Painting Horizontal Stripes

Happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much as I did.  It was a busy one filled with a lot of family time, a lot of turkey and a bit of sleep.  I honestly loved it all.  Best weekend in a long time.  Today is a busy day at work so I'm going to get right into my post. 

As you know, I have been toying around with the idea of painting horizontal stripes around the nursery.  After seeing the white walls, I know they need something to liven them up.  I was also thinking of adding a tree decal with leaves falling.  Not sure if this is still a go.  I need to make the stripes work!  So for a little inspiration I have uploaded these photos for us. 

via houzz.com

via weedecor.com

via furniture4world.blogspot.com

via projectnursery.com

via Southern Hospitality Blog

via Southern Living

Have a wonderful day and enjoy the gorgeous sunshine.  At least in Ontario we will! :)

Modern Girlie bedroom & Little Boys bedroom with an update from Moi and Baby.

Morning!  Sorry about yesterday.  I had many plans to post and work on all my postings for the week but then I went through a huge dizzy spell, felt like I was going to faint so I took it easy and rested in bed.  Looking at the computer screen was not an option as it only made me feel more light headed.  I hear this is normal during the third tri but I'm still going to talk to my doctor about it this afternoon.  It was a bit scary.  Luckily Jelly Bean made me fully aware that he was ok by moving around jabbing mom a few times.  :)  (so odd to call myself mom).

Monday afternoon I spent running errands for the house.  We are almost done (for now).  I purchased drapes for the kitchen which Ryan put up last night.  It was quite the difficult task and a good lesson on patience for both of us.  My uncle started to trim out the walls in the nursery.  First coat of paint goes on tonight.  We are using Behr Ultra White.  After trying BM and Para my uncle (the painter of our house) prefers Behr.  I'm going to add a horizontal strip of colour and want a sharp contrast.  If anyone has tips on how to create large horizontal stripes throughout the room please let me know. 

I have rugs for the living room and master bedroom on order from Mat King.  Other than that I just need to hang pictures, put up the bathroom hardware in the powder room, paint the trim in the powder room (not me of course) and maybe buy a plant for the living room.  Then that's it for the down stairs.  I hope to paint our bedroom before Christmas to freshen it up but that's it. 

Today I'm featuring two beautiful bedrooms, one for a modern little girl and the other for a modern little boy.  The first bedroom was featured in Elle Decor.  I think it's absolutely spectacular!  I've always loved grey and pink together but never thought to add yellow (drapes) or green (side tables).  It's so sharp!  Seeing this room makes me want to add grey to our nursery.  Maybe in the rug and glider?  We'll see...

This is the room that made me consider adding horizontal stripes to our nursery.  I will only add one colour to make it as simple and sharp as possible.  The decor is a real contrast between a little boys bed set paired with such dark romans and rug.  The decor will grow with him as he gets older. 

Cookie Kids

I have a busy day (half day) at work and then I'm off to the doctors.  The appointments have increased to every two weeks now.  Today I get tested for diabetes.  Fingers crossed that I'm all good. 

Have a great day!

A Beautiful Nest!

I came across these images from Nest Dallas Design.  I love the feel of each room.  Clean lines, neutral with hits of colour hear and there, great lighting, simple roman shades, not a lot of trinkets lying around.  It's exactly how I like to live.  The prints on the wall of the first room are from the Crate & Barrel.  They work really well against the grey paint.  The colours in this room are not what I would normally think to pair but they work really well together.  The floor lamps remind me of my grandparents old lamps with the tray attached.  I love how they have been modernized with a large barrel shade featuring silver metallic inside.

This is one of my favourite bedrooms.  It has character without the fuss - clean lines, neutral backdrop, pops of green and purple (my favourite fall colour).  I could easily do this in our bedroom.  Now I just have to convince Ryan that puple isn't too girlie (even though he already cut it from the choice). 

Dark grey walls, a lighter grey ceiling, marble surround fireplace, medium toned wood floors - perfection!!  Seriously, if I could paint every ceiling in my house I would!  It would involve way too much work though because we have the god awful speckled ceiling. 

Honestly, the ceiling fans are awesome!  Chocolate brown, light grey and white are such a classic combination that will always remain fresh. 

Ryan is taking me away for the weekend (Sat/Sun) to a surprise destination.  I have no idea and it's very exciting!  Tonight we'll meet our nephew for the first time.  He was born this morning weighing 8lbs 12oz and a full head of hair!  I can't wait to meet this little guy. 

We hope to stop by Babies Fine Furniture on Sunday afternoon to check out some nursery furniture.  We'll see if that happens.  I think I would prefer this weekend to be free of any house duties, errands or decorating.  We need a break. 

Oh, our powder room is looking fantastic!!!  Seriously the colour is gorgeous!

Have a great weekend!  xo

Nursery Update Part 1

Morning! I realize it's almost 11am and I'm just posting now. I've been stuck in the most boring meeting about budgets and repeat information. I swear my boss has a daily word quota that he needs to reach.   

Below are pictures of what I have purchased for the nursery thus far. The lamp is from HomeSense (Sat purchase) but I think know it's the wrong colour of green and will need to go back which is too bad because I really love the shape, size and colour. The knobs look much brighter in the photo than in person. Right next to the fabric they don't look right but on the dresser with a little separation and a lot of white they will fit in just fine.

The walls will most likely be BM Cloud White or Behr Ultra White (if tonight's paint session goes well). That's all for now…




Oh wait! Side story - Ryan purchased a can of Behr Clear Moon last night from Home Depot. He gets home; I open the can and know immediately something is wrong. It's thicker than molasses and has a blue tinge to it with bubbles. I test out a strip on paper to see that it goes on clear and tacky! My uncle took me back to the store for a new can. 50 minutes later we walk out with the correct base and the correct colour. The customer service girl was awesome to deal with! She was almost as annoyed as I was and gave us 50% discount on the new can with our money back on the defective can. It has definitely not been the best of experiences with Behr but I’m still willing to give it a try. Thank you Home Depot customer service for being so great to deal with!



I will let you know how it goes tonight.

Green & Blue

Good Saturday morning to all of you!  It's a gorgeous sunny cool morning in Toronto.  I love it!!  Fall is my favourite season.  It gets me so energized.  I have a few things to accomplish this morning - pick up mat jeans from the tailors (yeah another outfit will be complete providing me with 7 full days of outfits), visit Home Depot to check out Behr white paint since I don't like the Navajo White from BM and I really can't afford to buy another 2 gallons of it and check out HomeSense for bedside table lamps.  Our new side tables will be delivered between 12-2pm today.  I'm so excited to have proper side tables that will hold everything we need.  I know I wasn't going to go matchy-matchy but the pair to go with the dresser went on sale from $239 to $199 and then I managed to squeeze another $20 off each.  How could I resist at that price??? This afternoon I'm going to an industrial carpet store that sells remnants to regular consumers.  A friend discovered it and purchased a beautiful 8' x 8' (aprox) sisal rug for $200.  Wish me luck!

I have been meaning to post pictures of this room for a while now but for some reason my macbook was not cooperating with me.  I put it in time out and now I have a cooperative macbook.  :)  I'm a parent in training.

This is the inspiration for our nursery.  I love how bright the room is and the mix of green and blue.  It's a little girls room but I think it will work just fine for a baby boy or girl and mostly it will suit mom very well. :)

Have a great day!!

Martensen-Jones Interiors

A Wall to Remember!

Morning readers!



I didn't get half of my to-do list completed but I did have a very enjoyable and relaxing weekend. Ryan made us a delicious steak and potato dinner on Friday night. It was as if we were at The Keg but in our own kitchen. He cooked twice baked potatoes with chives. To say they were delicious would be an understatement. For those who have never been to the Keg a twice baked potato is a cooked whole potato with the centre part scooped out and whipped into mashed potatoes and then stuffed back into the potato shell. AMAZING!


I did get the frosting onto three of our windows that face our neighbours. I feel much better now that they can't look into our house and we can't seem them when we are in the kitchen and washroom.


This week’s project is to paint the powder room and living room. The living room is going to be BM Navajo white OC-95. The powder room I have yet to determine. I'm considering dark grey and painting the walls in a satin and the ceiling in a high gloss. I want it to be dramatic!

My other project over the next month (yes I'm giving myself a month to start and finish it) will be installing a gallery wall along the front hallway. It's a large hallway and a very big task. I have purchased the black frames in various sizes. Now I'm looking for the cheap brown art paper that comes on rolls to help me arrange the look. Michael's didn't have it. Any suggestions where to find it? Once I have arranged it I will choose the photos to go in each frame. This is where it will take me a while.

Here are a few examples that I'm basing my gallery wall on. All photos will be black and white.  I'm undecided on a whether to go with a messy look (pic #2 & 4) or to organize it along lines (pic #1 & 3). 

Martha Stewart

Pewter & Sage

Martha Stewart

via Alluminare

Have a great day!

Ah, it's Friday!

After suffering for many hours yesterday with yet another migraine headache I'm back!  Feeling more energetic and with a bigger belly.  I'm still trying to wear my own clothes (pre-pregnancy) but I have a feeling this may be one of the last weeks that it's possible.  The bella band is helpful but makes me feel a bit snug. 

I have a lot to accomplish at work today and a big to-do list for home projects this weekend.  I haven't had a chance to pull the nursery idea board together yet (pregnancy symptoms are really getting in the way).  I did however come across this beautiful nursery for Tiffani Thiessens daughter.  I love it's clean lines, comfy chair, soft rug, the wall decal and the soft purple.  It's perfection.  I'm aiming for a similar feel but with white and green. 

I want to show you pictures of our freshly painted kitchen.  Ryan's had the camera all week at work so i'll try and get that done this weekend.  We still need to order drapes (I might have found the fabric), purchase a dining table, build/paint the chalkboard and find art or something for one of the larger walls next to the dining area.  I like the idea of placing a large clock in the room.  What do you think?

Have a great day!!  xo

Grey or Gray?

What's the difference between grey and gray?  I've read that 'grey' has more of a yellow undertone and 'gray' has more of a pink undertone.  The difference could just be British vs. American.  I'm not sure.  Either way, it's the colour I'm planning on using in our bedroom to cozy it up.  The room is large.  The largest bedroom I've ever had! :)

I'm loving these rooms.  Especially grey paired with gold!  Hopefully we'll test colours on the wall soon.  The room that needs to be painted the most though is the kitchen.  The colour is horrible!  One step at a time, right?

All images from Decorpad

I'm back to work today.  It was a very busy day.  Luckily my accounts are very active at the moment.  Fingers crossed that this will turn into sales! :)  

What I Plan on Doing with the House...

Morning! It's raining here in Toronto.  I had planned to go downtown but I think with this rain it would be crazy.  People can't drive in the rain.  The traffic is always INSANE!  So instead I'm going to watch movies and visit the closest HomeSense.  


This is what I want to do with my stairs (minus the bird gallery because I'm scared of birds!). I'm talking about the white risers and railings.  Do you think it will look good in my place?  The picture of my stairs is in yesterdays post.  

I would like to paint our master bedroom walls gray.  Either a darker one like this room or...

Virginia McDonald

or a lighter gray...

And I would love to wallpaper the powder room in a grass cloth like this one.  Gorgeoud colour!

Jamie Drake

Massucco Warner Miller

Morning darlings! It's one of those weeks. I'm struggling to get out of bed and to find drive this week. It has been very cold, raining and dull in Toronto. So instead of fighting it I'm relishing in the laziness - sleeping in, enjoying a few good books and internet browsing. :)

While perusing online I came across a few Massucco Warner Miller Designs which led me to their website. This triple threat design team are incredibly talented and very diverse in their backgrounds. Julie Massucco studied Environmental Design from Syracuse University and then honed her skills while living and studying classical design in Florence, Italy. Melissa Warner studied Business at University of Colorado and then went on to earn her Interior Design degree at FIDM in San Francisco. Carrie Miller developed her architectural eye while living and working abroad in Fashion. It was in Europe that she developed a love for antiques which led her to open her own “Paris flea-style” boutique in Marin County.

I'm crazy about their style and in awe of their careers.  The rooms they design are a testament to their enormous passion and talent.  I love the fresh and vibrant feel of their rooms.  The pictures below will provide a lot of inspiration for the new house.

All pictures via Massucco Warner Miller Website

Art Inspiration for our new house

I'm loving these water Colours from Bright, Bold and Beautiful by Laura Trevey on Etsy. The colours make me so happy!  (not sure why I'm typing in bold... it won't turn off for some reason)  The colours are perfect for the beautiful sunny Friday morning we are experiencing in Toronto today.  I'm headed to a client lunch which will hopefully be on the patio.  Fingers crossed!  I LOVE patio season!  Have a great day!! xo

Wish I was in a sun dress today.  Instead my ruffled satin salmon coloured top from J. Crew will have to do.  :)

Inspirations For Our New House

Morning dear readers! 

I'm running on no caffeine or breakfast at this point so the post is short today.  I need to find more time to get my work done and grab some breakfast.  The pictures below were taken in Crate and Barrel on the weekend.  I loved the clean lines of this table for a kitchen or as a large desk. 

Depending on the type of table we purchase for the new house, I might consider this chandelier but with different shades.  The ones on it are a little too muted. 

I've mentioned these chairs before but I just love them so much!  I'm seriously considering them for the living room.  They are surprisingly comfortable with the down seat cushion and pillow back. 

I love them even more from behind! 

What have you found lately that has caught your eye?  Shopping for the house is my favourite hobby!! :)  xo