It’s been a while since I featured Minted – one of my absolute favourite stationery store. Since my birthday is less than one month away (hooray!), I thought it would be the perfect time to feature five essentials that set the backdrop for a pretty celebration. 
rice paper globe, $8
white petal fan, $5
white paper cups, $4
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
In a couple of days, I’ll be celebrating my one year anniversary of home ownership. Yay! The past year has been rewarding, happy, and full of hard DIY work. I’ve loved it! Sure, it’s been a year, and I still have artwork to hang, and walls to paint, but my home has been transformed and I’m so pleased with the progress.
I didn’t quite know what to expect when I moved to Waterloo a year ago. I think I had only been to visit twice before I started house shopping! I had zero sense of direction, and I really didn’t have a clue as to what the city or region had to offer (no, not a scary move or house purchase at all). Thankfully, I have really enjoyed discovering this region of Ontario! The people here are so nice, it’s easy to get around, there’s no traffic (except maybe from 5-5:30pm on some roads), and my quality of life has been pretty darn great.
The village of St. Jacobs is about 10km from where I live. Tia and I rode our bikes there recently (along paths from Uptown Waterloo – amazing!), and I try to make regular trip to the St. Jacobs farmers’ market and antique shops.
When my parents came for a visit a few weeks, I took them to the village of St. Jacobs. I was completely amused when they picked up their walking pace and headed quickly into Hamel Brooms. Apparently my parents love corn brooms. Who knew?
I had never been into Hamel Brooms, and I was completely mesmerized by the broom making process (owner John Davenport makes them by hand!). I encourage you to watch this video of broom making.
If you’re in the area, I encourage you to visit Hamel Brooms (and buy a broom, too). It is in the old blacksmith shop, and the floors in the place are crazy cool. Unfortunately, I don’t have a really good photo of them, but just imagine almost flattened chunky trees (knots and all).
Photos by Jordana and video from JLM.
The photos below show the versatility of the settee. The small dainty piece of furniture looks perfectly in place whether in the hallway, bedroom, dining room, or porch. Have a look…
via Pinterest
via Houzz
via Pinterest
via Cup Half Full
via Greige
via Design Sponge
via Every Day Pretty
via Decor Pad
If you’re looking to make a purchase, you might want to visit Black Rooster Decor, Jayson Home, One Kings Lane, Restoration Hardware, or 1st Dibs. I’ve also seen some lovely options at Home Sense. If you really want to go for an authentic French settee, I’d recommend making the trip to Paris’ Marché aux Puces to view loads of settees there (Why not dream big?).
You’ve heard me say how fun blogging is, right? Well, it is. Except for those times when malicious coding somehow infiltrates your blog, and it takes hours for expert programmers to remove the code and make sure everything on your site is as it should be. Yeah, those days are not so fun. I just had a couple of these days, but they’re now over, and I’m back to regular blogging! To celebrate…
via You Look Like The Right Type
Yes?
I’m certainly looking forwad to my upcoming beach vacation. Books, sand, beach, ocean, and ice cream…it’s all in my near future! Hoo.Ray.
Photos of the beach in Florida by Corie.