Adding a home office to my guest room

After whipping our spare room into guest-ready shape with only a few days to spare before the holidays, it became time to turn it into a space that I could use the rest of the year: my home office.

Here's a reminder of what it looked like during my pre-holiday decorating dash (previously, it was full of boxes):

And, just in time for my parent's arrival, we finished the painting and purchased a cheap, but surprisingly comfortable, futon, leaving us with this:

I'm afraid it's a really tough room to photograph (it's teeny-tiny - it would make a marvellous walk-in closet), but you can get the idea of the soft silvery purple paired with a punchy grape.

Then, it was time to make it a comfortable, and functional, home office without making it too "office-y."

I didn't want my guests to feel like they were sleeping in a cold, corporate setting - but, I still wanted to be able to focus on my work on the many days I'm spending in there.

So, in lieu of a desk, I opted for an antique table, and the filing cabinet has been swapped out for a night table, which can be pulled over beside the bed when we've got guests.

Obviously, it's still a work in progress.

The hunt is on for a comfier chair and some art to dress up the walls. Floating shelves will also be installed for some extra, open storage - leaving the closet free for suitcases and visitor's clothes. Add in some more task lighting, and I may just be ready to call the project done.

But, for now, I'm just pleased it's gone from a mess of storage to a usable workspace!

Looking back on 2009 ...

Normally, I'm not particularly sentimental at New Year's. Say goodbye to one year, hello to the next, drink some decent bubbly and keep plugging away.

But 2009 was a biggie. And, honestly, rather emotionally exhausting.

Mr. Speedy and I bought our first home (and carefully documented the experience). It was exciting. We love having a place to call our own. But, man, is it a lot of work. We've unpacked, had decorating successes and failures and worn ourselves out tackling a never-ending to-do list.

Oh, and it's crazy expensive. We were welcomed into the world of property taxes (and a garbage strike) and had people in to rewire and patch. We hired a mason to fix the chimney, and had a man come to fix our roof. We even had our first holiday-weekend wet basement disaster.

But, while sometimes the responsibility is a bit of a drag, I'm still totally thrilled to have made the leap into home ownership. Score one for the positives in 2009.

On a personal level, in 2009, I've started to feel slightly more like Toronto is home, though I still do miss the East Coast desperately some days.

I've become more confident in tackling projects around the house - though perhaps not quite earned the title of handywoman. Maybe that will come in 2010?

I've also become more decisive in my decor choices. I no longer feel like I ought to like things just because they're trendy, and I've also become more sure of what it is I do like - moody greys, pops of bright hues and clean lines, for starters.

I've also given myself permission to change my mind. What I like today I may not like in five years, but, honestly, I have no idea where I'm going to be or what I'll be doing in five years time, so there's no point stressing about it now. If I start to hate the paint colour, I'll change it then. For now, I'll enjoy my purple office and my video game inspired basement.

There's also been some less than positive aspects of 2009. Fear of the layoffs that have been sweeping the media industry has certainly kept me up more than a few nights, while various life stresses have sometimes gotten the better of me, leaving me spending the night in pyjamas with a tub of ice cream (or cake) and a spoon. The last month or so has often felt like someone's been peeling off a Band-Aid very, very slowly.

Hopefully, in 2010 I'll learn to channel that anxiety into productivity - after all, I still have a bathroom, office, kitchen and basement to paint!

Part of me can't help but worry about what the new year will bring, but, really, what more can we do but hope for the best? So, best wishes for 2010! May the year be full of DIY projects, stylish inspiration, and wonderful evenings spent at home with friends and family!

The master bedroom makeover continues ...

These days, I'm in need of some serious rest and relaxation. Really, aren't we all?

Luckily, we've started making headway on our master bedroom makeover, which is being tackled by Lisa Canning on a seriously tight budget of $200.

And, while it's still very much a work in progress, I couldn't resist sharing a sneak peek, because on Friday, we had our own mini version of While You Were Out - while I was out at the office, Lisa was busy creating this: (see the before here) 

 
My night tables have been swapped out (for a pair of these bargain finds), the fabric panels have been hung - which just make the space seem so cozy - and these absolutely divine lamps have found a home!

The lamps were DIY-DFY project: Do-it-yourself done-for-you. Lisa found the ugly bases, with a great shape, at a thrift store, and treated them to a glossy black finish. Then, she topped them off with a pair of thrift store found shades, which were re-covered in this great graphic fabric!

Stay tuned for more as our design-on-a-dime makeover progresses, and catch up on our progress so far here:

- Stretching the budget

- Bye bye baby blue

- Planning the makeover

- Finding my (our) style

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas

While my Christmas decorating may have gotten off to a slow start, it's finally starting to come together - just in time for my parents' first visit to my new home!

Wednesday night was spent baking, decorating and eating (far too many) cookies with a good friend. Our tasty treats will be displayed on white platters when guests arrive (currently they're safely stowed away in containers, with the hopes that out of sight really is out of mind!).

I also dressed up my dining room console/rad cover/wine rack with this cheery, and shiny, little guy, who I saw in a shop window one afternoon and just couldn't pass up. I do keep trying to resist the urge to hang things from his antlers!

And my favourite, and far most labour-intensive, project was the first phase of my mantel makeover. Our mantel was designed (by the previous owners) to hold a TV, and we have yet to hang one there. So, up until this week, it looked like this:

 

Not exactly a stunner, is it? All those holes up top are designed to accommodate the TV and peripherals, while the one below leads to another outlet. Totally convenient, but less than pretty. And certainly not the polished look I'm going for! Someday, it will host our TV and Wii, but in the meantime, we needed a cover-up!

So, with a picture frame left over from a previous project and a few bits of glassware, we get this:

 
We framed some pretty snowy wrapping paper for a seasonal touch (and it perfectly disguises the TV mount), then added some candles and a vase filled with mini ornaments. Finding pieces that fit on the mantel was actually pretty tricky because it's very narrow!

Despite hours of searching, I couldn't find any stocking hooks that I actually liked, so we ended up hanging our stockings on peel and stick hooks, which thankfully blend in fairly well with the white backdrop.

Presents will fill the "fireplace" area, which I think is a great festive touch (and honestly, where else would we put them?), plus it hides the hole.

Like all things in our house, it is still a work in progress. I need to pick up some greenery to help fill out the space, after I wrap the ledge in clingwrap to keep it from getting all sappy and sticky (thanks to Better Homes and Garden's Twitter feed for the tip!).

But, despite my still-growing holiday to do-list, every ornament I put up helps get me a little bit more in the spirit! Plus, isn't half the fun in decorating slowly, until everything's just right?

To tree, or not to tree?

My holiday preparation is certainly moving slowly this year. We're starting pretty much from scratch decorating-wise, as there wasn't a whole lot of space for festive touches in last year's two bedroom rental and we were spending much of the holiday out of the city with family.

That means that, in addition to buying presents and sending cards, I've also got to choose, buy and put up decorations! And, my current decorating dilemma is whether or not to put up a tree.

Growing up, I always had a real tree (which is right on trend this year). We'd spend an evening drinking eggnog, listening to carols and trimming the tree as a family. It was a wonderful tradition, and this is the first year that I won't be going home to Nova Scotia to take part in it. That feeling of missing out - and the perfect Christmas smell - makes me inclined to start our own tree trimming tradition here in Ontario.

But, on the other side of the wishy-washy coin that has become my holiday planning, real trees are messy. You end up with pine needles scattered throughout the house for months. They take up space, and I'm not sure where we'd put it. They also take time, which seems to be at a premium these days.

And, there are loads of alternatives.

Fake trees, especially the pre-lit variety, are easier to put up and decorate, and you can find increasingly authentic looking ones. But, they still take time and floor space, and I worry that it just wouldn't be an appropriate substitute for the real thing.

Spray-painted branches (I'm thinking white or silver) in a pretty vase, dressed with a few miniature ornaments, would be a space-saving and stylish option. 

Paperwhites or a potted sapling would help bring the outdoors in and add a "live" touch to my decor, along with looking gorgeous on a table or mantel. Plus, they're cheap, and decorating them is easy - just plunk them down into a pretty pot!

Or I could let my mantel - decoration currently "under construction" - stand in for my tree, and fill my faux fireplace with presents.

I could even just put out a bowl of ornaments, in a nice variety of sizes, shapes and textures, and call it a day.

Decisions, decisions. How's a girl to choose just one (or find time to do them all)?

Is a tree part of your holiday decor? If so, do you go faux or real?

Stretching the budget in our master bedroom makeover

Mr. Speedy and I were busy with the paintbrushes this weekend, replacing the blotchy baby blue walls with a lovely shade of grey. (See my sneak peek here).

While the touch-ups are done and the furniture has been put back into place (hooray!), I'm not quite ready to share a photo of the whole room - because it's part of my much-delayed (due to illness, vacations, holidays and the like) master bedroom makeover! (Catch up here and here).

I will, however, share a great tip I've learned during the process. You might remember that we're trying to transform the room on a skimpy budget - a mere $200 - so we couldn't just pop on over to the hardware store for a $50 can of paint.

Instead, Lisa Canning, who has a reputation for being able to do a room on the cheap, advised me to explore the world of mistint paint. So she and I hit up Rotblott's with the hopes of finding a can of sophisticated grey.

While the selection was mostly neutrals, we were lucky enough to score a can of mistinted "Rockport Gray", a Benjamin Moore classic. We also picked up another small can of a similar grey, in case we ran out, and some rollers, all for the sweet price of $13!

The downside to going with a mistint is that we could only find one can of the mistinted Rockport Gray, so if we ran out, it would be seriously tough, if not impossible, to match.

Bracing for the worst, we bought the safety can of a similar shade, which we could have used to paint the mostly-covered up wall behind our wardrobes - where the colour change would have hopefully been hardly noticeable. Luckily, we were able to do the whole room with one can!

The new coat of paint has already made a world of difference in our space, and our sweet deal will definitely help us stretch our budget even more.

How do you divvy up the housework?

After checking out that study on how couples that do more housework have more sex, I couldn't help but wonder about how households split up all those unpleasant, but necessary, chores.

The study found that women spent much more time cleaning house than men - 41.8 hours compared to 23.4 - but those stats also showed that the men were spending more time in the office (33.8 to 19.7).

What about the couples who spend an equal, or at least similar, amount of time doing paid work? And how did the wives and husbands in this study split up the household work?

At Casa Speedy, keeping up with the chores (along with completing all the necessary renovation, maintenance and decorating projects) can certainly be a real challenge.

We try to split things up, but most often the jobs fall to the person who cares the most. For example, I'm picky about having my clean clothes folded just so (a girl's gotta keep her closet organized), so the laundry generally falls to me. Mr. Speedy has developed a very precise system for handling our trash and recycling, so I happily keep my hands off that task.

Along the same lines, I generally am the one responsible for cooking supper, while Mr. Speedy handles breakfast and caffeine for me, the resident sleepyhead. We share the dishes, and take turns tidying, sweeping, and scrubbing, based mostly on who's free, bored, or most bothered by the state of the place.

How do you keep up with the household chores? Do you try to split things 50-50 or does one person in your household do the heavy lifting?

Bye bye baby blue ...

And hello grown up grey!

We decided to tackle our master bedroom on Saturday, and, while I'm not in the office on Mondays, I just couldn't resist sharing a sneak peek with you!

This space, between our his and hers wardrobe units, will soon be home to my vanity!

Stay tuned later this week for more on my master bedroom makeover.

First the heater, now new boiler regs

It's been one of those weeks around my house. So much to do, so little time. All compounded by our old hot water heater giving up the ghost and soaking our basement. And, of course, because it was one of those weeks, one of the connections to the new one was leaking too, so we had to have yet another service call.

Because it was a small trickle, they booked us an appointment for two days after we noticed the problem, meaning the repair guy showed up yesterday. He soldered up the hole in the connector, and the basement is drying out again. At that point, I expected that we could finally put the whole soggy mess behind us.

But, it wasn't that easy. We happen to have an old boiler that's still trucking along and doing an excellent job of heating our house. But, we were unaware of new carbon monoxide regulations - effective yesterday! - that required us to have a carbon monoxide test done, a carbon monoxide detector in our sleeping area - ours was in the basement, near the boiler - and more ventilation to the unfinished portion of our wee basement, which required removing a door between the spaces. (Read more about the regulations here).

We were lucky, we passed the test, and removing the door was a quick fix (armed with pliers cause our hammer is MIA), as was moving the plug-in carbon monoxide detector upstairs. So we got our pass tag, and, other than the inspection fee, the whole thing was pretty painless. Here's hoping that once we get our annual cleaning out of the way, we'll be done with service calls for a while!

This new homeowner's trying to stay afloat

Buying a new home is exciting. So's decorating it. Even moving, while stressful and messy, also comes with a fun sense of anticipation.

But, once the dust settles, there's also an awful lot of work to do. Always. With winter coming, the eaves troughs need cleaning, the lawn needs its final mowing and the roof could use a bit of patching. We also need to buy shovels before the white stuff hits.

And that's on top of the other stuff on our to-do list, like finishing the painting, hanging artwork, installing more shelving units in closets and getting the guest room ready for holiday guests.

Plus, there's all that 'regular' stuff, like cleaning and cooking that really ought to happen.

So, at any given moment, I feel like there's at least a dozen things I should be doing, taking precedence over the things I'd like to do. Mopping the floors or washing dishes will always trump the creative fireplace makeover that I'm dreaming of, or even catching up on some TV. 

And, then there's the unexpected stuff, like our water heater turning our basement into a wading pool earlier this week.

So, this week, this new homeowner is feeling a little bit overwhelmed. OK, really overwhelmed.

But even with my anxiety over everything that needs doing, I still couldn't help but get a little inspired by today's Home Improvements special section, which includes how to figure out the return on your renos, how to green your projects and getting your furnace ready for heating season.

How am I ever going to whittle down my to do list if I keep adding projects? Guess I'll just have to buckle down, keep plugging away, and learn to accept that owning a home means that nothing is ever truly finished.