The Balcony has gone to pot! (in the garden way!)

After a few weeks of pot hunting, we have finally come up with an eclectic mix of pots that range from modern to ones with an Asian inspired pattern. When choosing pots we wanted to have a very unique and textured look. – That being said I’ve also begun to plant our garden... our Babylon. Turns out the frost date for this region is quite different from Saskatchewan.

Let’s get to the pots shall we? We approximately 35$ cost per pot! The great thing? They are all fibreglass not plastic, so the colour will stay and the best thing is that they will be more durable (for those moments where you have parties on the balcony!)  

When we put it all together (intro to ta’da here), we have a space that is finally starting to fill quite nicely. If you take a look at the whole space, there is that old chair in the corner (yes beside the slanted mirror... we keep it real here!) we will be replacing that with something beachy, to give the whole space a resort like feeling! We want to create two very separate spaces here, one cozy friend side and one single glam chair to relax and read a book or maybe have a nice mulburo cigarette?

I have been holding back on a bit here with you guys though! I do have plans (despite the fact that I like to pretend that I just decorate and it always works out) we came up with a very simple floor plan, the idea is we want to stuff the space smartly with large items. Which goes well with my going to every garden center in Edmonton “Do you have a bigger pot?”. Check them out!

Well! It’s upside down and sideways but I’m sure you get the idea! I’ll be on vacation for a few weeks so I won’t be updating it till we get ready to finish it up when I come back! Be excited! I know we are!

Welcome to our balcony!

For those of you who have been wondering what we would be doing after the bedroom recreation ( a total room transformation costing less than 100$!) We’ve decided to do a patio re vamp. Searching over the internet these past few days trying to get ideas to create both a urban and homey type of arrangement we noticed there was a shortage on inspiration. Most patio revamps catered to mostly people who either had back yards, or lived in an area that sheltered them from other elements thanks to trees. But when you live in a 14 story building, with tree less surroundings in  a downtown center well my friends... it’s time to get creative.

The space BEFORE:

One thing we don’t seem to be short on for this project is space. Believe me when I say, we have enough. The challenge, to make the space feel less “Long” and more full, there are several challenges to that we need to take into account; we cannot change the walls, put holes in the roof, hang things off the railing oh yes, and it has to be safe (that’s right we’ll have to contain the candles).

After much deliberation and decision making we’ve finally come up with a  pretty unique colour scheme for the space. We’ve been playing with a simple palate of green, purple and natural elements using natural woods. We want the space to have an exotic getaway to it, that’s both functional and easily maintained. Our inspiration?

I guess by now you’re probably getting the general idea of what inspiration we have, comfy, stylish and a very global feel to it – we call it our Babylonian feel – With a little bit of TLC we can definitely make it happen, something we have decided to do is create our own furniture, because the space is a unique shape and quite long we are going to create our own seating to maximize the area and create the most comfortable seating. I’ve begun to map the area out to get an idea what the seating will look like:

Imagine a huge flower pot with large plants on that last one. As I’m sure you’ve read, I’m off to Europe in a few weeks so the balcony is all on the drawing board right now, it’s completion may take a few weeks... but we are focused! Once we come up with a solid plan I’ll share our ideas with you – and we’ll have a phase list to complete! Here’s to summer!

365+

As I rummage through my memories of a year past, a Bosa Nova Portuguese artist melodically singing in the back round I’m reminded how grateful I am for this day. One year ago today I had left everything safe and comforting based on a yogic spiritual event with Sadie (find out about that amazing transformation here) that I knew if I would let it transform every part of who I was I would be blessed. I remember clearly the words that left her lips “let go” – transform your life, find balance.

Leaving behind everything familiar is never easy, friendships... family... love. If any testament has stood out to me since I’ve left home is that when we are willing to risk everything the most amazing things happen. I have found balance within myself, knowing that I am my own provider of eternal love, understanding and compassion has allowed me to create a strong basis for a new and healthy relationship with someone that challenges the way I see the world. After leaving everything behind I cannot believe that I had once doubted any part of who I was, of that in some fated way a healthy path to recovery after a long abusive relationship was waiting for me and all I had to do was take a leap of faith and say yes. If having faith in ourselves is the key ingredient to an amazing life, why do we allow ourselves to add any other seasoning to our recipe?

As I prepare to travel through Europe with my new guy I feel more invigorated than ever to pursue my journey in finding out what it takes to keep the balance all through our lives. The ancients believed that if we indulged ourselves with everything that tempted us until we felt satisfied we would be enlightened to the truth of life. There is no better place to start on a path of self discovery than within our temples, the body, mind and the spirit working as one to find a common wave of peace. It is then, and we are truly ready all good things come to us.

A Little Look!

It's been a busy few months here in Edmonton. Work has kept me as busy as work can keep you, between that and trying to fit in decorating... well lets just say the only me time I have the last few days is sleeping! The new addition to the family? The record player.

Even I have fallen for the new trend. A romantic, simple idea that almost reminds me of sitting back in a 50's basement listening to the old classics. Now This isn't exactly where I want it, I would like to hide it (secret storage?) or perhaps have it in the closet. Somehow it just doesn't really fit with the sleakness of the bedroom:

Now that I've completed that I can tell you some exciting news! Rhys and I have planned a wonderful 21 day trip to Europe! We will be leaving on May 18th, and are very much looking forward to it! We'll be headed through Amsterdam, Paris, London, Athens and Rome! Keep an eye on the trip when that comes up! I'll be sure posting everything on here!

Back to the Bedroom! Well, here is some peaks at the room and a few changes we have made here and there!

All in all a bit of everything now! Well, alas I do have to get going! Enjoy!

Twelve Roses

After letting the top of the dresser cure, I've decided to place the T.V. in it's rightful home. I've never been a big fan of TV's in the bedroom ever for that fact, but I will admit that my room is becoming more of a multi purpose room from an actual bedroom. The thing is that it's just natrual as we live in smaller spaces to have more functionality in every room (I won't begin to tell you about how I'm trying to fit both a record player and coffee maker into my room.). Rhys had gotten me a set of roses for valentines day which I believe the contrast with the white and black gave such a mood that I had to share.

After putting this room together and a pretty cheap dresser 60CAD. Which echo's everything in the room so delicatly (yes... Marilyn Monroe... Delicate) Eventually in the corner I want to find the perfect large lamp to really play off the room, overstuff it a bit, and then eventually get a record player and a small squar speaker to sit to the left of the T.V.

Compared to lets say six months ago, I think we have come along way (oh, you caught me I'm telling a fib it's been 8)

To now....

All and all, good hard days work and an honest outcome. Although with me not feeling the best lately I'm pretty excited that I even got this much done. Hopefully I'll be better soon then I'll be on my way to finding the perfect lamp for that corner.

White and Blue.. happy Valentines day to you.. (yes a valentines day rhym)

Hard to believe that only this past Saturday I had purchased the dresser. Even with all the chaos that revolved around valentine’s day I had a bit of time to finish up my quick week project (valentine’s days stories to ensue after the before and after pictures). We really lucked out on this dresser – after all it isn’t every day that you find the exact match to your night stands. – after we got the dresser home the first question was to decide on a paint, now the night stands are a midnight black.... but painting the dresser the same colour might have instead of opening up the room created a darker space. So white it was.

Let’s take a look at the before:

Midway:

The fabulous after:

Now, now I do have more after pictures... the only catch is as I was taking the after pictures of course I had Rhys’s present right on the table (for those of you with a finer eye – yes I did put a romantic table cloth on the small bistro table we made here)

We spent the evening watching I love lucy reruns with Rhys while eating pasta. I feel grateful for being with someone so amazing.

I like your drawers...

The last few days I've been swamped looking at the latest "I Love Lucy" - I guess by latest 1950's epesiode I mean. The past few days I've been swamped with painting, turns out when you paint enough you dream about painting - and wonder if the paint will be hard enough to put your decorations on. Or where you're going to send your dresser off to university. Lets take a look at where we left off the other day...

After a few days of hard work, and some pretty awesome Cole Porter music if I do say so myself. Came the birth of a new dresser in starting!

It's so white that it's almost blinding. Well as for me I'm going to keep dreaming of paint and paint related things. Valentines day is tomorrow my dears! May the love of your life (or maybe your love for yourself!) do something amazing, and may you do something amazing in return.  XOXO

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