home, gerden, home and garden, home interior design, interior design, interior designer, interior design ideas, interior designers, interior design for home, interior home design, interior design for the home, bedroom designs, home design, living room ideas, ideas for interior design, interior designs, home interiors
Christmas is just around the corner so I thought I would do up a gardening wish list. The nice thing about gardening is everyone knows you garden so it is easier to buy gifts for those special occasions. Here's a few things that are on my gardening wish list: seeds - I'm especially fond of receiving seeds and it doesn't matter what. I look forward in anticipation to see if I can get the seeds
And, i didn't stop there...I ran to my shower while i still had the urge. Actually, i was bored. Election coverage, thus no good TV to distract me....but still...it took all the shower soap scum away. SHINY. And i used it on the surround and glass (on left) - and all the hard water deposits came off. But i kept getting a hankering for cherry gum.
It felt so good to clean with something that wasn't harsh on your family, and yet still worked. That's been the main reason why i haven't caved to these organic, "safe" cleaners before. They didn't work. After my little cleaning frenzy, i went online and ordered the surface cleaner and the germ bacterial cleaner. (i know, i'm on a roll here. Someone stop me before i start darning socks or something silly like that).
Thanks so MUCH ladies!!!!
I LOVE hearing testimonies!
If you want to try these products, you can get FREE MEMBERSHIP!
TODAY IS THE LAST DAY!
FREE MEMBERSHIP with ALL ORDERS OVER
$70MN (Member’s Pricing)!
YAY!!!!
I am so excited because this a AWESOME DEAL!!!
A membership gets you 15% OFF ALL SHAKLEE PROUCTS and there is no minimum to maintain it. The membership usually costs $19.95.
This special does not happen often and this is a great time to save money right before the holidays!
That is everything you need to clean your whole house top to bottom including laundry!!!
Remember that these products make excellent Christmas gifts! Really they do!!!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
I have been getting emails from people wondering how to order in Canada. You can go here to read how to do that but I recommend ordering through my downline Canadian Distributor named Bette. You can view all of our Canadian products and pricing on her site. The FREE MEMBERSHIP DEAL is going on through HER SITE too!
Have a great day!
To link up to this weeks TWICE OWNED TUESDAY, go here!
There are not many things that will stop us making stuff together but this latest spell of cold weather very nearly did! Anyone who has paid a visit to Halfpenny Home during the winter months (which last year seemed to run from October 2009 to May 2010!) will vouch for the fact that it can get pretty chilly there at times. In the past we have persevered, gritted our teeth and just got on with it but this year we have teamed up with Jane the landlady of the Rampant Horse Inn.
I first approached Jane with the proposal that the group of us who knit together on a Wednesday morning come to the pub for coffee and cake and she agreed to take us in! Platters of cakes and fresh coffee was laid on and everyone seemed to enjoy it, the regulars found it amusing when they popped in for their lunchtime pints!
Jane has also let us take over the restaurant on Monday evenings so the Sew and Crow ladies also get to craft in comfort and it's so close to HH headquarters (you can just about see our sign on the wall from the pub) which makes it the perfect alternative venue as we can just nip back to the shop for supplies!
So… we got back from our week-long excursion at 11:30 p.m. Friday night. As my husband and I were sitting with our morning coffee at 8:00 the next morning, we talked of the various house projects in the line-up. 30 minutes later, he had the air compressor and nail gun going. I think it’s an addiction, this hobby of ours.
The old kitchen (above) had a cupboard built into the backsplash to the left of the sink. See? It was extremely impractical. Being 5‘3”, my little arms can only stretch so far. We always thought a shelf under our lower cabinets could come in handy, but the cupboard and it’s doors prohibited us from building one.
So this weekend, we covered up the glorified hole, and built the shelf we always wanted. Using leftover wood, the project was free!
My husband built the brackets, so they are one of a kind. Like him. ;)
The antique salt and pepper shakers belonged to my grandma. I adore them.
They were passed down to my mom, and then on to me. I don’t think I’ll ever let them go - until death do us part. Sorry girls.
I wanted the shelf to be utilitarian, stacked with things we use multiple times a day.
Creating a healthy home has been a priority of ours since we began our renovations five years ago. Our motivation was due, in part, to the fact that this was a home in which we hoped to raise children. So naturally, creating the healthiest nursery possible was also main priority for us. It motivated all of our choices, from furniture and wall treatments, down to the rug.
These are the choices we made:
The Cribs: We chose the Da Vinci Jenny Lind crib because it is made with wood harvested from sustainably-managed forests. It's also lead and phthalate free, and stained in a non-toxic finish. Also, the teething rail is BPA free.
The Crib Mattresses: We chose Naturepedic organic mattresses. They offer a non-toxic waterproof surface that includes 100% food-grade polyethylene. They are also hypoallergenic, filled with organic cotton filling.
The Crib Sheets: We chose 100% organic cotton crib sheets.
The Armoire: It was important to us to not purchase any furniture for the nursery that was made with manufactured wood, that may contain glues, adhesives or other compounds which may off-gas over time. Antique furniture provides this safeguard, as well as the opportunity to recycle beautifully-crafted pieces made long ago.
Mike created shelves for the armoire using solid tongue and groove pine floor planks. My Mom then covered them in 100% cotton fabric.
Nursing Chair: We selected the IKEA Jenny Lund slipcovered arm chair for nursing. I was really nervous about bringing a new chair into our nursery, as most new furniture is constructed with manufactured woods that may off-gas. So, I was happy to learn that IKEA strictly procures wood from sustainably-managed forests, and their pressed wood products comply with low formaldehyde standards.
The Rug: We narrowed down our rug choices quite fast in knowing that we would only buy something that was made with natural fibers (with no rubber or plastic backing). We initially looked for 100% wool rugs, but ended up ordering a 100% jute braided rug for its style and shape. It's also reversible, so it should stand the test of time.
Wall Treatments: Like the rest of our house, the nursery was painted using Benjamin Moore's no-VOC line. Everything from the ceiling and the mouldings, to the doors and walls, were painted with the color Simply White in either flat or semi-gloss finishes.
Choosing white for the plaster walls was a natural choice for me as it was the color of my childhood room, from birth until I left for college.
White also has the added benefit of having less pigment added to the mix (pigments most often contain VOCs). I did just recently learn however that Benjamin Moore is one of the very few lines that uses VOC-free pigments. Thus their VOC-free line truly is VOC-free, no matter what color one chooses.
When Mike created the paneled wainscoting, he used solid wood mouldings, assembled and secured in place with a finish nail gun instead of glue.
The Closet: To create extra storage, we relocated the antique dresser from the guest house. We preferred using the dresser for the same reason that we chose the antique armoire. Also in the closet are the toys and books in waiting....until the babies are older.
Purchasing two cribs, two mattresses, two car seats, clothing, diapers, etc.... added up as you can imagine. So we focused our budget on the things we knew we would need from birth through the first several months. Any toys and books we have were ours from childhood, or were given to us by family and friends.
When we do start buying toys, we will focus on brands that offer phthalate-, BPA- and lead-free products.
Baby clothes: We have been very lucky in that we have received lovely hand-me downs from my friend Karen, and my brother Steven and his wife Marna, who have a son and two sweet daughters. The above knit sweater was my adorable nephew's.
This sweet outfit is a combination of a hand-me down (the white cotton onesie) from my niece and a purchase from a baby consignment store (the 100% organic cotton jumper with pink velvet piping). I've found consignment stores to be a wonderful resource for beautiful clothing, often hardly worn, at much lower prices than retail (organic knit jumper was $11).
I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! I managed to stay on my feet long enough to make the pie crust... I spent the rest of the day on the couch nodding off and listening to the bustle of kitchen activity made by my mom and Mike.
I have been really enjoying this little break and having my husband home.
I told you here that we were going to put our tree up on Saturday. We started putting it together when my husband decided that he wanted a real tree. We never had a real tree before and we all got excited, took down the tree and left right away and drove to a local farm to find our perfect tree! :)
The kids were soooo excited!
They seriously had a blast!!!
Finding a tree was way harder than I imagined but we I finally found it.
They all loved the wagon!
Here is our tree!!!!
Here is Scott pulling our tree in with Grace chasing behind.
Getting ready for the tracker ride!
She was sooo happy!
They loved the wagon ride.
The farm was beautiful!
After that, we walked around the cute shop.
Cute place, huh?
We ate homemade doughnuts, spiced apple cider and hot chocolate…..Yummmmy!
Now the kids are really excited for Christmas!
We have to finish the tree first.
We started the lights today but our old lights only made in up half the tree. (Our new one is 8 1/2 feet.) So I had to go out and find new ones today and every store seemed to be out of the ones that I wanted…URGH! I finally found some at ACE. Anyway, be the time we finished that ordeal we had to eat dinner, finish the lights and bed, so I will add the ornaments tomorrow after school.
I will show you after that. Grace is unbelievably excited to help me this year which makes to even more fun for me!
