Friday, March 30, 2012

Friday faves - have you seen this?

Apparently this is all over the interwebs...however I just saw it the other day on my friend Ashley's Calmly Chaotic blog:


Melty crayon wax art. Pretty cool, non? And fun to boot. I remember I used to melt crayons on hot glue from a glue gun because I loved the colours melting! I think this is a fun DIY that would be perfect for (a) a colour lover of any age or (b) a child's room or playroom.

Here are some more:

Purple Rain






Hope you have a colourful weekend!

For those of you in Toronto, the ever delightful and insanely talend Ms. Christine from Bijou and Boheme will be presenting at the One Of a Kind Show on Sunday at 1pm - if you're thinking of going to OOAKS anyways, drop by and show your support! I have something else going on but will be there in spirit!


Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Things you never knew about me!

Way back in February, I was "awarded" a few blog awards! I held off on writing about them because I had just done my Tag, You're it post where I answered 11 questions about myself. Now you're about to learn even more about me! I've also posted random facts here.

Tiffany over at Worth While Domicile tagged me in the game where you answer 11 of their questions. Here are my answers:

1. What is your favorite color in clothes and design?
If I had to pick ONE (and white and black don't count)...royal blue right now.

2. If you could look like anyone who would it be?
Hmmm...this is an intersting question...I have no idea....I can think of people's lives that I'd like to jump into for a day or so but not someone that I would want to look like.


3. Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Morning.

4. Chocolate or Vanilla?
If this is for cake I'd have to say chocolate. Yummm...chocolate...

5. City or country?
CITY! I do live in Toronto, after all.

6. Twilight or Trueblood( basically glitter or traditional can't go in the sunlight vampires)?
I haven't read either. Or watched the movies/show. Or read / watched Harry Potter. Just call me immune to tween litterary wonders (Except the Hunger Games, which I ate up with the rest of the world).

7. Do you prefer a home cooked meal or going out to a restaurant?
Oh, this is such a tough one. I love cooking and hosting people for home cooked meals...but I do it often and restaurants can be special. I have to say in every day life I prefer home cooked, but for special occaisions I love restaurants. Nota Bene in Toronto is one of my all time favourites.

8. High heels or flats?
Heels! I wear flats to walk around and to go to/from work, but generally wear heels every day and when I got out.

9. Have you ever received a really nasty comment and how did you respond?
Hmm...I don't think so...but I would likely just ignore it. Emails and comments can read very differently than they were intended by the writer

10. Summer, Fall, Winter, or Spring?
SUMMER! I love being able to pop outside without worrying about boots, a jacket, scarf, etc. It also seems like there is so much to do just waiting on your doorstep in the summer.

11. What's the most adventurous thing you've ever done?
Skydiving in Taupo, New Zealand. I made a quick decision to do it and had a great time! If you're going to do it, do it somewhere with an amazing view to make it that much more worthwhile.
The lovely Ava from Turning Hope Into Home awarded me a Liebster award, and part of that is sharing 5 random facts about myself to help you get to know me better.  Here they are!
1. I eat my cereal dry (yes, that's right, no milk).
2. I'm not much of a movie person - I might watch 6 or 7 a year (really), and at least 2 of those are usually on flights (and at that, I often fall asleep during them...)
3. Sniffles are one of my biggest pet peeves. Get a kleenex!
4. I love flyers. Yes, those annoying ones that come to your mailbox every week. Call me crazy, or call me cheap, but I look at them every week! You won't see a No flyers sign on my mailbox...
5. I read magazines cover to cover. I'll do a flip through but then I read every word on the pages to make sure I'm catching everything. This means magazines like InStyle take forever for me to read.

Thanks so much Ava and Tiffany for including me in your blog awards!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

House Tour updates

A couple of weeks ago I experimented with adding some additional pages to my blog. You can see a few tabs now under my blog header. This past weekend I updated the House Tour tab - and realized that we have touched (majorly touched) every single room in this house! I will keep it updated as things change...

And make sure to check out the Blogger Book Club tab if you haven't already - we are reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain for our first book, and will be "reviewing" it (and looking for your comments!) on April 23. If you're a blogger taking part, make sure to grab the book club button to the right of this post.

That's it for today - just a quick update on some of the behind the scenes stuff going on here!


Monday, March 26, 2012

I'm just visiting...

I'm over at First Time Fancy today sharing my tips on how to make the most of Spring wherever you are, and how to bring Spring in to your home.

Photobucket

Hop on over to check out my post!

If you haven't read Kerry's blog before, you're missing out - she shares renovations and creative projects on her west-end Toronto home, as well as updates on her adorable daughter Halle.

Happy Monday everyone!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Friday faves - ahoy!

All this beautiful spring weather and sun is making me naturally think of summer...I know I know, getting ahead of myself...but it has been SO nice! I would love to just hop on a boat with some champagne and sail around and around and around. It's supposed to get cooler again (very soon...), so let's just indulge in this nautical day dream, shall we?
Nautical knot bracelet - via Madewell


Regatta Clock - via Gluckstein Home at Home Outfitters

such cute (and easy) napkin rings for a themed party - via The Princess and the Frog

I love captain's mirrors! via Jenn Ski blog



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

DIY kitchen art or How to re-use a rice bag

I've got a REALLY simple little DIY for you guys - all you need is a frame and a rice bag...

This whole project started because we needed something to add life to a small wall between our kitchen and dining room. We were initially thinking a clock, but the one that I liked at HomeSense was $179...and I was hoping for something more along the $39.99 route. So, we went to Plan B!

I bought this rice a WHILE ago and we finally finished it (I totally bought it for the cute bag):
I thought the royal blue would look nice with the greys and whites in the kitchen.

Next I cut out the front of the bag:
I taped it onto the matte in the frame and voila - framed rice bag:

I cut a royal blue print that I picked up from Ikea into 2 smaller sizes and got them up on the wall - mission accomplished!


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Helloooo Spring!

Happy Spring everyone! Spring is so exciting, because it's a drastic change of season from the grey winter to hits of green popping up. I've seen little crocuses poking through the dirt which is a sure sign of spring. To top it off, it has been SO nice here, I got motivated to bring some Spring indoors!

We were at HomeDepot (of COURSE), so I took a gander at the houseplant section. They had tonnes of little plants for a whopping $1.99 each. I picked a few up to repot into brass pots I have that typically sit empty on the dresser in our entryway:

Here are the houseplants in their original pots:

(yes, these photos were taken outdoors, in Toronto, in March. It was so springy and warm!)

I repotted the plants into slightly bigger plastic containers to put in the brass containers...

Then I arranged the plants inside...and there you have it - some spring indoors!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Weekend curb find

Happy Monday all!

Sunday was a real treat here weather wise - sunny and warm. The Mr. and I decided to take advantage of it (as much we can with my silly back - hoping to be on my bike next weekend!). We headed down to the beach to take a nice long stroll along the boardwalk. As we were walking down Woodbine from where we parked, we came across 2 little wicker stools on the curb, destined for the garbage, that were just calling our names:
I'm thinking of spray painting them black and then making a cushion (or buying...) to put on top. I kind of love them. And for free? Yep. We'll use them as extra seating in the living room, on the porch, or in the backyard...totally versatile! 

I was going to include some inspiration pics here...but you'll just have to do your imagination because I am not finding any easily! But that's ok, the idea's in my brain and I'll translate it to real life soon.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

All parties end up in the kitchen...

Isn't it funny how everyone always congregates in the kitchen at parties? Well, Thrifty Decor Chick is doing a little kitchen party of her own! If you're looking for kitchen inspiration, THIS is where you should go. I tossed my kitchen hat in the ring as well (of course!)

image

Friday, March 16, 2012

How our kitchen is making us better cooks...

Ok, well maybe that's a stretch (I like to think we're pretty good cooks already!) but the Mr. made full use of our fancy kitchen last weekend and treated me to a delicious dinner last Friday night! (Due to my back injury he's actually been cooking far more than his fair share, but he's doing a good job taking care of me!)

Food and Drink magazine from the LCBO (Ontario) is a huge standby for us - there has never been a recipe that we've tried that is just "so so" or that let us down...this one was no exception.

He made braised lamb shanks (with a cinnamon honey sauce) with brussels sprouts and potatoes (white + sweet)...it was heaven:
We also happened to have the suggested wine pairing for this dinner - I looked at the suggested pairing, thought it looked familiar and it was one that was in our wine rack that the Mr. had picked up while in Germany for work - random, but it was meant to be! This recipe is definitely going in the "make again" pile. You can find the braised lamb shank recipe here.

As I posted about last Friday, we were planning to have friends over for brunch on Saturday but unfortuantely they had to cancel due to being sick. Never the less, the Mr. and I enjoyed our fresh organic farm eggs:



Yummm...now the only question is, what to make this weekend? Happy Friday everyone - hope you have a delicious weekend!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Kitchen reveal - Complete!

I am SO excited for this post..it's finally time for our Kitchen reveal!

Without further ado, here is the after...
And as a scary reminder, this is what it looked like before:

Enough of that...let's go back to the pretty:




You can read more about my kitchen in these posts (and additional posts under the "kitchen" tag):
Cabinets
Counter top, sink, faucet
Backsplash

I am happy to share my sources for this reno with you all - if you have any additional questions please let me know via a comment or direct email (interiorgroupie@gmail.com)


Granite counter: Superwhite Granite via Ariston Marble & Granite (slab and install)

Tile (backsplash): 3x6 bevelled white subway tile via The Tile Store (Bermondsey); Installation The Mr. & me

Faucet: Moen Level via Hudson Plumbing Supplies (Mount Pleasant)

Sink: Olivec Global via luxlux.ca

Plumbing: The Mr. & our friend F

Paint:
Walls: Benjamin Moore Horizon (OC-53)
Cabinets: Benjamin Moore White Wisp (OC-54) using "Cabinet Coat" paint

Cabinet / Drawer Hardware: Lee Valley Tools

Fridge: LG via Pilo Appliances (Steeles)

Monday, March 12, 2012

Book Club

Wasn't it a beautiful weekend (at least here in Toronto)!?! It was positively warm and sunny out there and is supposed to be nice all week! I threw my back out on Saturday which greatly curtailed any sort of fun outdoorsiness on Sunday, but I'm still happy that it's light out for so long and it was so warm.

Ok...onto the post...

I am so excited for this announcement...Carol from The Design Pages and I have been talking about this for some time, and we are starting a Book Club!
For a while now, I've listed the books that I am reading or have recently read on my sidebar...readers will comment here and there - mostly saying they loved the book I'm reading, or asking what I thought of some of my past reads. Carol in particular had some great book suggestions for me, and we seemed to have a lot of similar book loves!  Everyone spends so much time online, but it's still nice to sit down with an actual BOOK and read a story. So we sort of tossed around the idea of doing a book club...except she's in Vancouver, and I 'm in Toronto. Then we tossed idea of doing an online book club...and here we are...

Our first book:

Here are the details....


WHO - Everyone is invited to join.  As long as you love to read, you're invited - you do NOT have to have a blog to join (but we would love if you do join, to add yourself as a follower of course)


WHAT - We'll announce the books well in advance so you have time to get your own copy.  As we announce the books we'll also include the review date and let you know which one of us will review the book.  We really want to hear from every single one of you who is reading along with us so on review day please stop by and add your review in the comments section or to a linky party (depending on how technologically advanced we can get!) 

WHERE - Each review will take place at either my blog or Carol's The Design Pages (we'll let you know where it's going to be in advance).

WHEN - We're going to start right now!  The first review will take place on Monday, April 23 here at InteriorGroupie

WHY - Because we love to read!

Here's the lineup of our first 3 books:





Let us know if you're planning to read along with us and if you're a fellow blogger, grab the Blogger Book Club button announcing that you're one of the cool kids in the book club (it also appears on my side bar).



Interior Groupie


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