Photo credit: Sian Richards; Chatelaine

A few months later I was bumbling around the internet and I found the image above. While the foyer is stunning (so bright and open!) it was the rug that drew my eye first. I loved the thick stipes in the vibrant hues. A bit of digging led me to the rug maker - Oliver Yaphe. The hand knotted construction of the rugs made them way too thick to fit under my front door (and the price was way too much for my wallet), but the image gave me a better idea of what I was looking for in terms of pattern and colour for my foyer.

Why do I always decide to start projects late at night?? Why can't I start them on a weekend like a normal person? #nightowl #heregoesnothing #hopethisideaworks #testpotsofpaintarecheap #untilyouhavetobuysixofthem

A post shared by Michelle (@eamonnandjack) on Nov 23, 2016 at 7:17pm PST

And here it is now:
The walls were repaired and painted and then last week I had the Thibaut Etosha wallpaper installed on the wall behind the headboard. In all honesty I was a bit scared before the paper went up given the pattern is so bold, but now that it’s installed I absolutely love it.


If you remember my inspiration board from week one I was inspired for the room by the Neo Toile fabric in navy from Tonic Living. I used it for a pillow on the bed along with a couple of fabrics from Designer Fabrics here in Toronto. They were my first ever attempt at sewing pillows with piping and a zipper (I used this tutorial) – there were some minor goofs, but overall I’m pleased with the result of my late night sewing adventures.

The wall that was bulging and cracked has been repaired and I don’t think anyone would know that a few short weeks ago there was a massive hole between where my dresser and where the Zoe Pawlak print I won now hangs. For a novice drywaller and plasterer I think I did a great job. That said I really don’t want to ever have to do it again.
In addition to the Zoe Pawlak piece I’ve hung the antique Hearth and Home magazine which I had professionally framed, and a print by Mara Minuzzo on either side of the room.

I recovered my headboard in navy velvet, which unfortunately isn’t coming across well in the pictures given the lack of natural light (stupid daylight savings). I also applied brass nailhead detail around the edge to balance the brass of the pulls on the bedside tables.


There you have it – challenge completed, and I’m thrilled with the result. What do you think?


As a member of the Para Blog Crew I was provided paint for this project.

I’m writing this at 2:30 on Thursday morning as I literally wait for paint to dry so I can do another coat. This is a pretty good indication of how my week has gone. I left off last week feeling hopeful that I’d get this room finished on time – I had major plans for last weekend – I was going to paint and then work on my headboard, my bedside tables, and then maybe sew a pillow of two. Seven days later and I’m still painting. The other stuff on my list? Ha – they didn’t happen.

On Friday night I painted my walls and was pretty pleased, but the next morning I started to have doubts – was it too yellow? My apartment is tricky – it doesn’t get a whole lot of natural light, and what it does get is late in the afternoon. I thought that perhaps it was trick of the light, so I decided to revisit it later that day. Several hours later and the changing light hadn’t changed my opinion.

Saturday night found me frantically looking through my paint deck trying to find another off-white that wasn’t too yellow, or too blue, or too pink. I honestly didn’t realise how hard it was to pick an off-white - they're all so similar yet so different. On Sunday morning I made the hour long trek via transit to Lowes for some tester pots of paint. After the trip back home to test them out I made a decision and had to take myself back to Lowes to buy a gallon. If you’ve been keeping track that’s 4 hours on the bus for a gallon of paint. Fun times.

My options: (all paints Para) P5211-14 - Shape Shifter, P5213-14 - Posture & Poise, P5215-14 - French Manicure, and P5219-14 - Every Girls Dream

Anyways, a coat of the new colour went up late Sunday night and I was much happier with it. I was apparently overly enthusiastic though when I tried to do a second coat the next evening because I broke the roller. Who knew that was even possible? Anyways, after purchasing a new roller the next day on my lunch break I was able to finally get the second coat up, and tonight I’m taking care of the trim.
Why the late night painting session? I’ve got the wallpaperer coming today (Thursday) and all the painting has to be finished before he can get started. I’m really hoping that after the paper is installed I’ll feel a little less stressed out about getting this room completed.
That said, with only one week left I think it’s time for a to-do list:

• Install wallpaper
• re-upholster headboard
• Bedside tables
• Sew pretty pillows
• Move my furniture back into my bedroom
• Figure out what to do for bedside lamps (What I was going to go is failing miserably so I need a second option)
• Pick up my vintage magazine from the framers, and decide where to hang it.
• Iron and rehang my curtains
• Find accessories and prettiness to dress the bedside tables
• Pull everything together
• Take photos

Yikes! There’s still so much to do. I honestly don’t know if I can do it – keep our fingers crossed for me.

Want some more One Room Challenge inspiration and craziness? Make sure you check out the 20 bloggers doing the one room challenge, and the other One Room Challenge Linking Participants.

I’ve been in LOVE with this tray forever, and if it had been the right size I may have been tempted to buy it for my foyer (but only if it also went on sale). Since the original wasn’t to be I decided to make my own version using my thrift store tray and spray paint I already had on hand.

(Apologies for the bad cell phone picture)

After spraying the tray white I set out to mark off the pattern on the top of the tray using masking tape. I eyeballed the pattern and used a small piece of tape to help with the spacing between the lines.  I did have painters tape on hand, but it was too wide for the scale of my tray so I ended up using the regular masking tape (I use it in class to tape my drawings to the drafting table).
Once the pattern was complete I sprayed the tray top and bottom with gold spray paint, and when it was dry I peeled off the tape and voilà – a gold stripe tray.
There was some bleeding under the tape that more than likely wouldn't have occurred if I’d used painters tape, but I’m honestly not too concerned.
Not bad for $2 right?

Ikea - Skurar Lantern

I bought a white Skurar candle lantern and planned to turn it into a bird feeder. A few more stores over the next few days and I had all the rest of the materials I needed.




I could have cried. There I was, on a Sunday night, and I’d just dropped and smashed the plate I’d just spent over an hour drilling, and I didn’t have a spare. Class was on Tuesday so I had just 24 hours to get another plate and hope and pray that gluing the plate would work as I no longer had any time to come up with an alternate plan.
Thankfully it turns out that two-part epoxy works really well at attaching plastic and ceramic together and my DIY bird feeder ended up looking like I had imagined it would. More importantly my bird feeder was appreciated by my instructor, and I got an 18/20 on the project.

What do you think? Have you ever made a DIY birdfeeder? How did you do it?

I started with some plain glass ball ornaments I bought at Michaels, some plain white paint, and a fine gold sharpie paint pen. The first step is to add some paint to the inside of the ball and swirl it around to make sure the inside is evenly coated. I used a teaspoon to spoon in the paint, but that was rather messy. I might use a turkey baster or something similar if I do this again. Thankfully the dripped paint cleaned off the glass really easily with a damp rag.
I then used an empty egg carton to hold the balls upside down to drain out the extra paint. Once your balls are painted leave them for at least 24 hrs to allow them to dry.
Reattach the balls cap/hanger thingy and you’re ready for the final step. I set up my supplies in front of the TV and did this while watching the Holiday - one of my favourite Christmas movies. All you need to do is draw a pattern on the outside of your glass balls with the paint pen and then wait for the paint to dry. The pen I used was oil based so it took a few minutes to completely dry - be careful when you handle it – you don’t want to smudge your masterpiece.
I decided to use an art-deco inspired scalloped pattern on my balls, but you could draw anything you want. You could also use a couple of different coloured pens to change it up. I debated also using a silver pen, but in the end I liked the gold and white combo, and they worked well with my other white and gold Christmas ornaments from past years.

My Christmas tree for 2013. I replaced some of my painted nutcrackers with the new glass balls.

What do you think? I quite like them, and I'm now imagining all sorts of other pattern and colour combinations to do for next year.

I'm a member of Para Paints blog crew, however this paint was received when I attended Blogpodium. the other supplies were purchased.

The After - My newly repaired wall and ceiling

A new dining room deserves a new light fixture

For an unplanned bonus when lit the string light casts a neat shadow on the walls which makes any small imperfection even harder to see.

I owe a HUGE thanks to my parents for my birthday present - I was going to pay someone a lot of money to fix the problem, but they've reminded me (again) that if you put your mind to it, have a willingness to try something new, some patience and a bit of help, there are a lot of things you can do yourself.
PS - My apologies - an all white room is hard to photograph for a relative novice.