YOUR DREAM ROOM INSPIRATION

Cup of tea in my hand(or a coffee) I sink in my favourite spot for reading. We're at the end of June but by looking outside we would not believe that. I always have on my lap a selection of decorating magazines. Seeing every month the glossy pages makes me salivate over the perfect curve or all the perfect lines inside.

I guess we all believe that these gorgeous homes belong only to the privileged few with loads of cash and their team of experts.

My experts teachers were saying to tell your clients;
Tear out pages of rooms you love, and this will help you determine what your own personal style should be.
So you do that, BUT is so difficult to choose just a few pictures because so many of the pictures looks incredible.

After you start making your collection of your dream rooms and fill your folders and binders or even a small box you probably start wondering how all this are going to helps me since each each page looks different from each other.
Well that's why I'm writing this blog to tell you what to look for!

Look for the common denominator in each photo. Remember the mood of the room and don't forget the atmosphere. How do these rooms makes you feel. Maybe you've chosen rooms that represents a wide variety of feelings. That's just fine!

All you need to do is separate the pictures by mood and atmosphere. From here you need to start determinate which rooms might go with the inspiration photos.
Like a bedroom may be an ideal space for the quite, calm in some of your pictures. The family room might be rich and cozy, perfect for watching TV or ideal for reading, or it could be very bright and energetic perfect for family with small children.
What about a dinning room it could be quite, or romantic, or glamorous.

So after you got the photos grouped them by mood and than your ready to use them for your own room. Take out the inspiration photo for that space and analyze your space,budget furniture, colours.

Do you like dark wood, or light wood. DO you choose rooms with draperies in every room? DO you like rooms with lots of displays or does minimal clutter free rooms appeals to you more?
All this clues allows you to capture the specific elements you love, making every room personally pleasing.

From here all you need to do is to stay on target. Before your buying anything make sure that your consider wherever the object in question contributes to the desired mood and look. If it doesn't be prepared to say no, no matter how much you like the item.

And finally please try not to over think your decisions. Always remind yourself that there is more than one right answer to decorating. The TV may look fantastic in plain sight or on a modern shelving or discreetly tucked inside an armoire.
Bedding might be fresh in summer in pure white or pale yellow.
Stay focus on your inspiration and your budget and this way you will be able to create the room of your dreams one that looks like it belongs in a magazine.

Happy decorating to you!
XO-MB

Soo Long Insecurity!

Hope your all doing well. Sorry for my month absentees. Life has been very busy here on my end. Last week I finished reading Beth's Moore new book So Long Insecurity and it was amazing(not that this is shocking because I'm pretty sure Beth Moore writes only amazing books) I wanted to read it because i struggle with insecurity(the only fact I'm saying that to all of you on the Internet makes me insecure only highlights how big of a problem it is)...I suspect I'm not alone in my struggle. I never really had a problem with insecurity utill I was around 13- I don't know- I blame it on puberty who knows? Since then I've always been way too concerned with what other people think me (am I pretty enough, smart enough, funny enough, cool enough~what am I in high school? I really(pathetically)wanted to be liked. I figure it out if I can be the perfect daugther, student, friend, then that will guarantee that I'll be liked,never left by those I love and I will secure and happy! Simple, right???

The problem is perfection is a standard no one can attain and when I make mistakes I take it especially hard. And even if my actions were somehow perfect I still cannot control other people and how they will respond to me. This game I played (mostly in my head) had lead me to a lot of unnecessary anxiety and worry. And this is in part what Beth Moore talks in her books. I really never realized how insecurity underlies most of my worries and fears. The books talks about the Biblical principles that God has been teaching me a lot over the last couple of years.

This book highlights that my security is in Christ!!!! He had cover me with strenght and dignity. I have never have to think less of myself because I am whole and complete in Him. Ultimately to be truly secure I have to fully trust in God in all area of my life with all things. He is my Rock and my Security and I can trust in Him no matter what to work all things together for His glory and my good! I'm certainly not there yet in all areas of my life but I've made giants steps in the last few years and now after reading this book I'm hoping to see less (and hopefully none) of my life being control of fear.

I don't want to be held back from doing anything God wants for me because I'm afraid.
I really want to be genuinely secure women in every area of my life(there few that there not cover yet) I don't want to hidden behind the mask of perfection, and consumed with unnecessarily worries. With God 's grace I hope to get there!

In His love,
Magda

If your ever planning to decorate your home,and don't know where to start the first thing to do is to find out your personal style. There are many different design style, that might appeal to you.

For instance, Victorian, Retro, Southwestern, Asian style, Moroccan or African are few...European decorating style are very popular from Mediterranean and Tuscan style, to French Country, English cottage, and Italian Renaissance style.

One very popular home decorating style and very often found in Vancouver home is shabby chic. This stylish fits in perfectly with all the recent attention on saving, recycling and become ecologically friendly- is also a very good fit in a difficult economical situation.
You can re-purposing older furniture paint them with a sign of distress is a foundation of this causal yet elegant style. Older, vintage fabrics, painting mix of china and glassware as well as decorating accessories and silk roses characterize this style.

Another style to consider and very common is the Traditional style. A traditional style decor often is very symmetrical and balanced with furniture and accessories centered in pairs. Everything is very neat and orderly.

Living rooms is usually upholstered in smooth fabrics and gentle curve lines. White and cream colours are most often used in the Traditional style for lamps shades, draperies, painted trim, chair rails. Window treatments are traditional sheers or draperies on travers rods. Lamps are matching and place in pairs. The dinning rooms in complete with large rectangular table, big rug centred beneath, and hardwood flooring.

A country interior design style guide will be varied. You can go rustic( simple lakeside cabin with only basic home decorating furnishing, new country airy and light with no window coverings and minimal furnishing)
Contemporary country ( still simple and homey but using red, black, and wihite as your accent colours) English and French country ....hm you get the picture.

Country is a popular decorating style because it is so informal and features lots of baskets, iron, pottery combine to make this wonderful accents most hand made. This style make the house feels like home and visitors feels welcome and relaxed in this slightly old-fashion atmosphere.

An interior design style guide to contemporary home decorating will suggests minimal window treatments,and uncluttered rooms. For accessories a single important big piece or a major painting may be all the you find in a room. Fabrics have interesting textures, furniture will have light colours, natural wood or metal. Don't mistake this look for modern!

With all this different decorating style to choose from, hopefully you've found one that really appeals to you. Have fun decorating, and don't forget make it own,and enjoy your home! Make your house a Home!

If you have any more information please send me an email and let me know how I can help you!

Happy decorating,
Magda xo

Eye Candy!!

I had the privilege to work on a very unique project... designing dessert table to fit my clients needs and I try to this in a very fashionable and fun way. I personally don't call my self a baker...but I like desserts so personally I sample the products I enjoy that part very much!!!
Here I few very creative and inspiring, and one of my latest projects that I work on in the last few weeks come to life last night-Pink and Yellow Diamond Dessert Table and I was so blessed to work with some very talented bakers to make this design dessert table that was inspired from a geometric diamond rug motif pattern that my client had it from her mom.

Now I can say that inspiration can come from anywhere!
For desserts we came up with mini cherry ice cream cakes, EDIBLE pink chocolate cupcake wrappers. These completely edible mini wrappers are ideal for parties..you can eat the whole cupcake without worrying about throwing away a wrapper. There was also a fondant cake with the diamond pattern, raspberry-lemon panna cotta, cake filled truffles covered with pink and yellow sprinkles. Also a beautiful diamond shaped stained-glass cookie garland.
I hope you enjoy the pictures!

I learn few things about how to display photos on your wall and also a great friend of mine was asking me how is the best way to do it so I decide to share with everybody my suggestions when you consider putting a photo wall display in your home.

Of course we all seen the pages of magazine with perfect picture display but we never consider to think about that has been design so careful to coordinate the style and layout of the room. Well, we all can do that with few extra steps will be able to design a wall and is worth the effort when you see how beautiful it all come together.

Here are the top things to consider when considering a photo wall display in your home:


Location:

Be sure to pick a wall in your home that gets lots of viewing space and gets no direct sunlight. You want your friends and family to enjoy your special images. The best location in my opinion is a hallway, my personal favourite is also the stairways and living room because usually offer plenty of wall space. Consider your furniture placement as well since the photo wall is meant to accent your space. This is a very important part of creating your wall.


Consistency:

When choosing frames and pictures to use, it is important to keep some consistency among them. When selecting images you can choose either all black, brown, white or even all vibrant colors whichever you use they should be very similar or the same. When choosing frames the most important thing to keep in mind is that is the best to either have the same size frames for all your images in either the same or different colors or you can choose different sized frames in one uniform color. If you have too many different sizes in all different colors it will be very confusing to the viewers eye.
Try not to mix and match frame styles on the same display,if your using modern frame then use all modern frames in your display.


Hanging your photo wall:

This is the part that no one seem to like, but with careful planning and patience the outcome will be stunning.
Make sure you have a level, pencil, hammer and nails on hand. The general rule of thumb is 2''- 3'' between each frame .

A great way to start is to do a quick stretch of how you think the image will look best hung. Once you decide on where to hang the first image the you can work out from there deciding on placement. Whatever you choose to hang them in a formatted style or any other style be sure to take your time because it takes patience and more patience to get it right! But the efforts will be so worth it once your wall is complete for you to enjoy!

ps. If you any more questions about how to decorate a wall please just email me!
Till next time blessings from -M-xo

Ask Magda!

Adding Color to my kitchen-Safely!

Lately I got a lot of friends asking me questions about decor and design so with their permission I decided to use some of their questions in my blog to help others that might face the same dilemma.

Question:

I love color, but I'm afraid to use it in our home for a couple of reasons. My first reason is that we may not have this house forever, and I don't want to scare a potential future buyer away. My other reason is, I'm afraid of getting sick of it fast. What is a way to get some color into my kitchen with getting sick of it and with it being OVERKILL!

Answer:


I completely understand. This battle goes back and forth in my mind daily. I adore color and it make me feel great, but I do get worried about doing too much sometimes.

I think you first have to think about what color you love to live with. Whats a color that you never get sick off. For me, I never get sick of green, black and red. I love those colors and it makes me feel good looking at them, also goes with almost anything.

If your really unsure what color you want to live, I would say to you,to do something as simple as accessorizing your kitchen. There are may great ways to introduce color to a bland kitchen.

Here are my suggestions:

1. I love to cook but I am in no way, shape or form a cook that makes desserts, I love eating them but I can make them so for that I learn a trick (buying a Kitchenaid) would really help me by trying to use it a lot, and also I love leaving it out on my counter top because it adds color and a little retro vibe to my kitchen. Not in the market for mixer, try blender or toaster too!


2. If you have a free wall, another way to integrate color is to buy dishes in colors you love and hang them on an empty wall. I love Kate Spade dishes because there plain but have a hint of color. Or, if you have exposed shelves, another way to show some color is with a bold print.

3. A rug in a kitchen is always a nice way to keep your feet warm and add a little something to the space.

4. Last, a light fixture can also make simple stunning statement!

One more thing to remember that you don't have to spend a lot of money to do this. A simple white dish with a colored monogram, hanging from your oven or a colorful tea pot on your range can add a difference to your space. Have fun with it and please send me pictures!

Till next time-M-xo

What I know for Sure!

I am blessed to live in a house that overlooks Fraser River.In the days that the sun rises over the river,I am usually there to see it. That is my time with myself. I stand quietly waiting for my coffee to filter or my water to boil for tea, watch as the fiery red orange glow rises above. Its a sacred time, as I open the bible and let the word guide me. Every time the sun comes up I am reminded that I am given another opportunity to live my best of life. And every morning I take a moment to relish the wonder of what the Lord has to say to me.
What I know for sure is that every day the sun will rise again...It will rise tomorrow and the next day and next week and the week after. No matter what is happening in my life, your life, our world,the sun is going to keep rising and I trust the Power of the Lord allows that to occur. I call it sunrise faith.

I believe the Lord will not only allows the sun to rise but makes the planet circle one more time, turns embryos into babies, seeds into flowers, and dreams to reality. All we need is faith.
Do you believe in that power or are you trusting only in yourself

When you put your trust only in yourself, you say thinks like Oh I hope I have enough or Maybe I can just hang on. Faith is knowing that you will make it thought. Its believe that God loves you, and your worthiness it to Him. Its understanding that miracles can open your life in ways you never imagined. All we need to do is surrendering your dreams to Him...
Even on the days when you cant see the sun its there. Every flow in a plan when the sky is overcast, from the ground all you can see are dark clouds but when the plane climbs above the clouds, your able to see the sun. The sun is always there, shining.
So next time you find yourself surrounded by darkness in the middle of storm and everything is upside down, take a moment to give thanks, because you know, as I know that no matter what, the sun is going to rise. It will get better, believe it will!

Every day I ask God to teach me a specific lesson,and because of that I learn to how to trust, how to have courage, and to face the new day full of not always pleasant staff. Oh boy trust me is not always easy to learn, confronting people, risking to be disliked, or just being quite and wait.
Every day we are given the infinite opportunity to learn, our life is a journey to learn about yourself author Gary Sukav says. If we listen and learn what the Lord has for us we can all get better dealing with our everyday life, all the pain,despair, joy, compassion the we feel its possible in a place like mine overlooking the river, or in your quite moment in your sacred spot of your home. Today I am very emotional and that s one of the reasons that I encourage you to let the Lord speaks to you, and by listening and making Him a very important part of your life your can reinvent yourself each day.

Until next time-M-xox