a ten year anniversary

Ten years ago, I started a blog. I barely knew what a blog was, but I was newly married, home with a baby and I found myself longing for a creative outlet. Somewhere that I could write and indulge my creativity, share what I found beautiful in the day to day of living. I had no idea how much this blog would grow me. How much it would push me to find and nurture my tastes. I had no idea the sense of community I would find, women who share the same interests and passions and sense of style.

I've always had an idea to as to where I would like to take my blog. Seemingly grand and lofty dreams that have always seemed like things I would tackle in the future, when the boys were grown and I had more time to focus on it.

But the truth is, while I'm not ready to fully jump into anything full-time, I do think that it's important to work towards dreams.

Over the past decade, I've watched my tastes evolve and in the last couple years, settle. Settle in a sense that I've learned to trust my instincts and do things in a way that makes me happy. To know what I want to do, and be confident in how I want to do it. Over all these years, I've found inspiration in so many other fellow bloggers and how their blogs have evolved. Catherine of In the Fields gave me the confidence to paint an entire house white like I envisioned, and a love for beautiful old things. And Tessa of Nine & Sixteen pushed me to layer patterns and that blue and green are neutral in their own beautiful ways. And Jenny Steffens Hobick of Everyday Occasions has inspired an embracing of the seasons and how to celebrate them in your home. Maria of Dreamy Whites showed me that you can take something you have a love for, like collecting beautiful old things, and grow it into a beautiful business. And Heather Bullard helped me realize what styling was - that it is an art - and that doing it can take you to the most beautiful places. And of course those many, many (many) back issues of Martha Stewart Living magazine. And these are just some!

There are so many other Instagram accounts that bring inspiration and feed my creativity every single day. I know I'm not the only one that feels this way, but I feel like I've found my people. Others who just get me, who's brains work the same way as mine. We are drawn to the same things. Who love words and wrapping pretty packages and browsing antique shops and setting tables and matching fabrics and fluffing pillows and painting rooms and arranging flowers and styling outfits and reading books and travelling to quaint towns and capturing life.

One of the reasons I've always been hesitant to make some dreams a reality, is because honestly, I have so many dreams. I want to cook and entertain, I want to spend my days curating antiques for a little shop in some little town. I want to write a book. I want to write for publications and share some of the beautiful people and places I've stumbled upon. I want to travel and explore. I want to design beautiful spaces as I envision them.

But, I don't want to miss a single moment with my boys.

I don't know how many of you know this, but years ago, I would host a yearly sale. I would collect and store antiques and vintage finds for an entire year, and on Thanksgiving weekend, pull everything out, set it all up (which was really my favourite part), and then have a sale.

While I don't have the desire to do any sort of show, I miss collecting. I miss setting the things I find up in a way that shows them off.

So, in an attempt to begin to work towards some of these lofty goals of mine, I've decided to start collecting again. Well, in truth, I've already started.

I'm going to start hosting a small online sale - a collection of antique and vintage items, curated for each season.

My first collection will be

The Summer Collection.

Classic blue and white. Nautical inspiration. Timeless and natural.

I'm still working out all the details, but essentially, a date for the collection would be set ahead of time. I will feature all of the items in my stories and then launch the collection the following day. If you purchased an item, a paypal invoice will be sent and I will ship the items off for you to enjoy!

I will list the items available for this collection later today in my stories. The sale will go live on Saturday morning at 11 am AST/ 10:00 am EST.

So, I have no idea what the next ten years will hold. It's hard to imagine they can top these last ten!  For now, I know I want to start slowing working towards some of these lofty ideas of mine and for now, I'm thankful that I can share with you.

I want to live simply. I want to live intentionally. I want to live beautifully.

With so much gratefulness,

Maria

an afternoon at the christie antique show

I don't know what it is about fall, but as soon as the weather starts to turn cooler, I get the itch to browse antique markets and sales.

I think in the spring, as summer is approaching, I find myself paring down my home, lighting things up. But as fall arrives, I find myself adding some layers and warmth to my home. I mean, this is what we do with our wardrobes, so it's only natural that our home goes through a similar sort of seasonal change.

Anyway, I love walking around a good show, and the Christie Antique and Vintage show is the best outdoor show in Canada. It spans over nearly ten acres, all spread out around the conservation area. Some of my favourite vendors, specializing in European antiques, always have beautiful booths and great collections.

This year, if I wanted to attend, I had to bring all four boys with me. I really had to think about it before committing, but in the end, I just didn't want to miss it. It's only one day, and it only happens once in the spring and once in the fall. I was able to bribe the boys with snacks and hurry through in less than two hours. And while I didn't maybe see as much as I could have without them, or take my time looking through things, I did see most of it!

This was a gorgeous blue cabinet, with all the right wear, as well as a few really pretty ironstone pitchers. He also had some beautiful bread boards and some old portraits.

(As we came up to them, Willen said to me "Oh look, more paintings of people we don't even know. You can put them with the other ones we have.")

This booth, Booth Eight, had a few antique pine pieces for great prices. Sadly they were sold.

I loved this little bowl. I liked the size of it.

I also really wanted these ginger jars.

And this blue platter was a great price, so it came home with me. The only thing I ended up bringing home.

If you're interested in attending, the next show is Saturday, May 23, 2020, from 8 am to 5 pm, rain or shine. Mark your calendars!

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.

a girl's morning out

Yesterday I spent the morning out with my mom and sister. My sister's been on bed rest and then recovering from her c-section, and is finally feeling like herself and itching to get out. Of course it's the perfect excuse to get out with her! So out we went - for coffee, thrifting, the greenhouse (again!), and then to lunch.

Years ago, when I only had one or two children to tote along, I went to every estate sale and weekly auction, and regularly circulated through all the local thrift shops. I would collect for the entire year and then have a huge tag sale on the Thanksgiving long weekend. It was something I loved to do. But over the years, it's just gotten harder to get out with four kids. Gone are they days when they sleep quietly in the stroller while the auctioneer rambles on. Plus four children take up all extra room in my vehicle which would previously have been used to pile in furniture and finds.

And while I do try to get out antiquing every so often, I don't usually make it to any thrift stores. But yesterday I was reminded how much I enjoyed hunting through one. We all found some great things, and decided we needed to do it more often!

Of course all good days out begin with coffee and croissants - yes Mom, even if we'll be eating lunch in two hours... These were from De La Terre, and are a favourite.

Our next stop was The Watering Can, a greenhouse with a flower market and cafe.

It was so nice walking though the greenhouse, where it's so warm and sunny.

After this, some thrifting, and then onto to lunch at The Grand Oak for soup and a sandwich. They also have fresh breads, cheese and lots of different preserves and gourmet food items to browse.

I've brought home a couple different plants over the last few days. Usually I have cut flowers, aside from some Myrtles and Ivy, but I couldn't resist these. A Helleborus (left), Begonia (middle) and an Oak Leaf Ivy (right).

I'm always drawn to greens and soft whites, and I love the hints of blush and burgundy in them all. 

I also couldn't pass up a bunch of White Parrot Tulips.

So, my thrift shop finds...

First, I have to preface this one find, those little bamboo forks, by saying this: Never ever, have I ever, not even in an antique store, let alone a thrift shop, have I ever found bamboo flatware. I've looked. So when I looked into the random junk bin of kitchen cutlery and saw bamboo, I audibly gasped.

They were a dollar.

(For all you American readers - 77 cents!)

I scored a collection of these great square canning jars.

I found some books, a waste basket, and a nice sized basket with a handle that will be perfect for an Easter arrangement.

And yes, this is my third copy of this Martha Stewart book, but it's in way better condition than my others. One of them will now be used to tear out of, like I would a magazine.

So I think it's safe to say I'm hooked.