Eamonn & Jack

The President is Missing - a Book Review

2018-07-03T16:45:00.000-04:00

It’s been a while since I did a book review – mostly because it’s been quite a while since I finished a new book. I think I’ve mentioned before that I do most of my reading while commuting to work, so that means I generally read in 30-ish minute increments. If a book is particularly riveting I’ve been known to continue when I get home (sometimes completely ignoring anything else), but those short spurts of reading can be problematic if a book is one that’s slow to get going. Given I get my books mostly in e-book format from the library they’ve been known to expire before I’m finished. In fact I had one expire last week when I was 95% complete. This was particularly annoying as it took a while for me to get invested in the story, and given the wait list it’ll be months before I get it back and by that point I’ll likely have forgotten some plot points and will have to restart it.

This past weekend was a long one for us Canadians as we celebrated Canada’s 151st birthday. It was also ridiculously hot. Since I’m not lucky enough to have a cottage to escape to, I spend a bit of time hiding from the heat indoors where there was AC. While hunkered indoors I finished up ‘The President is Missing: A Novel’ by James Patterson and Bill Clinton. The foundation of the story is an intriguing one, and one that is completely relevant today – the US is under attack, but not by conventional methods. This time the US is the target of a massive cybersecurity breach that will see a computer virus infect every electronic device connected to the internet and render it useless. This means all electronic records (financial, medical, social, etc) will disappear, and the US economy will grind to a complete stop as anything that runs on a computer ceases to function.

The President is the narrator of this story which confused me – given the title of the book I expected the President to be, well, missing. Anyways, along with the cyber threat the President must deal with a Speaker who’s gunning for an impeachment, and a traitor within his own cabinet.

I don’t think I’ve ever read any of James Patterson’s other books so I found the incredibly short chapters of this book strange, but short chapters are apparently something he’s known for (there are 128 chapters plus an epilogue in this novel, but some are only a paragraph or two long). As a writing style I found it extremely odd, but short chapters were rather handy for my short reading spurts on the subway.

One of the marketing tag lines for this book is it’s ‘filled with information that only a former Commander-in-chief could know’ (which I confess might have been what drew me to the book in the first place), but to be honest I can’t think of anything that was ‘revealed’ in this book that only Clinton and other Presidents might know. Sure, at one point the President leaves the White House via a ‘secret’ underground tunnel, but everyone has known about the tunnel since Kennedy and Marilyn right?

Anyways, at 500-ish pages it’s not really a quick read, but it is a fairly easy one. If you’re looking for something cerebral this isn’t a book for you, but if you’re looking for something to while away a few hours over the summer it’s a book with a assassins, stuff being peppered with bullets and/or blowing up, secret codes, and a vision for what America could be.

Book Title: The Pressident is Missing
Author: Bill Clinton and James Patterson
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 528
My Rating: 3 Stars
Buy the Book: Amazon
The President Is Missing confronts a threat so huge that it jeopardizes not just Pennsylvania Avenue and Wall Street, but all of America. Uncertainty and fear grip the nation. There are whispers of cyberterror and espionage and a traitor in the Cabinet. Even the President himself becomes a suspect, and then he disappears from public view . . .

Set over the course of three days, The President Is Missing sheds a stunning light upon the inner workings and vulnerabilities of our nation. Filled with information that only a former Commander-in-Chief could know, this is the most authentic, terrifying novel to come along in many years.

One Room Challenge | Week Six | Kitchen Makeover Reveal

2018-05-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

It’s finally here! Six weeks ago I decided at pretty much the last moment to participate in the One Room Challenge, I’m happy to say that despite more than a few late nights, some self-inflicted injuries, and a few hurdles that I thought might prevent me from completing this makeover on deadline, I’m ready to share what I’ve been working on (If you missed any of the weekly posts for the challenge you can read them here: week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, and week 5).

I decided to makeover my kitchen for the simple reason that I’ve never liked it. I’ve lived in my apartment for 8 years and I’ve dreamt about tearing it out since the day I got the keys. Sadly I haven’t yet won the lottery so a full gut will have to wait, but I’m very pleased with what I’ve been able to do with my space.

Here’s what I was starting with:

And here is my finished One Room Challenge space:

I pulled off all the old tile with the unattractive mustard-yellow accent stripes, repaired the walls, retiled, replaced the faucet, installed a new light fixture and re-imagined the kitchen hardware. All in 6 weeks and, except for some help with the demo from my ever-helpful mom and the electrical repair that I hired out, I did all the work by myself.

I love my kitchen now that it’s complete– it feels so much bigger. I think a lot of the reason the room feels bigger is I removed the 4-inch backsplash ‘lip’ that matched my counter. That combined with the horizontal line of the mustard yellow accent tile visually shortened the room in my opinion. The actual distance between my counter and upper cabinets hasn’t changed, but it visually looks like a much larger space.

I installed the Delta Trinsic Faucet in Champagne Bronze and I’m in love. I didn’t opt for the Touch2O version because there was a nearly a $200 price difference and I figure I can’t miss what I never had in the first place. The faucet it so pretty, and it doesn’t leak like my old one! When I first installed it I was a bit concerned with the scale – I thought it might be too big, but I think that’s just because my previous faucet was so short in comparison. I have to say this was so simple to install – I was really worried given how much difficulty I had taking out my old one, but the whole install took maybe 10 minutes.

If you recall I had trouble finding handles for my kitchen that met the requirements I needed (length and with a backplate) and in the end I decided to get the ones I already had plated. Yes, I could have spray painted them which would have been way cheaper, but I decided that as kitchen handles are hard-working they also need to be hard wearing. The end result is little darker than I would have preferred, but at a cost of less than $15 a pull it was still considerably less than the $50 (USD + shipping and duties) that I was quoted for the only replacement pull I could find that met my requirements.

When it came to tiling I did all the work myself, and that included cutting all the tiles by hand (I used this, and this – it’s slow, but you can tile without access to an electric tile saw). I’ll be honest and say it was a lot of work, but I’m quite pleased with despite my aching hands. I debated going with white or grey grout, and in the end I went with the white. The walls aren’t perfectly straight so neither are the tiles, and because I had thin grout lines I needed un-sanded grout which wasn’t available in the shade of grey I wanted. Some might question why I went with the ubiquitous white subway tile instead of something more interesting, but I thought with the navy floor and the grey speckled countertop that anything more ‘out-there’ would have just been competing for attention.

I bought the West Elm Sphere + Stem 3-light semi-flushmount last fall with vague plans to put it in my foyer but procrastinated about installing it. I have to say I don’t think I would have liked it as much if I had installed it there as I would have been able to see its shape as easily as I can in my kitchen. The light can be installed as a pendant or a flush mount as I have and it was pretty easy to install – just make sure you read the instructions a few times before you start as they were obviously written in another language and then translated into English. I love the warm brass and the glow from the glass orbs. It doesn’t come with bulbs so when I rushed out on Monday night to buy bulbs all I could find close-by were incandescents. The three 60W bulbs emit a lot of light but are also very warm, so I’ll be replacing those shortly with LED bulbs.

When I did my original plan for my kitchen I envisioned a bright and colourful piece of art on the back wall. I even spent a number of hours researching inexpensive downloadable art, but it turns out I had already found the perfect piece. In February of last year I was in the kitchen at work and I spotted a container of Morton Salt. I think it’s an American brand as I’ve never seen it in grocery stores here, but I was struck by the packaging. Anyways, I found the logo online and had it printed in poster size and I love it.

If you’re curious about how much this all cost here’s my budget breakdown:

Handle plating: $250
Electrical work: $350
Faucet: $320
Tile: $130
Primer & Paint: $0 (I used what I had on hand)
Plaster, grout, baseboard, painters tape, tile cutter and tile nips, grout float, grout sponge, notched trowel, and various other supplies: $ 300
Light fixture: $350
Art: $60

Total: $1760

I didn’t really have a budget going into this makeover since it was such a last minute decision, but it was a bit more in the end then I had really hoped. That said, two of the more expensive items – the electrical work and the handle plating could have been skipped, but in order to get a kitchen I was happy with the costs were necessary and I'm thrilled with the results.

Here are a few more pictures as I'm a bit proud.

There you have it – my finished kitchen. What do you think? Was all my work worth it?

Want some more One Room Challenge makeovers? Make sure you check out the 20 featured designers doing the One Room Challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Guest Participants.

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One Room Challenge | Week Five | Art Dilemma and Tiling Progress

2018-05-03T00:02:00.000-04:00

Okay – week five. I can see the finish line on this One Room Challenge, but there are still so many things to finish before next week! My kitchen makeover is moving right along, but my to-do list seems to be getting bigger not smaller which is stressing me out. In fact, I’m taking this Friday off work in order to get a head start on the weekend in the hopes of getting most of it done.

Let’s see, what can I update you on? I finally finished all the wall prep. It’s not perfect, but it’s many, many times better than it was and I’m hoping nobody will look too carefully at the wall. My building is almost 100 years old, so imperfect walls are to be expected right??

My kitchen when just primed is very boring and institutional looking.

I’m hoping I’ve come up with a solution to my hardware dilemma. Late last week I took my handles to Canadian Builders Hardware in the hope of getting them plated. I won’t be able to get an exact match to the Delta faucet I bought, but I’m hoping it will be close?? I won’t know until I get them back though so there could still be some late-night spray-painting in my future.

The colour options available at Canadian Builder's Hardware. The hex pull on the right is an approximate match to my Trinsic faucet. here's hoping the end result is alright.

On Sunday I went to Olympia Tile and purchased the tiles I’ll be using on my backsplash, and have finally started on this big part of the makeover. I ended up going with the 2x8 tiles instead of my original plan of the 3x6. I think they’re slightly more modern, and let’s face it – my high-gloss cabinets are not traditional in style by any stretch. I bought a hand-held tile cutter and it’s working fairly well, but as this is my first time attempting to tile it’s a bit of a slow moving process. I spent a bit of time watching YouTube videos and found this one helpful when it came to actually tiling, and this one for tips on using the hand-held tile cutter. I still have to find one on how to properly grout tile, but one step at a time.

I have run into a hiccup though when it comes to the tiles I bought. Last night I opened the box of tiles that contained my edge pieces and discovered that instead of giving me my requested 10 bull-nose tiles that I wanted to use to edge the nib walls I mentioned in last week’s post, they gave me 10 corner pieces. So I have to go back to the store to exchange them. Grumble. I also still need to decide on grout colour – my original plan was white, but maybe, since my counter top is grey I should go with a pale grey to break up the big expanse of white?

I've started the tiling of my back splash. I think the small and narrow cuts will be very hard to do. I hope I bought enough extra tiles to cover breakage.

With the last of the major construction-y- stuff under way I’ve turned my attention to trying to decide on pretty things like art. I had originally used a wonderful piece by Leslie Weaver in my mood board, but between the plumber, electrician, hardware, tile and other material costs my budget is beyond blown. That said, I really want something big and colourful to go on that back wall – otherwise I think the kitchen will be boringly monochromatic and rather stark and institutional looking. I could try my hand at something DIY (I even have a blank canvas in my storage locker), but I don’t know that I’ll have the time if I want to get this kitchen makeover complete by next week.

I’ve spent a considerable bit of time online and surprisingly I’ve found quite a lot of downloadable art that might work. Did you know that a number of Art Institutions around the world have digitized some of their collections, and even offer some images for download? Here are a few works that I think could work in my kitchen. I think I can probably get it printed rather inexpensively at Staples or Walmart, and put it in a basic Ikea Ribba frame for under a hundred dollars.

1. Joséphine-Éléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn (1825–1860), Princesse de Broglie by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, via The MET 2. Edna by Robert Henri via Los Angeles County Museum of Art 3. Coney Island by Joseph Stella via The MET 4. Peonies by Charles Rennie Mackintosh via The MET 5. Makaro by Gordon Walters via The Museum of New Zealand 6. Faustine Léo by Henri Lehmann via The MET

When I increased my budget a bit and started looking for art I could download and print for a reasonable fee (and by reasonable I mean $20 or less) there was quite a lot of choices. A lot of what I found was word art which I’m not a huge fan of, and not really the ‘look’ of what I was going for, but I did find a number that I liked. Here again I could print it and put it in an inexpensive frame.

1. Peonies via Jenny's Print Shop - $15 2. Orange Square by Paradigm Art on Etsy - $8 3. Floral Lady by aljahorvat on Etsy - $15 4. Abstract by DanHobdayArt on Etsy - $11 5. Blue and Pink Abstract by DanHobdayArt on Etsy - $11 6. Australian Native Print by LilaxLola on Etsy - $7 7. Columbine Flowers Flat Lay by Vicuschka on Creative Market - $10 8. Dragon Fruit by LilaxLola on Etsy - $7 9. Pellegrino bottle by The Crown Prints on Etsy - $6

What do you think? Would you put any of these in your home? (I've got quite a few more free and reasonably priced art pieces saved on Pinterest if you're interested)

So, with one week to go before the ‘big reveal’ what do I still need to get done?

~~Finish plastering/fixing walls~~
~~Prime walls~~
Paint ceiling and back wall
~~Pick wall tile~~
Purchase ~~wall tile, mastic~~, grout and all needed supplies
Finish tiling the walls
Grout the walls
Clean up ALL THE DUST
~~Figure out what to do for cabinet pulls~~
Install cabinet pulls
Hang ceiling fixture
Figure out some art for the walls to add some colour
~~Remove old faucet~~ {This was literally a ginormous pain the neck!!}
Install new faucet
Add baseboard to the back wall

Oy – still so much to do! And at some point (hopefully in daylight, and not with my phone) I also have to take pictures so I can show you the *hopefully* finished space next week. Wish me luck!

Want some more One Room Challenge makeovers? Make sure you check out the 20 featured designers doing the One Room Challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Guest Participants

One Room Challenge | Week Four | Is it Time to Panic Yet?

2018-04-25T23:50:00.000-04:00

Hoo-boy – week four already. In last week’s post I mentioned that I had hoped to at least have started the tiling by this week. That didn’t happen as I’m still in the wall-prep stage. Sigh. I’m so sick of plaster dust being everywhere and not being able to use my kitchen as a place to make food.

My kitchen right now. The back wall looks mottled and uneven in this cell-phone picture, but that's due to the different plaster/cement that I used to patch it. The right wall in the photo is also finished.

The reasons for my lack of progress are two-fold. The main one is the fridge and stove are on the same wall and that wall requires a lot of work. Unfortunately my kitchen is so small I can only move one appliance out at a time which means repairing/patching/sanding that wall is taking at least twice as long. The other reason is I’m doing all the sanding by hand – I don’t have an electric sander so it’s taking me quite a while. Have you ever tried to sand smooth an entire wall??? It takes forever, and I’ve skim coated and plastered the back wall about three times so far in the hopes of getting it almost perfectly smooth. It was in pretty rough shape to start so I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve been able to achieve and I think I’m ready to prime it. My hope is that the primer will help me see if there’s any further patching work needed. Keep your fingers crossed that any imperfections will be so tiny I’ll be able to easily ignore them.

I asked for your opinions last week on where I should stop the tile on the far wall, but I forgot to ask what you thought about the opposite wall. There are two quarter walls on the other end with the ‘doorway’ between. One side butts-up against a counter, the other side is against my stove. My gut is saying I should try to tile the stove side wall (sometimes cooking gets messy), but then should I also tile the opposite side wall? Should the walls match?

I need some help deciding on if I should tile these small side walls or not? I'm a bit worried if I do as I think it will need a lot of tile cutting, but I'm worried about getting an untiled wall really dirty when cooking.

On Saturday I did a bit more research on my epic search for the perfect pulls for my kitchen. I went to Upper Canada Specialty Hardware in the vain hope that they might have, or be able to order something that might work. The problem is the pulls I have are from Ikea which uses European sizing. Being in N. America means that most of the hardware that’s available isn’t compatible. And that’s before you add the additional issue of my needing a pull that will cover the three holes in each of my doors. Joanne (who helped me) was SO helpful, and was amazingly able to find something that could work, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $50US each (and that’s before taxes, shipping, and those glorious duty fees). The search continues, but I have an inkling of a plan.

I took my current door hardware off and you can see why I have a need for a handle with a backplate. Each door has three holes from when I changed the handles out a number of years ago.

After Upper Canada Hardware I headed over to Home Depot to do some research on what I might need to buy for tiling (turns out it’s a lot) and I picked up a few 3”x6” subway tiles so I could double check I liked them in my kitchen. On Sunday I went to Olympia Tile to take a look to see if they had anything other than basic subway tiles that I might like. I picked up a few samples – one a small mosaic, a 2”x8” tile in both white and pale grey, and another 3"x6" tile in white. I picked up the pale grey as I wondered whether grey would make the backsplash just a bit more interesting – sadly the colour of the tile isn’t right with my counter. Now though, I’m questioning my plan to use basic 3”x6” tiles – should I go with the 2”x8” instead?? It will mean many more tiles I potentially have to cut, but maybe it's a bit more modern, and slightly less common? What would you do?

From top: 2"x8" grey tile - $3.85/sqft; Small white mosiac tiles $3.73/sqft; White 2"x6" tile $3.02/sqft; 2"x8" white gloss tile - $3.75/sqft; All from Olympia Tile

So far I’ve avoided making a list of things I still need to do to complete in this One Room Challenge, but I think that with just two weeks left I need to list them no matter how panicked it makes me. Anyways, here’s the stuff I still need to do:

Finish plastering/fixing walls
Prime walls
Paint ceiling and back wall
Pick wall tile
Purchase wall tile, mastic, grout and all needed supplies
Tile the walls
Grout the walls
Clean up ALL THE DUST
Figure out what to do for cabinet pulls
Hang ceiling fixture
Figure out some art for the walls to add some colour
Install new faucet
Add baseboard to the back wall

Ugh – listed like that it seems like a HUGE amount of work I need to get one in a pretty short period of time. I hope I can finish it all in time!

Want some more One Room Challenge makeovers? Make sure you check out the 20 featured designers doing the One Room Challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Guest Participants.

One Room Challenge | Week Three | At Halftime

2018-04-19T00:00:00.001-04:00

How are we already in week three of the One Room Challenge?? I swear it was only yesterday that I was writing my week two post, and here we are a full week later I’m starting to feel the pressure. I’ve made some progress, but I’m not as far into this makeover as I hoped I would be by this point.

First up – some progress. All the tile is gone!! I debated about taking off the 4” backsplash that matched my counter (my mom voted to keep it), but I’ve always thought that line of grey up the wall made the room look shorter, so off it came. Not quite sure how I’m going to dispose of it – it’s 7ft long and I’m not allowed to put construction debris in my building’s garbage.

All the tile is gone! Also, I need to figure out what to do with that 7ft piece of backsplash on the right . .

I’ve started to repair the damaged walls for the new tile. While it doesn’t have to be perfect, it does need to be much better than it was. In a few places I made some holes significantly bigger in order to find stud to properly install replacement drywall. Home Depot sells drywall in really handy 2ft square pieces of sheetrock which is great for someone like me who only needs a small bit and who also has a car (the pieces also fit perfectly in a black garbage bag if it’s pouring rain on the day you go to buy it – ask me how I know). I also used fiberglass tape in two sizes to repair some of the smaller holes.

The drywall was repaired with a number of small pieces of drywall so was very unstable. I cut them out and patched with just one piece of drywall. It's hard to see in this image, but the white thing above the outlet is a disconnected knob from ancient knob and tube wiring.

I found some interesting things in the wall. There was some disconnected knob and tube, and in the corner behind the fridge I found a weird metal conduit with a small pipe and what looks like a valve coming out of it – anyone know what I might have been for?

In a spot behind the fridge the wall was again repaired very badly - I cut out a piece to repair it and found the conduit and pipes on the left. any ideas what they might have been fore?

I had both a plumber and an electrician here on Friday, so both of those ‘issues’ with my kitchen have been sorted out, although at cost that I hadn’t budgeted for. The plumbing isn’t too exciting – he just replaced all my old shut-off valves with new ball valves. The electrician took care of the scary ‘handy-man special’ electrical work that was in one of my cabinets. It’s not how I’d have wired my kitchen if I was starting from scratch, but it’s 100% better than it was. Also, as a bonus I can now fit two more coffee mugs in the cupboard. Maybe I’ll treat myself to this, or this :)

If you remember the plug situation from last week - this is a huge improvement.

What’s been occupying most of my brain this week has been the search for replacement pulls for my cabinets. In last weeks post I shared a pull I loved, but at $140 each there is sadly no possible way they work in my kitchen. I need to replace the 9” Ikea Spann handles I installed way back in 2012 which might normally not be a problem, but since I used them to replace much smaller pulls there are actually three holes in each cabinet door. This of course means that any pull I choose must have a back plate to hide them. Long pulls with a backplate are proving VERY hard to find.

1. Nest Studio - Mod-12 2. Home Depot - Richelieu 3. Rejuvenation - Tolson 4. Rejuvenation - Patton 5. Rejuvenation - Bowman 6. Schoolhouse - Midvale 7. Rocky Mountain Hardware - Empire 8. Richelieu 9. Buster + Punch - Pull Bar 10. Amazon - Glacier 11.Horton Brasses - BRW-203 12. Amazon - Ingot Pull 13. Rejuvenation - Upton 14. CB2 - Hex

I’ve got a Pinterest board of brass handles and pulls that you can check out, but here are some of the pulls I’ve found with backplates. So far none of them are ‘The Ones’ whether due to size, price, etc, so I’m still on the hunt. And yes, I’ve considered just spray painting my current pulls, but I’ve heard that doesn’t last long on frequently used items like door handles, and well, I live in Canada – given we had a massive rain/ice/snow storm on Monday I’m not entirely sure spring will arrive before the end of ORC and for long enough for me to do the work outside.

For next week I’m hoping to have all the plastering/sanding done on the walls, and to have primed them. I’m also really hoping I can at least get started on the tiling as I’m terrified about how long it will take me to do it given I’ve never tried it before. If I do get the tiling started I need your opinion on where to stop the tiles. Do I just to the back walls, or do I do some back splash on the side walls as well? (Please excuse the decidedly amateur mock-ups.)

Should I tile just the back wall?

Or should I also tile some of the wall beside the counter?

Let me know what you think, and please share any tips (or recommendations for Youtube videos) you have for tiling - I think I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Want some more One Room Challenge makeovers? Make sure you check out the 20 featured designers doing the One Room Challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Guest Participants.

One Room Challenge | Week Two | Plans, Progress and Problems

2018-04-12T13:37:00.002-04:00

If you read my One Room Challenge post last week you know that my decision to join in this go-round was a last minute one so I didn’t really have a plan other than to get rid of the much-hated mustard yellow accent wall tile. A problem I’ve always had while looking for inspiration for my kitchen was my navy-blue floor as I knew it had to stay as would the mid-grey counter top. This is an odd combo so finding inspiration was quite difficult.

Kitchen by Emily Henderson

I saw the kitchen above on Emily Henderson’s blog and I was immediately smitten – Blue, grey, brass. Sigh – so pretty. Her floor is patterned cement tile, but the colours reminded me enough of my own space that I was inspired. I immediately plotted to replace the bottom doors on my cabinets with some shaker style doors in a blue-grey while keeping the more modern high-gloss white slab doors on top; update the backsplash, faucet and hardware.

And then my imaginings came plummeting back to earth with a big splat. My kitchen is an older Ikea kitchen (their Akurum line, vs their current Sektion) so I couldn’t just go to and buy replacement doors in the store. I know there are a bunch of companies that now market ‘custom’ doors for Ikea frames - I did a little research, but sadly determined that replacing the doors is not currently in my budget given the shipping charges alone from one company were going to be at least $300 (and that didn’t include any doors, duty, taxes, or any other fees).

Anyways, here’s my scaled-back plan:

I’ll be replacing the backsplash with white subway tiles. I still have to decide if I should go with white grout or maybe a light grey for some definition and to tie in with my counter. Given I’m planning on doing the tiling myself that decision will likely only be made after I’ve seen if I’m a good tiler or not – Ha!
I’m updating my faucet with the Delta Trinsic faucet in Champagne bronze. Yes, I know every blogger has this faucet, but I like the look of it, so I bought it anyways.
I want to update my kitchen hardware to something brass. We’ll see. I know it won’t be the ones in my mood board – these, the Mod-12 from Nest Studio Collection are $140 each. Since I need 17 these won’t happen which is really too bad as they’re so pretty!
I need a new light. I have this West Elm Sphere light that I was going to put in my foyer, but it might work better here.
I’ll need to inject some colour into the space, so I’m thinking about some art for the back wall, or maybe a colourful rug. I LOVE this piece by Leslie Weaver, but sadly it’s only 8x10 and I’ll need something bigger.

My mom was in town last week and she helped me get rid of most of the tile!!! I want to say the space already looks so much better, but it truthfully looks a bit like a bomb went off. Therein lies some of the problems I alluded to in the blog title.

I mentioned in last week’s post that my unit had been ‘flipped’ by a previous owner and they had done the kitchen. As we removed the tile it became apparent that they hadn’t properly prepped the walls before adding the tile. I expected the drywall paper to come off. What I didn’t expect was holes to appear as I removed tile that was affixed to improperly patched drywall. I assume the holes were from running the wiring, and they weren’t properly repaired (in some cases they were just ‘glued’ back in place around the edges with joint compound) . Some of the holes are smaller so shouldn’t be too difficult to repair, but there’s one above my oven which is about 10”square so I’m going to have to cut more out to find a stud before I can repair it.

I'm not an electrician, but even I know that this isn't up to code.

Another issue which I have to deal with is the wiring itself as I’ve always known that it’s a bit dodgy. I don’t think anyone could look at the wiring in the picture above (this is what powers my under cabinet lights and is in the bottom of one of the cabinets) and think that it was up to code. Since the backsplash is already off I’ve decided that I should get an electrician in to take a look and repair as needed. This is easier said than done – electricians are busy. I’ve finally got one coming over to take a look on Friday, and hopefully some work can get done soon so I can proceed with repairing my walls. A plumber is also coming because, as luck would have it, my hot water valve has sprung a leak.

My last problem is self-inflicted. While removing the tiles I had one slice open my finger. Oh my god the blood. No, I was not wearing safety gloves so this is entirely my own fault. Learn from my mistake – always wear safety gear (gloves, glasses, shoes, etc) while doing any DIY.

This is several days after the top of my finger was sliced off by a flying tile. PSA - wear work gloves!

That’s it for week two. I’m hoping that my appointments with the plumber and electrician go well tomorrow so I can get started on repairing the walls and prepping them for tile. I’ve got tickets to go see Yakoi Kasuma: Infinity Mirrors at the AGO on Saturday so I’ll only have one day to work on the kitchen this weekend - hopefully I’ll be able to make some progress. Wish me luck!

Want some more One Room Challenge makeovers? Make sure you check out the 20 featured designers doing the One Room Challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Guest Participants.

One Room Challenge | Week One | Kitchen Makeover

2018-04-04T21:38:00.000-04:00

On March 31st I celebrated 8 years in my apartment. 8 years. Seems like just last week that I was getting the keys and then sitting in the middle of the empty living room floor with a glass of wine. I moved in with very limited furniture (bed, dresser, bookcase) and over the years I’ve furnished my home with new, and new to me pieces (I’ve shared some of them on this blog) and I’m mostly happy with the way that my apartment has come together.

That said, two rooms have been difficult to put my stamp on and those are my bathroom and kitchen. My bathroom needs a full-gut reno which scares the crap out of me. The logistics, time, and the money required to fully reno my one and only bathroom have kept me from finally pulling the trigger on it. The other room is my kitchen. Hate is a pretty strong word, but I pretty-much hate my kitchen.

When I bought my place I inherited a kitchen that had been ‘flipped’ and year or so beforehand by a couple that had spent some time in Portugal, and had made some design choices that might have been better suited for that country. One of their decisions was to install doors between every single room in the apartment (I think this is common in Europe, but not in N. America). This was easily rectified, and I even made some money selling the doors on kijiji/craigslist. One of their other ‘improvements’ was to the kitchen where they tiled every available wall surface with square white ceramic tiles, with two rows of embossed tiles in mustard yellow as an accent. That yellow accent tile combined with the blue floor tile (common in my building) bugged me every time I entered the kitchen.

My kitchen 'before'. This is from 2012, but nothing much has changed. Note the bane of my existence - the yellow wall tile.

I’ve talked about pulling down the wall tile and backsplash since I moved in - I even had some people in to give me some quotes on getting it done but the numbers I was quoted didn’t make sense. One guy told me he’s just glue thin drywall over the tile to make it ‘go away’. I don’t know much about construction, but I know just ‘covering up’ an issue isn’t usually the best way to deal with it.

Anyways, to make this long story short – I decided this past weekend that is was time to stop complaining about my kitchen and actually do something about it. As luck would have it, it’s also time for another One Room Challenge (I did the One Room Challenge once before way back in 2014). I figure a set deadline of 6 weeks will help keep me focused.

I last blogged about my kitchen WAY back in 2012 when I updated my kitchen handles. Since then I haven’t really made any changes other than upgrade the puck lights under the cabinets to LED and I put in a pendant light I cobbled together from some bits at the ReStore (the halogen lights made such a small space really warm). Sadly as my budget doesn’t allow for a gut, this will be a mostly aesthetic makeover. That said I’m hoping that the changes I make over the next 6 weeks will allow me to love my kitchen.

This was such a last minute decision that I don't really have any plans as of yet for this makeover other than to get rid of the tile - Ha!! I guess I'll have to start mining my kitchen board on Pinterest for some ideas. Next week I'll show you some inspiration and hopefully I'll have a bit more of a plan and (more importantly) less yellow wall tile! I hope you’ll follow along while I learn if ripping off wall tile is as easy as they make it look on HGTV and Youtube. Cross your fingers for me.

Want some more One Room Challenge makeovers? Make sure you check out the 20 featured designers doing the One Room Challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Guest Participants.

Big Little Lies - A Book Review

2018-03-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

I think I’ve mentioned before that I tend to be a person who tends to always read a book before seeing the movie and/or TV series that is based on it. Big Little Lies has been a TV show (and judging by the latest awards season – a good one) for over a year and I’ve only just finished the book. I’ve just finished it, and I’m having trouble writing exactly how I feel about it. If I was to say I loved it that would be a little lie. If I say I hated it that would be a big lie. And yet, here I am unsure about what to tell you.

Big Little Lies centers on a group of three women who each have young children in the same Kindergarten class. Madeline, who takes no shit from anybody, but who has an ex-husband who has moved his new wife and their daughter to town and enrolled her in the same class. Celeste who seems to have it all – beauty, wealth, a doting husband, and twin boys, but is there something else going on with Celeste? Jane is new to town, and a young single mom of a son named Ziggy (aside – seriously – that’s the kids name). Over a twisted ankle and some champagne, the three women form unlikely bond that sets the stage for all the drama that follows. Oh calamity.

I actually tried to read this book last year and didn’t get very far into it before giving up. I’m not sure what it was about the book that I had trouble with – maybe it’s because I couldn’t relate to the characters on a personal level? They’re all moms and I’m not lucky enough to be one. Maybe it was the stylistic approach to using gossipy conversations between other moms in the class to move story lines ahead. Is it possible moms are that catty and judgemental of each other? Whatever it was I gave up about a quarter of the way through, but added it back to my hold list at the library once the HBO show started getting all the press.

Having now finished it I can say that I sort-of liked it. The beginning is a bit slow, but the story picks up as you get further into the book. I will say that I accurately predicted most of the plot twists at the end, but maybe some of them were more surprising to other readers? If you’ve read the book, did you predict the outcomes? Did you like the book? Have you seen the mini-series because I do plan on watching it soon.

Book Title: Big Little Lies
Author: Liane Moriarty
Genre: Suspense & Thriller
Pages: 512
My Rating: Three Stars
Buy the Book: Amazon
From the Publisher: From the author of Truly Madly Guilty and The Husband’s Secret comes a novel about the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

A murder…A tragic accident…Or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the little lies that can turn lethal.

Hidden Figures - A Book Review

2017-03-11T04:00:00.000-05:00

I so very much wanted to love Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, but sadly I didn’t. It was educational and interesting, and because the book was turned into a truly excellent Oscar-nominated film it’s a very popular book right now, but I truly can’t say I really enjoyed it.

The book centers on the lives of a group of African American women who because of their gender and the colour of their skin, were limited to teaching math in the segregated schools in the US south until the onset of the US involvement in the second World War. The dramatic rise in need for talented individuals to work in the aeronautics industry opened a door for these women and many others, who possessed the mathematical skills to help develop planes for the war in the sky, and later to help the US beat the USSR in the race to the moon.

Hidden Figures is Margot Lee Shetterly’s first book, and it’s easy to tell. It’s incredibly researched, but the problem is she attempted to cram in every piece of research she did into the book which makes it a very dry read. I read on the subway on my daily commute to work, which means that I generally read in stretches of 30 minutes or so. The heavily fact-based nature of the book, and the very non-linear writing style she uses (jumping back and forth through time, and across characters) made this book a difficult one for me to get through.

Some of the trouble I had with the book might be due my very basic knowledge of the history of racial segregation in the American south and of the space race. I’m Canadian so my history classes in school centered mostly on Canadian history (and a very white-washed version of it at that), therefore the book’s structure and tendency to jump around through time, and across events in history made it hard for me to follow when historic figures and events in the civil rights movement were interlaced with the scientific events occurring at NASA.

In life I find there are generally only two types of people – those who read the book first, or those who watch the movie first. I am firmly in the first camp, but for Hidden Figures I ended up seeing the movie first (in truth only because the hold list at the library was so long). The movie is excellent, but while it’s based on the book, it takes a number of liberties with the story of these truly inspiration women. If you’ve seen the movie and are thinking about reading the book please remember that the movie is a work of fiction based on true events, and I wish in this case I had read the book first.

Have you read the book? What did you think?

Book title: Hidden Figures
Author: Margot Lee Shetterly
Genre: History
Pages: 384
My rating: 2 stars
Buy the book: Amazon.com Amazon.ca
The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner. Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South’s segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America’s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens. Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country’s future.

Painted Vinyl Floor Mat for My Foyer

2017-03-08T03:30:00.000-05:00

Four years ago I blogged about the DIY foyer rug I made with some colourful fabric and some Polyurethane. The rug did its job for many years, but sadly time and foot traffic took its toll. While sweeping and mopping was able to get it mostly clean, over time the rug started to look a bit dingy and worn. I debated making another rug in the same way, but I couldn’t find any graphic colourful fabric I liked at a price I wanted to pay so I started looking for other options.

Last summer while I was visiting my parents my mom and I were browsing in a fancy kitchen store when I stumbled across these beautiful Vintage vinyl floor cloths by Spicher & Co. There were only two issues – I’d have to get a custom size which meant big $$$$, and the patterns they had were very traditional – not many that fit my desire for something bright and vibrant.

Photo credit: Sian Richards; Chatelaine

A few months later I was bumbling around the internet and I found the image above. While the foyer is stunning (so bright and open!) it was the rug that drew my eye first. I loved the thick stipes in the vibrant hues. A bit of digging led me to the rug maker - Oliver Yaphe. The hand knotted construction of the rugs made them way too thick to fit under my front door (and the price was way too much for my wallet), but the image gave me a better idea of what I was looking for in terms of pattern and colour for my foyer.

After being inspired by the thick bright stripes I recalled the vinyl floor mats I had seen earlier and decided that I would attempt to make my own version if I could find suitable vinyl flooring. I needed the vinyl to be very thin, and I needed it to be as un-patterned as possible - most vinyl flooring has an embossed pattern to make it appear more like bricks or slate tiles - I didn't want that pattern to still be visible once I had painted it.

I looked at off-cuts, and even remnants and pieces at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, but nothing worked. Luckily I eventually found this vinyl at Home Depot - thin and the horizontal wood pattern would work with my planned horizontal stripes. With that worked out I turned my attention to picking my paint colours. I wish I could say that I was inspired by something in my home, but I cheated. I have a bunch of those 'paint inspiration' booklets and one from Para has five colours that reminded me of the ones in my inspiration rug, and even better I didn't have to spend the time carefully picking harmonious colours. Since I would need only a small amount of each colour I bought sample pots at Lowes.

Why do I always decide to start projects late at night?? Why can't I start them on a weekend like a normal person? #nightowl #heregoesnothing #hopethisideaworks #testpotsofpaintarecheap #untilyouhavetobuysixofthem

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Nov 23, 2016 at 7:17pm PST

Once all the materials were in hand, the steps were fairly simple, if a bit time consuming waiting for paint to dry. I used my dining room (aka: my workroom) for this project so it was bit in the way – a garage or other low traffic area would be better if you’re interested in trying it, but I’m not blessed with either. I first cut my vinyl to size using a straightedge and X-Acto knife. Then I primed it with some primer I had on hand from an earlier project. Next up was determining my pattern. I knew I wanted stipes of varying width, but I didn’t want just random sizes. My dad will be thrilled to know I used math to figure out a ratio that could work. Once the sizes of the stripes were determined I marked them using a pencil, and then taped off half of the stipes using painters tape. I painted between two to three coats of each colour using a small foam roller (darker colours needed an exra coat because my primer was white). Once those stripes were dry I peeled the tape up, and repeated the process to paint the other half of my stripes. There was a little seepage under the tape making my lines less crisp than I liked so I touched them up with a tiny paintbrush. The last step was three coats of Polycrylic in a satin finish.

I’ve been using my new vinyl rug since the end of November, and it’s held up really well against the stuff I’ve tracked in from outside with no chipping or scratches to the paint caused by little pebbles or damage caused by the water from melting snow off my winter boots. I reused my thin Ikea rug pad under the vinyl to prevent any movement of the rug, and the additional weight of my tulip table keeps it nicely secure.

My little experiment has worked so well I’m considering making another for my dining room, but for now I’m perfectly thrilled with how this one looks in my foyer.

The Hired Girl - a Book Review

2017-02-24T21:23:00.000-05:00

Like the first book I read for my 2017 book goal, I’d never heard of ‘The Hired Girl’ by Laura Amy Schlitz until I read the blurb on the A Mighty Girl booklist, but it sounded promising. Published in September 2015 it is a work for young adults and is one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to teen girls.

The book tells the story of fourteen year old Joan who, in 1911, runs away from her home on a small farm in Pennsylvania when her father forbids her from continuing her schooling. Being a lover of reading, Joan treasures the few books she owns and longs for a life full of love and adventure just like her favourite heroines.

The Hired Girl takes the form of a diary, written by Joan in the notebook given to her by her beloved teacher, Miss Chandler. At first I found the format a bit befuddling, and frankly I had a bit of trouble with Joan’s ‘voice’. But I got over myself and realised that the author had truly managed to inhabit the mind of a fourteen year old girl. If you’re a fan of Anne of Green Gables you’ll like Joan – she’s intelligent, naïve, impetuous, prone to making rather large blunders, and desperate to be in love. At times I found Joan to be a frustrating character who is overly emotional and a bit self-involved, but then again so are all regular fourteen year old girls (except for me – I’m sure I was perfect when I was fourteen – Ha!).

The author has crafted a tale where Joan takes us on a journey through early twentieth-century America as she experiences new inventions like electricity and a magical carpet-sweeper, and as she learns about feminism, religion and love. Overall I thought 'The Hired Girl' was an enjoyable book, and one I’d recommend if you’re looking for an easy read.

Book Title: The Hired Girl
Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Pages: 400
My rating: 3 Stars
Buy the Book: Amazon.com Amazon.ca
Winner of the 2016 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction A 2016 Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Award Winner Winner of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her delicious wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a moving yet comedic tour de force. Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself--because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of--a woman with a future. Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz relates Joan's journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!), taking readers on an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions.

Quiet with MILCK and Choir!Choir!Choir!

2017-02-22T21:20:00.000-05:00

One of my goals for 2017 was to try new things and a couple of weeks ago I sang in public for the first time since probably middle school - Mr. Robertson’s (Robinson's?) music class to be exact where I think he scared most of his students away from singing ever again. At the start of each year he made everyone memorize a song and stand up and sing solo in front of our classmates to determine what type of singer they were – Soprano, Alto or Tenor, etc. In grade eight that song was ‘Bring Him Home’ from ‘Les Miserables’ which is rather difficult (Mr. Robertson was rather odd – he also made us listen to one of the Beatles' LP’s backwards to listen to the hidden secret messages that said that Paul was dead). Anyways, I digress.

Choir! Choir! Choir! is an un-traditional choir that is based here in Toronto, where instead of having a regular group of members they invite anyone to attend and sing the song of that day. They spend a couple of hours rehearsing a song, and then everyone sings it together and it’s recorded. Some of the recordings have gone viral including their rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, and a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ with Rufus Wainright for 2016’s Luminato Festival in Toronto. My friend Lindsey has sung with them on numerous occasions and she invited me and a couple of friends to join her on February 6th in support of the ACLU.

If you heard anything about the Women’s March on Washington on January 21st, you may have heard of MILCK. She performed her song “Quiet" with a group of strangers during the march, and the video of it went viral. The guys at Choir!Choir!Choir! invited her to Toronto to sing the song with the group, and this is the result:

The experience of singing in such a large group was really neat, and I can honestly say I wouldn't hesitate to attend another Choir!Choir!Choir! event in future - even one that isn't for such a great cause. Also, if you look VERY closely you can catch tiny glimpses of me at 1:37 and 4:24 - not that I watched the video repeatedly to see if I could spot myself or anything . . . :)

Code Name Verity - a Book Review

2017-02-13T12:47:00.000-05:00

One of my goals for 2017 is to try to read 40 books. In order to help me keep track of the number of books I read this year I thought I might write reviews as I go. Hopefully these will introduce you to a book or two you'd like to read, or it might even prompt you to recommend one you've read and enjoyed to me. Code Name Verity was the first book I started after January 1, 2017.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein was released back in 2012, and to be completely honest I’d never heard of it before I stumbled across it while perusing the A Mighty Girl book list. I’m a bit of a fan of fiction set during the Second World War, but this one is different than many of the ones I’ve read before as the main characters are female and they’re right in the middle of the action. Needless to say this was quickly added to my hold list at the library.

When this book became available I couldn’t wait to get started. The story centers on two unlikely best friends – a working-class girl from outside Manchester and a Scottish Aristocrat, who despite their completely different backgrounds complement each other perfectly. The first part of the book is written from the perspective of a spy captured and held by the Gestapo. It’s a diary of sorts – the confession the spy writes to delay further torture, and what she anticipates will be her eventual execution. The spy tells of the friendship between Maddie, a pilot, and Julie, a special operations executive.

To be honest I had trouble getting into this book for the first little while – I found it slow going. The narrator focused a lot on Maddie’s story – detailing planes and airfields and other operational aspects of the war. This focus makes sense given it the information that would be most desired by the Gestapo about the war-time operations of their enemies, but I truly only wanted to read more about the friendship between the two young women, and frankly I also didn’t like the narrator’s character – a spy willing to confess to the enemy in order to save their own skin. To be honest I was a bit tempted to put the book down, but I persevered and I’m so very glad that I did.

I won’t go into the second part of the book as it would give away some key points of the story (and some major plot-twists), but I will say that Code Name Verity turned out to be a fabulous book and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s classed as Young Adult fiction, but it’s a truly great read for adults (and frankly some of the book might be a bit graphic for young teens).

So tell me - have you read it? If so, what did you think? Have any similar books you can recommend?

Book Title: Code Name Verity
Author: Elizabeth E. Wein
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Pages: 352
My Rating: 5 Stars
Buy the Book: Amazon.com Amazon.ca
Code Name Verity is a compelling, emotionally rich story with universal themes of friendship and loyalty, heroism and bravery. Two young women from totally different backgrounds are thrown together during World War II: one a working-class girl from Manchester, the other a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a wireless operator. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted friends. But then a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. She is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in "Verity's" own words, as she writes her account for her captors. From the Hardcover edition.

Intentions & Goals

2017-01-27T03:01:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are again – January. The month of year that’s traditionally regarded as the one when we should all turn over a new leaf with the aim of making ourselves happier with who we are. In the past I’ve made resolutions, but like a lot of people they never really stuck ie: I’ve joined a gym in January and gone religiously for weeks only to gradually stop going, until the result was at the end the only thing looking slimmer was my bank account. In years past I’ve blogged about my goals and resolutions when it came to my home, myself and even this blog, but the last few years I haven’t set any. Frankly, the pressure I can put on myself when it comes to resolutions and the invariable sense of failure I experience when I don’t meet my own expectations can be rather debilitating.

Despite my past defeats in the realm of resolutions and goals I’m going to give it another go this year with some hopefully better results. I’m hoping that by setting just a few goals/intentions instead of a whole list worth I’ll have more success.

This blog – should it stay, or should it go? Along with resolutions, January also brings the renewal bills for keeping this blog up and running. It’s pretty expensive, and while there are a few ads running on the page, they don’t even cover 10% of the cost of keeping this blog up (and since I haven’t met the payment threshold I’ve actually received no money). So my intention for this year is to decide once and for all if I should keep it, or delete it.

When I first started blogging I really enjoyed it – I enjoyed sharing what I was doing, and getting feedback from readers, but over the years blogging as an medium has changed. Blogging used to be about sharing with the world because you’re proud of your craft or DIY, or because you really enjoyed the work of someone else.Now, in some cases, it’s all about the $$ and the lack of ethics on the part of some bloggers/sites has left me wondering if I really want to revive my blog. I didn’t write a single post in 2016 - time will tell if this is my sole post in 2017, and if it is I’ll have my answer.

Reading 40 books in 2017. I travel part of the way to work each day via the subway and, like a lot of people, I spend most of the time underground staring at my phone. Unlike some others though, I don’t play the newest addictive game, I read. Ebooks are a genius invention.

My goal for 2017 is the read 40 books. Originally it was 100, but then I did the math and realised that would be almost two books a week. While I love reading, I don’t love it above eating and sleeping and all the other things that take up some of my time. I pondered reading 50 books – a nice, round number I thought manageable given the speed I can finish a book (normally approx. one a week), but finally settled on 40 in case there are some books that are a bit of a slog to get through (we’re nearing the end of January and I’m starting to wonder if 40 was even a bit ambitious – I’ve only managed two books so far). The rules for this goal are simple – the books can be new, or ones I’ve read before, in any genre, but I have to read the whole thing. If you have any books to recommend please let me know – I need some ideas as my hold list at the library is currently empty.

Running a 10K in under an hour. I always seem to make resolutions about running, and they’re usually not successful.

This year I’m making a pretty audacious goal – I hope to finish a 10k race in under an hour. This is big. HUGE. Did I mention that I’m not a fast runner? My best ever 10k time was about 1 hour and 4 minutes. That was 12 years ago. Twelve. Paul Martin was the Prime Minister of Canada, GW Bush was the President of the USA, and I was more than a decade younger. Yikes.

To put this a bit more in perspective, last year I ran one 10K race and finished it with a chip time of 1:19:47. Oy – now that I’ve actually written that out I’m freaking out a bit – I basically have to cut 20 minutes of my most recent time to meet this goal. That’s a lot. Send help in the form of a personal masseuse, and maybe a truckload of anti-inflammatories. Also, a pry-bar to peel me off my couch and out to actually train might be helpful as well.

Try new things and put myself out there more. I’m a bit (ahem – a lot) of an introvert. I find it hard to put myself out there and meet new people. This year I’m aiming to try to fight that. I know I won’t be able to change my inherent nature, but my goal is to attend and participate in a few different things.

This goal has already netted some results – I attended the Woman’s March in Toronto on Jan 21st by myself, and I’ve signed up to take an ‘Intro to everything’ course at the Art Gallery of Ontario – again by myself. Hopefully I can find a few more things this year to attend to help expand my horizons a bit, meet some new people, and learn some new things.

Renovate my Bathroom. I had actually hoped to do this last year but I’m completely intimidated by the idea and to be perfectly honest I got lazy. But it NEEDS to be done, so it’s on the list for this year (and by NEEDS I’m not exaggerating – the grout if falling out in my shower so God only knows how much moisture has seeped into the walls – it has to be fixed).

This goal might be tough too as I’m still completely intimidated by the idea. Where the heck do I start? What do I do when I’m renovating given I live in a one-bathroom apartment? How do I find a contractor? HELP!! Any good tips on where to start? Have the name of a great contractor in the GTA? Please share them. Please.

So, there we have it – my intentions or goals for 2017. Only time will tell if I have any success. Here’s hoping I do.

New Favourites at the One of a Kind Show - Winter 2015

2015-12-04T11:42:00.000-05:00

It’s that time of year again – the one where I wrack my brain for gift ideas for the people on my list and pretty much always come up empty. The trouble is, whenever I ask what they might like, the invariable answer is that they don’t need or want anything. This makes gift giving VERY difficult. Handily this time of year coincides with the Winter One of a Kind Show.

I’ve blogged about the show in the past- it’s always helped me find gifts for at least some of the people on my list, and this year was no different. I went Thursday evening after work to take advantage of their later hours, and I’m pleased to say I think my gift list is now about 90% complete.

I bought my ticket online (after finding a $1 off coupon via google) and printed it out before going. Best $12 I’ve spent in a while – no battling through malls which always seems to make me grumpy. While busy, the show wasn’t really crowded until I got to the aisle with all the food vendors who were giving out all the tasty samples. I ~~might have~~ definitely indulged in way too many samples, but it was worth it .

I thought I’d share a few of the ‘New to me’ vendors I found this time at the show just in case you’ll be visiting this weekend (the show closes Dec 6). (The pictures I’m sharing are mostly via the vendor’s websites as sadly my cell phone doesn’t take the greatest pictures)

Russell Hackney Ceramics – Booth Z19
http://russellhackneyceramics.com/
A new vendor at the show, Russell’s booth was actually one of the first I visited (I always do the show from right to left, or aisle Y though A). Given my love of matte white ceramic vases it’s unsurprising that his work caught my eye. I need to figure out a way for this Bear cookie jar to grace my kitchen counter. Hopefully he’ll be back at the spring show and I can get myself a present.

C is for Clean – Booth I13
http://cisforclean.com/
I actually somehow missed this booth on my first pass through the show (I walk though once and make notes of gift ideas, who they might be for and note the booth name and location. Once I’ve seen everything I make my choices and go pack and purchase them), but spotted them as I was leaving. While I didn’t buy any this time, this is another booth I’ll be buying from in the spring (here’s hoping they’re there!) I love that they're all natural, and the four scents they have are all lovely.

Marjorie Camiré Céramiste – Booth W49
https://www.facebook.com/marjoriecamireceramiste
Marjorie’s booth was busy when I was walking by and it’s clear why. With lovely ceramic pieces rimmed in gold they are simple, beautiful pieces. she also had a teacup and saucer that made me want to start drinking tea on a regular basis

Julia Veenstra – Booth W52
http://www.juliaveenstra.com/
Julia’s art quite literally stopped me in my tracks. It’s bold and vibrant, and I love it. This is Julia’s first #OOAK show, and judging by the number of red stickers denoting sold pieces it’s been quite a success. I LOVED the above piece named ‘Evening on the lake’ - the person who purchases it will be very lucky.

If you haven't already gone to this season's One of a Kind show I hope you have a chance to go this weekend - it's well worth it.

In Search of Winter Boots

2015-11-27T03:00:00.000-05:00

It’s almost the end of November which, besides being entirely shocking (seriously – wasn’t it July just last week?), means I will soon wake up to a blanket of snow covering the ground. Sadly, the boots I’ve been wearing for the last two winters developed a hole in the toe in the spring so it’s time for some new boots.

If I had any sort of foresight I would have taken advantage of the end of season sales last spring to buy a new pair but since I didn’t, I’ve been trying to decide on a new pair while knowing that it could snow at any moment and I wouldn’t be prepared. If I had an unlimited budget this wouldn’t have been such a problem, but I’m heading to Africa in just under a month and I’ve got a lot of stuff I still need to buy for that trip, so the budget is tight.

Some people might think spending $200 on a pair of winter boots is a lot, and frankly I rather agree, but there are a few reasons I think spending the money is warranted:

I live in Canada. Yes, there are stereotypes (no I don’t live in an igloo or ski to work), but the reality is it gets cold, and it snows. Good winter boots are a bit of a necessity for living in Canada – kinda like maple syrup.
I hate the cold. Seriously. If I could figure out a way to only live in Canada during the spring, fall and summer I’d totally spend the winter months somewhere warmer.
It’s an almost 1km walk from my house to the subway, so I’m spending a lot of time walking on snowy, slushy, wintery sidewalks for more months than I'd like.

Here are some of the contenders:

Cougar 39068 Original. My mom had these when I was little so these are a bit of a nostalgic choice. They’re also available in black, brown and red. Rated to -30 degrees. Waterproof $200
Keen Elsa Boot. These are a bit less bulky than some of the others. I like the black, but they’re available in a bunch of different colours. Tag on the inside says rated to -20 degrees. Waterproof $140
Cougar Puffy Zip. I really liked the idea of a zipped-up boot as they’re just easier to put on than the lace-up. I’m not sure the fur collar is quite ‘me’, but I think they’re rather fun. Rated to -30 degrees. Waterproof $195
Cougar Keaton. These have a really cute zipper up the back and are also available in blue and black. I love that these are taller, but they’re only rated to -10 degrees so they might be better suited for spring and fall. $120
Sorel 1964 Premium CVS. These are a classic too, and I like that the liner can come out to be washed. They’re available in black and army green, but I rather like the blue. Rated to -32 degrees $150
Cougar Cheyenne 2. These are all leather, and felt more like shoes when I tried them on. Also available in red, brown and tan. Rated to -30 degrees. Waterproof. $190

Now I just need to decide. What do you wear? Any suggestions?

(for American readers I’ve linked the above to Canadian websites – you can check out some of the boots on Amazon here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

I'm Baaaack!!!! Maybe

2015-11-19T03:04:00.000-05:00

I'm back. Maybe. It's been over a year since I posted here last. Strangely it doesn't seem like all too long ago that I was revealing my bedroom, but in other ways it seems like forever ago.

I don't really have any one reason why I haven't been here in all that time. I was a bit burned out from redoing my bedroom for the one-room challenge, so I didn't post for a few weeks. And then it was Christmas, but we didn't do our traditional Christmas stuff last year, so I didn't have anything to share. After a while the idea of doing all the work for a blog post just seemed like more of a massive chore than something that I did for fun. Blogging takes time, and when it became something I felt like I 'had to do' versus something I 'like to do' I stopped doing it, and I felt little or no guilt about it.

After many, many months I started to miss blogging. I missed trying to think of creative things to do and then sharing them with you, but the problem was trying to figure out how to start again. I worried over what I would post about, and how it would be received. I worried that maybe those who read in the past would be disinterested in what I had to say now. I worried more that nobody noticed I was missing from the blogosphere during the time I was quiet. That self doubt became yet another reason for not posting - I spent so much time trying to think of just the right thing to say, to do, that I didn't actually get back to the actual act of blogging.

Here's the thing. All that worrying was stupid. It's not like this blog pays my bills (in fact it actually costs me money each year - the few ads in the sidebar don't begin to cover hosting fees, etc). So, I'm going to try something different. I'm going to try to stop pressuring myself to post on some sort of self-imposed schedule. I'm going to try to post about whatever I want, whenever I feel like it. In the past I've posted mostly about home decor stuff, and that might change. I might post about random stuff I saw that I loved, or I might write about something that drives me nuts. Or I might stick to home decor, because I still love it.

Anyways, here are a few snapshots of what I've been up to in the past 12 months:

My ceiling caved in early January, which so soon after my bedroom adventures with plaster was not fun.

Nobody can ever make a ceiling caving in joke around me ever again. What a way to wake up. As an FYI, a plaster ceiling falling down makes one heck of a noise, and makes an unbelievable mess #Mondayssuck

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Jan 19, 2015 at 5:36am PST

I was called for jury duty, which was beyond boring. After the first day of jury duty I went out for dinner with friends and ended up getting a ride in an ambulance when I fainted. That was a bit mortifying. As an FYI, in case you've never had the pleasure, you get a bill in the mail after you ride in an ambulance.

Got home from work to find actual mail in my mailbox (yay!). Sadly instead of being notified I somehow won $, I discovered I'm being called to go to court as a potential juror. Did you know that if you serve you don't get paid unless you serve for more than 10 days, and then it's $40 a day? And if it lasts longer than 50 days you get $100 a day?

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Feb 26, 2015 at 5:45pm PST

I tried to get back into running, and actually ran three races this year: The Sporting life 10K, in support of Camp Ooch

Waiting for the start of the #SL10K #campooch #sportinglife

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on May 10, 2015 at 5:38am PDT

The Nike Women's 15k on the Toronto Island

Got my very first piece of Tiffany & Co. jewelry yesterday and I only had to run 15k to get it ;) #greatrace #eventhoughitrained #Imabitsoretoday #butnotasmuchasifearediwouldbe #niketoronto #Nikewomen #nikewomens15k Originally posted on Instagram

And, just a few weeks ago I ran the Adidas #Runmore 10k with Casey of Waffling Blog. I've got no pictures of that since it started at 1am and I forgot to charge my phone, but you can read her account here.

My immediate family traveled to Ireland in late July to celebrate my Nonna's 95th birthday with most of the Irish side of the family.

My family with my Nonna. The last time the four of us were together was well over a year ago #Nonnacelebrates95 Originally posted on Instagram

I'm still taking Interior decorating courses at George Brown College. I ~~want to~~ have to renovate my bathroom in the spring, so I decided to take a bathroom design course this semester.

Coming up: my family isn't having a traditional Christmas again, so this time I got smart and decided to book an adventure of my own. I'll be spending Christmas day in Ireland with my grandma, but then I'm off on a 21 day tour of Ethiopia. I'm excited and a bit scared all at the same time. I have so much to do before I go, and not that much time to do it.

In just under 3 months I'll hopefully be seeing this guy and his friends while on a 21 day tour of Ethiopia. Some people have asked me why I want to travel there, and to that I can only answer 'why not'? The world is a huge amazing place - why would I not want to go see and experience all it has? Ethiopia may not be top of the list of dream travel destinations for many, but I think that makes it all the more attractive. Originally posted on Instagram

There you have it - some of the things I've been up to since I last posted here. Hope you missed me when I was gone ;)

One Room Challenge | Bedroom – Week Six - The Reveal

2014-11-06T01:02:00.000-05:00

It’s finally here! Six weeks ago I decided to participate in the One Room Challenge which was started by Linda at Calling it Home. I hoped that participating would prod me into finally decorating my bedroom, and I’m happy to say that despite some hurdles which I thought might prevent me from finishing I’m ready to share what I’ve created. (If you missed any of the weekly posts for the challenge you can read them here: week 1, week 2, week3, week 4, and week 5)

When I started this challenge my room was pretty boring, but I hoped to be able to change that with some wallpaper, art, fabric and new bedside tables.

Here’s my bedroom before:

And here it is now:

The walls were repaired and painted and then last week I had the Thibaut Etosha wallpaper installed on the wall behind the headboard. In all honesty I was a bit scared before the paper went up given the pattern is so bold, but now that it’s installed I absolutely love it.

I shared the before of the bedside tables a couple of weeks ago, and I’m very pleased with what I was able to do with them. They were painted in a high gloss using Para Paints Hybrid technology paint, and I love the look of them – almost like they were lacquered.

If you remember my inspiration board from week one I was inspired for the room by the Neo Toile fabric in navy from Tonic Living. I used it for a pillow on the bed along with a couple of fabrics from Designer Fabrics here in Toronto. They were my first ever attempt at sewing pillows with piping and a zipper (I used this tutorial) – there were some minor goofs, but overall I’m pleased with the result of my late night sewing adventures.

The wall that was bulging and cracked has been repaired and I don’t think anyone would know that a few short weeks ago there was a massive hole between where my dresser and where the Zoe Pawlak print I won now hangs. For a novice drywaller and plasterer I think I did a great job. That said I really don’t want to ever have to do it again.

In addition to the Zoe Pawlak piece I’ve hung the antique Hearth and Home magazine which I had professionally framed, and a print by Mara Minuzzo on either side of the room.

I recovered my headboard in navy velvet, which unfortunately isn’t coming across well in the pictures given the lack of natural light (stupid daylight savings). I also applied brass nailhead detail around the edge to balance the brass of the pulls on the bedside tables.

There you have it – challenge completed, and I’m thrilled with the result. What do you think?

Want some more One Room Challenge final reveals? Make sure you check out the 20 bloggers doing the one room challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Linking Participants.

As a member of the Para Blog Crew I was provided paint for this project.

One Room Challenge | Bedroom – Week Five

2014-10-30T04:00:00.000-04:00

I can’t believe we’re in week number 5 of the one week challenge already – how is that possible? It seems like only a few days ago that I was sharing my inspiration board in week one of this six week challenge, and now here we are a scant 7 days from the finish and I am feeling more than overwhelmed with all the work that remains.

I’m writing this at 2:30 on Thursday morning as I literally wait for paint to dry so I can do another coat. This is a pretty good indication of how my week has gone. I left off last week feeling hopeful that I’d get this room finished on time – I had major plans for last weekend – I was going to paint and then work on my headboard, my bedside tables, and then maybe sew a pillow of two. Seven days later and I’m still painting. The other stuff on my list? Ha – they didn’t happen.

On Friday night I painted my walls and was pretty pleased, but the next morning I started to have doubts – was it too yellow? My apartment is tricky – it doesn’t get a whole lot of natural light, and what it does get is late in the afternoon. I thought that perhaps it was trick of the light, so I decided to revisit it later that day. Several hours later and the changing light hadn’t changed my opinion.

Saturday night found me frantically looking through my paint deck trying to find another off-white that wasn’t too yellow, or too blue, or too pink. I honestly didn’t realise how hard it was to pick an off-white - they're all so similar yet so different. On Sunday morning I made the hour long trek via transit to Lowes for some tester pots of paint. After the trip back home to test them out I made a decision and had to take myself back to Lowes to buy a gallon. If you’ve been keeping track that’s 4 hours on the bus for a gallon of paint. Fun times.

My options: (all paints Para) P5211-14 - Shape Shifter, P5213-14 - Posture & Poise, P5215-14 - French Manicure, and P5219-14 - Every Girls Dream

Anyways, a coat of the new colour went up late Sunday night and I was much happier with it. I was apparently overly enthusiastic though when I tried to do a second coat the next evening because I broke the roller. Who knew that was even possible? Anyways, after purchasing a new roller the next day on my lunch break I was able to finally get the second coat up, and tonight I’m taking care of the trim.

Why the late night painting session? I’ve got the wallpaperer coming today (Thursday) and all the painting has to be finished before he can get started. I’m really hoping that after the paper is installed I’ll feel a little less stressed out about getting this room completed.

That said, with only one week left I think it’s time for a to-do list:

Install wallpaper
re-upholster headboard
Bedside tables
Sew pretty pillows
Move my furniture back into my bedroom
Figure out what to do for bedside lamps (What I was going to go is failing miserably so I need a second option)
Pick up my vintage magazine from the framers, and decide where to hang it.
Iron and rehang my curtains
Find accessories and prettiness to dress the bedside tables
Pull everything together
Take photos

Yikes! There’s still so much to do. I honestly don’t know if I can do it – keep our fingers crossed for me.

Want some more One Room Challenge inspiration and craziness? Make sure you check out the 20 bloggers doing the one room challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Linking Participants.

One Room Challenge | Bedroom - Week Four

2014-10-22T20:43:00.000-04:00

After the slow progress I’d made after the first three weeks (see the posts here: 1, 2, 3) of this one room challenge, I’m happy to say that I think I’ve made quite a bit of progress this week.

You may remember that when I started this challenge I decided to do a little wall repair, and that it snowballed into a major problem. After a weekend of alternately mixing drywall plaster and being covered in drywall dust I’ve officially declared the repair portion of this project over. Hallelujah! It’s by no means perfect, but I’m exceptionally pleased with my handiwork. I honestly think nobody will be able to tell the wall was patched unless they look really closely.

After I installed the drywall came many, many layers of drywall compound

This is (again) a bad nighttime picture, but I promise the wall looks really good in person

After the wall was finished I did two coats of primer, and I’ve started the actual painting part of this project. Sadly I thought I might be able to get away with just one coat on the ceiling, but given I was painting at night with what turned out to be inadequate lighting I will need to do a second coat (there’s nothing more disappointing than lying in bed looking at your freshly painted ceiling and realizing you did a crap job). Once that’s done though I think the most difficult part will be over until it’s time to paint the radiator – I hate painting rads.

This week I also made some decisions about art. In my original post I mentioned maybe buying some new art, but I decided to make use of some of the things I already own. I found this 85 year old magazine at The Elegant Garage Sale (a Toronto furniture consignment store) a couple of years ago for $2. Given it’s age I decided to splurge and have it professionally framed. I hope I get it back in time for the room reveal.

A copy of Hearth & Home magazine from Mach 1929

I’ve also started to work on my bedside tables. I’ve had them for a while, but they were stacked in the corner of my room while I decided what to do with them.

They were in rather bad shape, but given their cost (FREE!!) that was to be expected. I’ve been trying to figure out if they might be vintage Ikea, but I haven’t been able find out for sure – anyone recognize them? Anyways, I’m both excited and scared about what I’m planning for them – here’s hoping my idea works.

I think I might be starting to believe I may be able to get my room finished in time. Maybe. Perhaps. Cross your fingers for me.

Want some more One Room Challenge inspiration and craziness? Make sure you check out the 20 bloggers doing the one room challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Linking Participants.

One Room Challenge | Bedroom - Week Three

2014-10-15T20:01:00.000-04:00

How are we on week three already? This wee fact scares me more than a little bit - especially since I didn't really accomplish anything in my room this week. I have a good excuse though - you see, it was my grandma's 94th birthday on the weekend so my mom and I went to Ireland on Friday to help her celebrate. Since I only returned yesterday evening I didn't really have a chance to do much work on the One Room Challenge, but if I don't finish my bedroom in time I'm okay with that - celebrating my grandma's birthday is way more important to me than decorating a room.

That said, one of the first things I did when I returned last evening was put yet another coat of plaster on my wall. That's right - the hole still isn't fixed. It is looking a lot better, but my attempts to repair it are being hindered a bit by the lack of heat in my building. Mud that should only take 8 hours or so to dry is taking over 24 which is massively slowing my repair progress, and I can't really do anything else in the room until I have the wall fully repaired. Here's hoping I have a bit of luck over the weekend.

I mentioned briefly in last weeks post that I had done a bit of fabric sourcing and I've been trying to figure out what to do. There are a few options that I'm considering - I know the walls will be the Etosha paper and the headboard will be navy velvet. I'll be sticking with white for the sheets and duvet cover so I want to add some colour with pillows - I'll likely have a lumbar pillow in the Neo Toile that inspired my bedroom design, but other than that I'm unsure.

{Sorry for the cellphone pics - taking photos with no daylight is a skill I haven't yet mastered}

The fabric was soured from Designer Fabrics on Queen street which means there will likely be a few more contenders found when I return this selection. Oh well - I'm still not entirely positive my sewing skills will extend to sewing decorative pillows so perhaps indecision is a good thing? Then again I need something to occupy my time while I'm waiting for plaster to dry and sewing pillows might be just the thing! Any thoughts on what I should choose? Have any other suggestions?

Want some more One Room Challenge inspiration and craziness? Make sure you check out the 20 bloggers doing the one room challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Linking Participants.

One Room Challenge | Bedroom - Week Two

2014-10-09T04:00:00.000-04:00

If you read my One Room Challenge post last week you may recall that I finished it hoping that my little wall problem would get better, and it did. And then it got a whole lot worse. After I posted I managed to get a bit of mud on my walls and it started to look a whole lot better. I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and was hoping to be painting by the end of last weekend.

That didn’t happen. Once I fixed the moving plaster and the random bulges it became very apparent that I had another problem. Right in the middle of the wall was a large bulge that protruded almost two inches into the room. I always knew it was there, but it really didn’t start to bother me until I’d sort of fixed the other section. I realise that yes, I could continue to pretend it wasn’t there and start adding paint and wallpaper, and fun and pretty things to the room, but I knew that it would then drive me absolutely bonkers to look at it every day and I’d eventually have to fix it. There’s no point in ruining a room after it’s finished to fix something I should have done earlier is there?

Anyways, I thought it would just be a matter of continuing the method of plaster buttons I used to fix my previous problem. No such luck. I’d heard drilling holes in plaster and injecting construction adhesive between the lathe and plaster and then applying pressure could work - it didn’t. I was beyond frustrated and I had a wall full of random drill holes and dried adhesive. Eventually I got smart and realised that on the other side of the bulge was my bathroom medicine cabinet. Once that was out I could really visualize the problem.

Walls made of fiberboard with no structural support, and a patch of drywall that a previous owner had made

Problem #1 – the wall (at east in that section) is not made of lathe and plaster like I thought, but plaster over what I can only describe as fiberboard.

Problem #2 - there is no structure to anchor the wall to in order to remove the bulge.

After a phone call to my Dad I decided the only option was to remove the bulge completely which necessitated another trip to Home Depot, the purchase of more supplies including drywall, and then hauling it all home on the bus since I don’t have a car (Note to self: Win the lottery and buy a car).

Two pieces of drywall are pretty heavy, especially when you're also carrying drywall saw, screws, work gloves, duct tape, a plastic sheet and various other DIY supplies

Eventually, with a lot of effort, a huge amount of mess, and a lot of noise (sorry neighbours) I accomplished this:

Hello there bathroom. If I got Ryan Reynolds to move in I think this could be called a feature wall - don't you think?

And eventually this:

Drywall installed. You can see my earlier patch on the left

It wasn’t all dust and noise this week. I did a little sourcing for fabric for pillows and lamps (and ran into Vanessa of Décor Happy at HomeSense). No decisions made there yet, but I did pick up some fabric for my headboard at Designer Fabrics – did you know they have a whole section of off-cut velvet for $7/yd? I wasn’t going to miss that deal. And on Tuesday I found myself back in class for the first time in a couple of months.

Hopefully next week I’ll be able to report that my bedroom is looking much better. I still have a long way to go, but I’m a little more confident now than I was this past weekend that I can get the room completed by the end of the challenge. Fingers crossed.

Check out some of the other bloggers progress this week on Calling it Home.

One Room Challenge | Bedroom – Week One

2014-10-02T02:48:00.000-04:00

If you’ve read this blog for a while you may have noticed I have a bit of project ADD. I have piles of great (in my opinion) ideas on how to decorate my space, but I rarely follow through on them, or worse, I get started and then never finish. This isn’t really a good thing since I don’t have a single space in my home I’m really happy with, and well, I write this blog which is supposed to be all about my attempts at decorating – it’s a little silly that I haven’t really decorated anything isn’t it?

For the past few years I’ve followed the One Room challenge that was started by Linda at Calling it Home – twice a year a group of pretty amazing design bloggers completely redo a room in 6 weeks. It’s that time of year again and this time I’ve decided I’m going to participate in the link-up challenge in an effort to get a room done. I’m rather hoping a 6 week deadline will kick me in the butt and help me get ONE ROOM finished (or close to it).

I’ll be trying to finish my bedroom, which in all honesty is probably the room that I’ve completed the most projects for – my dresser, my headboard and the pinch-pleated drapes. They’ll all be staying, but may be modified a bit.

Here’s pretty much what I’m starting with:

My Bedroom (sorry for the awful picture)

And here’s the tentative plan:

Wallpaper, Lamp, Bedside table, Headboard, Pillows: 1, 2, 3

You may recall I won the Thibaut Etosha wallpaper from Meredith Heron a number of months ago – I chose the grey. I’ll only be doing an accent wall behind the bed (which incidentally I don’t think Meredith would approve of, but it’s a really bold pattern, and I don’t yet have the designer guts that she does to do a whole room).

The rest of the room will be inspired by the Neo Toile fabric from Tonic Living. If I get my act together I’m hoping I can sew some cushions for the bed (note to self: find some good tutorials). I also need some bedside tables, because the mismatched ones are an eye-sore, and some new bedside lamps since my current white and green ones won’t go with my new colour scheme. Unfortunately I won't be getting the 1st Dibs tables pictured above since they cost many mortgage payments.

I also want to add some personality to the room with some art. I’ll be using the Zoe Pawlak art I won from Christine Dovey, but I’ll need some other pieces. I might order something from some of the art I love on Etsy, but I’m not yet sure what I want. The room also needs a rug, but given my budget (miniscule) that likely won’t happen. We’ll see - maybe I’ll find the deal of the century.

In the interest of full disclosure I should tell you I’ve already started this project, and I’ve already run into a huge problem. I noticed a small crack on the wall behind my dresser and when I moved it to do a quick patch I discovered the plaster had pulled away from the lath and was bulging and moving rather alarmingly. It’s never a good thing when your wall moves. I’ve started the repair which I’m crossing my fingers will work and won’t look too nasty once I’m done. At the moment it looks like this which I’m very much hoping is a case of ‘it has to get worse before it gets better’.

What do you think? Can I get the room done in 6 weeks? Does anyone in Toronto have the name of a great wallpaperer? Any great artists or art sources to share? Let me know!

Scenes from my Weekend - EdgeWalk

2014-09-30T04:00:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago a friend messaged me and asked if I'd be interested in doing the EdgeWalk atop the CN tower here in Toronto in celebration of her husband's birthday. Without hesitating I said yes despite it never having been on my bucket list of things I must do. In fact, I'm fairly certain that when the EdgeWalk opened in 2011 I said it was something I would never do.

For weeks every time I thought about what I had agreed to do I got butterflies in my stomach the size of pterodactyls, but this past Saturday I rode an elevator up 116 stories and stepped outside 356m (1,168ft) above Toronto and took a little stroll.

I can say now that it was fun, but while I was up there I have no problem admitting I was a bit scared. Heck - you can see it in the video - at points I wasn't sure I'd be able to do the 'activities'. I'm not generally afraid of heights, but there's something about peering over the edge at that altitude with just a couple of ropes to hold you up that's a bit terrifying.

Now that I've done it I can honestly say it's an adventure I'd recommend. Walking around on the outside of a building at that height is completely crazy and totally nuts, so therefor it's something you should try if you can ;)

I did learn one thing from this adventure - I'll never go bungee jumping. It's one thing to peer over the edge at that height - it's another thing completely to leap off. Never going to happen.

A Few Favourites from The Penny Paper Co. & a Giveaway!

2014-09-26T04:00:00.000-04:00

One of the first blogs I started reading regularly was “Little House Blog’ by Lindsay Stephenson. At the time I think she and her husband were working on their dining room, but since then they’ve renovated their kitchen, finished their basement bathroom, redone their main bathroom and a slew of other projects around their home which are equally gorgeous. If I ever renovate either my kitchen or bath I'm honestly going to be heavily referencing her projects.

In addition to being a blogger and mom, Lindsay is the owner of The Penny Paper Co. – a wonderful online shop that sells art prints for adults and kids alike, amazing jewelry, and even rubber stamps and cute accessories to make sitting at your desk more fun. Lindsay has also had her artwork sold in HomeSense and Chapters/Indigo stores across Canada which is beyond neat.

The Penny Paper Co. has so many wonderful things, but here are a few of my current favourites.:

1. Don't Grow Up 2. Druzy Necklace 3. I'm a Big Deal 4. Box of Donuts 5. Initial Notepad 6. Heart of Gold

What do you think? Anything you’d love to have? I hope so, because in celebration of Penny Paper Co.’s 10th Anniversary Lindsay has offered a $50 gift certificate for anything in the store! Can you believe it? I’m rather jealous of whoever is going to win.

To enter visit The Penny Paper and Co. and then leave a comment here letting me know what you’d pick if you won. Would it be something for yourself, or maybe something as a gift? There are so many great things to choose from.

Want some more chances to win? Like Eamonn & Jack on Facebook or tweet about this giveaway for additional entries.

This giveaway is open to readers in Canada and the USA, and closes at 12:01am EST on Friday, October 3.