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Old and Dirty

(Sung to the tune of White and Nerdy, which Justin abnormally loves...)

So, who's old and dirty?

This guy is!

One of the simple updates that we finally got around to was this discusting light fixture above the stove in the kitchen.

LOOK at all of that grease (and bug poop?!) caked on that sucker. Disgusting. You can obviously tell that the family that rented this house from us did not enjoy cleaning.

So after much procrastination, I finally got it cleaned up and made a few updates.

Justin took the fixture down and left the cleaning up to me (how nice of him, huh?). With a lot of elbow grease, I got the grime and grease off the fixtures. The scrubbing clean of these babies took well over an hour. I mean, they were bad.  Here's a scrubbed fixture next to a non-scrubbed fixture to show you the difference.

Whaaaat? Ew.

So after a good cleaning, I decided to spray paint the entire system white to match with our color scheme. Since I already had a can of white spray paint laying around the house, this was a "free" upgrade.

I also decided to add a bit of color to the light fixtures, so painted the once black edging in a bright blue/mint to "match" with the living & dining room.

While it doesn't match perfectly with the living/dining room, it was another can of spray paint I had laying around the house. So close enough is good enough for me!

And here's the final product.

Big improvement, right? Now I don't have to fear grease dripping off the light fixture onto my forehead. (The grease on our ceiling is another story though.... I guess I'll have to scrub that off soon too.)

bathroom hooks

1 /  2  /  3  / 4

One thing that I have left to the very end of the washroom reno to choose has been the hooks. I'm not a very modern person with design but the washroom has really turned out to be a pretty modern washroom - Aubrey feels that the hooks should reflect the modern design, whereas my heart always goes to the traditional styles. So I'm struggling with what choice to make for the hooks the washroom. (I appreciate without seeing the washroom in full it's hard for you to comment) but I thought the choices we did see, may be nice for someone else designing a washroom. So my dilemma is that I'm trying to figure out if I should stick with a modern hook like the rest of the washroom, or, if I can go with a traditional hook like No. 2 above.

I went to Upper Canada Specialty Hardware yesterday and found these from Emtek. I REALLY love the two "prongs" as it will surely make hanging towels nicer. (Choice #1 in the mashup above)

But then we were at Lowes last night I spotted this Allen + Roth line, and fell madly in love because it was both polished nickle and traditional. (I've shown it in a chrome finish in my mashup above, because I don't think we can do polished nickle in our washroom. So sad) Aubrey feels that it's much too traditional and after sleeping on it, I tend to agree.

Anyhow - we actually purchased this set above (no. 3) - but I'm not sure I love it. So I think it's going back. Truthfully if we're going for modern, the set from Upper Canada Hardware (No. 1) is about $10 more dollars more a piece, but I know the quality is amazing and I still really like the two prongs.

So in the process of writing this post I think I've come to the conclusion I like #1. Wait. Maybe not. I'm not sure. Ugh. I think I need to hold them up in the washroom and make a decision.

Dining Room Progress

Hi friends (and family...)

Last week, I shared some progress photos of our Living Room which you can see here. Since this is the room that we spend most of our time in, it's the room that's gotten the most love and attention since we moved back into the house in September.

And since our Living Room and Dining Room are essentially one space, I figured I'd better share that with you too!

Here's a pretty good before & after shot. The before shot is from when we lived in the house the first time around (4+ years ago). So while it's still our furniture and the same basic idea, it looks much different with a fresh coat of paint and some pink accents.

I must say, I'm pretty happy with the color scheme that we I went with.  Much like with the living room, it really brightens the space up in a fun way (that's not white!)

So what do you think? Are you a fan on the progress we've made in the dining room? We've got more to go, but we're getting there!

progress on the bathroom reno

We're making progress on the washroom! The floor tile is in and grouted, the walls have been painted, and Aubrey is setting up the shower today - possibly even the vanity. It has taken us way longer than we anticipated but we've also made a point to enjoy our summer - throwing BBQ's, going to the cottage, taking a day off here or there when we need a break. Excited to show you more "reveal" photos soon. But I'm even more excited to have a BATH.

Ps.,  I'll be doing a shopping guide at the end so if you want to know exact wall colours or where we bought things I'll list everything in the room. In the meantime....you can go through some of the washroom posts you can see where things came from.

The DIY'ers and an outdoor weekend

Happy Monday and welcome to The DIY'ers!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Hubby & I took the weekend off of DIY'ing, and instead spent the entire weekend outdoors!

Between our training run, a long bike ride to the lake and our beer/froyo on the beach, we had a pretty relaxing (yet active!) weekend. 

But now it's time to get DIY'ing!

We had some great link-ups last week, and here are a few of my favorites!

Decorate my Life shared how to paint cabinets - in chalk paint!

The Princess & Her Cowboys share a monogram letter

The Questionable Homesteader shares her DIY Entertainment Center

And now it's your turn! 

<a href="http://homecomingmn.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20DIY%27ers" target="_blank" title="Running on Happiness"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8096/8492982155_c22507aecc_t.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="The DIY'ers" /></a> />

The Rules? They're simple!

1. Take a picture of your DIY and link it up below. 
2. Text link back to Home Coming or pick up The DIY'ers button from the left sidebar and include it in your post so others can get involved in The DIY'ers.
3. Become a follower of Home Coming. I'd love to have you! 

loot bag idea

Oscar went to his friend Colin's birthday party and this was the loot bag. A little shovel + gummy worms (and some mini M&M's) GENIUS. This needed its own blog post. :) Ps., Aubrey and I may have eaten a few worms after Oscar went to bed. Ooops.

DHA KARACHI VII 3D FRONT ELEVATION + SWIMMING POOL + LANDSCAPING

DIY Weekend Projects

 I'm planning a pretty low-key and relaxing weekend, so while I likely won't be doing any DIY'ing this weekend, there's plenty that could be done! Check out these two projects. They both seem pretty simple to recreate - and could definately be DIY'ed in just a weekend!

Good Morning Gorgeous Pillows  // While these are for sale on etsy (and completely adorable), I feel like they'd be a pretty simple DIY assuming you have beautiful handwriting. Which I do not...

DIY Lacquered Tray // First off, this is my new favorite blog. She's AMAZING. Second, this is a really simple DIY that I'm definitely going to be doing myself soon.

bits + pieces

Happy Friday. Here are a few things to end the week. Ps., The bathroom is ALMOST done and I promise to post more pictures next week.

• My brother snapped this amazing picture of the moon. I love it so much and I'm considering enlarging it for our home. Although i love it for the beauty of the shot, it also makes me happy because it makes me think of my Dad because of his love of astronomy and his skill at photography. Something my brother has obviously inherited from him. 
• This metal pot I found in cottage country almost didn't come home with me for the fear of it being tacky - but now that it is in my home I'm smitten. (As shown on Instagram)
• I'm going to be posting my little white desk for sale in the upcoming week on Kijiji or Craigslist but if any Toronto folks want it then shoot me an e-mail to aubreyandlindsay@hotmail.com. We had to make room for Oscar's toys so although I love this, we needed to rearrange some things in our house. Ps., Just make me an offer. :) 

Happy Friday! xo Lindsay

Photo credit: Peter Stephenson

Rayures... en 3D

Via Coco Lapine, j'ai trouvé ces images 3D faites par ATdesign, un groupe d'architectes vietnamiens. Leur dernier projet était de créer un intérieur au style scandinave. Plutôt réussi je trouve!
D'ailleurs, je vous ai déjà dit que j'ai un faible pour les rayures, surtout en noir&blanc..?

Via Coco Lapine I found these 3D pictures made by ATdesign, a group of Vietnamese architects. Their latest project was to create an interior in Scandinavian style. Pretty nice result I think!
Also, did I tell you already that I have a soft spot for stripes, especially in black&white..?

Wonderful, beautiful (and cheap!) barstools

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I stumbled across these beautiful, yellow bar stools at Target last week.

I was wandering through the store on my lunch break and literally stopped dead in my tracks. Whhhaaat???  I had NO idea that Target carried such hip, funky home goods.

I've been searching for the metal finish of these bar stools for months. While I found plenty of options out there, they were all over $100 per stool. I couldn't justify spending that much on bar stools,  especially since I didn't know how much I would actually use them.

But then these beauties came into my life at only $99 for the set.  And I can't believe how much they cheer up the place. Check out the before picture.

And the after picture!

I'm in love.

What do you think? Worth the $99?

Living Room Progress

I feel like we've come a long way since moving back into our house in October. Walls have been torn down. Carpet has been installed. Furniture has been purchased. And coffee tables, curtains, and more have been DIY'ed.

The room that has received the most love and attention is our living room - which makes sense since this is where we spend the most of our time!

Since we've done soooo much in the last 10 months, I wanted to share our progress.

Stage 1: Our living room pre-rennovation. (2006 - Oct 2012)

Stage 2: Tear down those walls!! (October 2012)

Stage 3: Introducing my new living room color scheme (mint!), but holding down the fort with the old furniture. (November 2013)

Stage 4: New furniture and DIY'ed accents!

Can you believe how different the room looks?!? It's so much brighter, happier, and of course much more open.

I'm only a few elements away from my final vision for this room. Area rug, TV stand,  bookshelf/side table and a couple of odds & ends are all I have left! 

Here's a recap of our Living Room to-do list:

Install board & batten or chair rail
Install hooks next to front door for a make-shift "mud room"
Paint interior of front door to match with color palette
Update trim
Crown molding? 
Tear down wall for one, big living/dining space
        Fix flooring
        Sheetrock connecting walls
        Rewire electrical
        Move heating vents
        Paint the room one color
Fix storage closet door so it stays on the track
Paint frames & artwork to match color palette
Make/paint a big letter J for above TV
Sand & re-stain the TV stand to match color palette
Paint leather entertainment boxes to match color palette
Buy or Make:
        Couch
        Coffee Table
        Side Chairs
        End Table
        Area Rug
        Curtains