The Bedroom Makeover has Officially Begun!

 

 

Thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Metamorphosis Mondays!

And so it began with the most important element of the transformation (at least according to my husband) – the installation of the 32” flat screen TV!

We did it ourselves this morning, which was an interesting adventure, as he and I do not work well together when it comes to home repair (though we do play well together!).

 Here is the mounting thingy.

And here is the TV mounted! 

The cords aren’t great, but there’s not a whole lot I can do about them.  Maybe I can find some nice, big (and pretty!) accessories to help disguise them a little.

Here is our very neglected bedroom.

You can see the beginnings of the colour palette – purple, pink, acid green and brown.  Don’t mind the messy bed, this is a before picture, after all!  The walls in the above pictures are the new wall colour, an original I created at Randall’s one slow afternoon.  Of course I had to hurry up and paint the TV wall so we could get it up!  The rest of the painting will hopefully be finished tomorrow.  I’ll keep updating as I go along!

Pssst!  Look at the orbs!  Does anyone else think they’re more than dust motes?

Technorati Tags: Bedroom Makeover,Budget Makeover

Beautiful, Historic Niagara-on-the-Lake

Two weeks ago I returned from a family vacation to Niagara Falls. I had hoped to be inspired while there (I’ve had “blog-block”), and I wasn’t disappointed! We went on a day trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a quaint little town about 45 minutes from downtown N.F.

Here’s my daughter, Ava, playing with her toes on the car ride to Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The drive to NOTL is just as beautiful, if you’re lucky enough to be a passenger and not the driver, winding roads with the water on one side and gorgeous B&Bs and carefully maintained old homes on the other. I tried to take pictures as we were driving, but it didn’t work.

I found a few beauties on MLS:

This one is 150 years old!

The main street was full of cute little shops, most with beautiful architecture and lots of charm. I took this shot because I loved the windows…so pretty!

We came across an old apothocary which has been converted into a museum. According to their website (which is SO interesting!):

The Niagara Apothecary
is an authentic museum restoration of a 1869 pharmacy as part of a practice that operated in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, from 1820 to 1964.

Beautiful black walnut and butternut fixtures.

Faithful restoration of the original gaslights.

The Leech Jar - This 19th century white glazed china leech container is the hands-down favourite among the Niagara Apothecary artifacts. It is about 0.5 m (20 inches) tall with a perforated lid to assure a suitable degree of ventilation for the leeches. Leeches were sold to facilitate blood letting therapies now largely outmoded. www.niagaraapothocary.ca

Lovely mouldings.

The Prince of Wales Hotel

You can’t tell from this picture, but this is one loooong hotel! I don’t even know how many blocks it stretched! Check out this link for an idea of it’s size : http://www.niagaraonthelake.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=8&pos=12#

Unfortunately we didn’t go inside (too busy shopping!), but had I known what was in there, I would have made more of an effort.

On the Vintage Hotels website, there’s a brief history of the hotel and all it’s Victorian splendour.

All in all, we had a great trip and I think my “blog-block” is mostly resolved. Maybe I just needed a vacation!

Thanks for listening!

Sarah

OSEB

So it's been a while since I've written anything really susbstantial, but I do have an excuse! You may remember back in April I was applying for the Ontario Self-Employment Benefits Program, which is a government funded program to help people become self employed, through financial assistance and business training.

Good news! I was accepted and it's been a crazy couple of weeks. I actually missed the whole first week of seminars (I was having a grand ole time in Niagara Falls with my family - a related post to follow shortly!) so I've been catching up on them in addition to the regularly scheduled courses this past week. After being home with my daughter for the last 16.5 months, being in class all day is a bit of an adjustment!

The courses are great - marketing, taxation, business plan, time management, financial templates, etc. to name a few. While the material is a little dry in some cases, the information is invaluable for a new entrepreneur! What a great opportunity!

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know where I've been hiding the last few weeks, and I'll try to update more regularly!

Thanks for your patience!