Dreaming of Christmas

Source: here

December has always had that magical touch in my heart. Aside from having my birthday at the beginning of the month, December has always been filled with magical lights and special family reunions. From as long as I can remember, we used to get dressed up real nice, get our hair and makeup done and drive up to go visit some family members. On each side of my family, I had aunts that have always went out of their ways to decorated Christmas as if we were truly at the North Pole. As a little kid, it really felt magical.

Even now as an adult, Christmas still holds a special place in my heart. 

Unfortunately, we don't have much space in the apartment to put up a Christmas tree this year. (Imagine as mall space filled with boxes on top of boxes and a few other random things here and there - and there you have an idea of our apartment situation). I've been joking around saying I only have space to put up a car scent in the form of a tree. But hey - at least the apartment would smell extra good and it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to store afterwards. Haha! 

All jokes aside, this doesn't stop me from dreaming about decorating our house with Christmas decorations next year. So, I thought I would share some inspiration with you.

Source: here

LIVING ROOM

By now, you've probably noticed that I love a house with a rustic feel. The country girl in me can't help it. Therefore, I would simply keep the Christmas decorations in the living room as simple as possible. By that, I mean keep the overall look filled with greens (Christmas tree) and perhaps add a few green garlands on top of the fireplace, maybe a bit of burlap.

Source: here

XMAS TREE

I love how full this xmas tree looks but still not overwhelmed with colors. I'm not usually known as being ''matchy-matchy'' but I do like to see well coordinated colors. In this case, the burlap and the green works magic together. 

Source: here

WRAPPING

This is where I usually have the most fun but not much talent. Growing up, whenever I would wrap someone's gift - it would end up looking h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. To the point where you couldn't even guess the shape of the gift because it was all over the place. And no, it wasn't on purpose. But, over the years, I have become more and more patient when it comes to wrapping and have appreciated taking the time to do a great job. In the image above, I love how they all look original yet simple.

Thanks for letting me share my xmas inspiration. Hopefully, next year, you will get to see the real deal and not just pictures I found on the net. :-)

Happy Monday!

- Jessica

Progress on the House

This morning, I had the opportunity to go visit the site of our future house. I met with a construction site supervisor who then showed me around the house as we talked about the progress. 

It was the first time I saw the brick on the house. I personally REALLY like the look of bricks. The supervisor told me the siding will be white and beige. I'm not a big fan of beige but I have faith in them that they have thought about the aesthetics of the house prior to making that decision. Fingers crossed that it will look good. 

Side note, the ground in front of the house was quite uneven while walking around. It will all be evened out prior to moving in. But it did remind me of a bumpy downhill skiing trail. Do I have winter on my mind much?

Standing in the Master Bedroom. Left of the picture will be our walk-in closet. On the right will be our washroom. 

Standing in the third bedroom looking into Junior's bedroom.

Standing in Junior's bedroom looking into our bedroom. Top right is the third bedroom.

We started the tour by walking around upstairs. It felt a little surreal being able to see through the walls. For some reason, it made the rooms appear smaller than the ones in the model home. But, the supervisor assured me that it's a common comment among people and that it will all appear a little bigger once the rooms are finished. 

Standing in the dinning area.

Standing in the kitchen area.

Standing in the living room looking into the kitchen area.

Next up - the main floor. Since the main floor has more of an open concept, it made it easier for me to visualize the settings. One thing I fell in love with in the model home was the staircase. There is something about the staircase that can add so much personality to a home. I once lived in a house that had a spiral staircase and I loved how it gave an open concept. This reminded me of that spiral staircase and I love how open it looks. Having a split staircase also allows for the home owner to save space as it's typically one on top of the other. 

When we purchased the house, we were told that a fireplace was included in our home. I LOVE fireplaces. I love how it can center a room as well as adding that perfect touch of drama. I can easily picture a Christmas garland hanging up top the fireplace next year. Ahhhh, the dream!

Our kitchen was the hardest to visualize since it's still no where near complete. Don't get me wrong, I know nothing is currently completed in the house but there will be so many various things added that even the outlook of it ad the moment will look completely different. The site supervisor advised me that the kitchen will be completed the first week of January. He mentioned that if we were interested in seeing it prior to our move in date, we could give him a call for a visit. I think this may just happen :-)

Tah-dah! This is a little preview of what our house will look like in less than 3 months. I haven't shared any pictures of the basement on purpose. Quite frankly, it's just boring. Our basement will be unfinished and we're planning on simply letting it be for at least a few years.

We're pretty excited about the progress. It's amazing how everything goes by fairly fast once it gets going. Every week, something new is added to the house. Exciting!!!

Thanks for letting me share such a cool and exciting moment in our lives :-)

- Jessica 

Junior's Bedroom - Inspiration (and before pictures)

LEGO THEME

This little boy LOVES Legos. When Steph was younger, he used to have TONS of Legos and would play around with them even when he was a teenager. Junior definitely inherited the Lego gene. Therefore, we've decided to make his room a Lego themed bedroom.

LEGO ACCESSORIES
While I don't plan to go overboard with the theme, my goal is to have various Lego theme accessories throughout the room. For instance, he will be getting a (really nice!) Lego themed bedspread. I've also found these really cool Lego vinyl stickers as pictured above on Etsy (link here).

BEFORE PICTURES (from the model home)
Still not quite sure what to do with these closet doors. They aren't horrible but, for some reason, it reminds me of 1970's houses. Not my style. A project I will tackle down the line. Not a priority.

HIDING SPOT/ READING NOOK
I love that he will have a little reading nook (aka bay window). I've always wanted one as a child. I'm thinking of putting a whole bunch of pillows on the floor and put a row of curtains to divide it from the rest of the bedroom. Therefore, he could have his little hideaway spot in his own bedroom. Oh the days when I used to squeeze into my tiny closet to have my own little hiding spot. Memories! I'm also thinking about painting one of the walls with chalk paint so he could let his creativity fly whenever he wants.

LITTLE DETAILS

To balance the Lego theme, I also plan on adding various little details to the room like adding dinosaurs handles to a dresser. I'm also considering changing the ceiling lamp in his bedroom into something more fun. Any suggestions?

I think out of all of the rooms in the house, this might just be the one I'm MOST excited to decorate. Perhaps its because I feel like when it comes to kid's bedrooms, you can really let your creativity run loose. Can't wait! This will probably be one of the rooms I will start decorating first. 

- Jessica

Happy Birthday!!!!

Spring 2015

Dear Ste,

You're the only man I know who wakes up in the morning by singing ''That Don't Impress Me Much'' by Shania Twain. Yes, that's you. You always find a way to make me laugh from very early in the morning until you kiss me good night. 

You're the only man I know who plays with my hair to help me fall asleep even if your hand starts hurting. Yes that's you. You're always finding ways to do the ''little things'' just to make me feel extra special. 

You're the only man I know who is so good with numbers, that your mind is constantly running from left to right. Yes, that's you. You're always keeping us in line and focused on our family goals. 

You're the only man I know who plays Superman while sleepwalking. Yes, that's you. You're saving me even while you're sleeping. Ps: Always great stories to tell over dinner with family and friends hehe.

Thank you for being you, for always giving your everything to people you care about and for putting everybody's needs before your own.

2015 has been a great year. Can't wait to see what the future holds <3. Wouldn't want to do life with anyone else but you. Boyeeeee (inside joke).

Happy 30th birthday!!

You da best,

- Jessica

House Progress

One word: progress.

Another word: patience.

Its starting to look more and more like a house. Our house. (It still feels surreal saying that).  

By this point, we're usually able to go check out the progress on our house about once every two weeks. Every time we go, it seems like its progressing relatively quickly. Given my lack of knowledge on construction, I'm always thinking Oh Great! It's Almost Done, Right!? Nope... still 3 months to go. Patience is not my strongest quality. -_-

By this point, here are the things we are MOST looking forward to:

- An actual bedroom. 

Never knew I would miss having a door to my own bedroom so much. We are currently living in our living room/ dinning room.

- Having our own washing and drying machine. 

The thought of not having to leave our house just to do our laundry seems incredible at this point. 

- Having space to walk around in our own place. 

When Stephane and I moved into our apartment, our plan was to save money on storage so we basically made huge piles of our stuff in various areas of our apartment. Thankfully, some family members have let us store some of our belongings in their basements but OH MY - you never realize how much stuff you've accumulated over the years before moving into a much MUCH smaller space.

- A working kitchen.

The kitchen in our apartment looks like it hasn't been renovated since 1928. Okay, perhaps slightly exaggerated but - you see what I mean here. It's old and everything looks like it's falling apart. The first time I tried cooking something on the stove, I almost lit the kitchen on fire since smoke was coming out of everywhere. It was also the last time I tried cooking something on that stove. No thanks!

I hope this doesn't sound like complaining because, even if we aren't currently living in an ideal living situation at the moment, we are feeling VERY grateful to be able to look forward to living in our own house within a few months. We just know we will appreciate it even more. 

Now that Christmas is coming up (did I just say Christmas? Already?), it makes me even more excited to be able to decorate our house next year. 

- Jessica 

Inspire Me

Source: here

Wow. Just one look at this work of art and BAM! - Inspiration! I've always loved double exposure images but, this artist has this down to perfection. Hoping to get some similar artwork displayed somewhere in the new house. Perhaps my office?

Source: here

I often feel the need to inspire people. Why? Because I believe inspiration is best when shared with others. If somebody inspires me, I try to let that person know. When somebody tells me I've inspired them to do something good, it makes me feel like I've been transparent enough to let other people be able to see certain parts of me that inspired them. Does that make any sense? Many people inspire me. I only hope to inspire others just as well.

Source: here

Earlier this fall, I started wearing darker lipstick and got quite addicted to it. I only wear makeup whenever I got somewhere special. But I love how powerful a dark color can be whether it's makeup or clothing. And, that purple? Hello... YES!

I hope that by sharing what inspires me, it also inspires you somehow. 

Have a great weekend! 

- Jessica

Master bedroom - Inspiration (And Before Pictures)

To give you a sense of my style and inspiration for each room, I thought I would share some pictures that hopefully gives you an idea of where I'm heading in terms of style and decoration. 

MASTER BEDROOM

I've had lots of fun coming up with ideas for the master bedroom given that even if it's not the main focus of the house, it's definitely an area of the house where we are going to spend almost half of our time. My first ideas were ALL white with various shades of blue (i.e. bedspread, etc.). I even thought about a nice bedspread with flowers but - that idea was quickly turned down when I shared it with Stephane.

BEFORE

(Pictures of our 'model home').

GREY

Therefore, I switched my focus to various shades of greys. Greys are not gender specific yet they bring a sense of calm and relaxation. Also, greys being neutral, they provide plenty of opportunity for different pops of colors. I knew I wanted to have the ability to change a few colors in the bedroom depending on the season therefore - grey it is.

RUSTIC

I also loved the idea of waking up in the morning feeling like I've spent the night at a cottage. The wood wall really makes the difference in helping the room feel very rustic. I'm not quite sure how I will make it happen yet but I've already found plenty of cheap DIY options on Pinterest. Can't wait to see the outcome!

Wooden furniture? Love it! Why not re-purpose a wooden ladder into a mini book display. Although, I would probably use it to display some pictures frames and perhaps lay a few wooden sticks just for decoration purposes. 

Given that our house will not actually be a cottage, I also don't want to over do it in terms of adding wood to every single piece of decoration. Therefore, I'm also thinking about mixing the wooden objects with metal objects. In the picture above, they used dark metal for their ceiling lamp, their bedside lamps as well as the curtain rod. I love how it adds balance to the overall texture of the room.

ACCESSORIES

I'm also thinking about mix-matching various styles by adding various patterns such as polka-dots and/or tribal patterns. Adding lighter pillows to an otherwise darker bedroom would help counter-balance the overall feel to the bedroom.

I hope this helps you get a sense of the direction I'm going to take in terms of decoration each room of the house. It definitely helps me figuring it all out went it comes to writing down my thoughts and ideas on this blog.

- Jessica 

Dinning Room Area - Inspiration (And Before Pictures)

FRENCH-RUSTIC DECOR

When you walk into the house, the first room you see is the dinning area. Given that it will be the main focus of the first floor, I've spent A LOT OF TIME thinking about the space. 

BEFORE

(Picture of our ''model home'').

DINNING AREA

Originally, I had intended to sell our dinning room table and simply buy a new one. You can see it here. But, after feeling so inspired by various wooden dinning room tables, I've decided to keep our current table in order to add to the overall rustic style of the house. I may paint it a different colors (maybe white or light blue) but I've decided to wait until we move into the house before making that decision.

DINNING CHAIRS

One thing I'm almost 100% sure (okay, maybe more like 99.9%), is that I want to paint my dinning chairs. Over the years, we've accumulated a total of 6 various wooden chairs that are just begging to be painted. Perhaps I should paint them all a different colors? I'm currently leaning towards painting half of them off-white, the other half baby-pink-beige. I may also change my mind completely... no surprises there.

DISPLAY

While I'm a big fan of variety, there is something I find quite appealing in the way these pictures are displayed. The simplicity of these picture frames is quite timeless yet very romantic. I'm thinking of displaying similar pictures frames on the wall just behind the dinning table.

Overall, my plan for this room is for the decorations to be simple, rustic and unique to make it welcoming for guests to feel comfortable as soon as they walk in the house. An overall french-rustic atmosphere.

- Jessica

New House - First Steps

When we purchased our house, we were informed that in a few weeks, we were going to be able to decide on our ''upgrades'' for the house. In other words, we had to choose our counter tops, doors, floors, etc. Problem was, it turned out we only had about 2 weeks to decide since we were ''late'' on closing our house given that a few people had ''purchased' it before us but we still had to respect the contractor's deadline.

MAMA - HELP

My mother first came with me to the design center to help me pick the colors but, we only had about 30 minutes to have a look at everything before the store closed. *Side note, one of the downside of living in a big city is having to go through traffic and visit stores especially when they're only open during the week. Anyway - back to the 'visiting the store in 30 minutes or less story. So, picture two women running around looking at all the samples trying their best not to break anything. I'm sure it was quite funny to see. My heart sure was beating fast. Good thing between my mother's good taste and my quick decision making power, we walked out of there having chosen most of the samples. 

OUR OFFICIAL MEETING

By the time Stephane and I walked into our official meeting where we had to pick our samples a few days later, I had a great idea of what I wanted. Here's a list of the samples we chose: (it's hard to see the exact colors since the lighting in the store wasn't the greatest and the camera on my phone distorted most of the colors.)

Left: tiles for the kitchen area. Right: counter top (white with silver sparkles).

Above: kitchen cabinets (it's a medium/ light grey). Middle: kitchen tiles. Bottom: kitchen counter top.

Left: hardwood floor (main floor). Right: kitchen cabinets (this picture shows the colors really well).

Above: counter top (second floor washrooms). Middle: cabinets (second floor washrooms). Bottom: tiles (second floor washrooms).

I've never realized how hard it is to make decisions ahead of time when you only have a tiny idea of what the room will look like (I'm a very visual person). I'm pretty confident that the result will look great - but I can't wait to see it all come together.

- Jessica

Welcome!

This is a very exciting time in our family's life as we're about to move into our very first house together. We've lived in various other places before but this is - ours -.

HOUSE STORY
In the spring of 2015, we decided that we would start looking for a house not knowing exactly what we were looking for. We had a general idea of our budget and the area where we wanted to live in but other than that, we had intended to take our time looking around (but not too long). We looked at a few houses in the area but they were all too expensive, too old, needed too many repairs, too far or too small. I never realized how frustrating and exhausting house shopping could be until then.

I decided to look into new models because I felt frustrated with all the houses we had looked at up to this point but never in a million years thought that we could afford a brand new house. I emailed one of the representative of the company for new built houses and, out of the blue, a miracle happened (or so it felt like). She said that there was a special on the particular model we were looking at. A few other couples had previously ''purchased'' the house but, since all their financing kept falling through, the company needed to close the deal ASAP. Therefore, they were willing to offer the house at a MUCH lower price. We spoke about it for a day or two but we knew we had to close the deal as soon as possible. Within a few days, we had signed the papers, and just like that - we were house owners!!

Problem was, we still had to wait about 10 months to get the house since it wasn't built yet. Eeeeek! It will go by fast, right? Pfff, it's only 10 months. No big deal. Well, it turns out, when you're REALLY REALLY waiting for something, 10 months seemed like a lifetime.

Turns out, waiting a couple of months before moving into your house offers a lot of advantages such as brainstorming, dreaming and, well, going nuts on Pinterest.

A BLOG WAS BORN
Interior design has always been part of my interest one way or another. In fact, over the past 6 years, I've taken many online classes on interior design during my free time. Problem was, I never had a space to experience with other than my bedroom.

I can't even begin to describe how excited I am about creating a space where I feel inspired, comfortable and where people I care about get to feel right at home.

I created this blog to share my process as a first time house owner and my creative process to make it a home. But, I will also share blitz and pieces of my life along the way as well.

We're really excited for this new adventure in our lives.

Thanks for sharing those experiences with us.


- Jessica