My Office Inspiration Board

Our house is still in the throws of renovation. We've now been out of our home for almost one year and seven months. Crazy. But the good news is that we are inching closer to the finish line. Enough so that I can finally start coming up with concrete plans for the various rooms of our house. Every single room will need a makeover as each wall has been torn down and rebuilt. New paint colors need chosen, new curtains to be made and since we are moving home with a new member of our family - our daughter, Aubrey - life will be completely different so many of our old systems and furniture layouts will need to be rethought.

I pretty much redecorate my house every day in my head but now it's coming to the point where I really need to actively make some choices about what I want our home to look and feel like. It's been a lot of fun with Pinterest as it makes seeing a variety of inspiration easy. I even have a board dedicated soley to "To Recreate In Our Home".

So today got me thinking about my office. Since moving out of our home, I've become a business woman (a fancy term I like to call myself :) ) but when I signed up to become an Independent Scentsy Consultant, I decided to really treat it like my business. This will also be the room I use to carry on the paperwork side of running our home. Here I will keep our files, bills, and all of that kind of paperwork type stuff so good organizational systems will for sure be needed. But in the meantime, I'm thinking about how to make it pretty!

Inspiration truly hit today and I've pulled together a quick inspiration board while Aubrey was napping.

So here it is!

Let me break it down for you and give you the resources where you can find these items yourself.


The rug is from Dash and Albert. Oh how I love SO many of their rugs. I think this classic stripe in a fun pink will be just the bit of fun that my office needs. I love pink but don't want to bathe my office in it. I think this rug would be fantastic!

The fabric bunting is from a sweet shop on Etsy called A Fete Beckons. Aren't these things so darling? It took me awhile to jump on the bunting bandwagon but I truly think they are so darling.

The lamp is from Shades of Light. This is a jumping off point for my creativity. I cannot do the price that Shades of Light is asking but I do so adore the subtle pink of the lamp and the lines of it. I'll be looking for a similar shape of lamp and then paint it a pale pink. Thanks for the inspiration Shades of Light!

The desk is from Ikea. In my office will be two work surfaces. Currently I have a large, heavy, white farm table as my desk. It's pretty beat up and needs a new coat of paint. Though I love it, it does not offer the storage that I need in a desk. It's quiet big so it will be my work surface where I do messy projects and wrap my Scentsy orders....not at the same time though. :) The Ikea desk will be on the opposite side of the room - sitting under the window. With two drawers and a cupboard, there is plenty of space for my doodads and office supplies.

I've been in love with these cabinets from JCPenny for years. Literally, years. My plan is to get two of the white cabinets and place them side by side. One will house my Scentsy stock and business supplies. The other will be for craft supplies and other office basics. I could also see that black cabinet somewhere in my house but that's another post for another day!

Now, this fabric choice may change - but for now I'm liking this paisley print from Michael Miller. I think I would use it as curtains. The overall scheme of my office is white with touches of pink and soft torquise blue thrown in. I've yet to find a fabric I've truly fallen in love with but the whismy of this print has caught my attention. I'm picturing it as drapes. We'll see though. :)

When we go to do the baseboards of the room, I'm really hoping to beef them up like the above picture. I love the look of a strong baseboard so this is something I hope to implement in my office.

And lastly, I'm just loving this arrangement of pictures from Talia at Pieces of Me. What a statement! They would be perfect on the wall near the office door. I have so many fun prints I'd like to frame. I just adore this arrangement. If it's not used in my office, you bet your boots it will be used elsewhere! Click through to see the arrangement in Talia's home. It's breathtaking!


So that's about it for my inspiration. We've got a ways to go when it comes to actually purchasing these pieces and only time will tell if we really do use these things - but it is certainly a jumping off point! This will help keep me focused. Already I have chosen to NOT buy some things because it didn't go with the vision of my office. I just like too many things. :)

The State Of Our Home

Well....our house is slowly coming along. The renovations have turned into quiet a nightmare. We've been living with my inlaws since sometime at the end of September or beginning of October. And we'll probably be her for quiet a bit longer. Turns out there was so much more hidden damage than ever anticipated. In fact, my mother-in-law came home one evening and told me the kitchen had been gutted. Yes, gutted. Apparently, as they were taking down the outside stucco, they realized the floor joists were rotten and needed replaced. They were going to try and remove the cabinetry, repair the damage, and then put the cabinets back. But when they attempted to remove the cabinets, they all splintered beyond repair. So....we're getting a new kitchen too!

I'm incredibly excited about that and some of the other plans that are going on but at the same time, I desperatly miss home. Since Aubrey is due in just ten days and there is no way the house will be ready in time, we have resigned to the fact that we will be bringing Aubrey home to my inlaws. I know that we will receive a lot of help but I can't help but wish we were taking her to our own home. It's been quiet an upheaval at my inlaws house. There are seven of us living under one roof, plus our three dogs. One who is coming into heat soon. And soon there will be a newborn here! To say it's crazy at times is an understatement. Please keep us all in your prayers!

Here are a few photos of our house: (Some of these are a bit out of order but you get the general idea.)

The backside of our house.

The backside of the garage.

The side of the garage.

The laundry room sheeted in. Once all of the outside sheeting is done,

we can add Typar and the move inside to do the insulation and drywall.

The backside of my house at night.

Before - all the stucco is being removed to eventually put up siding.

And after. This is looking into the Roger Raglin room from the outside. See our new windows?

Kitchen - Before.

Kitchen - During.

Kitchen - almost After.

Kitchen - Officially After.

Standing in the entranceway looking into the kitchen...err...backyard.

Looking from outside into the kitchen. Shane is celebrating Mo-vember here.

Looking into my home from the outside. God Bless This Home. PLEASE!!

If you'd like to hear how my pregnancy is going and to see some crafts I made for Aubrey, please scroll down!

Renovations And Pregnancy

Hi Friends!

Boy has it been awhile since I've been here! I found myself setteling into my pregnancy and just enjoying the time reading about becoming a mom, how to take care of an infant and preparing for the arrival of our sweet girl. Who has a name by the way. :) Aubrey Faith. We decided upon her name on the car ride home from our sonogram where we learned we were having a girl. But we wanted to make sure that was the right name for our little girl and subsequently went through every.single.female.name we could possibly think of just to make sure we picked the right name. And we did. She's an Aubrey through and through. It took us longer to come up with her middle name as there were many names that we liked. But Faith kept jumping out at us. We've come to rely on the Lord in such a new way during this pregnancy and we've depended on our faith in him to carry us through. We've been going through numerous layoffs, a huge home renovation (that I'll explain in a bit) and just the financial aspect of bringing a baby into the world with limited financial funds. Faith is carrying us through. And I hope and pray that faith will be something that Aubrey relies on as she grows older.

As I mentioned above, we are going through some huge home renovations. I mean huge. I've had to move out of the house even. Well, let me rephrase that. My husband, three dogs and I have all moved out. We are staying with my inlaws until our home is complete. There are 7 people and three dogs crammed into one small house. But we are making do and honestly, it's been pretty good! Let me share with you a brief story of our home woes.

It all started at the beginning of September. Shane and I were in Pennsylvania for my USA baby shower. My inlaws came over to prime the nursery for us. How nice is that?! Those of you who've hung around my blog long enough know that our house is a major fixer-upper. The previous owners had done little to improve upon the home and when they did home repairs, more or less seemed to slap happy things together. So, in each bedroom, along the window wall, was this decorative floral paneling. Ugly. When we first moved in, we just painted over the paneling in our bedroom because we didn't have the money to repair whatever was lurking behind the paneling. So, we sort of thought we'd do that in Aubrey's room as well. No big deal. But my mother-in-law decided to pull back some of the paneling to see what was beneath and lo and behold, there was just regular ol' wall. Until she kept pulling.....

..........and out flew WASPS. Tons and tons of wasps. There was a giant nest of wasps living inbetween the wall. We're talking honeycombs and everything. It was terrible! Being the great inlaws that they are, they killed all of the wasps. My father-in-law did it all by hand too! He didn't want to spray a bunch of chemicals into our home so he endured a few stings just to keep our home safe. What a guy! They ended up needing to tear down all of the paneling, drywall and insulation to make sure that they got every last hive and wasp. So, when we got home, we came home to this.

Nursery wall.

The black is where the wasps were. They had literally eaten through some of the studs. It looks like fire damage! Unfortunatly, some of that black damage is also water leakage from the windows. The windows are builder grade windows from the '50's. Terrible things.

Wasp damage.

So that got my mom-n-law thinking. She decided to check out about getting a grant to upgrade our home. Canada had been advertising these home eco-efficiency grants where you can do all of this work on your home to make it more eco-effecient and then the government will refund portions of your costs back to you. But first, you had to have an inspector come to your house and evaluate every.little.thing to see what sort of funding your home was eligable for. One of the perks of that is that they have a heat sensor thing that would be able to tell us if anything was living in our walls. We wanted to make sure there were no more wasps living in any other parts of the wall, so that alone made the inspector worthwhile.

Laundry Room - Long Outside Wall.

Turns out, we were eligible for all kinds of money because our home was just that bad. So, we decided to get the ball moving and redo our home. Quickly. Because a baby is coming in 2 months and three weeks. Every outside wall of our home will be torn down to the studs and new studs and insulation will be put up. We have already ordered new windows and soon each of those nasty builer windows will be replaced. Our bathroom was smashed to smitherenes just the other day - and since we only have one bathroom - that's the main reason we had to move out. That and the drywall dust. In tearing down drywall around the windows, we discovered that there is major rot due to the windows leaking. It's actually pretty bad. As it stands now, the nursery outside wall has been ripped down to the studs. New ones are up in it's place. The window is gone and instead there is plywood. An electrician friend also changed out the electrical outlets and switches. He'll be doing that for the rest of the house as well. We have some bad wiring! In all of this, there are plans to side the house as well. Did I mention that most of this needs done before Aubrey comes? Not the outside work of course, but all things inside need to be taken care of before she comes. We have plans to everything completed by November 20th. That includes repainting and putting the house back in order. It's quiet a construction zone.

Laundry Room - Window Wall. Wood Rot.

So, those are the major reasons I haven't been blogging lately. Things are BUSY around here. Though lately I've been finding myself sitting around twiddeling my thumbs. It's hard not being in my own home with my own things. But everyone has been amazing. I mean honestly, amazing. My sister-n-law has even given up her bed so Shane and I can sleep on it.

More Laundry Room Window Rot

Things with my pregnancy have been going really good. Aubrey is measuring exactly where she should be. I tested negative for my gestational diabetes test (or so I think. It's been well over two weeks since I've taken the test and hadn't heard I failed so I'm assuming no news is good news.). I'm in my third trimester already! I'm actualy 28 weeks and 6 days. The countdown for this little peanut to come is realy on! This pregnancy has been flying by and I wish it would slow down just a bit. I'm hoping and praying that our home will be ready intime for her to come. Please keep that in your prayers. :)

27 Week Pregnant - A tad bigger now. :)

Sorry for the long and wordy post! Just wanted to fill you all in! I'm coming back in a few days to share with you photos of my USA baby shower. Oh wow, did we have a great time! Talk to everyone soon! Hope you have a great weekend!!

Our Window Boxes

I've said it before - and I'll say it again.
My home lacks curb appeal.


The goal this summer was to up the curb appeal ante of this house and getting it looking cute on the outside. The plan was to put in flower beds, a veggie garden, trim trees (maybe take a few down - we have GIANT pine trees that are overtaking our yard), paint the house, trim, deck, and garage door. There were also plans to perhaps change a few windows and add some much needed trim around the front door. A lofty list of plans but all pretty much very doable.


And then I found out I was pregnant.

And most of all of this had to be put on the back burner. Me teetering on a ladder scraping and painting my house isn't really an option for a pregnant momma. Let alone really doing any painting at all. *sigh* I thought the plans went out the window.


But then enter my mother-n-law.


She thinks we need some curb appeal just as much as I do and has gladly offered to help with that task. She's been spear heading the idea of painting the house and upping the cute quotiant at ol' Casa Cresswell. Thank the good Lord for her. She's the best mother-n-law!

Recently I saw this photo - and my heart skipped a beat a little.

I needed window boxes! Well, not so much as need - but definatly wanted.



My mother-n-law loved the idea too and helped me plan how we would execute the plan. Then, a couple of Sundays ago, we went and she purchased all of the supplies for the window boxes. I'll repeat that - she bought ALL of the supplies for the window boxes. Including the boxes themselves. What a blessing!! Like I said, she's the best!

We decided to go with dark purple petunias. They are 'wave petunias' and are sort of "drapey". There are ten individual pots here.

We also got light purple regular petunias for a filler inbetween the wave petunias. It's the hope that this will fill in more of the spaces where the other wave petunias are "drapey". There are about 32 individual little plants here.

We purchased five of these coconut lined window boxes.

This is our bedroom window before. Ugh, it makes me want to hang my head. See that crumbly brick and chippy paint? In fact, while hanging the boxes, some of the brick actually did crumble to the ground!

Here is my father-n-law putting in some of the window boxes. This is for our living room window. Please ignore all the wayward grass below the boxes - we had just removed some dying bushes and a big pile of rocks.

Rocky road.

All installed and watered.

Do you see me waving in the window? I stood outside without makeup and my hair in a towel the whole time these were being installed. I was just way too excited to care!

These may need a bit more soil to raise them up a bit. They have also filled out quiet nicely - and it's only been since Saturday since they have been installed. I'd love to show you a picture today but it has been raining here the past few days.

One thing that got me VERY excited was when my mother-n-law told me that I could decorate the boxes for the Fall and Winter! I hadn't even thought of that! And truly, it made me just giddy! I've collected a few photos for inspiration. Let me share them with you.

 

The Mantel In The Roger Raglin Room

Catchy title, eh?

I'm linking this post up with Beth's (The Stories of A to Z) Vingette Party! I have a whole folder saved on my computer of vingettes I've found around blogland that I love so I can't wait to check out the party!


 Hi friends! Can you believe this month is almost over? We're experiencing awesome weather here and have been for a few weeks now. It's so unheard of for our area in Northern Ontario to not be buried under snow but I was just outside repotting some flowers into larger containers. I was wearing flip flops and a tee shirt and it felt so wonderful to have the sunshine on my arms. I'm so anxious for the summer to be here!

This past weekend was spent working at the artesinal craft show that my hubby and I help work twice a year. Even now, a couple of days later, we are still unwinding from the show. It's so much work - but it's great to see the different vendors each show. My hubby, his sister and I all work the show doing various jobs so it's fun to all get to work together. Plus most of the vendors give a few perks so we usually walk away with discounted products and some freebies. Can't beat that!

I'm busy finishing up "my project". I've got some spray paint drying as we speak. Until I can post about it, I wanted to share with you my mantel in the Roger Raglin Room. It's a MAJOR work in progress as there are a number of things about the fireplace area itself that bother me - but I sort of am enjoying the placement of things on the mantel right now.

See how the fireplace blends in with the brick? Debating on painting the fireplace but am just not that sure. It's electric. Any advice?

I think my Ikea enamal pitcher needs some blooms in it!

I'm off to go see if my spray paint has dried. Then off to see my hubby about using the drill. See you soon!

Putting Together The RR Room

We have this room off of our kitchen that we call the Roger Raglin room.

Roger Raglin is this hunter who has these videos that my hubby loves. Roger has this funny laugh that makes me laugh. Can I admit that I enjoy watching these videos because Roger is so animated?


Well, Roger has this room that is full of mounted animal heads.

And that was sort of my jumping off point for this room.
Two years ago.


My thought was that it would be a room for my hubby - full of moose motifs, plaids and a really rustic kind of decorating. But after living here for awhile and putting this room on the back burner, it's just not going in that direction anymore. It's still sort of my hubby's room - his desk is in there - but I haven't been too sure where I am taking the direction of this room. Despited all of this, we still call it 'The Roger Raglin Room'.

I decided that I would give it a go and start putting the room together. I showed you a corner of it not too long ago. Well, here is another area.

I purchased this bookshelf on Kijiji for $50. It a HEAVY solid wood piece and nearly as tall as me. I used my free Glidden paint to give it a fresh new look. (Sugarpuffs! I had a before photo taken but it's not on my laptop. Imagine a golden wood color.)

Now, I hate the look of books. I know that they are hot in decorating - but I can't quiet stand the clutter-y look of them. I'd much rather they were behind closed doors. But until my money tree grows, I have a giant bookshelf. And I decided to turn the books on their side. This has a two-fold purpose. First off, the pages are pretty much the same color and that's more pleasing to my eye. And secondly, my hubby is always getting into his books. And it's sooo much easier to just plop a book back on top of the stack than to try and set it back on a neatly organized shelf. Piles work for us.

The barnwood is actually an American flag thing that I've had for a number of years. But the flag wasn't going with the look of the room. So I just flipped it over.

The star wreath is from a store here called Canadian Tire. It was a Christmas wreath - originaly reddy orange. Heirloom White took care of that. Ya'll know I love stars!

And I'm not shy of mentioning my love of fruit jars. Here are two blue Ball Mason jars and a clear Canadian Crown jar.

A clear glass Canadian Crown, a green Canadian Crown and a large blue Ball Mason. I bought all three blue Ball Masons in a set for $6. I love being from an antique-y area in PA!

Okay, how about a look at this area one more time. :)