Bedroom Inspiration

I am stating the obvious here but I love white. I also love anything romantic; flowers, candle light dinners, champagne, overstuffed couches with a cashmere blanket, a roaring fire...I think I am starting to drool.

So why not combine my love for all things romantic with my love of white!

I love the art above the headboard in this picture. It would be a fun DIY project too!

I really want the side tables in this bedroom. They have a very similar style at Ikea.

These pictures provided me with some great inspiration when creating my very own love nest. Which bedroom is your favourite?

A Chair fit for a Queen...or a Captain

My lovely other half and I recently stumbled across this beautiful antique Captains chair at a garage sale. It instantly caught my eye and lucky for me, it fit perfectly in the back seat of my car.


When I bought the chair (for $35.00) the seller told me she paid $100.00, 50 years ago in an antique shop.

It had a few layers of old chippy paint on it so I thought I would embrace that by giving it a country feel. In order to accomplish my desired country captains chair, I distressed this little beauty tons.

I just love how it turned out! After I finished painting, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to search online for this style of chair. I found a few very similar looking ones which sold online for a lot more than I paid!

Unfortunately, I don't think I have a spot for it so I might have to find it a new loving home.

A Splash of Yellow

I had such a wonderful weekend; I spent all weekend in my Mom's backyard painting. I have so many projects on the go right now, I didn't know where to start. Luckily, with the help from my amazing friend Trish and my lovely boyfriend, I was able to tackle quite a bit. Stay tuned because I have some great DIY furniture posts coming up. But...in the meantime, I thought I would post about my thrifty fashion finds.

I was being a little camera shy in this picture, sorry! I mentioned in a recent post that I have been spending some time in my local thrift shop. My shirt is a men's tuxedo shirt that I bought in a thrift shop for $5.00. My belt was $3.00 and my boots were $14.00 from the same thrift shop.

I have to thank my Mom for my little splash of yellow. Lucky for me she is a purse collector and she gives me her hand me downs.



I hope you all had a relaxing and sunny weekend,

Side Table Transformation

I was recently taking a stroll through my local thrift shop when I stumbled across these two diamonds in the rough. It was love at first sight!

My sister was visiting so she helped me give these guys a couple coats of a really light grey paint.

I chose to only slightly distress these little tables, exposing some of the dark wood beneath.



I have to give credit to my sister for coming up with the idea to put them at the end of my bed.

I love this old alarm clock. My boyfriend found it at a thrift shop and brought it home for me!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Sunshine Award

This morning I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that I was given the Sunshine award for my blog. Thank you very much to Rachel Pink Pants for choosing me! Her blog is filled with wonderful posts and creative ideas like this one where she created her very own chalk board. I love it!
I am pretty bad at receiving awards so thankfully there are rules with this one:

1. Thank the blogger who gave you the award- Thank you so much :)
2. List seven things that people may not know about you.
3. Pass the love to three other deserving bloggers that you have just discovered.
4. Let the recipients know that you gave them an award.

So seven things that people my blog readers may not know about me...

1. I used to run away almost daily when I was a little girl. (My sister would always come looking)
2. I can't sleep unless I am spooning my boyfriend Lol. Seriously though!
3. I usually never have nice looking nails. 9 times out of 10 my polish is chipped...I bite my nails.
4. I have a fear of dark water.
5. I feel really uncomfortable at weddings.
6. My favourite TV shows are Dateline and True Blood.
7. I just realized that I am addicted to coffee

It's now time for me to choose three blogs that I have recently discovered and love.

Rebecca at Painting the Roses White

Amanda at Perfect Imperfection

Becky at Cupcakes & Ruby Slippers

Check out these wonderful blogs, I bet you will become fans just like me!

Wednesday Wish List

It seems as if my wish list is never ending these days. Items are being added quicker than they are being removed! I thought I would share some of the things on my growing list.


1. The first item on my list is a new camera. My sister's husband just bought her an amazing new camera. Even though I was so happy for her , the jealousy was seeping from my pores when she was snapping shots with it on her visit home. In true form, I want one just like hers! I heard the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ35 is great but I don't know enough about cameras yet to say that this is THE one.






2. The second item on my wish list is a 1970 'something' Ford F-150. I am in love with these trucks. The huge roar of the engine when they are fired up makes me smile! These guys are built to last! I could also really use a truck for moving around all my furniture.

3. No judging Lol... the third item on my list is an El Camino!! I have pretty much been obsessed with El Camino's since I was a little girl. I love the fact that they are a car but you can also haul stuff and put big items in the back. Many people think that these cars are ugly but I would die to own one. These beautiful vehicles are so misunderstood...in my opinion, they are practical and unique!

4. The last item on my wish list...which I am hoping more of you will agree with than item #3 is a good ol' pair of Cowboy boots. My Mom and Dad had matching pairs when I was a kid and I have so many memories of prancing around in my Mom's boots.

Well...I am happy to announce that I can officially scratch #4 off my wish list! I found these beauties at a thrift shop for $14.00. I'm so in love...

Treasures

On Sunday, my boyfriend and I spontaneously decided to go Garage Sale-ing!..(not a word but it should be). I even managed to borrow a truck from some great friends just in case we found any 'big' treasures. We had so much fun, or at least I did and my boyfriend is too sweet to say anything different. I honestly felt like a pirate searching for treasures, or a kid in a candy store. I thought I would show off some of our found treasures, along with some other treasures I was recently given.

We found these old books at a garage sale that had a huge sign saying "Everything FREE". They had a cute dresser as well but unfortunately it wasn't solid wood :( My boyfriend and I felt a little like we were entering into a scene from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre... we were happy to get out of that garage alive!

This beautiful seashell was given to me by my thoughtful Auntie Mandy. She heard that I had a blog and after reading my posts about how much I love the ocean, she bought me this wonderful treasure. Thanks Auntie Mandy Xo

We found these three power line insulators amongst the rubble at another scary stop! I just love them! I googled all about them when I got home and turns out there are over 2,000 collectors of these little guys who have actual insulator clubs and shows. I knew my sister would think they were cool, so one will be heading to Edmonton soon. And now for my final treasure, my gorgeous oil painting!

When Nathaniel (my brother in law) came home this past week for a visit, he surprised my sister and I with our very own original oil paintings! I was so happy I could barely even speak. I have never owned an original one of a kind oil painting. He picked this beauty before even seeing my house too! The talented artist is a local Victoria man named Yves Gosselin. Words can't describe how much this painting means to me. I am so lucky! Thank you Nathaniel Xo

I'm linking this post up to My Romantic Home for show and tell Friday's.

Dirty 30's Dress Up

I have mentioned my wonderful Grandpa in my past post, Familiar Faces. His biography was recently published so my Mom hosted a party/book signing for him. My Mom loves theme parties...and so do I! Any excuse to dress up fancy right?! This parties theme was Dirty 30's because most of my Grandpa's book is set in the 1930's. I figured I would show you a picture of what I usually look like (ok...with a little more effort than normal) so you can really see the transformation. Please excuse the dorky self portrait.


After a trip in the time machine back to the 30's and...ta da!

I searched on You Tube for 1930's hair how to's and found an amazing tutorial. It was so easy to do! I then googled 1930's dresses and found this picture.

I went to my local thrift shop to search for a dress similar to one in this vintage add. Literally the first dress I picked up was exactly what I was looking for. Needless to say, it was a really fun night! The talented lady from the You Tube video also had easy to follow how to video's for all hair styles.

I hope you all had a wonderful, sunny weekend.

Jessica

Sweet Dreams

Thanks to Holly at Life in the Fun Lane and her Fresh Coat Fridays, I have decided to post my newest transformation. My Dad bought me this sleigh bed for my 16th Birthday, almost 10 years ago now!

Even though it has spent many of its years in storage, I have always loved it. Five months ago, I dusted it off and returned it to its rightful place. Even though I love it so much, I have always dreamt of it being a creamy white, french country style sleigh bed.

When my beautiful sister Rebecca at Painting the Roses White decided to drive her paint compressor out from Edmonton, I jumped at the chance to make my dreams come true.

Here is my dream turned into reality. I love the way it turned out! I distressed it slightly to give it that french country feel.

I literally smile every time I walk into my room now. I don't think it will be taking a trip back into storage any time soon!

Jessica

Beachy Bar Stools

My sister Becky and her husband Nathaniel left today after a week long visit and I already miss them! We pretty much spent the whole time painting, shopping and taking pictures.

I couldn't wait for my sister to bring me this beautiful chair that she re-did for me. Turns out Nathaniel loved it too much to say goodbye (I don't blame him). As a trade off and an amazing one at that, they bought me three Ingolf bar stools from Ikea!

I have wanted them forever; they remind me of stools you would find in a cute beach house. But at $99 each, I couldn't bring myself to buy them. I am self admittedly cheap! They didn't have them in white so we took my sisters compressor to them and they turned out great.

Here they are in their new home! Thank you Becky and Nathaniel, and thanks for bringing your compressor. We pretty much spent the whole weekend painting so I have some pretty great posts coming up.

Jessica

Rescuing a Treasure

I just finished reading my sisters latest post about her new chandelier on Painting The Roses White. It has reminded me of my own lighting update! Last year, my Dad and his wife decided to hire a decorator to help with the finishing touches of their new home. One of the first things that the decorator decided didn't go with the decor was a beautiful chandelier over their dining room table. When my Step Mom Leah told me she didn't have a spot for it, my ears immediately perked up! She was kind enough to give it to me for free. I decided to put it in my bedroom; the original lighting was pretty standard.

I bought a medallion from Home Depot and my handy (electrician) boyfriend installed it for me. So here it is in all its beauty!

Jessica