When I started writing my blog back in January I struggled to come up with a name for it. I didn't want something too simple like 'Michelle's Blog' (besides – this was taken), and wanted something that subtly indicated what my blog would be about. I read quite a few blogs and they all have great names that reference what they're about, and are usually something a little catchy and easy to remember like StyleNorth, The Art of Doing Stuff and Bye bye, Brooklyn. 

After much trial and error I came up with Sweetsuite10, and here’s why:

So, that’s the name I picked, and it’s great, but I’ve recently started having second thoughts as to the wisdom of my name choice. While the name sweetsuite10 is a good fit now, what happens in the future? What if down the road I move and no longer live in an apartment? Or my unit number is no longer 10?  If, for example, I was to move into a house that was number 59, would you think Sweetsuite10 was still a good fit for a blog where I’m basically write about my efforts to decorate it? (Before anyone freaks – no, I don’t have any plans to move in the near future – I’m thinking about down the road – like any good Girl Scout I’d like to be prepared).

Anyways, I though I’d put the question out there and see what everyone thinks – should I plan on keeping the name even if in future it no longer references where I’m living and decorating? Or, should I start moving towards a name change? If I do decide to change my blog name what should it be? I’m open to suggestions as given the difficulties I had coming up with my current name, any attempt to come up with another is bound to be even more arduous. So, please leave me a comment or send me an email at sweetsuite10(at)gmail(dot)com to let me know what you think – any input would be appreciated!

Earlier this year I was exploring the aisles of my local Dollarama when I came across some rather interesting garden decorations in the form of lions. I liked the shape of them, but since I don't have a garden where they could sit proudly amongst the flowers I left them where they sat on the shelf. On my way home from the store I had what I consider a rather brilliant idea, and a day later returned and purchased two.

My first step was to fill my garden statues with the river rock that I also got at Dollarama.

Once all the rock was inside I discovered that the rocks moved around a bit if I moved the lion, so I used paper towel to fill in some of the gaps and reduce movement. I sealed up the hole on the bottom of the lion with some thin cardboard from a box of frozen pizza.

Next up was painting. I decided that spray paint would be the easiest to apply. I mounted the lion on the painters pyramids I used during my first spray painting project. This allowed me to easily spray around the base of the lions. I did three coats of glossy white spray paint, letting it dry completely between coats.

The last step was to glue some white felt to the base of the bookends. This serves two purposes - it covers the unsightly cardboard, and it will also protect any surface I place the bookends on. I traced the base of the lions and then cut inside my pen mark to get pieces of felt that were slightly smaller than the base. I affixed it to the bottom of the lions with my glue gun.

I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the way that these turned out.

As part of my ongoing quest to turn my condo into a home, I've embarked on the most thrilling of tasks - to rid my home of the overhead lights that were here when I moved in (I need to get out more).

The light in my bedroom was a dreaded 'Boob light', and I quickly replaced it with the halogen lamp that I removed from my dining room (it was removed during phase one of the dining room redecoration which occurred 6 months ago - I have yet to move on to phase two). While the halogen light was better than the boob light, it didn't really convey 'bedroom' - more kitchen. Even though I'm still unsure of the ultimate direction of the decor in my bedroom, I know that making it feel like a kitchen isn't quite what I'm going for.

I have to be honest here. When I initially brought it home and tested it by holding up the shade I though it was too big. I then realised that while it might be a smidge on the large side, it was an excellent price, and more importantly, returning it would require schlepping it back to the store on the bus. The lamp stayed.

After a couple of false starts I managed to install the light without getting electrocuted (or burning down the building - yay me!!), and I think it looks pretty good.

For my birthday last March my aunt J sent me a small antique Limoges mirror that had belonged to my Great Aunt Margaret. I really liked it, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what to do with it - I'm not the type of girl who carries a mirror in her purse, and it was too pretty to be just tossed into my purse where it would disappear to the bottom and probably get damaged. That said - I also didn't want to store it away somewhere where nobody could admire it. 

After some fruitless searching at all the big box stores (and some little box ones as well), I finally found what I was looking for in a thrift store. My new frame cost $6 which, let's be honest is a little steep for a thrift store, but it was just what I was looking for.

Last weekend, my boyfriend D and I embarked at what we called our 'Epic East coast road trip'. Little did we know how that a small storm by the name of Irene would change our plans. Our original plan was to spend a day in Philadelphia, PA, two days in Virginia Beach, VA, one day in Washington, DC and one in Pittsburgh,PA before heading for home. Obviously given the storm's path our jaunt to the beach was out, so we ended up spending an extra day each in Philadelphia and Washington.

By the time we made it to Pittsburgh, we didn't quite feel like wandering around another city, especially since it didn't have the same famous history as our other two stops. Luckily I had discovered in my searches for things to see on our trip that Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic masterpiece is only about 1.5hrs from Pittsburgh, and completely worth the trip.

There are several different tours available at Fallingwater - a grounds tour, and regular tour where interior photo's are not allowed, and the in-depth tour where you can take interior pictures as long as they remain for personal use.