We love our August/September Sponsors

Today I want to take a moment to thank all these lovely ladies! Their sponsorship is a great aid to running and managing this blog so please stop by and say hello... you may just get your holiday shopping going after seeing their awesome offerings.

Thanks so much everyone~

Kate has been painting since infancy, her whimsical images of everyday items are truly magical! Liscensed to retailers nationwide you can find Kate's images gracing everything from mugs to wall hangings to rugs. Definitely stop by and get to know the lady behind the paint brush~

Englady is known for creating vintage-inspired modern jewellery. Working with pure silver, Kat creates one of a kind, customized jewellery. Using unique mathods, like this antique wax Bee seal, each pressing is hand made. Her creations are sure to please any jewellery lover!

Bee seal necklace, $34.

Simple, timeless, personal; just a few word that describe Beki's delicate creations over at The Rusted Chain. Get your holiday shopping done early now and bypass all the holiday stress with a thoughtful, personalized piece from The Rusted Chain!

Loved and Adored necklace, $23

Sarah is one talented lady! Hart's Desire, her etsy store, offers unique creations of all kinds. One of our favorites are her lovely mobiles. And being the generous gal she is offering readers a 15% discount, excluding custom orders. Simply put Life in the Fun Lane in the 'messages to seller' during checkout. THANKS SARAH!

breath of fresh air mobile, $30

One of a kind creations are the specialty of Stella Bella. Bobby pins, necklaces, earring... all of which offer a special touch to any outfit. We are covetting the goldie locks necklace pretty bad!

goldie locks necklace, $16.50

Oh how we love Becki and Whippy Cake! Just launching a fab new site, Whippy Cake specializes in whimsical and charming designs, even offering custom orders. Pop over for tons of inspiration and eye candy.

Jail Bait Band ($17)

Lisa Leonard has been a wonderful support and inspiration to me, and I am always coveting something she has been working on... Everything she designs is beautiful and so fresh!

vintage frame necklace ($34)

If you want to inquire about our affordable sponsorship rates just drop me a line with "Sponsor" in the subject line at inthefunlane@gmail.com !

Meet Odalie

Odalie, meet my friends! Friends, meet Odalie.

She is named after Odalie Fox, a character in The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby. And if you have read it by chance you most definitely understand why the name suits her.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway I began scurrying about the house collecting my paint brushes and painters tape. I had doubts about putting a white mirror on a white wall. I had picked up a very nice "greige" recently and had enough to do the whole wall... but Holy, Big Job Batman! I decided to bring her in and take a look before tackling our 18 foot ceilings!

And I am uber thankful we did! Because while it is definitely white and our walls are most definitely white, you can see that there is a subtle difference. Enough to feel peaceful but not too boring. Plus I hadn't taken into account that surprisingly NOTHING else in the room is white! WHAT??? I am scratching my head on that one still...

She will be hoisted and mounted about 2-3 feet higher for a more dramatic view from the living room and doorway and then it will be time to work on accessorizing some final touches!

I can't wait to show you a couple other things I have been working on for the dining room, one of which is pretty visible in these shots, the other is a little more elusive!

Dining room addition

In about 20 minutes we are off to pick up my biggest (and most expensive!) addition to the dining room... hopefully the last as well! I can't wait to get it home because it is the perfect solution to our awkward window situation.

It is a larger than life ornate white mirror! If you have been to any of the Edmonton area Home Sense stores then you probably know the ones I am talking about! (my friend Rebecca scooped one up as well) I have been drooling and dreaming about them for months now and finally took the plunge. I usually wouldn't even consider dropping $500, but since we barely spent anything on the table ($29!) or the lighting ($15) or the chairs ($260 for all of them) or the accessories (hello $3 sconces!)... I think that just this once I can pay retail, if only to get a decent sleep again.

Fresh Coat Friday!

Happy Friday! Since you have all been so supportive and helpful with Fresh Coat Fridays I have decided that we will keep them going for as long as you all have photos to share (I was originally just thinking of doing it for the summer)! But to change up the pace a little I think will be nice to feature only 1 reader, just more photos from that 1 reader for 3 out of the 4 weeks every month. The first Friday of every month will still be the montage of every submission I receive up until then, but the other 3 Fridays will be projects or rooms submitted that just cannot be summed up in the 2 or 3 photos I usually allow. So if you have a fantastic room or grouping of projects and want to tell the world a little about it (you don't need a blog either, just email me the info!) then send it along!
**To accomodate this change I only ask that a maximum of 2 projects be submitted by each person too keep the first post of the month from becoming overwhelming or too lengthy**



To kick off our new Fresh Coat Friday Feature is new Mom and blogger, Krystle! On a tiny budget she made her tiny nursery (we're talking 6x9 here people!) wonderfully fun.

The adorable dresser was a $30 Goodwill score that looks like something out of a high-end kids boutique now. The little drawers will be perfect for storing tiny socks and diapers!

Only $40 on Craigslist, Krystle spent hours taping off spindles to paint in matching hues of turquoise and grey. Extra touches like this really make the room feel unique and add so much character to an otherwise standard crib.

Her little man, Asher, is one lucky little dude!

Even though the room is tiny you really don't notice the lack of space since everything flows so perfectly!

Wonderful work Krystle! You made everything in the room feel like a special touch and Asher is sure lucky to have such a thoughtful and creative Mama~

If you have a nursery or kids room with a few special touches link it up right here!

And stay tuned next week for the first Friday of the month montage!!!

Not deals... STEALS!

What do these two pictures have in common?

Besides causing me to contort my face while doing a victory jump, that is...

They were both among my loot from Home Sense's final clearance piles, and both are for our "in-progress" dining room re-decorating (we are currently firing on all cylinders here people, so please be patient with the dining and office reveals!). The first tag belongs to another matching chair for my lovely dining room darlings. And to think that I thought $60 was a bang up deal!!! At only $22 I just had to bring it home in the event we ever have more than 4 people over for dinner... well I am actually planning on having two other chairs upholstered in matching linen, but it is always good to have an extra laying around!

And while the other $3 items almost didn't come home with me I think they are now my favorite addition to the dining room! I saw an arrangement of components scattered on the shelf something like this and just assumed something was broken, lost or ruined. But I really really liked the weathered look of the metal, so it required a closer inspection.

Which was well worth the effort because it turns out they were in perfect condition! I had been looking for sconces for either side of an old painting I have hung in there and while these aren't exactly what I had envisioned (mainly because I have never seen anything similar before) they are perfectly suited to the coastal/cottage vibe we have going on and you can't beat $6 for 2!

I have been itching to do another video post so I am thinking it might be fun to do a guided tour of the finished room as a thank you for all your patience, and for letting me gloat over my steals like the wonderful friends you are~

A change of season

Even though it is definitely still Summer (for today at least!) Wren and I have been gathering some pieces for her fall wardrobe. She has always been spoiled with lots of clothes from her Grandma's but all the other baby gifts we received when she was born seem to have maxed out at 18 months. Since we basically need an entire closet full of clothes, and because she definitely gives her clothing more wear and tear these days we decided to fore go the usual trips to Baby Gap and Old Navy and give thrifting a shot.

We buy all our furniture at thrift stores so why not take a peek at the clothes! I actually can't believe that I haven't even so much as browsed at the clothes until now, but I have been reformed.

Our first purchase was a green courderoy Baby Gap jacket at Salvation Army for $3.50. We thought it was just darling, but could be even sweeter so my Mom and I added some white linen ruffles to the sleeves and bottom hem for a little dash of romance. I think I might actually be addicted to altering baby clothes now too...


My favorite find was a baby gap dress we scooped up for $2. We planned on pairing it with a white long-sleeve shirt in the fall and some leggings but it is soooo hot that it will probably be getting a lot of use as-is.

Wren's favorite find? Her $4 hand-knit zebra hoodie.

I guess this is what it will feel like to actually see her with hair someday!

We got a ton of cute handmade as well as designer label baby gear and thanks to the sterilize setting on our washer I really don't have any reservations about used clothing anymore!

Once it cools down a little more I promise to have Wren model a couple other darling outfits we are working on~

Antique Sewing Table

I love how sewing machines used to be actual furniture. It is so much cooler that furniture had purpose in those days and that "gadgets" were pretty, versus all of todays gizmos that just seem to crowd our homes and lives.

Although this little table has long since lost it's sewing machine I still think it has some life left in it.

Even though it isn't a real drawer I thought it needed a little 'jewellery' so this anthro knob finally found a partner.

I have painted some really beautiful sewing tables for clients and this one is definitely on the small side. But it is tall enough to pull a chair up to which would make it a perfect little desk for a tiny corner.

Or a bedside table for todays towering pillow top mattress sets!

The top still flips up, but I think it looks nicer closed.

I always seem to get attached to these little treasures much more easily than the big show-stopping pieces... I wonder why?

So the kitchen reno begins...kinda

Hi! Thanks so much for dropping in. A certain someone took it a bit literally yesterday, hence the hole in our kitchen ceiling.

We unofficially began ripping the kitchen out when Sean's goggles were blinded by flying insulation and he took a mis-step off the beams and through the dry wall. Thankfully he is A-OK, and while Wren and I weren't here at the time (thank the lord he wasn't injured and alone!!!) we have been sweeping and vaccuuming insulation dust non-stop. Well almost... we have also been doing our fall wardrobe shopping and some sewing, which I will probably share this week as well~

And so the renos continue... and the plot thickens... and all the jazz. Just give me a beautiful closet already!

We have also been making some minor adjustments to the laundry room.

You might recall that this lovely sideboard was making herself useful in there:

But she has gone on to bigger and better things as a client's dining room buffet so we decided to opt for some seating this time around.

They kind of remind me of Goldie-locks and the three bears. We each have a chair that is juuuuust right!

But Sean preferred the extra "counter space" so when I finally get back to some of my larger pieces (currently buried beneath and behind client projects) I might move a dresser or buffet back again.

But for today I think they really are juuuuust right.