Martha Stewart Cabinetry

Martha Martha Martha... is there anything that woman can't do? We're selecting cabinetry for the basement reno and I had my mind set on Ikea for both the price and look... and then I came across this ad in the latest Martha Stewart Living...



We're going for a white, bright, slight beachy feel in the basement... think white paint, beadboard walls and ceiling, whitewashed laminate, light tiles. Martha's beadboard cabinetry would look so great in the laundry room, don't you think? I love the X detail on the island.

Here's a few more pics, from Martha's blog. Martha always gets the details right... chunky brackets to create open shelving; small cabinets to take advantage of every available space; glass doors; coordinating hardware and lighting; hood fans that blend in seamlessly... and everything painted in soft classic Martha colours.



Martha Stewart cabinetry should start showing up in Home Depot in the fall. Has anyone seen it in their stores? I just don't know if I can wait that long - we need dimensions for walls and cabinets now!

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Winner: Sarah Richardson Paint Chips

Wow - judging by the response, looks like I'm not the only fan of Sarah Richardson! And the winner of the Sarah Richardson Paint Chips according to trusty Random.org is...
Commenter #15... Laurie of Little Blue Chairs! Looks like commenting, following & tweeting about the giveaway worked - yay Laurie! Send me your address at ramblingrenovators@gmail.com and I'll get the paint chips off to you.

Thanks everyone for entering the contest!

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Craft Room Love

I want to gobble this room up, its so sugary sweet.





See more pics on my kids blog, Little Folk Design.

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Have you entered my Sarah Richardson paint chips giveaway? Only 2 days left!

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3 Years

It was three years ago today that HandyMan and I were married in a beautiful courtyard surrounded by all our family and friends. With each passing year, my love for him grows - love for him as a husband, and a provider and mate, and as a father - deepening and maturing.

The past year has been more difficult; adding children to the mix can do that. But the trials have made me more sure that I have the perfect partner for this wonderful journey.

Love you, S. xoxo J.

P.S. You can read more about our heavy-on-the-DIY wedding here, here, and here.

P.P.S. The traditional gift for a 3rd anniversary is leather. HandyMan's idea - "how about I take you out for a nice steak dinner instead?" This funny man surely knows his wife :)

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Tuesday Fun

I am having waaaaaaaaaaaay too much fun with this online photo booth. The French soundtrack and sound effects are pretty cool; I feel like I'm underground in the Paris metro again.

The English instructions may be a bit hard to read. Click on the curtain, give permission for the site to access your webcam, hit the red button and Smile!

Found via cakies.



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Giveaway: Sarah Richardson Paint Chips

Its giveaway time here at Rambling Renovators and I think you fellow HGTV-addicts are going to like this one! If you are a longtime reader, you know that my favourite designer is Sarah Richardson. And what's not to love? Her designs are always a great blend of traditional and contemporary style, warm, and inspirational.

One consistent element of all her rooms is her expert use of paint. In past seasons of her shows Design Inc. and Sarah's House, Sarah tended towards neutral blues, greys, greens and whites. With Sarah's House 3 and perhaps Sarah's House 4 (it starts shooting in a month!), Sarah has moved into a more colourful direction.



She recently launched a designer paint palette for Para Paints (available only in Lowe's Canada stores). I loved the palette so much that I wanted to share it with you - so one lucky reader will get to win the full deck of Sarah's 75 paint chips!

I know that the paint is only available here in Canada but you can always take the paint chip to your local paint store and have it colour matched. Here's how you can win:

  1. Receive one entry for leaving a comment below.
  2. Receive one entry for becoming a follower & leave a separate comment below to let me know. If you're already a follower, leave a comment below.
  3. Receive one entry if you tweet about the giveaway. Make sure to include my twitter @ramblingreno so I can keep track.
You have until midnight August 29th to enter. The winner will be randomly drawn from all entries and announced on August 30th. Good luck!

P.S. Did you notice that the new palette contains no taupes or builder's beiges? Here's a great article about why Sarah won't be using boring brown in her home.

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The Love List

I'm loving...



This "favorite things" idea. (I'm so doing this for my annual Christmas gift exchange with my girlfriends).


This French country table setting


This beige nursery (livened up with pops of yellow!)



These bunk beds in a beach house. Love the chenille curtains, the plaid carpet, the striped fabrics and the tongue & groove ceiling!

Have a good weekend!

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Play Kitchen Progress

I've been working on the play kitchen when ever I can get a spare moment. Its been such a fun project. I'm getting more comfortable with the power tools but I still have to say my favourite part is the decorating and accessorizing. With the base cabinet for the sink built, I could finally get into the fun stuff - picking handles and knobs and fabric.


We found this faucet at the Habitat ReStore. It was the perfect teeny tiny size and only cost $15. Score! For the handles, we made a trip to my favourite source for cabinet hardware - Lee Valley Tools. Lee Valley is a DIY dream store. Its full of all sorts of tools and gadgets and gear for woodworking and gardening. Their online catalogues are worth a look and you can order many things online and they deliver internationally.


We ended up picking this handle. It'll be used for the play stove door and the fridge door. I really love the vintagey look of the hardware. The rivets on the handles give a utilitarian look I quite like. We got these knobs for the dials on the stove, and we picked up this long handle to act as a rod for a dish towel on the side of the play sink.


And here is the fabric I picked. Its so yummy I could eat it up!! The fabrics are from the Meadowsweet 2 collection by Sandi Handerson for Michael Miller fabrics. I purchased a bundle of five 1/2 yard pieces and an extra yard from etsy seller freshsqueezedfabrics. I hope to sew a cover for the opening under the play sink, make coordinating tea towels, and maybe an apron for Chloe too! Pretty ambitious considering I haven't sewed anything in 5 years... and I'm not even sure where the sewing machine is... and if I did find it, I don't know if I could remember how to thread it! I guess power tools aren't the only things I need to practice with.

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The Goods



So I did a bit of shopping on our vacation. I bought a mix of things, old and new, stuff for me and lots of stuff for the kid. I'm a cheap antique shopper and anything with a price tag over $20 makes me think long and hard. I realize some of the things are old and rare, but really, if I didn't buy it, it would just sit gathering dust until it disintegrates or its finally put out by the side of the road with a "Free. Take Me" sign overhead... right?

Good thing I found some stuff at a price I was willing to pay :)


1. Got these little matryoshka measuring cups at the Urban Outfitters in Kingston. I thought these would be the cutest addition to Chloe's play kitchen. She loves to stack things so these nesting cups are big hit.
2. I LOVE this wooden carry-all I got at Funk and Gruven. Its solid and weighty and has a nice worn look. I think I'll use this in the craft area and store it with paintbrushes or little jars of buttons or beads or crafty things.


3. Also got this art pad at Funk and Gruven. Its used to give things a faux bois or fake wood look. Considering that Martha Stewart just came out with a paint kit complete with faux bois tool, I'm guessing its going to be a trendy look soon. Not sure where I'll use it yet. Maybe make a faux picket fence on the walls of Chloe's play area in the new basement?
4. I'm not sure what it is but I'm fascinated by antique tools lately. I hadn't seen anything like this folding ruler before. I already have a few yard sticks so this is nice to add to the collection.
5. Love this old school photo from Alleycat Antiques. The vendor told me if I looked real hard I may find the same person 2 or 3 times in the same photo; the photographer would take multiple photos and splice them together to create a single "yard photo" (a yard in length, naturally). I've seen photos like this in large groupings and they really give a dramatic look.
6. Of course I had to buy some milk glass to add to the collection. Found these milk glass salt and pepper shakers at Alleycats.


7. Like I said, vintage tools are really doing it for me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these clamps. I saw a photo in this month's House Beautiful of vintage skipping ropes piled in front of a large modern poster that might have influenced this purchase. The juxtaposition was really cool so maybe I display the clamps with or on something really clean and modern.



I also bought this old chalkboard at a little place on Stanley Street in Bloomfield. Cute! The plan is to paint Chloe's play area in the basement with whiteboard paint so this little chalkboard can be hung on top of the chalkboard wall and provide a nice pop of colour.

I also bought a few other things I don't have pictures of: large old sugar sacks I plan to make pillows for the play area out of just like these featured on The Marion House Book, and some tiny chairs found at FOC that will go with Chloe's red table. Oh - and I bought some other things to make the play kitchen but you'll have to wait for the next post to find out what those are!

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Vacation Happenings

Day 1 - cough
Day 2 - fever
Day 3 - laryngitis
Day 3.5 - eye infection right eye
Day 4 - eye infection left eye
Day 5 - freakout

You'd think I was talking about Chloe but no, that list of ailments belongs to HandyMan. He had a rough go of it during our mini vacation. Add to it the fact that Chloe decided to barely eat a thing the whole trip, throw tantrums whenever we stepped foot inside a restaurant, and scream and cry the last 1.5 hour drive home (causing herself to vomit and thereby leading to HandyMan's freakout of day 5) and you'll understand why we need a vacation from our vacation. I'm sure you parents can commiserate.

It wasn't that bad though. We had a great day at the beach, visited some lovely antiques shops, and got some work done around the house before and after our mini jaunt. The break from the routine was welcome too. Don't you just love waking up with a clean slate ahead of you? We had impromptu picnics in the park and explored down dusty country roads, just because we could.

In case you're ever up for a road trip in South Eastern Ontario, here's a few places you might want to stop into:

MacCool's Re-use (Picton): a big old barn filled with antiques and retro pieces. There were some old worn farmhouse tables and cool vintage lighting that would be perfect for our craft area. They deliver to Toronto too.

Funk and Gruven (Belleville): We weren't planning to stop in Belleville but this shop caught my eye as we drove by. Such a great mix of pieces. I fell in love with a vintage stenographer's table that had a real industrial chic vibe but its moving parts would be too tempting for Chloe's little fingers. The owner Mike was really friendly and knowledgeable. We'll definitely be making a trip back there soon!

County Traders (Bloomfield): A good stop if you're looking for tables, hutches, dressers or other case goods.

Barriefield Antiques (Kingston): Another shop filled to the rafters with treasures. They have a bit of everything - dishware, toys, case goods, clothing, pottery. You'll have fun digging around.

Alleycat Antiques (Kingston): Mike at Funk and Gruven recommended this store to us and he was right! Literally in an alley way, its 4000 sq ft of antique treasures. All the prices were negotiable and I picked some great things there. They had a really good collection of old photos, original art and prints. Go early because they close shop at 4pm!

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Country Fare

I find myself drawn more and more to this look... call it Americana, call it folksy, or modern country... always white and airy but grounded with hints of black.



The curviness of the furniture, the spool legs and rounded backs, provide visual softness against the rough textures of sisal and burlap.


We're off on a week's vacation and plan to explore down some country roads and get out of the city. Posting might be light around here but hopefully I'll have some folksy treasures to show you when I get back.

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Time for a Bath

We've been debating whether we include the basement bathroom in the basement renovation. Its well laid out, has a functional shower and really we could get by with just changing out the pedestal sink for more storage and painting over the floor to ceiling Van Gogh sunflowers mural (yes, we had more than one masterpiece in our bathrooms!)

But with just those cosmetic changes, I think we would never really be happy with the space... the cold textured tiles, the ones that catch all the dirt, would bug me; and HandyMan would still fret that bugs were getting in through the uninsulated walls or unseen cracks. We've had blog friends with the exact same house layout who found ants in those walls so we've always thought the bathroom may be the source for the occasional critter we've seen.

If we redo the bathroom, we could keep it similar in style with the planned laundry room. I'm thinking something a little bit country, a little bit coastal, fresh, and light... tongue and groove, white shaker cabinetry, classic subway tiles, glass and mirror. Mmmm, now that's a bathroom!


Arren Williams design; Angus Fergusson photograph


decorpad


inspiration for decoration


decorpad


Hampton Design

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Things To Do With Your Kid: #1 Pool Party

Did you ever, when you were young and single and doing something so fun, say to yourself "I want to do this with my own kid some day"? I did and usually it was about the simple things... baking cookies for Christmas, flying a kite, playing in the rain. Now that I have a kid, I get to relive those moments and check them off the list. This is one of those things:

video

Nothing beats hanging out by the pool in the shade...

maybe next time though the kid will realize she can't sit on the inflatable sides and won't accidentally soak me with pool water :)

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Play Kitchen Progress

I put the long weekend to good use and, under HandyMan's guidance, managed to build the sink for the play kitchen! It was pretty easy too - Ana's plans were really easy to follow. I just have to find a faucet and some fabric to finish it off. Oh, and convince the kid to take another long 2hour nap so I can work on the darned thing.

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