Random at my home on a Sunday

I have a ton of cleaning and blog research to do today so because I don't have much time I thought I'd show you some small projects around my house and other things that have been going on here lately. 

First up, some shelving I acquired that needed a bit of work. A couple of weeks ago we went to hang out at my sister's cottage and my husband got to work repairing the shed that houses the ride-on lawn mower (the top half of the back wall had collapsed over the winter due to the weight of the snow). In the process we took everything out of the shed that had been left there by the previous owners. We found a bunch of metal bins/shelving in the shed and outside the shed holding rusting cans of leftover paint. My sister took 3 of the good ones and I offered to take the rusting ones that were outside. They were in pretty bad shape but I figured I could sand them and/or spray paint them. I tried sanding the rust off for a couple of hours but it turned out to be a daunting task so I opted to sand them quickly and spray paint them. I had bought neon yellow and pink spray paint a couple months back and decided to use the pink since I hadn't done anything with it yet. I kind of like it! I thought for now they'd work great as shoe storage in my dressing room. 

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Around my home - part 2

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Around my home

I thought for something a little different that I'd snap some photos around my home. It's been quite a while since I have had any projects going on since work on the house has come to a halt while we plan to wreck and rebuild it. That being said, these photos all ended up being all closeups of vignettes, as I was too lazy to organize anything on a larger scale for photos and there frankly isn't much of a point. (And on that note, do I ever need to sell some of my stuff! More on that when I get around to it. And if you'd like to poke around old posts of my place check here.)

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My new chair

At the end of the summer I blogged about the sad news that one of my favourite Ottawa shops, Green Light District, was packing up and moving to Toronto. On our last trip to the shop before the move, I decided to make a rather significant purchase and ordered one of their lounge chairs. When these chairs first arrived at the shop, owners Deborah and David insisted on taking the chair out of the window so I could try it out. OMG it was like sitting on a cloud! Amazingly soft leather that you sink into. I dreamt about that chair for weeks afterwards and knew it would be a perfect addition to the living room in my new house (which btw has yet to get past the planning stage). I was able to choose the colour of leather (I went with black) and cord colour (black again). I waited several months for the chair to be made in South Africa and get sent here with some other pieces Deborah and David had ordered. A couple of weeks ago on a quick trip to Ottawa, they delivered my chair. It is now my favourite piece of furniture. I cannot wait to get my new house finally built to show it off in. I finally managed to get some photos taken this morning (with my new Fuji X10 that I am still trying to figure out). Thanks Deborah and David!!!

Of course, with 7 cats I am incredibly fearful they may harm my chair (they know momma will freak if they do so they are pretty good about just laying on it and nothing else) so this is what the chair looks like when my arse is not planted on it. 

P.S. Green Light District was featured in the latest issue of Toronto's Designlines! A fantastic magazine I may add, that had me dying to take a trip to TO to check out GLD's new shop and a ton of other shops listed in the mag. 

Random on a Sunday

Hey folks. Things are a little nuts here at casa di cats so I thought I'd just show you some of what I've been doing lately. Hope you don't mind. 
First, I published a post on my page yesterday on the subject of something not interior design related but do have a looksie here because I think it's pretty cool. 
Second, Jo shared a post last weekend of her office, so I thought I'd share a bit of mine. You see, my husband moved in to what is now OUR house a year ago last May and we attempted to share the tiny office at the back of the house. That did not go over so well so I relocated to the only other available space - the dining table in the middle of the kitchen. My laptop and I have been there ever since. Kind of annoying but hopefully this time next year I will have a fantastic office on the third level of our new house (more on that shortly). Anyway, I took some photos of my "new office" a while ago and thought I'd share some of them. Of course, they feature some of our fur children. Consider this a prelude to tomorrow's Pets on furniture feature. ;)

Here is a shot of the kitchen with my laptop in "my spot". In this one Mimin is on the table in her basket (made out of old tires), Felix is on the Panton chair, Milo is slightly visible behind the chair, and Felix is to the left (the others were napping). 

Here's a cute one of Felix looking up at me and Mimin wanting some love. 

Here is the same cast of characters as the first shot, but Edgar and Milo switched spots. 

After the jump, I've got something I've been working on with my husband when I'm not blogging or studying French. Our plans for our new house. A little recap (for those who don't know what's going on, and I frankly can't remember what I've mentioned of this here): In the spring my husband and I started planning renovations to our 925 sq ft house which included a large addition and reworking the upper floor (see posts here and here). Work was supposed to start early summer....then late summer....then fall....and it was when we got feedback from the city that we discovered the architect our builder had set us up with had no freaking clue about the rules of building houses here in Ottawa and the plans we had submitted were essentially garbage. (We were really sorry to see the designs that our designers Dylan and Thu had created for us go to waste). We decided to scrap the architect, the builder, the plans - everything - and start fresh. Really fresh. We decided to tear the house down and rebuild. My husband and I managed to come up with some drawings (done by hand) that we think may work (based on a few phone calls with the city). Considering that I am a programmer and my husband is a network administrator and we've never designed a house before, we are slightly clueless so I'd love to get your thoughts. :-) And for reference, the plans are loosely based on this home I blogged last month.

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