NYC

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of

There's nothin' you can't do

Now you're in New York

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you

Let's hear it for New York, New York,

                                                 New York ---  {Alicia Keys, Empire state of Mind}

New York City last week was Fabulous! Absolutely amazing. It was my first time ever visiting the Big Apple and I loved it. The lights, the shopping, the people on the street.  All gloriously wonderful. 

We spent a lot of time touring furniture stores and galleries. Fit in as much as possible touristy attractions and ate all sorts of wonderful food. 

We arrived to NYC via a large white bus. It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't 5'10 and I haven't self diagnosed myself with restless leg syndrome. Every 5 minutes my legs are a movin'. Left to right, up and down, crossed then un-crossed, in the aisle then under the seat. It drives me batty. Needless to say I felt sore, and old and was slightly grumpy when we disembarked the bus Sunday night at the hotel. 

We spent the rest of the week touring, shopping, snapping 1million+ photos, shopping, journal entires, eating, shopping and learning.

I loved having the opportunity to see Grand Central Station and Rockefeller etc... We checked out the pretty fancy Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Ralph Lauren Mansion  and visited a reportedly haunted Merchant Family Home. There was so much to take in both design wise with a history lesson on the side. 

I can't wait to go back! 

Thrifty Thursday

The job - less summer hours can get quite boring. At least mine did. There is only so much HGTV and TLC watching I can do before my restless leg syndrome kicks in. That's when I started scoping out garage sales and the thrift stores of Hamilton. It's also when I fell in love with Talize. I picked up various different sized and styles of frames this summer and tried my hand a spray-painting. I fell hard for a soft baby blue loved the way it looked on a light wood grain of frames. Add a little extra sanding after painting and they were oh-so-cute!  I didn't have an immediate usage for these pretty new frames and I even once offered to give them away, but I'm glad I kept them. I was able to use them in my mantel display project, and now that I have displayed on my new free dresser that I found earlier this month!  Needless to say this 99cent frames were quite the investment and I'm sure I'll have many more uses for them...

Mantels Galore!

A past assignment required us to complete a fireplace mantel design based on our own concepts. My partner LM and I decided to take the route of a rustic, vintage inspired fireplace mantel. Both of us had plenty of items at home that we were excited to share with each other and create something fabulous!
Many of the items that I brought to the mantel were things I have thrifted from Talize this past summer. Surprisingly enough creating the mantel wasn't as easy as we had thought, and the lack of an actual mantel added a different aspect of difficulty. But creating a mantel display upon a desk top drove our creativity to new heights! Sadly we didn't win the class competition for best mantel display but I'm pretty proud of what we came up with!

Thrifty Thursday

Not everyone supports my thrifty habits. Especially my mom. Apparently I spend a little too much time at these stores and come home with a little too much each time. However, my argument is, better a thrift store then the mall! The 99c vintage scarf hardly makes a dent in my budget compared to that denim shirt or infinity scarf I want from Forever 21. Plus, a lot of my purchases are practical. Like these 2 bathroom containers.  They were both $1 and come with cute chalkboard labels. And sure theres no room in the family bathroom, but one day I'm moving out. And with the great collection of practical household items I am collecting, I'll be able to receive the big, pricy, shiny housewarming gifts guilt free.

Halloween

Today is Halloween. All the little, and not so little children in my life are preparing for a great night of candy collection. There's a Waldo&Wanda, Thomas the Tank, Batman, Fireman and Spider heading out tonight that I know of with plans to stuff their pillowcases full!

My Family never really was a big celebrator of Halloween. Costumes were thrown together last minute, my parents rarely handed out candy, and some years we skipped it all together. I remember being a cow, little bow beep, little red riding hood, and a gypsy as a child. I think once my parents even made me a monk. They're weird, I know. Those costumes were probably repeated various times in the next couple of years by myself and my siblings.

This year I'm living away from home and I have no plans for the big night. In fact, I think tonight will be the perfect opportunity to get some shopping in.

However, earlier this week I did do some Halloween related activities. My good friend from college MG wanted to decorate her Condo for the occasion and we hit up the local Dollarama where she bought a cart full of decorations. We also spent an afternoon baking cupcakes tastefully decorated for the holiday and shared them with our friends and family.

And that's as much Halloween celebrating that I do.

Thrifty Thursday

I posted a while back about a quick Talize stop prior to a Thanksgiving dinner at the Mandarin. We had Dutch relatives visiting for the week and were trying to cram in as much Canadian goodness that we could. Before we met for dinner We had wanted them to experience the mall, where all the stores are under one roof. We ended up spending the afternoon there finding and buying gifts and did a lot of walking for my poor ballet flat wearing feet.

Needless to say, when I split up from the group to make a pit stop at Talize I had some pretty sore feet. Disappointed at the lack of worthwhile finds in Housewares I checked out the shoes. Usually I try to stay away from the shoe department.  Shoes are my weakness, I own an abundance of shoes and personally I find the price of second- hand shoes to sometimes be a little pricy. Talize had already been bustin' out the boots and I was excited to find these brown wedge sandals.

My sore, ballet- flat dressed, and tortured feet weren't feeling that great in these shoes but I'm glad I bought them. I can't stop trying them on at home.

They are originally from Old Navy and priced at $29

This most perfect find cost me only $9.99 and they are brand new, never worn and still had the tag.

I had been wanting to buy wedges all summer, since they were a pretty popular and EVERYONE seemed to own a pair. Thankfully I withheld and now I am even more eager for Summer to return! 

Thrifty Thursday

I have 2 homes. Having 2 homes makes me constantly on the move. I live in Toronto area during the week and head back an hour southwest to small town goodness for the weekend. Having 2 homes make's it difficult to really decorate in any way. Toronto home is for school, and I have roommates to be considerate of. I wake up, go to school, do homework, go to sleep and repeat.  Practicality wise there is no need to spruce up the place, make my mark etc.. Financially there isn't any means either...

My other home however, where I have my own room I'm just itching to redecorate. When my family and I moved into our present home 41/2 years ago I completely redecorated. I was finally not having to share with my sisters, could pick out my own colors, duvet, etc... and only I had to like it.

Now I wanna redecorate again. Over 4 years. That room decor has had it's worth. And I need storage, or shelving...something! I have a collection of clothing, shoes, scarves, jewellery, antiques, collectables, and pyrex dishes that my closet is running out of room for.

So when I saw this greyish blue dresser on the side of the road i knew it would look perfect under the window in my room. Plus, its extra storage. I persuaded my brother to help me carry it down the road into my room, which he did ever so cheeringly. It was even his birthday - he must of been in a good mood! The dresser doesn't have and knobs or pulls, but I'm thinking of finding some antique glass knobs and adding those to the front. 

This dresser has provided something new to look at in the room and the redecorating itch has calmed...for now. 

Best part? It's was free. Someone else's garbage is another woman's treasure! How's that for Thrifty? 

Thrifty Thursday

Thanksgiving was this past weekend. A weekend when our house get's really full of people, there's a lot of wine and candies and children all mixed together and we set up 3 separate dining tables through out the house just so we all can eat at the same time.  This year we hosted almost 25 people for dinner and even had some overseas guest from The Netherlands here for their very first thanksgiving. The guests we astonished at the large size of out Turkey - it was only a 10 pounder! They documented my dad trimming the turkey, which seemed a lot less glamourous then what they had seen on t.v. and i'm surprised they survived the noise of us all eating and casually screaming at each other across the house.

I happened to stop at Talize late Saturday night just before we took these dutch visitors out to dinner.  (yup, we went to the Mandarin, on thanksgiving weekend. As if one feast wasn't enough) I picked up some cute brown wedges for 9 bucks. And now I wish it was summer again. Let's just skip this winter bit here in Canada and go straight back to summer!  I also snagged this plate with the adorable red and white design. I immediately hung it on the wall in my room and it clashes something terribly with the green/purple/grey i have going on right not. But it's just too pretty not to hang up. I'll save it for my future home.

Thrifty Thursday

I almost missed this one! I set an alarm in my phone for 8am reminding me that it is Thrifty Thursday and if this blog thing is going to be the real deal, I'm going to have to get serious. And here I am only 12 hours later. Finally compiling a blog post, with some thrifty bags I found this summer.

I had originally bought a gorgeous weekender bag from Indigo that I convinced myself I deserved even though I knew if I looked long and hard enough I could find something MUCH cheaper. However I bought the bag and it sat ridden with guilt on my bedroom floor for an undisclosed amount of time until...

BAM! I saw this beauty at Talize one fine summer day!

 

And only $6.99! Much better then compare to the $30+ I had spent at Indigo!
There are no tags on this bag, and I have no knowledge about it, but I love it and have received many compliments on it. And I love telling people where I got it! This beats a TNA or PINK bag any day!

The second bag I almost didn't get. My sister tried to convince me that I already had way to many bags...

'' It's just another bag.... urghhh...."

But it's awesome and cost me $3. That's it

It's huge it hold everything for school and I use it on

 the weekend's I go back home as well.

The dark green matches perfect with most of my outfits, the straps are strong, and it's just plain awesome!

OLD MEN & FENCES

This past weekend I spent some time in Niagara Falls with so lovely dear friends! We had wanted to go out a night together and Niagara Falls was a perfect idea! I love the falls, the atmosphere, all the interesting people you see on the streets and my friends so I couldn't have been a better night! (sappy eh? ;))

We kept it classy and dined on steak, twice baked potatoes and yummy cocktails at the keg after just narrowly escaping 4 old men who were more then willing to help us climb over fences. A classy dinner with a not so classy walk and fence climb. Thankfully no outfits were ruined in the process and we continued to dazzle on the streets of Niagara Falls. We rode the skywheel (my first time!) and spent way to much time taking photos of ourselves that we forgot to look at the view...

We had way to much fun, it's never a dull moment with these girls and I can't wait till the next time we go out! 

A Thursday Regular?

If this blogging thing is going to become a regular thing in my life it's going to need some sort of structure. Because I like structure, organization and order. I drives me crazy if  I don't have my days planned out. Even days just chilling at home are pre-planned in my head. I have my outfit ready in my head the night before, I know what time I want to wake up (not that I actually get out of bed..) and if I'm going to shower..."flying by the seat of pants" doesn't work for me. I get stressed and forget things. And then get more stressed over forgotten things. it's never ending.

So to add structure to something as carefree as this blog...I'm make thursday a thrift purchase show off day!

 Maybe Thrifty Thursday or Thursday's Thrifts or Thrifting on Thursday...Thursday's Thrifty... I'm still working on a name :-)

This summer I learned that I enjoy thrifting. A LOT. and of course I set aside a time period in my week for thrifting. This summer it seemed to be Thursday nights before soccer. Now it's Tuesday, my day off.

I have quite a few pieces that I am very proud of. Including these beauties.

This long wooden beaded necklace still had it's price tag for $120, I scored it for  $2.99

The following 3 were .99c each. A deal for jewellery i like to think

I have many more amazing Thrift store finds, including 2 bags, pretty jars and plates, shoes etc.. That I can't wait to share on Thrifty Thursdays :-)

Vessal

For our Interior Styles class, we were given wool felt to create some sort of vessel with. A vessel was classified as something that holds something. Pretty much anything could go for this project if you could back it up. Brand Felt (www.thefeltstore.com) supplies Humber College with the felt and prize money for the best designs from this project.

There were many fabulous designs that I saw yesterday, and the class winner definitely deserved to win! Congratulations!

I created a bag, using orange and grey felt, an old necklace for the strap and a pendant from another necklace on the front. Part of this project was sewing skills. I have none. Zippo. Nada. When my mom wanted me to learn how to sew in High School, I choose Law or Geography instead. And now look, I'm going to be an Interior Decorator. Someone who deals with pillows, drapes, curtains... should have listened to my mom!

Halfway through the assembly of this bag I may have broken the needle on the machine. Having no clue what I was doing and a Mother who was MIA, I resorted to staples. I know, right... classy.

I started off by using a paper mockup to make sure the design worked and then later used the mockup to cut the correctly sized pieces of felt.

Here We Go Again

We've started another school year, and this is my final year. The next 7 months I have to enjoy, before I  start being an adult, look for a job, (start a business?? eep!), and figure some things out in my life.

Last year was an amazing year, with wonderful roommates, school friends, Toronto adventures and a utterly new wealth of knowledge. I can now barely  sketch, render a drawing, draft plans and elevations, figure out Auto-cad, cute, paste and present. 

Hopefully this year I will more faithfully use this blog and continue to expose myself to the world more as an artist and designer. I did a lot of interesting things this summer and hopefully get those posted up on the blog too. Let's just say I have a new love for thrift stores and antiques....

Spraytastic!

I have acquired a basket full of spraypaint. Now on a day off work I'm not bored anymore! I've been sanding and spraying, throwing my hair up with a bandana, listening to country music in the garage and passing my summer hours away! 

Just Wait

I've been lacking. At this blogging thing.

I wanted a blog to share my ideas, projects and accomplishments with my friends and classmates. I LOVE reading and following blogs, so why wouldn't i love writing one? right?

It takes dedication man.

And time. And words.

And I can find the time.

But the words.  They are the tough part.


Howeverrrr, I do have a  lot of cool projects that I can't wait to start Tuesday! (day off - yahoo!)
I've accumulated a lot of wood items And I've been picking furniture off the road like a crazy dutchman lately!

Did you know Wal Mart sell's spray paint for $3 in the states?!

Crayon Art & Printables

My sister is midway redoing her room. And my midway... I mean the furniture has been removed and she a lot of the decor items, but has yet to buy paint.  We're working on it.. as soon as we choose either grey or blue walls...

She has a large empty wall above her bed, and also across and we are trying to figure out what to do with them. Her room is moving beyond that cutesy, little girl and hopefully into something pretty and feminine, what she can grow with.

A couple weeks ago we finally experiment with crayon art and  created these:

Since then we've created a couple more, even matching them specifically to her room.

Along with printables from the internet and pinterest that we have framed, we plan to create a large mural of photo frames, printable and crayon art to fill one wall.

1st Year Design Show

This afternoon I attended the 1st year design show for Interior Decorators! This was an opportunity to get to see other's work from throughout the year and see the different talents of fellow classmates. It was very nice we ate some cake and fruit & Got to chat with all my fellow classmates and teachers.

Some of my work on display;

With our fabulous teacher Pam: 

Style board from my midcentury Master Bedroom Design:

Studio 2 Final: Cottage Great Room Design:

Jessica, Megan & I

Residential Finishes Condo Design:

(see previous post)