YAY for office shelves!

It took a while and a few trips to Ikea (which Emmy kept calling "Idea" when we visited this week), but we FINALLY purchased and installed shelves in our office. 

We went with dark brown to match the dark brown table tops and were hoping to go with this configuration from Ikea:

EKBY JÄRPEN/ EKBY BJÄRNUM from Ikea

Alas, the studs didn't line up in the right spots and my in-house handyman and anchoring/bolts expert did not recommend putting anything heavier than an apple on the shelves if we went with those brackets, so we improvised. The hubs headed out to Home Depot and got new brackets that we were able to anchor into the studs very easily - those shelves will NOT be coming down. EVER.

Here's the end result:

Although the brackets aren't what we had originally envisioned, we're happy with the end result. The shelves definitely help make the room feel close to finished and fill the giant white void that was there previously. 

I love me a shelf to display some cute things like a Lego piggy bank and these fun tupperware bins!

A clock is an essential piece of equipment in an office so you know if you're on schedule or not (I'm usually NOT) and who doesn't need an oversized pencil that actually writes with a giant piece of lead!??!!!

This guy is on the Hubby's side of the room. 

It feels great to have another room in the house close to complete. That said, we've definitely slowed down now that living here is the norm and every day commitments/appointments/needs/trials and tribulations have taken over instead of our main focus being decorating the house, as it was when we first moved here.

Slowly but surely though, this plain jane house with no personality is really becoming "ours" and we LOVE it.

Cheap but cheerful organizing!

It's been a busy week and a bit filled with lots of adventure (day trips and Play Place trips), a few injuries (me at bootcamp) and one nasty cough (poor little Emmy), hence the lull in blogging on my behalf.

I did, however, manage to tackle an itty bitty bathroom organizing project. I made a trip to the Dollar Store and pick up a few drawer containers to help turn my mess of a vanity drawer into an organized delight! My grand total expenditure was $5 and my bag of Dollarama goodies included a dip tray from the home decor aisle along with clear containers in different shapes from the organizing aisle.

(Side Note: Am I the only one that gets a weird thrill out of repurposing an item for a something other than it was intended? Organizational dork here!!)

I really should have taken a "before" shot, but picture all of these items rolling around loosely in the drawer. It was madness.

I kept the organizing simple - like items got grouped together (e.g. lipsticks with lip glosses) for easy product selection. This little project is already saving me time (and reducing frustration and time wasted looking for something specific in the giant pile of products)!

Countdown to Three

For the most part, I feel that we escaped the "Terrible Two's". Don't get me wrong, Emmy had some pretty horrible meltdown moments of defiance and attitude and I've had to put her in "time-out" more times than I care to admit, but overall, I'd say that the last 340-ish days have been pretty wonderful. She's been a sweet, loving little two-year-old for the majority of the time.

That, however, has left us a little unprepared for what Grama refers to as "The Terrible Three's".

As we get closer and closer to Emmy's 3rd Birthday (on the 28th of this month), the more sass and attitude she seems to be pulling out, although I will say that the "bad" behaviour seems to come and go in waves. There will be a few weeks where she listens very well and shares without even being asked to and it's heavenly. Then we'll have a few weeks of Little Miss Sasspot who screams and fusses at the smallest thing (e.g. she can't get her toy to do what she wants, her shoe won't velcro properly, she drops something and can't pick it up).

I'm what I refer to as a "mean Mum" and I don't stand for the sassy behaviour and will reprimand her when appropriate (e.g. she knowingly did something that we've taught her is "bad" or not in line with how we expect her to act). Daddy doesn't stand for "bad girl" behaviour either. Or Grama. Or the teachers at school. Grampa is a big softie and Emmy has him wrapped around her finger and then some, so she gets away with a bit more with him.

I think we all need to up our game for the next 365 days however, to combat these "Terrible" Three's. Not to say that there won't be amazing moments, because there will be since overall, she's an AMAZING little creature who is figuring out who she is, and that's such an adventure. The things that come out of her mouth lately have us rolling on the floor in laughter, but I think those moments will be contrasted by even more heightened moments of defiance, tantrums and sass.

Bring it on Emmy - I can't wait to see how she grows while she's a three-year-old and we can't have amazing "ups" if we don't have "downs", so I'm ready for anything.

To paint or not to paint?

When we had the house painted before moving in this past fall, there were a few rooms we had to leave untouched in order to keep the painting budget reasonable (ha, yeah right...should have been a painter!)!

As the rest of the house gets decorated and has finishing touches added, those blank rooms feel so drastically different from the rest of the house, and it's becoming my mission to pick a colour for each room and either paint them myself or convince the hubby to put more cash in the painter's pockets.

They are currently both used as spare rooms for guests to sleep in, and each is outfitted with a bed and dresser/shelving unit..but not much else. If we decide to add another kiddo to this Sweet Little Lemon Life, then the closest room to the Master suite will become a nursery - something we are keeping in mind since we do NOT want to have to paint again for years (and years...and years).

So I've been grabbing paint chips and looking online for inspiration (thanks Pinterest!) and think I've narrowed it down to two colour options.

SPARE ROOM CLOSEST TO THE MASTER SUITE

This room gets so much natural light all day long, so I'm not afraid to go VERY dark in here and I'm leaning towards a royal blue that feels "inky". You know, like the colour of the ink that comes out of those 89 cent clear plastic pens with the navy blue lid we all used in grade school in the 80's. It's not a huge room - according to the builder's floor plan it's 10 x 10 feet with a 4.5 x 6 foot nook - so bedding, accessories, etc will need to be light and airy to balance out the dark walls and I think coral and teal accents would look amazing. I also feel confident that I can make this colour work if we are ever blessed with another child, be it a boy or a girl. Here's what it looks like today:

Standing in the doorway of the room, looking straight ahead into the nook.

Looking to the left, while standing in the doorway. The room has a regular sized closet and there is ample room for a dresser in that corner. 

A slim glass table is acting as a nightstand right now and fits between the bed and the wall. 

Standing in the nook looking straight out into the room and hallway.

And....dum dum dum dum....drumroll please, here are the paint chips I have taped to the wall:

SPARE BEDROOM AT THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE NEXT TO EMMY'S ROOM:

According to the ol' builder's website, this room is 10.5 x 12.5, but in reality I think it's likely closer to 10 x 11 feet (since there are slight differences in the layout of our house vs. the model/floorplan). This room get a lot of light until the early afternoon hours, since it's directly facing East - but when Mr. Sun starts his decent for the day it can get much darker in this room. Here's what it looks like today:

This photo is taken from the doorway looking to the right, into the room. Not shown in the picture is a wall-to-wall closet on the wall opposite the window wall. Currently it holds a whole lot of nothing.

Standing next to the closet, looking towards the wall opposite the bed. This Ikea Expidit can easily be transformed into a dresser, since you can buy drawer units to put into each of those cubbies - cool, eh?

 And, here is what I'm thinking for wall colour options:

I've never had a purple room before - in all the places we've lived, I think purple might be the one shade we've not chosen, so I'm ready to go for it!

Would love to hear YOUR thoughts about my current colour choices - do you love them? Hate them? Think I'm crazy? Well, you are right about me being crazy, but I'm ok with that. Hope to post an update before the snow melts that includes our newly painted spare rooms!

The Little Lemon Exhibit

I finally have another DIY project under my belt and it feels GOOD! 

There are two alcoves in our entry hallway, across from "the yellow room", that have been screaming at me to decorate/fill them in some way every time I walk past ("Fill me!!!! Fill me!"). I finally answered with a project that cost less than $40 total and allows us to showcase the original creations of our little artist in her first Art Exhibition (ha ha!)!

I've been eyeing square pieces of cork at Wal-Mart for months, but with their price tag ($12 for four 12x12 ish squares), creating anything more than a 8x8 grid was going to cost an arm and a leg. I visited my local Home Depot, but found that they don't sell cork that can be cut to any desired size like I thought they might.

Then, on a Thursday afternoon trip to Dollarama with my Dad (seriously, living here is the BEST), I found two-packs of cork tiles that are similar to the Wal-Mart square cork tiles for $2. I bought one pack and brought them home to get the Hubby's opinion of my idea.

What was my idea? I wanted to create a wall of cork tiles in one of the entryway alcoves so that we could hang pictures and showcase the little Lemon's artwork. He was on board and back I went to Dollarama to clean them out of cork tiles.

Here are the components of this project:

24 cork tiles and two packages of "mounting tape", also from Dollarama. I also grabbed a roll of tape from Home Depot in case the cheap stuff didn't work out (I always like to have a Plan B).

My next step was to figure out how to best adhere 24 of these suckers to the wall. I started out using the approach depicted in the photo below, but in the end added a piece of mounting tape to the middle and sides of each square as well. I also included a piece of the tape to tie the squares together. 

 It took about an hour to adhere all of the squares together. The trick was getting the first row level (much thanks to the Hubby and his trusty rusty level...and his quality control to ensure I'm DIYing with correct measurements), but once the first six squares were on the wall, it was easy going from there.

Here is the end result:

Here it is! The Little Lemon Exhibit in all its glory.

Now that other alcove is looking a lot more empty. That will have to be my next DIY project!

Here it is looking the other way, into the kitchen/great room. 

Isn't this cotton ball piece of art awesome? Love the things my girl creates!

More of Emmy's beautiful creations. 

I love it. I keep finding myself in front of it, looking at the drawings and paintings that Emmy created with her own two hands (ok, I also added one of my own too). Next year at Christmas, we will use the cork wall to display cards we receive and I can't wait for that! So happy with how this turned out!

My weekly finds...

I had LOT of luck in the last week during my hunt for trinkets to add to our home. The hubby would say I'm wasting my money, but I just can't help myself. Going from 1800 square feet (of which only about 1300 was 'usable' and 'livable') in our old house, to 2600 here in our Pink Castle, I'm finding that our 'stuff' just doesn't fill this house the same way. 

I'm not one who loves the look of sparsely decorated rooms - I feel like the trinkets help fill up our rooms and make them feel warm, lived in and inviting. 

Here are the goodies I found this week: 

This cute little ceramic owl is tiny and cute. He was only $2.99 at Value Village and I couldn't say no to him. 

Here he is sitting proudly on our mantle. 

Not only is this canvas the PERFECT shade of pink for Emmy's room, but Kate Spade is one of my all-time have designers AND this quote fits me/Emmy to a tee. Love everything about this. I picked it up at WINNERS for $19.99 and because it had a few marks on it I talked the manager into taking 10% off. Sweet deal. 

Love it. 

Another $2.99 Value Village find - it's a princess snow globe. Too cute for words. 

Best Compliment Ever

Grampa came to watch Emmy (and I, since it is a Parent & Tot class) at gymnastics this week.

She has SUCH a ball there. Running around, jumping on the trampoline in the floor, walking along the beam, doing forwards and backwards summersaults down the big spongy wedge things (yeah, I'm really technical about it, aren't I?). She loves it and has so much fun there with a smile plastered on her face nearly the whole time.

Grampa was seated in the viewing gallery to watch us and the woman sitting next to him watching her own little girl said to him "Is that little girl in the white top your Granddaughter?"

He said yes.

She then asked "Is that your daughter with her?"

He said yes.

Then she said something to him that made my heart sing. She said "They sure do love each other, don't they?".

What an amazing compliment - that she could see, from my encouragement and celebration of Emmy on the gymnastics floor and her smile that we are head over heels for each other. How amazing is that? It made me feel like I'm doing something right here...not that I need that validation, but it sure gave me the warm fuzzies to hear it.

Arranging our Art

I got a call from my Dad today asking if I wanted to go to Ikea. Silly father - the answer to that question is ALWAYS yes, so off we went.

I treated him to lunch ($2 for two hot dogs and a drink) and he treated me to ice cream.

We have the same Ikea mindset, which is a good thing, because we took our time walking through the upstairs showroom, looking for inspirational ideas and thought starters. I've gone to Ikea with friends before who do NOT, under any circumstance, go upstairs and look around and that makes me sad. I feel cheated from the magic of the Ikea Experience when that happens.

My pops only got a few, very useful items (picture hanging kit, lamp), however I tend to always get a whole bunch of stuff that I really don't need...or maybe stuff that I didn't know I needed. Today was no different.

My favourite blog in the whole world (Young House Love) posted last week about using trays as artwork, and as soon as I saw these two beauties, I knew I had to tackle something similar to what they did.

Love the colours and love the whimsey of the birdies. Oh Ikea, you continue to impress me!

I love them because they have a similar colour palette but aren't matchy matchy. Then I went crazy searching the house for other artwork and frames that could work in the grouping and here is what I came up with. It's definitely going to be a work in progress that I will continue to add to, but I'm super happy with it so far.

It's a nice little, colourful addition to the hallway to prepare you for the BLAST of pink in Emmy's room. 

That vent up top is a wee bit of an eyesore...so my hope is that this collection of artwork will help it to blend in and not stand out so much. We will see. 

Along with the Ikea trays, this collection of artwork features a few VERY sentimental items that are special to me. Closest and at the bottom is a hot plate that belonged to my Grama - I get the warm and fuzzies just looking at it because it reminds me so much of her. The bottom photo in the white frame is a sonogram picture of the Lemon. I also added some of my cousin's original artwork that I'm very lucky to own.  

Tomorrow Emmy and I may hit up Value Village and/or WINNERS to see if we can find any vintage/used trays or other items that we can add to this lovely arrangement. Stay tuned!

A Pink Castle for our Pink Castle

Happy Love Day!

On this, the one day of the year that those who hate hugging MUST give in an accept some squishes, I thought it would be fitting to share a bright pink update we've made to Emmy's pink room.

These Wallies decals are fantastic - they peel off easily and stick and restick when you don't get it right (or straight) the first time (whoooopsie)!

Here is the pink castle growth chart. How much more perfect could this be, since Emmy calls our house "The Pink Castle"? There is even a princess with brown hair - like our Little Lemon!

So cute - a little pond and multiple guest houses. I love how many pieces come in this package!

Since Mummy can't keep real flowers alive, fake ones are always a good choice. 

TA DA - Our Lemon is a Gymnast

...well, maybe not quite.

But she DID have her first Gymnastics lesson yesterday morning and I think she's in love.

Unfortunately Mummy and Daddy both had to work, but luckily I have the absolute best parents in the whole world, so Grama and Grampa took her, and Grampa even brought his ancient (but still operational) video camera from the 80's to capture a few highlights (complete with his commentary...well, a more accurate description would be his chat with a fellow visitor watching her own Grandchild).

They taught the kids to put their hands in the air after they "land" a move and say "Ta Da", so we were treated with the phrase "Ta Da" about 100 times last night.

She got to try the following things during the class, with the help of the instructor and Grama:

> a forward summersault
> a backwards summersault
> walking the balance beam (which is only inches off the ground)
> jumping on the trampoline

Camcorders from the 1980's don't have a "share to Facebook" option, so today Sweet Little Lemon Life blog brings you a video of a video for your viewing pleasure - added bonus: Emmy walks in front me me capturing the video of the video. Awesome.

Our Little People Person

I am pretty confident that we have a people person on our hands.

Yesterday, which was Super Bowl Sunday, we attended my parent's annual party and this year 35 other people were in attendance with us. Emmy was in heaven playing with some little friends who came for dinner and left around bedtime. During the party, she made her way around the room chatting and playing with nearly everyone there, asking them "What's your name?" or "You want to play with me?".

Although she has her shy moments (she comes right out and sometimes says to people she's meeting for the first time "I'm a little shy."), last night definitely had me thinking that she is going to grow up to be a bubbly girl with a big personality.

After we put her jammies on and told her it was time for bed, she proceeded to walk around the room and give just about every party guest a goodnight hug. If we were at someone else's house I'm sure she would have been more stingy with her affections, and not doled out the squishes so easily, but Grama and Grampa's house is somewhere she feels completely and utterly safe, which makes me happy.

This morning, when Grampa woke her up and brought her out to the now empty room where the party had been last night, the first thing she said to him was "Grampa, where are all the people?". Yep - she's going to be a people person.

Finishing Touches

Decorating/organizing progress has been made this week, even though we've been crazy busy!!

I'm super happy to report that I found the PERFECT baskets for Emmy's room at my local Home Hardware. They are the perfect colour, the EXACT perfect size and I love the detail of the silver handle too! At first I wasn't sure 'bout the colour and contemplated spraying them pink or white, but when I got them home and put them in THEIR home, it was exactly what the room needed. The tan colour adds an earthy, natural feel to the room that I didn't even realize it needed!

In all their glory, each nestled into its own little cubby! How perfect do they fit, right? 

How gorgeous are those handles? Nice and sturdy so I don't have to worry about how rough Emmy is with them!

Here is the other end of the window seat!

Some hold the overflow of tights we have that no longer fit in the sock drawer!

Some hold books!

Some are empty so far. But that's a good thing since we have tubs and tubs in the basement still left to go through!

What else have I been up to? During my weekly trip to WINNERS (yes, I'm obsessed, but they are constantly getting new merchandise in stock and the only way to ensure I don't miss something really awesome and perfect for the castle is to go regularly!), I found these super cool posters!

Although I've not yet mustered the courage to fly across the ocean to visit England, Max has been and LOVED it. He promptly told me that I would adore London and refuse to come home, so I think that they are a good reflection of "us"!

It continues to amaze me how adding artwork really does make a room feel "finished". Still some things to do in the tv room, but these fun posters have gotten us one step closer to complete!!

My Big Girl

Although Emmy was the oldest child today at the Public Library's "Shake, Rattle and Read" drop-in class by about two years, we still had a fun time dancing, singing and reading. The rest of the attendees were all between the ages of three-months to one-year-old and were taking bottles, fussing for no reason and army crawling all over the room.

It took me back to when my Little Lemon was just a wee baby and couldn't walk/talk yet and I wanted to pick one of those chubby little butterballs up and have a snuggle. Emmy, however, was not really that impressed and kept saying "That baby is crying!" and asking "Why is that baby crying?". I tried to explain that sometimes babies cry for no reason, but maybe he was hungry or had a wet diaper and the only way a baby knows how to let his Mummy know something is wrong is to cry. I think she understood because her response was "I no cry. I'm a big girl!".

She certainly is becoming a big girl. Seeing her along side those itty-bitty babies emphasized that fact for me today. She is a big girl who has her own spunky, silly personality and knows what she wants. She has a lot to say and loves to learn. She loves (LOVES!) to make people laugh. I've said it before, but I'll say it again...10 million times without apology, I'M SO LUCKY to call this funny, spunky, kind-hearted little girl the absolute love of my life.

No Nap Required

I've been dreading this day for a while now, even thought I knew it would eventually come.

Although I don't think we've said our final good-bye's to the daily nap, I do think that our little Lemon doesn't need the 13 hours of sleep she's been getting lately when she does nap from 12:30pm to 2:30pm (or 1-3pm, or 1:30-3:30pm).

Bedtime has been a bit of a struggle lately. I'll put her down and then hear her cute little footsteps about five minutes later and a small voice saying "Mummmmmmmy?" from the top of the stairs. Looking back now, she likely wasn't tired enough to go to sleep, since she was having a full two hour long nap most days, and was not ready to end her fun-filled day!

So what have we changed? Well, instead of nap time we're trying to enforce "quiet time" which translates to a short period of time in her room with books/stuffed buddies she can play with, although this past weekend we traded that in for a Disney princess movie marathon while snuggling on the sofa (she's only going to want to do that for a limited time and Daddy and I want to take advantage of it while we still can). We've also moved bedtime up to 8pm instead of 8:30pm in an effort to gain back a little bit of the time lost by cutting out the nap. That means that she's getting about 11.5 to 12 hours total in one 24-hour period vs. the 13-14 hours she was getting.

Fingers crossed that these changes are for the best for all of us! I'll keep you updated!

Just for fun, here is our little Lemon tonight. She put this hat on and said "I'm Chef Emmerson!". Love her and her imagination.

Another Year Older

It was my birthday this past Sunday. I turned 34-years-old. How did that happen? Didn't I JUST graduate from high school? Wasn't it just a few weekends back that I blew $100 at the local dance club (just kidding Mum!!) and this past summer that I did nothing but work on my tan up at the cottage?

Quite honestly, although time seems to be zipping by at warp speed and I'm not sure when I became an adult, I don't really miss any of those things (although a cottage weekend this coming summer might be fun for Emmy). Priorities have definitely shifted and ensuring that my little family is filled with happiness is at the top of my list each and every single day.

I LOVE that I am at the point in my life where I can appreciate them and this life of mine in ways I wasn't able to when I was younger and didn't realize how lucky I was. I love that we are so fortunate to live close to our extended family and share our happiness with them. I love that my husband is willing to get up at 4am to commute to work so that I can spend my days with the Lemon before she grows big and goes to school and doesn't want to spend every moment with her Mummy. I love that she lets me zerbert her belly, put her hair in piggy tails, sing SuperCaliFragilisticExpialidocious together when we drive and asks me to "rubba her back" when she crawls into bed at night. I love this life and these moments.

So how did I celebrate my 34th birthday? A delicious feast from the sea at Red Lobster followed by Menchies frozen yogurt concoctions with my Little Lemon, the Hubs and my parents. It was perfection.

I think 34 is going to be my best year yet. Can't wait to see what happens!

The Office for Two > More Progress

It's not done yet, but I wanted to share a few better quality photos! I'm also hoping that you (yes, I'm talking to you kind reader of my blog) can help us decide what colour shelves we should install above the desks because I'm waffling back and forth every day!

Here is how the office is shaping up:

Ta da! I'm so proud of myself for assembling all of this on my own! 

Some further purging is required!

Look at all of that work surface! I love how deep the desk top is!

OK, so now we need your help! Above the desks we want to install Ikea wall shelves - two above my side and two above the hubby's side. The ceilings are quite high on the main floor and this big, white, blank wall is screaming to be filled! The question is, should we go with white shelves or brown shelves? Cast your vote by commenting below!

Big, blank wall!

Which would you install above the desk? White or brown?