How small is small…cosy condo @ xmas

I mentioned my skinny tree, well here it is…

I love this tree, just fits the scale of our small condo and I still have lots of room for my favourite decorations…

  

   

I love all the bling these give the tree

Our Living room set up with an extra table to hold the salad bowl for dinner…

 

The drapes in the living room are not up yet, I have not found the drapery rod I like…so we still have the old verticals up…I want to do it right so I have put up with them…but looking at this picture, I must go rod shopping soon and get my beautiful drapes up…

Sid Dickens Blocks…

This picture shows how close the dining table and the tree are to the living room, cosy condo…

 

Front door and hallway, after the holidays we are working on drilling a hole through the artwork for the peep hole in the door and screwing the the lady in the hat perfectly to the back of the door…

 

I hung the art from ribbons to see what it would look like, what do you think…art on a door yes or no?

Wreath on the bathroom door…

Another shot of the dining area, behind the drape is my office, not ready to show you that mess…some other post maybe…

Looking from this angle you can see our bedroom door…with another wreath…

Last post for 2009, Happy New Year to my followers, thank you very much for leaving comments on my blog, they always make my day…

HAPPY NEW YEAR, from Calgary !

Regards, Carol Ann x

Christmas Day 2009

Happy Holidays to all, I hope all the lovely gifts you so thoughtfully purchased this year, are well received…the holidays are about giving to the special people in your lives, I am looking forward to the looks on my girls faces this morning when they open their special gift…

Merry Ho Ho, Carol Ann x

This change makes me smile…

Before: just to much window focal point for me…

After: Feels calm and understated…

So…what do you think?  I like drapery to be a lighter or deeper shade of the walls and calm to look at… I would love to have every ones opinion…

if I had the space…

Wish I had my own private laundry room to put this interesting Valet into…check it out here it’s fab…

This would make taking shirts out of the dryer a pleasure, if that’s possible. hehe

Lights on the Bushes

This is looking to the right side of our condo, pasted our patio to the bushes and beyond…we had a lot of snow here… there are lights in the bushes…they look so pretty peaking out from all that snow….

This is a straight on shot of the bushes from the condo…you can see the lights of the restaurant across the street…so great to live downtown with everything walking distance in a snow storm…spaghetti across the street and pancakes just around the corner…

This is looking to the right side of the patio…we have birds in that tree all summer…so nice to here the bird parties early in the morning…

Cutest elf in town…

Thought I would share my Christmas elf…I am so excited, we are going to our downtown locker tomorrow morning to get her and all her decoration friends to put on our skinny tree, we live in a very small condo…that’s all that fits. I will post pictures of the tree when it's up and done… Happy Jingle Bells everyone !

I love Christmas…2007

This was Christmas 2007, I had so much fun with the animal print & black and white wrapping papers…used black ribbon and crystals on anything that did not move.

Christmas Dining Table, more animal print on chargers…and crowns used for napkin rings.  For flowers on the table, I used white carnations and large faux diamonds sprinkled on the flowers.

I love using a black table cloth, it is so dramatic, no one is expecting black and animal print for Christmas…

My problem this Christmas is finding a great wrapping paper…it is all red and green and snowmen… I will be out this weekend looking for animal print paper again, wish me luck!  

Room Love…

Thought I would post a few pictures of rooms I love…no special order, just a fun post of pictures I really love.

This would be a great room for a cocktail party, two conversion areas in one room.

Outdoor room love and great private place to swim, to me this a everyday vacation spot in your own side yard…

 

This is my favourite picture on the web so far, not sure why, Just is! I can just feel a nap happening in this room.

Oh I can see having a bubble bath in this room, room love again, I would cover the mantel with candles, dim the lights and listen to music…are you with me?

Staircase love, love the orange wall and black stairs…I think my condo needs a orange wall…yes…maybe in the kitchen?  

My favourite store closing…

I will miss my favourite store in Calgary, AB

French Connection Antiques is closing its doors, Pilar I will miss you!

It was always an interesting store to visit, had the best parties, and hosted Kimberley Seldons seminar… which was three days I will never forget.

If the website is still up you will find … here

Video Share Time - City Loft & VIP Suite

New Videos to share… check out this city loft from Linda Reeves of Canadian House and Home, the kitchen is amazing.

click here  and the link will take you to the video.

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Now check out the video tour of the Hazelton Hotel's VIP Suite to the Stars…Brian Gluckstein designed a amazing place to stay in Toronto, Ontario

click here   and the link will take you to the video.

If money was no object…

This morning I ventured onto a favourite website of mine so I thought I would share…Ralph Lauren Home

Check out this cool cube, I would have this on my desk in a second if I could justify the cost…. $ 295.00 US each and I would need 3… as you will see in the last picture.

Paper Clip holder…

Pen & Pencil Holder…

Note paper holder…

And all 3 together…ingenious

Albin K9 Desk Object   # 3560975

Ultra-modern crystal desk accessory featuring sleek architectural lines and multi-functional storage options.
Cube silhouette machine cut with small grooves for storing papers and letters on one side; cylindrical holes for writing utensils on another side; and a scooped bowl for paper clips on another side.
Protective layer of black suede prevents scratching on the bottom.
Etched "RL" monogram at one corner.
3" L x 3" W x 3" H. Wipe clean. Imported.

Ralph Lauren Home

So comments anyone…would you like this on your desk too, should I put them on my Christmas list to Santa?

I thought my world had stopped

Over the weekend in the middle of 6 floor plans my laptop screen died!  I just sat there frozen in my chair, unable to breath…thinking my work…oh.. my.. goodness.. all my work…

All my AutoCAD files of client floor plans and all my years of templated  furniture were on that laptop!     I was close to tears when I remembered the little clickfree machine that I purchased off the shopping channel one day on a whim… It is a little machine that saves all your pictures and drawings…and it saves CAD drawings…not that I would backup my files everyday or anything…but often enough…

So I got out my copy of AutoCAD and loaded it on to my computer hybrid, worked out the plotter, and recovered all my saved files using the clickfree…

I am sharing this with anyone that is visiting my blog today…my world would have come to a screeching halt if not for this little machine…

Blogging is about pictures…and if you want to save your pictures quickly and easily this is the machine for you…click here

Please pass this message on to everyone you think might need it…

In the end it looks like I only lost about 8 floorplans…not bad… could have been a lot worse…

I am now and forever more going to use my clickfree everyday after I do any CAD work….

Back from vacation…

We had a great time on vacation, went to visit my Moms house for a 2 week stay on Vancouver Island…

Landed ok…I do not like to fly anymore…and we had to go over the Rockies, oh my…  must admit better than driving through them for 2 days…the flight is only 1hour and 15 minutes from Calgary to Comox…

Now what does a designer do on vacation…

First things first…find a new lamp for your Mothers living room…   

This is the great new chandelier she bought last year…so I used it for inspiration…

                        Before   The old lamp, just sad…that’s all I can say (sorry I forgot to take a great before picture)

                    After   The new lamp…goes really well with the chandelier above…

Now the next thing to change…Art over and around the TV unit

Before…artwork she has had since 1962…time for a change…

After…new artwork that stands out a bit more, and a redo of the shelves of the TV unit…just adding a few books, moving the pictures around and adding a great suitcase I found in the shed…much better, my Mom was all smiles…

Now, tidy up the glass tops on the coffee and end tables…my Mom bought these tables in 1947…they look like tables out on the market this year, the x sides are all in…imagine having the same tables for that long…they have been refinished 3 times…(I would love to stain them in a dark espresso finish…maybe next visit !)

Before…with weird felts under the glass, just to busy…I have wanted to replace them for years…after we started changing things, I just got bossy and changed them out for clear rubber ones without asking…she smiled at me…so I knew I was not in trouble…

After…now isn't that better, so nice I bought the flowers to add some colour to the top…

Now, time for dinner…my Mom took us to a wonderful restaurant in  Comox, Blackfin Pub check them out here

I loved the metal artwork and flowers on the deck, so nice…

My hubby Jim with my Mom…on the deck. I had a great salmon dinner on the outside deck above…over looking a view of the marina…

Me and Mom at the Marina, nice place for a walk after dinner…

A few days later we went for Brunch at the Kingfisher Spa…we did some major eating on vacation…that’s what a vacation is for right?

Just one of the most wonderful places to stay, spa and eat on the island…Kingfisher Spa, check them out here

The brunch food was amazing…you name it, they were serving it…

This is the garden between the restaurant and the spa…

So you take pictures of the flowers, right…here’s a few…

OK, that enough flower pictures, right? Ok, now how about birds @ the beach…

 

I collected some nice rocks and shells for a bowl on the coffee table…this time I remembered to put them in my main luggage and not in my carry on…last time they took my rocks away from me at the airport…so embarrassing…I thought they were kidding, they were not…(I had forgot they were in my purse, security was not amused)

Now one of the coolest things we did on vacation was go to see the RCMP Musical Ride…they came to the Comox Valley while we were there…great timing…

Beautiful Horses…

If you ever have an opportunity to see the musical ride, I recommend it highly…it was an amazing show of skill with the horses…all the riders are working officers with the RCMP…they do this for fun…just amazing !

Well that is what I did for vacation…back 3 days and I am swamped with clients…I am booking appointments for September already…I have a feeling the recession is recovering…fingers crossed !