Our Family Room

I took some new photos of our family room while our home was still quiet early Sunday morning.




My family arrived for Thanksgiving dinner later in the day. The slipcovers are still wrinkly from a recent wash but with kids and a chocolate Lab that is the least of my worries. I just added some new frames and photos this week so the photo galleries are a work in progress.




My roses seem to keep following me from room to room ;-)






The IKEA sofa slipcover isn't a perfect fit on our custom couch, but it works fairly well and hides the busy upholstery.





We brought a wing chair up from the basement for extra seating and I need to make a slipcover (it has dark green and navy upholstery) so I am using a bedspread temporarily. The blue is pretty close to the colour of the armoire to the left of the chair.




Our family room is not perfect but it is a comfortable room for our family to watch tv and use the computer (our computer table is in the corner behind the blue chair.)





This room has changed a fair bit in the past two years. Before (2009):








I have lots of plans for it, but for now I want to finish the fireplace/tv nook wall to carry the kitchen board and batten around to the family room side of this wall and add a fireplace mantel. I also need to change the lamps and/or shades. Oh, and work on the photo walls.





Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers and friends and wishing you all a great week ahead! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm linking with...
Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.

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Our Family Room

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Livestock and Farmer's Market Sign

We enjoy visiting Farmer's Markets and the livestock exchanges in both St. Jacobs and Keady, Ontario.  



I was looking for something to hang on this tall narrow wall at the cathedral end of our family room and kitchen and decided a hand painted sign would work. Simple and rustic, and reminding us of one of our favourite markets. I like how it looks with the white board and batten wall too.






I tried to make it look like an old and weathered local advertising sign, as if in it's previous life it was hanging on a building leading into Tara, Ontario. I'm happy with the results (even the crooked lettering~oops.)





The sign that inpired mine is in the great book Romantic Prairie Style by Fifi O'Neill. I painted the leftover board a slate grey colour and printed my lettering off on the computer. I traced the letters with sharp pencils to make a slight indent in the wood, and then carefully filled it in. These smaller letters were a bit more challenging. A quick sanding to distress and then a wipe on/wipe off of Minwax Special Walnut stain (if I was to do it again I would use a lighter stain on the grey paint.)





The best part is that it was made with stuff I already had on hand (leftover scrap of wood, latex and craft paints, stain, and picture hanger.)





I think it adds a bit of the rustic farmhouse feel that we love.

Linking my $0 sign with...
Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
WOW us Wednesday's at Savvy Southern Style
Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

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The DIY Club and 31 Days of Spray Paint Party

I'm joining The DIY Club's 31 Days of Spray Paint Party.






I used spray paint to change these barn stars from Christmas decor to beachy blue accents here. Love my Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze!





I'm linking up to the 31 days of Spray Paint Party at the diy club where the top 10 projects will be featured and keeping my fingers crossed to win the 6 pack of Krylon paint. 'Cause a diy'er can never have too much spray paint!

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Authentic Style~WhisperWood Cottage ~Sarah of A Beach Cottage

I'm joining Amy at WhisperWood Cottage again for her Authentic Style series~this month featuring Sarah from A Beach Cottage.



I shared my Authentic Style in this post. Amy asked if we "share similarities with Sarah's style?" A Beach Cottage is one of the first blogs I started following and I have been influenced by Sarah's beach cottage style to add some lakeside elements to our home. We are not anywhere near an ocean, but have numerous beautiful inland lakes and beaches here in Ontario so I decided to use accents with more of a rustic lakeside cottage feel.  



I love blue as an accent colour and collect aqua mason jars. The wavy glass and colour reminds me of water. Using white in linens and draperies adds a bit of the beach cottage style to our home, that Sarah is so well known for.



More shades of blue and white in classic miniature Muskoka chairs add a bit of lakeside colour and motif to a mostly white vignette in our kitchen.



I recently added white walls to our living room and while Sarah has white slips, I am staying true to my authentic style in this room with a dark brown leather sofa but using white slipcovers on chairs.



In our family room I went with the white slipcovers. I love the airy feel they add to our room (and the fact they cover outdated patterns), but I don't know how much longer I can live with them. Think teen boys and a chocolate lab! Not a good combination with white slipcovers, no matter how frequently they are washed. The canoe paddle is another hint to our love of the Canadian outdoors and beautiful lakes.



Our ensuite bathroom has a beachy feel with light aqua walls, lots of white, beach stones and shells, and a pair of vintage seaside children figurines (a gift from my sil.) So although our home has a rustic farmhouse feel we certainly have a few lakeside beach accents, many inspired by A Beach Cottage.



I am really enjoying the Authentic Style series at Whisper Wood Cottage featuring Sarah from A Beach Cottage and hope you get a chance to stop by to see all the other links. Thanks, Amy for hosting the link party and helping me to discover my own Authentic Style.

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Authentic Style~WhisperWood Cottage ~Sarah of A Beach Cottage

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Armoire Paint Progress~ Primer and first coat

I'm sharing a work in progress on the armoire in our family room today. You may be surprised by my colour choice after seeing this post.


My ideas from that post and so many of the great suggestions I received in the comments suggested white, aqua, grey or black. But there were also suggestions for a french blue or more intense aqua that got me thinking.  I started with white primer but after the whole piece was painted I decided there was too much white. I decided against the black, aqua and grey too. Crazy, huh! Our tv sideboard will probably be painted grey and we already have a lot of black and aqua.  I decided on this pretty blue that reminds me of faded denim {LOVE DENIM}.




Before:



The blue looks brighter in the setting sun but is closer to the first picture. This is only the first coat, on top of white primer, but I really like it. To me it is a very happy colour.




So what do you think, do you like the blue? Distressed (but I don't want the orangey stain showing through) or not? I will most likely wax it too. Looking forward to your comments!

I'm linking to:
SNS at Funky Junk Interiors
Perfectly Imperfect's All Things Furniture Link Party

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Armoire Paint Progress~ Primer and first coat

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Armoire Paint Colour Advice Needed

I have been busy painting a few pieces this weekend and will post when they are finished. What I am really hoping for is some advice from all of you on a paint colour for this armoire.



We bought the armoire for $75 on kijiji and it holds office supplies in the top and mason jars and large Tupperware on the bottom shelves. The armoire is in our family room, on the cathedral wall between the family room windows and the kitchen patio doors. Our walls on most of the main floor are Benjamin Moore Stone House CC-120, and our trim is Benjamin Moore Snowfall White OC-118.





The wall colour is not gold like it appears in some of these photos. The armoire is pine and although I love stained pieces, this one is quite orange and clashes with the stained oak in the kitchen buffet and hutch (just to the left of the patio doors in the photo above.) I know I need to move the curtain rods over a bit so that the curtains are not crammed behind the armoire. There is lots of room to do it, I just need to remember.




The photo below shows the board and batten short end wall directly across from the armoire (4 feet away.)



I'm hoping my readers will chime in with an opinion on whether I should paint the armoire Snowfall White like the trim or a light grey or charcoal grey, black or aqua? I am nervous about the grey not going with the tan walls, but I know others like the two together (grey is my last choice right now.) I'm thinking the black will be too dark, although our kitchen farmhouse table and chairs and dining room hutch are black. Another possibility would be the aqua I used on my bar stools (in the photo above) and in accessories throughout our main floor, including both the adjoining kitchen and family room. The aqua seems kind of a fun choice and is on the lighter end which is what I think I will like more. So is the white but is it too safe a choice and up against the white curtains?



I'm really looking forward to your opinions. Thanks so much!



I'm joining SNS #84 at Funky Junk Interiors.

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I Love Metal!

 I love the patina and functional uses of metals. Galvanized, wrought iron, rusty or new. Metal appeals to me.



My collection of old galvanized pieces is slowly growing.



The first piece I owned is this old sap bucket with the rusty star. It is very versatile and can be used indoors or out in any season. In the summer I fill it with hydrangeas or other flowers cut from our garden to be enjoyed on our backyard patio or...



brought indoors and enjoyed in the family room.



I also have a great old watering can (it doesn't even leak!) and another larger sap bucket on top of the small cabinet in our living room. The chicken wire basket holds some croquet balls and sticks and brings a bit of colour into our white living room.



I hope to one day find a larger piece or some bookcases for this wall. Then I will have more room for my collection as it grows!


This old galvanized washboard reflects two of my collections, galvanized pieces and washboards.





The worn metal rings on my beloved Crown canning jars makes me weak in the knees ;) I'm searching for a solid metal top, without the glass insert.



A huge rusty barn star hangs on the cathedral wall in the family room/kitchen end our our home. 



We store old wrought iron candleholders, little IKEA lanterns, and a pair of chicken wire garden cages on top of the armoire in the winter and use them on our backyard patio in the summer.



I love that they remind me of the good weather and gardens to come all winter long.



A love of metal inspired one of my recent purchases too. I have long dreamed of owning a KitchenAid Professional mixer, so of course I chose a metal finish.




The party this weekend at Funky Junk Interiors is highlighting galvanized finishes, but be sure to check out the home decor and crafts/recipes. There is always tons of inspiration to be had at Donna's parties. 

I'm also linking to Metal Saturday at Freckled Laundry. Lot of inspiration and metal-lucsiousness.

I hope you have a great weekend!


 

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