My apologies for the prolonged absence! A slow internet connection, lack of inspiration, and non-existent budget has kept me from keeping up with my favourite blogs or making progress in my sparsely furnished home. 

BUT I did pick up a few paint samples!

Top and bottom swatches are both All-A-Blaze, center left is Passion Fruit, and center right is Tomato Cream Soup. All are from Benjamin Moore. 

Darn iPhone makes them appear darker. And I'm missing a swatch of Pink Flamingo… my price conscious Ginga' Ninja assumed that I'd be unwilling to "splurge" on the full spectrum paint. I do have a large paint card for comparison though.

 

So far Passion Fruit is competing with Tomato in my paint race…

with Passion Fruit pulling ahead! (Go banana! for all those die hard Simpsons fans)

Perfect at night… may be slightly too orange in daylight. If I had access to Fine Paints of Europe I'd try Colonial Rose.

Maybe I'm splitting hairs here?

This is what I'm aiming for. 

Bedding has yet to be decided.

LOVE that secretary desk, would jump through hoops for it. But it's a vintage piece not likely to be found again. So I'm considering this local Kijiji find…

Styled up like this beauty...

So what do you, my lovely readers think?

Snow Day

Snow Day!

There's a bridge and harbour over there somewhere...

So I'm staying in and warm with these…

Found these at work the other day among many others, thought I'd borrow them. Ohhhhh it was like being a kid in a candy store!

What else would I do on a storm day but absorb all this design goodness?

New Year Re-organization

With the New Year comes the renewed need for organization. It's a phenomenon felt by not just me but by most of the population. Well, I assume so anyway… based on the number of retailers putting out organizational items this time of year. The Home Depot in particular. Thanks to the sale they recently had on clear shoe boxes ($ .87 each!) I was able to get a start on my closet clean-up. 

This is an in-progress photo I'd like to share with you…

Much better than the mess that previously inhabited the top shelf. And as you can see I truly do stick to black, white, and navy with pops of red, pink, and leopard. Now to dream up something as fabulous as the closet make-over featured on The Aestate… feast your eyes on this loveliness!

Ahhhh it reignites my love of "the black wall". And I'd really like to thank my lovely readers for the kind words and reassurance on my last post regarding my black walled living room. You've all encouraged me to go out and pick up another gallon of matte black and complete the paint job. 

Progress

Here's a photo of the most recent paint job. Although I like it… I don't love it. You see, I've had a black bedroom in a previous apartment. It had large mouldings that I painted white as well as the floor and the ceiling was also painted black. It was glorious. 

(This a little bedside table I created by removing the glass topped swirly iron design and welding a piece of sheet metal to before painted black, another Kijiji make-over)

Maybe I should have gone with the veuve clicquot orange I used in a previous mood board…

I really don't mind the trial and error though… I see it as a form of education. 

Progress to Come

Hello lovely ladies and gents! Yes, Yes, I know it's been rather silent around here this past month. My apologies. Once I get my little paws on a proper camera I think that will change. 

I've begun to make small bits of progress in my home in spite of having next to no budget. If you stay tuned I'll share photos. I've rearranged the layout of the living room to take better advantage of the view. Really though, why sit on the sofa and look down at a car dealership when I can move to the opposite wall and look out at the bridge and harbour? Ah yes, I remember now, I was avoiding any glimpse of the kitchen. Not that the kitchen is awful… I just prefer to avoid house work.  I may just be the luckiest girl alive to have a handsome man who does the cooking AND cleaning. I may clone him and make millions.

Any whoo… speaking of cleaning… I was considering selling my glass top coffee table due to the fact that it needs a daily wipe down. This may be old news to everyone but me, but thanks to Windex Wipes I may just keep it. Highly recommend the stuff! (BTW the rug is long gone, something else I'm in need of)

I've also had some painting action take place in the living room. Black, pitch black. Although it was not my first choice, a compromise between budget and my gentleman's taste took place. I find a black and white palette more budget friendly as more budget friendly items in these two non-colours are easier to come by. Especially fabric. I may do a post on this at some point. Anyway, stay tuned for pics of newly painted goodness. In the meantime, feel free to ogle these…

(via Style at Home)

(unknown)

(Book Essential Elegance)

(via sketch42)

(unknown)

(Miles Redd - Design on a Dime)

(Victoria Secret - supposedly the sexiest place on earth?)

Bedside Styling

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday season! But It's not over yet, we still have my personal favourite holiday coming up… New Year's Eve!

Over the holidays I had a bit of time to gather the few items I have around the house and style up my bedside table. Although it's still rather bare looking, it's a start. Also, please forgive the poor photo quality… I'm working on that.

These adorable little macaroons, place on the saucer from my fav teacup, have allowed me to clear the clutter that often litters my bedside table top…

They each store items I consider essential through out the night and morning… breath mints, Advil, and  caffeine (I'm too impatient for tea to kick in). And the candle is from my favourite candle company, Voluspa. If you haven't had the pleasure of burning one in your own home I suggest you pick one up at your nearest Chapters or home decor store. Even the tiniest candles fill the room with a natural scent, much better than those hideously chemical and foul smelling room sprays seen advertised every five minutes on TV (Sorry for the negativity but spraying one of those is the quickest way to get me out of a room).

Here's the whole bedside table… clearly I need more Objet D'art and maybe a basket or box underneath for hidden storage.

Quality

"Even when I was a little girl, I was an incredibly picky shopper when it came to my clothes and things for my room. Every August, my mother would set aside a day for us to go shopping for school. I drove her nuts. I'd spend the whole day trying on clothes and come home with just a bag of underwear. I couldn't buy something just to buy it. I'm still exactly the same way." - Dara Caponigro

I have to admit I did the exact same thing to my poor mother when I was a child. In fact, I still shop this way. Sure my home is bare and rather empty at the moment, but I'd rather take my time and slowly fill it with quality pieces that will last me a life time. And quality pieces need not be expensive, you just need to be patient and search Kijiji/Craigslist, antique shops, and second hand shops to find something within your budget. Waiting for sales and floor samples is another great way to bring home a well built piece at an affordable price. 

When I see people compare a well made piece to a bad knock-off made and sold at a fraction of the price and call it a deal I often have to disagree. Many times the knock-offs only somewhat resemble the original and don't look nearly as beautiful because the scale is off or the finish looks cheap. Or the quality isn't there; it feels flimsy and you can tell it was built to break (planned obsolescence). 

Please don't get me wrong though, I'm not a snob. I do shop HomeSense and other discount retailers for accessories and some furnishings and have purchased several great items. I just don't believe in buying pieces that I know won't last more than a few years or that I plan to replace "as soon as" I can afford an upgrade. We live in a throw away society, and I don't prescribe to that way of life. 

"I think people should buy the best they can. I still have the sofa that I had from my first apartment. It has been recovered a couple of times, but I still have it because it was a very good sofa. Sometimes we spend a lot of money on things that are very cheap because that's all we can afford. Ultimately, because they are really cheap, they fall apart." - Bunny Williams

Here's a perfect example of finding deals on Kijiji…

This Oly bed retails for upwards for $7000

and is being sold for $1800 on my local Halifax Kijiji.

What's your opinion? Have you ever purchased something you thought was a deal just to have it break a short while later?

Christmas in a Teacup

My sweetie brought home a bouquet of very festive looking flowers last night. Since I'm a fan of unconventional "vases", they promptly went into my grandmothers poinsettia china teacup which my mother was kind enough to give me this Christmas.

It's starting to feel more Christmasy in here.

More Animal Print

As you now know I absolutely love animal print in large doses. But good animal print material can be hard to find. I find it can look really tacky if the scale or colours are off. Scalmandre offers the most amazing leopard and tiger print velvet one could possibly imagine. But at over $1000 a yard and about $300 for scrap on eBay a more budget friendly fabric needs to be found.

Kravet makes a line of animal print fabric (which is still pricey at $330 a yard) that's not too shabby. 

What do you think? Would you use animal print in your own home?

And I'd also like to add these photos found over at Habitually Chic demonstrating the pairing of animal prints I had mentioned in a previous post.

Guest Posting Today at The Glam Pad

Yay! I'm guest posting today over at The Glam Pad!

Go check out my post. And if you are new to Andrea's blog spend some time looking through her past posts… pure fabulousness!