The Healing Garden and a Confession

A wonderful place exists in Toronto. I'd never heard of this place until last week. It's a supportive place for women, with mental and emotional illness'. 

The George Herman House encourages a self-directed and independent lifestyle using a Holistic approach to health: mind, body, spirit. The House, while funded by Ministry of Health, it relies on donations. 

The GHH was looking for help turning their back yard in to a Healing Garden. Upon learning of this a group of bloggers in the GTA have rallied and before you know it they had IKEA Canada on board as a sponsor! 


So why am I blogging about this? I'm helping with the garden...for a selfish reason: because I was diagnosed a little over 2 years ago with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD). My options where to take medication and get in line to see a Psychiatrist or go to Guelph where they have a program specializing in PTSD. I chose to stay at home...after trying (unsuccessfully) to run away. I'm still working on getting better...it's easiest when I'm working because I love what I do. Creativity heals. The crisis, for me is over for now, but I'm just now learning that I have only made it through the depression. As I continue healing I'd like to know I'm helping others and the healing garden fits perfectly. Creativity & connectivity through the healing garden.

I hope to see the George Herman House healing garden full of laughing, confident, healthy women some day and I'd like to know I had a hand in it.


You can help too.

2011 Trend Predictions (Part 3) - Lux. Raw. Warm. Organic. Texture.

1. Photo via Werrner Seggarra.
2. velvet headboard & skirt with fur throw via unknown :(
3. over-dyed rugs via Little Shop.
4. Roberto Peregalli via W Mag.
5. Distressed Pillows in grey and gold via 2 Hounds Design.

Fur, natural or synthetic (I like mine natural but re-purposed), vintage linens, distressed velvets and over-dyed rugs are some of the textiles you are going to be seeing more of this year.


It's all about textiles with a history! 

My 1st Give Away! & What I Got: One Of A Kind Show Toronto

2 Hounds Unleashed is holding a give-away!

Hang out long enough to follow my Blog, Like my Facebook Page and follow my Tweets then comment on this post for a chance to win a ticket to the One of a Kind Xmas Show and Sale in Toronto open now! You have till end of business day Monday to enter! I will have The Girl, at bedtime, randomly select the winner. I will then contact you for your address and Fed-Ex the ticket to you. Good luck!

This is The Girl:

My day at the One of a Kind Show was very fruitful. I walked out with my arms loaded down. Thankfully the organizers of the show have a FREE! package check for shoppers. Imagine that. Customer service is alive and well!

I wanted to buy so much but managed to exercise some control. Here's just a highlight of what I bought:

Julie Pederson's black suede & Tibetan lamb spats (mine have red paint slats):

Julie's booth is where you will find gorgeous Mukluks which are heavenly comfortable. The children's mukluks are outstanding btw! Ok, they are all outstanding. Julie is available to meet and talk with (beautiful woman) and her mother is there with her working the booth. Both very fun ladies. The booth is very busy so don't wait till the end of the show you may end up having to order and *horrors* have to wait for your boots. Booth F-48

Dahlia Drive is artist Wendy Van Riesen. Wendy takes old slips, shirts and kimonos giving them new life with her custom art. I bought a beautiful black slip with lace inserts under the bust and along the hem with the skeleton design on the front and back. Someday I'll post a photo of myself in the dress. I wore it yesterday on our out and abouts, over black skinny jeans with a black velour hoody. Looks amazing and I got many complements and questions about where to get one!

Wendy is overflowing with energy and fun as heck. She will also do custom designs using heat-press, silk-screening and hand painting if you send her a slip.

Wendy had a soft peach slip she'd wrapped around a rusted shovel and left in the ground...if it had fitted I'd have bought it. It is stunning!

These slips totally rock it when you layer them btw. Don't look like everyone else this summer get a Dahlia Drive slip dress! Booth V-56

Honeybea Design Hive is one of the busiest booths at the show. Bea, seen in the photo, makes bags, and other accessories but I got a Bumwarmer for my daughter.

If I'd had more space to try one on I'd have gotten one for myself but this booth was abuzz with activity! Seriously, you have to see these Bumwarmers! Booth N-04

Seriously if I'd had more $ I'd still be at the show. If you where thinking of skipping the show this year you really should reconsider. There are vendors who have not been for years only to return this year to the thrill of attendies. Do not miss out!

*bisous*
Dane

Perils Of Renovations: Public Humiliation

Since I'm working on updating our foyer I've divested it of all things useful. The mirror, useful for that 'final mirror check' before running out the door, seems to be the most crucial item removed from my foyer.

via coco + kelley

Last week I was exhausted. This is my excuse.

The set up:  I had a very busy week; work, kids, foyer (mudding & sanding) etc. I'd put the kids to bed, stripped of my jeans and sat down on the bed to quickly check my email. The Girl came in and asked if she could cuddle with me for a bit so I snuggled in with her...'for a minute' and promptly fell asleep with her in my arms. *heaven*

At some point during the night I recall my bra was hurting my ribs. I vaguely remember having to sit up to get both arms around behind my back to undo it. That is all I can remember.

The next day got off to a crazy start as it always does on days when both The Boy and The Girl have school. I slept in, they where chatty when eating, pokey when getting dressed and constantly trying to sneak in to the family room to watch tv. So I ran around with my tooth brush in one hand, lunch bags in the other shouting 'get dressed', 'brush your teeth', 'leave your sister alone'...before we go running out the door with me sprinting and yelling 'come on you can do it up on the way'!!

All in all the day got off to a regular start...except the funny looks I was getting from the other parents dropping off kids...at the grocery store, liquor store...and then again from the teachers & parents when I was picking up the kids after school.

I didn't think too much about the extra looks I was getting. My short term memory is not what it used to be so I forgot quickly and therefore never paused to consider the reason beyond my new bangs (we'll save that for another day of shared humiliation).

While making dinner I reached under my t-shirt to scratch between my shoulder blades. I'll be damned if I didn't feel the bra I thought I'd taken off the night before.

OMG, it was across my chest at armpit height all day. All. Day.

I have got to get the foyer done. I've decided to totally mirror one wall.

*bisous*

Dane

You're So Vain, Mirror In the...Kitchen?!

Yesterday I felt like doing something different. So I put a mirror on the wall in the kitchen. Why not, we put them in dining rooms right?


Tonight we sat down at the table to eat dinner (last night we sat in front of the T.V.). Turns out a mirror in the kitchen may not be the best idea with a 5 year old and a (almost) 7 year old. The 'girl'...6 going on 17, spent the whole meal watching herself, flipping her hair...blowing kisses(?!) and dancing in her seat.

Daddy (Steve aka Shteebe) was totally irked. Dinner took longer and the kids where told more often then usual to 'turn around and eat'.

Lesson learned:  If you want to put a mirror in the kitchen and are considering kids...get the mirror first.

BTW, looking at the image above...I totally get a white kitchen. Cause before...I wasn't so sure it was the hottest trend...but that kitchen is HOT!

*bisous*
Dane

Waiting For the Dust To Settle *cough*

Not a photo to draw readers looking for some pretty pretty is it?

I will confess though...working on one of the too many 'existing' projects does feel...good god(!) it feels like I should be paying someone else to do it.

I'm so not a happy camper right now. I have this niggling in the back of my head suggesting I've given Steve too many things to do.

There is no way I can get around it. I've over booked him and now I've got to do more than just sashay in with the paint, fabric, tile etc. and make the place look fabulous after his, admittedly, down and dirty, work. Now I've got to get 'ahem', down and dirty.

*sighs* I so deserve some libations after this day.

Natalie will know just what will go with the Mulligatawny soup I've made. Yes, I do it all Lovelys...just some things better than others.

P.S. I was thinking...how about instead of re-tiling the entrance...I'll put down a stained cement floor (with radiant heating natch) like this one from Metropolitan Home:

P.P.S. Don't worry the sliding closet doors are going out to the curb. =)

*bisous*

Dane

I've been 'told' I'm not to start another project in our house. I actually have to finish the ones I've started!

This is so hard to do. Yes, there are many projects in our house which are 'in progress'...but they are stalled at points where I have no control over their advancement towards completion. Well OK not all of them...I could do the plaster repairs in the foyer since I've already stripped the popcorn ceiling. But that is so messy with all the sanding and so not fun.

source

So I pace. I pace around the house from project to project and pass...all. the. potential. projects.

I could start any number today....

I need to get out. Really. I will start a project if not distracted soon.

Are you spinning your wheels? Do you have projects desperate for you to get started?

I really want to get my dining room painted. But...I have to remove the dreaded popcorn ceiling first...which then entails having to re-plaster the joints, sanding, more plaster and sanding.

Steve would not be impressed to return home from work today to find the ceiling stripped. But I could have it done in like an hour and a half tops! How can I NOT do it?!

I need to get out of the house before I do something Steve will regret.

*bisous*
Dane

Another Louis XV

This is TingTing (aka Baby) on one of the side chairs after I'd partially stripped it. The chair is lovely as is!

I've completed the first of 2 arm chairs. The quality and lighting of the photos are poor. I'd apologize but really, I have to be honest with you...I use my iPhone for photos 99.8% of the time because I'm too lazy/impatient to go looking for the camera.

I will eventually get some decent photos done but not till the dining room has been done. Till then it's iPhone photos.

To let you in on just how lazy I am:  I feel my knees are chubby and don't like how they look in shorts. So I asked Steve if he knew of any exercise that would target my knees. His suggestion was to get out and exercise. Ha! Lipo is what I hear.

My thinking is if I can see a change in my knees within 2 months (see I have a realistic time frame) THEN I'll consider taking on more exercises. I can commit to 1 or 2 individual exercises...particularly if I can sit while doing them...and we are talking knees here after all. I think I can reasonably assume I'd be sitting for any knee exercises.

So for now, with no exercises for my knees as of yet, I'll pour another glass of sangria and add some photos of the chair.

I found some of the original upholstery under the fabric I was removing. So I left it there for someone else to find some day. Hard to tell but the velvet was a poopy greeny colour...I'm sure it was very nice for someone at one time.

Here's the snake print fabric completed on the back. I was just moving on to the seat. The snake print fabric is fantastic. It is textured just like the skin of a snake and it reflects light with a silver gray shimmer. (No snakes were harmed in the making of the chairs).

A detail photo of the in side of the chair back.

One of five layers in the back of the chairs. Five. Layers. That is a lot of freak'n nails and then there are the nail heads after the five layers! I did not use staples to redo the chairs. In fact, I reused many of the nails. 

Ok, the reveal:

Yippee first armchair completed! Without the proper work bench set up thingys my joints and muscles are killing me...I did this sitting/kneeling on the floor. Simple task of recovering a chair has me in bed the day after...you really can't expect I'm going to exercise now can you?

So what did it cost for the chairs:

• 
  
  2 Louis XV style arm chairs, 4 Louis XV style side chairs and 1 Louis XVI dining table found on Kijiji: $450 so divide by 7 x 6 = $65 / chair
• 
  
  4 meters 100% cotton velvet deeply discounted:  $30
• 
  
  2 meters snake print fabric deeply discounted:  $80
• 
  
  2000 nickle plated nail heads: $40

Total for purchase and reupholstery of all six chairs:  $ 540 not including labour (because I did it as a diy project).


Oh happy day they've added a spell check link =)

Louis XV Style Chairs - Before & After

I've *finally* started to reupholster my dining chairs. I'd found them on Kijiji.ca. They were in dire need of a facelift and I felt I was up to the task. I've thought that many times. But can't say I've always found it to be true.


I invested countless hours at Kravet & Lee Jofa looking for the perfect fabrics. They had to be special to do the chairs justice. I found a couple fabrics which I felt were worthy of my chairs but each time I was to learn they were on back order and there was not a stitch available.

Something you don't know about me...money burns a hole in my pocket book.

via

I cannot keep money long before I blow it on some trivial bits and bobs of no use. So the cash I had for my desperately sad looking chairs...has been gone for at least a month.

The other day out of desperation I when to the local upholstery fabric shop to look at any remnants that might inspire me. I was not very hopeful so imagine my surprise when I found a dove gray velvet bolt.

OK! This was great. It was 50% off so I was giddy. Really. Really. Giddy. I was just roaming the aisles (touching all the fabrics) placing complementary patterns and colours together day dreaming about rooms they would look great in when I saw 'it'. The sexy fabric I instantly knew was going take my dining room chairs from classic and tasteful and elevate them to art.

I'd turned down a dark aisle and down at the bottom of a display was a faux snake skin that had a silvery shimmer and texture to die for. It was worth every damn penny and so worth the wait.

I've gotten one chair completed and I am so pleased with the results. I recovered the chairs 'old school'. No staples were used in the reupholstery of the chair.

I think this is the prettiest 'thing' I've ever made.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is my first attempt at upholstery...so there is an area near the back legs on the seat I've not figured out and nail head tacks are a f'n bitch to work with...but oh it's so pretty!

Client's Dining Room - A Work In Progress...Progressing!

Just a quick before and after of a client's dining room. The drapery you see in the photo are inexpensive ones my client picked up just to cover the windows when they first moved in but they were thin and polyester...and they hated them. The hardware was ikea I think.

We painted the walls in Benji Moore's Baby Seal Black!

Still need artwork and area rug but it is definately on the right path to sophisticated! The photo's just a quick snap shot right after the installer left so no primping this time...just a sneak peak cause I can't keep a secret!

BTW, the drapery hardware I got for them:

Loving crystals for the last year now!

*Bisous*

Dane