When we first moved into our place we had a long list of things that had to be done to make the place livable. Things like tearing out all the carpets and redoing the hardwood floors (hello drum sander!), taking down the oh so nasty window valences and rotting curtains and painting every wall in the house. Now, I knew at the time that choosing paint colours for every room in a house you've never lived in, and while under the insane stress of buying a home and moving into it (while also working full time, and oh yes did I mention redoing all of the floors?) wasn't the wisest way to arrive at colours you want to live with forever. That said, it was much better than the yellowing, dirty white walls with butter yellow trim that filled the house when we got it. As such, we've lined most rooms up in the house for a repaint. We already did the kitchen of course, and next on the winter task list is our bedroom and now Miss P's room.
Of all the colours we painted, I actually really liked hers the best. It was called Pinko and I've often described it as feeling like you're walking into a room made of Hubba Bubba gum. In a good way. But, she's tired of it. And I can relate. I once had a pink room when I was growing up and while I adored it at the time, over the years it grew to grate on me pretty heavily. She brought up repainting her room when we asked her what she wanted for Christmas. Given that it was just her birthday and she, as usual, received a bounty of gifts which now have her decked out with all the electronics an 11 year old could desire, redoing her room seems like a good gift.
The only draw back? Trying to find time to repaint her room and restyle it -- we're going to find some furniture that fits a small room better than what's in there now -- in three weeks. The bit that gives me hope? No plumbing. That makes every reno better let me tell you. And really, this is just paint and some furniture. Likely a curtain or two and maybe a light fixture. Piece of cake.
I've ordered her some wall graphics from Surface Collective, which you can see in the image there. Surface Collective is a local Vancouver company -- so local in fact that I can go pick them up on my lunch break when they're ready -- that have really caught onto this whole wall graphic thang that's going around. We'd love to do more with wall graphics in our house but very few of our walls are smooth, in fact only Miss P's room, the bathroom and the kitchen. So she's the lucky winner of this current design trend.
Now I'm on the hunt for some eco-paint to use. I love Yolo, but she's requested a colour they don't have. I've heard that Sherwin Williams makes a low-VOC paint, so I'll call around this weekend to see how true that is, if it's available in Vancouver and what their colours are like. If anyone has ideas or links to awesome bedrooms for 11 year olds, send along links. We're in the research/inspiration phase, so all ideas are welcome!
, which was also a birthday gift. And I have two things to report:
One of the other birthday delights I was treated with was a copy of the second Millennium Cookbook, 
. For those who don't know the Millennium Restaurant, it is a vegan gourmet restaurant in San Fran and when it comes to gourmet veggie cuisine they can not be beat. Not in my books anyway. I've had my share of very beautiful, lip-licking tasty vegan/veggie meals made by pros and with the love of darling friends and family, but Millennium is food on a whole new level. Flavours reduced, layered and carefully selected to tantalize your tastebuds and cause those of us veggie foodies to swoon from the toes up with delight. These are meals so flavourful, artful and damn delicious that I defy anyone to feel they are in anyway limited by their lack of animal bits. Seriously.
My mom has a dear longtime friend who, over the years, has been known to go into a bit of credit card debt here and there. Often paying off her Visa with her Mastercard, she would let these things run away from her for a while and then take drastic measures to pull it all back under control. Tried and true strategies like freezing your credit card in a glass of water, or having other people "babysit" it for a while until the bills are paid off. These days that kind of strategy doesn't work so well. I rarely pull out my credit card when making impulse purchases, as I make most of those online and I know the numbers off by heart. Danger Bay.
I have a thing for clogs. I love them. They're comfy. I love the look of them, the sound of them on wood floor and I adore the many variations on the basic form. Like this one here. How great is this? I was looking for a new pair of clogs as a possible birthday treat and stumbled upon these. I am now fixated. Sadly, they do not ship to Canada, and buying shoes on line is risky enough without introducing additional shipping nuttiness. But still. So pretty! Also, it's November. In Vancouver. These are not Vancouver November shoes. They are, however, great shoes to day dream about on rainy days.
. I picked up the fabric at Fabricana on the weekend, so I was all ready to go. It's a pretty simple pattern to cut out and it leaves plenty of room for personal embellishment. Before you can sew the two apron sides together you need to decide how you're going to customize/decorate it. I started with my solid side, put on a pocket using the reverse side's fabric and then decided to add some embroidery. I've been itchin' to embroider since having the joy of being on a panel with 
. How nutty is that? 
is a business book for women looking for advice to start or run a successful small business. The book features advice from some pretty smart gals including Jenny Hart (Sublime Stitching), Grace Boney (Design Sponge), Alex Beauchamp (Another Girl at Play), and many others.
