it’s going down (and up)

Posted by meghanrushton

Over two years ago I wrote about my purple stairs and now, I am happy to say the day has finally come, phase two is complete – we have a stair runner!

Henry, our dear Golden is turning 11 this week so safer, gripier stairs have been on my mind as he has cataracts and has become a little slower and more nervous going downstairs in the mornings. I spent some time researching options online but in the end, I could not consider anything other than Dash & Albert. I’ve heard so many great reviews and the colours and patterns were hard to match (plus a company that puts dogs front and centre has my approval).

Luckly I discoverd the Halifax store Bellissimo is a supplier and I was able to see samples in person and even take some home to see how they’d look over our stairs. And, after a lengthy debate, my heart was set on Stone Soup. Once we knew which one we wanted, the tricky part was figuring out how much we needed to order. Our stairs have two landings and since we were installing it ourselves, we were not going to get too fancy with diagonal cuts and turns on the landings.

Here are our measurements:

11 treads (at 10.5″ each) : 10.5 x 11 = 115.5″
14 risers (at 8.5″ each) : 8.5 x 14 = 119″
two landings (3′ x 3′ each) = 36″ x 2 = 72″

I emailed Dash & Albert and they replied with this helpful formula for quantity:

((Rise + Run) x Number of Stairs) + ((Rise + Run of Additional Landings) x Number of Landings) = A

A ÷ 12 = number of feet needed

Which meant, we’d need one 12 foot and two 8 foot runners for our stairs!

So our rugs arrived months ago and have sat in our basement waiting for the big reveal but summer came and interior home reno projects got pushed aside until last week when I hinted to Mike that we needed to get back into finishing a bunch of things that were half done. The list is long friends.

Obviously he took my words seriously because when I got home from a saturday morning run, everything was out and ready to go! DIY game time:Turns out, it was actually not that hard – we didn’t loose it on each other and had the project was done in less than 5 hours. We laid a grip under the two landings and applied two strips of carpet tape on each tread and one strip on each riser. We used a staple gun to secure everything, which pinch in the lip of each tread nicely: The rug was trimmed and folded under at two points but it’s hard to notice Hello colours! David always asks why I choose to paint almost our whole house white and this is why… you get to have purple stairs and striped runners y’all! Oh, and the birthday boy is happy too.

psst. I am not thinking of painting our bathroom door Purple to match the stairs since most of the purple is now covered.

Here are some great step by step posts about installing a Dash & Albert Runner:

Young House Love
Design*Sponge
Fresh American Style
and some more runner inspiration: Sarah Richardson

psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg

this ol house

Posted by meghanrushton

Our house is almost 100 years old – built in the early 1920’s, shortly after the Halifax Explosion.

When we moved in eight years ago, the house had only one previous owner who had recently passed away. The family freshened up the house for selling by pulling out all of the dated pieces and restoring the original details which gave the home its character. I have no shame is saying they did exactly what they needed to do to convince a gal like me the house was absolutely perfect… And for a few good months, I kept that thought.

Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved this house and the neighbourhood, but I quickly found faults: No closets, small bedrooms, no open space, darkness, rot, dampness, etc. and by the time David was born, less than two years later, Mike and his Dad tore off and rebuilt the back mud room that was rotting. Next up, the bathroom! And after spending a few weeks in a house without a full bathroom and an eight-month-old baby, we realized we were the type of people who could conquer any renovation thrown at us!

Why not rip apart the entire main floor, dig out a basement, and replace all the windows? Hire a contractor from hell and go wild! Who needs a kitchen when you have a retro toaster oven and a bathtub? We lived upstairs above all of the dust and chaos for seven months when David was three. It was nuts but worth it when all was said and done.

Since then, we’ve scaled back on renovations but have done some landscaping and updates to David’s room and our bedroom room.

Now that it has been over four years things are starting to need a little TLC.

I read about the idea of creating a WHOLE HOUSE TO DO LIST on Young House Love and thought it’d be fun to write one for our home.

So here is the list. Some big. Some small. Some that will happen. Some that likely won’t:

Main Floor:

Paint the stairs (they’re chipping) and add a runner (not sure if they will stay purple)
Wallpaper the powder room
Repaint the hallway
Paint the playroom – keep it as a playroom or make it an office?
Replace the broken TV unit
Build built-in shelving for the playroom
Replace the broken pane of glass on the french door
Replace the coat rack in the front room with wall hooks
Fix the under cabinet lightening in the kitchen
Paint the bathroom door deep navy?
Replace the rug in the living room
Replace the hallway rug
Replace the coffee table – move coffee table to basement
Add more pictures to the gallery wall
Fix the clutter problem with the closet under the staircase and add lighting
Mount the TV or fix it so it looks like it is not supposed to be mounted

Basement:

Finish building the laundry room
Paint the stairs
Paint the railing
Mount the TRX
Buy a deep freeze
Build shelving for the old basement storage
Declutter!
Move the washer and dryer out of the new basement and into the laundry room that needs to be finished
Add baseboards and repaint the new basement
Install the Flor floor tile carpet we have
Furnish the basement so it’s an awesome rec. room

Second Level:

Fix the cracks in the walls… plaster woes
Paint the bathroom
Fix the window trim in the bathroom
Replace the bathroom mirror
Replace the current hallway linen cupboard with a floor to ceiling closet (but account for the attic opening)
Figure out a plan for upstairs…
A. Move the office down to the current playroom and make the current office a closet. This will give us a proper guest room.
B. Move the office to the current closet/guest room and bust out the wall between the current office and our bedroom to make a bigger bedroom with a closet.
C. Move David’s to our current room, keep the office where it is and bust out the wall between the current closet/guest room and David’s room to make a big master bedroom with a closet.
D. RENOVATE: Build out on top of the flat roof to make a big master bedroom with a closet and ensuite that wraps around David’s room. Move the window in David’s room to accommodate this. Keep the office where it is and make our current bedroom the guest room.

Outside:

Get a swing for the front porch
Hang the mailbox
Stain the decks
Get a hanging flower basket for the side entry
Move the vegetable garden
Get a new outdoor dining set
Install a lap pool
Add outdoor lighting to the shed
Add tall grass to the back of the backyard
Get a new BBQ
Get a mechanical shade awning in the backyard
Finish sealing the patio stones

I know, it seems like a lot of stuff right? But I think it’s smart to write it all down so we can keep track of our goals and priorities. We probably won’t get a lap pool but it doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of our wish list!

Do any of you have a crazy list like this or is it too overwhelming to write down? Let me know!
psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg

patterns and sparkle (part 2)

Posted by meghanrushton

Last Wedding Wednesday, for the Navy by the Sea wedding series, I looked at navy and nautical patterns and now it’s time to add sparkle to the day with some gold decor!

A. / B. / C. / D. / E. / F. / G. / H. / I. / J. / K. / L. / M. / N. / O. / P.

Most of the items above are either relatively affordable (B/E/G/J/L/O) or something you can make yourself (A/C/D/F/H/K/M/P) but I added I and N because even though they’re more expensive, they would look stunning. Plus, if you splurge on a few pieces like these, they can carry on into your home decor.

I am loving K! My friend made these for her son’s nursery and imagine them hanging in a tent in place of lanterns. I also love F – they’d be easy and affordable to make and I happen to know there are an abundance of hydrangea trees at the wedding site that would fill them beautifully.

How about you? Was there a DIY wedding project that really worked? Care to share a big fail?

Do you prefer fun (A/D/E/H/P) fancy (B/C/F/G/I/J/L/N/) or rustic (K/M/O)?

* * *

Here is the first post for the Navy by the Sea wedding

psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg

patterns and sparkle (part 1)

Posted by meghanrushton

Last Wedding Wednesday I launch the Navy by the Sea wedding I am working on and as mentioned, Navy will be the primary colour but gold accents will be included in the decor.

I like to start by looking at patterns, illustrations, fabric and wallpaper for inspiration and here are some I found that could work great for this event:

I just can’t get over indigo! Look at these tables! These images may be a bit too moody for the Navy by the Sea wedding but I love the simplicity and affordability of option ‘O’. Tables at weddings are usually covered in white linen but imagine how amazing this would look… Plus, it would be pretty easy to hand-dye the tablecloths navy.

As for decor, I don’t think you need to go too crazy when you have the Atlantic Ocean as your backdrop. A nice table arrangement, some great flowers and good lighting are all you need to make the event special. Next week I’ll source affordable decor you can buy or DIY.

A. / B. / C. / D. / E. / F. / G. / H. / I. / J. / K. / L. / M. / N. / O. / P. / Q.

psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg

tie a ribbon around any ol tree

Posted by meghanrushton

Wedding Wednesday!

An affordable and easy idea to decorate an outdoor ceremony location is ribbon hanging from a tree.

All you need is ribbon and a tree.

Pick ribbon in colours that match your wedding – mix and match colours, patterns and widths and simply tie them to branches on the tree. You can even hang them at different lengths. And, when the party is over, save the ribbon and use it again!

Here are more ribbon ideas I found on online: