More Progress...

    I'm happy to report that the master bedroom is taking longer than anticipated... because we are installing a beadboard ceiling!
    (That bucket is not in our master bedroom, it is in our guest room, I found it at a salvage yard and painted it a light blue).
    Almost our entire house has these ugly ceiling tiles installed over the original plaster ceiling. I'm not exactly sure why someone thought this was an improvement:
    The other night we had dinner at my sister and brother in-law's house. They have beautiful beadboard ceilings in their guest rooms. On the way home I mentioned to Dave how pretty that would look in our bedroom. I was thinking maybe I could try beadboard wallpaper. Well, five minutes after we arrived home I heard the sound of ripping tiles! My husband decided we should do it the proper way which made me very happy. We thought we would use the sheets of beadboard but the next morning Dave went to Home Depot and came home with real cedar planks! Apparently it was only $20 more than the sheets, so it was definitely the better option. Our budget for the room is $200 and half of that is going towards the ceiling, but I think it is a worthy investment. So far it really makes the room!
    My husband has been doing all the cutting, measuring, and installing. I have been whitewashing the planks so they are white but you can still see the knots and grain. They even smell nice! This morning I woke up to this...
    I am working on some more projects to show you soon. I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Master Bedroom In Progress

    Just a little update to say we are painting our master bedroom today, and I'm very excited to show you the results next week!
    Here is part of our bedding...

    Have a great weekend!

Tiden er inne..



    Ja - jeg føler vel at tiden er inne...

    Det er tid for meg å gå videre.

    Siden bloggen har fulgt livet mitt siden jeg startet å blogge for 2 år siden
    vil jeg i kveld si takk for meg..

    Det er ikke alltid livet tar den vendigen man tror
    Heller ikke blogglivet, for dette går så ofte hånd i hånd..

    Men for å gi en liten forklaring om jeg skal det -
    føler jeg det ikke riktig ¨dele så mye til alle der ute lenger...

    Verden der ute er faktisk stor..

    Det å være en blogger som deler med seg fører med seg ganske mye.
    Ikke alltid så lett å forstå
    men for meg blir det riktig å lytte til seg selv.


    Jeg vil ha livet mitt for meg selv.


    Som dere vet har jeg startet på ny -
    og jeg har sett at livet for meg nå er så mye...

    Døgnets timer blir fyllt med glede, latter, turer i parken,
     gode myke og snille barnehender.

    Det er like før knoppene på trærne skyter skudd,- de små blomstene under den kalde jordskorpa kommer opp,- samtidlig som min hverdag får kjenne den nye friske vårluften og jeg ser en blå himmel..


    Jeg vet ikke om jeg vil blogge igjen -
    men jeg  vil la den få stå her som et minne om noen vil titte innom,-
    eller i det heletatt for min egen del.

    Den var en del av meg..


    Noen av de siste innleggene mine er korrigerte.
    Jeg vil ikke se tilbake på bloggen som noe vondt og vanskelig, for den har vært så mye annet enn det.

    Mitt lillebruktmarked vil bli snart oppgradert:0)
    Så følg gjerne med:0)
    Er det noe dere vil dele på hjertet også, ser dere min mailadresse  til høyre på siden.
    Jeg setter pris på å høre fra dere:0)

    Jeg er så glad for all den tiden og gledene vi har hatt sammen!



     Noen tanker på veien:

    " Livet er et landskap som ikke er kartlagt. Det røper bare sine hemmeligheter
    fra et øyeblikk til det neste".

     Gled deg over de små ting i livet, for en dag kan du komme til å se deg tilbake og bli klar
    over at det var dem som var de store tingene".

    Hvis du tilbringer livet med å engste deg for en storm,
    så får du aldri anledning til å nyte solskinnet".


    Varm og god
    Vårklem

    Heidi-anitha
    White vintage



Our Living Room

    It's starting to feel like spring today!
    I thought I would post our living room here. This is the before from the house brochure.
    It was so fun to work on this room together. My idea of the perfect date is spending time fixing up our house, talking and listening to music. It took us a whole weekend to do this room and the dining room.
    We added beadboard wallpaper. My husband did the wallpapering and I did a lot of painting. Layla encouraged us from the sidelines! I love the result. A lot of our guests cannot even tell that it is not real beadboard. I think the lighter wall colour really brightened the room.
    We found our couch on Kijiji and the old cupboard we won at an auction. One afternoon we drove past a sign for an auction and decided to be spontaneous and see what it was like! It was lots of fun, and what a great place to find inexpensive furniture. My husband was bidding against just one other woman, I think she was an antiques dealer, but the crowd seemed to really be on our side since they knew it was our first auction!

    The leather chair is also from Kijiji. My husband really wanted a leather chair and it is very cozy. The coffee table I found at a thrift store and painted.
    The mirror I was lucky enough to get from the City.Cottage store. If you are in the area you should really visit, everything is so pretty there!

    Since it felt so springy today I set a nice table for our dinner. I found four of these pretty blue glass bowls at the thrift store.

    Hope everyone is having a wonderful spring-filled week.

How to DIY Barnboard Floors


    I have received lots of questions about our floor so I thought it might be helpful to post a tutorial here. I am certainly not an expert in this kind of thing, I had to ask my husband to outline every single step for you! I am so proud of my husband for doing this, would you believe he had never done any home renovations before this kitchen? He has a very busy job and it would have been easily justified for him to ask me to choose a more standard type of flooring. Instead he spent his vacation sawing and gluing down these boards.
    We did look into having the boards installed by someone else, but it was just too expensive for us. So here are the steps we used:

    Steps:
    1) Measure your room
    2) Find a source for your barnboard - We used 100 year old barnboard from a salvage shop, but I have since seen ads for barnboard on Craigslist and Kijiji
    3) Inspect wood - Ideally the wood will have minimal cracks - some cracks are okay but they will increase the amount of waste if they cannot be easily glued. We used different lengths and widths of boards which I think adds to the interest. Look for pieces with interesting features like big knots.
    4) You will need a good table saw that can rip boards and a sliding mitre saw would be helpful for corners and to cut the boards at a perfect right angle. Don't forget the proper safety equipment like goggles and a mask.
    5) DRY the wood very well. I cannot emphasize this enough. I know it is hard to be patient but it needs to sit in the room it will be used in for at least a few days, the longer the better, especially if it has been recently outside. If you do not dry the wood properly you can experience shifting and gaps between the floorboards.
    6) Almost any type of subfloor that can be screwed into could work, ours was an old tile floor.
    7) Plane all boards to approximately same height. We were lucky to find boards that were already planed, but perhaps this could be done at a lumber store? I'm not sure.
    8) Lay all boards on floor to envision the final placement. Take into consideration colour and knots. We placed the least attractive pieces under our cabinets and appliances and left the most beautiful ones for the centre of the kitchen.
    9) Number the placement of the boards with a pencil. Measure and cut boards to required length. This requires some trial and error. My husband would make an initial cut erring on the side of being too long, and then bring it into the kitchen and make the final adjustments.
    10) Glue boards down with heavy glue such as PL 300.
    11) Immediately after gluing a board screw the board down. Use a drill bit to sink screws and place two at approximately every 3 feet to prevent lifting.
    12) Use wood plugs to hide the screws. We did not have the tools to make this so we got a local wood shop to make them all for about $30. You will need to know the size of your countersink.
    13) Put glue on plug and tap in with a rubber hammer.
    14) Use a floor sander (we rented ours from Home Depot) with different sand paper qualities. Start with a rough paper and then finish with a smooth one. Do not oversand! This could ruin the character of the old boards.
    15) Wear a mask and clean the floor very well with paint thinner.
    16) We used four coats of Waterlox Medium Sheen Tung Oil to finish. It has been extremely durable and we can always apply another coat if needed.
    I hope this is helpful to somebody, and please email me or comment if you have any questions.
    Thank you all so much for your comments and support, I have only been blogging a few weeks but have felt so welcomed by your encouragement! It was so nice of Maria at Dreamy Whites to include me in her post today, it made my day!
    Have a wonderful Monday!


    Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Just wanted to let you know that Jenny from Simple Casual Living is featuring three examples of Canadian Cottage Style and she was kind enough to include me! You can check it out here

Favourite Finds


    I thought I would show you a few of my recent finds. For me, having patience and a clear criteria of what I'm looking for are the keys to shopping at thrift stores and flea markets. I almost always have my favourite sidekick (my little daughter Layla) and don't usually have time to browse through every single item. I scan shelves for things in my colour palette. I am very selective and only buy things I absolutely love. Our house is very small and our budget is limited so I have to have some idea about where I will use it.



    I found most of these ironstone plates for 25 cents at thrift stores, except for two of the platters from a flea market. I really love the bluish one.


    I like using architectural salvage in decorating. This old piece of molding caught my eye because of its chippy blue-gray paint.





    I love the old paint on this vintage chair.





    This old clock face I found for a few dollars. I am hoping to find enough to display as a collection someday.
    Did I mention patience is important?


    This old leather suitcase was $5. It was at the kind of antique store located beside a big antique mall, the kind of place that is run out of a house, only open at random times, almost not worth bothering to check out. However, I often find the best things at these places.

    I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Et glimt hos meg..


    Kjære lesere..

    I dag vil jeg titte innom bloggen en tur. Følte en liten god følelse i magen, og tillot meg å ta et lite bilde i fra kroken i stua mi, her jeg bruker en time for meg selv når dagen er over.. og en ny kommer like om hjørnet..

    Nye hvite sofaer har kommet i hus, mine gamle kjente ting- dere har sett før, satt sammen på nytt sett og vis og jeg må få si jeg trives her i vårt nye hjem.
    Her er det ro.
    Her finnes styrke,- og her vil det bli mange lykkelige stunder..
    Nye minner skapes hver dag..

    Halden har så mye hjertevarme - og ungene stråler om dagen.
    Cornelia har bursdag i dag - 5 år er hun i dag, og jeg blir bløthjertet ved å tenke tilbake, og må få si jeg er stolt over å være mamma til det utrolige vakre menneske hun har blitt. Hun har et hjerte av gull den jenta mi, og så klok og forståelsesfull til å bare være 5 år..

    Det blir feiring i morgen, så gelèen er i farta.Og her skal skurekosten svinges litt.
    Takk for at dere har ventet på meg.
    Uerstattelige er dere..
    Store klemmer fra meg i min nye stue..:0)

A Ruffled Tablecloth

    I'm finally finished this ruffled tablecloth. I have been wanting to sew it for a few months, but had to wait until white linen came on sale half price at the fabric store.
    I really love sewing. Not the actual act of sewing so much as the outcome. This might sound weird, but I think sewing is very empowering. I used to look at a picture of something I liked, and then be a little dissapointed that I couldn't afford it. Now I ask myself how I could make it.



    One year ago I did not know how to sew. Then my husband got me a machine and my Mom taught how to sew a basic straight stitch. That is still all I really know how to do.
    My first few projects were not perfect, but I have to say that once I learned to take my time and use the iron, I was much happier with the results. I have to honestly say that I think the best way to get a professional result with sewing is to iron all the seams at every stage possible. I have no idea if the way I sew is always the proper way, but I do know that ironing is worth the effort!



    I love "dressing" our home. I think little details like ruffles show that a lot of love has been put into the simple things.




    I got these pink roses from Walmart for $9 for a dozen! I think they are so beautiful. Although I love to recieve flowers from my husband, most often I pick them up myself when Layla and I are doing errands. However, I still think it is really romantic that my husband never objects and always comments on how nice they are.




    The ironstone pitcher on the table was $7 at my favourite flea market. I has a huge crack in it that has been repaired but still leaks. So when I want to put flowers in it I just stick a glass of water in the bottom.

    It is a beautiful day here, hope it is nice where you are too!

    I am linking this to DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land, Beneath My Heart Best DIY Project of March, and Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Night Special


Farmhouse Style Kitchen



    This is our little farmhouse style kitchen. This was the very first thing we did when we bought our house. But by we, of course I really mean my husband!

    He would say I had all the ideas.




    Sadly, I do not have a Before picture. The only before pictures I have of our house are from the real estate brochure. To give you some idea of how bad the previous kitchen was, it wasn't even included on the brochure. I would have loved to have been able to paint the existing cabinets but they were beyond saving. And there were only six of them in total. The floor was crumbling.

    We had a very tiny budget. All of the cabinets and the sink are Ikea. For a few months before we got our house we literally spent every Friday night at Ikea, in the kitchen planning department. It was actually quite a fun date, and I love their frozen yogurt!
    We made our actual purchase during the kitchen sale event.



    We got our faucet off of Ebay for $80. I just love the Ikea sink, it can fit big pots and is also the perfect place to bathe the baby!



    All of our appliances were from Kijiji except the gas stove left by the previous owners. They were all brand new, being sold by new home owners who wanted to upgrade to stainless steel.



    The flooring is 100 year old barnboard. My husband and I drove to a town a few hours away (Coburg, Ontario) and picked up the barnboard at a salvage shop. We managed to get all the boards into our tiny Matrix, hanging out of the trunk of course! The drive home was a little scary!
    I love this floor so much. It feels warm even on cold mornings, and has a beautiful glow in the sunshine. I love looking at it knowing my husband built it all by himself, for me, just because I asked him to. It is incredibly durable even with a dog and baby.



    I sewed the roll up linen blind and sink skirt.
    I am still working on accessories. Last week I found a beautiful old chippy shelf at my favourite flea market. It would look perfect next to the sink cabinets. The only problem was the owner said it wasn't for sale! I'm going to go back this weekend and try to convince him to let me buy it!


    You may notice our little dog thought almost every picture would look much better with her in it!



    I hope you enjoyed our little kitchen tour!

Painting A Chandelier



    One cold night in December I was driving home from the post office when I spotted this by the side of the road:



    Beside it was lying a perfectly good ceiling medallion. It was garbage night but I still looked around and waited for a minute to make sure the owners hadn't accidentally left their chandelier lying in a snowbank. Once I decided they meant to throw it out I collected it and brought it home. My sweet husband was not even that surprised, I think he may be used to me bringing home other people's garbage.
    At first I wasn't sure what to do with it. At Christmas I made a garland out of the crystals and hung it on our tree. I loved Maria's chandelier over her farm table at Dreamy Whites (http://dreamywhites.blogspot.com/) She is so talented and her chandeliers are gorgeous! I decided I would attempt to paint the brass. I took the entire chandelier apart to access the inner metal piece so I could paint it. (If anyone ever tries something like this I would recommend an excellent before picture that shows in detail where all the tiny pieces are supposed to go!) It was impossible to spray paint with all the glass so I just used a brush and some regular latex primer followed by paint. Since we do not have wiring for a light I converted it into a candle chandelier by removing all the wiring. I'm pretty sure our house was built during the Depression because they seemed to have considered things like an overhead light in the dining room an unnecessary luxury.
    Here is the final product:


    I think my husband did a great job hanging it. It is so nice to have someone who supports your crazy ideas.




    I really love the medallion piece at the top too. One of our next projects is going to be installing faux tin ceiling tiles, and I think they will look so pretty with the molding.




    Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

A Little Makeover

    Sometimes even the smallest projects can be very rewarding. I love it when we can do even one thing on the weekend to make the house a little prettier. Some weekends it is just replacing a light bulb, others it is two rooms of beadboard wallpaper! (More on that soon...)
    Over the weekend we had a chance to paint this antique washstand that I found on Kijiji (of course!) Once Layla started crawling she decided that the DVD player was a fascinating discovery, so we needed something to keep it hidden from tiny fingers. I had been looking for awhile before I found this one for a great deal a couple towns away. We decided to make a little road trip one rainy Saturday and discovered the most charming bakery on the way. I think this cabinet will always remind me of that day:)
    Here is the piece we had before:

    This is the before picture of the washstand. It was quite orange!


    Here is the after...


    Of course it's hard to make a corner with a big television pretty, but I really do love the robins egg blue colour. When I want to paint something a colour other than white, I just grab my big gallon of white paint and pour a small amount into an old yogurt container.
    Then I take dollar store craft paint - turquoise and yellow in this case, and add tiny amounts until I get the colour I am looking for. This method has always worked very well for me and saves a ton of money. Also, using a yogurt container allows me to store any leftover paint safely and use for another project.
    There was one small problem we encountered when my husband was putting it all back together. The DVD player was too deep. After a few worried moments my husband brought out the saw and the next thing I knew there was a perfectly cut hole in the back of the cabinet!
    Everyone loves it except Layla, who wants to know where her favourite toy went.


    Thank you to everyone who has commented or is following, I truly value all of your encouragement and kind words.




Our Guest Room







    Our guest room is on the main floor, and although it is still a work in progress I love it dearly. I think I love it so much because it is the one room in the house that rarely gets messy since we hardly ever use it. Some people might say that is a waste of a room, especially in such a tiny house, but not me! I get so much enjoyment from walking by and seeing it sitting there peacefully, waiting for our occasional overnight guests.


    Of course it is not perfect. There are a few problems still waiting to be addressed... probably the most significant would be it's lack of a door. We do provide our guests with a curtain, but I'm sure that they would prefer a real door!



    Here is what the room looked like when the previous owners were here.



    My husband had just finished our kitchen renovation and I was not expecting him to want to do any renovations for awhile. One day I got home and to my amazement he was working away on the room. He knew it was important to me to have a nice place for our guests. He did all the work on our house in his evenings and weekends off after his real job.




    An old stool with chipping paint from Kijiji.





    The iron bed is from Ikea. The bedding is from thrift stores and Ikea. I think the easiest way to shop thrift stores is to have a color pallette in mind. I looked for any vintage bedding with blue in the pattern. Eventually I found enough to coordinate together.



    I have some plans for this old shutter but right now it is just leaning against the wall.
    Here is a before and after:





    I hope you like it!
















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