Mummy Maggie Chronicles

Shag - A New Addition

23.5.11

I LOVE SHAG RUGS.

Seriously. Best rug ever. My mom got one a few weeks ago for her living room and it is AMAZING. I had to copy her! I love the colour, warmth, texture and dimension it adds to the room.

I should say, however, I would NEVER be a fan of wall-to-wall shag carpeting. I think it's too dated {circa 1970s} and too limiting. An area rug can easily be replaced. Wall-to-wall carpeting is a pain to remove.

So I've been searching on my favourite website Kijiji for a lovely, creamy, cozy shag rug for my bedroom. After several failed deals, we picked up this rug of awesomeness today. It's supposed to be an off-white colour, but it's more of a "greige."

I talked the seller down from $125 to $80 for large 5 x 8 rug {though I think it may be even larger than that}.

I can't decide if I think it should be longer in the front or on the sides? Do you think we should switch the direction of the rug?

Ginger loves the new rug. It also gives her new freedom as she can jump from the floor to the sofette to the bed now, and then get back down again. She's a happy dog!

Little A also likes the rug. She loves to roll over for tummy time. She also loves to grab Ginger's tail :)

Do I like the new rug?

A big smile = a definite YES!

Oh! We also sold the creamy settee that was replaced by the West Elm sofette.

It's been a good day for Kijiji.

Transformation

19.5.11

UPDATE as of January 2012:
Thanks to Better After for featuring this Dining Room Makeover on the Top 12 Before & Afters of 2011! AMAZING! Be sure to check out how it looks now {we added curtains, painted the mirror white and reupholstered Bergere chairs too!}. Click here to see our top DIY projects of 2011.

Become a follower {on Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest too!} to see more fun, budget-friendly DIY projects to come!

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A few weeks ago when I did the Dining Room reveal, I mentioned I would post more "before" photos when my iMac was up and running again. I STILL don't have my iMac, but that's another story for another day.

But here are some Before & After photos of the dining room, and our continuing DIY projects and thrifting finds.

Please excuse some of the grainy iPhone photos - I lost my good camera for most of the winter!

So here is a photo gallery of the Dining Room transformation.

With the addition of the new light fixture & sunburst mirror, and the conversation area, here's how it looks today.

I still need drapes, more pillows and more styling, and my 2 thrifted Bergere chairs are currently being re-covered.

But you can really see how just paint & a vision for a room can be so transformative.

Before we bought our home:

This is NOT our stuff - it's a photo taken during a walk through when the previous owners lived here. We don't drink, so we thought this room was hilarious when we saw it.

After we moved in:

How it looked for almost 2 years while we thought about what we wanted:

In an effort to motivate the hubby to finish the dining room, I sold our dining chairs on Kijiji 1 year ago. Our dining room then became the soccer pitch, storage room, and an overall miscellaneous useless space.

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In the meantime, I fell in love with the graphic chevron pattern and in one day went from a blank white wall to fabulosity.

Click here for more on the chevron wall!

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Then, inspired by a Sarah 101 episode on HGTV, I found a cool dining set from Kijiji for $150 {table & 6 chairs}.

It was in rough shape, but with some vision and elbow grease, it became a showstopper.

The "Before" photos:

The "During" Photos:

The "After" Photos:

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I hope you enjoyed this transformation.

What projects have you transformed with the power of paint?

Linking up to:

Not Just a Housewife's Best DIY Project of 2011 Contest

UPDATE: If you are Visiting from:

Tips & Tutorials Tuesday at Home Stories A to Z

{AKA} Designs,

Organize & Decorate Everything

or Better After - WELCOME & Stay Awhile :)

Rainy Days = Moroccan Inspirations Vol.1

18.5.11

I've got to admit that the weather {cold, wet, rainy} is getting me down. I long for some bright, warm, Spring days. Weather like this makes me fondly remember past vacations.

One of our favourite vacations was Morocco in 2007. When the weather is dull, I like to peruse my Morocco photos to inspire me. So if the weather is getting you down, enjoy my photos. I think I will make this a series {since the weather here doesn't seem like it will let up any time soon!}.

Today our Inspiration is the Majorelle Garden in Marrakech, Morocco. Here's the link to the story of the Jardin Majorelle, including how he famed designer Yves St. Laurent lovingly restored the gardens to their luxurious splendour when he purchased the gardens in 1980.

The Majorelle Garden is most renown for its striking and colourful architecture {particularly the blue colour} juxtaposed with the luscious, green vegetation.

New Light Fixture & Sunburst Mirror {DR Update}

17.5.11

I'm a big believer in curating a space over time. With that said, thank you for indulging me with constant updates to our home. Just when you think a room is finished, another addition or change is made.

But I think that is the beauty and fun of decorating and design. You can have a plan, but as time goes on, your idea grows into bigger and better vision for the room.

That perfectly describes our dining room. When we first moved into our home two years ago, it was a boring, empty, beige box. I had a vision of an all-white, luxe-fest, jewel-box of a room. Then that became a mid-century modern eclectic mix.

Now I don't even know how to describe it.

I like how the light fixture doesn't compete with the rest of the room. It just complements all the other features of the room.

But I adore my dining room:

I'm happy I added shades of gray to the white Chantilly Lace walls.
I love my chevron wall.
I love our Kijiji-find dining set.
I love my Kijiji-find settee.
I love my Target Moroccan pouf.
I love my Louis Ghost Chairs from Homesav.com.

And NOW, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new light fixture from West Elm AND the sunburst mirror from HomeSense {a whopping $59!}.

My two new lovely additions :) The Cluster Glass Pendant light is from West Elm.

Another angle - see the grass in a box? My mom treated me to that this weekend. Such a nice mom!

Best 7th Anniversary Prezzie

16.5.11

Yesterday we celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary {wool/copper for those of you who know/care about such things}.

Celebrated may be a bit of an overstatement as it was Sunday as usual. But that's the way I liked it. We had a relaxing day and I LOVED watching the Survivor: Redemption Island Finale {GO BOSTON ROB!}

Anyway, we picked up the most amazing settee EVER from West Elm as our anniversary present to each other {it must have wool & copper somewhere in it, right?}. It's actually another amazing Kijiji find, but it was practically brand new. And it IS FAB.

Introducing our new West Elm Sutton SOFETTE!

The fabric is Cotton Weave in the Flax colour, but it seems more "greige" and matches our bedroom linens perfectly, don't you think?

A close-up of the fabric & pillows - I added the Mongolian Lamb pillow also from West Elm for some more texture. I think it looks great!

And another angle because I love it so much!

So with this addition to our home, it means the curvy, creamy settee I bought last month has to go. I'm selling it on Kijiji - if you're interested in buying from me, give me a shout. It's a beauty, but we just don't have room to store ALL my amazing finds. I have to let some beauties go.

Project Update: EZ's room!

15.5.11

Our house has been crazy busy lately, so it's hard finding the time to finish our DIY projects, but we're soldiering on and doing a little at a time. We're at a point now where EZ is sleeping in the 2nd floor family room, so we're all anxious for his new room to be completed.

I've ordered his bedding {the DwellStudio Transportation set from this post} and I'm waiting for it to arrive. I think it's going to look great with the paint colour and wall treatment.

I'm now stuck on a dresser. I had planned on getting the Hemnes 8 drawer dresser from Ikea {so much so that I was planning on picking it up this weekend}, but I broke the cardinal rule of design and I DIDN'T MEASURE it out till yesterday -- and I discovered that the dresser is TOO BIG! Now we're back to square one. I'm trolling the internets looking for the perfect, modern dresser with mid-century styling on a small scale. The search continues...

Anyway, without further ado, here's a sneak peak of EZ's room!

The grid pattern wall treatment is coming together! We're also taking out ALL the baseboards and window & door frames, and replacing it with flat trim. It's going to be awesome.

Gluing the MDF...

...Sticking it on the wall...

Using a nail gun to hold the MDF in place {except we've also screwed it in too - we know our spirited son too well!}

Belated Easter Fun

11.5.11

I was about 3 weeks without my iMac - *sigh* - please excuse the delayed Easter Photos, but they are oh-so-cute! Without further ado, here are photos from our Easter Funday!