RENTAL HOUSE: OUR FRESH & BRIGHT DIY BOOKSHELVES!

It’s done! It’s a super simple design, but this DIY bookshelf in our rental house is finished and functional! Just inside the main floor back door and around the corner from the new ‘school at home room’ (reveal coming soon!), we now have a functional, fresh and bright place to store a good chunk of our children’s books!

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If you’ve been following the blog for awhile, you’ll know that I LOVE kids books. However, I truly don’t love how much space they take to store! They seem to make their way into every room in our house. I was determined to find an area that could store more books and act as the key area we keep the books (the kids still have a few faves in their own rooms).

Let’s go back to where we started. Below left is what this exact spot looked like when we moved in! Because it sits next to an exterior door (which you can see on the right of the photo), we quickly hung simple hooks and put a shoe rack underneath. As you can imagine, this area became a hoarding spot for all things dirty and messy very, very quickly. Just a few weeks ago, we created this super simple bookshelf. You can see in the picture on the right how it looked before we added two more coats of white paint.

I wanted to create a fresh place to store a decent number of books for the kids and provide them with an extra spot to plop down with a good book. It helps that this area is right next to the room that we are currently using as the school at home room so that someone can go and sit and read when they are not feeling like doing ‘work’.

The remainder is all styling! I wanted the top shelf to feel pretty and also store a few fun things, like the terrarium and my new watering can, which I love. I also popped this typography print up there to remind me throughout the day that whatever happens through this pandemic, the kids are alright. We hope! Ha. The wall sconce adds impact and functionality so that even on dark winter days, it’s still a well-lit area to read a book.

This extra large basket is a necessity for storing shoes that are not in season. I love that it has a lid to keep the look streamlined while adding extra texture to these plain white bookshelves.

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KASE'S BASEMENT MEDIA ROOM TURNED PLAYROOM REVEAL!

Don’t mind if we take a week off revealing our rental house to reveal a new client media room turned playroom! This playroom was destined to be cool from the start and I am beyond excited to be able to share it with you all now.

My brief was to create a mini-man cave, with enough storage to house toys, crafts, a TV area, a snack bar (gasp!) and a twin bed turned train/play table for a 5 year old boy to live out his days. What a dream! I could see the vision for this one right away and knew it needed to have bold wallpaper and a practical / bold rug to match.

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As it is a media room, lighting was a big consideration and a blue led strip light was changed to create a completely different atmosphere. There are also no windows in this space, which meant we had four entire walls to decorate.

Organization and storage were high on the list, so I chose this sturdy and large unit to house lots of toys, legos and a big train set (along with dozens of other toys). I love how spacious this storage system is, and we changed the handles to tie in with the rest of the room. You can see the twin bed turned Lego / train table above and it is one of the best DIY tables I’ve seen!

The bold wallpaper that my client went for is by Rebecca Atwood. Her wallpapers are beyond special and this one makes such a big impact! The giant wall world map is by Gathre.

On the other side of the room, there’s a TV and lounge area. These beanbag chairs are beyond kid-friendly and perfect for Mom or Dad too! The bold PLAY letters are from Restoration Hardware.

One of the most exciting parts of this space is the snack area. A mini fridge for easy-to-grab drinks and a microwave for convenient movie popcorn! Snacks are kept below and are perfect for playdates and family movie nights. In the corner, the play table works double duty as a place to eat and also a place for arts and crafts. We added the pendant light to help define this area and I love how the small gallery wall pulls the whole corner together.

This playroom was an absolute joy to create. Thank you for stopping by!

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RENTAL HOUSE: OUR TWIN GIRLS' SHARED ROOM!

Well, here we are…the second room reveal of the rental house!!! If you caught the before photo in last week’s post of this space, you’ll remember that one twin wasn’t too thrilled about moving into that room. I’m happy to report that with a little re-decoration, both girls now love this space!

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What started with a super basic room (and still is) has turned into a pretty and fresh space for my sweet girlies to make their own memories in. As with so many before and afters, a fresh coat of paint was a big help. I hesitated in sharing this room because the beds didn’t feel right. We have had these Ikea wood beds for a while now, waiting until we move into a permanent house where we could transition the girls into bigger, more substantial beds. It didn’t seem worth buying interim ones for this rental house, so we just painted them white and kept them as is. The pictures in the frames have been swapped out a few times, but the girls love these forest animals, so this is where we’ve landed for now.

After a full coat of paint, then adding a wall of wallpaper, the focus turned to finding enough space for a little storage. This dresser is more traditional than my typical style, but it was the exact fit for a functional side table and clothes keeper between the beds. I just love how the simple round mirror pulls the big wall together. The sweetest little lamb and bunny are from Cuddle + Kind, one of my favourite Canadian companies, who donate 10 meals to kids in need for every doll purchased.

You might have spotted these bookshelves before in the post about how to style your kids’ shelves. I still love the simplicity of these white metal shelves and recommend them for storing books and pretty things anywhere in your house.

In this next photo, you can see the window side of the room. This is South facing and lets in a lot of light! While I typically wouldn’t add custom shades to a rental, it was an absolute need to have blackout for this window. I just LOVE how these turned out and really feel that this fabric gives the space a little bit of a special feel. They are from Tonic Living, who were a joy to work with. You can also find the rug here.

The wood dollhouse is on my gift list each year and has been a firm favourite with our girls for a few years now. It is a big hit with play dates and I’m always amazed by how long our two girls play with it independently. The hooks are old from Anthropologie and the purses are from a trip to Australia. Above right are my sweet girls who I am so lucky to have been able to decorate this room for! Credit for this image goes to my patient husband who took the kids out of the house during quarantine so that I could shoot the room and then came back and snapped this photo for us.

In case anyone thought that their room looks like this all the time, please know that a styled shoot is just that! The second they walked in the door, the girls were up and jumping on their beds as usual and soon enough, the trinkets will be back on their dresser and shelves. After all, pretty spaces become even more beautiful when they are lived in and loved.

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RENTAL HOUSE: XAVIER’S ROOM

INTRODUCING: OUR RENTAL HOUSE!

Big sigh. Okay. Sharing our rental house has been a looong time coming, mainly because, well…I don’t feel it’s ‘professional’ enough. It’s definitely not my usual type of work, but since last October, home has come to front of mind as an even more important place for our family. When my brother-in-law passed away, the only place we all wanted to be was at home; safe and comfortable with the people we love most and it reminded me of the real importance of our homes in good times and especially bad. That wherever we are, making it feel cosy and safe are truly all that matters.

Fast forward a few months and here we ALL are…spending more time (than we possibly ever wanted to!) at home amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This feels like the perfect time to share what our rental house looks like, and the progress and transformation of this place we now call home.

Xavier’s Room

FACT: our rental house is hardly my dream house. That being said, I am IMMENSELY grateful, especially right now, that we have a house and a small yard to live in. We are insanely fortunate and I understand that. We were hopeful to be in this house for only a year (looking to buy) and I could see that with some simple changes, this house could become a place we call home for the time we spend here. We are now going to be here a little (or a lot longer)…

The extra time we are spending at home has really refreshed the ‘why’. Why I love to create special spaces, why I want to inspire organized, intentional living, why I love adventures (even creating them at home) with my family and why I want to continue building memories for our kiddos; whether it be through making our home happy or creating beautiful spaces for others and yes, of course, sharing everyday moments that I hope they will fondly remember. This is our life and we only have one shot to make it all we ever dreamed of!

So, in the spirit of sharing more of the real stuff this year…I’m starting with the before’s of this house and will gradually be sharing the afters along with some of the process along the way. The only room I’ve shared so far is Xavier’s bunk room (above) and it’s the only one in the house that is completely done (until now!).

So, here’s to sharing progress on this house (with you along for the ride!) because there is simply no time to wait for perfection. Now is the time to enjoy making memories wherever we are (#dontwait)!

Are you ready? The before’s are unlike anything you’ve seen here before.

Let’s start in the room that made me think there was possibility in this house…the living room! This living room has beautiful original windows and I was able to peel back the carpet to see that original hardwood sits right underneath. One tick in the right direction. That fireplace is a serious eyesore and the curtains make the ceilings appear so much lower than they need to. Hopefully this can all be changed.

Next up, the dining room. Good light (especially with the one working light bulb, ha!), a messy floor plan but liveable and will fit our dining table (we eat every meal at home at our table). Downside is that there are four (yes, 4!) entries to this room…which is obviously less than ideal, but we can deal with that. It will work.

The girls’ room (below left). You can visible see how optimistic one is and how deeply peeved the other one is. Eek. I kinda love this photo. None of us were super excited to move from our old house, but I know the end result will be worth the wait (next house a dream home I hope!) and in the meantime, we’ll make the very best of the basic room that this is. This is the next room that I’ll be sharing here on the blog, coming next week.

Okay…so, a few changes are in progress in the room pictured top right. I don’t even know what to call it. It is warped (floors, ceiling, walls) and just the most bizarre random extension but I can’t help to see its’ potential!!! It’s south facing (where that epic sailor wheel is) and east facing (where the other windows are) so gets a lot of morning light. This room has seen a lot of changes, from my happy office, to now the new school room (in an absolutely thrown together way) . Since the kids are all off school, we have had to transition this space into a room that they can be happy and productive in, especially in the mornings when they do the most of their school work.

I’m not going to lie, I really can’t believe I’m about to share these next rooms on my blog. I have NEVER shared spaces as rough as this, but hey…do you see what I see?

If you are new around here, you may not know that we had a kids’ art space in our last house and it was one of the most used rooms in the entire house. Our kids love to create art and I am determined to turn this basement space into something that resembles a fun art room.

On the right…the bathroom. Yup, this is it. When my husband saw this room, he simply declared, “we can’t live here”. But trust me with this - it won’t be a GREAT bathroom, but I am sure it can be clean and functional.

Below is ‘the laundry room’. Basically a basement dungeon, right? Stick with me. There is some odd film on the windows and I know paint will make this presentable, but still…not sure I can make this into blog material. Let’s see.

This little spot needed to become something. When we first moved in, we hung some hooks and it became a collection area for coats, shoes and generally everything! It was a mess. I can see it as a little book nook so will work on that!

Over the coming weeks, I will share how things are going and the updates to this house here on the blog. If you want to follow along with some of the behind the scenes, come follow me on Instagram under the hashtag #winterdaisyrentalhouse for even more fun!

XAVIER'S SUSTAINABLE 7TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

It’s been a LONG time since we’ve shared a birthday party here, but given we are all practicing social distancing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic right now, I thought it might be fun to share a happy moment from our last home gathering for, quite possible, a very long time.

Xavier (our youngest) turned 7 and we celebrated with a small gathering at home. I wanted to create a party that was memorable and used as much sustainable decor as possible and I think we achieved both!

These giant leaves were from Our Little Flower Company and provided huge impact for the table backdrop. The garland is made from a giant roll of brown kraft paper and is recyclable.

You may have seen our letter board before (here) and we love using it for so many occasions. Xavier really wanted a turtle cake and although cake making is definitely not a strong suit over here, we made one and he was thrilled.

Xavier’s friends joined for the party and we had Animal Safari Rescue Centre come with some of their rescue animals to show the kids. It was an absolute hit and the kids learned all sorts of facts about the animals.

At the end of the party, little bags with National Geographic readers went home with the kids as well as these super cute animal stickers. A great day before the social distancing started. Happy 7th Birthday Xavier!