Do you know your interior design style? Do you prefer modern, traditional, rustic or spanish inspired home? You can read decorating magazines to find your perfect style or search online for a great inspiration.
If you are still not sure, you can take a quick test on HGTV website to find out. Apparently, our style is Classic Elegance - "traditional but not typical. Classic lines, tailored fabrics, a neutral palette with warm accents".
At this time of year, we should be around 72F (22 Celsius). But not this week. Toronto area is under an extreme heat alert with temperatures around 95F (35C). It's hot, and we love it! We have Florida here at home! The downside is that our garden is getting so dry, we try to water flowers every night. Otherwise, it's difficult to do any gardening, it's just too hot. This weather reminds us of our last trip to Indian Rocks Beach, FL last May. We stayed at a beautiful small resort and rented a beach cottage. It was a perfect beach vacation. We miss the place and the wonderful breeze.
We have been thinking about setting up a mudroom for some time now. We have an empty space downstairs just as you enter the house through the garage. It’s a small space between a hallway and laundry room, so it would be perfect for a mudroom. The tile floor has been installed, so now we need to paint the walls and start thinking about designing the mudroom. This empty space got cluttered over time, mostly with tools we use for home renovations, so it’s time to get it back!
Our mudroom wish list includes:
- Entryway bench
- Entryway shelf
- Baskets/boxes for storage
- Clock
- Barn stars
- Umbrella stand
Here is what we came up with using technology. The price list was a little shock, but we will try to find similar pieces for much less.
We are very busy with the garden in the summer, so this is our project for this fall. Right now, we are in the middle of the design process, and need some feedback. Let us know how you feel about mudrooms. Do you have one and do you use it? Are they really needed in the house?
Have you seen latest post from our trip to London UK.? We really enjoyed it. We were also thrilled to find out that the Windsor Castle was only 30 min. drive from where our family lived, so we had to check it out.
The castle is amazing! If you are ever in London, you can take a day trip to a very romantic town of Windsor, see the castle and spend the day walking around the town. We were there during Easter when the Queen was in residence. Windsor Castle is considered to be one of the most romantic castles in the world and also one of the few still used by royal family. We had a chance to see the gardens, state apartments and walk around the castle.
Ever since we bought our house, we have been painting and painting…walls, doors, door frames, moldings, etc. One thing we have learned is that it’s worth investing in good quality tools. Of course you can buy a paint brush for a $1 these days, but chances are it will not last and the quality of your paint job will not be the same. We read a lot about painting and experts agree that you should buy the best brushes you can afford. We went with Performance Select paint brushes and we love them. We use latex paints, so the brushed can be cleaned and reused many times. Our brushes have solid wood handle and natural bristles.
Two little tools we absolutely love are the paint can opener for $.43 and the Paint Pal - Paint Can Pour Spout for $1.58.
Paint Pal Paint Can Spout eliminates dripping along the side of the paint can. It’s very easy to install along the inner edges of the paint can and will fit all pint, quart and gallon size cans.
For painting walls with the rollers, you will need the metal or plastic paint tray. It's good to have a small and big one.
Our tray is 5 years old and still going strong.
We keep all paint tools in one box so if another paint job comes along; we know exactly where all the tools are.
We are addicted to gardening. During the summer months we practically live in our backyard/garden. We have been very busy this spring, working hard in the house and getting our backyard ready for the summer. Remember our pond?
After winter months, it doesn't look as good. We need to pump the dirty water out and put fresh water, get some floating plants and install the pump for the waterfall and the fountain. Hopefully it will be done this weekend if the weather permits.
All the perennials and shrubs are growing nicely.
We added fresh topsoil to all flower beds. Mulch works great to reduce the weeds.
We got some hanging baskets for the backyard and front door area.
Other baskets sit in planters by the front door. It's the easiest way to create a decorative planter. Buy good quality planters and colorful hanging baskets. We have been using the same pots for the last 5 years and they still look new.
There so much more to do, set up the gazebo, finish garden path with stepping stones...it will keep us busy this summer.
If you enjoy gardening and would like to share your tips with us, we would love to hear from you.
Many of us recycle paper, glass and metal. In our neighborhood, we also recycle kitchen waste which is collected every week. We use special 100 % compostable liner bags made from corn and green bins to keep the kitchen waste in. Biodegradable bags break down and become part of the compost. Yard waste is recycled using paper bags.
Recycling works great when it comes to home décor as well. We love glass jars and containers which can be reused for something else around the house. This used to be a candle in our living room. We cleaned the glass to remove any leftover wax and it works great to store Q-tips in our bathroom.
A cookie jar works great to store our soaps.
We also like to keep dish soap in the hands-free soap dispenser instead of the original plastic packaging.
What did you recycle in your home or garden? We would love to hear from you.
We would like to say Thanks to everyone who participated in our first giveaway. We appreciate all your spring cleaning tips! Many of you suggested to open windows to make the house smell great. We totally agree. Our favorite season is right now, no AC required, so that the windows can stay open.
We used random.org to select the lucky winner of the cleaning products.
The winner of our first giveaway is Emily at #9. Congrats!
Emily, please get in touch with us by simply replying to our email we sent to you, so that we can arrange the shipping of your prize.
Thanks everyone for participating and good luck in our next giveaway. Keep checking our blog to find out more.
Happy Spring everyone!
It's been a while since our last Travel post, so we are happy to share our latest trip with you. We just came back from UK. We took tons of pictures and will be sharing them in individual posts. Here are some pics of London, UK.
We are back from London, UK. It was nice to visit Europe again. Hope to post pics from our trip this week.
Don't forget that our giveaway closes on Apr 17. See our post from Mar 31 and sign up to win great spring cleaning products.
Thanks for your spring cleaning tips and good luck!
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