For all those that love to clean...

One thing about me is that I'm a sucker for cleaning gizmos. I  love hearing peoples cleaning tricks, and love tyring new cleaning supplies.  A friend in the neighbourhood was telling me she rents a carpet cleaning machine for $30 from Canadian Tire for 24 hours and she cleans her carpets and upholstery. I stopped in my tracks. $30? A carpet cleaner? It was like I had won the lottery.




Helloooo Gorgeous!

  

I said should she ever want to rent it again, to let me know and I'd split the cost. The next day she dropped off the rented cleaner ($15 from me, $15 from her) and I got to play with this awesome thing I had just found out existed.

 She showed me how to use it, as well as brought over some Oxy Clean from her house, as she had also talked about how awesome it was.  (1) Is the carpet cleaner (2) Jug of warm water (I used 3 jugs) and (3) Some of the Oxy Clean mixed into the water

 You put the water in the machine and go to town. The vacuum head part sprays out the water and sucks at the same time as you pull on a lever. Let go of the lever and it just sucks, so you can go back over damp areas.

Ok, so I failed at taking action shots. It would have been messy. But pretend you are vacuuming. That's exactly how this thing works.

And now here is a picture I look for the "after" shot.



And look at what came out of our bedroom carpet!!!  Uck. Sooo gross. And I vacuum one a week, if not more. I consider our bedroom super clean, so to see this shocked me.

Although it is hard to tell, our carpet in our bedroom is almost feeling brand new. Aubrey came home and could tell the difference. And coming to bed tonight, well, I felt a little like the whole room was new because of an awesome carpet cleaning.

Even though it's inexpensive to rent, she mentioned I shouldn't do a carpet cleaning more than once a year really as it can damage the carpet. I guess it's like Christmas...Wait patiently for the one day a year! ;)

Ps., I also washed the glider in our nursery, the carpet in the nursery, area rugs on the first floor....I would have washed the cat would she have allowed me! (Kidding)

Turning The Page

I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year!!! I hope 2010 was all you had hoped for and 2011 is even better. Thank you for reading H&H, you mean the world to me!!!

xx,

Marianne

{ Eye Candy }

We're away on a mini vaca ~

So, while away enjoy these random images I've saved for some time now.

{ Happy New Year }

*all from Cottage Living*

hope your all staying warm and cozy

On Christmas my true love gave to me....

Kaleidoscope Ribbon Necklace from Aubrey. It is so beautiful....Perfect for New Years Eve!

I'd like to pick up a second necklace for my Mom but they don't ship to Canada...Ughh. Any US friends out there with a PalPal account (so I can pay you) that would like to buy it + I can send you the money? Free print as my thanks!
UPDATE---I think it's all good folks...someone is an angel and e-mailed me...

Canadian Artist, William Kurelek

I was captivated when I saw the cover of the Special Holiday Section of The Globe and Mail over the Christmas weekend. I'm slightly embarrassed that even with all my Art History background his name, William Kurelek, didn't seem familiar as he's quite the accomplished Canadian Artist. As I've done in the past, I like to showcase artists I love, especially Canadian Artists. So it is fitting that I introduce his work.

After some digging I found the following two paintings that I also fell in love with. When I read the titles I was surprised when I saw the street name Balsam Avenue.  Balsam Avenue is right down the street from us.

(LEFT) WILLIAM KURELEK, CHILDREN PLAYING IN A SNOWBANK BALSAM AVENUE AFTER HEAVY Found here
(RIGHT) William Kurelek Balsam Avenue After Heavy Snowfall 1972 Courtesy of Joyner Waddington’s Canadian Fine Art found here

I Googled some more and found some references. Turns out Kurelek lived on Balsam Avenue with his family, and the painting on the right depicts Kurelek and his Family on their street after a heavy snowfall. Toronto Star, November 26, 2008 and Joyner Canadian Fine Art

For those of you not familiar with the Toronto Beach area, we have steep streets going towards the water. From Kingston Road to Queen Street,  the streets are so steep, I wouldn't even attempt to walk it in the winter. Kurelek captured this in his painting - see the three men helping the car up the road?  

And so I started to try to actually locate where he may have stood for his starting point of the painting. Two factors lead me to believe I could figure it out - The Bend in the street, and the red building that looks like a school. But the red building in the background, I can't locate anywhere on Balsam Avenue.  On Beech Avenue (2 streets over) this is the only thing I can come up with. 

I wonder if he used some creative freedom with the placement of the buildings in his painting? The hunt continues on to see if I can figure out where his vantage point was. At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this introduction to William Kurelek!

Top Ten Tutorials for 2010

Since we are heading into 2011, I thought I would take this opportunity to recap the

Top Ten Tutorials

on The Cottage Home this past year.

1. Turkey Shirt Tutorial

2. Fabric Pumpkin Tutorial

3. Reusable Coffee Sleeve Tutorial

4. Ruffled Pillowcase Tutorial

5. Laptop Sleeve Tutorial

6. Ruffle Bonnet Tutorial

7. Embellished Hooded Towel Tutorial

 8. Fabric Lid Jar Tutorial

9. T-Shirt Shrug Tutorial

 10. Mason Jar Pin Cushion Tutorial

Thanks so much for reading The Cottage Home in 2010.  Looking forward to a wonderful and exciting 2011! 

Happy New Year!

Art In Motion

Chanel Spring 2011 Show- It is visual stunning and inspiring, especially the aerial views of the whole "runway". Hope you enjoy...

The second part is probably better and shorter for those who don't want to sit through Part I...
Karl, you are a creative genius.

Time to grab Christmas Ornaments

I'm not a huge Boxing week person. Truthfully I'm tiered of stores and shopping by the time it rolls around. However, it IS the best time to pick up ornaments as they are usually 50% off.

I picked up these two ornaments today at Nesters/Chalet on Queen. Our tree has a underlying bird theme so whenever I spot a bird I like I tend to grab it. The bird was actually glued onto a box, but I sliced the nest off the box to make it a super cute tree ornament. And the sheep - well, he was too cute not to grab (although not sure he is all that Christmasy?) But he was marked 50% off in the Holiday section.

Since I only usually buy special ornaments that jump out at me, we will take awhile to have a full tree decorated, but it means that all that is on the tree is loved and cherished. Anyone else grab some ornaments on sale? I think *most* of mine have always been end of season purchases.

Capiz Lotus Candle Holders

Love these. Capiz Lotus Votive candle holders $16 each via Furbish Studio

Reminds me of Jen's chandelier in her Master Bedroom!

Dining Room, Before, During & Now

The picture of our dining room in our last post it is actually is an "after" shot when you consider what we started with. So although we want to add moulding to this room, this room has been worked on. Here are some photos to bring everyone up to speed.

To keep the changes consistent I'm showing pictures all facing the same way, although at the bottom I'll show you more changes that are visible when looking towards the front of the house.

Above, this is a photo from when we did a walk through of the house right after buying. Notice the plate rail up top? Wasn't a fan.

We removed the plate rail, and the lighting fixture.

All of the floors came up (throughout the whole first floor) and the whole wall had to be re-drywalled. This was by far the worst part of the reno for me. I hated the sound of the nails that we had to remove from the floor.
The above picture is actually quite significant --- During the month of renovations,  I got home (we were still living in our apartment) and uploaded my photos from the reno. A few days later I was showing someone this photo I  noticed that we had totally forgotten to remove the plate rail from behind the door (because the door was always open) Oops! We had to have the plaster guys come back to touch it up.

Now, a view from the other way - looking at our Living Room...

The entryway from the Dining Room to the Living Room had some weird curly cue detailing. First thing we did was smash those out and we squared off the entryway. (See below) You can see Aubrey in the background removing the ceiling in the Living Room. We also had a faux fireplace that I tore down.

The entrance way to the Living room was slightly enlarged when the curved entryway was changed to a square. Some people asked why we didn't make the house all open concept. We actually didn't do that on purpose - I liked the traditional feel of the house, with separate rooms. It's why I fell in love with the house.  And I grew up always having important Family Dinners in a Dining Room, and so I wanted to have the same for our Family.
Which brings us to this photo, current day of the Dining Room.

Aubrey matched the trim from the rest of the house for the entryway to the Living Room which is why it looks original. So there you go! That brings us to today, and now trying to add some more detail to this room.

Three's A Crowd

LOVE this room with not one but 3 ottomans....The rest of the house is great too, definitely a breath of fresh air. The fretwork in the other rooms is amazing, be sure to check it out. I was going to only post the ottoman picture but I had to include these as well.
For more images of this house by Thomas Hamel go to House Beautiful

Felted I-Pod Cozy Tutorial

I wanted to share this post with you last week, but seeing as though this was a Christmas gift for my hubby, I had to hold off.  This I-pod cozy is made from the end of the sleeve of a felted wool sweater.  You can alter this tutorial to fit any kid of small electronic device - I-pod, I-phone, or use the entire body of the sweater and make one for your I-pad or Kindle.

This present was given to my husband from his two little girls - the gift tag said "Dad, you rock!"

Felted I-Pod Cozy

Supplies:

1 felted wool sweater sleeve (click HERE to learn how to felt)

1 button

1 elastic hair-tie

Sewing machine or hand-sewing needle

Thread

Directions:

Place the I-pod (or other electronic device) inside the felted wool sweater sleeve to measure for size.  Cut the end of the sleeve, leaving an additional 1/2" to allow for the seam allowance.

Turn the cuff right-sides together and stitch the bottom (raw end) closed (machine or by hand).  If you need to make the sleeve tighter, you can also sew down one of the sides and use whatever seam allowance you need to fit the electronic device you are using.  Cut the corners at a diagonal - be careful not to cut the stitching.  Turn right-side out.

Stitch the button, by hand, to the wool cuff.  Then sew the elastic hair tie as well.  Check for button placement by placing your I-pod inside the sleeve.  You want the elastic to stretch a little bit.

 Now your I-pod is nice and cozy!