Happy New Year~

Happy 2010 Everybody~

I'm really looking forward to this new year.

A new place to live,

New experiences

New adventures

New rooms to decorate! (ah, bliss)

A coffee table with a dual personality - revisited

This post isn't brand new to blogsphere, however has been added to. And since I took a lovely picture of it at Christmas with 'the different look', it totally feels like a brand new table again! Read on and see what I mean.

Woodsy finishes on coffee tables can be lovely! But in this case, this little table had a troubled finish that needed alot of help. The table had some great features, but I had something else in mind for it.

First, the table recieved a light sanding, then was primed.

The table had a lovely ridge around the edge that offered some interesting opportunities! So the trials began. The varations are still thought out at priming stage to ensure the right finishing colour is used.

The chosen antique white paint goes on! Great care was taken to save all the time worn nooks and crannies to allow for the next step.

Here is one side with the new glaze! Isn't it amazing how the features just pop when a glaze is added? A mid tone was used so the antiquing would have a softer hue.

Here's the magic part of the table. The tiles were dry placed without mortar nor grout! The fit was just that perfect! This option allows for an easy change or to simply morph back to a wooden surface. Nothing like a little 'change my mind' option thrown in!

Tile version.

White version. In seconds!

 Let's try out some other vignettes!

Um... yeah. Next!

The table colours were chosen to compliment this room. The tile ties in with the darker fireplace, yet the antique white paint lightens the space, pulling in the sofa.

A slight ledge on a coffee table is a fabulous and hard to find option. The lip captures any spilled drinks...

... and makes the most awesome 'Lego capturing' table EVER.

Lil Dude, you make it look good, tiles or no tiles. :)

~ this post is shared with ~

An ode to rusty metal for 2010

It all started here.

Folks, it's a rare day indeed when you are able to announce that you have somehow changed the world as we know it.

Many of you that frequent my small little blog know my love affair I have with all things metal and rust.

Ahh, jest if you will. Rusty metal has indeed touched my kitchen even your life, many many years before you even realized it's grave importance.

Perhaps you have a small sampling somewhere in your home as we frugally speak. Maybe it was from the dump an ancient ruins dig  where you unearthed a free priceless artifact that you could utilize in some wacked creative, wonderful and unique way, for, say, a headboard. Brilliant!

Ahh. That was too easy and common. No. Remember the Christmas gift you received 15 years ago that you thought, "Pishawww. This shall go to the thrift. I shall not do metal! Little did you KNOW my friend, how that one small motion of time could have transformed someone else's universe in the blink of one's clueless eye.

Let this be a relief warning to you!

These situations are all around us. Someone had to take a stand and salvage a lost mineral most have known to stand the test of  time for centuries upon centuries.

For She is beee yooo teee ful. In true raw form, and simplistic function.

Someone.

Had.

 

To.

Do. It.

I am so very pleased to announce, that someone of utmost importance has discovered my metal loving ways on this teeny weeny little Canadian blog. This SHALL put Canada back on the North American map! Scooch over Washington, BC is overlapping your boundaries!

The world as we know it,

shall never be the same.

Please join me in witnessing this incredible moment in time. What better way to start the New Year 2010, than to start it off right.

I have before you, a small film to watch.

Please bear with the loading time. It is worth the wait. Loading times are created so you can stretch your 17 hour blogging legs, gearing you for another 17 hours. Take what you can. It's New Year's Eve. You need a beverage anyway.

And... let us begin.

Please view at

http://en.tackfilm.se/?id=1262309457881RA74

Let this be a most Happy New Year to you and yours!

All due, to this.

You are welcome. :)

(p.s. this post needs that video to make sense )

TDC Top Ten!

Well, here it is folks. The end of another year. I can hardly even believe it. It went by in a blink, didn’t it? I for one am really looking forward to 2010! :)

So here is the list, in all it’s glory. This was my first full year of blogging, so I had more to pick from compared to last year’s list. I was going to go in order of comments, lowest to highest, but I’m running out of time today. I’d really like to publish this before the new year. ;)

So let’s just go randomly, and I’ll end with the post with the most comments.

First off, my dining room redo was oh-so-popular. I was such a brat and kind of strung you along for the whole redo, so I really appreciate that you all hung in there with me!

The DIY centerpiece post can be found here.

The table setting made up of items from Pier 1, Stein Mart, Target and HomeGoods can be found here.

And the reveal of the whole room can be found here.

All that’s left to do in here is take it all out to install new floors! Easy, right?! Crikey.

You all loved my insane obsession dislike for icky cords:

You Squeezies totally get me. You can find out the method to my madness here.

I took a couple $20 lamps and customized them with spray paint and wall paint:

You can find out more here.

I grouped a few of the holiday posts into one entry. There are really going to be about 20 links on this post, but whateva whateva, it’s my blog so I can. :)

The ornament wreath can be found here, the Christmas dining table here and the fall door decor ideas here.

YES, I decorated above the pot-tay. And YES, I did it with a table runner:

You can see how I did it here. ;)

One weekend I decided I would teach myself how to tile. It happened to work out pretty well:

You can see the process here.

We transformed our deck this summer, finally. It wasn’t necessarily cheap, but we weren’t using the space every summer, and now we do!

We actually added a fire pit as well, I’ll show you that next summer. :) To see more, go here.

You all loved how I harassed my sister repurposed an item I found in the neighbor’s trash:

I love to boss her around. I don’t care if she’s not five anymore. You can see the process I went through with this piece here.

I droned on and on and ON about my beadboard island earlier this year. I just love it, I can’t help it!:

You can see how it looked before here.

I like to yell at you a lot about GETTING RID OF YOUR CRAP! In the nicest way possible.

My love of decluttering and organizing is shown in these two posts that you loved too:

Our unfinished basement transformation can be found here. And I brag about my closet here. Don’t worry – they don’t always look like this. Just most of the time. Hate me.

This year I plan to purge a TON more from the basement, and we are really hoping to finish it off too, but we’ll see. And I hope to show you our master closet soon too – it’s the one spot in the house I cannot keep clean and organized to save my life.

You know what I love? My posts I label “love” are some of the most popular, by far.

The top five from this year were:

1. A post about rocking my baby found here.
2. Where I share all I know about blogging here. (A second edition is coming soon!)
3. I decided I would have No More Mondays here.
4. You all sending your love to my family here.
5. And probably my favorite post of the year -- your life and home does not have to be perfect to be perfect for YOU. You can find it here.

The “Perfect” post was my most popular of the year with 175 comments. I’m glad you all found it worthwhile to read, and I am so happy I wrote it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for a fantastic, fun, inspiring year! I can’t wait to share more with you in 2010! I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year. We are staying home and clinking Pepsi cans. ;) OK, maybe a margarita. I’m going to make some fondue and popcorn and we’re all going to relax and enjoy being together.

Happy New Year!!!

Tell Me I'm Not Alone

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who plans to mail out Christmas cards and then runs out of time. The sad fact is that this has happened for the last two or three years. Did you know that some people take you off their Christmas card mailing list if they haven't heard from you in a while? I realize that many of you keep in touch with old friends using the internet but, to me, emails just can't replace the thrill of receiving a card in the mail from a loved one. This year I intended to mail my Christmas cards early but, with our son's accident and other life events, once again I ran out of time. Yet I was still determined to let old friends know that they're in our thoughts. I decided to mail New Year's cards. There is just one problem. There are no New Year's cards to be found! Hallmark really should consider making a line of cards for procrastinators like me.
I refused to let this stop me. I sketched out the numbers 2010 and cut only the outer edges for my card template. Then I traced and cut the design onto cardstock that was folded in half. Next I printed a little sentiment and glued it inside. Now our friends will know that we still care, even if our thoughts are a bit belated.

Before it gets too late,
I want to wish you, my blog friends,
a wonderful 2010!
May the New Year Bring You Happiness,
Peace, Laughter,
and the Best of Memories.