Brown Paper Bagging It

Since *mila* has to present on how she feels about herself by placing 5 objects in a paper lunch bag tomorrow,  I thought I'd try the same.  Remember, it has to fit in a paper bag!


source:  club doctissimo

1. a croissant:  I can't put the cappuccino in the bag.  I like to think of myself as pensive and a bit of a daydreamer that can sit over an americano and a nice croissant in an outdoor cafe in Paris.



source:  art paints

2. an indigo paint chip:  Rich in character like the colour indigo. Dark and mysterious.  Vibrant and fun.




source:  touches home interiors

3.  a crystal door knob:  It creates prismatic views of life.  It allows others to open new doors.  It is the way in or out, not the door itself.  It's like I need the attention that a doorknob from 'Alice in Wonderland' would need in order to be opened.  I like to be tippy-toed around, handled with kid-gloves and all those other wonderful things!  No, I'm not a princess or a diva, just fragile like that crystal door knob,




source:  schleich

4. a toy icelandic horse:  it's unique and has a gait like no other (I have a normal gait, but I march to my own drum).  It's a reminder to be true to who I am.  It's a reminder of my familial roots (my great-great grandparents emigrated from Iceland to Canada).   Oooh, that's a boy pony, isn't it?  Eeek, sorry about that.




source:  coo home designing

5.  an ikea catalogue collection:  First of all, I have a collection of IKEA catalogues.  This is not my collection.  I guess if you have no clue who I am or just started to read my blog, you probably haven't noticed that I'm a bit of an IKEA freak.  Been there for dinner tonight, have a Billy bookcase in just about every room.  I know each and every catalogue like the back of my hand.  How does it describe who I am?  Well, I'm a bit obsessive.  I like to collect and I can't dare throw anything out (sometimes).  I'm loyal.  Loyal like a dog.  I was born in the year of the dog.  99% of my home items come from IKEA.  I like to think that IKEA acts with integrity and I like to think I do too.  Or at least I try.

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Normally I would identify myself by my relationships.  I'm a mother, I'm a daughter, a sister, a wife, a grand-daughter, a cousin, and an aunt.  But, this time I needed the autonomy lesson.  We all do.  Life gets busy and life can whisk us away to places that take us down roads where we forget who we are.

Take some time to fill up your bag.

What did you put in yours?

signed, the willow

Where else would we go after school?

signed, the willow

Sharing

The house is getting decorated for Christmas.

We're still missing lots of trim and detail around the house.  My living room is riddled with tools as always.  But we've found ways to bring in warmth.

"Sexy and weird" according to *Mila*.

A painting I'm working on for my parents.

Our "advent" calendar to count down the days.   There is supposed to be chocolate under each gnome house.  We're afraid we'll eat them all.

Can't call this my favourite Christmas story, but it reminds me of my childhood.  "Nets of silver and gold have we said Wynken, Blynken and Nod"

A curtain warmed up the ice palace that we live in.

I managed to "sew" 5 curtains scattered throughout the house. *Mila* scored one for her room, of course!

Put the tree up and we're tired of bandaging the tree with ribbons and scattering feathers.  Seems very 80s.  And yes, becoming a parent means accomodating for multi coloured lights and all the vintage ratty old decorations.....but most loved.

Even the bookcase was jazzed up with some disco balls.  Yep, more curtains!

SWEDISH decorations.

Icelandic disco balls.  They're Icelandic in my home.

Swedish pine cone.  It's Swedish when placed on top of the IKEA catalogues.  And yes, it is necessary to have so many copies!

Sarah will miss us and we'll miss  her.

Even Suma feels a lot cozier in the house.



signed, the willow

Favourite Pendants

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ikea`s ps maskros  source  ikea

Winnie Lui White Chandelier.  source bonluxat.com

blown glass handmade pendant lamp   source luz difusion.com

























diy ikea-hack your own petal lamp source designsponge






























diy Lothair Hamann’s Loopy Lu pendant light  source loopy lu


signed, the willow

oh where oh where did my little hat go?

*Mila* spends far too much time watching America's Next Top Model.

signed,
the willow

Chairs: I admit to my obsession

I have this incredible obsession with dreaming of the new perfect dining chairs that I'll purchase some day.  In all reality, I'll probably have to endure a few more years of slops and crayon curls on the sixten IKEA chairs that grace my home in their outdated beige tone.  I think the price was close to the name, hence the reason we chose them. 

Now we're putting together an eating bar on the pass-through from our kitchen to our living room.  So now I obsess over counter stools, as well.

Tonight I found this:  Emeco.  She's an adorable Italian shop and here is how she describes herself (I call her a she.  Because she's a feminine shop, this gal):

We make chairs. That’s what we do.

Handmade from 80% recycled Aluminum.

It’s not easy. In fact it takes 77 steps to get there.

Designed to last for 150 years.

Now that’s what we call sustainability.

gehry's superlight chair

starck's icon chair

signed, the willow

Oh to be a Swede

Why are the Swedes so damn stylish? 

We have IKEA

Then there is IKEA

And furthermore IKEA

signed, the Icelander

Location Location Location

They say that location sells a house and it may be the reason we bought this house.  Take a walk with me.

Outside meet the big trees out front.

The house is solid and needs a good power wash, but the roof is new and let's walk around back.

Yum!  What's that I see?  More BIG TREES?  Yippee!  And a playhouse to boot.

Let's zoom in and see what that thing is beyond the trees.  Oooooh a lake!

And now, we'll take a walk indoors where we meet some fugly carpet and mahoghany trim. 

The window coverings are sure to block the view.

We've lived with avocado green fixtures before and we'll have to put up with these for the next year or two.  But they are clean and functional.

My brother drew up a floor plan of the place for us and listed a few light fixtures....

See?

Now couldn't this kitchen win the ugliest kitchen contest.  Here's the bonus, what you can't see is that there is a pantry on the left blocking lower cabinets.  Someone actually went to the trouble to match up the pantry to those cabinets thus blocking off the functionality of the cupboards.  Ugh.  Hello IKEA kitchen event.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

signed, the willow

This is Why I Love the Internet

"A Daily Dose of Goodness", ABC DEFG!  It's the design alphabet of course, silly billy.  OMG, I L-O-V-E this blog. 

If you are a bride, or even if you're not you need to read Style Me Pretty.  Oh, heck have a wedding for your dog and the neighbour's guinea pig if you must.  It's all too darn fun!

And I'm one step closer to taking a Swedish as a Second Language course, thanks to Skona hem.  Yes, first IKEA, then Lotta Jansdotter.  What would we do without the Swedes?

Design Within Reach carries just about every single dining chair on the planet that I love.

I can pretty much tell you that the Origami Club is not like the Chess Club.  Hello!  Don't you want to run out and buy some delicious paper to make a dozen of these:

No kidding!

And I can't forget about Michelle Forsyth.  She's phenomenal.  What an artist!  I couldn't decide which work to link up to her name.  There's too many favourites.

So, many more reasons to love the internet and take the internet out for dinner, maybe on a picnic or on a long romantic walk along the beach.

Until next time.

signed, the willow

Reno Steno

Keeping track of all the changes that need to be made in the house we bought is challenging.  So I decided to share it all here so I can personally keep track and look forward to your input.

First, picking a paint colour is never easy.  We want something fairly white, but we want to have white trim, so we do need a splash of colour.  We want to paint the whole house the same colour to begin.  It will be fresh, clean and create a new beginning.  Will it be 'gray horse'?  Will it be 'moonshine'?  Will it be 'ashwood'?

 

*Mila* and went to Rona and we daydreamed about this chandelier for her bedroom.

Tembec offers a few choices in flooring and I've narrowed it down to classic maple or clear maple.

When we decided to get these silver front loading washer and dryer, we expected to find a deep countertop to match the kitchen countertop and there begins that dilemma.

Yet another light fixture option for *Mila's* bedroom.

signed, the willow