Coffee table conundrum - SOLVED!

Exciting news, my friends. I FOUND a coffee table this weekend. One that will work and replace our old rickety one!

The funniest part of it is that I litterally found it...in my basement...

I've had it for the last couple of years (at least...) and when we originally got it I had planned to turn it into a bench for our guest room like the one I made for our master)...but then we redid our bathroom and stole 20" from the guest room...which wouldn't leave enough room for a bench. At the time I didn't think the table would work as a coffee table because it didn't have storage / a shelf. However...since Owen has started motoring around, pawing at everything, and deciding his favourite toy is anything that is NOT a toy, I've realized (and thanks to your comments on this post) that I won't be able to store things out in the open much longer anyways.

So, the plan is to get some foam, some batting, and some fabric and upholster it ASAP. A few comments said not to have an upholstered coffee table if we like putting our feet up on it...we do, but I'm not too worried about the fabric - if it gets grimy (which I'm sure it will with Owen pawing it every day), we can just recover it in a year.

I went to Tonic Living today and picked out some fabric samples - here are some contenders:

 

Secret Gate - Pewter from Tonic Living

A New Twist - Caviar from Tonic Living

Centro - Mist from Tonic Living

Leda Peony - Midnight from Tonic Living

Any favourites? I know which one is leading the way for me...

What's the most elusive item for your decor? Find out mine...

In my recent post I said we were looking for a coffee table and a rug. You wouldn't think this would be that hard - after all, I live in Toronto where home decor shops are abundant.

Well.

I have brought home 5 rugs, and have returned 5 rugs. They have come from Homesense, Ikea, a rug store, and Home Depot. With NO LUCK.

I've tried pattern, colour, neutral. And nada. We have a brown leather couch and mid-dark hardwood flooring and I'm having a hard time finding something that fits our room. I think a flat woven rug would be the right weight but I want it to be soft to the touch (for Owen's soft little knees!) and that is proving hard to find.

I would love to have a rug like this in my house:

via Erika Brechtel

But I can't find one. Believe me, I stalk ecarpetGallery like it's my job to see when they will get brighter rugs in the size I need (at least 6x9). Ideally I would love one with no red and more blues, teals, corals. Think I can find one? Nope....

The other option I like is the morrocan rug that is popping up everywhere...

This one is a deal and a half at costco.ca of all places

While I love the look of a Beni style rug, I think it's just too heavy for the furniture we have in the room.

I think what we need is a gray and cream rug in a flat weave that's soft. Budget friendly and Kid friendly, please. Is that too much to ask?? Where is your go-to for rugs? (I'm stalking Homesense as much as possible too)...

HI and...Where do you put your STUFF?!?!

Taking a quick break from the arrival of summer and the cutest guy on earth (who, PS is 8 MONTHS OLD NOW!!) to get back to my roots and post about decor..a dilemma really.

The Living Room has been on my to-do list for a loonnggg time (i.e. this post from a year and a half ago...woops). There were a lot of little bits completed here and there (gallery wall, map artwork, media stand, chair)…but the coffee table and an area rug are still the bane of my existence. The Mr. has given me a deadline of the end of my mat leave to GET.IT.DONE.

Maybe if I keep hemming and hawing I can extend my leave?!?! Kidding. 

Sort of.

First things first…the coffee table.

This is what we are living with…it came from my old apartment, to an apartment we shared, to our house. It’s beyond time to get rid of it. It’s IKEA and it’s been with us for over 7 years - definitely reaching the end of its lifespan. 

 (this is a photo before the floors were done...but sadly aside from the addition of curtains, a few playmats and a LOT of toys, the room hasn't changed)

The coffee table shelf doesn’t realllyyy stay up all the time (and it’s terrifying when it slams down)…with Owen pawing everything it’s really not safe to keep it, and it’s not right for the space. BUT it provides storage (obviously we have stuff all over the top of it too in real life).

I get that we probably won’t want open storage in a month or so when Owen is really on the move. We also need something that is friendly to his adventurous self, probably something round or an upholstered table so he doesn’t bonk his head a million times on sharp corners.

via Alanna Cavanagh (via Globe and Mail)

via Real Simple

But here's the question: If you don’t have storage in your coffee table where do you put your STUFF?? 

Where do you put mail? Bills? Things that need your attention but you’re too lazy to get to it right now? Paper and pens for writing out to do lists or sketching basement reno’s?

Where do you put all the STUFF??

6 month thoughts {they grow up so fast}

Owen turned 6 months on Sunday.

SIX MONTHS. 

That’s half a year, people.  Half a year is a LONG time. It’s amazing how quickly this past half a year flew by. 

“The days are long but the years are short”. I want time to slow down. I want to be able to soak in all of these moments with Owen – firsts only happen once and I don’t want to miss a thing. 

These past six months have been a combination of joy, a huge amount of love, tears, laughs, hard work, and a sense of accomplishment, pride and love I never knew existed. I think most of the time I have been trying to figure out our little bean, just in time for him to change and move on to a new phase. I need to stop trying to figure everything out, wishing away the current phase, and just be in the moment.

Owen is so much fun – it’s amazing to see him learn – he’s into looking at his hands and you can see the wheels turning in his little head that HE controls THESE things. So cool. And then he invariably grabs something with the utmost precision (usually my hair) and rams it in his mouth. Success. :)

He has changed so much in the past six months, but still looks like the little guy we brought home that sunny day in September. His hair is lighter (and longer, we’ve had to give him 4 trims already!), he’s bigger, and he has a whole array of expressions, sounds and movements. I love seeing his smiley personality shine through. 

I can’t wait to see all the new changes the next six months bring, and at the same time I want to pause everything to really soak it in.

The ugly (do-it-or-else) reno

We had a case of the uglies here last week.

Well really it's a problem that's been going on for a little while but we finally decided to do something about it. Our drain in the cold storage had backed up before - we called the city, got it plunged (thanks, property taxes at work!) and it was good for a couple of years. Until this year...this year it happened 3 times in about 2 months, and a city worker who was plunging it on episode 2 said - You should really get some quotes to get this fixed.

Ok, Ok. So we did just that. Last week we had Toronto Drain & Plumbing here digging up holes, working through that crazy snow storm we had, and fixing our drain.

It started as just a back flow valve installation, and then expanded to replacing a portion of our pipe due to tree roots (we have a silver maple out front...which while beautiful is notorious for root issues), and replacing the waterline from the main line. It was one of those things where we figured, while they were here and everything was dug up we might as well get it all out of the way.

I really wish I was spending that money on a rug, coffee table and other goodies for my living room. Or on fun clothes for Owen (that he grows out of in 2 weeks), or anything else really. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. At least we won't have to clean up sewer back ups (thanks Mr.) for a while!

 

This is a DEEP hole. They were not kidding around, this is NOT a DIYable project :)

  

On to prettier things... 

*I get no kick back (unfortunately) for naming the company that did the work, but this is work that you tend to only do once, and if they did a good job, why wouldn't I recommend them? We were happy with their work and they worked hard to get it all done in a reasonable time frame.

Spring, where art thou?

I want Spring. Today, is not spring-y. Blustery is how I would describe today. Snowy. Windy. Cold.

It's MARCH. Yesterday and Monday were glorious days with highs not only on the plus side of the thermometer, but up to 9 yesterday. 9!!! I was way too warm in my winter coat while out for a walk. Owen and I soaked it all in yesterday because we knew today would be gross. What a tease.

Here are some images that are making me happy and willing (in my mind at least) winter to go away. Join me, will you?

Flower market in Paris (Our trip, 2011)

 Cherry blossoms in High Park (2012)

Loving how the LCBO suggest displaying tulips! (Spring 2014 issue of Food & Drink)