Alt Summit Online

There is always talk around the blogosphere about amazing blogger conferences.  They seem like such a great way to make real-life connections with online friends, and are also a chance to learn from blogging experts. 

I haven’t had the chance (yet!) to attend a conference, but guess what?  Alt Summit is offering courses online!  And in July, thanks to Bing, you can take up to 4 Alt Summit Online Classes for free!  Go here to find out how!

There are a bunch of classes to choose from…

I have my eye on “The Organized Blogger” with Victoria Hudgins… I need to go on a major organizing spree around here, but don’t know where to start.  This course ends with a 10-day blog organization challenge!  Perfect!

I’m also excited about “Growing Readership” with Nicole Balch.  I heard great things about her talk at Blogpodium, so I’m thinking the online course will be awesome too.

So… anyone want to join me for an online class???

My Kilim is Here!!!

My kilim arrived on Friday!  I LOVE it!!!  I ordered it from an ebay seller in Turkey, and I have to admit I was a little bit nervous that it wouldn’t be what I expected when it arrived… but it is perfect!  According to the listing it is 80 years old, made of natural wool, and vegetable dyed.  The colors are so gorgeous!  Just what I wanted.  It arrived in less than 2 weeks, which also surprised me.  Here’s a close-up:

Summer!

It’s finally sunny and warm!  Woo hoo! 

And my peonies are blooming…

And I’m on Instagram… look for me under “fabdesignfile”.  Or click here to see my feed online.

Happy weekend!

A “why didn’t we do this sooner?” Project

Brace yourselves, people.  This isn’t a ‘pretty pictures’ post.  I’m giving you a glimpse into my basement. 

It’s a huge open room famous for it’s bright red switch plate covers and dark red carpet:

 

There is, of course, an abundance of oak (my nemesis)… even on the ceiling!  I should also mention that the kids have free run of this room.  This is where all of the big toys are kept, and where the kids play indoor hockey, basketball, baseball, golf, etc.  There is no organization. It’s total chaos.  So prepare yourself.  Here are the ‘before’ shots:

Jeff has been wanting to fix up this part of our house for ages, and I finally gave in agreed.  I spent the weekend patching floor hockey holes…   

… and painting!  I am always AMAZED at what a difference paint makes.  I painted out every piece of oak.  It's now all fresh and white.  I can’t believe how much changing that one detail just opened the room right up!  It feels so much lighter and bigger.  Such an improvement.  

I don’t think the pictures really convey how amazing the transformation is.  In real life it’s quite shocking.  Here’s a side-by-side:

 

I’m working on painting the walls this week, and new carpet will be installed early next week.  We will probably install a few more pot lights.  And I’m thinking I also need to do something about those toys.  Anyone have an awesome toy organizing solution that I should know about?

For now, it feels great to make so much progress over the weekend.  I don’t know why we didn’t do this sooner!

Summer Trends

I’ve been feeling like I need to inject some ‘summer’ into my home.  I have worked hard this year to establish a neutral backdrop in my living room and kitchen (which is almost finished!)  I find that the black/white/neutral scheme is super cozy and calming for the winter.  However, now that it’s summer, I’m ready to liven it up with some color. 

I have to say, the trend predictions at Style at Home are exactly what I had in mind this year!  Well, at least two out of three…

1. Aegean blue – the perfect summery blue shade for accessories

2. KILIM – we all know I’ve been obsessing over this trend lately!  Spoiler Alert… I ordered one!  It’s on it’s way from Turkey!

3. The third trend is Country colours – probably not going to happen in my home… but perfect for the cabin! 

Here’s the plan for injecting some summer trends into my living room:

1 – The KILIM!  The star of the room!  I ordered it from this seller on ebay.

2 – Kid Art.  This is a pencil crayon + water color map of South America made by Beckett at preschool… can you even believe how perfect it is with the colours in the kilim!?!

3 & 4 – Vases from West Elm and Indigo

5 – Tie dyed / sequin pillow from Indigo

What do you mean you don’t like white trim???

My sister in law is repainting her condo.  When she told me that she wanted gray walls, I was totally in favour.  I immediately pictured something like this:

Rockport Gray with white trim:

via Young House Love

But Jodi wanted something darker, like Chelsea Gray:

via Architectural Digest

… and she absolutely DID NOT want white trim!  Eeek!  Now what?

Luckily, I like to do a lot of mindless Pinterest browsing research, and was able to find some new inspiration pics:

Bernard Ande Photography

House Beautiful

Apartment Therapy

Jodi and I both love the gray walls with gray trim.  Can’t wait to see how it turns out… the trim is already painted, and the wall colour is going on today!

More on the kilim situation

Hahaha… yesterday’s post title was SO unclear!  Because really?  Jeff has no idea what a Turkish kilim looks like, and I’ve been talking about them incessantly lately.  I felt like he needed some visuals, which was the whole point of yesterday’s post.  What I really should have titled the post was something more like:  “Hey Jeff… THIS Is What a Turkish Kilim Looks Like”.

I think that the right kilim would add a perfect punch of color and texture to my very neutral surroundings. And I think Jeff is actually on board!  I just need to narrow down exactly what I’m looking for. 

Do I want stripy?

… Or diamondy?

Do I want bold & bright (like the first two?) … or more muted (like the following):

There are tons of these on ebay, so I know I’ll find the perfect one eventually.  Just need to figure out what I’m searching for!  Thoughts, anyone? 

So my husband knows what a Turkish Kilim looks like…

 

images:

Amber Interiors

Emily Henderson

The Design Files

Hege Greenall-Scholtz

Little Green Notebook

Living Laduree

The Way We Are

10 Years

10 years ago today, Jeff and I celebrated our wedding at 3rd Avenue United Church in Saskatoon.

3rd Avenue United Church is a Saskatoon landmark.  This beautiful 100 year old building seats 1100 people, and the acoustics are the best in town… but it’s in a bit of financial trouble!  I’d hate to see the church demolished and replaced with an office building or condos… ugh!

The Friends of Third Avenue is a group of Saskatoon citizens working to protect the future of Third Avenue United Church and to support the Third Avenue Centre so that the building can be used as a premier downtown concert hall for Saskatoon.  See their blog and facebook page for more information.  A series of benefit concerts is planned for every Thursday of the summer.  Tickets can be purchased at Persephone Theatre.

On that note… I’m off to enjoy my anniversary day with Jeff!  He has the day off!  Yay!