Pinspiration.

Images that are inspiring us...painted or not.

What's your inspiration today?

DIY Covered Bench.

My friend Nicole donated her old piano bench to The Painted Pear (thank you!).

I was really excited about it because, this bench in particular, presented so many possibilities.....

Would it become a bench in our brand-new reading nook? An end table? A seat at the end of our bed? In our walk-in closet?
I couldn't make up my mind.....Couldn't pick a paint color.

I had Jamie cut a new base for the cushion and fix up the bench joints so it was nice and solid.
And I still couldn't make up my mind.....

Later that week, we were grocery shopping and I found a $5 white jersey knit, super soft t-shirt with a tiny chocolate brown stripe, and I loved it! So cozy and warm, it was begging to become a cushion.

I sprayed the bench a glossy chocolate brown and, with the help of my mother, covered the cushion with the tee.
It's not perfect. Jersey knit is actually a bit too stretchy for upholstering. I think, at some point, it will need to be covered again with a more structured fabric.

But for now, it has somehow become our coffee table, with lots of room underneath for books, magazines and remote controls (oh, and toys! Of course!) and the soft cushy top is being loved up by the little ones.

What could be better than a *bed* right in front of your favorite movie?

Nothing.

Have a Great Week!

The Make-Up Table.

From "forgotten in neighbour's garage" to Fabulous!

Before.

Half-way.

Wah-la!

We really love the color of this piece but I can't quite figure out if I love the color of it in our space......Which means it may get painted again.

Which, Jamie says, is breaking his heart.

But hey! Sometimes, when you take chances, mistakes happen. And then those mistakes need to be fixed.......by Jamie.

Hope your week is a colorful one!

it's nice and sweet.......artwork and unfinished projects.

We thought we'd interrupt our regularly scheduled program to give *snaps* to our resident artist.

He doesn't actually live here, though we wish he did. Then we could work him all hours of the day night. He'd be at our beck and call, we'd chain him to his paintbrush, we'd probably make him cook and clean too......

DJ (Darryl) Berger is a friend, writer, blogger and artist. Over the years, we have slowly filled our walls, piece by piece, with his artwork.
It has become a Christmas tradition, actually. Every year Jamie, or I, gift the other a painting.

Give a Berger, Get a Berger.
That's what we call it.

Here are some pics of the painting I gifted Jamie, this year. It's HUGE and it's in three pieces (a triptych) that will be hung a few inches apart, on one of the walls in our vaulted staircase.

The cities on the caps are places Jamie and I have lived, places where we fell in looooooove.




it's nice and sweet, mixed media on cradled wood panel; 60 x 40 x 1.5 inches; triptych; the string series continues.

You can read more about this piece on Darryl's blog, HERE.

Darryl also needs to be given credit for all of the artwork on this blog. He designed the title banner. He actually designed about 20 different banners for us to use and play around with. We love every single one of them.

We feel really fortunate to have Darryl around. He and I are really different but he puts up with me, typically without too much complaining.

When I have a crazy idea (and I have about 10 of these a week), I'll call/email/Facebook him and say "Hey I was thinking, I want to do *this* and *this* and *this* SO, can you do *this* and *this* and *this* and make it all look fabulous?"

I can tell what he wants to say is:
You're insane.
This will never work.
Please stop calling me.
Have you been drinking? (he actually does say that sometimes...)

What he says is:
Okay.
I have a few ideas.
I'll get back to you.

And then he does, with way more than we'd ever expected.
He's good to have around.

You can check out more of his artwork on my blog Yippie!

Also, just so you know that we are indeed working busily this week, I thought share some of our projects on the go.
Don't let this shock you. It shocked me.

When you live in a reno, you somehow forget about all the things that aren't done.
Until you walk around with a camera looking for them and then *BAM* you realize you're living in a shit storm.
Enjoy!