Nursery inspiration

As you may have noted when I put up our house tour... Henry's nursery is in pretty immediate need of a facelift.

When we purchased our home, his nursery was used as an office and had huge shelves on the wall. Joe's brother helped us out by removing them on moving day. Unfortunately, the shelves left their mark.

Nursery before; With shelves

The nursery has definitely been on my mind lately, so I've been looking around online for some inspiration. While I liked our previous nursery, I had painted before I knew Henry was a boy... it was very neutral. While I am still considering a neutral colour, I am also thinking about something with a bit more personality. 

Henry's nursery in our last home

All of that being said, the colour that I have to work with (because of the accents I already have) is orange. While I'm thinking I don't want orange walls, I've been considering the following colour combos:

1. Orange and Mint: I love this combo. It is really nice and bright and would be a colour that I could easily work with, and that would flow really well in our home.

Source

2. Orange and Navy: This would be a little more bold. And a little harder to change later. However, I love it! The only big problem is that I've been considering painting OUR room this colour. 

Source

 3. Orange and Yellow: Our last house, which was painted entirely in yellow when we moved in, gave me a bit of an aversion to yellow paint. This nursery, however, is amazing! I love the yellow here.

Source

I even found this mood board, which has SO many things in common with the items and themes I already have: The rug style, foxes, natural woods. The dresser even looks like Henry's dresser... but in yellow!

Source

I'm starting to feel ready to narrow things down. I will keep you posted on what we decide!

Cottagy Porch Décor

We spent our last week of summer here:

This is the lake at my mum and her partner, Rick's, cottage.
I love being at the cottage. It is so relaxing, and it is amazing living by the lake. Since summer holidays are over, I knew we'd be missing the cottage so I thought I might try to recreate the cottage feeling in the outdoor space at our house: The porch. While we were at the cottage, Joe and I kayaked to the island (on the right side of the photo) to go driftwood hunting. We came back with 3 great pieces. When we got home, one was a clear winner as it perfectly fit the space we had wanted to fill. It didn't even need anything to help it hang on the nail... it just worked! Best of all, we had been wanting something to hang there since we moved in, and this was free!

One problem with our porch, however, is our old wicker chairs. This might be the last season for these babies. To be fair, I have used them for 4 summers (mostly outdoors, uncovered) after scoring them for free off of Kijiji. And the chair pads were a thrifting purchase for a few bucks a piece. Needless to say, they are starting to look pretty sad, and aren't really too comfortable anymore.

So, back to my cottage inspiration. My mum bought these amazing faux-wicker chairs a few years ago at Winners for the covered porch at the cottage. Joe and I would LOVE a comfy style chair like that for our porch, especially considering we have spent most of our down time out there since we moved in. We love it! I think it might need to wait until next summer, though. That is, unless we find something great on clearance! 

Henry at 7 months

Our Henry (aka Henny, Hen, Bubba, cutie pie, etc. etc.) is 7 months old!

This past month has been so much fun with Henry. And busy! We moved into our new place, which took a bit of time to get used to for him. He's finally seeming to feel at home, which is awesome!

As you can see... our move meant that we had to give away our blue couch, so we will be doing his monthly shots on our white one, instead.

We spent this month unpacking, enjoying our new locale and checking out the neighborhood parks, going to the beach, spending time with family and friends and going to the cottage. Henry even attended his first wedding (congrats Andrew and Danielle! We loved joining you on your perfect day!) It was a relaxing month for sure. 

Henry's bigger achievements this month: Sitting on his own, *almost* sleeping nights again, eating a lot more foods and becoming a lot more social. Oh, and he got his first tooth! Enjoy a few photos from his past month!

One of the last days at our last home. Enjoying the backyard.

Still getting used to our new home: Up waaay past bedtime! 

Enjoying our new front porch!

Celebrating his cousin, Spencer's, 1st birthday!

Spending some QT with his birthday buddy, Uncle Mike!

The Kelly side

First visit to the beach... not so sure about the lake water!

Ok... SO FUN!

Cottage swimming on the dock!

Sitting on his own!

Ready to go to his first wedding! And looking pretty dapper!

Making a new friend.

Our New House Tour

It is definitely time that I give the tour of our new place! We have been here for about 2 1/2 weeks and are feeling settled. This house makes us happy. Just to warn you... this will be a long-and-mostly-pictures post! 

Of course, these are the "before" pictures. We have a lot of ideas of projects for this house. However, for now we will likely be holding off on most of them until we get more of a feel for the house. We actually don't mind most of the paint colours and they seem to match our style well enough. Except for Henry's room, which needs some patching and repainting soon since we had to take down some shelving in order to fit his furniture.

Main Floor

Entryway: We love the original wood trim and the stained glass. We bought the wardrobe off of Kijiji last week since there is no closet. 

The Kitchen: I originally didn't love the colour of the cabinets, appliances or the countertops when we bought the place. But it has all grown on me! It is such a great, functional kitchen.

Mudroom: Off of the kitchen there is an addition leading to the backyard. We currently don't really have much of a use for it but are thinking of eventually putting in a powder room. 

Living/Dining Room: Like our last place, there is one long living/dining room. The difference here is that we don't have a second sitting room. We don't mind... it was honestly just wasted space in our last place since we seemed to favour one room over the other. It is a much cozier size. 

Upper Level

Hallway:

Henry's Room: These aren't the best pictures... I had to sneak in quickly with my phone while he wasn't taking a nap!

Computer Room/ Dressing Room: This doubles as both. What you can't see is the large wardrobe on the other side of the room. Also - This is one of my least favourite colours in the house, so may change soon.

Guest Bedroom: This is maybe my favourite bedroom! Unfortunately the closet was too small for Joe and I, so we took a different room as our own. 

Master Bedroom: It is definitely a downsize from our last room. All that means to us is less wasted space!

Bathroom: It is perfect. I won't change anything! I am glad the previous owner did such a great job.

The Attic

Yet another thing I am thankful the previous owner finished. It isn't currently really set-up. We have dreams of turning it into a TV room, or maybe one day a master bedroom.

The Basement

Another finished space. We are currently using it as a play room, and the bathroom as Henry's bathroom. It definitely needs some work. 

The Exterior

The Front:

The Front Porch: Our favourite part of the house.

The Backyard: I have big ideas for the backyard, but they might not happen for a few years. For now, it is still a nice space. 

We are so excited to be living here.