Pantry Makeover! Getting rid of those wire shelves with an Ikeahack

I've always loathed wire shelving in all it's forms... but I do understand why they are used. Lightweight, easy to install, and cost effective - they seem to be the shelving of choice for builders du jour. If you're stuck with unsightly wire shelving - I have the solution for you!

After trying to figure out a way to do built-ins on our own and without custom cabinetry, I turned to the trusted and faithful BILLY from Ikea. Billy comes in two depths (12 and 15 inches I believe), and by choosing the shallower of the two, I not only gave myself some extra space in our walk through pantry, but I avoided the "black hole" - where food items get lost and never used because they are way in the back. You'd never know these are budget bookcases - they look like they were designed to be in a pantry.

 This set up allows for two rows of jars or a bin which makes everything incredibly easy to locate and things don't get lost in Neverneverland. We trimmed out the bottom and the centre (where the two bookcases meet) with some simple baseboard trim to make it look like a single unit. Had we had more time in this house (oh, did I mention we are moving! Another post :) - I would have gone much further like some of the Billy built-ins I found on Pinterest and put crown on the top to really give it that built-in look. I also might have wallpapered or stenciled the back, but I was far too indecisive to settle on anything.

Before our pantry overhaul, my pantry sadly looked like this (can't believe I'm sharing this!).

Granted, I knew we were ripping it all out so I didn't invest any time in making it pretty - seriously, how big of a transformation is that?

Taking out the wire shelving, patching and painting was a bit of a task (the wire shelves were anchored with some pretty serious drywall screws) - but my husband and father-in law tackled it like pros.

I customized my shelf heights to the heights of my jars and was so happy how it all worked out - another big plus about this project is how easy it is to adjust shelf height to accommodate different sized items - something you can't do with wire shelves.

Despite the depth being absolutely perfect for this project, the width did not line up perfectly. I toyed with the idea of building in an extension so the pantry fit the entire width of the space - but instead opted for a chalkboard diy wine shelf (upcoming post!). The little gap (just less than a foot) was good for putting large Costco acquisitions before I had a chance to properly put away, but could also have used it to store a broom or a small foot stool.

While the pantry doesn't always look as clutter-free as these images, the reality is pretty darn close. I've found it really easy to maintain when you have a home for everything. I wanted to redo my labels prior to this post, but with the move ahead just didn't have the time. These labels are going on 2.5 years and still kicking - although some have definitely seen better days. I'm still amazed at how long they've held up though!

Have you ever used a Billy in a non-bookcase way? Do you have wire shelves you hate as much as I do?

Happy New Year! Pop Fizz Clink FREEBIE Printable

That is it lovelies, one more day of 2013! This past year FLEW by but I am really looking forward to 2014 - there are so many exciting things in store and many more great memories to be made.

I was absolutely thrilled to partner up with Tiny Prints this holiday season and got to witness first hand their fantastic customer service and quality holiday cards. I absolutely love my Pop Fizz Clink NYE party invites and matching stickers! To complement my New Year's theme, I whipped up this black and white print for a backdrop to my bar, and if you're needing some last minute NYE party decor, now you can too!

Download your Pop Fizz Clink print here!

And have a HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR! See you in 2014! xox

Print Your Own Photo Cards 2013 and Tiny Prints GIVEAWAY

It's that time of year again. Christmas card time! I'm usually done mine and have them out the door end of November but I've been really slow this year - not quite sure why. If you're a little late to the party like me, doing a custom photo card that you can print in a jiffy at Costco/Walmart etc is a great solution. Of course, nothing beats my card-crush Tiny Prints (absolutely loving their glitter collection this year!), but these DIY ones work as extras when you run out of your fancy printed ones, and are great because they can be reprinted within no time if you need more. 

I'm only doing a few designs this year (well, one is new, two are updated versions), but you can check out last year's designs here and feel free to email me if you'd prefer one of those! Etsy listing can be found here and they are also up on my website.

Oh, and because who doesn't love a giveaway - leave a comment below to enter to win one of TWO prizes:

1) A $30 Tiny Prints Gift Certificate

2) A custom photo card design from the Paper Society

Winner announced Dec 13th by 10 PM EST.

What are you doing for Christmas cards this year?

xo
J

Reverse Bow Art | Easy DIY Gift Idea

I spent the weekend crafting and playing with my new gold foil sheets and my Silhouette. Oh the fun things you can do with a craft cutter and some gold foil! I could have spent days playing around, but alas the weekend ended and I had to get back to real life.

One of my favourite creations was a simple gold bow on white paper - classic, perfect for the holidays and all year round, and definitely a nice bit of Kate Spade inspired whimsy.

While I was playing around with the bow shape I designed, and the many cuts I made, I had an idea. Instead of putting a gold foil bow onto white cardstock, what if I cut it out of the white cardstock, and put my gold glitter wrapping paper behind it? So I did.

What I love most about using this for a gift is that it can be personalized - a piece of wrapping paper from a bridal shower, fabric from a baby's quilt or a wedding dress, a newspaper or magazine clipping, pages from a favourite book ... the options are endless!

If you don't have a craft cutter, you could always try an exacto knife - or cut a simpler shape like a heart.

What's your favourite DIY gift to give?

Look What I Found at the Dollar Store | Halloween Edition

It's been a very long time since I've done a dollar store round up, so I hope you enjoy this one! I haven't done a thorough Dollorama trip since our move to Manitoba, and Halloween crafting was just the excuse I was looking for.

You might know I'm not a fan of most seasonal decor, and the main reason behind that is that I would much rather invest my decorating dollars into something that will hang around for longer than a couple of weeks.

But, if I can source something or DIY it without allocating too much of my vase-allowance, I'm on board. Something that won't look out of place in our house, that will be useful in years to come, and can also double as party decor for those impromptu neighbourhood get togethers.

Those pumpkins? Started as this...

Three gourds, and two packs of mini-gourds set me back $10 ($2 each), along with some rhinestone stickers ($1 each) some faux flowers ($1), napkins ($1 each) and craft chalkboard paint ($1). Straws were $4 from HomeSense, so the total investment for this Halloween vignette was around $20. Not too shabby, especially since the "chalkboard" (painted canvas), straws, flowers and napkins can all be used throughout the year, and the painted gourds will make an appearance in many Octobers to come.

But that's not all I scored at the dollar store! These glass carafes ($1.25 each) were perfect for decanting my vinegars into so that all the jars match in my pantry, but would also be great filled with water and food colouring to resemble potions and blood for some Halloween creep-factor.

The plastic jars are also great for craft supply storage (or for Halloween, fill with spiders or eyeballs) and best of all, they cost just $3 for three.

This set of black frames was only $3! I thought they were separate frames but are in fact all attached, which turned out to make the perfect "wreath" to hang on the front door for Halloween! I'll share that finished project later on this week!

And these doodle-rific notebooks made the Halloween cut off purely because her eyes and face terrify me - but they are cute none the less and for $2, who can complain about creepy eyes?

Have you found any dollar store finds perfect for Halloween?

How to Make a Faux- Marble Table Top with No Cuts, Thinset or Grout

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words... and other times a picture doesn't tell the whole story.

Let's take this photo for example.

I bet you by looking at it, you would never guess that the top looks like.... that.

The horror! It's pretty bad, I know. This Danish modern sideboard was a $40 craigslist find, and was refinished long before I discovered blogs and paint tutorials. We literally thought all we had to do was sand and paint. So that is what we did. In retrospect, it really needed a good layer or two of Killz primer, because this baby bled like a red sock in white laundry.

I literally applied TEN coats of paint in an effort to make it white, and not blotchy orangey white, and the result has been an ever tacky surface that dings and dents like nobodies business. I try covering it with loads of accessories, but that just makes it look cluttered. A few days ago, I just had enough, and decided to do something about it.

You know how most projects take way longer than anticipated and cost way more than budgeted for? Well, this was not one of those projects. In fact, it was the opposite. Because I was determined to not have to make any cuts in the tile, my search was narrowed to finding tile only 12 by 18 ". Since the table is 5 feet long, and 17.5 inches deep, five tiles would give me perfect coverage with a slight overhang.

I went in looking for marble. Obviously. Who doesn't like marble? But... Home Depot only had 12 by 12 bianca marble tiles and that just wouldn't do. Plus, I found the patterns very inconsistent and some very grey and veiny, and the purpose of this tile job was for it to blend as much as possible and look like a solid piece, and not look blatantly tiled. I think that the marble tiles they had were the rejects of the quarry, and that all the nice pretty white marble went to go live as a massive slab on someone's island.

So after a few minutes of pouting I let go of my marbled top idea... and then I saw it.

From afar, it looked like perfect white marble with just the right amount of grey veining. Mostly white and incredibly consistent. In a 12 by 18. As I made my way over to view this godsend, it hit me. This wasn't marble. Not even close. It's porcelain tile. It's porcelain tile that looks like marble. Shucks!  I almost walked away, and then I shrugged. Hey, it's better than what I've got now, right? It's the perfect size. It's super cheap. Ya. Why not? Let's just go for it.

And so I did. Determined not to use thinset or grout, I devised a plan. I used a tile setting mat and since there would only be 4 seams to fill, I would caulk it instead.

After cutting the sticky mat to size, I carefully spaced and lined up my table top. I wish there was a tutorial, but it was so stinkin' easy it's not even worth it. Peel and stick the mats, place tiles on top spaced evenly, caulk the grout lines. Caulk a couple more times to fully fill the space. Voila!

I would be lying if I said it was the dreamiest of projects I've ever done. I like the result. I like it boatloads more than before. And for a $50 makeover, I'm happy as pie! But one day.... one day... I will cover that baby with a big ol slab. That said, it certainly isn't bad for an interim solution!

Anthro-esque DIY Dollar Store Business Card Box

It's been a while since I've done a "Look What I Found at the Dolla Store" feature, so although this is just one item, let's add this to the list! If you can't find these at your local dollar store I'm pretty sure Michaels will have something similar, so save your coupons and make it a cheap "almost dollar store" buy.


Of course, it does require a bit of transformation to get it to it's final state, but it's an easy project.

When I came across these little boxes at Dollar Giant, they instantly reminded me of something I may find in an Anthropologie or a a stationery store. They are the perfect size for holding business cards on your desk, but I'm sure you could think of a million other things you could put in them. Lipstick. Coins. Tea Bags.

I bought both a rounded edge box, and a squared edge box, but I'll save the latter for another post! I didn't take a before photo (bad blogger!) but I found the square edged box on the Dollar Tree website.

I've painted enough wooden craft boxes in my lifetime to fill a room. I'm sure I'm not alone here, right? Every time I see one, I paint it, thinking it's going to look absolutely amazing and I will be able to display it for all the world to see. Truth is, it usually looks just like a cheap wood box painted with craft paint, and it usually ends up inside a cabinet somewhere playing home to my chequebooks and reciepts. Out of sight. This time, I wanted to do something different, so out with the paint, and in with the "homemade old wood" recipe!

I adapted the "recipe" for this since it's a small teeny tiny box. I used just one teabag, not steeped for more than a few minutes. I also used one steel wool pad,  just a cup of vinegar, and let that sit for just about 12 hours (the longer this mixture sits, the darker your wood will be).


It's such an easy and painless "painting" process because you're just dousing the box in liquid and there's no such thing as drips or a messy paint job. Do make sure you cover the entire box in both solutions though. Whatever you don't will remain the unfinished wood colour. Make sure to let the box dry between the tea and vinegar mixtures, and then let it fully dry before adding any other paint embellishments.

I thought the box could use a bit more panache, so I put my Silhouette to use and made my first ever stencil. I used vinyl, but I think next time I might try some of my thicker adhesive cardstock as the vinyl was a touch tricky to stencil with.

And par ce que everything sounds better in french, I decided to stencil "les cartes" instead of just "cards". Way more fun. Who knows if the French even refer to business cards as "les cartes", but it has a nice ring to it, mais non?

I just used a white craft paint to stencil with my Martha Stewart plopping sponges ( or whatever they're called). After the paint dried, I gave it a quick sand to add to that aged look, and then did a single coat of water-based poly. You'll see in the photo below that the sanding was also necessary because clearly I'm not a great stenciller.

And the verdict? I'm obsessed. I may only have a need for one business card holder, but I seriously want to go buy and refinish ten of these right now. They are just so stinking cute, and at $1.25 each, are about the cheapest bit of lovely I own right now. And with my new business cards being printed as we speak, I'm even more excited to bring them home and store them in a sweet place they can call their own.

The Best Snow Day | House & Home

It seemed like everyone outside of a five kilometre radius of me yesterday had snow. My mom didn't even believe me when I told her I hadn't seen a single white flake on the ground. She kept asking me if perhaps the snow plough had come through early, but what she didn't quite get was that there was no. snow. at. all. It was like our little neighbourhood was under an oversized snowbrella...

Well, all of my grumbling yesterday paid off, as I woke to a beautiful, fluffy, white landscape this morning. Only problem is, tonight is my family "Christmas" an hour plus drive away (in good weather) and then tomorrow we leave for his family Christmas which, in this weather, is probably a 12  plus hour drive away. Wish us luck and safe road conditions!

What is even more exciting than waking up to a marshmallow world? Why, waking to an online feature on House & Home! One of my go to glossies for home decor inspiration has some incredible web content and an admirable social media presence, and I was lucky enough to have my $5 glitzy garland and holiday decor featured on their website today! Just seeing my name and "House & Home" on the same page is one of the best Christmas gifts I've received thus far. Thank you the powers that be at H & H!

Check out the photo gallery (and other great holiday decorating) right here!

And check back later for Round 2 of free printable holiday labels!


Happy snow day!

DIY Metallic Hand Painted Christmas Cards

You may have noticed my recent obsession with all things gold and polka dotted if you're following me on Twitter or Instagram. I la la la la looove gold polka dots.

So, I decided to get crafty and bring my own touch of gold to the holidays. I had so much fun stamping away, that I made enough cards to last a lifetime. Or, since I've already done the majority of my Christmas cards, to sell on etsy...

They turned out even better than I imagined in my head. I like the mix of ink and paint and kraft and white. It's a beautiful combination.

But no need to buy mine! Make your own! Nothing makes me happier than an easy DIY :)

For this project, I bought blank cards and envelopes at Michael's, ran them through my printer to get an oversized and slanted "Merry", and then used my Martha foam circle sponges and craft paint to create gold dots. I mixed a gold and silver metallic paint to get the "perfect" gold.

I think the kraft cards look great with a white envelope, and vice versa, so we did a little switcheroo!

The best part? You can be as random as you like with the dots! If you don't have a perfect pattern, like the one above, you can just make it look like confetti! 

Have you crafted your own Christmas cards before?

One, Two, Three, Floor!

Most things we do involve weeks/months of forethought and planning and decision making. What we did this weekend did not. If you follow me on Instagram you may have gotten a sneak peak.

In less than a day, we ripped up our entire main floor, and started the process of installing a new laminate floor. No thanks to me, however, because I would have waited. The hubby, on the other hand,  knew that if we didn't get er done asap, we might never. Fair point well made.

What prompted us to rip up our 2.5 year old laminate floors to install new laminate floors? Well, we've never particularly liked the ones that came with our home. The colour was more of a reddish brown (not cherry, but like a warm brown) and they just weren't our style. The boards were the kind of laminate planks that look seamless, with one board "faking" the look of multiple planks. Long story short, smooth surface, no grooves, and very laminatey looking. No likey.

After our experience with these floors, however, we did know that any future upgrade would be laminate. There is certainly some sort of taboo associated with laminate, however with two dogs and a lot of furniture relocation, we've come to appreciate the durability of laminate flooring. Granted, water is NOT its friend (same goes for all wood type flooring, mind you), but nothing seems to stand against scratches like a laminate product.

Even with all that said, we would not have made the couple thousand dollar investment for new floors for a home that we might not be in for more than a couple more years, nor to change something that was purely a matter of preference and not something that needed to be done. But, when the flooring is free, and you spend $40 in supplies, how can you say no?

How did we get free flooring? I happen to have a pretty amazing job and am surrounded by some of the most stunning interior design in the city. I get to look at pretty homes on a daily basis, and sometimes, when they decide to change something, I luck out.

Recently, they decided to change out the colour schemes of the homes we sell, and so the floors, cabinets and countertops were ripped up and replaced. Nothing wrong with them, just a new colour scheme about to go in. A BUNCH of flooring was on its way to the trash, so something had to be done.

I decided to give them a new home, and after 3 trips of loading and unloading the vehicle, we had a garage floor of almost-new laminate planks. We had to take double the flooring that we needed (from two separate homes) because of the amount of breakage and wastage. Even then, we were ALMOST short (only two usable boards left at the end). Trying to sift through the piles for good boards was a task, and installing even more tedious. I'm sure had the boards been straight from the box, the install time would have been half what it was.

My rock star of a man put in a good 40 plus hours as he worked away, used a hand saw to cut all the detail pieces for around the edges, and totally kicked his own butt. He was, and still is, completely exhausted. Every bone in his body aches. His hands look like decrepit claws. I feel so bad for him.

But, after all is said and done, our floors look AMAZING! A massive improvement from what we had before. I had always wanted light grey flooring if we ever were to upgrade, but I must say, I'm really liking the moody dark brown.

We are STILL working on finishing up. Last night we put our wall unit back together, and this week we'll be putting the baseboards back on, and touching up the walls by the baseboards, and then we will be DUNZO!

I'm excited to share the before and after photos with you. I had no idea how much of a difference the new floors would make. Slowly but surely, this townhouse is starting to feel so much more like home.

Have you ever installed flooring before?

Master Makeover: The Reveal!

I hesitate to ever call a room "done" because it is always an evolution. So, other than the fact that there are likely new bedside tables, side lamps and pillows in the foreseeable future, I am still calling this room "done" (for now). It actually is probably one of the most finished rooms in our house, so that helps me get past the little things I would like to change but have to save for.

For the moment, our master bedroom looks like this:

What did we (erm, the hubby) do to take the room from THIS:

Above: BEFORE

To THIS?:

 Above: AFTER

Well, here's the list and cost breakdown:

• Removed wallpaper, wallpaper paste and painted walls grey (Cost: $150)
• Trimmed out the windows with 2.5 inch white trim and then painted the inside to create "faux" window casings (Cost: $30)
• Painted "free" craigslist dresser a light grey, trimed out the scrolly toe kick with a piece of wood, and replaced the hardware on the drawers (Cost: $30)
• Painted the espresso legs of the bench white, and sewed a grey slipcover to cover the old mocha microfibre (cost: paint $0 (on hand), upholstery fabric $3 (had on hand but purchased a couple of months ago at a designer warehouse sale)
• Switched out old headboard for a grey upholstered one. It used to be a window seat in it's previous life at a show home, but for now it is our headboard. One day it may end up as a window seat again under that large window we have. (Cost: $8 at designer sale)
• New mint and white bedding (Cost: $20 from warehouse sale)
• Sewed floral pillows (Cost: $3 for fabric from warehouse sale)
• Hung faux roman shades (Cost: $15 for velcro, wood was on hand, faux roman shades cost $24 for all three from warehouse sale last year)

So, just under $300 for the entire room makeover. Not too shabby, hey? Thank goodness for my designer sale scores! When I set out to do this room, I made a promise to myself to use as much of my warehouse sale finds as possible. I bought quite a lot of stuff, and I have half a craft room full of things I have yet to use (including about 20 roman shades), and so in the interest of saving money AND clearing out some space, I forced myself to work with what I had. And I am pretty darn happy I did. 

For the first time in 2.5 years, I can say I actually love spending time in our bedroom. I now bring my iPad up to bed and like to curl up and watch TV on our not as nice TV in the bedroom just so I can immerse myself in the energy I feel while I'm in there. Man, it makes such a difference!

Here are some of the details..

Marble Torre & Tagus box from warehouse sale for some of my watches.

An Umbra soap dish used for my little pretties.

New lamp shade still to be added, but this is the entertainment side of the bedroom.

I am NOT a seamstress, but somehow I found a way to sew this slipcover. It's not perfect, but I like it. It works. I've been wanting to paint this espresso bench with mocha fabric FOREVER and so glad I finally did! Ok, the hubby painted it but I sewed the slip cover!

 The fabric for the pillows was an awesome find at the most recent designer warehouse sale I attended (I got that fabric, the bench fabric and the bedding all there). The floral pattern is lovely and adds just the right pop of colour. The mirror looks much bigger in person than in this photo, but it's still something I'd like to replace down the road.

Ahh peonies. My fave. Waking up to the smell is just divine. And of course a kissy shot of my hubby ain't too bad to wake up to either!

And again, the whole room complete. I wil try and do some posts on the faux window casings and put up some better pictures because you can't really see them in these photos. They were so cheap and easy to do, and make miles of difference!

Oh, and the paint is from Cloverdale Paint (in Canada) and it's called Excalibur. To be honest, I wish we had gone a touch lighter and a touch greiger, but I am not going to dwell on that. I am just happy to finally have a painted bedroom!

Looking back at the before photos, I can't help but ask myself "WHAT was I thinking???". I am SO happy to check this off the list!

Whaddya think?

xo J