Sunday Snow on PEI

So far this fall we've dodged the bullet until today. I woke up this morning to our first snowfall. Everything is covered in a fresh layer of snow and all of a sudden it feels more like Christmas time. So for todays post I have some images of the interior of Moving Designz Home & Cottage from last week. The shop girls, Anita and Ashley have done a fantastic job of setting up the store with beautiful holiday displays.

I'd like to thank everyone for their kind comments on our new tv ad. And yes, the voice is mine. Also as one reader pointed out, Saturday was actually Dec 05 and not Dec 07. We drew for the cover late yesterday afternoon and the winner for the Christmas cushion cover is Maria Killam of www.colourmehappyblog.blogspot.com . Congrats Maria! Maria also has a fantastic website filled with beautiful images of her design work. www.mariakillam.com

As for the progress on my house... I've got it pretty much back together. I still have a long to do list including hanging artwork but things are slowly coming together. I have the drapery panels hung up in the livingroom but not the diningroom. The drapes for the diningroom were not ready in time for this picture.

This is the lovely display as you enter the store to the right.

Ashley made this JOY plaque using individual letter we sell in the store, a large red felt snowflake, and foamcore covered in black fabric. Well done Ash!

In this area of the store we combined red and chocolate brown with the jewel tones of teal. It is very pretty.

I love this wire bowl filled with faux pomogranites. In fact I think we sold the last one on Friday.

The bed is dressing in white, pale blue and red. I never thought I would put these colours together but they actually work together when paired with the chocolate upholstered headboard.

A new addition to our artwork are these large DIY frames. They come in various sizes with either a white or black frame and white matting.

We all love these white ceramic penguins.

One of my favorite decorating ideas is placing Christmas themed vingettes in clear glass vessels. The white filler in the vase with the red cardinal is actually epsom salts.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

We're on TV... well Kind of...

I didn't get my house altogether this last weekend like I had hoped so I won't have any after pictures until next weekend. Why?

I had a set back with my drapery panels. I took my drapes into the cleaners to get freshed up and when they came back last week they had shrunk 5". Apparently instead of dry cleaning them they accidentally laundered them. So right now they are letting down the hemlines so they will once again fall at 96". I find my windows naked without them even though I have pleated shades underneath the rooms still seem so unfinished without them.

Hopefully when I get them back, fingers crossed, they will be just like new. Luckily most drapery panels have 10" in the 2 bottom folds which can be let down in case of emergency :)

We had an ad produced for tv over the past few weeks so I thought.. why not share it with my blog readers?

Send me your comments this week on our ad and one lucky reader will receive this lovely Christmas cushion cover from Moving Designz Home & Cottage. Isn't it so pretty? We'll draw for it on Saturday Dec 7.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

Mothers Day Wishes

For todays post I want to wish all you wonderful moms a very Happy Mothers Day! I am a mom of 2 amazing sons. I hope all mothers feel as lucky as I do today!

Me and my boys. I love them so much!

These cute "I love you" silver stones just came into the store with a new merchandise shipment on Thursday. They make the perfect little gift for the special people in your life. Guaranteed to bring a smile.

This week had me hopping busy finishing off a couple more projects and working on new ones.

Below are a couple of pictures of one of the projects I am currently working on. We're almost finished. A few more days and we will be complete. We're working in the kitchen today, installing open shelving to hold some beautiful accessories. It is a very cheerful space, light, airy and colourful.

This was the space the first time I saw it. This space was once 2 motel rooms that were combined into one single unit and now sell as vacation condos here on PEI. The old furniture came with the place and is now gone except in the bedrooms.

Now it looks like this.

A close up of the living room. Before.

Now the after shot. See everyone I do like colour.

And lastly one of the two cozy colourful bedrooms. I'll have more pictures posted when we are totally finished with this project.

I want to say a special thank you to Kelly and Victoria from Design Ties for the wonderful emails they sent me this week after discovering my blog and highlighting it on theirs. You can read more about them and be inspired at http://design-ties.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

Cozy Christmas Decorating

As promised in my last posting, today's post features a condo unit we decorated for Christmas last year. It was also the featured home in Island Living Magazines Christmas edition 2008.

The owners are Muriel and Peter Brown. They moved into this spectacular unit last year in November. The space located 2 floors up directly over Moving Designz Home & Cottage and part of Harbour Terrace Condominiums.

Peter Brown of Bayside Builders and Vista properties was the developer and general contractor on the new condo complex. As you browse through the images note the attention to detail and the upgraded finishes including: restored brick walls, solid oak flooring, quartz countertops, coffered ceilings, a gourmet kitchen including an induction cooktop, crown molding, a raised wainscotting ledge with built in uplights, beautiful oil brushed bronze light fixtures, marble floors in bathrooms, paneled columns, high ceilings and custom cabinetry. All of these elements are what make this home so very special.

The floorplan of the space. Although the furniture arrangement is slightly different for this post I thought it was essential to show the entire living space. The area marked storage is a fantastic butler's pantry now!

The welcoming entry with a seating bench to one side and an entry console.

As you enter the living space your view to the right is this magnificent galley style kitchen.

A close up of the bar/island. The bar stool is from Moving Designz and comes in either black or brown leather and either counter or bar heights.

We used some letters to spell the word Peace on the wall, they are easily attached or detached using double sided velcro.

The table as we set it for a Christmas party dinner.

A close up of the buffet/server decorations. We used a faux magnolia garland intertwined with mini lights, a wreath made from salal leaves and red berries, elegant glass candle holders and a large bown filled with green apples.

Close ups of the table arrangement. We used cake plates to elevate the pillar candles and accessorized with a garland of red holly berries in place of a table runner, red Christmas balls, large pinecones, white ceramic artichokes which look like oversized pinecones and cute little penguins for a touch of whimsy.

This shot looks toward the far side of the living space.

These 2 leather chairs make a cozy seating area next to a curved corner wall. These chairs are from Moving Designz and can be ordered in brown or black.

The livingroom. All of the furniture, lamps and accessories are from the store except for this wonderful artworkk painted by a family friend. The trees are simply decorated with only large white icicles and red balls.

We used an alternate table arrangement for this shot. On a large white platter we placed moss and then added some colourful Christmas balls. So simple, so elegant and best of all it's very inexpensive and easy to do.

The library with lovely custom shelving set against the original brick walls. The Cheri chairs are from Stylus and available in hundreds of colours and fabrics via Moving Designz.

The tub area in the master bathroom features lots of simple decorating ideas; cannisters filled with silver balls and ribbon, faux pine branches and berries, silver lady finger starfish, and martini glasses filled with cranberries and tealights. Another simple DIY project.

The master suite was decked out in bright Christmas red.

I know I said I would post some images of my decorations and I will on Sunday or Monday depending on how the weekend goes. I'm not quite finished with my decorating but should be by then.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!

Susan

Easy Simple Christmas Decorating

I hope you are all in the Christmas spirit and ready for some fantastic yet simple and easy decorating ideas for the holidays. My personal favorites for Christmas decorating are items which are easy to pull together.


When it comes to Christmas decor I think greenery, branches, pine cones, candles, berries, garland, flowers, sparkley ornaments, colourful ribbon and wrapping paper, white mini lights, and clear glass vases, containers and bowls just waiting to be filled.

This image inspires me to decorate. I hope to have my house done this weekend. I'm a little late this year due to the many renovations my house has been undergoing and a hectic work schedule.

Let's start off with a look at a beautiful front door wreath. How welcoming is this?

And an interior window wreath... very seaside..ish.

A very pretty mantle, lets look at more mantle ideas.

Mantles don't need to be complicated as we will see with the following images from RH. Try placing various sizes of pillar candles, lights, garlands of greenery, a strand of crystals or a garland of berries for very elegant and easy mantle decor.

A very pretty mantle idea using beautiful Christmas stockings.

Here are a few ideas using pinecones.

Lovely red pots perfect for Christmas flowers and mini trees.

I love filling up glass containers just like these ones.

This Christmas tree in this room is so dreamy, talk about focal point. Lets look at a few more...

This year I've decided to trim my tree with silver lady finger starfish. I will post a few images from around my home for next weeks blog post.

Some bright and cheerful Christmas wraps.

I love this bannister idea. It's so simple yet very elegant.

Table setting ideas...

This table setting is from a decorating project we worked for Christmas. We decked out one of the condominium apartments at Harbour Terrace for the holidays. Next week I will post images of the entire project.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan