{blackboards}

Pinterest is both a blessing and a curse.

It's great because there are so many great ideas out there, and Pinterest is the perfect place to find inspiration. It's also a great place to organize the awesome stuff I find on other people's blogs. A place to park my ideas for later when I'm ready to do something with them.

I also like that I can look through my boards on Pinterest and see a common thread. I'm totally drawn to lots of white with black accents. You'll see it on my Pinterest boards, and you'll see it in my home. It's a great way to figure out what your style is.

via Focus Jennie

I love the inspiration. Thanks to Pinterest and the blogs I read, I really want to make a blackboard for the top of my stairs.

I've seen them on Shawni's blog,  Jennie has one too, and Pinterest is full of them.

I know that a lot of people get discouraged by Pinterest - like they aren't ever going to measure up. They feel like they've got to do everything. I don't feel like that at all but I'm beginning to see a problem with Pinterest.

When I find a great idea, it seems like everyone else has already beaten me to it. Which is fine - I don't mind being the last to the party. It's just that when I am, it's really hard to find what I need at the thrift store to make my Pinterest inspiration a reality.

I have wanted to make a blackboard for ages - but do you think I could find anywhere a sufficiently ornate frame with a hideous picture and a low price tag? No way - all the other Pinners have already been to my go-to thrift stores. Nothing for months at MCC, Bibles for Missions and the little thrift store by the railway tracks that always take my donations (unlike the Sally Ann in my town where they go through your trunk and pick what they want and turn their noses up at the rest).

But today on my way to the gym, I dropped in on a thrift store and there it was.

Ornate frame: check
Hideous picture: it could be worse, but I'm not going to feel guilty when I paint over it with blackboard paint
Low price tag: $10 - and when I got to the cash desk, they told me all pictures are 50% off this week.

Woot!

This is where it's going to go (aren't my stairs nice? Quinn and I spent a lot of time staining all that wood).

Oh, let's get a little closer

Next up, I've got to spray the frame and paint the blackboard paint on. I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone and pick a punchy colour, but I have a feeling it'll end up white. Black won't work because it's a blackboard and the frame will blend in too much. A colour is tricky because it will be seen from both upstairs and downstairs. So white it is.

I plan on writing up quotes, little love notes to my kids (especially when Kyle's friends are coming over), scriptures, and birthday messages. Can't wait!

{treasures}

My mother and father-in-law recently downsized from a large farm (15+ acres) with outbuildings to a house in town. Many treasures from their previous home weren't going to fit in the new one so being the incredibly generous people they are, they told their kids to put their names on anything they wanted.

The goodies were delivered recently, and I was pleased to see how perfectly they fit in our home.

I have a thing for turquoise glass, and these old bottles are from a collection belonging to Quinn's dad. The funny shaped clear glass piece by the mirror is a glass insulator from a power line. Random but cool.

I like the insulators so much, I got some turquoise glass ones too. Oh, look - there's the only nice picture we have of Quinn and me. Need to do something about that.

Keeping with the beachy, turquoise thing I've got going in the living room, this watercolor of a Vancouver Island beach is perfect. I love it so much I often find myself standing and staring at it. I need the beach in my life and now I have a beautiful reminder in my living room.

A couple of years ago, my mother-in-law gave me her ironstone collection. She knew how much I loved it and told me that instead of waiting, she wanted me to take it home that day. There was more that didn't fit on the table. I know, that's a lot of ironstone. Aren't I lucky?

When we were renovating, I wanted to be sure to have a special place to display the ironstone, and  designed the dining room with it in mind.

To display the collection, I bought a glass cabinet from a local shop. They only had one and told me that the company had gone out of business. I kicked myself afterwards because I knew that I really needed a second matching display case and now I was stuck with just one. A few weeks later I was standing at the till at my local grocery store, and lo and behold, there was a display case that looked suspiciously like the one I had already bought. Except this one was black.

So I bought it and had them both sprayed in a black lacquer. The white ironstone pops against the black beadboard, and there is glass on three sides so you can see the ironstone as you come down the hall into the dining room. Love. It's one of my favourite things in my house.

This is a fermenting crock used for pickling and making sauerkraut. It's big - about a foot high and ten inches in diameter. It's empty right now, but it would make a pretty awesome cookie jar. Or maybe I'll use it to store my compost scraps. It's in perfect condition and I love the colour.

This piano was an anniversary present from my father-in-law to his wife for their anniversary many, many years ago. Emily and Liam are starting piano lessons in the Fall and now they get to practice on their grandmother's piano. 

The kids each took a special reminder of the farm. Emily was thrilled with her vintage typewriter and has actually handed in homework typed on it. It makes me smile to hear her clacking away on it in her bedroom.

Kyle took home a giant life-size cardboard Darth Vader, Liam has his grandpa's spyglass, and Conner took a bow.

The items are beautiful, but even more special is knowing how lovingly these items were collected by Quinn's parents over the years.

Subway Blind

I love how graphic and punchy old subway and tram blinds are. The white lettering on black really pops. But I didn't fancy spending $300 on one. And I didn't want a random list of places I'd never been before.

Sarah at A Beach Cottage has a beautiful tram blind in her living room.

My friend Becky is a graphic artist at Stick People Press - she replicated the style with my list of places. I had it printed on canvas at Proper Design in Vancouver, and stretched and framed by another art shop.

I love how it turned out, and that there is a story and memories behind each name.