around the top ($1.56 a foot x 11 feet) Here's a how to: Link.
$10  Piece of 1/4" MDF (4 foot x 4 foot)
$5 Tester pot of paint to match cabinets (Martha Stewart's Talc).
______________________________________
Total Cost:  $293 + some extras like leftover stain, glue, screws and finishing nails.

For around $300 dollars that's a lot of added impact!!  But remember if you don't already have lower bookcases that cost will almost double. 

And of course we can't call this a reveal because we still have a rolling ladder to fabricate and install! It should add another $100 or so to our budget, but millions of dollars of impact!!!!

We are so close I can almost hear the music:

"Tale as old as time, 

Song as old as rhyme"

Oh how I LOVE the bookcase from Beauty and the Beast. Lee doesn't like the beauty and the beast reference . . . maybe because it would make him the beast ? ? ? I however and totally ok with the reference! ;) haha

Library Bookcase, Rustic Charm

We had a super productive weekend. Lee finished off our big bookcase project, everything except the ladder and track. We need about another month before that's done.
But late last night Lee attached the trim to the top and we were able to call it done!
Because it wasn't finished until late I don't have any pictures of the trim, but I do have a charming new rustic top to share.

Because of all the action going on up high, it pulled some focus from down below. The bookcases on the bottom seemed small and wimpy compared to the bookcases on the wall. We needed to do something drastic to bring some of the focus back down.
So we pulled out the bookcases another 6 inches, and added a thick, medium toned wood top!!!

I LOVE the new wood top. The white just wasn't attention grabbing enough. The dark wood brings your eye back down.

We used two 8 foot, 2"x12" pieces  of framing lumber at $13 a piece, which makes the top only a $26 dollar upgrade because we were able to use the leftover stain from our back door project.

We'll have a whole cost breakdown at the end of our project!! :)
Here's a sneak peek of the before:

And the after:

I can't wait to share the rest of the progress!!! The trim on top is fantastic!

Library Bookcase Update

We are making progress.
Last week Lee got the bar mounted and the shelves up, then we had the busiest Saturday ever, followed by the laziest Sunday ever so we made very little progress last weekend.

We did manage to get all of the books up on the wall and add some accessories.

The plan is this weekend to add the crown on the top, and a new thick stained wood top on the lower case. We think we can get it all done this weekend, it might involve copious amounts of coffee but it should be done! Well everything except the rolling ladder. That will be done some time in February.

Hopefully Monday we have some amazing photos to share!!!

Big Library Project: The Before looks better than the after

We are at the stage in our project where the before looks better than the after but we're pushing through! ;)

I am so excited about this project, it's one of those "Dream Home" projects I talk about. I had a list of things I would want in my dream home and this project is on the list (like our bedroom fireplace).

We are building a super tall bookcase with a rolling ladder!!!! AAaaaahhhh!!!!! I am so excited.

We have fully run out of room for all of our books, my first instinct was to sort through and donate the ones I've already read but 90% of our books are non-fiction and I bought them because they were great reference books. So I really wanted to keep 90% of them. We donated 10% of them, mostly fiction or outdated non-fiction (books that still had countries like Czechoslovakia and referred to Bush as the current president, I'm talking the first president Bush).  Then we started planning.
We knew we had to go vertical, but how to do it safely???
Bookcases fixed to the wall wouldn't be rated to support the weight of so many books.
Long selves would be good but not the look I was going for.
Then like a big old Oprah Ah-Ha moment I thought, kitchen cabinets hold lots of weight and they don't fall off the wall!!! The skies opened up and the sun shined down on us and I saw an IKEA sign! haha
Ikea's wall cabinets are rated to hold 297 lbs of weight, that's over 400 dishes. SOLD.
We bought three 36" by 39" wall cabinets from Ikea, without door fronts. $204 later and we were set. 1. First Lee assembled the three cabinets.
2. Next Lee Hung the mounting rail. Just find some studs and screw them in with BIG HUGE SCREWS!

3. Lift big cabinet frame up an even bigger ladder while trying not to die. 

4. Attach cabinet to rail (Lee reports that it was super easy).
5. Repeat 2 more times . . . Done! After the cabinets were assembled it took just under an hour! As you can see the sun was going down and ruining my perfect picture lighting!!

So there we are, cabinets are up. Next step is to add, crown molding and a top, to the top of the cabinets. After that we'll be adding a new distressed wood top to the bottom bookcases. It's looking a little 'light' down there so a big wood top should bring the weight and focus back down. And last will be to weld up a rail and a ladder so we can reach all of our books!

It will still be a month or two before we are done but I am so excited already! It's the coolest thing to see when you walk through the front door!!!

Library Painting

I was so excited to be able to incorporate this oil painting into our library. It holds a special place in my heart. My Great Grandmother was a tough farm lady. That's the only way I can think to describe her. Here's a picture of her and my Great Grandfather on the job at the cannery.

They lived way out in the sticks . . . I mean only accessible by boat, way out! I don't remember her house well, but I do remember the view from the house to the water, mostly because of this painting.

I believe it was painted by a neighbor of my Grannies. The painting is in rough shape but I love it so much it could be ripped in half and colored on and I would still hang it. Maybe one day we'll take it to be fully restored but for right now I kind of like the patina!! ;)

I framed it up using an old broken Ikea ribba frame. We broke the glass in the frame when we moved 2 Octobers ago! But I kept the frame around and I am so glad I did . . . it was perfect! It fits seamlessly in our library with our other artwork.

I love this little painting. We've been meaning to add more one of a kind pieces to our home and this definitely fits the bill. And the best part is I feel there's a little piece of my great grandmother in our home now!

Books, Books, Everywhere!

It's been 7 years and I'm not itchy at all!!! (get it, the 7 year itch??)

That's right it's been 7 years since we said I DO! And we are more in love than ever . . . well I am anyways . . . I don't want to speak for Lee but I think he'd agree!
I was down right spoiled rotten this year, usually we decide on a gift for both of us . . . almost exclusively it's something for the house. For 5 years it was our wood dining table (for the traditional wood gift) and 6 years it was our pots and pans organizer (iron is traditional so we did a spin on that). 7 years was copper or wool. I didn't want anything copper . . . but a warm wool blanket would be nice??? Cashmere is a type of wool . . . right??? hehe
We still haven't gotten around to purchasing our mutual gift but Lee did sneak in a couple of very sweet gifts for me!

The first was a stamp I've been wanting forever!

With so many books in our little library and so many friends and family members with similar reading tastes I'm always lending out books I wanted to make sure that our books get returned to us, so Lee picked me up a book stamp. It says Ex Libris (which is Latin for "from [the] books", which when used as a bookplate means "from [the] books [owner]") and in true anniversary style he chose "Mrs. Malinek".
It's perfect! I couldn't love it anymore! He gave it to me before he headed to work and came home to THIS:

(That top stack I'm staring at fell down on me seconds after this picture!)

I stamped every book in our library. I thought about only stamping the books that get lent out . . . but how do you know which books people are going to want to borrow?? and stamping a big MINE on a book, right in front of someone before they take it home just seems in poor taste! Kind of like, "I don't believe you'll return this to me so I'm going to make sure you don't forget!" So I just bit the bullet and stamped them all in one big go . . . although I still haven't made my way into the kitchen to stamp all the cookbooks!
I'll share my other two gifts tomorrow!!! All I can say now is Anthropologie! (and I still can't imagine Lee in that store all by himself!) haha

Ex Libris stamp is from Holmes Stamp . . . Lee said they were really helpful and even emailed a mock-up of the stamp so Lee could see how it looked before they made it!

Ceramic Husband

Those Young House Love kids (I say kids although they're both older then me) might have monopolized the White Ceramic Animal market. But do they have a ceramic husband ? ? ? I think NOT! :) hehe

You read that right, I went ahead and got myself a ceramic husband . . . head!
I write a lot about how I love homes filled with whimsy, and what's more whimsical then a white ceramic bust of your husband?

I couldn't resist, I saw this handsome little devil at Urban Barn on sale. As soon as I saw him I knew we had to have him, he looks just like Lee.

I knew the perfect spot for him to live would be in our library, turned office.

He makes me laugh every time I walk through the front door. What else can I say . . . I'm a sucker for a handsome face with a bald head!! ;)

p.s. Check back this weekend to see if you won our Healthy Homemaking Giveaway . . . and a coupon code for 25% off in case you didn't win. 

New Office Art : I heart BC

I wanted some artwork for my little corner desk. I only needed a small little piece so I thought I would check out some of the great little prints on ETSY!
Since it's 'my' desk I wanted something a little bit girly, but still appropriate for the main floor of our house. I found this 5x7 for $10. It's from Poppy and Pinecone, and I love it!

It combines three things I love, PINK, watercolors and British Columbia!!

 A far away shot for perspective:

I'm loving the way my little corner of the house is shaping up, I still need to find a cuter (maybe a pattern with some PINK in it) File Box, and  a couple of desktop accessories would be great too.

You might have notice that we added an extra floating shelf to on the top, I figured it's totally unused space, so we might as well add an extra shelf and store seldom used office supplies up there. Sheet protectors and binder dividers don't get used often so that's the perfect spot to store them. As well as catalogs and reference magazines.

 I hope you're liking our little office corner as much as I am. I'm thrilled at the difference one shelf and a $10 print can make!!

 Anyone else ordered something they love off etsy lately??

New Desk . . . errrr Kind of!

Here's what our library corner looked like before:

Here's what it looks like now:

Better right ;)

We're making some HUGE changes in the Library or should I say . . . office!