DIY Pillow Covers |

I had purchased some pillows from Walmart when we first got out house. I thought they would match the colour scheme of the house, but once we got everything painted and decorated they really didn't match well! The style didn't compliment the design / feel of our living room either, and on top of all this the seems in the pillows were starting to fall apart!!

So I decide to 'up-cycle' and make pillow covers to put over top of the old pillows, using them as the 'pillow form' instead of buying new pillow forms.

I got the fabric at Fabricland and it was 40% off!! The colours of the stripes on the fabric match our wall colours perfectly. The yellow stripe is the exact colour of our living room walls, the brown ties in nicely with out couch colour and accents in the room, and the red stripe is the same colour as our dinning room (which is right across the hall).

The fabric is linen and so it goes a lot better with the casual / rustic / cozy style of our living room's decor!

I followed the tutorial below when making my 'Envelope' style pillow covers:

Here is what the old pillows looked like:


And here they are with the new pillow covers on them:

Dishwasher Clean Up |

My dishwasher is black and my other appliances are cream coloured. So when I came across this idea on 'The Yellow House' blog I fell in love with it!

I was originally thinking of putting bead board on the front of my dishwasher, but I really like this idea too.

She simply used paintable wallpaper (that you can get at Home Depot) that looks like old ceiling tile.

She then painted it the same colour as her cabinets. Click HERE for her full post about the process.

I think this would look great as it would make my dishwasher the same colour as my cabinets and would match the 'tin tile' that I will be using for my back splash.

She did mention that she wasn't 100% sure if it would stay on (due to the steam/heat the dishwasher admits). So that is definitely something to consider.

A very inexpensive and easy way to give your dishwasher a new CLEAN look! :D

Our New Cabinet |

We LOVE our new cabinet!

We ordered it from Truly Wood Furniture about a month ago and have been eagerly awaiting its delivery.

I matches our table (also made by that company) perfectly!

I was SO excited to finally take out the wedding dishes from their boxes, they had been sitting in the corner of our dining room for 3 months!

I love how everything looks together, it is the dining room furniture I always dreamed of and at such a reasonable price!

Wreath Re-Creation |

I use the same grape vine wreath for every season. I simply change out the ribbon and folliage that I place on it.

Christmas 2009:

Summer 2010: Fall 2010: Christmas 2010:

Winter 2010:

I have also made an Easter wreath using branches of pastel colour eggs, a colorful summer wreath with plad ribbon and fruit, as well as a Valentines Day wreath using heart garland and a felt 'Love' word. (I don't have pictures of those wreaths).

Using a grape vine wreath with simple additions to it is an inexpensive way have a wreath for every season!

Adorable Aromatic Acorns |

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I came across these adorable 'Acorn Sachets' that are filled with lavender on Mireio's Etsy Shop today.

I love that they look like little pieces of a quilt! They are so unique and useful at the same time, filling your home with the beautiful scent of lavender.

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Farmhouse Wares Faves |

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I came across a beautiful website called 'Farmhouse Wares' and thought I would share some of my favourites from their online store.

I love this white ceramic pedestal as all of my dishes are white, so it would look lovely holding a centre piece on my table. Speaking of centre pieces I can't wait to do my oranges with cloves centre piece this winter!

Gorgeous old soap dish for the bathroom.

I guess the cup would be used for when brushing your teeth?

I Have a ribbon weakness too! I can't resist the 50% off ribbon rack at the craft store. So I loved this ribbon organizer that I came across on the site as it is rustic looking (not like the typical white melamine 'craft organizers' you see at the craft store) and it would come in very handy for my ribbon collection.

Cute Cake Stand, great for outdoor events as you could put anything insides (bowl of fruit, tray of goodies or even a cake) and the screen would act as a fly screen.


Adorable Scottie Dog Bookends (currently all of my bookends are my husband's and are quite masculine (lions, ships & granite), so these would add a feminine touch to our bookcases)

Unique Bee hive outdoor decorations, wish I would have spoted these in time for our wedding! Our guest favour was honey jars and these would have looked really cute in the barn where we had our reception.

Perfect Picture Hanging |

I have always wanted to have family photos hanging on the wall going up the staircase, and we finally do!!

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Hanging photos is never as easy as it sounds, especially when wanting them to look even on an incline, like a staircase.

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SO to make it easier for myself I cut templates out of newspaper that were the same size as each of the photos.

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I then hung these templates with tape in order to easier 'eye ball' if they were at the right height and distance away from each other!

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And, without using a level OR a tape measure I was able to hang them perfectly.
I definitely recommend the 'template' route, especially when doing groupings of photos, as even though it takes a bit more time up front, it saves time and frustration in the long run.

An example of hanging photos using paper templates:

My Final Product:

Grouping of our Wedding Photos in the Living Room:

New Dinning Room Table |

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I am SO thrilled with our new dinning room table!

We found a small Mennonite vendor, 'Truly Wood Furniture', at a local flea/farmers market here in London ON.

This table was on clearance and came with the 6 beautiful chairs. It came with two leaves so it can be either 5ft, 6ft or 7ft, fitting 8 chairs in total!

It is a rustic style table having cuts, dents and chisel marks in it from when they were creating it.

It looks GREAT in our dinning room! I can't wait to have a big group over to use it!

New Bathroom Decor!

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The main bath floor was a blue green colour and since I had always wanted to to a beach themed bathroom I decided to use some of my photos from the trip I went on with my mom to Rhode Island, along with beach glass, stones and shells that I have been collecting forever: some from my family's trip to Dominican, some are from Rhode Island, and a lot of the beach glass is from the great lakes!

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