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One of the major selling features of the house was how open the main floor is. With older Toronto homes, most often, the main floor is divided into several rooms and it's a daunting task to imagine opening it all up, and the structural implications tied into renovating a hundred year old house. The old owners took care of the dirty work for us and really invested in lovely finishes for the space.  With a coat of paint, a few new furniture pieces and some styling, we made the space our own and I really feel like it reflects our personality. I will admit that I've found myself at several times over the past year sitting in the space and happily gushing to D and how much I love  our home!  I wanted to keep the front entry simple and welcoming. We bought this rod iron console table and got a custom piece of stone for on top - it cost a fraction of what it would have in a retail store and is sleek and elegant.  D's grandad painted the stool and it came from his family's cabi

{ Bobbies, sneakers antelope } I love a good, casual sneaker. They can be dressed up with a cute dress or worn with jeans and a t-shirt. I love these Bobbies, a brand from Paris, that are chic and apparently super comfortable.  Now, just to decide between pink or tan...best part, they're on sale!

We hosted friends for wine club last night and the chosen feature wine was chardonnay. We marinated and barbecued pork tenderloin and I wanted a satisfying veggie dish to serve along side the wine that was rich but not too heavy. I referenced this pairing guide , and after browsing the grocery store for ten minutes came up with a new vegetable dish that was a big hit and super easy to throw together! :: Here's how I made it :: :: To start, I cubed sweet potato, marinated with curry, chili powder, garlic powder and salt and roasted at 375 for 30 minutes. :: I sauteed squash zoodles in a big fry pan with butter and lots of salt and pepper and layered that as the base of the dish. The sweet potato went on top. :: Finished with lots of curled parmesan and a handful of chopped pecans. :: I made a dressing that I served in a pitcher on the table. Combined mayo, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, salt - emulsify with olive oil. Chop up a handful of whatever herbs you have and add. (We have a

{  Club Monaco Emmerillo Dress  } { J.Crew shell and pearl drop earrings } We have back to back wedding weekends coming up at the beginning of September. We've had a wedding-less summer so I'm looking forward to dressing up and celebrating with friends! I picked up dresses for both weddings during end of season sales at Club Monaco and Banana Republic and scored two pairs of earrings on mega sale at J.Crew last week. The first wedding is at a resort on Lake Simcoe. I'm going to pair this dress with black, lace-up espadrilles that are easy to walk in and a simple, black clutch for a casual summery look.

The third floor of the house has two guest rooms and a powder room and is currently reserved for guests at Hotel Gray :) It's awesome having extra bedrooms and we've loved being able to host friends and family.   Without a doubt, the third floor under went the biggest transformation. I really wanted to have fun with these spaces and I'm so happy with how the designs came to life. We debated investing in the spaces at first, simply because they weren't going to be used a lot but we didn't have much work to do elsewhere in the house and so we went for it.  I had my heart set on shiplap for one of the rooms. It was the more expensive of the upgrades and was a lot of work (thanks Mom!) but it is such a unique finish for the space. The room is painted a medium grey and feels so cozy and intimate.  I decorated mostly with things we already had at our old place - the bedding from our bed, old side tables (we scored at a church sale for $25) and the cow skull that hung over