Behind the Scenes

You know how you can't really know how a space is going to work for you until you live in it for a while? Well, that's how it's been for me (or us) and as life changes, sometimes you have to adapt to it. Or in our case, adapt the surroundings.

In the course of a week, we've moved things around on every floor of the house.
And now - after almost a year in our home - I think I am finally happy with the way we've arranged our living spaces. But check back in another month or so...

Here are some behind the scenes snapshots:

My computer desk had a brief interlude in the basement...

...or dungeon as I call it.

The dining table moved to where my computer desk was.

The living room before.

The living room in process...

... and being enjoyed.

Still organizing and arranging some things, and have purchases planned (ie. another Ikea trip), but I am digging our new set-up. It feels cozier upstairs and downstairs. I'll share more photos of the other spaces (our bedroom and my new office space) soon.

Life with a Toddler

Well, I've been slacking again with blog posts. But I'm blaming the hot hot heat... which makes me want to do next to nothing. Living with a toddler keeps me on my toes though and it seems we are constantly having to rethink our furniture arrangements to keep her safe.

So I've not just been vegging in front of the tv the past few weeks. On the contrary, we moved our tv down to the basement for about a month to keep Whitney from pulling at the cables. Since there is no cable connection down there, every time we wanted to watch something, Matt would have to bring up the monitor and pvr after Whitney was in bed. Needless to say that got to be a bit of a drag and not wanting to get rid of our cable - we are suckers, no pun intended, for True Blood - we rearranged our living room once again to better suit our tv watching needs. Now we just need to find a toddler-proof tv cabinet and mount/secure our flat screen tv to the wall.

Here's a before shot of the living room:

Right now we are using an Ikea ps cabinet to house our media. While it works well enough - the locking door is convenient - and matches the rest of our living room decor, I'd really like something larger, a bit more elegant and not on wheels. When we find the new cabinet, I'll be share some after shots.

Luckily, Whitney has not paid much attention to the tv since it's been back upstairs. Although she knows how to turn the tv on, she still is not allowed to watch any programs. I'm hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Besides, she's much too busy with her modeling gigs... kidding.
She did get to experience her first professional photo shoot earlier this month when a friend was looking for a toddler to model some of her new Fall clothing line. Here are my favourite shots:

Photos taken by Emma-Lee Photography

Really though, our little girl is happiest being outside, playing with water these days.


Personally, I prefer to stay indoors. I'm keeping busy with book illustrations, stocking some new shops and filling etsy orders.

And speaking of etsy, I'll be back soon with a little shop update.