Apr 20, 2012

Paint Points: Tips on choosing colour

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Spring has sprung and many of us are making a to-do list a mile long. If painting is on your checklist, here are some tips for choosing colour:

In the mood

Image: Ventrilock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The first thing you want to consider in your plan is the mood of the room. Are you looking for modern minimalism, comfortable contemporary or cozy cottage? Flip through decorating magazines or check out the Internet to find images that appeal to you.

Find a jumping-off point

If you are redecorating an entire space, leave your paint choices until later. Yes, later. There are thousands of paint colours out there to choose from, so why spend hours on end trying to find the perfect armchair to match your new wall colour? Instead, find a good jumping-off point in  your pillows, drapes, furniture or artwork. After all, someone has already gone to the work of figuring out what colours make that framed print or toss pillow look so good, so why not go with a mix you know works?

Sampling keeps you sane

Once you have found your jumping-off point, gather up some paint samples that enhance the fabric, furniture or artwork you love. Keep in mind that the colour of paint samples in the store can appear quite different when you see them in your home. If you have a small jumping-off piece — such as a pillow — bring it right into the paint store with you. This will ensure that you end up bringing home the best assortment of paint samples possible. Once you are feeling good about a particular colour, find out if the store sells larger-sized samples. If you are instead using a sample of the paint from a test pot, it is suggested you paint two coats on a large piece of poster board. Move your sample around the room to see how it looks in different lights. And don’t just hold it up in the middle of the wall. Slip your tester board or sample on the wall behind the upper edge of your furniture so you can see how they look together.

Now, this is one way to sample – I have to admit that once I am ready to paint, I tend to slap up samples on each wall in the room until I find the right fit. But if you think it may be months before you can commit to paint colour, you may not want to take the patchwork approach!

Either way, the message is the same: Take your time — it’s much easier to get more samples than it is to repaint an entire room.

Let there be light

Light plays a huge factor in your paint choice. A paint colour that is perfect for your room during the day can take on a very different look at night. Thinking of changing up your ceiling fixture or lamps? Do it before you start sampling the paints as different lighting will affect the look of your paint colour.

Look up, way up

White is often the choice for ceilings and trim but be sure to be as careful choosing your whites as your colours. Even whites can be warm or cool. A warm white — rather than a cool one — is less jarring against a warm wall colour and vice versa. Think all whites are the same? Take a handful of different white paint chips and compare them against each other. You will start to see the difference between them.

So, which room will you be painting this spring?

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Apr 13, 2012

Sweet Dreams: Some organizing ideas for the bedroom

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As noted in an earlier post, my mom is now using our master and ensuite, so Mr. Patience and I are sharing a small bathroom with our kids and we have renovated our loft office to make it our new bedroom. It has meant finding some new ways to store our stuff, so I thought I would share some of them with you today.

We don’t have closets in our new room, so we have added IKEA wardrobes. When I saw the doors on this unit, I knew they would provide the perfect spot to hang my necklaces.

I measured out the space according to the number of hooks I needed — and yes, I remembered to purge unwanted pieces first!

Ten minutes later — done! No tangles, easy-to-see and soooo easy to do! Best of all, they are 3M hooks, so they can be removed at a later date without peeling off the finish.

My small pieces — rings, bracelets, watches and earrings — have found a home in my new combo vanity-desk. I can easily see what I have and I don’t have to go digging to find anything. (And yes, I am a silver, not gold, girl!)

I love my jewellery storage because it works perfectly for me. I am a very visual person, so by having my jewellery laid out and organized, I am more likely to use it!

There isn’t much space in our new bathroom to keep my makeup and, frankly, because it is windowless, it isn’t a great place to apply it anyway. So another tray in the vanity-desk holds my little makeup odds and ends.

The top drawer of my night table holds some books, magazines, a flashlight, a pen and pad (to jot down ideas and reminders so I can hopefully settle down and get to sleep!) and some hand cream. In order to keep the reading material from shifting around, I use this Dream Drawer divider. It’s spring-loaded and can adjust to the depth of a standard dresser drawer.

The dividers are not long enough to handle the super-deep drawers in our wardrobe, but $2 dollar store bins corral up the various types of small garments. Needless to say, these inexpensive bins are great in just about every room of a house!

We have been managing to stay pretty organized in our new bedroom and I don’t miss my old room at all. As for sharing a bathroom with a bunch of guys…hmmmm, did I say how much I really like my new bedroom?!

So tell me, do you have great organizing solutions in your bedroom?

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Apr 7, 2012

Night Table Makeover

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I have just one or two more tweaks to make to the space before I blog about our new bedroom, but I thought I would go ahead and share my mini-makeover of our night tables.

I bought these tables from the local grocery store about eight years ago. I can’t remember what they cost but I think they were about $50 or $60 each and of the assemble-yourself variety. You might be able to see in this “before” shot that the night tables — made of a lovely compressed wood product — had a bit of wear. They’re nothing special, but they do provide some great storage and the drawers work well. And, to be honest, I am a bit cheap — so I figured they were worth recycling.

I started by priming the night tables. I set the legs on some tins so the feet would not stick to the newspaper beneath. Using a small sponge brush for the corners and a sponge roller for the rest of the surface, I applied two coats of primer, allowing both coats to dry well before the next steps. (As you can see, I was a bit lazy and didn’t paint the insides of the drawers. I wasn’t sure how well the paint would hold up anyhow — any easy way out and I will take it!)

I then applied two coats of Benjamin Moore’s Overcoat I had leftover from another project. (This was the same paint I used on the chimney in our family room.) Again, I used a sponge brush and a sponge roller and let the paint dry well between coats.

I picked up these drawer pulls from Lowes for under $5 each. I had originally thought I might go with something more crystal-like, but I have been trying to make sure I don’t go too girly with the decorating in our new bedroom. Partly for my husband’s sake but also because I want the feel in the room to be a bit more organic rather than polished. Then, in order to protect the surfaces of the night tables, I had two pieces of glass cut to fit.

And here’s the “after” shot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added some shapely Broyhill lamps that I picked up at Homesense for just $69 each. I love the silver-lined shades!

Have you a mini-makeover you’d like to share?

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Apr 4, 2012

Paper Cuts: How to cut down on paper, Part 3

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Here is Part 3 of 3 blog posts I have published this week about dealing with paper overload in our homes — especially relevant at tax time! See part 1 here and part 2 here.

Note it down

Write down due dates whenever possible. For example, before you file away a receipt for an item that is only good for a one-year warranty, clearly note down a shred-by date on the receipt. And then remember to check through the purchase receipts file once a year. (Tax time or a new calendar year can be a good way to remember an annual task.) You will be able to easily spot when a piece of paper can be pulled out and disposed of if you have highlighted the warranty expiration date.

Or, if you need to keep the packaging for an item while it is under warranty, tape the receipt — with the end-of-warranty date clearly visible — to the box. Remember to check the boxes on a regular basis and you can then dispose of the box and receipt at the same time when the warranty is up.

Keep it simple

Paper for my notebook.

(Photo credit: rmkoske)

Don’t make your paper management system complicated. Sub-categories upon sub-categories can be confusing to arrange and can waste your valuable time as your create and maintain them. There is a good chance you will not need to find that wristwatch receipt during its one-year warranty period, so put it in a general category for purchases or receipts, as opposed to one specifically for jewellery receipts.

Customize it

Figure out the best way to control those pieces of paper you need to keep. Is it by making an electronic copy and then disposing of the paper? Do you want to have just a few categories but put them in easy-to-reach boxes instead of a more formal filing cabinet system? Maybe a literature sorter, found at most office supply stores, is best because it lets you sort your paper but also keeps it close at hand.

When you go to label categories, do not force yourself to use pre-printed tabs or labels. Use the word (or even phrase) that comes to mind when you handle the document — remembering to not get too complicated in creating your categories — and note it down in your system. Categories might be such things as “taxes 2009” and “appliance warranties” or something like “lifeling documents to keep” or “my dream home ideas.” The key is to create a system that you can live with and maintain, even if it is not like anyone else’s.

Do you have some tricks for controlling the paper clutter in your home?

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Apr 3, 2012

Paper Cuts: How to cut down on paper, Part 2

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Here is Part 2 of 3 blog posts I will be publishing this week about dealing with paper overload in our homes — especially relevant at tax time! See part 1 here.

Keep to yourself

Think twice about entering contests or filling out surveys with your address on it. This is one way organizations capture your information for addressed ad mail. Before you donate to a charity, find out if the organization sells or lends out its mailing lists. If organizations want your money, they should be able to respect your privacy.

Keep on top of it

Forget about waiting until tax time — by keeping on top of your paperwork on a regular basis you will save yourself a lot of stress and, in the end, time. It is one thing to deal with five sheets of paper — a few minutes here or there will probably do it. But 500 sheets? That means setting aside hours upon hours of time to complete the project.

Instead, try to set a regular paperwork period. It may be once a week or once a month, depending upon your needs. Remember to give yourself a little incentive to get down to work. Listen to your favourite music, nibble on a nice snack, or promise yourself some post-paperwork me-time.

Soft copies

Going electronic can help to keep your paper pushing to a minimum. There are many types of scanning programs available today. Some simply create an electronic copy while more sophisticated programs allow you to scan things such as receipts so they are automatically entered onto a spreadsheet. While scanning already existing paper items will not erase the fact that paper has already been consumed, you can at least cut down on the amount of paper being stored if you scan, then shred. Just make sure these electronic files are regularly backed up in case anything should happen to your computer.

There are a number of electronic ways to file your tax returns, according to Revenue Canada, so check out its website.

Keep it current

If you aren’t interested in going the electronic copy route for sorting your tax info, just be sure to create a separate current-tax-year file for receipts that you might think you can use as a tax deduction (for example, home repairs, charitable receipts, medical expenses, educational courses, etcetera) so that you can easily find them at tax time. If you find out that you can use the deduction, it becomes part of your tax return; if it is not eligible, then decide whether it gets filed for other reasons or should simply be shredded if it is not otherwise of use.  

And remember: You need to keep your individual income tax records for only six years — anything older can be shredded.

Tomorrow Part 3 of 3 of Paper Cuts.

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Apr 2, 2012

Paper Cuts: How to cut down on paper, Part 1

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Here is Part 1 of 3 blog posts I will be publishing this week about dealing with paper overload in our homes — especially relevant at tax time! I originally wrote this article for Fifty-five Plus Magazine.

I can remember first hearing the catchphrase in a university class back in the mid-1980s. It represented a revolution in our work and home lives. It heralded a way in which machines and mankind would work together to eliminate unnecessary effort. It promised to save time and resources. It was: The paperless society.

Now, some 25 years later, a paperless society seems about as real to me as time travel and Joan Collins’ shoulder pads. Despite e-mail, text messaging and memory sticks, Canadians are still consuming enough paper to make a tree shake in its roots. A few years ago, Statistics Canada noted that our rate of paper consumption doubled between 1983 and 2003. And our homes are feeling the bulge.

As a professional home organizer, I have found that one of the most common causes of clutter in my clients’ homes is paper. Many people are weighed down by too much paper and the stress that comes with paper piles and files. And at no other time is our overwhelming excess of paper more apparent than at tax time.

Tax time April 30
 

It’s when we paper our dining room table with receipts, statements, and invoices (if we can locate them all!) that we can see just how much paper we have in our home. It’s obvious that creating a good system of paper management can provide great returns in the end — and the best way to start is to limit the amount of paper we have to deal with in the first place.

And while no one can promise a completely paperless house, following a few simple guidelines can help us cut down on the paper clutter in our homes:

Invited guests only

One of the best ways to control the paper chaos in your home is to regulate how much comes through the door in the first place. You can often eliminate the unaddressed ad mail that comes through your postal service by leaving a note saying “no admail” or “no junk mail” on or in your mail box. Whenever possible, request that newsletters from your favourite organizations be sent via e-mail instead of being printed. Online banking, automatic withdrawal, and telephone banking systems will save you some envelopes and stamps but be sure to ask that your invoices and statements also be sent via e-mail.

When you pick up your mail, do a quick sort so that any unwanted items can be recycled or shredded as soon as possible. Consider setting up your shredder wherever you sort or do your paperwork. One tucked away in the basement may not get the workout it deserves.

Tomorrow: Part 2 of 3 of Paper Cuts.

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Mar 26, 2012

A Ceiling Over Our Heads: Finishing a family room

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Our family room mini reno is now complete and we are really enjoying the change!

Earlier this year, we decided to extend the floor in our loft business-home office (located on the second floor of our home) in order to create a fourth bedroom. That new floor meant closing off the two-storey ceiling space in our family room located directly underneath the loft office/bedroom-to-be.

Truth be told, the reno hasn’t meant major changes to the first floor. The two-storey part of our family room consisted of only about 1/3 of the room — the other 2/3 of the room had a typical 8-foot ceiling height – but by extending the ceiling in our family room across the entire space, it meant we added about 65 square feet of floor space to the new fourth bedroom above. 

Cutting into the wall to prepare for the new ceiling/floor joists.

We have a popcorn ceiling in our family room and the adjoining hallways, and while we would have loved to have scraped the ceiling to make it flat, the budget and timeline did not allow it. But when the joists in the ceiling above were exposed, it was determined that the new ceiling would need slightly deeper joists.

 
 
 
 
 

The joists are in!

We figured a nice flat finish on the new ceiling would make the difference in elevation seem a bit more purposeful, as would the addition of three potlights, one centred on the fireplace and two centred on each of the two windows flanking the fireplace. 

The ceiling is taped and the electrical installed.

After the reno guys left, we did a good clean up, re-painted the walls, moved our furniture back, and popped in a few new accessories for a fresh feel. (The mirror is a $10 consignment store sign that orginally had a fake-wood plastic finish until we painted it a fresh white, and the pillows and lamps are Homesense finds). An area rug would be nice one day, but with snacking in the family room and allergies in the family, we are good with just enjoying the easy-to-clean hardwood floor for now.

 

All done!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We now have a quieter family room – thanks to a completed ceiling — and a fourth bedroom to act as our new master bedroom (photos soon). Totally worth a few weeks camping out in the living room!

Do you have any renos on tap for this spring?

 
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Feb 26, 2012

Counter Corralling: A tray keeps things tidy

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I used to be someone who cleared almost everything off my kitchen counters each day. The toaster, tea bags, sugar bowl — everything went away. But my mom is currently living with us and she has a severe visual impairment and some short-term memory issues, so I thought I would leave some items out so she, or one of her visitors, can easily put together a cup of tea without having to root around in the cupboards.

A tray is a great way to make a group of items look more organized.

I pulled out an old silver tray and am using it to hold a few tea-making items. There’s a kettle and sugar bowl and the creamer holds a clutch of teaspoons. A crystal-looking lidded jar from Homesense contains an assortment of tea bags.

A tray is a great way to corral items in so they look purposeful and organized, and not like clutter. You might use one on the kitchen counter to keep various oils close-at-hand or to create an after-school snack tray.

Do you use trays on your kitchen counters?

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Feb 23, 2012

Almost There: Our new room is in bloom

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The half wall in the loft is gone and the family room below is about to be closed off. New bedroom, here we come!

 

I’ll admit that I haven’t been good about blogging over the past week or two — a bit too wrapped up in reno work and work work, but here are a few “before” and “middle” photos (“afters” are still to come) showing the progress. (See here for the “early befores” from my post a while ago.)

There are still bedding and paint colour decisions to be made, but after nearly three months of sleeping in a room without four complete walls, I have to admit that I am ready to grab my sleeping bag and move on in!

The joists are in place!

If you are in the market for a contractor, you might want to take a look at this article by Mike Holmes in the Ottawa Citizen. It outlines some things to keep in mind when choosing a contractor to work in your home.

My personal advice? Make sure you have a contractor that you feel comfortable with. Communication is key when you are investing your money — and your future — in your home.

What do you look for in a contractor?

Here's the floor, but the false chimney has to go.

 
 
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Feb 14, 2012

Word Art: Show it with words

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I am not much of a romantic and — thankfully for our marriage — my husband is not either, but I see this Christina Rossetti line everytime I come down my hallway. I don’t know whether this was one of her more religious poems, but it speaks to me and how I feel about my wonderful partner….

 

 

 

 

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