For FRRREEEEEEE

Thanks to my parents' generosity, my friend's accommodation and my husband's open mind, we have new light fixtures for the majority of our house. I say "new" but they are actually the lights that were in my parents' house when we moved in a little over ten years ago. They recently decided to replace their lights and gave us the old ones. With a little creativity and a moderate amount of work, they will be exactly want we want and need.
So far I have one ceiling light done and seven of them to go. I have a crazy but exciting idea for the two chandeliers. And we have a pile of outdoor lights, for when the time comes for us to desire some outdoor lighting.
Here is the ceiling light before...

and after

These are the chandeliers

Still more to come!
Jenny <3

Dinning Set

We were given a dinning room table from my parents that I absolutely love! It was my Uncle Brad's so it has great sentimental value. It also is a beautiful antique so it fits in perfectly with our style. It has carved details that make it unique and it has beautiful, HUGE pedestal legs.

(The chairs in this picture are from our Ikea JokkMokk table, they are too tall and make sitting at the table a little uncomfortable! Plus, they don't go with the table either!)
I have been uncertain what to do for chairs, as it did not come with any. Without being able to carry the table to a store to find matching chairs, I was afraid that I would pick out and purchase chairs only to find that they would not match.
My solution, I found chairs that don't match! I decided to find antique chairs that are intentionally mismatched. So far I have three but I am hoping I will find two more for a total of five and look for a bench to help with our space issues. I'll be painting them all white, so they are more uniform.
These are the one's I have purchased and I am so very excited about them!!



More to come!
Jenny <3

Dresser

Carpets are pulled and the house is mostly clean. I had some company last week and am visiting my family this weekend, so I thought it would be best if I spent this week finishing an incomplete job.
Here are the dressers!
Before




After



Jenny <3

Everything Pleasant

Today, I started renovations on the house that Hubby and I will be moving into it in the spring.
There are two really cool things about this house
1) It is the house that Hubby grew up in.
2) It was built as a school in 1928. Hubby's mom and dad renovated it before they got married.

It is the coolest thing EVER!!!
Over the next 6-8 months, we will be fixing it up (no one has lived in it full time for approximately 14 years), and making it into OUR home! I will try my best to document the process so you can see what what we've done.

Jenny <3

Day 1 of the Renovation!

Hubby left this morning for another 2 weeks away working and I took this opportunity to start our renovation.
Step #1: Remove the carpet in the living room.
The carpet is still in okay shape but because of my allergies and asthma, we thought it'd be best to take it out.

Pulling up the carpet was quite a challenge by myself, with the room full of furniture but I did eventually get it up.

The first peek of our hardwood was so very exciting.

The second peek proved slightly disappointing



Perfect spot for a rug don't you think?

The big event of the day was when I pulled up the center of the carpet to find what looked like black mold.


Imagine my delight when I figured out that it wasn't mold AND it washes off! It appears to be a waxy/soapy substance (I think I'd rather not know what it is, just in case!)


3-4 hours of scrubbing and I'm 3/4 of the way done cleaning it up. I also found that the Spackle and paint that are on the wood will come off with a good scrub! Another day of cleaning and it will need to be re-stained and sealed but we have got an absolutely beautiful 80 year old hardwood floor!!
What a great start to a long awaited home for Hubby and I!



Stay tuned for more!

Jenny <3

Repurposing and refinishing

When I started writing this post it was really deep and really, very personal. I decided that you’d rather just see what I’ve been up to. So I will leave it at this: I have needed some repurposing and refinishing in my life lately, so I started with my furniture.
Here are a couple of before and after pictures.

Before: Two bedside tables. One white, one brown. I believe they were originally found by my grandparents at a garagesale.
After: Sanded and painted black. I plan on getting pieces of glass to put on the tops.


Before: Tolan's bedroom suite headboard. Brown with gold hardware.

After: Painted black. Upholstered doors in Ikea fabric.


More to come.
Jenny <3

Repurposed frame

A few weeks ago, hubby and I were hanging pictures and accidently dropped one. I kept trying to think of what to do with the broken frame and it came to me today, a tray!


Made for free using: Left over shelf paper, left over ribbon, a hot glue gun, and a Ribba frame from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10134631 without the glass.