For the patio

Well, we don't have our patio finished yet but I'm already dreaming about getting some new chairs for lounging on it when it is done. These 'Somerset Sunbed' chairs from Urban Barn look so fantastic, I just had to share:

From urbanbarn.com

I would like to know if they are as comfortable as they are nice to look at! I may have to go for a little drive to check these out in person. 

We have a patio set already (which consists of 4 chairs, a small square table, and an umbrella) but I think we would actually use these lounging chairs. I'd rather lounge than just sit! And who needs a table really? A little side table to hold your drink is all you need. Oh, and a magazine in my hands as I lounge with my ice cold drink by my side. And of course, Dave beside me in the next chair. Awww. I'm completely sold on the idea!

A bunch of stuff

So I have a few things to show you since I've been too lazy to take pictures...again. Today we got some new sofa legs in the mail that we ordered from Uncle Bob's Workshop. I like them much more than the clunky ones that came with the Karlstad. I think these sofa legs are a little sleeker and sexier:

Here's a closer view:

They're oak with a medium brown stain. It's a bit darker than the other oak in the room but that's probably a good thing...don't want to get too matchy matchy!

We were away this weekend and I picked up a new pillow for our bed...at Bowring, of all places:

It's black felt and I like the texture of it. I like the drastic contrast of black on our white bedding. I haven't shown you the white bedding yet, so here's a look:

I bought it at Homesense when I was shopping with my Grandma a while ago. I think it's an awfully pretty duvet cover. I can't decide whether to lose the shams or not. When I bought the new black pillow, I was thinking I would just use that alone but now I think maybe the white pillows add a little something. Who knows? We are terrible at making the bed so most days it'll likely just be a messy duvet on the bed with pillows strewn on the floor.

I also need to show you my cute kitchen owl timer that a beautiful friend sent my way forever ago:

It sits by my stove...waiting for me to cook something! As do the utensils. It's adorable...Thanks NJM!

And lastly, take a look at the plants growing in my dining room:

They're pumpkin plants!!! The tiny things in the background are flowers...which may or may not make it! We'll see how this new adventure shapes up!

On my wish list

The newest necklace from Tiffany & Co. to be on my neverending wish list of their lovely things:

Frank Gehry Willow pendant from tiffany.ca

Just beautiful. I think I must have you one day pretty necklace.

Our record player and stand

We got a record player! Actually, we got the record player a couple weeks ago but I finally got around to taking a picture tonight. We ordered it from Amazon and it's just awesome! We bought an antique stand to put it on and it's sitting cozily in the corner of the living room:

We absolutely love both the record player and the stand. We got the antique stand from a store here in the city. The owner told us he bought it at an estate sale and it belonged to a man that had a lot of really nice stuff and he spent $20,000 at the sale. Wowsa! The owner told us it's a parlour table (which is such a great name!) made of 'tiger' oak and he figured it was made between the 1900's to 1930's. I like having something old like this in a room full of really new stuff.

Anyways, here's a pic that shows the side of the record player where the speakers are. They actually sound really good and the volume goes quite loud so we don't need external speakers. Also check out the cool curve on the side of the table (I love that part!):

Here's a close up of the top of the record player so you can see the controls:

Pretty easy to use! It can also be connected to a computer with a USB so you can rip records if you want. We haven't tried it and probably won't really do that much but it's still cool.

And here's our massive record collection:

We had two records when the record player arrived so we visited two record stores in the city and came home with a bunch of new and used ones. Here's what we have so far:

The Beatles: Abbey Road

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Chronicle

Nirvana: Nevermind

Nirvana: In Utero

The Cars: Greatest Hits

Foo Fighters: Wasting Light

The Everly Brothers: Looking Back

The Guess Who: 20 Original Hits

Adele: 21

Superman The Movie: Original Soundtrack

Superman 2: Original Soundtrack

Superman 3: Original Soundtrack

The Doobie Brothers: Best of the Doobies

Bob and Doug McKenzie: Great White North

Elvis: 20 Hits

The Steve Miller Band: Greatest Hits 1974-78

Guns n' Roses: Appetite for Destruction

Oh yeah! Quite the mix we have going. Can you guess which ones Dave picked out and which ones I picked out? I can't wait to get more records to fill up the shelf!

200th post: A Kate watch!

Holy 200th post Batman! Thanks to all who read my little blog! So by now I think that you get that I love stuff. I have mentioned my love for all things Kate Spade and I was so excited to learn that Nordstrom carries their watches! I am still on the hunt for a watch and oh I think a kate spade new york 'gramercy grand' watch would be quite lovely:

kate spade new york 'gramercy grand' from nordstrom.com

I love the menswear feel and the big round face...but most of all I love the little shot of pink on the spade and the second hand. It's a nice spin on a very classic style. Classic yet hip in my opinion.

Yay for tulips

I sure like having fresh flowers in my house. It doesn't happen very often but I like to buy a cheap little bunch when I go grocery shopping. Tulips have been the flower of choice the last couple times. Tulips = Spring! Dave picked up these peachy-red beauties for me:

The colours are ever so pretty:

I think Mr. Roboto likes them too. He's the wooden cube! He's been a cube for a while...I suppose he got a little tired from his recent body builder pose!

My new hobby: Needlepoint!

Friends, I am a needlepointer. I've never done it before...so why wouldn't I take on a pillow as a first project? It's going surprisingly well...at least I think it is. If you're an expert needlepointer, you may need to look away.

I was inspired by Jonathan Adler, who sells fantastic (and pricey!) needlepoint pillows. You really should check them out. The Bargello ones are amazing. Anyways, I decided to try my hand at it. Dave got me a couple of really old and really awesome needlepoint books from a used book store (THE used book/comic store that he frequents regularly!) and I found another good one at the library. Then I visited a knitting shop and bought some canvas, tapestry wool, a needle, and a needle threader and I was in business. My friend Alissa lent me a scroll frame, which is awesome. You ready for this?:

I'm making a rectangular pillow with what is called a byzantine stitch. I dig zigzag. I am doing 3 shades of grey (which you can see in the pic) and will keep repeating them in that pattern of dark, medium, and light. The canvas is wrapped around the scroll frame so you can't see the top but there's a few more inches. I drew the size of the rectangle that I wanted with a pen (actually Dave did because I was a chicken!). And if you're wondering, the green strip is just painter's tape so the cut edge of the canvas doesn't unravel. The book actually said to use masking tape but I couldn't find any!

Here's a closer shot:

And closer:

Hey, why not even closer?:

You may have seen that I started drawing out the step pattern with pencil which makes it so easy to follow. I just draw out 11 holes up and 11 holes over repeatedly. The only tricky thing is starting out at the bottom to make sure you have the pattern right. But once I finally figure it out (after a lot of staring and perhaps some tense words), it goes pretty quickly.

There you have it. My needlepoint which will soon be an awesome pillow for my white chair. I'm thinking of backing the pillow with grey velvet. Oh yeah!