spring in the master bedroom

I spent some time decluttering the bedroom the other day, and thought I would make the most of the clean room, and take a couple photos. I don't even remember the last time I've shown this room, if ever fully.

On my list of things to still do in here are the following:

- replace shades with similar neutral ones.

- make a bed skirt

- set up a small desk where the rocking chair is, once I'm finished using it for late night or early evening feedings with George.

This antique four poster bed was a Kijiji (like Craigslist) find years ago. I paid $100 for it. It was already painted white, otherwise I would have left it wood, but I don't mind it. 

Given the white room, with white bedding, it's nice to have pieces like this side table and the baskets to add warmth.

The basket corrals what's on the night table, and keeps things to a minimum.

For perspective, the master bedroom is one top half of the original stone home. So it has four windows - one facing East, two Southern-facing, and this one facing West.

We love the old radiator in this room - it's huge with pretty details.

This is the view when walking in the door to the bedroom. One day, we will expose the stone on this little section of this wall, and the other bit of this wall that's to the left of the closet.

Also, I've wanted to add a rug to this room for a while, but just don't want to spend the money on what I want yet. In the mean time, this little $25 jute runner from Ikea adds some texture at a next to nothing cost. Adding texture to a room is equally as important to me as adding warmth. The natural rug and hamper, the aged pot, the antique gilt frames, the woven throw with fringe, the lace-trimmed pillow covers, the reed baskets and worn wood - they all add texture. Even the aged and worn floors and wavy plaster walls and imperfect glass in the old windows add texture. It just all adds character.

This is the doorway to the hall, which allows in so much light and warmth, as it gets all the afternoon sun. The little blue plate was a souvenir I took home from our trip to Nantucket last year. I paid so much more than I would normally have, but I loved it. I thought about it for the couple days we were there, and when we were passing it in town, on our way back to the ferry, I popped in to Flowers on Chestnut and picked it up. I didn't regret it. (As we drove further out the cape, I found another matching blue platter and the price was so good, together the little plate seemed more reasonable!)

Behind this door is our closet, which we both share. Originally a chimney ran up through here from the room below. The trunk under the other window (which is darker because the shade strings have broken), is a family heirloom. My mother in law recently re-did her bedroom and gave it to us. I believe it's what Ryan's grandparents used to bring belongings over from Holland when they immigrated. She stripped it to look like this. It reads a tad orange in the photo, but it's such a beautiful piece with so much character. And again, it adds so much to the white room. It's also a great piece to store extra blankets and off-season linens in. I also have an antique oval mirror to hang on the open space of that wall, but hanging anything that heavy on these plaster walls requires my husband, and that means it will have to wait a while.

And finally our wardrobe, which we also share. It was an antique piece I had as a wardrobe when I was little. It was originally used to transport bolts of fabric on a boat from Europe. The back has interesting stamps and printing on it. My dad added shelves to it for clothing.

Our bedroom is one of five, now that we've opened the apartment to the main house. Us and the two little ones are upstairs (they share the nursery), the two older boys have a room downstairs by the family room, another is being used as a playroom, and the last one is being used for storage, and will one day be set up as a guest room.

spring in the dining room

 

It's deceptively sunny out this morning. We're well into March, but the temperatures don't seem to want to budge above freezing. That being said, the sun is decidedly warmer, so it at least feels spring-like inside. The Cherry Blossoms we've been forcing have started blooming and all the sunshine has brightened the dining room up. It doesn't get direct sunlight aside from first thing in the morning, so it can always seem darker than some other rooms in the house.

As it's been so long since I've shown much of the house (or anything for that matter!), I figured I'd start here.

Few things feel more like spring than blooming branches. The perfect way to add some spring to any room is by forcing some. My dad dropped off these branches on his way home from the flower market a couple weeks ago. They've made for lots of interesting lessons with the boys. We've painted the stages of the blossoms opening. We've studied the life cycle of the tree. We'll get around to studying pollination and the anatomy of the bee. And we unexpectedly discovered Hanami, the Japanese Cherry Blossom (Sakura) festival.

And then there are these beautiful Hellebores - another favourite spring flower. I picked this one up from the garden center. I've always wanted to plant some in our gardens as they're perennials. I love the variety of blooms varying from creamy white, to fresh green with hints of pink. If you find one with lots of new buds it will last a while. They look delicate, but they're actually very rugged. The leaves are almost hard and prickly. But when you need to push your way up through snow and slightly frozen ground, and survive those last unexpected cold snaps, you'd need to be pretty resilient.

Our dining room is in the original part of our home, which consists of the stone house and then a series of additions behind, so it has all the character.

And now that it feels more spring-like inside, I think I should probably take down our wreathes on the windows outside. Which is a tad sad because they're still pretty green!

This week we are taking some time off from school as it's spring break. I'm planning on going through the house and doing the Ruthless Declutter Challenge from Simplified with Emily Ley. It's a one week challenge to declutter your whole house, room by room, in a week. I did it last year and have been surprised at how decluttered things have stayed over the last year. I'm looking forward to it because I think it will be good to go through everything inside drawers and cupboards before trying to spring clean the house. You can follow along in my stories on instagram @growersdaughter.

New Table in Living Room

 

I recently moved a table I wasn't using up into the living room to use as a side table by my reading chair. It was a table I had found years ago on Kijiji for a great price. Usually parlour tables similar to this one go for a couple hundred dollars, but if I can remember correctly, I think I paid $80!

I wasn't sure at first how I liked it, but it's practical in that it adds light and a place to set my coffee when I'm reading. 

It has pretty detailing, and I do like the contrast it adds to a very white room.

I moved an alabaster lamp and added a few books and a plant.

I also put my favourite candle at the moment there as well. It's a Magnolia Signature Candle in Linen. It's amazing!

And that's it. A small corner of the house spruced up a bit.

It's the perfect place to cozy up with a good book.

See?

Happy Halloween

The sun did decide to make an appearance, and the result was a perfect evening for trick-or-treating. It also meant that I could snap a few photos of the living room again in better light.

On Halloween day I move all of our pumpkins to the front entrance. I find that they last a little longer now outside in the cool weather, and the house becomes a clean slate again, ready to be dressed up for Christmas - though that won't happen until the first of December.

I found so many great varieties this year!

This year Willen went dressed as Spider Man.

Hudson went out as Gecko from PJ Masks and Jude stayed in and slept while I handed out candy.

Here you can see how far our entrance is finished. We were advised to let it weather until Spring and then paint it. Also, we still have to find a light fixture and new screen door. One day I will get around to showing you that process.

Spring in the Living Room

I cut some branches from a tree in our back yard this afternoon that have little white blooms on them. I'm actually not sure what variety the tree is, but I had previously thought the blossoms seemed similar to a pear tree. I'll have to do some research on it.

They make for quite a dramatic arrangement on top of the mantel, and feel very Spring-like amoung the collection of nests.

As you can see, we've also found a coffee table. I will get around to posting about it at some point, but it was an antique table that was previously green with orange underneath. Ryan cut the legs down for me and stripped the top which will remain the natural, beautifully aged pine. But the legs were too difficult, so we simply painted them white.

I have been on the hunt for a fixture for this room and just haven't found anything yet.

I also added a smaller vase of blossoms beside my chair.

I can't wait for the orchards in our region to start blooming. I've driven out twice with the intention of photographing them, and on both occasions, came back disappointed. They just aren't ready yet - likely around Mother's Day.