Displaying posts labeled "Kim’s House"

Last summer my husband decided to build a garden in our backyard. It was not planned out and in the end I was really not happy with the quick and dirty execution of it. Basically it looked like crap. (No offense husband dearest!) This summer I insisted he destroy the existing garden and WE come up with a plan for something much more aesthetically pleasing. We did a quick google image search one day for raised garden beds and came across a photo very quickly that we both loved. It was essentially a big rectangle with an area cut out in the middle to walk around in. Simple yet a great layout. And let me say right off the bat that if you’re thinking of building a garden GO WITH A RAISED GARDEN. Weeding is actually FUN when it’s not back-breaking!

We found a super resource of cedar so we went with unplaned cedar to keep the cost down (in the end it cost about $380, and the garden is about 6′ wide and 18′ long). The wet spot above may or may not be me having just hosed down cat pee. 

We placed it against the side of our garage (that one day in the not so distant future needs replacing). We have grand plans of building a screened in gazebo type shed thingy next to it so we can hang out with the cats and not have to tie them up with leashes/harnesses. 

This garden is fairly large but aside from the gazebo and a larger back porch we don’t really need anything else back here. Note the random ferns. They are all over our property. I had no idea they grow like weeds. Best looking weeds out there I’d say! 

The wood on this side of the garage was rotting so husband found something called plytanium. It’s an outdoor wood with grooves to look like planks. I decided to hell with it, we would leave it unpainted and I don’t care that it doesn’t match the rest of the white garage because at least it blends in with the garden. I thought that would make a prettier, more organic backdrop although the plants have grown so big in the few weeks since they were planted that it doesn’t show much anyway. 

We left some space between the garage and garden in case we need to do any maintenance to the garage and filled in the area with mulch. I could not bring myself to remove the ferns so they can stay until they get too big and then I’ll transplant them. 

The garden was constructed several weeks ago but only this past weekend was the gate finally built to keep out any critters….

…like cats. 🙂 Luckily they have no interest in veggies. 

So this is the space inside the garden that allows us easy access to all sides. Mulched all in there too. Yet another stray fern lives within. 

NO BENDING!!!

We planted a ton of herbs – thyme, sage, dill, oregano, lime basil, red basil, thai basil, lemon basil, lettuce leaf basil (yes, we like basil), cilantro, parsley, rosemary and mint. 

For vegetables we planted ghost peppers, 10 types of tomatoes (WUT?!?! I just found this out when getting husband to list it all off – he’s the one that went to the garden centre), green beans, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, red and green peppers and lettuce. 

We have a ton of work to do on the rest of the property (don’t even get me started on how terrible the front yard is), but I am soooo happy this is finally done, and done right. 

I know it has been ages since I have mentioned house progress on the blog but the gift of a new rug that happened to work really well in my master bedroom gave me the swift kick in the ass to style and photograph my just-about-complete space. My bedroom has been a slow work-in-progress for the past year or so, ever since we FINALLY purchased a king-size mattress (memory foam – our first one and we love it). This rather large new mattress was a god-send since we have many cats, most of whom love to sleep with us. The room is about 10’x12′ which for a master bedroom in a 4-bedroom house is pretty freaking small. It basically fits the bed and not much else, which is fine because we each have our own dressing room. OH YES!

Here is a photo I took about 10 days after we moved in (with our old queen mattress) 2 years ago.

And this is what it is looking like these days…

I was looking for an earthy, natural theme and colour scheme so it is all about reclaimed wood, plants and brown tones. I was recently asked by EcarpetGallery to pick out a rug to feature on the blog and this beauty above was what I chose. A 4’11” x 8’10” hand-knotted antique wool rug from Afghanistan. It is absolutely beautiful and fits perfectly in this room (and tones down my orangey birch hardwood floor). It took me days to pick out a rug because they have such an amazing and large selection of traditional rugs, modern rugs, tribal rugs, transitional rugs, kilim rugs, shag rugs, persian rugs etc. Endless possibilities! And I was stoked to find out they are based in Montreal (YAY Canadian!) and New York so shopping is a breeze! (They now offer free shipping on all orders shipped to Canadian provinces and the continental United States with a 30-day free return policy).

******USE COUPON CODE ECGBLOGDESIRE FOR 20% OFF! OR USE THIS LINK! ******

Thank you so much EcarpetGallery for this absolutely gorgeous rug, and giving me a reason to finally shoot my bedroom even if it is not quite complete. 

Not complete: the curtains are what I purchased at our first trip to Ikea after moving in and not knowing what I would do in here. I think I would prefer something darker. The bed legs are eventually going to be wrapped in the reclaimed wood of the rest of the bed. I have been waiting a year and am hoping this post will embarrass my husband into finishing it FINALLY! Oh yeah, so husband built the entire bed from some red oak he got from a guy who was taking down a wood-clad workshop/shed thing. It is beautiful wood. The resulting bed frame is fantastic and I am so happy with how it turned out. HOORAY for handy husbands who build stuff!!! I also need to find pillows that fit the pillow cases that came with the duvet cover as they are an odd size. 

We mounted the Artemide Tolomeo lights that I had installed on either side of the stove in the last house on the bed frame and I love how they look against the rustic wood. The wall colour is Mouse’s Back and the door panels are Black Blue by Farrow & Ball. 

The side tables are Kartell Componibili from A Modern Space. The vintage printer drawer I bought in P.E.I one summer while visiting the inlaws. The burlap storage bag is from this Etsy shop that seems to be out of business. The blanket is old and gross from Ikea. 

This fantastic shelving came from my favourite vendor at the Morrisburg flea market because they have ALL THE WEST GERMAN POTTERY – Off the Wall Retro. It came apart and was unpainted so I was able to do what I wanted to it. It is filled with plants, some of my favourite earthy West German vases, and my collection of Oaxacan pottery I have brought back from trips to Puerto Vallarta. The hanging pot on the left I brought back from Evoke the Spirit in Sayulita. The one on the right is by Ferm Living from The Modern Shop. The girl head vase was a gift from Jo. The dream catcher was purchased at the Ottawa Maker’s Market made by The Quintessence.

I finally caved and agreed to have a TV in the bedroom. A wise decision. It is so cozy watching movies in bed. Because it is rather large and ugly I did what I usually do and surrounded it with art to hide it. Above the door is a vintage map of Ottawa embroidered with a heart by Sadie & June from Maker House Co.. Deer and raven prints by ButterBean Design. Buffalo print by 100th Meridian from Maker House Co. Vintage saint painting from Antiquus Goods. Skull and ribcage drawings from Cassie Meder. ‘Mr. Wolf’ original mixed media by Dulce Tapp from Orange Art Gallery. Vintage mounted butterflies from a flea market. Horse photo by Road Trip Creative. Original oil painting I had commissioned for husband of our dearly departed Cheeks. And last but not least, ‘Animal’ by Marc Adornato. 

This gorgeous walnut bench was made by our friend and master wood worker Matt Wallace of na coille Studio. Vintage toolbox with handle removed and amber glass bottle to the right of it from HighJinx. The toolbox and bench aid to hide the cord and plug for the TV. 

I am dying of shock that this little succulent grouping I made a few months back is still alive and thriving. 

My beloved leather Eames shell chair from Found Design. 

Driftwood and shell mobile also brought back from Sayulita. 

Eos feather pendant light by Vita

I am so in love with this duvet. It is by X+L (Xander Vervoort and Leon van Boxtel, designers based in Amsterdam) and is hand painted in Gujarat, India.

The cats adore it too. Mostly because I shoved the duvet inside for these photos. 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out The Rug Blog 

I had been trying to find a large piece of art for over my sofa for months and months and could not find anything that really shouted “BUY ME I’M PERFECT” or that wasn’t bank-breaking since my taste in art changes frequently. I had a photo printed on canvas as seen in this post and had no where to hang it but over my sofa in the living room (also seen here when I received a new sofa) which made me realize how badly I needed something BIG and BOLD and DARK because I am enjoying my monochromatic dark grey theme I have going in there. When I spotted this photo randomly on Instagram I fell in love. Now I generally hate art behind glass because glare makes me nutty and taking a decent photo of it can be difficult. I did some searching for options on printing photos (the photographer Amanda emailed me a high-res copy of the photo to have printed myself since she lives in Bali and I’m in Canada) and came up with printing it on photoboard (1/4″ thick, dense white material). Posterjack is based in Toronto and offered this at a really good price considering I decided to go 40″x40″. And no, this isn’t a sponsored post. I came up with this all by myself. 🙂 Because my husband is a very handy guy who is into woodworking, I asked him to fabricate a frame for the photo to make it look more weighty and less poster-y. The result is exactly what I was after. I think it is a dramatic addition to the space. It is in keeping with my dark theme, will not irritate me when I try and photograph it, the printing turned out fantastic and sharp, and the frame was exactly what I wanted. BOOM. 

(Sources for just about everything are in this post. Sadly the cats would not leave the new wool covered sectional sofa alone so it is now up in our 3rd floor storage-supposed-to-be-library space awaiting that transformation and the old sofa with 999 claw marks is back.)

Some time ago I received 2 sets of table legs from an awesome Swedish company called Prettypegs to make some tables from. I was really excited about this for a couple of reasons. First, finding cute/cool table legs is a serious pain. Second, my husband (Daff Design) has gotten into wood-working over the past couple of years and this was a great excuse to get him to make me some tables, because there are never enough tables! It took an embarrassingly long time to organize this project but I am stoked to say my tables materialized and they are DAMN FINE if I do say so myself. The first set of legs I picked out are the August legs (perfect height for coffee/side tables or sideboards). I went with the teak/blue finish but now I see they have an ash/black combo that would have been ideal in my grey room. YAY for options! The saffron yellow is gorgeous too if you’re looking for some spunky colour. 

Turns out my husband made the table top out of hemlock which I don’t love with the teak legs so I may paint the teak part black or dark grey eventually. Regardless I LOVE this! These legs are fantastic and have a funky Scandi modern vibe. It is now a table that houses this rather large plant next to my sofa. 

(The hanging light is the Aim pendant by the Bouroullec brothers for Flos, the kilim pillow is from the Third World Bazaar, the ferals have scratched the crap out of my leather sofa and we have yet to purchase and install trim since our floors were refinished because the projects in this house are never-ending so don’t look too closely)

I also picked out the Estelle legs in black ash/brass that are the perfect height for desks, kitchen tables and in my case, console/sofa tables. These come in 6 finishes but I think the black/brass combo I chose is my favourite. A few of my cats are always hanging out in my windows watching the birds and squirrels so I thought this was a great opportunity to make a table that fits right under the windows in my living room at the front of the house. We went to a local wood supply shop and I found the most incredible piece of spalted maple that had distinct black patterns and some worm holes. The table looks amazing, the cats love it and now I have a new spot to house some of my plants. 

(Cowhide is from eBay, the faux fur stool is from Homesense, the leather and wood chair is from Green Light District, the Jieldé lamp I bought off a DTI follower, and the clay vase is by le lou ula, walls are painted Downpipe by Farrow & Ball)

Thank you Prettypegs!

I recently found out about a new furniture company and was so stoked to learn they are Canadian – and their style is fantastic! Furniture Maison is an online furniture store specializing in clean design and simple aesthetic products. From their direct partnerships with independent designers, to their emphasis on use of high quality solid wood, they are all about curating thoughtfully designed, well-crafted pieces. Furniture Maison’s moto is to inspire a calm and comfortable environment — one of intimate sophistication and culture that is completely unique to each individual. I was really stoked to partner with them because I really do love everything they carry. Funky yet simple and stylish. Mid century modern furniture with a bit of a Scandinavian edge.

The lovely folks at Furniture Maison asked me to choose my favourite sofa and they would ship it to me. YES! It was an easy desicion for me because I have always wanted a mid century sectional. Husband and I love to spread out for movie night and a sectional is perfect for that. I went with the Ruby Reversible sectional because it has great lines and as modern sofas go, it has an edge to it I really like. And I went with the grey since my living room is all about tones of grey.

I had no idea anyone made a sectional so compact – if you’re on the market for a small sofa CHECK THIS ONE OUT! It has plenty of room for husband and I to stretch out. The size is really quite amazing. I love the fabric (although wool with a bunch of cats was maybe not the best choice, so I solved this with a sheepskin) and it seems very well made. Also loving the fact that it only has 2 cushions, which makes it more modern in style. The shape of the back is pretty sexy too. They have several really fun sofas to choose – you can see their sofa collection page here. (And all at super prices)

(Coffee table: Daff Design (husband), Pillows: Fotofibre, Kilim: Kaya Kilims, Pendant light: Aim by Flos)

They have some other really cool collections as well – like their reclaimed and concrete lines. Their reclaimed wood furniture is just how I like it – not too rustic and with an industrial edge. I especially love the Eiffel sideboard and this Louvre coffee table made from reclaimed telephone poles and railway tracks.

I am also a fan of their concrete line. I like to think you can never have enough concrete or marble. 🙂 The Vega concrete coffee table is simple in its design and a perfect combination of concrete, wood and metal.

Also simple and could be used in any and every room in your home is the Vega concrete cube. There is the option of getting it with or without a shelf. This concrete table makes a great side table in a living room, bedroom, or my favourite – as a plant stand.

Furniture Maison is now a favourite of mine and on my to-watch list. Fabulous furniture at really great prices and even greater style.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post is in partnership with Furniture Maison. All opinions are my own.