It's finally happening - NEW FLOORS AND STAIRS!!!

Hello Everyone - Hope that you are having a fabulous weekend:) We've been super busy
preparing our house for new flooring and painted stair railings - I am thrilled!  This has been something that I've wanted to get done since we moved in EIGHT.YEARS.AGO!!!  That's how we roll around here - eight years it's taken....eight long years and I can finally say goodbye to my pink and grey carpet - WHOOOHOOO!

Earlier this week, we recruited the help of my father in-law and our dear friend to help my husband remove the carpet and baseboards in three bedrooms and stairway. It already looks so much better.... We've decided to put laminate hardwood in the bedrooms and carpet on the stairs and hallway.  

After living with bare floors and bare stairs for almost a week, a few days a day...it occured to me that NOW (before the carpet goes in) would be the perfect time to update the oak handrails and spindles on the stairs (pretty quick aren't I!!!) So, I did a little rescheduling of contractors and asked my dad to help me prepare the stairs for painting and patch a few walls - we'll have a newly updated staircase before you know it;)

Here's a little glimpse of what we're working on, stairs will be painted this week and the carpet will be installed by Thursday.  I am thinking of painting the spindles white and hand rails black....what do you think, should I do that or do you have another suggestion for me - I'd love to know!   

Easy Fall Vignette:)

Happy Friday and Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my fellow Canadians!!  Today I decided that it was time to start decorating my house for the fall....I've put out fall mums on our porch and a few outdoor decorations, but I hadn't started on the inside yet. 

This year, I've been admiring all the white pumpkins and neutral home decorations for fall that have been popping up in blogland.  Most of my fall decorations are vibrant oranges and reds, so I had to start from scratch...but I didn't want to break the bank doing it.  So, while the girls napped this afternoon, I decided that the foyer would be the perfect place to start.  It's not a big area, so a little will go a long way;)

When I think of fall, the first thing that comes to mind is pumpkins!  I remember seeing somewhere that someone made their own pumpkins out of fabric, twine and filing.  So, I headed to my scrap fabric pile and pulled out some cream fabric that I have left over from another project, cut out three different sized circles, stuffed them them with polyfil and secured the top with twine (I used my glue gun to secure it).  Easy, peasy and cute to boot!

Next, I headed outside to find some sticks.  There was no shortage of those in the yard, so I grabbed a handful and put them into a vase that I already had.  This is such an easy and best of all FREE way to decorate your home.  I raided my basement and found the black star and shiny silver pumpkin candle holder.  I think that these three items look great together.

And here it is!!  My Fall/Halloween Vignette!  I love how everythings works so well together and also, didn't cost me a thing!!  I think that I deserve a treat for that...who'd like to join me for a Pumpkin Spice Latte?!  

And another view of the whole area....I purchased the mirror decals from Michael's last year.

Have a great weekend everyone:) 

Home Project Goal: February

There are a few projects that I'd like to get done around our house this year, so I've decided to showcase one project each month. 

Here is the gallery wall in our basement that currently has NO pictures in it...BORING!!!  So, my goal for this month is to get this gallery wall DONE!  Let's see how I do...my hope is that putting my goals "out there" I will stick to it...one can only hope!

My Sewing Nook

Hello there...I hope that you had a terrific weekend!  The weather here has been AH-MAZING!!  I hope that it's nice where you are too.
As promised, here is my new sewing nook.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any "before" pictures, but it was just an empty courner in our bedroom (you'll just have to trust me!)  I was in need of a permanent spot to put my sewing machine but with no extra rooms in our house and limited space in the ones we have, I didn't know what to do?!?!  Thanks to Pinterest and the wealth of creativity that it holds, I came across MANY ideas for my sewing nook.  It is still a work in progress, but it's made such a difference in my life.  Before my new sewing nook, I had my sewing machine stored away in a cupboard....which wasn't bad until I started sewing on a more regular basis.

There's still more that I'd like to do - add some art work and a pillow and I'm changing the chair from wicker to a white wood one...but overall I'm very happy with the (almost) end result.  Thank you Pinterest!!!

Here's the breakdown of the items that I used:

Desk: Ikea - Samdal
Wall Shelf and brackets: Ikea - Ekby
Light and accessories:  Ikea