Category Archives: Home Decor & DIY Ideas

#AD @TheBrick || How To Add a Little Cozy to Your Home || The subtle art of Hygge

With Valentines Day behind us and a Family Day Stat holiday on Monday I’ve got the Art Of Hygge on my mind. It could be the cold weather, or how comfortable this Berlin bed from The Brick is… either way I’m looking forward to a weekend of cozy times with my little family unit this weekend.

If you haven’t heard of the ever so popular “Hygge” movement, let me tell ya… you might be embracing this full scale home decor and lifestyle choice already. I know I’ve been doing it for years. In it’s simplest form, the Scandinavian word “Hygge” is an overall feel of coziness and comfortability to work towards the feelings of wellness and contentment. It’s a daily ritual of enjoying the simple things: family, candles, the feel of clean warm sheets, and comfort food as examples. This concept has swept the home design world by storm in the last year, so of course I wanted to speak to it. I truly believe that by incorporating a little Hygge into your home and lifestyle you have the potential for your mental health and well being to benefit.

It’s the little things, I love to add cozy blankets, pillows, candles and floral arrangements to a room. Or changing up a long-term everyday use item like switching to the Beautyrest Hotel Diamond 6 plush king mattress set from The Brick. That mattress is the definition of cozy, it’s so soft and plus it was a game changer to the overall feel of our bedroom. Plus switching from a hard wood bed frame to the soft fabric Berlin was another design nod to actualizing a Hygge bedroom home design.

How have you added touches of cozy in your home?

International LUX End-tables || Tyler Bed Side Lamps || Blue Vase (The Brick instore find)

Roxy Chair and a half || Coffee Table (The Brick instore find)|| Bean Bronze Floor Lamp

Gold Accent Table: The Brick (in store find)

Disclaimer: This post was PAID by The Brick but my thoughts and opinions remain my own.

Photos by B.Grace Creatives for Northern Style Exposure

Family Traditions || Easy Valentine Sugar Cookie Baking with @TheBrick #Sponsor

Every year is the same, we have an afternoon of baking in hopes of making a large quantity of my Mom’s famous sugar cookies with a simple butter cream frosting. It’s a family tradition to make something yummy for the people we love… and I LOVE to do it together. This year was made even easier with the addition of my new GE 6.8 Cu. Ft. Freestanding Double Oven Gas Range. We had both ovens going with so much rack space for cookie trays, we breezed through our baking this year. The Air convection systems uses an innovative fan that rotates one way, then reverses direction to allow heated air to circulate evenly around whatever you may be cooking. Our range is easily one of my favourite features from our kitchen reno update late last year. This GE Gas Range makes everyday cooking easy for us as a family. I love the edge-to-edge cooktop.

We’ve always used a variation of The Joy of Cooking Sugar cookie recipe. It’s fast, easy and fool proof for a non-baker. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In my case, preheat BOTH ovens. Don’t forget to lightly grease a few cookie sheets.

1 cup unsalted butter, soft is best.

2/3 cup white sugar

1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well blended. Add in the egg, baking powder, salt, and vanilla until evenly incorporated. Stir in flour until the mixture is well blended and almost smooth.

Cook for approximately 7 minutes. Depends on the accuracy of your oven temperature. So I like checking around 6 minutes to make sure you don’t burn any batches.

Remove from baking sheet immediately to start cooling.

Now to do the frosting.

In medium bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter with spoon. Stir in a dash vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of the milk.
Slowly add milk and beat to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. Instead of food colouring, I used a heaping spoonful of our fav raspberry jam for both flavour and color!

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Mirror Mirror || Picture frame details in the bedroom with @TheBrick #Sponsor #HomeDecor

I love how a simple mirror can make a room look so much bigger than it is. Easily one of my favourite wall decor finishers is an elegant mirror, both for function and for design. When the Picture Frame mirror trend picked up last year I was so excited. I love detailed mirrors in general, naturally when I saw the classic touch of this frame detail on this full length mirror from The Brick I know I had to have it for our Master Bedroom.

When choosing a mirror for your space here are three easy tips to help narrow down the choices:

Function: Ask yourself, how will I be using this mirror? If you need it for seeing a head to toe outfit choice. Full length is for you, these types of mirrors are usual found in a bedroom, front entry way or dressing room. I LOVE how they open up a space, making it look so much larger.

Design: Are you looking to add a decorative detail to your wall? In this case, smaller mirrors are an easy way to add a beautiful touch to your room. Mix smaller mirrors into wall picturescapes or above a waist high dresser.

Size: Know the measurements of your space and find a mirror that fits within your size constraints. I had a large blank wall to work with, so the sky was the limit! Bigger the bigger. But when choosing a smaller mirror for above a piece of furniture choose one slightly smaller than the width of the dresser, as an example. Continue reading →

Get your space back! The toy struggle || Storage Solutions with @Thebrick #sponsor #homedecor

living room stylish toy storage solutions how to declutter your space

We have all been there or at least seen it… the living room over run by toys. The kids have taken over, if you are anything like me, you want your living space back! I don’t want to lie to you and say my house is a decluttered toy free oasis at all times but I will say I’ve found a storage solution that makes tidying the daily fun easy. Meet the Adept Wide Storage Cabinet from The Brick. With three adjustable shelves on either side, this storage cabinet provides ample space to tuck away your clutter. We have had it for over a year, made of a durable wood / laminate combo, it has held up with our kid’s daily use. I love the fossil oak hue and gold finish handles this cabinet is both stylish and functional.

Too large for your place? The Adept Wide comes in a narrow version for your small place storage needs.

My secret is out! I can’t name the number of times people ask on social media how I keep our living room looking so tidy with two kids. Now you know! It’s time to declutter and organize your life, let me tell you it feels good.

Disclaimer: This post was paid by The Brick but my thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Dining Q&A with @TheBrick || Why I changed up my space after only 1 year… #sponsor

I think this must be a January thing but I’ve just spent the entire week purging the house. More notable, the kid’s clothing and my glassware. I need my monthly brunch session more then ever! In the past month, I’ve gotten quite a few emails wondering why I changed out my dining set, why I choose the Bari set from The Brick and how much storage my sidebar really has. So I wanted to do a Dining Q&A, hopefully answering the questions some of you may be having in your redesign / organizing January mood. Let’s get right to it:

Why did I redesign my dining room after only one year? Why the Bari set?

Short answer, my previous table was about 1.5 -2 feet too long for the place. We have access to our kitchen from each end of the table, over time it was very apparent that I had picked a table far too big to make my space functional for everyday. Did I love the ample seating, YES! We host dinners and brunches often but the Bari set fits our space so much better for day to day. And I don’t find it too tight adding a few extra chairs for Sunday dinner. I’m lucky enough to work with The Brick, I found a modern table set that was slightly smaller but still, if not more stylish than my last table. I love this new modern space.

How much storage does that sideboard really have?

The big question related to the functionality of my space, was the additional of this Jade server sideboard. Obviously, with my window I cannot have a large curio cabinet that would have floor to ceiling storage. If I had the wall for it, I love the Keswick Hutch, I highly suggested it if you had the space for it. But in all honesty, our Jade server has almost just as many shelves and because the top is at waist level, I love to add design accents and seasonal decorations to our dining space. The top can also serve as a food station when serving several course meals that involve many large serving plates. And the closed storage is perfect to hide clutter or mismatched plate sets. I hide ALOT in that server, it’s an organizing must for a dining room.

Thank you so much for the questions via, the blog, email or social media. I’m happy to help!

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