Happy Valentine's Day! Bonne St. Valentin!

Well, rather than send you all a candy heart or roses (which really isn't my style), I'm going to give you some design inspiration for Valentine's Day.  And the theme is "Red is Best" - one of my favourite kid's books, by the way, by Canadian author Kathy Stinson (thanks to my sister for introducing it to us).

Source: www.kathystinson.com

I'm currently in the process of de-cluttering my office space and have decided to get rid of my tear sheets (thousands of them, I assure you) by scanning them and saving electronically.   With so many online resources for cataloguing my inspiration, like Pinterest and Houzz to name a couple of my favourites (psst...follow me!), I have decided to go digital.  Well, mostly; there are still some versions of the print magazine I cannot live without.

Anyway, I digress as usual.  In the process of going through my tear sheets I found a lot of red (which didn't surprise me) and it inspired me to share these images with you for some Valentine's Day inspiration.  Every room should have a little red, and these examples show how much life red can add to a room.   So, have a great Valentine's Day and remember "Red is Best".

 

Source: Blueprint Magazine

 

Source: Style at Home, May 2012

 

Source: Style at Home, May 2012

 

Source: House Beautiful, March 2011 

 

Source: House Beautiful, March 2011 

 

Source: Homes & Gardens, October 2010

Back to a regular pace...

Well, as some of you may know our season has ended for Leave it to Bryan and we are not filming at the moment.   This is normal...we usually have a break between seasons and I start to feel like "good Mom" again.  I'm less distracted, more focused on what is going on in the lives of my girls and I have a slightly tidier house, with more home-cooked meals.   And I get to make home-made Valentine gifts for their daycare friends and my family.   In reality, I don't think they really notice a difference between my states of "Mom" - it is more of a difference that I feel.   And then when I start getting sick of being home too much and not talking to adults enough our season starts rolling again.   I am lucky to have the best of both worlds...and a wonderful husband to help keep the balance in our lives.  Happy early Valentine's Day everyone!