Looking Ahead at 2013.

The corner of the living room does look a little bare right now.  The tree is down and the decorations are packed away for another year.   Another year, another Christmas gone by.  A new year brings hope of something better, excitement of things to come and knowing to enjoy it day by day.

We have some big changes coming us to this year.  It's hard for us to believe that Erica will be moving out to University in nine months. Wow! How can that be?  By the end of this year it will just be the three of us at home and I'm sure that will be a bit of an adjustment to us all.   As quantity of time inevitably diminishes as the girls get older we want to make sure we have quality time together.  We'll have to work at continuing as many family dinners as we can and just spending time together.

I have some things I'd like to work on professionally.  I want to be more proactive with planning, sales goals and effective marketing.  I think to take things to the next level I do need to consider the business side of things in conjunction with the creative side.   To continue to be profitable and competitive I can't just follow every pretty bead I see.  I think sometimes beads to me are like squirrels to our dog Mabel. Beads!! Squirrel! (if you know what I mean!)

I want to start painting the walls again.  A few years ago, and before I opened my etsy shop, I was painting rooms all the time.  Paint chips and swatches could be constantly found taped to our walls as I considered future colours.  It's definitely time to do this again and I'm ready.

To do this I need to find a better balance of my time with work and our home.  One of my biggest goals this year is to organize and clean the house.  This goal will involve other members of the house but we're all ready to get rid of all the stuff we've accumulated over the last several years.  We've been in this house for 15 years now and it shows.  My mind thinks big when it comes to organization (everything cleaned in the next 2 weeks!!) but I know this will be a long term process.  Drawer by drawer, cupboard by cupboard.  The time spent will be time saved later on when you don't have to go searching through mounds of stuff to find things.  Most importantly for me though is that less clutter just makes for a calmer feeling.

Some sorted inspiration!  (Style at Home)

We started our organization plans off right by sorting and purging all our Christmas boxes.  We had decorations that haven't seen the light of day for years.  We still have a lot of Christmas boxes but they are labelled and everything in them is something we use. We are still missing a box of decorations that we could not find this year but I'm sure it will show up over the year when we tackle the basement.










I'd like to grow about 3 inches taller but while I wait for that to happen we will continue to walk more and eat healthy.  For me, I need to make sure to take the time for myself to do these things.

A picture from a beautiful walk we took at my parent's cottage over the holidays.

Happy New Year everyone.  Any plans for your year ahead?

Fall Forward into the new Colors of the Season

Image from Pantone

Definitely a bolder collection of colors compared to 2011.  This year's colors mix bolds, brights and neutrals.  At first glance the colors read almost too strong for me but sitting back I can see how they could play beautifully together in fashion and in my home.  Lately I've been moving to a more neutral palette on my walls  but if not careful this can lead to a boring room.  Color brings a room alive. Bringing some of these colors in with fabrics and accessories can really make a room go from ho hum to va voom.

Cheer up your deep brown sofa in French Roast with zesty pillows in Pink Flambé and Tangerine Tango.  Think of mixing the warmth and softness of Honey Gold with accents in bold Olympian blue.  For a softer look pair Titanium with Rhapsody and Rose Smoke and if your adventurous add some pops of Bright Chartreuse to the mix. oh la la!

The most important thing with color and trends is to have fun with it.  You'll see these colors in fashion, furniture, bedding, home decor and more.  Add a splash here and there to give your room an instant update.

What's your favourite color from this new line up?  Stay tuned for some more ways to play with the new trends this fall.