Craft room and other progress

I thought I'd share the progress that I've made so far with my craft room/office.  There's still a lot of work to do but I'm feeling much better about the space. 

I gathered my favourite wrapping supplies in a wooden box above.  Shipping tags, baker's twine, jute and a little glitter - these are my go to supplies for just about everything.  Besides liking the way they look together, it's nice having them all in one place.

Here's the before.  I can hardly believe that I'm sharing these photos with you!  I'd just started decluttering when I took these but this is pretty much how it looked, minus a bag or two.  "Stuff" was everywhere and I felt a little claustrophobic whenever I came in here.

Much better now!  There's room to breathe!  I've been thinking about repainting the walls but I actually like how they look in these photos so I'm reconsidering that.  At least for now.

But I'm not loving the wicker.  It's just not working for me.  I bought it for our porch a few years ago but the pieces are too big (I have 2 chairs, 1 rocker and the table you see under the window).  Because of our winters, it can't stay out year round and storing it is a huge problem.  So every year I bring it inside and spread it out through a few rooms until the next summer.  I've stopped putting it outside because it's just too much hassle so I'm thinking of selling it.  If you live in the GTA and are looking for a white wicker porch set, email me!  Cushions are included.  :)

I brought one of the bookshelves from my reading room (that room got a makeover too) and put all my decor books there.  I thought of painting it but it's pressboard and honestly not worth the effort.  But it's functional and will do until I find something better.  My bulletin board still needs work but at least my desk is nice and clear!

And I tidied up my storage shelves so they look better.  An added bonus is that it's nice to be able to find things now.  The large cupboard is jam-packed full of fabric.  I've got a serious fabric addiction and have decided it's time that I actually use some of that fabric.  That way, I can buy more!  No, really.  I'm not buying any more fabric until I've used some of it up.  (But please, don't hold me to that!)  I love the basket on top. It's a butcher's basket from around the 1930's or 40's. 

So that's my progress so far!  I still have to "fluff" it up with artwork and a little paint here and there but overall, I'm pretty happy with it.  We were planning to have laminate floors installed on the second floor but I just couldn't handle all the packing up and moving of furniture so we put it off until next year.  I'm looking forward to getting rid of the carpet! 

In my next post, I'll share my reading/guest room changes.  The snowball effect continues!

On another note ... we had to buy a dishwasher today.  Mine has been slowly dying for over a year but each time my husband has been able to fix it so we could get a few more months out of it.  This time the digital control panel went completely wonky and it's just not worth putting money into a twelve year old dishwasher.  With the holidays coming up, we decided to get a new one.  It will be installed next week.  I also bought the shelving for the pantry.  Work on that began today by hauling everything out of there then hopefully I'll get a coat of paint done tomorrow before installing the new shelving. 

See you soon!

xo,
Lynda

Dining Room Updates

The changes keep coming.  In my defense, many of these projects have been in the back of my mind for a few years but circumstances have prevented me from giving them anything more than a passing thought.  I'm so grateful to be able to give my home a little attention.  While going through chemo earlier this year, I started making a list of all the projects I wanted to get to - room by room.  It's a long list.

After clearing out the hutch to make room for my new dishes, I didn't quite know what to do with my blue transfer ware plates that used to be displayed there.  I really like these plates and still wanted them on display so I decided to hang them.  (That's my green front door you see reflected in these first two photos.  I didn't realize how distracting it is!  It's on my list to be repainted - a nice dark espresso brown, which will work so much better with my decor.  But it's going to have to wait awhile.)  Back to the plates, I'm happy with how they look.  I was afraid it might look a bit cluttered with so many on the wall but it's okay. 

Here's a little peek at my new dishes.  I love the shape of the bowls!  Adds a bit of a modern touch without being too much.  I was able to get mugs instead of tea cups.  I have a lot of tea cups that have never been used.  Are you a tea cup or a mug family?  We're definitely a mug family.  I'm adding little touches of "winter" with the evergreen plates and pomegranates.  Still need to do some work on the styling but that will evolve over time.

I'm not quite sure why but I couldn't stand my Autumn decor for one more minute.  The bittersweet was long past its prime and while I decided to keep the white mini pumpkins, the orange ones are now outside on the window sill.  In their place I bought a pot of paper whites and replaced the wreath of orange leaves with my soft blue hydrangea wreath.  It feels much more soothing without all that orange.

And my craft room/office progress?  I'm happy to report that I'm almost done!  This has proved to be a much larger project than I imagined but I like the results so far.  I'm hoping as the months progress I'll be able to share photos of more than my dining room with you.  :)  It's currently the only room I'm happy with and besides, it gets really good light in the morning.

xoxo,
Lynda

November roses

We put the garden to bed this week and cut the roses back, but not before I picked the last of them.  Just being able to pick roses in November is amazing.

The mild weather that we've been blessed with for much of October has come to an end.  It's starting to get cold and it was time to finish up with the outside work for another year. I even saw a few snow flurries this morning!  I'm so not ready for that.

I'm making progress with my craft room once again and the kitchen and dining room are just about done.  I hope to be able to share a few sneak peeks with you in my next post.  The pantry was scheduled to begin next week but I decided to finish up with the above projects before starting another so it might be delayed a bit.  It's feeling a little chaotic around here!  

In the meantime, I'm just enjoying Autumn's last gifts.  I have to confess that I'm almost ready to put the Autumn decor away for another year and toss the pumpkins into the compost.  One or two have already found their way there.  I'm not quite ready for Christmas but looking forward to adding one or two more seasonal elements to my decor.  When do you start decorating for Christmas?

November can be rather bleak now that the trees are bare and sunny days are rare.  At least I can make it cosy inside, and warm things up with candles, lamplight and quilts.  These roses remind me of Summer so let's just think of warm sunny days - at least for today.  :)

See you soon!

xoxo,
Lynda