I’ve
been so lucky in life with the lovely friends I have had... Honestly, I have
been so blessed with friends who love me, I can trust & who just are an
absolute joy to be around... One of these dear friends who I only met a few
years ago but have since come to cherish our friendship is the beautiful,
talented & extremely funny Sarah Birnie... She will be sharing creative DYI
& design ideas with you and I’m always in awe of things she comes
up with... I also like to tease her because she’s known to go into the Salvation Army
a few times a week to find “treasures”-
she’s
a proud Sally Anner for sure... Anyways, she makes my heart happy & I’m
so glad to be sharing her with y’all...
Enjoy...
You know those hexagonal tables that your grandparents had all over the house?
A
couple of years ago I was seeing the beginnings of the whole industrial home
décor wave- and really loved the look of vintage industrial shelving. So, off I
went to Canadian Tire and bought 2 of these for my dining room. Dressed them up
with vintage accessories and voila- a pretty decent take on the trend if I do
say so myself!
I
had an empty wall that was begging for something interesting…so I hit up my
favorite salvage shop (the one in Latchford, for those who know the area) and
picked up a vintage milkmaids yolk. Nothing like a little bit of original
sculptural art to spice up a room!
I
LOVE GALLERY WALLS! It’s such a great way to create a big impact if you don’t
have large pieces of art to take up a big wall space. It’s also a great way to
use various pieces of art, photos, mirrors, etc. that wouldn’t necessarily have
that much impact on their own.
Next up is a simple wall art project that I dreamt up this past weekend while at my husband’s parent’s cottage. I found a bunch of vintage Penguin Publishing novels that are an awesome shade of green. Using these book covers as art is actually a bit of a trend right now, but I think it will be a timeless piece that would be great in a kids bedroom one day. I’ll show you the finished product when I’m done!
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Hello lovely "Pin Me" t...
followers!
I’m Sarah. I met T
a couple of years ago now (wow, time flies…) when I moved up north to the same
little town as her. I’ve got to thank my lucky stars for that - she’s one of
those people who you meet and you feel like you’ve known forever. Such a huge
comfort and a true friend. You’re awesome T J
Though both my
husband and my home are still in that town, I’ve recently gone back to school
in Toronto so can either be found in the city, up north, or on the highway
somewhere in between. Life literally seems like a highway lately (Tom Cochrane
shout out).
This busy life, by
the way, is my excuse for not having guest blogged on "Pin Me" t... yet. I have
however been enjoying keeping up with T’s trials, tribulations and stories on
here while I’ve been away and am excited to finally get to contribute!
Segway into what
exactly I’m going to be writing about…my passion is Interior Decorating. Kind
of always has been in one way or another. You know how they say that whatever
you do when you’re procrastinating should be the work you do for the rest of
your life…well I’m lucky enough to be working towards just that. I can’t get
enough of creating inspired spaces, often via DIY projects and lots of blood,
sweat and tears. It’s important for people to surround themselves with
beautiful things that have meaning to them. Your home is your little piece of
the world – I think you should walk into wherever you live and feel like the
space embraces you. I dream about
helping people achieve that. Also- I just love pretty things, so this is a
great way to spend my time…
Like I said before,
I’m into DIY’s…I’m also into creative decorating via vintage/salvage/thrift
shopping. It’s definitely possible (and for me lots of fun) to find a real gem
buried in a pile of giveaways. I truly believe that one person’s junk is
another person’s treasure- pieces with history just feel so much more warm and
interesting to me. To top it off, it’s green to re-use/recycle stuff rather
than always going out and buying new! Of course I know that none of this is revolutionary…there
are a million DIY/upcycling/thrifty décor blogs out there – in fact I think I
have most of them Bookmarked on my laptop! Even Nate Berkus even has a segment
called Trash to Treasure (http://www.thenateshow.com/videos/detail/1871/trash-to-treasure/). But I thought it would be fun to document
some of my little adventures on T’s blog. That, and she asked me to…hehehe.
Here are some of
the things I’ve done around my own home and condo that have cost very little
but I think have had a lot of impact. BELIEVE me- not everything I try works
out. I’ve been known to buy something at a thrift shop, take it home and try to
sand/paint/stain/fix it up only to re-donate it later on the same day. Recently
I painted our kitchen pendant lights black. This did not turn out well, so my
husband took it upon himself to make a weekend job of paint stripping them and
restoring them to their original Rona splendor. Yep- mistakes happen, and it’s
part of the process.
You know those hexagonal tables that your grandparents had all over the house?
I painted one that we
inherited white. Sprayed the hardware gold, and voila, a cute little updated
side table!
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Here
are some other creative ways to dress up your walls if you don’t want to invest
in art.
- How about a group of interesting baskets? I spray painted these gold and they line a hallway. They won’t be there forever but they serve the purpose for now.
- Another project that took about half an hour but that makes a big impact is below- I grabbed a large canvas from an art supply store, some black paint and a regular paintbrush that you’d paint a wall with. A few big strokes, some splattering and a glass of wine later, I had a big graphic painting that I love!
Next up is a simple wall art project that I dreamt up this past weekend while at my husband’s parent’s cottage. I found a bunch of vintage Penguin Publishing novels that are an awesome shade of green. Using these book covers as art is actually a bit of a trend right now, but I think it will be a timeless piece that would be great in a kids bedroom one day. I’ll show you the finished product when I’m done!
Till next time!
Sarah
Amazing
eh? She’s
so bloody talented & I can’t
wait to see all that she accomplishes as a Decorator... Proud of you my friend... Pin It
Birnie...you continue to amaze me. Shock and awe over here. I want to come to the condo and never leave. What I find most impressive and mind blowing is how you hang all those frames scattered about and have them look fantastic!!! What's the secret to placment when doing this??? If I get frames sorted will you arrange and hang for me?
ReplyDeleteSarah - I NEED one of your graphic paintings. Hook a sister up, there is some definite wine it for ya ;)
ReplyDelete