Published and made the cover!

Published and made the cover!

Published and made the cover of Ottawa at Home magazine Summer 2018

Such exciting news for my small business!

If you are in Ottawa you can pick it up at Farm Boy, Bridgehead Coffee, Tagalong Toys, Tamarack Model Homes, Chapters, etc… and also apparently it is in the Globe and Mail as an insert.

Click here to read it online.

I’ve also written a few posts with more detailed information on our renovation of the cottage. Click here to read about the living room transformation and here for the bathroom reno.

6 design ideas to reduce anxiety

Reduce anxiety with some design ideas for your home.

Photo by Jen P. on Unsplash

Feeling a little overwhelmed? How about some design ideas to reduce anxiety? These six design ideas can help reduce your anxiety by targeting some of the smaller details in your home. If you have ever struggled with anxiety you know how hard it can be to manage and to overcome. It has a way of sneaking into every part of our life and we need to chisel it out out of there, little by little.

While these tips won’t cure your anxiety they will help soothe you and your family. They may be just the thing you need to get some calmness back in your life.

  1. Target your sense of smell. This is the perfect time to use an oil diffuser in your main spaces, or perhaps you’d prefer a scented candle. Certain oils such as lavender can help you relax and decompress and peppermint is great for relieving headaches.
  2. Fresh flowers or plants. A touch of the outdoors, especially colourful ones will instantly give you a sense of peace. So don’t you regret that impulsive bouquet purchase at the grocery store’s checkout line, it may be just the medicine you need.
  3. Keep your rooms open and airy. Feeling like there is space in your home, can make you feel more relaxed and calm. Removing a few pieces to give the remaining furniture a little more breathing room can achieve this and may give you more breathing space as well.
  4. Open those windows and drapes. Perhaps those heavy drapes have had their time. Light, airy drapes that will let the natural light in can go a long way to lighten your mood and bring the outdoors in.
  5. Remove clutter. I know this is a huge anxiety trigger for me, and my family knows this all too well. I actually feel a little claustrophobic when I’m in a cluttered space. So no more excuses, it’s time to remove the visual clutter and watch how much lighter and freer you feel.
  6. Use soothing paint colours. There is actually a science to colour therapy and it has been well proven over and over. Soft pinks, greens and blues are know to create feelings of wellbeing and calm, while colours like bright red, chartreuse and neon yellow can cause overstimulation and restlessness. It just may be time to get out the paint deck and contemplate a new colour scheme.

With today’s highly stressed and fast paced lifestyles a little anxiety reduction is always a good thing.  Implementing these small changes may help you create a more balanced and happy life and perhaps reduce anxiety as well!

 

 

 

The main accessory at IDS18

So what was the main accessory that you saw everywhere at IDS18?

It was plants, plants and more plants!  Take a look at just a few of them and get your gardening gloves out.

IDS18

Somehow, I missed the name of this booth, if you know it, please let me know and I’ll add it in.

Seedlip

The Seedlip booth had the most beautiful botanicals and they received lots of attention.

Seedlip

Mobilia’s booth was divided up into different rooms with different themes and it was a stunner. Here’s just a few pics from a couple of the rooms, with lots of green!

Mobilia

And how about these interesting globe lights on stands. Perfect to light up a dark corner.

Mobilia

A little nod back to the 70’s in this vignette, with those hanging plants and a shaggy throw pillow.

And my favourite booth, Benjamin Moore’s living space, had lots of greenery and an especially cute little clementine tree. Now I want one. I wonder how long it takes to actually get fruit that you can eat, assuming of course, it survives.

Benjamin Moore ids18

Homebody Collective had the cutest little cactuses and airplants displayed. The bottom containers are actually moulded from avocado skins.

Decimal

I couldn’t resist and came home with these two. They can be placed on their sides and used as a ring holder as well. I love a multi-purpose!

Homebody Collective

 

Lisa

Catching up….

So how is everyone? I’m great. I’ve had a ridiculous crazy end of summer, early fall, but it’s all good. I thought it’d be a good time to catch up with everyone and share all my news.

So first up, my daughter got married a few weekends ago at our cottage. And for those of you that follow me, you may remember my son, also got married at the cottage, the same weekend, last year.  Crazy two home grown weddings in one year…and yes, I’m still recovering. So pretty much for the months of August and September, we were busy getting the place wedding ready, which entailed having the exterior window frames painted, the beach roto-tillered within an inch of it’s life, roof repairs and of course, the never ending job of keeping critters from ripping up our lawn, for the oh so tasty grubs (we kind of failed on this point, but I’ll get to that later). We also were having a new furnace and air exchanger (which also acts as an air conditioner) installed the week before the wedding. So needless to say, I was a little stressed out about it all, until it was finally installed and working the Tuesday before the wedding….phew!

My daughter and son-in-law had decided on late fall, so that it would be nice and cool for them….well, not exactly how it turned out. We had our heat wave in mid to late September this year, so our cool fall wedding turned into a blazing hot 40 celsius summer wedding. So obviously, we cancelled the propane tent heaters we had ordered.  But at least it wasn’t raining and the a/c was working!!!

Here’s a few candid shots from the day.

wedding ready beach

wedding flowers

Bride and groom

Wedding

It was a spectacularly great day and since one of my son-in-law’s groomsmen, is a master of fireworks, we had a spectacular show once it got dark. You can check my Instagram video to see them. And you can’t even see the totally ripped up grass, courtesy of the family of raccoons that were being well fed with grubs….sigh…. Oh well, nothing is perfect.

So obviously the wedding kept me busy and just a few days before the wedding, the cottage was photographed for a design magazine. This was sooooooo exciting for me, of course, but it’s an incredible amount of work to try and get everything ready and picture perfect. So all the things I had put off and hadn’t finished, now needed to be done yesterday.  So there was alot of measuring, sourcing, purchasing, picking up, transporting of items, and of course, cleaning, lots and lots of cleaning. Here’s a few shots I took of the cottage prior to the photographer arriving.

Beach chairs

Conversation area on the deck with propane fire pit and

cottage dining room

cottage floral arrangement

cottage front porch

I’ll be sure and let you know when the issue comes out, but don’t hold your breath, it’s going to be awhile, as that is just the way it is, in the design magazine industry.

In between these two things, I’ve been working on completing a cottage reno and starting two bathroom renos. One bath is in full mode now, hopefully done in a week or two, and the other should start in the next few weeks. Here’s a little sneak peek of where the first one is heading, design-wise.

Bathroom tile selection, white and bright

Just realized the adhesive is showing on the top tile…opps. And the little squares are paint options for the clients to view. Once I have proper photos, I’ll let you know which paint colour was chosen.

And just yesterday, I was absolutely stunned to find out that I was nominated as one of the top 100 influencers in Interior Design for 2018. So if you have a minute and feel that I’ve somehow influenced your design style, I’d love your vote. Just click here or on the picture below and you’ll go directly to my name on the list.  Voting is open until Oct 10 and you can vote daily.  And just for that, I’m sending you a big hug and thank you!

Design Hounds Top 100 Influencers Nominee

 

So that’s all my news, sorry for such a long post, but I had a lot to cover. Have a fabulous weekend and to all my fellow Canadians, Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your turkey day!

Lisa

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

From my home to yours, I wish you the most merriest of Christmases and a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Just a quick little note, have you guys seen the Artisto app? My friend, Donna discovered it and I’ve been a little obsessed lately with it.  Take a peek at what it did to some of my photos.

LOG HOME COUNTRY URN WITH SNOWFLAKES

ARTISTO COUNTRY CHRISTMAS TREE

COUNTRY RUSTIC FIREPLACE WITH CAT

And I’m in love with this one of my two cats.

LOG HOME CAT There are different filters so you can different effects and colours.  So fun and quite addictive! Enjoy your holidays!

Lisa