Lilacs and a confession !

My lilacs are in full bloom and they smell heavenly!
I love them in my old ironstone jug !

They look so pretty in my sleeping porch.

You are probably wondering what i meant by a confession. Well i have to share a secret

here with everyone. I started blogging the exact same week as another blogger. Her blog

took off like gun fire i think she is the most popular blog out there. But what took me

for a huge surprise was when she set her farm table with those...gasp...mason jar glasses!!!!

I could not believe how everyone went nuts over them!!!

Why was i shocked? Well you know how all women hate the LAZY BOY CHAIR? It is a huge

bone of contention for most right? My husband thank goodness is not one of the lovers of

those hateful chairs but there are some things he will never tire of!

About 15 years ago we went on a little vacation to Northern Ontario...what is known as Cottage

Country.

We stopped at the local hardware store and bought four of those "too die for" mason jar

glasses. Yes at first i thought they were great!!! I have to say i was the first one of anyone

i knew to have them.

Unfortunately when my husband likes something he sticks with it forever..(well that's good for

me) he LOVES these glasses and they are the only ones he uses!!

It drives me nuts because to me they were bought for a summer time glass not all year so

as years have gone by I HAVE GOTTEN SO SICK OF SEEING THEM ON THE COUNTER!

I am down to two and just before i started blogging i kept thinking when the heck are these

last two going to break??? I have alot of beautiful glasses that don't get used.

So i started blogging and all of you have embraced them like they are the holy grail

so i guess i will make peace with them ( i haven't told my husband how popular they are

because he will never let me live it down!)

I just find it so humorous that something that i have hated

you all love !

I guess I will live with them a bit longer and they do go nicely

with my homemade toffee cookies!

Thanks for visiting !

Pamela xo

West Coast Architecture

Hello Everyone! I am now able to comment and blog again! My follower list keeps
disappearing though!

Friends and family back in Ontario always ask me about the homes here in
British Columbia. I thought i would share some with you. The style and architecture
is completely different from where i come from. The style out here is mostly contemporary West Coast designs and Arts and Crafts design.

Harding plank siding with lots of cedar. You rarely see brick and sometimes there
is a bit of stone work.
This first home here is for sale right now. Listing price $768,000! Wow! I have
to mention that the homes are at least $300,000 more than back home and
i still have not figured out why!

I didn't post any photos of this home in case the realtor got upset. So just the outside.
It is a beautiful home. I like the low maintenance front yard. This home is built on a mountain
so the back has two levels going down. It has an amazing view of mountains and the lake.

This next home belongs to good friends of ours here in the Cowichan Valley. It is only two

years young so the gardens are just being put in and the driveway still has to be finished.

This is the view from their living room. You can see Maple Mountain, Salt Spring Island and

Cowichan Bay from here. Amazing view!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Happy Memorial Day weekend to all my American friends and family!!!

Pamela xo

Blogger still will not let me comment...please post if you are having problems!

Yes i am still having problems leaving comments on every one's blog!
If you are also experiencing this frustrating problem please post so we all can know
who is and who isn't !
I went to Blogger help center and they are aware of the problem. Let's hope they are working on it! This is stressing me out !!

In the meantime i thought i would leave you with this photo of my beautiful old Chinese
tea pot and bowl. I have no information on it. The marking is just a little orange line.
If anyone has information on this let me know. I would greatly appreciate it!

Even though i cannot comment on your blogs please know i am
visiting!!!

Pamela xo

Blogger is not letting me conment!!!

Hello Everyone!
This is a quick post to let you all know that blogger is not letting me comment today on
any blogs!!!

I have spent the last hour trying to get my comments across and it will not let me.
Anyways i thought i would share with all of you a photo of my home back in Ontario.
I staged the house myself and it made the front cover of this well known Realistate
magazine here in Canada.

I am quite proud of it...so that's why i am showing it off!


Today here in Canada it is Victoria Day also known as May 2-4 weekend... 24 as in
a 2-4 of beer....just a little bit of Canadian humour...we are after all known
for our famous Canadian comedians who have made it big in Hollywood!

Hopefully blogger will let me comment tomorrow ...so have a great night everyone
and enjoy the fireworks!
Pamela xo

More living room photos and a gift!I

Hello everyone!

I thought i would share more photos of my living room.

Recently i have

had some new followers (thank you!) and they missed previous posts on this room.

Last week i started a home staging course so it's kinda draining my creativity.

Don't get

me wrong i am enjoying it alot.

I seem to be flying right through it too...hope that's a good

thing.

When i have completed this course i have the great daunting task of trying to find

clients (or victims!) and since i don't know a soul here on Vancouver Island it's going to

be tough.

I sent an email to a Realtor who has this listing that's been sitting on the market for

quite sometime. I told her i would be happy to stage her client's home...it REALLY needs it.

Surprisingly she emailed me right back and wanted to know if i had any before or after photos

or a Website. A Website? Well i have a blog ? Does that count? So i sent her the link and told her my blog showcases my design flare, rearranging , making do with existing pieces etc... I never heard back from her.

Do you see that tag hanging from my candelstick holder ??

Here is a close up of it.... The lovely Cindy Adkins from Whimsical Musings sent this to

me for no reason at all! Isn't she the best?? I am so late in showing this off. But Cindy

i want you to know how much i love it! It has my initial on it too!!

This blogging community is the best!

Thanks for visiting...and if you know anyone here who needs their home staged

let me know!!

Pamela xo

Brass is back!

Hello everyone! It has been so long since i last posted! Time has slipped away ...to where i have no
idea! Anyways it seems that brass is now back again!
So good thing for me since i have some very nice brass pieces kicking around the home.

For my wedding shower i received this very beautiful solid brass lamp. I mean solid
too it is extremely heavy. So now that brass is back i have put it back into my living
room... Remember my post about my brass coffee table? I received so many fantastic comments
about it that i have decided i am leaving it how it is. It's funny how this table is suddenly
popping up in home decorating magazines too!

Thought i would share some photos of my living room again...

This last photo is of a home that is for sale on Salt Spring Island here in Canada...

just take a look at their coffee table!! Well this home is listed for over 2million dollars!!

This really convinced me to keep my own coffee table and leave it the way it is!

Thanks for visiting!

Pamela xo

Pet Party!

Acoya !!

ACOYA BEAR

as we call him...

Mister grumpy...

He will be 16 years old this year!

He's never been a people person type cat...nope

he only ever liked other animals...

It took over ten years before

i could cuddle him and he would purr...

That's because when the dog died

he went into extreme mourning.

He begged to be held

and he would howl all day throughout the house

looking for our dog...

It was very sad..

He howled so much he lost his voice for a long time.

We had two other cats as well that he got on

just fine with...

Acoya is the funniest cat ever...

his antics are hilarious

they should be in a children's book

yes ..he is that funny!

It makes up for his nasty mood swings..

Then Pilot girl came along...

He hated her...

It was a fight everyday with those two..

We moved when Pilot was three years old.

This move entailed us having to stay in

hotel rooms every night of the six day journey.

Imagine a dog with two cats that

hate her...

I was dreading the journey.

But something happened after being

on the road

for six long days...

The second night of living in our

new home I heard this LOUD thumping

noise at 3am!

I asked my husband what the heck is that

noise

...He replied it' Pilot thumping her

tail because Acoya is nuzzling her head!

I couldn't believe it!

So this is where you will find

Acoya

every

morning....

Acoya you never cease to amaze me!

Debbie at Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing is having a fun Pet Party!

Come on over for the fun!

Pamela xo

Restoration Hardware

The other day i was visiting a new blog and she had a link to Restoration Hardware. I wish

i never clicked on it!

Have you checked out this place?

If you haven't don't!

If you are like

me you'll be swooning all day and hate everything you own and want to redo all your rooms.

Then you will realise that it is impossible to do this because you are not married to Bill G...

anyways i saw this gorgeous baker's rack and just wanted it sooo badly in my kitchen.

So this is the story of my life... i constantly make do with what i have or improvise with junk

laying around to try and get the look i am after. Sometimes it works sometimes it just

leaves me crazy.

My husband has all these cheap wire racks left over from our last home. This one in particular

was in a spare empty closet doing nothing. So i made it into my own version of

the baker's rack without paying $1000!!

I am really liking the look...it says french to me!

If you are up to the challenge click here... Restoration Hardware and check out this

amazing place. But warning it may cause decorating anxiety!

I also want to thank all of you for your inspiring creative suggestions and wonderful

advice on my brass coffee table! After much thought i am keeping it like it is...

plus i heard brass is back! I just won't clean it ...i prefer the non-polished looked!!

Today i am joining Sherry at No Minimalist Here for her Open House Party!!

Pamela xo