Where has the wallpaper gone?...changes in the nook

Hi everyone!
 I thought I would show you some changes I've made in the breakfast nook.



I removed the old wallpaper and painted it a lovely soft green/grey/blue colour
called Chelsea Fog by CIL.
I also moved the "Farmers market" sign and placed it above the shelving.



In this "before" pic you can see the wallpaper that was removed.
Now for those of you who loved that wallpaper, so did I!,
but it was  getting a little dingy and started looking more yellow than green.
I also found it very difficult to find curtains with a pattern that would go with the
pattern of the wallpaper.

I've changed out my white linen curtains for blue/white floral panels that
fit in well with my blue and white beachy theme I use in the summer.

The panels are from IKEA and are called "Emmie Kvist"

I've placed some lovely white peonies cut from the garden in one of
my ironstone pitchers. The scent is heavenly!

I couldn't pass up the chance to show you my big boy Jack!
I know, I know...he's on the table, just don't tell anybody that I
allow this! lol.

 

Loving this time of year when the peonies come out, my pink ones are just about to bloom.
Thanks for dropping by,
hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Garage sale finds and a peek...

Hey everyone!
I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful spring weather!
It's been lovely here in Southern Ontario and May always jumpstarts the
beginning of the garage sale season for us.
I wanted to share a couple of my recent garage sale finds and show you a peek of some changes
I've made in the breakfast nook.



I really enjoy the Saturday morning ritual of waking early, getting my Tim's coffee and
hitting the road to find those one of a kind bargains!
I'm careful to make sure I only take home things I absolutely love, absolutely need or that
"deal of a lifetime" lol.

I recently found this great white slip-covered bench which cost me all of $5!
It goes great at the bottom of my daughter's bed and she's been using it to store
her extra blankets and pillows.

Another favourite find are these PB look-alike mercury glass balls.
They have holes in the bottoms where you can place little battery operated lights inside.
They're on my mantel right now but I can easily see them on the table in the backyard all lit up for the evenings.
They cost me $1 each which was considerably cheaper than what PB was selling them for!
 

Here is a peek of a few low-cost changes I've made in the breakfast nook.

I'll be sharing what I did in the breakfast nook in an upcoming post.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see ya soon!

Spring Mantel

Hi everyone!
I just finished decorating my mantel for spring! I know... I'm a little late ;)
It's simple and has all my loves:
ironstone,
hydrangeas,
PB clear glass candle holders,
and some lovely ginger jars I got from a garage sale a few years back.




It's very simple and fresh with a touch of blue to echo all the blue accent cushions I brought in for spring.

The blue and white elements with the warm texture of the wooden baskets will flow right into my summer decor when I'll add some beachy/nautical pieces.

 

I Love these large hydrangea bushes!
I get them for $20 at Cosco every April. I'll leave them to bloom a little longer in their basket and then I'll cut the blossoms off and make little bouquets all over the house!
You can't beat 20 bucks for several large bouquets of beautiful hydrangeas.
The left over plant can then be transplanted into your garden.

Hope you enjoyed your visit today!

BHG.com feature and a thank you...

Hi everyone and Happy Friday!

I wanted to thank you for all the lovely Anniversary congrats and well wishes, it was so sweet and we appreciated them all!

I would also like to thank Better Homes and Gardens.com for featuring my spring mantel from last year on their website.

 My mantel was one of 18 mantels featured for their

"Real-home Spring and Easter Mantel Decorating Ideas"

You can check it out here for some great design inspiration!

Some of you may have noticed that my blog address has changed back to bringrestoration.blogspot.com.

I had tried to log onto my blog a couple of weeks ago and it was gone!

What a shock!

My domain address  restorationhouseblog.com had been taken over by someone else!

Not sure what happened there but I do apologize to those of you who have been trying to find me.

I can be reached at the old blogspot address.

Have a great weekend everyone!



25 years today!

 Happy Valentine's Day!

25 years ago today, hubby and I said "I do".
My youngest daughter was nice enough to do an impromptu photo shoot for us.
(Although she wasn't that excited to take pics of her parents rolling around on her bed! Lol)
Here is some of her handiwork.

Wait! Do I have a space here?

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in on the celebration!

Let there be light...

Hey everyone.
Here is the new lighting I had mentioned in my last post.
It's made such a difference in the look and feel of my kitchen!



In the breakfast nook area we removed the one light fixture as it was sooo off-centered and put in  four pot lights on a dimmer switch.

Here you can see all the lights we put in. On the kitchen end we placed 3 pot lights plus one over the stove
 We removed the dreaded "boob" light and just drywalled over the hole.

We then placed two pendant lights above the peninsula where the sink is. These lights are from IKEA and were very reasonably priced.




This isn't the best before but it will give you an idea of how things looked.
 

These add some much needed task lighting.

This is a fixture that I got from Homesense and is done in a grey/cream faux stone look.

It's 24" across at it's widest point and has 8 arms to hold candles.

Still deliberating over  this one as it is a large piece for my small space.

And...because it's not a very colourful post I thought I would add a little floral colour! Lol.

Now back to this fixture, I need some feedback here.
Does it fit in?
What about the colour and size?

What do you think?

Very pinteresting kitchen inspiration...

Hey everyone!

I've finally got on the the pinterest wagon! I know, I know, what's taken  me so long? Lol.

All I can say is "Awesome"!

What a wealth of inspiration, from design to travel to makeup...love it all.

During my "holiday hiatus" I've been working on (mostly ruminating over, lol) sprucing up my kitchen and breakfast nook namely with new lighting, possible paint and or soft furnishing changes.
Pinterest has been a little inspiring.

Here is a pic of the kitchen and nook.
When we finally took the plunge to paint those cabinets I swore that I would get rid of that
"boob" light...eventually
(If anybody out there is a lover/owner of boob lights please don't be offended!)



You can get a glimpse of the little chandelier I have over the nook area. Cute and only $15 from a thrift store, but this and the "boob" light are the only lighting in this area and is just not enough.
Something's gotta go!


(via pinterest)
Look at the lighting in this pic from pinterest. Love the pot lights and beautiful hanging chrome fixtures and  ohh my...that blue/grey colour on the bottom cupboards!


(via pinterest)
Really liking the pot lighting in this pic.
I find pot lighting shines down and really makes the metals and glass in the space sparkle.


(via pinterest)
Yeah, I know... lol!
Vintage cupboards, Island, baskets, beautiful chandelier.
Very inspirational isn't it?

Well, the new lighting is up and I'm just deciding on a candelabra for the nook, I'll hopefully have something posted about that this week.

And then the age old question: Lose the curtains or the wallpaper? Lol.

What's inspiring you?

Christmas House Tour

Hello everyone!
I hope you're all enjoying this last week till Christmas. Hopefully you  have your shopping, baking and decorating done and can now kick back and enjoy the festivities! Lol.
Sorry I'm so late with this post but had some issues to contend with so....

Welcome to my house tour!.

My tree has been up for a month now and Is done in whites and neutrals.

I've hung faux garland this year as I couldn't find any real greenery that was thick enough and didn't cost an arm and a leg!

This is my mantel in the evening with the lights on.

I made the stockings  and embellished each one according to personalities along with  our initials.
You can read more about the mantel here.

These Christmas buckets flank either side of the fireplace. To see more pics you can go here.

I love pinecones!
I've used them everywhere this year, I even hung them from the curtain rods ( seen this in a couple of magazines and loved it), I also filled my baskets with them.

Had to have some touches of real cedar here and there, the scent is part of Christmas.

Here is the tree without the lights on. Love the green and white together. 

I love glass and have used this collection of glass candle holders from PB
 to dress up the breakfast nook table.



These are the little jugs/creamers I added to my garland. They go so well with my ironstone.
You can read about them here.

For the dining room mantel I used some peach pointsettias and birch lit up with little LCD lights I got from IKEA, they were only a buck a set! There are 3 sets wrapped around the birch and it looks so pretty in the evenings.

I really like the look of a lit tree shining through a front window so I bought this little guy and added some lights, a few little balls and wrapped the base in burlap.

My dining room table was a great find a couple years ago. It will be my spring project to strip off all her shine and orangey stain.

How gorgeous is birch with twinkle lights!!

Here is a little peek at the main floor powder room. I just added a little bit of red to add some Christmas colour.

I sewed up some of my 5 minute cushion covers (It can become addictive it's so easy!) out of this lovely taupe coloured toile. It goes well with the linen and burlap cushions  that are in the room.

I hope you enjoyed my little Christmas tour.
I still have a little bit of Christmas in the bedrooms to show you, hopefully I'll get that done before Christmas arrives! Lol
Blessing to you!

I'll be linking up with:

Nesting Place Christmas tour of Homes



The Inspired Room
BNOTP
A bowl full of lemons
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Nifty thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
White Wednesday @ Faded Charm
WUW@ Savvy Southern Style
Common Ground