Category Archives: Home

Colour Choices – Cars to Kitchens

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I had to say goodbye to an old friend.

My car.

It died.

Dead Car

So I bought a new car.

While discussing colour options with the car salesman he made the comment that you were not getting your money’s worth when choosing ‘white’ because “you weren’t getting any colour”.

Interesting statement.

Is white valueless?

Hmmm????

It’s been a long time since I wrote last (many apologies) and much has happened.

During that long sabbatical I renovated my kitchen.

Actually making the decision to renovate took a very long time because I wasn’t sure I could live with a white kitchen.

I knew white was the right colour (experts say it adds $$$ to the sale of a home) but I was trying to envision myself in a white kitchen.

Finally….I envisioned.

I embraced.

I decided that I wanted as much white in my kitchen as possible.

And so I chose,

White cabinetry,

White cabinetry

White (Floratta) granite,  White Floratta Granite

White paint,   White paint

White trim,   White trim

White pendants,   White pendant

White sconces,   White Sconce

White table,   White table

White crockery,    White Crockery

White linens,    White Linens

Even the flowers outside my kitchen window in full bloom are white.  White flowers

Needless to say I jumped in with both feet – in white!  White shoes

I love my new white kitchen and by the way, I did not buy a white car!

 

Location, Location, Location

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I love birds.

Cardinal

And I have written many times about birds on this blog.

https://modmissy.com/2013/01/24/trying-to-keep-warm/

https://modmissy.com/2014/06/04/robins-egg-blue/

I am mesmerized by how birds fly.

My fascination with flying started about 25 years ago.  This fascination ‘took flight’ while living in our first home where the bedroom was at the top of a long flight of stairs.  Not realizing at the time the importance of furniture placement, the head of the bed was placed next to the bedroom door which was just a few feet away from the top of the stairs.

Bed at top of stairs

It seemed that every night just as I was falling asleep I imagined myself floating out the bedroom door and flying down those stairs.  I was lulled instantly asleep.  Bliss.

But not everyone would find this flying exercise relaxing.  And having the bed in this position in their bedroom could be subliminal hell.

Hence the importance of furniture placement.

Recently while visiting a client she complained that she was not sleeping well in her new home.  The bedroom was situated at the front of the house.  The bed was placed on the window wall with the street just a few feet away.

To me it felt like sleeping on the road! Furniture placement.

We re-positioned the bed away from the windows (and the road),  Furniture placement

The client announced she is now sleeping much better.

One of the main principles of staging a home for real estate sale is furniture placement.  Too much furniture in a room and potential buyers feel crowded.  Furniture placed incorrectly; potential buyers are tripping leaving a lasting impression of a small home.

I always tell my clients that furniture placement is key and location, location, location is the most determining factor in the price of a home!

First Day of Winter

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December 1st marks the start of winter for me.

Black ice and whiteouts, White Out

Snowed in and digging out,  Snowed InAnd ice storms,  Ice Storm

The hazards of winter.  Get ready.  Be prepared.

But fortunately December also marks the month of celebration – Christmas!

When ‘whiteouts’ are beautifully decorated white Christmas trees with ornaments,  White Christmas Tree

‘Snowed in’ is a birch bark inspired decoration for the fireplace mantle.  PC Home Holiday Birch Bark Cabin

And ‘ice’ is only found in a bold black ice bucket or whiskey glasses.  PC Home Holiday Black Bold Ice Bucket

The first 3 photos are my snaps taken over the last few winters and the celebration photos were taken this past summer when I attended the PC Home Holiday Preview.

Yup…..Christmas in July!  (Actually it was August)

I could not and would not mention Christmas in sweltering August to you but today I officially can.

And next time you are in your local Loblaw’s or Real Canadian Superstore® check out the stunning holiday products that will have you jingling all the way home.

And this year enjoy your HO-HO-HOsting and entertaining!

Cheers

All images photographed by MODMISSY

 

Merry Christmas

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Ho ho ho!  Here we go.

Tis Christmas time again!

As you know I love the season but I have a hard time with all the decorations (read clutter) in my home.

But alas I found a solution.

This year I am hosting Christmas dinner at my home.  I wanted all of us to celebrate together so we built one long table that would seat 20.  We had to rearrange the furniture in the living room so everyone could move around freely.  (Nothing worse than being stuck in a corner and 10 people having to get up and move when you decide that a 2nd helping of mashed potatoes and gravy would be nice!)  Christmas Table

This arrangement of furniture meant there was no space for a Christmas tree!

Oh darn.

Don’t worry I did not ‘Scrooge’-out, instead I placed my fully decorated Christmas tree in the front porch!  Everyone at the table can still see the tree.  Sans needles and mess.  Perfect!   Christmas Tree

And then creativity struck, I wrapped the gifts and tied them all up with a bow and wouldn’t you know – a Christmas tree appeared!   Christmas Tree of Gifts

And on that note a MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

See you in the New Year.

Santa Claus

XXXOOO

 

All images via MODMISSY

Sold In A Day

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Recently I staged a home for Real Estate sale that sold in a day.

And it sold for well over asking!

I’m going to credit that very quick and prosperous sale in huge part due to my staging services.

(Hey, when the horn can be tooted, toot it!)

Yes, the home had great bones but was buried in the ‘stuff’ of hectic daily living!

Often when I arrive on the scene the home is in a state of disarray whereby I must then ‘turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse’.

Or…take an ogre and turn it into a princess!

bad hair day

Fortunately I love what I do so when I first walked into this home I was not daunted but rather excited.  Actually excitement is what I put into the home.  I try to create a space that has energy; positive energy.  And a vibe that says, “I want to live here”.

Livingroom before Livingroom before

Living Room afterLivingroom after

Dining Room beforeDining Room before

Dining Room afterDining Room after

Kitchen before  Kitchen before

 

Kitchen after  Kitchen after

Bedroom before bdrm before staging

Before after bdrm after staging  All images via Modmissy

 

 

Location, Location, Location

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It’s often said that where you buy a home is all about location, location, location.

And I agree.

But the neighbours are a big part of that detail too.

Good neighbours are good, great neighbours are great.

And so it was on a recent Friday evening that I dined alfresco with my great neighbours at our annual Laneway Party.

(A laneway being the lane at the back of houses shared between 2 adjacent streets providing each neighbour access to their parking/garage/backyard.)

Introductions were made,            Laneway Party

 

There was a meet and greet for all ages,    Laneway Party

 

Entertainment for the kids – a piñata stuffed full of candy,   Laneway Party

Metro’s finest on horseback visited (entertainment for the adults!)   Police on Horseback

 

The table was set with white linen and real utensils – no plastic here.  Laneway Party

Laneway Party

 

Platters of food, candlelight and plenty of wine kept the revellers going into the night,  Laneway Party

Plus it helped that the kids were occupied with movies in ‘Bill’s Man Cave’.  Remember Bill (& his lovely wife)?     Laneway Party

 

A head count was done around the table and 53 neighbours were seated for dinner!  Laneway Party

 

These 2 ‘party planners’ were pleased!  Thanks to all who helped to make the party a great success!            Laneway Party

All in all a fabulous evening shared with my ‘great’ neighbours making my home’s location the best!

All images via MODMISSY

Sewing a Silver Lining!

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In my Junior High years (grade 7 and 8) my school principal decided to try out a new method of teaching/learning and used my class for the experiment.  We were his lab rats!

Needless to say I did not learn much in those 2 very crucial years.  (The principal was fired soon after!)

But for all negatives there is a positive and the silver lining here was that my school thought it would be useful for us teens to learn some life skills.

So we were bused one afternoon a week to another school that had facilities to teach us in ‘home ec’ and woodworking.

Home ec (as in home economics) taught us how to cook and sew.

And the woodworking class taught us how to use tools and build things.

I eventually learned what an adjective was and how to do fractions, finished high school and went on to higher learning but those life skills I was taught in grade 7 and 8 have been invaluable.

And well used.

Cooking is something I do on a daily basis with rave reviews from the family.

And I always have a sewing project on the go.

My sewing projects are usually quite basic but I do turn out some good results.  I have sewn a million cushion covers over the years and if you’ve ever been to a fabric store you may understand how fabulous fabrics have a way of following you out the store and inspiring sewing projects.  I recently fell in love with this colourful ‘mod’ fabric,   Retro Wavy Fabric

and thought the fabric would be the perfect accompaniment to my retro bedside lamps.

Wavy Pillows

Apparently everyone at university is ‘Irish’ and celebrates St Patrick’s Day in a big way so this past March my son requested a pair of ‘celebratory’ pants to be sewn by his obliging Mother.

Three yards of this,                   3 leaf clover fabric

Produced these,                      St Patricks Day Pants

A big hit with all the St Patty’s Day revellers.

I even got orders for next year!  NOT!

My woodworking skills have been used much less.  Although I did produce my initials in woodworking class and have kept them all these years as a reminder that I can indeed build things,                Modmissy Woodworking

Instead I married a man whose building skills far outweigh mine and we decided early in the relationship that I was a better cook/sewer and he was a better builder.

That’s fine by me.

Cheers!

All images via Modmissy

Not Your Grandmother’s Wallpaper

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On a recent visit to my favourite paint store (everyone should have a ‘favourite’ paint store with knowledgeable staff, great products and lots of inspiration) to have some custom tinted paint for an outdoor project (details to follow) I noticed that there were some new wallpaper sample books.

And I mean new, as in edgy, sexy wallpaper samples.  Definitely not your Grandma’s kind of wallpaper!

I know that fashion is cyclical and although these wallpaper samples may have been similar in some ways to styles of the past, these newest wallpapers are ‘pumped up’ about a 100 notches.

So what was hip and bold for the 1970’s as seen in this wallpaper sample from a client’s home (before renovation),              Wallpaper 1970s

And the norm for the wallpaper of the 1950’s as found in my home under old wallboard,  Wallpaper 1950s

The newest wallpapers are taking walls by storm     Wallpaper striped

No longer being seen in only traditional or classic-style rooms; wallpaper presents a modern visage in a contemporary space.    Wallpaper Chevron

Wallpaper modernAnd it’s about marketing – these contemporary wallpapers are presented in books akin to glossy design magazines with fashion-forward photography.

I suddenly found myself re-thinking my sentiments on wallpaper.  When we moved into our home 15 years ago about 90% of the walls and ceilings were covered in wallpaper.  I couldn’t get rid of the stuff fast enough!

But now…..who knows, maybe a feature wall in striking contemporary wallpaper might just be the detail I’m looking for.

‘Hang’ here for details to follow!

All images via Modmissy

Image 3, 4, 5:  Metropolis by Michalsky Living

Curbside Treasures – A Nod to Earth Day

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Yesterday marked the 44th anniversary of Earth Day celebrated worldwide by over a billion people.

Hopefully this day makes us pause and reflect on our precious planet and in its honour do something thoughtful towards sustaining this orb of ours

Keeping the 3 R’s – reduce, reuse and recycle in mind, my nod to Earth Day (and every day) is to always being on the lookout for curbside treasures.

What say is a curbside treasure?  An item that is no longer useful to one person is walked to the curb and discovered by another person.

This ‘sharing’ of treasures results in keeping unnecessary stuff out of landfill sites.  All good.

These are some of the curbside treasures I have found over the years.

A very recent find is an Eileen Gray side table.  Amazing!               Eileen Gray End Table

The MR Chair by Mies Van Der Rohe.  I had to replace the leather but there it was – curbside                                      MR Chair

I also found a Wassily Chair which will be heading to university with my son next year.  Lucky guy.                                                       Wassily Chair

I have written many posts on my previous curbside treasures.  My purple stool.  A coveted painting.  My antique spool bed.

It always saddens me when I see something like this.  As a rule I never pick up upholstered items but a perfectly good white slipcovered chair (IKEA – Ektorp Armchair) I’m sure could have been given to someone (family/friend/student) before it was ruined curbside and destined for a landfill site.                    IKEA Ektorp Chair

My sister and brother-in-law just built a gorgeous new kitchen and were undecided about the style of new stools for their island.  While walking the dog one evening they found this curved plywood/chrome stool curbside which was a very nice stand-in until they made their final decision.                                                  Curved plywood stool

Another evening walk found this piece of art curbside by a friend of mine.  Turns out (after a long forgotten stint in his garage) the painting is worth $$$.  My friend had it professionally cleaned and re-framed and this curbside treasure now has a new life hanging on his wall.                                          Curbside Art

Have a fabulous Earth Day and please…….recycle responsibly!

All images via Modmissy