floating wood shelving diy

I've been meaning to share a great resource for wood. Yes, wood. Beautiful wood. Really, I never thought I'd get so excited about this, but I now see many potential projects in our future.

I visited Exotic Woods in Burlington with my Dad recently. He's my talented carpenter :) We were going so I could pick out some wood for a set of floating shelves for the new kitchen. They are going to hang above a small coffee station that we created in our kitchen. 





Look at these live edge slabs! Gorgeous.



They have a very large selection of woods from all over the world. They will do cuts, finishing and offer many other services.




They also have a great selection of smaller boards that would be great for small shelves and projects.  My dad swears by their selection here. He does a lot of woodworking.

We left with some beautiful, non-exotic poplar boards for my shelving. I'm painting them white so we went for a wood that had a clean look. But if you want the look of walnut shelves or other stained/natural wood, they have a beautiful selection.


1 1/2" thick poplar.



Here is my coffee nook.




Pretty barren right now! However, shelves with pretty cups and some art will give it some personality.

We decided on a white finish because I wanted to keep the space visually uncluttered. We have a white Caesarstone counter on the island adjacent to this. The rest of the counters are stainless. We'll add colour and texture with art and dishes. My instinct to stay with white was confirmed by the lovely and talented Meredith :)

We tried to find a ready-made product that would fit this space but didn't have any luck. So my Dad, being the awesome Dad that he is, offered to make us some custom shelves. Thanks Dad :)

It's actually a crazy easy way to build your own floating shelves. They aren't done yet but I can tell you that you will need wood in the thickness and size you desire for your shelf and blind shelf supports (Lee Valley sells them) to mount them with. I'll post pictures and instructions of them when they are finished.

Stay tuned.

Debra

outdoor inspiration

I hope you had a nice weekend. It was chilly here but bright. It's been very busy around our house of late between work, school and activities. Is spring like that for you too?

A little over a week ago I attended a media tour at West Elm here in Toronto to check out their summer collection. I always enjoy an outing to West Elm and it's fun to catch up with blogger friends. Especially enjoyed dinner afterwards at Mildred's Temple Kitchen with my friend Lindsay

These are some of the products that I spotted that I liked and ideas that I took away that day...



I loved the colours in the paper flower shop. I think these would be fun to incorporate to an outdoor space or to use for a birthday party. My daughter's birthday is coming up and I think we may just have to use these ideas. Check out the ombre wall! There is a blue one too. Love.



I think that Neil and his team have done a great job at the store with additions like the black peg board wall. I love it.  I want to do one in my office. The aprons hanging on the wall would make great Father's Day gifts don't you think? All that summer grilling ahead...

The sea glass inspired collections of bottles is gorgeous. I LOVE sea glass/beach glass. Glass hunting is a daily activity for us on our summer holidays in PEI.

Enamelware always catches my eye. I have a small collection of vintage pieces but these reproduction pieces are great.  

West Elm has some great toiletry products in their newish Market section. Love the packaging. Making a note to pick some up for our bathroom which is almost ready to prettify.



Another favourite section is their Garden/Outdoor living section. You can build your own terrarium there! They have everything you need - pretty containers, soil, stones and plants. I have to say, in my travels of looking for succulents for some plant projects I have worked on, I have never come across as large of a selection as is available here. Loved the mini terrarium I got to take home. Nice touch.

I really liked the pallet wall/potting bench idea that I spotted. This would be a simple and inexpensive way to create a potting bench backdrop, don't you think?

Our outdoor space is a bit of a disaster right now. Renovations can do that. Ha! It pretty much consists of dirt and weeds. So dreaming of all the things I can do to our outdoor space will be just that for now, a dream. 

Debra