decor Archives — Thrifty Mommas Tips

Relive Favourite Travel Memories with a Photo Canvas

Paula — Mon, 03 May 2021 12:55:00 +0000

The Canada – US border may still be closed but I am reminded daily of my travel adventures every time I look at my new photo canvas from Photowall. While it seems like forever since we’ve been able to travel, fly or road trip, my memories of trips we’ve taken are still fresh. This post was sponsored by Photowall, which means I received product or compensation for the content. My opinion is honest and truthful. My memories of the incredible adventures we have had over the years are still strong. Some days more than others, and occasionally during this pandemic I have needed a little more inspiration to get through the tough days. It can be hard to even imagine travel again. Sometimes I’ve relived memories by making recipes that remind me of our trips, watching movies set in the destinations we’ve visited, and rereading travel stories. But photos and images have a way of rekindling that love of travel. These days I am reliving our many fun trips to the US through the newest piece I have added to my family photo wall. Making Memories and Dreaming Again Photo Wall makes creating a memorable focal point easy in any room. With custom wall paper, art, posters and canvases, there are a lot of ways that you can build your own personal photo canvas. This service, Photowall, is one that I have found recently and I love it. Stay tuned for a discount code to save 25 % off your own unique print, canvas, poster or wall paper. Easy to Make Photo Canvas The hardest part of making this piece of artwork was choosing the pattern or the print from all of the options available. Loved the idea of custom wall paper and briefly contemplated it, but ultimately I really wanted another canvas for my basement or my office. Right now, we have a gallery wall in the basement, which is our media room and the place where we love to chill at night. Wall paper, prints, canvases and posters are all arranged according to themes and colours. If you want a contemporary look you can easily find one at Photowall. Need art for your child’s bedroom or playroom? No problem. There are dozens of sweet prints and canvases. You could even wallpaper the nursery walls easily with these whimsical options, plus shipping is free and wallpaper paste comes with the orders. Rustic stone walls, your favourite sport, images of the solar system or emerald green forests. From shades of rust red, ocean blue and taxicab yellow, there are all the tones possible in the rainbow. Graphic, abstract or why not a texture? The canvas gallery includes thousands of hand-picked motifs to choose from when styling your walls. Frame or No? You can opt for a frame or no frame. The frame comes unassembled and while I was initially a bit skeptical about that, the piece came with clear instructions and was easy to assemble. I was short on time so my husband put it together for me quickly and offered to hang it. Dreaming of Travel Again I love how our photo canvas turned out but what’s better than that? Frankly, the colours in the USA map cheer me up and get me dreaming again ever so slightly. When I look at this canvas it reminds me of all of the states we have visited over the years and the many adventures we have had in Alabama, Vermont, Montana, New York and Maine. Discount for my Readers Exclusive to Thrifty Mommas Tips Readers, you can save 25 % off your own custom photo canvas, wallpaper or framed print with this code: thriftymommastips25, valid until the 5th of July 2021. Just visit the Photowall site, pick out your piece and plug in the thriftymommastips25 code.

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Our Teenage Girl Room Transformation – #ColourMeHappy

Paula — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 10:23:33 +0000

I have always been afraid of colour. I like my clothing black and tan and white. Neutrals are easy to grab, dress up and go. Occasionally I love a hit of red or coral or pink. But I rarely stray far. Same can be said of my home decor choices. I LOVE it when the colour choices are made for me. So when we moved to our new house 18 months ago I was extremely relieved to see that everything had been painted in pleasing greens, and browns with a palette of vanilla accents and a lot of clay shades. Easy and earthy. That’s my kind of colour pallette. Plus the house was move in ready. So we did just that. We moved in and settled in and started to feel at home. I didn’t really hang much on the walls, or personalize a lot. In fact, it was just this past summer when I started looking around a bit that I began to wonder what if we painted? Then out of the blue I got an invitation to an event for HGTV Home featuring their Sherwin-Williams Showcase and Ovation lines exclusively at Lowe’s Canada. And the colours were all displayed put together into palettes that work. Colour collections were each designed for room to room harmony. I didn’t even know room to room harmony was a thing I wanted or cared about. Suddenly, the guess work was taken out of the redecorating process for me. Several caught my eye. This colour combination below screamed teenage girl room to me. So I took the colour collections home and worked on my daughter and my husband and then we measured and agreed on some that would look great in her new space. My oldest girl Payton was about to start high school so it seemed like a great way for her to take ownership of her room as well. We decided we would start with her room. So this is the story in pictures of transforming a teenage girl room from drab to FAB and making it high school ready. My husband and I took advantage of the week the girls were at camp this year to pull Payton’s room apart and transform it with colour. Together we chose, with Payton’s help – Capri, Frolic and Icicle. We strayed a bit from the original HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams colour palette shown above, but we got the inspiration from those shades. The ceiling is high in Payton’s room and there is a lot of natural light, so we all figured it could carry a bit of colour. The brighter shades were chosen specifically for her because she needs cheery colours to help her with her outlook. Payton just turned 14. She struggles with anxiety, is very sensitive, creative and smart. So, she obviously had to have a huge say in what shades worked best for her as well. She loved the blue most of all. It is her favourite colour. We had been hunting for a blue before we discovered Capri. Capri is part of the Fashion Forward colour collection by Sherwin-Williams. The bold green is called Frolic. We used Capri on the accent wall (the wall that you see first when you walk in the room). We (and by we I mean mostly my husband) painted the accent wall Capri first. His comment to me was that he was shocked by the coverage. The HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams Capri shade transformed the accent wall in just one coat. I was surprised myself. That was the first night. Capri dried beautifully and had no streaks and no odour that I could discern at all. HGTC Home by Sherwin-Williams interior acrylic latex paint formula features low VOC and has paint and primer in one, providing a durable and washable coating for use in all areas of the home. It comes in flat, eggshell, satin and semi-gloss finishes. We opted for eggshell finish. This paint comes with a lifetime limited warranty. I consulted my good friend Margarita to determine whether Frolic would work on one or two walls in Payton’s room and she felt that both side walls could carry Frolic nicely. So Frolic went on next. That shade was a lot lighter and although we had a light paint colour on the wall beneath we needed two coats on each of the walls because there were some scratches from picture frames that had marked the wall beneath and they were showing through the one coat. So two coats it was. I had gone away to a meeting in Toronto when I returned to find both walls done. It was dramatic and I posted the results on Facebook the day I came back. I loved the look already. Looks so dramatically different! I love that. So does my daughter. The room needed one more wall shade. You can’t see much of it here. But Icicle went on the wall behind the dresser. We aren’t completely done the entire room transformation. But we found a mature bedding set at Homesense and scooped that up because the price was right and Payton liked it. I was originally thinking grey ruffled bedding. But I like the black pattern in here grounding the colours a bit for right now. Payton chose this one. Bedding can easily be switched out for other shades at a later date if we want to switch that. I found a motivational quote picture saying I loved one night when I was out shopping and I hung that over Payton’s desk. It’s a saying that reminds her to reach for the stars. “Today Is the Day. Be good to yourself. Make friends everywhere you go. Live your life with abandon. Fall in love. Discover your gifts and use them wisely. Create happiness. Laugh often. Inspire someone. Be brave. Believe in your own power, strength and fortitude. Learn something new everyday. Surround yourself with love, laughter and truth. Smile at strangers. We are on this journey together. This is your life …Make it Beautiful.” Our work isn’t completely done here yet. I might replace the desk or the bookshelf. I still dream of a reading corner here too. The walls still need some more artwork or bookshelves. But the painting is done and we are more than happy. I think this is a room that helps to take a tween firmly into teenage high school mindset. You might also be interested in the earlier post from this series: Painting a Room. I think this experience has helped me to learn to embrace colours and make this house our own. Now if we could only agree on the shades for my younger daughter’s room. The basement will be our next project. The paint I used HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams SHOWCASE (which is the highest quality they carry) is exclusively available at Lowe’s across Canada. Thanks to Sherwin-Williams for sponsoring the paint that helped to make this room happen.

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Easter Egg Decorating Ideas

Paula — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 04:37:36 +0000

There’s something fun about decorating Easter eggs every year. The process makes me feel like a kid again. These Creative and Fun Easter Egg Decorating Ideas are so cute and clever! I wish I had thought of them first! Easter Egg Decorating Ideas I love the part of Easter where kids and parents alike decorate Easter eggs. It’s always been fun to me. I don’t care what the colours are, or, how fancy the eggs turn out, it’s simply fun. My Mom used to decorate eggs with us every year so the process reminds me of her and it also makes me nostalgic for the old days when I was a kid in the family kitchen dying eggs with my Mom and my brother. Back then, when I was a child, safe inside a tiny kitchen in our Guelph home, the egg dying process was pretty simple. We sometimes had a PAAS kit and we dyed them carefully with the kit’s contents. They always turned out beautifully. Now there are many different ways and techniques to dye the eggs. There are a lot I never would have considered – for instance Rubber Band Easter Eggs are super creative. This year I plan to do some enjoyable egg decorating here because it’s become our tradition. Happy Easter! Have you tried any of these techniques? While you are at it, maybe consider making this adorable and very simple DIY Easter Bunnies banner too. [tweetthis]Which of these fun and super creative Easter egg decorating ideas will you choose this year? [/tweetthis] Fun and Creative Easter Egg Decorating Ideas Tissue Paper Easter Eggs via Thrifty DIY Diva Rubber Band Easter Eggs via Simply Stacie Foil Covered Easter Eggs via Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom Tie Dye Easter Eggs via Amanda’s Cookin’ Silk Tie Easter Eggs via Family Food & Travel Dinosaur Easter Eggs via The Joys of Boys Drip Art Easter Eggs via Red Ted Art Speckled Easter Eggs via Mom Foodie Easy Monogrammed Easter Eggs via Divine Lifestyle Vibrant Colors Easter Eggs via All Things Mamma Easter Egg Decorating is Fun for The Whole Family! There are so many fun ways to decorate Easter Eggs. What is your favourite? Do you have a creative Easter egg decorating idea to share?

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Easy DIY Spring Decor Ideas

Paula — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 19:45:16 +0000

I live with crafty kids. They love to make things and they are usually pretty creative. So every season I am hunting down new and fun craft ideas to share. These Easy DIY Spring Decor Ideas are so colourful and fun to do. Can you feel that? Temperatures are rising and snow is melting and I have the urge to purge. Spring cleaning I mean! There’s nothing better than fresh air and puddles after a long brutally snowy and cold winter. Spring is a time to create and decorate and freshen everything up just a little. Colours are lighter and the days are brighter. Upcycle or Recycle To celebrate I have gathered a few DIY spring decor ideas for you to peruse. I like the up cycled can planters. They are super cute and fresh. Plus my kids love to grow things and so do I, so these are a natural for us. I could really use a new wreath too. Personally I can’t wait to get decorating the outdoor area. It’s time to toss the last remaining winter sprigs and lighten up the front porch. Soon after that it’s time for the pool opening and my favourite season of all – summer! DIY Spring Decor Ideas Upcycled Cans into Planters via Home. Made. Interest. Watercolor Mason Jars via A Mom’s Take DIY Spring Wreath via Second Chance to Dream Spring Butterfly Wreath via Architecture of a Mom Washi Tape Birds via Simply Darrling Spring Duck Tape Flowers via Jade Louise Designs Ladybug Rocks via A Mom’s Take Tea Cup Bird Feeder via My Mommy World DIY Bird Seed Wreath via Savings Lifestyle FREE Spring Subway Art via Second Chance to Dream Spring Napkin Rings via Living Frugal with Erika Baby Food Jar Bud Vase via Mommiez on a Mission FREE Happy Spring Printable via Simply Darrling FREE April Showers Printable via Second Chance to Dream Pour Paint Pots via Domestic Imperfection Clever Spring Craft Ideas These cute Spring crafts are a fun and easy way to lighten up the mood of your home, or your yard this time of year. Which one of these DIY Spring Decor Ideas will you start with? Do you have your own favourite crafty spring ideas that you rely on every year? I’d love to hear more.

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Office Chairs That Work #InkscrblrATWork

Paula — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 11:00:00 +0000

This is the second post in a series about decorating my new home office. Thrifty Mom Media headquarters is now almost 100 % complete. I have maybe two more things to hang on the walls and I am still hunting madly for some drapes that are the right size and colour. Then it will be complete and all will be right with the world. The final office space BEFORE Office Chairs – now resides in my daughter’s room I have been a freelancer for several years and so I have worked at home in one capacity or another for easily 13 years now. Until very recently I paid very little attention to my furnishings or my office space. But this year we moved to a home with space for a beautiful home office. It is the room where I spend easily eight hours of most days of the week. It needs to be appealing to the eyes, and it must be a welcoming space for any of my guests, clients or business partners. It also needs to be functional for me. This is part two of my home office decorating story. Part one of this transformation is here: Home Office Transformation. About 10 years ago my husband bought me an office chair. It worked just fine for my purposes. It was a Christmas present and a welcome gift. For a short period of time my home office was in a spare bedroom of our apartment. Then it was in a spare bedroom in our first home and then we adopted two little girls and well, all the bedrooms were being used as bedrooms. I didn’t mind that one bit because our hearts were full and so was our home. It was an extremely happy time for our family. My old chair followed us to our new home. It still has an adjustable seat and adjustable arms, but it isn’t extremely comfortable. And let’s face it, the original office chair no longer looked good in the new office space for Thrifty Mom Media. So I was on the hunt for new office chairs that matched my new office space. Luckily I found many gorgeous office chairs at Lovers At Work Office Furniture. Believe me when I say I had NO IDEA how pricey office chairs could be. I tweeted that one day. I had sticker shock as I was hunting for my chair. I heard back from several of my followers who said this: “Yes, but good office chairs are well worth the money.” Point taken. So I shifted my thinking and made sure my budget was clear. I saw some office chairs at $1000. That was way more than I wanted to spend. I hoped for something that matched and I wanted to spend less than $500. As you might recall, after a whole lot of shopping for office furniture I found what I needed at Lovers At Work in London, on Adelaide Street. The new chair is by Tayco. It has a customized green seat that matches my credenza and my accent colours in the room. The chair has adjustable arms and back and seat and numerous options to make it just right for me. It’s the Lily Mesh back with ergonomic design and lumbar support. It’s a lovely addition to my home office and it was the right price for me. The mesh back breathes and the chair is made with all major parts being recyclable. So my new chair is easier on the environment in the long run. The after picture What do you think? I liked the ability to change the colour of the seat to match my office space. I also loved that this one meets my needs – I need maximum lumbar support. My back is my weak area and it absorbs a lot of strain throughout the day. This Tayco chair works and is the right price.

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