DIY: Bonfire Pit

Anyone who lives in Newfoundland knows that our beautiful weather is far and few between. While most of Canada is starting to enjoy the signs of spring, Newfoundland today is a whopping 1 degree outside and foggy. Depressing, I know. So while this post may be more summertime appropriate, I just needed to post something to remind me that the sun does exist and that hopefully my favourite summer pastime of sitting around a bonfire is just around the corner.

Last summer I was faced with a backyard that was a big blank canvas - no grass, no garden...just dirt. So when I was trying to figure out what to do with my backyard, I decided that incorporating a bonfire pit was a must.

I came across two pictures in particular that really inspired my vision for my bonfire pit...

Source: homedesigncollections.blogspot.com

Source: thisoldhouse.com

I told myself, "I can do that!" and started my research to figure out how. My effort to find step-by-step instructions was proving difficult, so I decided to just figure it out as I went along. Totallllly not something I normally do. If you know me at all, you know that I get anxiety if I don't read and follow exactly as an instruction manual tells you. Approaching this project blindly was a big step for me folks.

Anxiety and all behind me, I borrowed a truck from work one day, made my way over to my local lumber yard, picked up some 12 foot long pieces of wood, some corner brackets to screw them together and then got a whole lotta pea-gravel delivered from a local landscaping business.

Here's the mess I started with...

I spent an evening or two levelling the area and used some fine sand and my tamp to level beneath the wood pieces. I screwed them together using my corner brackets and then moved on to the pea gravel.

I had soooo much pea gravel to move, so my dad allowed me to borrow his tractor for the weekend to make the process much faster and a LOT less labour intensive. The child within me was dying at the fact that I would get to drive a real tractor. That's a picture of me in the tractor below -  I was pretty bad-ass I gotta say.

After working on the project for a week or so (and getting quite frustrated at times!), the bonfire pit was complete. I was soooo impressed with the outcome. It was pretty much exactly as I had envisioned!

What gardening or landscaping projects are you dreaming up for this summer? I'd love to hear about it! Share in the comments below!

~Emily Grace

Staging the Master Bedroom

First of all, thank you for joining me again! I've been MIA the last few months...I've been working on other big things in my life (planning a wedding, moving into a new place, starting a new coaching biz!), and put this blog on the back burner for a short while.

Nevertheless, I have been inspired to share with you how my bedroom transformation turned out (or former bedroom, I've since sold that house).

When we moved into our former house in November, 2013 it took me a YEAR to figure out how I wanted to decorate the master bedroom. It was like writers block (or interior design block I suppose?) except the block just wouldn't go away! Finally one day, I said enough is enough and I made a trip to my go-to decor store, HomeSense.

I wanted the bedroom to feel cozy and serene, with just a little touch of colour. I didn't want to go too dramatic in the bedroom - just nice and simple with the ability to change it up easily if I get bored with it. 

Remember how AWFUL it looked? Let me remind you...

Yep. It was that bad. Sooo... here's what happened. I went to HomeSense and went on a mad shopping spree. I literally bought everything and anything I thought might look nice in the bedroom!

So I returned home and went right at it! The room was a state as I was setting up my new found items as you can see...

Within just about a half an hour of setting everything up - VOILA.

I was amazed at how just a few key items can totally transform a room! Instantly it felt much more cozy and inviting.

Here's what I added:
- Rug from Costco
- Swapped out the bench at the end of the bed for the one I had in my porch
- Mirror I had in storage
- Lamps
- Lots of new pillows!
- Artwork
- Nightstands (more on that in another blogpost...they were an ikea "hack" project)
- Headboard (my FAVE purchase - it made a big difference in the look and feel of the space)

So if you're feeling "blah" with your bedroom right now, just know that a few key pieces added into the space can make a world of a difference! Go out and treat yourself :)

Have a wonderful day!

~Emily Grace

Living Room Progress

While I've posted pics of the fireplace progress in my family/living room (see post here), I was hesitant to post pictures of alllll of that room because it wasn't complete!

You've seen some of the pictures of the progress and I thought it would be nice to show you how it's been coming along...

I found the pillows, curtains and rug at my fave home decor store, HomeSense (only $399 for an 8 x 10 rug...not bad!). I fell upon the tables at Bowring and they so happened to be on sale for $199 each - also called the "Justin Coffee Table" (Justin happens to be my boyfriend's name, so it was a clear sign!). The floor lamp was picked up from the new Target store (on sale!).

Decorating a whole house is overwhelming, especially when it's your own. I'm forcing myself to work on one room at a time as before I was working on all different rooms and feeling like I was going around in circles, never getting anywhere!

My next project is the master bedroom...I'm a little embarrassed to show the before picture...but hey, it can only go up from here! I cannot wait to get this room started as its drab energy is killing me.

I'll post some inspiration photos later in the week and get this bedroom design project moving right along!

Bye for now,

Emily Grace

Christmas Arrangements!

I can't believe we are into the last month of 2013! Where does the time go?! Anyhoo, I am so excited it is December because I am a BIG fan of Christmas - especially so this year because I am able to decorate my first home!

This evening my mom decided to host a "Christmas Arrangement" party which turned out to be a huge success! Seven of us ladies crammed together in a garage filled with branches, boughs, holly, & soil and made our very own Christmas arrangements.

We each brought:

1. Container/bucket to make an arrangement in.
2. Boughs, holly, branches, birch tree branches, etc. (all cut from good ol' nature!) 
3. A small bag of soil
4. Decorative pieces like glass balls, sparkly twigs, spray painted branches, ribbon, decorative birds, etc. Whatever we were drawn to! 
5. Don't forget the wine! :) 

This is such an inexpensive project with a HUGE reward. These arrangements can be made for under $10. All it takes is a walk through nature and a trip to the dollar store.

Start by filling your container with soil.

Insert your "spillers" into the soil. The "spillers" are the boughs that "spill" over the sides.

Next, stick your "thrillers" (the decorative fun stuff) in the middle - or off to the side, your choice! These "thrillers" should be tall so they stand out from the rest of the items.

Finally, the "fillers" - Stand back and see where your arrangement could use some "fillers". Maybe add a bit more colour with spray painted twigs, some more holly, some Christmas sparkly items you may have bought.

I am soooo thrilled at how my arrangement turned out. There were moments where it was looking hopeless, but alas it all came together beautifully.

I hope this inspires you and becomes your new Christmas tradition like it has become for us! Here's what some of the other arrangements turned out like...

 Excuse the mess in the background, these pictures were taken in the garage!

Merry Christmas!


Bye for now,

Emily Grace

the Heart of the Home

Every home has a central location where people naturally gravitate to. When I began the design of my home a year ago I consciously incorporated that "heart of the home" into the house plans. I wanted a large space with plenty of seating, lots of natural light and of course a beautiful fireplace to gather around.

Cue the inspirational photo hunt on Pinterest and Houzz & countless hours spent mulling over different fireplace ideas. My natural indecisiveness DID NOT help, but I eventually narrowed it down to the photos below.

In this picture below I LOVED the architectural detail either side of the fireplace...which I ended up copying. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery!

http://bethesdastyle.com/

Living Room

Source House Beautiful

Source M.E. Beck Design Inc

Tiek Built Homes

So here's what went down. I took the pictures below to my contractor and said "I want this" and as simple as that and VOILA, it appears. It really was amazing to see my vision come to fruition. It took him just a couple of days to whip together the built-ins and mantle...amazing talent!

Wanna see the progress of it all?? 

Drumroll please for the finished product...!!!

And a little instagram shot taken the weekend watching Elf! 

Now of course there is plenty of work to be done with artwork, accessories, curtains, pillows, lamps, rugs, etc. etc. All in due time!


Bye for now,

Emily Grace

Happy Thanksgiving & Welcome Back!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! There are not enough words in the world to express my gratitude and thanks for all the wonderful people & good fortune in my life. I hope you all have enjoyed the long weekend and were able to spend some time with your loved ones.

First of all... I'm back! Sorry, I took a little hiatus there. Working a full time job and acting as the general contractor while building a new home chewed up every waking moment of my life. But the house is near completion so I finally have some time to blog again!

Slowly but surely I'll take you on a tour of my new home. To start, I'll begin with the powder room.

When I begin a design I always start with an inspiring photo and work my way backwards. There were two powder rooms that caught my eye...

Sarah Richardson Design

Source: Unknown

Next I like to identify what exactly it is that I am drawn to. The key elements were the following:

1. Chair Rail
2. Blue-Gray & Creamy-White
3. Silver details 
4. Black & White Photography 

From there, I begin my own inspiration board and start shopping! 

Here is what I came up with: 

1. Paint Colour: BM Coventry Gray   2. BM - Gray Mist   3. Light Fixture: Canarm Alexa
4. Faucet: Delta Dryden  5. Mirror: West Elm

Just to give you a little sneak peak of the progress it went from this.. 

To this! 

This week the powder room will be finished. Stay tuned!


Bye for now,

Emily Grace

Crochet this!

As you may know a little hobby of mine is crocheting (pronounced "crow-shay-ing", not "crotch-et"like I've heard it called before). Super easy, super meditative and super rewarding. Check out these crocheted dishcloths (made with organic cotton) I recently made for my 90 year old Nanny!

Never crocheted before? no problemo! Pick yourself up a hook (I recommend size 4.5mm), some basic yarn (nothing fancy), curl up with a cup of tea and hit up youtube (search 'how to crochet') and enjoy! Crocheted dishcloths are awesome beginner projects because a.) screw up all you want, it's only a dishcloth and b.) it's a square, doesn't get much easier than that!

If you plan on making dishcloths make sure to buy cotton yarn. I used Patons Pure organic cotton, which offered an amazzzzing colour selection but unfortunately has since been discontinued :( 

On this cold Sunday evening, give it a try! Let me know how you make out :) 

Bye for now, 

Emily Grace 

Foundation Walls - Check!

My foundation walls have finally been poured!!! Wooo hooo!!!

This is a HUGE weight off my shoulders! Getting to this particular point has been more work (and stress!) than I anticipated, however, many valuable lessons have been learned (patience being one of them) and I got through it all. I wouldn't change my journey thus far for the world...I love a good challenge!

So here's the not so short (but hopefully not too long) of what's been happening my way...

First of all, I haven't posted much on the progress because I would probably bore you to tears. The beginning of the building process isn't very exciting (or fun for that matter!) but in case you ever walk down that path a little sharing on my behalf might help you figure stuff out!  

Here are just a few of the items that needed to be addressed - in no particular order:

• House plans - check! There's a whole lot goin' on in the plans but don't worry, I'll take you through room by room in future posts once I get to the point of designing the interior (can't wait!) 

• Septic test holes & septic design (this obviously only applies if you need a septic system):  If you are on 'well and septic' as they say, you will need to have a certified septic guy or gal to come over to your property and scope out the best location to have your distribution pipes (where all the good toilet stuff will go...ewwww). They actually have to go in with a backhoe and dig test holes to make sure the location is suitable and if that passes then apply to the Government for approval based on their 'septic design' (how romantic). You MUST have this all approved before any building permit is issued. 

• Apply for building permit

And last but not least... 

• Construction Mortgage - Approved :) 

Once all that (and more) is done, then you move onto preparing for the foundation to be poured.

Plot Plan: Have a surveyor peg where the house will be located on your property and provide a stamped "Plot Plan". In my case I was allowed a max of 25 meters back from the road, and the standard 10ft must be kept on either side of the house from the property line. 

Excavator: at this point your excavator comes in, digs the hole for where the house is going and will normally will dig a few feet outside the survey pegs just to ensure there is enough room to fit the house. All dependant on your land, but in my case I needed to put some blasted rock down to have a good solid base underneath my house.

Then... the surveyor comes back to peg where the house will go (since the excavator dug up all the previous pegs).  

NEXT... Formwork & Footings - FYI formwork is the wooden mold that the concrete gets poured into. Footings is the perimeter of the house that gets poured first and then the concrete walls are placed on top of it. 

There are two parts that need to be lined up, you need to have the crew there who will be framing and pouring the footings and also you need to line up the concrete to arrive on site. I neglected to have the concrete lined up to arrive on site... OOPS. Luckily the concrete truck was able to come with little notice, phewph. Did I mention this all occurred less than 24 hours before a GINORMOUS snow storm came? Oh the joys of building in the winter... haha

Footings complete! Next up, framing for the foundation walls. 

Concrete walls are poured - see my special little concrete truck and pumper truck way up in the sky!

Last but not least... the surveyor comes back to confirm that the house was built in the correct location and then completes a "Real Property Report". 

In the midst of all this, make sure to:

1. Order your windows & exterior doors 
2. Order your roof trusses 

Asleep yet? haha.

The fun decorating stuff will coming soon!


Bye for now,

Emily Grace