Guest Post: Jax Does Design!!!

I have major house envy. As soon as I set eyes on Kelly's office, I knew I was looking at a fierce talent in the design world! (c: She runs a fantastic blog named Jax does Design where you can find some amazing daily inspiration and eye candy.  Not to mention glimpses of her own fabulous abode that she is dishing on today...I can feel my heart racing already...

Thank you Aubrey for asking me to be part of your “How to make your home your own” series. When we moved into our house in 2001, it was most definitely NOT our own. With the exception of the kitchen and the family room, every room was painted either Pleistocene green or pink. Eeek! It took a while, but the house has finally been de-pink-and-green-ified and it’s much more “me” now. Come on through our turquoise front door and see what makes my home my own...

 

COLOUR

I love colour. I mean, I REALLY love colour. Mario Buatta says that every room in your house should be a different colour, and that’s pretty much what I’ve done in our house. There are so many awesome colours out there, why limit myself?! :-)

Purple is my favourite colour, but it was a while before I actually decorated a purple room in our house. This is the guest bedroom – I kinda wish it was the master bedroom, because I’d love to sleep here every night!

That being said, I really like our master bedroom. I’m a huge fan of grey – it’s a great neutral that looks good with pretty much any colour. It really gives our bedroom a soothing and relaxing feel, and the wallpaper behind the bed adds some character.

After living with a very ‘80s kitchen for eight years, I finally managed to convince my hubby to do a complete makeover. The layout and appliances stayed the same, but we painted the pinky oak cabinets and replaced the laminate countertop, backsplash, sink, and faucet. I love how the red adds some pizzazz to the kitchen.

The family room is a work in progress, but here it is in all its bright green glory after I finished painting it this past spring. Still waiting for the area rug to arrive, and we’re going to be putting in a brown leather sectional.

ARTWORK

A while back, I decided that I want to have meaningful artwork in our house – original paintings, my photographs, etc. This is a wall in our hallway with photos of our pets, both past and present.

I printed out and framed pictures from our trip to Luxembourg & Belgium and hung them in the living room.

Matt LeBlanc (no, not THAT Matt LeBlanc!) is an amazing abstract artist from New Brunswick. We became friends a few years ago, and I’ve lost track of how many of his paintings I have! I think it’s five. Here are some of them, starting with #27, one of 200 paintings Matt created to raise money for cancer research.

I found a tutorial on how to make bubbles in Adobe Illustrator and made these two bubble pictures for the laundry room. I had them printed out at Costco for a couple of dollars each and put them in Ikea frames that I already had. Easy & cheap custom-made art :-)

A little vignette on my office desk. The picture in the frame is my favourite building in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, the Amos Pewter Shop.

Speaking of my office, here it is – the letter mural was inspired by a nursery I saw on Rate My Space. It’s all hand-painted, except for the silver words, which are vinyl. This is truly a room that’s totally my own. It reflects my love for words & writing and my favourite colours, and I find it so inspiring.

MY OWN TWIST

Another way I like to make my home my own is by reinventing pieces and putting my own twist on them. I bought a country-style oak table and four run-down chairs from Kijiji, and re-worked them to give them a more modern look.

I love the look of layered mirrors, and decided to create my own version in the dining room.

I already had both mirrors – I just spray painted the frame of the big mirror glossy black, and my hubby figured out a way to suspend the smaller mirror in front of it. I love how it came out :-)

Who says stripes on curtains have to be vertical? :-)

How about a chocolate brown ceiling?

This is our perpetually-in-progress dining room after I painted the ceiling & walls.

 For the longest time I kept thinking about painting the doors in our house dark brown.

I finally did it a few years ago – my only regret is that I didn’t paint them sooner!

So those are some of the ways that I’ve made my house my own. I hope you enjoyed the tour, and maybe saw something that you’re inspired to try in your own home. And thanks again to Aubrey for including me in her fun blog series :-)

*insert whiny voice here*

I want a turquoise front door!!!

I mean seriously, how amazing is that door...and I'm pretty sure that my creativity would flow *so* much better in an office like that (c: And wallpaper that makes me weak in the knees...*sigh*  I feel like I just got done drooling over a home in a magazine, but she actually gets to *live* there!

Every room is just so amazing, thanks so much Kelly for sharing your amazing home! Good grande finale, right?

Thanks to my guests this week, they were *ALL* incredible!!!

And so sweet to play along this week (c: I think I have the most fun out of everyone during this series!