Fall's Delights

I have to admit I am a summer girl. I love the sun, water, going to the cottage, all of the outdoor activities, and overall, how happy people are when warmer weather is around. I think that's why I get so bummed when Fall comes.

But my sister-in-law made such a good point; instead of look at the negative that summer's over, look forward to new events and things to do. She's right! So I've made a strong effort to get out there and embrace Fall in all it's very colourful glory.

Here's are a few favourite local attractions, things to do to enjoy this year's autumn season:

Pingle's Farm - great for apple picking, activities for kids, produce, and wagon rides

Knox Farm - one of family traditions where we go and pick our pumpkins for the season, right out of the patch. So many activities to take part in.

Toronto Zoo - even when the weather cools off, I love taking the kids to see all the colours of the trees changing, and see the animals.

Markham Fall Fair - one of trips planned for the upcoming weekend. Again, jammed pack with fun for the entire family.

There are sooo many other places or events I could write about, but you just have to get out there experience it. If you recommend any as well, pass it on!

Enjoy the season!

My latest doodle

I know I have written a few times about my living room. I think since I started blogging it has had at least 2 transformations, from furniture, to simple cushion changes. Well, it's gone through another transformation. To give you a little history, I loved the gray we chose, and I loved our new couch and love seat; however, together, they didn't work. So I turned to one of my favourite designers, Sarah Richardson, for inspiration, and I found it in this room she designed:

From Style at Home November 2008 issue, "Sarah Richardson's Lottery Home Makeover"

I love the regal purple used on the wall and the mix of patterns, gray and cream tones. So keeping in mind this idea, here is our new living room:

I used a neutral gray, called Thunder AF-685 from the Benjamin Moore Affinity line, and I used Sarah Richardson's Velvet SR 69 for my focal wall. Many of the accessories are from the Interior Design House. The Interior Design House has 2 locations, one in Burlington and the other in Oakville. Some really beautiful items for your home if you're in the area.

 

You can see the other posts I've done on the living room here, and here.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday's Delight

I don't know about you, but there are some days I just love to sit back and search through some of the amazing shops on Etsy. I have bought a few things from various shops, from birthday invitations to wall vinyls for the kids' rooms.

My latest delight has been the shop called, The Little Gentleman's Closet, and you can find the link here. This shop has handmade ties and bowties, or patterns so you can make yourself some really cute outfits for some up-coming holidays. Here are a few that caught my eye:

I love the argyle pattern, so cute!

Speaking of argyle, how cute are these coordinating bow tie and tie of you have two little men. Maybe an idea for Thanksgiving!

Are you already thinking about Christmas? If so this shop also has ties for the occasion.

So check it out The Little Gentleman's Closet; perfect accessories for our little men!

Terrific Tot Tuesday: Handprints

I am in love! I went searching in blog-land for a site that used toddlers hand and foot prints for art. I have to say, there are some amazing blogs, that are far better resources than websites geared towards families, kids and toddlers! You can find the link that I used for the project below here.

After looking through all of the amazing projects on this site, my little artists and I got to work. Here is our super fun, super easy, fall painting:



First, I painted their hand and arm with brown paint. The kids then made their print. I outlined the tree using their print as the guideline for the trunk and branches.




Then the little artists used red and yellow to make hand prints for the fall leaves, and their finger tips for the green grass.

 Too cute and a great activity to celebrate the beginning of the new season.
Thanks for reading.

It's been a long time!

So I think I figured it's been almost 4 months since my last post...I guess the summer was very good to me and my family! That being said, it's time for me to roll up my sleeves and get back into blogging.

The first project I wanted to write about is how I'm updating our dining room (and a few other rooms...stay tuned!). We originally had a circle table in our dining, a great find at Liquidation World for under $200.
The only problem I found was, for a dining room, and for a large family or friend gathering, it wasn't conducive for our entertaining needs. My parents were no longer using their 40 year old teak dining table. Notice, the 70s feel of this table in the photos below. So I decided to update it. I looked into getting it professionally done, but with the quotes that came back, I decided to put some blood, sweat and tears into this family heirloom. So here are the before and after shots.

This project took me a few months, as I was working on it during nap times! I stripped it...twice (I know you shouldn't, but had too!), then sanded the stubborn areas, then stained with four coats, and lastly, put on a protective overcoat. What do you think? The funny thing is, it kind of makes our dining room look larger now!

And can you believe my dining room chair finds! TEN DOLLARS from kijiji...slipcovered, washable - I'm in love!

Thanks for reading.