Birch + Bird Vintage Home Interiors

School’s out! Mothers, join me in a collective sigh of relief….ahhhh! What are your plans for this official first weekend of summer vacation? We’re hitting the road now for our family cabin in the Kootneys. We’ll need to take a small detour around the massive mud slide that happened yesterday on the Trans Canada Highway but it will make for some fresh scenery. I made a stop at the dollar store yesterday and stocked up on some great finds for the kids to travel with…dry erase boards, neck pillows, sticker books and even some math workbooks….so hopefully things will stay relatively peaceful for the next 7 hours or so.

Canada Day is tomorrow and we love to spend it lakeside at the cabin. The day is usually spent playing bocce and drinking beer and the nights are spent roasting marshmallows by the fire while watching fireworks light up the sky from the town at the opposite end of the lake. Tough living! Rachel and I will be taking a little vacation from the blog world for the next 2 weeks to spend time with our families and kickstart the summer. A little cliffhanger….we’re working on some very exciting plans for the fall and we cannot wait to share them with you! Stay tuned…

Heartfelt Yarn Wreaths

1. Birch + Bird Vintage Home Interiors 2. Handy Sam

Fondue

1. Froste & Fete 2. Kitchen Table Vintage

Roots Canada

A Creative Mint

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the patriotic festivities on both sides of the border! Let’s cherish our glorious freedom always…Happy Canada Day and Happy 4th of July! See you in two weeks….

With today marking the last day of school for our kids and the first day of Summer vacation, I can’t help but get excited for what the next many weeks will bring.  I’ve been waiting for Summer since the Fall so I’m hoping that the sun will be out in full force soon.  Like Lily, I’ve got summertime adventures on my mind.  Do any of you camp?

A well traveled woman

What Katie Ate

Both my husband and I would love to do more camping.  We are blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world, ideal for camping and all things outdoorsy, it’s really a shame that we haven’t it more of a routine summer activity.  Now, that the girls are older, I do hope we make more of an effort to do so.  We have plans to crash my parents’ campsite once or twice but that will be the extent of it.

1.  Den10 Studio 2. Scout’s Honor Co. 3. Shaving Kit

Apartment Therapy

Glamping Girl

I’m not into endurance camping.  I’ll rough it in a tent for one or two nights but after that I’m ready for civilization.  If I ever have a chance to sleep under the stars in one of these luxury tents, I might spend a week.

1. Chalet Vintage 2. Fragilist 3. Trampoline

Dwell via Inventory Magazine

Sunset

Scout’s Honor Co.

Here’s to warmer weather and relaxed schedules.  Let’s get this summer started!

Rachel and I had the fantastic opportunity to be a part of a photography tutorial led by Darryl Bueckert last night. We met and chatted with Darryl and his wife Jodi (who also has a lovely blog, The Simply Inspired Home) at the Canadian Design & Lifestyle Bloggers West meet up a few weeks ago. Darryl generously offered an evening of his time to lead us in a photography tutorial at their home and we were happy to get to join in and get another chance to visit with fellow local bloggers, Michelle of I Dream of Chairs and Rosa of Flutter Flutter. Although I bought my Canon Rebel in January, I’ve found the manual’s techie lingo pretty intimidating and haven’t ventured very far from the automatic settings. After last night, I think I have a much better understanding of how to use my camera to it’s full advantage…just in time to take some great shots of our upcoming family get-away! And I must mention that we got to sample the most scrumptious macarons from a photo shoot Darryl had done with Carly Wintschel of Kitchening With Carly earlier that day…lucky us! Thank you so much to Darryl and Jodi for hosting such an informative and fun evening! Be sure to visit Darryl’s other blog here for a wealth of other technical and blogging advice.

We’re hitting the road on Thursday to spend some time up at my in-laws’ family cabin in the Kootneys. The whole family will be up there and we’re excited for this year’s Canada Day celebrations at the lake. My childhood vacation memories mostly involve road trips, many of which included Volkswagen vans. My dad has a thing for VW’s and we’ve owned many through the years, in several styles, shapes and colours. In fact, my first ride was a 1974 blue and white van lovingly named “Blue” by my friends and I. Blue sure saw his fair share of road trips in his time with me, some a little wilder than others!

Elgarbo Art

These days, road trips are a little bit more family friendly and it pays to have some sort of a plan…especially when heading off on a 7 hour drive with 3 children! Snacks are mandatory and thankfully my kids are now old enough to entertain themselves (and each other) with games and activities. Here are a few fantastic kits and DIY projects I came across that will make life on the road a lot more pleasant, as will an assortment of healthy snacks and neck pillows for nap time.

Yellow Pear Photography

1. ReadyMade 2. Little Birdie Secrets

Better Homes & Gardens

1. Lil B Designs 2. Spinkle

Once you’ve reached your destination, it’s always nice to have a place to keep all of those found treasures that the kids will be collecting…we had a funny but smelly incident with a day-old crab claw at our friends’ cabin last summer! To keep things organized (and somewhat sanitary), a treasure sack like this tutorial over at Saltwater Kids is perfect. It will make sorting through and displaying your kids finds so much easier than searching through beach bags and suitcases!

Saltwater Kids

Martha Stewart

Scrapbooks and photo albums are always a great idea, especially for older kids who can write down their favourite memories and stops along the way. Help your kids get started by collecting maps, ticket stubs and other brochures as you travel.

Leal & Esme

Tara Sloggett

Do you have any road trips on the agenda for this summer? How do you keep your kids entertained? Happy trails!

Well, how was your weekend?  Our’s was fairly productive.  The calendar was completely empty for Saturday and Sunday so we spent time puttering around the house to catch up on mundane chores, like trips to the dump and organizing closets.  I got out to celebrate Lily’s birthday at a local restaurant and we also managed to squeeze in a family swim at the pool with a little relaxing in between.  I could use a few more weekends like this to check more tasks off my to-do list, like shop for a new sofa.  I have this vision of what I’d like it to look like but I have yet to come across an affordable version in stores.  So, I’ll keep looking.

I love magazines.  I have subscriptions to a few of my favourite shelter magazines and I always look forward to seeing them in my mailbox.  I love to scan the pages for inspiration. But every now and then I find myself resentful with a magazine’s definition of budget friendly design.  The other day I came across a “high” and “low” comparison for sofas and of course, I fell in love with the “low” version.  When I looked a little closer at the price tag, it wasn’t as low as I needed it to be.  I’m sorry but $3000. for a sofa is hardly affordable.  Right?

I haven’t stopped in at Ikea yet and our friend, Jayme, told me about a local furniture outlet store so I’m holding out for just the right sofa.  Speaking of Ikea…have you noticed how often items from Ikea are incorporated into design?  Their pieces blend in so nicely with vintage finds.  There are a few signature Ikea go-tos that I’ve noticed, like the floating shelves and a few of their dressers.  I was pleasantly surprised to come across the Ikea blog with plenty of beautifully curated spaces.  The best part?  It’s in my budget!  What do you think?

Livet Hemma

Enjoy the last few days of June!  Summer vacation is almost here!

Hooray for summer and hooray for the weekend! Wasn’t Rachel’s yellow post yesterday lovely? Fingers crossed that the real sun comes out of hiding soon! We’re ready to keep our flip flops on full time and hit the beach as soon as school’s out next week. We’ll be heading up to my in-laws lakefront cabin in the Kootneys before taking a jaunt across the line to Birch Bay where we’ll bunk in with some good friends for a couple of nights. We’re all getting pretty excited to take a break from our schedules and soak up some sunshine, aren’t you?

I’ve been in love with stripes for a long time now. Something a couple of my friends have obviously noticed because I was gifted a few stripey goodies for my birthday, just in time for summer weekends! Not just for tank tops and beach bags, stripes are perfect for the home. From sophisticated black and white to beachy neutrals to patriotic red white and blue, I just can’t get enough of this nautical trend!

Canadian House & Home

1st Option via Design Traveller

Sarah Richardson Design

3 Potato 4

Style At Home

Not ready to commit to painted wall stripes or upholstered furniture? Start with a throw rug, some pillows or other graphic accessories. Stripes mix and match easily with nearly all patterns so don’t be afraid to add them to your space. I put together a nautical themed Etsy treasury last night and here are a few of my favourites, along with a few more shots of yellow to entice the sun….

1. Deco Yellow 2. The Merriweather Council 3. Polly Danger 4. Paiges of Style 5. Monorail 6. Yellow Heart Art 7. DahlHaus 8. SewnNatural 9. Bird In Hand

What are your weekend plans? I’m spending the day with my dear friend Julia before meeting up with some other lovely ladies for dinner at one of my favourite restaurants. So far, the rest of the weekend is looking refreshingly open. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually get to check a project off of my to-do list!