More dark inspiration

I REALLY want a deep olivey-brown colour somewhere. This colour rocks. It's "Burl" by Martha Stewart. Maybe for my dining room? Via Design*Sponge 

Two houses ago I painted my bedroom chocolate brown (seen here - it wasn't dark enough). I LOVED it. It was such a soothing colour. I want a shade of chocolate like above in my bedroom again. Via The Design Files.

I was thinking a really dark teal would be cool in the kitchen. Otherwise maybe a deep navy. Not sure if it's matt black or navy in the above photo but lets pretend it's navy. I also have black countertops and white cabinets so this is a good representation of how it would look in my space. Lovely! Via Sköna hem.

My husband flipped out when I mentioned I would love to paint the walls and the ceilings whatever room colours I choose. This is to show him that maybe white is ok. (Except in our case it would be white ceiling, grey walls, mahogany baseboards and yellow stained floors. Bleh. Via Fantastic Frank.

As much as I don't really know what to do with green walls, I am a fan of this shade of green. Looks great with that pale pink. Via Dos Family.

Inspiration for my new house

Boy do I have decorating on the brain these days! Now that we are settled in our new house (in case you missed my posts here and here earlier this week) all I can think about is what in the hell I am going to do with this blank canvas. For the past few years I have been really excited about Scandi/industrial/modern spaces in white/grey/black and lots of wood. The more time I spend in my new house, the more I realize that I have to completely re-think how I am going to decorate. This has thrown me for a loop and while it freaked me out a bit in the beginning, is starting to become more exciting and less of a daunting task. One thing I cannot get out of my head is how beautiful dark and dramatic colours would look in this house. With lots of windows and very good light coming through, I think I could totally get away with it. And with this in mind, I immediately thought of Abigail Ahern, the queen of darkness. I love how she paints out floors, ceilings, woodwork...everything! I won't be painting my floors (unfortunately) or the wood work anytime soon I am totally up for going to town on all the walls and ceilings. And Downpipe by Farrow & Ball seems to be the most perfect, dreamy colour. 

If anyone has any suggestions of what I should do or ideas for paint colours let me know!

Photos above: Abigail Ahern

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All moved in - part 2

I thought you might like a peek into the rest of my house. This post will include the second and third floors and the backyard. The basement is a disaster so you will see that eventually. 

This window is so pretty at the stairs landing going up to the second floor. I like to think that is the family crest of the folks who initially owned this place in the 40's. 

All of the doors on the second level are white with the red/mahogany stain in the centre panel, and original door hardware with crystal knobs. The doors are growing on me. The first door is the guest bedroom and the second door is the linen closet.

We have no furniture for the guest bedroom so it is currently the stash for art and other miscellaneous items.  

The master bedroom. Boring. I need to hang my Moroccan wedding blanket from Jo for starters. I would LOVE to finally get some bedding that is not from Ikea. That can wait until we can buy a king size bed and then this one will go in the guest room. I want really dark walls in here.

My bathroom, again, located next to the master bedroom. I cannot wait to get rid of that lilac colour. I want charcoal or black. 

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All moved in

I heard some rumblings on Instagram that people were waiting for me to take some photos of the new house so I have obliged. I must warn you, besides basic unpacking I only had Friday to do any sort of decorating and I have not bought anything for the new house aside from a new washing machine (the one that came with the house was old, tiny and filthy). This is how things are looking these days...

The front yard is a mess. Those 2 evergreens taking over the cheap concrete path have to go ASAP and everything else just looks terrible. We also need to make a parking pad because we have a single lane driveway, and live on a busy street right across from a hospital so there is rarely any parking anywhere. And the red/brown paint is gross. 

We have a vestibule. :-) It is pretty tiny but a godsend - now when the pizza guy shows up we do not have to worry about cats sneaking out. We will put some hooks along the walls in here because we need the extra hanging space - the coat closet is TINY. 

And we have an ENTRYWAY! No more walking into the house directly into the living room! We need a new light fixture - I am dreaming about this one. And you can see in this photo how the floor in the entrance has been sanded but then not stained like the rest of the floor. ???

Our grand entrance. This makes me smile every time I walk through the door. The mirrored door at the end is the minuscule coat closet. The dining room is to the left with the kitchen behind it, and the living room is to the right.

The living room is pretty big - about 11' wide and spans the length of the house (23'). The section at the front of the house is my desk area and the other corner will be for cat paraphernalia. My desk looks doll-sized in this house. I think I need an upgrade. 

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Getting unpacked

Yesterday was a big day - the official closing of the sale of our itty bitty house in Ottawa's Little Italy that I bought back in December 2007. I had alot of fun working on that house over the years but super excited to have a house that has SPACE and is more than 12' wide. Despite my former house only being about 800 sq ft, it took us 6 full days to move all our crap out, and yesterday after cleaning the old house and locking it up for the last time, I was finally able to start unpacking at our new house. I cannot wait to start thinking about how I am going to decorate - paint colours, new furniture, new lighting...FUN!!! I do not have much to show you at this point but I figured if I started snapping some pics it would keep me motivated (I am so freaking exhausted and sore). The only room that is totally unpacked is my dressing room. Because this house has ample bedrooms hubby and I each have our own dressing room. OH YEAH. Mine is at the back of the house facing west. I might put down a rug at some point and I need curtains ASAP, a bit of artwork and my pegboard/jewelry holder frame hung on the walls.... 

I have lugged around this plexi shelving unit to numerous places I have lived (it was used in a Club Monaco store I worked at during college) and it is now displaying some my favourite footwear (Rick Owens, Silent Damir Doma, Guidi and Maison Martin Margiela).

This rack holds all of my favourite clothing (lots of Rick Owens, Ovate, Complex Geometries, Elena Dawson and Ann Demeulemeester).

I adore my bathroom - the tiles and stained glass window excite me to no end. I need to replace the pedestal sink so I can have some sort of counter space/storage and find a way to get electricity in there (WTF?!) but I am just so stoked to finally be able to use my Urban Outfitters ruffled shower curtain that I bought a few years ago and have not been able to use. I think it is perfect in my new bathroom. I mean, polka dot ruffles AND marble hex tiles?! *SWOON*