BEFORE & AFTER: LANDING & STAIRS

In my house I have a large landing between the second and third floors. I, of course, painted everything white. It's not how it looked before! Here it is in its original state with wallpaper and brown floors. The old plaster walls and ceilings were all in very rough shape (not to mention the layers of wallpaper in some areas), so new drywall throughout was in order. Also since all new electrical was being done in the house they had to put a lot of holes in the walls for wires and cables. These before shots are of the landing and looking into the bedroom.

Now here it is once we had new drywall painted and a coat of white paint on the floors.

And finally...with furniture, rugs and art on the walls!

DESIGN INSPIRATION: COMFY SLIPCOVERED CHAIRS

I've always been a fan of white slipcovered chairs. I find the white cover is easier to keep clean than other colours because you can always add a touch of bleach when washing, if you need to. I have several white slipcovered chairs around, and recently I've seen a few that are slipcovered and have a swivel feature. I have two chairs in a sitting area off my kitchen, there's an amazing ocean view out the window here. The picture above is a close up of the chairs and here is the shot of me sitting in one.

These chairs above are from Ikea and I had the seat cushions filled with down instead of the foam that came with them. This improvement really changed the chairs and made them a lot more comfortable.

Here are a couple of other chairs that I like – with slip covers and they swivel. For this area I have my eye on chairs that swivel since then you can easily face the view out the window or spin around and chat with people in the kitchen. These are a couple I'm looking at.

This is from the Pottery Barn but it's too big for my space.

And these are both options that swivel, from Crate & Barrel.

ANTIQUE ACCESSORIES

In my own home, I like to use a lot of unique antique accessories to add character to rooms. I love going to antique shops and hunting around for small things that catch my eye. The old NS sign above was one of my favourite finds. It's an old sign that was used to indicate picnic table locations. I have quite a few favourites, but these are a few others!

Some kitchen items.

A wooden trug and old croquet set.

A giant old shell and basket.

My fave whale bone and antique Quebec farmhouse painting.

INSPIRATION: UNIQUE FIREPLACE MANETELS

It must be the time of year – some of these chilly grey November days make me feel like drinking hot chocolate in front of the fire. I've often worked in homes with traditional, classic white fireplace mantels. In some other homes, a more unique fireplace looks better with the architecture of the house. So the image above is one that shows how a simple fireplace can work in a more modern looking, open space. Here are a few other unique looking mantels that make me want to curl up in front of the fire!

DIY: UPDATE A COFFEE TABLE

This little DIY was something I thought would be an easy change. I had this old coffee table and the brushed silver legs were feeling dated and tired. To give the coffee table a new look, I've painted the legs with a metallic paint with a bronze iridescent finish. Here is the BEFORE:

And here is the AFTER. The process of painting the legs might have taken 10 minutes and was very easy to apply. I'm on an antique bronze/brass kick, so I've been painting a few different objects which I will continue to share. I love the results!