My vignette practice continues.  I have scoured the web, books & magazines for ideas, I am determined to do this better.  A good friend who is a fabulous stylist tells me its about looking at the textures of the objects and creating a textural story.  She believes in me.  I believe I need practice. 

I realise I need:
- several decorative trays in different sizes
- a flat silver bowl that can hold several candles
- some small low bowls 
- many many more vases
- flowers, flowers and more flowers
What worked no. 1 - my little horse
I recently put the little horse netsuke on this little wooden plinth, part of my 2013 drive to display what I have better.  He looks great, you are sure to see him popping up all over the house.
What worked no. 2 - matching the book covers to the painting
For this vignette I matched the book covers to the colours in the painting.  Yes I know its rather obsessive but its what the experts say to do and I like the harmonious look it gives.

The painting in the background is by my mum.  Lucky lucky to have an artist in the family.

All photographs by Eva of BuildHouseHome.

I also realise how you can edit the vignette with photography.  All these images are of the same space, some are zoomed in, or cropped, or taken at different times of day.  Even the colour looks totally different.   Cropping is excellent for removing noise, if I had swung the camera around you would have see the Voice of Reason's very untidy desk.

What do you think?  Constructive criticism welcome.

It seems I published my post on vanities a full day too early because this morning my Mom and I too a trip to Tubs on a whim to look at what they had in stock and I may have fallen in love. Truthfully I wasn't going with much hope - I thought they'd be well out of our budget but at the encouragement of someone via the comments in one of my posts, I decided to go. Well, this visit was a wee bit of a game changer.

Tubs has *the* style of vanity I was getting quotes for from cabinet makers. In the store - in stock, were modern vanities in walnut - and most come with drawers. I snapped a ton of photos and may have flipped about the find. The prices are pretty great, they come with sinks (which means I don't have to go hunting for a sink and counter) and they come in walnut, my favourite look.

Above you can see some that I liked - The top left is out of the running as one drawer isn't enough for our home.  But it is beautiful and reminds me of a hotel. The one on the top right is gorgeous but I really dislike the handles and the handle placement - I asked if we could get the unit without the handles but that wasn't an option. So that's likely out of the running. The one on the bottom left likely is what we'd go with if we decide it's a go - the one you see there is 24" but we'd get it 27" and in walnut. Again, the drawer handles aren't my favourite but we could potentially swap them out. The one on the bottom right is hands down my favourite but has two issues. First it's 2" too big and second of all - it doesn't come with drawers - something I really think we need. But I adore that bottom shelf at the bottom.

Decisions, decisions. This is totally more modern than the rest of our house but it's a look I love, and think it suits a small washroom design. More to come I'm sure over the next few days.

Ps., I'm actually writing this post AT my Mom's house because I'm flipping out so much about the find. :)

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! I finished painting the lower cabinets in our kitchen and I'll share some photos after I install the hardware, but I love the new colour.

Today I'm sharing a quick DIY project from my closet makeover.

I bought this grimy wooden dish at a thrift store for $1. I honestly can't remember when I bought it, other than that it was a long time ago (like several months, maybe a year?). Anyway, I finally got around to painting it so I could use it as a jewellery catch-all. It's such a simple before and after - just some primer and a few coats of craft paint - but I love how it turned out!

A demo date for our main washroom has been set for the beginning of May. I'll move into my Mom's house with Oscar and Aubrey will handle the demo. I asked Aubrey to set a date so I'd feel the push to pick items because without that date on our calendar I was delaying making any design decisions. So we're now finally moving forward.

The first thing on my to-do was/is deciding on the vanity. If you're considering a small washroom reno, or are just interested in the process there's a super long post after the jump. (again, a long post which is why I break these things up sometimes)
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If I had a dollar for every time someone has emailed me about this sign...

I still wouldn't be rich.

But, I would have made a decent chunk of change.

 

I painted a few.

I plan to paint more.

Sometime...

 

 

You can find this lovely gray and white one here.

 

Or this dark brown stained and creamy white one here.

 

And lastly, this rustic, weathered gray and white one here.

Believe it or not, this one is my favorite.

It actually didn't photograph as neat as (I think) it looks in real life.

 

So to celebrate the glorious arrival of Spring and of these new items, I am having a SPRING FLING sale!

Stop by my Etsy Store and pick out something special for yourself or someone dear to you.

 

Enter the code SPRINGFLING when you checkout and get 10% off!

Sale will end on Monday, April 8th.