Rosebud ~ September Edition

I took this picture with Instagram on my way home from Rosebud today. You can see that with views like this, it is not a hardship for me to drive east for an hour....

I brought a few things with me to fill in some gaps in my little corner of the Mercantile. 

Matching Nightstands in Cayman Blue.

A "Wild Side" bookcase.

Lightly Distressed Black Bookcase

Shabby Chair with Chevron Seat.

Here are a few shots of the installed pieces (plus a few left from last time.): 

There is a gray bench and a very sweet headboard for a twin bed as well as a few wire frames and chalkboards. The wreaths continue to be popular and I really try to make each one unique!

I met another one of Rosebud's residents through Kijiji and was lucky enough to be invited for coffee this morning. She is the proprietor of a very unique B&B there. I come away from this town happy every time I go!

This season's play is Tuesdays With Morrie which is getting great reviews. Do yourself a favour and take a drive east of the QE2 and discover what this little town has to offer....

For Sale Now

On The Wild Side Cabinet

{SOLD}

This cabinet has been tough project! It has been sitting in my garage waiting for some loving for a few months. With winter coming, Tim is getting anxious to be able to park in his spot in the garage again so I promised I would finish it before the frost came! I picked it up from a garage where it had been stored for a loooong time. It was dirty and disgusting left me feeling discouraged.

I just wasn't sure how to make it shine ~ to be honest, I briefly thought I would just take it to the dump and forget about it. I talked myself out of that (fast!!) and started to clean it up and get a feeling for what it could become, and then I got a little excited and decided to take a risk....

This cabinet got a complete overhaul and went from being a sad, neglected eyesore to a superstar! I used a bright turquoise latex paint and found this amazing zebra wallpaper at Lowe's to finish it off... I was a little nervous to do something so dramatic, but I know that someone out there will love this piece and find the perfect spot for it to shine. I think it would be great in a bedroom, in a fun livingroom or dining room or in an office as a book shelf. The open shelving with a plate groove makes it perfect for display,  books or any type of funky collection. Lots of closed storage makes it practical too!

I added some whimsical hardware to the doors for a little fun and the matching zebra stripes line the drawer.

Lots of distressing makes it more interesting and showcases all the detail.

It measures
70 inches high
53.25 inches wide 
17 inches deep

If this speaks to you, let me know by text 403.700.0877 or email lisabaron70@gmail.com and we will work out a pick up time. It is large, but is in two pieces and will fit into a mini van or SUV with no problem. I can hardly wait to have this beauty installed in its new home! 

Creating a Pre-Teen Bedroom

My daughter is starting gr 4 tomorrow and she is nine years old. She has been slowly moving out of the "pink and pretty" type of decor for a little while now, but is still very much a young nine. I had hoped to fend off her requests for a room makeover, but I had worked on her brother's room last winter and she was anxious to have a fresh start in her room as well.

I couldn't really blame her. We had taken possession of this house and moved in all in around 2 weeks which left very little time for decorating. It wasn't a bedroom which echoed her personality and as she and her friends hang out there more, I wanted it to feel like a fun spot. 

I did not want this to cost very much as I have a feeling that her tastes may change as she gets older, but I think that there is a lot in this room that will be able to change with her. I started to keep my eye out for things on my treasure hunts.... I knew she needed bookshelf space. I knew she needed more drawer space. I knew she needed a new bed frame. Aside from these things, I really didn't have a vision..... Then, along came Pinterest. S I G H.

I was SOOOOO inspired by this room. If you are on Pinterest at all, you have probably seen it somewhere as it is a pretty popular pin. Take a look ~ it is so pretty and really spoke to my girl's personality as well. She was adamant about wanting to stay away from pink, but she thought she would be okay with coral (YAY!). I wanted to use bright and energetic colours and chose to paint the walls a bright turquoise.

I also wanted to paint the closet wall with chalkboard paint so that she and her friends would have a place to doodle and have some fun. It would also be sort of a unique feature. To bring the black into the room, I thought it would be nice to have a black and white wallpaper along the long wall. I did a brave thing here ~ I took her with me to Lowe's. They have a really awesome wallpaper aisle and they have a great selection of black and white papers in stock for under $40 a roll. I told her she could choose from any of the black and white they had. I really tried to let this be her choice ~ the one she settled on would not have been my choice, but she loved it and I do love the way it turned out! 

I had found the 2 little matching dressers at a thrift store in spring. I had to buy them because it is hard to find 2 matching dressers that size! Initially I was planning to use them in the master bedroom makeover I am planning, but as I thought it over, they seemed like a great fit for this project! They would give her lots of storage space, but would not overwhelm the room. She is still sort of small, so she can easily reach all of the drawers and they are shallow so they can be kept reasonable neat. (Fingers crossed on this one!).

The bed is a Hemnes model from Ikea. I found it on Kijiji without any of the hardware needed to reassemble it. I decided to paint it black and distress it a little to add the needed character. I went to Ikea (ON THE SATURDAY OF A LONG WEEKEND!) and waited in line at customer service to see if they could find the correct hardware. The models can change from year to year slightly and this exact design (brown stain with round spindles) has been discontinued. They were very helpful and since I only needed about 8 pieces, they did not charge me at all.

The bookcase is another thriftstore find. I thought it was great to have the closed lower storage and lots of room for books and her endless odds and ends. I loved the yellow in the inspiration room, so I decided to take the plunge with more colour. I really love the way it turned out! I added some black and white wallpaper along the back (it is not the same print as the paper on the wall ~ just extra I had left over from other projects). As you can see in the above picture, this wall across from the bed is a bit tough. That door goes to the Jack and Jill bathroom that the kids share. It is a great feature, but the drawback is that it adds another door to each bedroom, reducing furniture arrangement options. I still need to find some art or a mirror to add to this space....

I added the wire frame in yellow on the opposite side of the window from the bookcase to just add a little more yellow to balance that wall out a bit. I am still on the lookout for some pretty curtains to hang (that is why the frame is slightly off-centre). The bedding is from HomeSense and made by Cynthia Rowley. I love it SOOOO much. It is perfect in there!

This room is not finished yet, but the spirit of it is. I want to find some art and fill in a few spaces and have some fun with the details. I just wanted to share some of the projects I have been working of for my home too!

I had a decorative dress form that I added and she went crazy! If I had known how much she would love it in her room, I would have given it to her earlier. As you can see, she has it dressed in her outfit she chose for her first day of gr 4. So cute!

I tried to add up the total cost of the room makeover including paint and wallpaper and it came in under $300! This was pretty dramatic and just took a little extra time and patience (and work!), but I think it was worth it. She loves her new space and I do too!

I apologize for the darkness in the pictures. I tried with the blind open and with it shut and this seemed to look better, but it is tricky to get the lighting right in this small room!

Now I just need to get inspired for my own room!