My (Pipe) Dream: A Sports Room

Happy Saturday everyone! Philip here. This was supposed to be the latest Friday Phil post, but turns out I bit off more than I can chew with this one. That's why you got Saturday's usual "Other Stuff" post early. That's also why ths'll have to serve as Part 1 of 2 (or more, if I come up with more ridiculous pipe dreams).

Today's post is a doozy of pure Philip-ness, so be forewarned!
 
Since before I became a homeowner and therefore master of my own decorating domain, I've dreamed of creating spaces that isolate down the most pure representations of my interests. As a kid, I really wanted a Lego room. Not a room made out of Lego, but a room overrun by a Lego universe. And although that still sounds seriously awesome, these days, beyond Jesus/Cass/family/friends, there are two interests that rise above all others: Sports and Movies.

Today, I'm going to talk about my Dream Sports Room.
 
Okay, before I begin, I admit it: as the title suggests, this is a bit of a pipe dream. The room I'm envisioning is heavily customized and would be horrible for resale (except for someone with the exact same interests as me, who might still hate it). It wouldn't necessarily be kid-friendly. It would take up the lion's share of our basement. It would be expensive. For all these reasons, my wife would hate it. But I share this with you because, if we do not have our dreams, what do we have?

First off, the main function of the room would be a place to relax with friends, to watch sports and play games like pool and table tennis. For this reason, the room would need to be fairly large; a full-size basement rec room should suffice, provided you can convert the pool table into a ping pong table. (Is that a thing, beyond kiddy-sized tables? It so should be. I'm gonna check it out. I'll check back with you in a bit.)

Anyway, the room is divided into half lengthwise and widthwise, as to make four distinct sections? Why do we need four sections? Because my love extends to all four major sports. (For some of you, the horror of what I'm about to roll out here is beginning to take hold.)
The quarters would be distinguished in a few ways. I was going to describe it all for you, but I figured I'd save myself a few thousand words and draw some pictures. Notes to highlight the important parts are included.

Baseball Quarter: Welcome to the Sports Room

1. This part is modeled after my favourite baseball team of all time, the 1992/1993 Toronto Blue Jays, repeat World Series Champions. 
2. This corner would serve as the primary entryway into the Sports Room; as a result, the size, level of customization, and usefulness of this area is limited. ("Limited?" you say. "That doesn't look like 'limited' customization!" Just you wait, my friend.) Suffice it to say, I love baseball, but when push comes to shove, it's the sport that most often takes a back seat.
3. The walls are Blue Jays blue. Obviously.
4. The walls feature some framed jerseys, which I collect.*
5. The flooring is again customized: using various colours of carpeting, we would recreate the look of a baseball diamond, particularly the home plate area. I like how this opens up the room using the baselines. I would also find it very difficult to exit the room from the left side of it, simply because you can't go straight home from 1st base.

*At this point, that revelation shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

Basketball Quarter: Ping Pong/Pool Table Area

1. Modeled after my favourite basketball team of all time, the '97-'98 Chicago Bulls, and their home, the United Centre. It'd be one of the bigger areas of the room, simply because a pool/ping pong table would be a fairly large installation. Plus, as a pre-teen in the Bulls' heyday, those teams rocked my world.
2. The walls are painted Bulls red. Again, obviously.
3. The flooring is hardwood. Yes, I'd be tempted to put down parquet, because it looks cool and a basketball-themed area begs for it, but a) I'm no Celtics fan and b) the United Centre doesn't have it so I won't. The hardwood would have lines painted on them to mimic a basketball sideline, baseline, three-point line and key.
4. You can't see the Table Tennis/Pool table. The photo is taken from where it would be set up. How would it be basketball themed? Good question. There are 6 pockets on a pool table, the same number of NBA titles won by the Bulls in the '90s. Or we could just draw basketball court lines on the felt/hard top of the various tables. I haven't quite figured this part out.
5. A half-sized hoop and plexiglass backboard would hang on one wall. 
6. Along the sideline, for those not currently in the (pool or table tennis) game we would have folding chairs designed to look like the players' bench, down to the Gatorade towels hanging over them. 
7. Hanging on this wall (and on either side of the hoop) are framed jerseys and my framed Michael Jordan: Wings poster, which is currently languishing in the basement, waiting for its place of honour.

Well, that's Part 1 of my Sports Room. Next week I'll reveal the other two corners of the room, which in my humble opinion are the two most creative, as well as a bird's-eye proposed layout for the room, because I know you're clamouring for it already!

In the meantime, use the comments below to let us know if you've ever had a dream for a crazy, resale-unfriendly room based on an interest of yours? Or if you're into sports like me and you made a sports room, how would you customize it?

Other Stuff

This week we're mixing things up a little bit because we've had an insanely busy week evenings-wise and so Philip hasn't had a chance to finish up his post for today. Therefore, we'll share the Saturday post and his post should be up tomorrow (but we'll give him grace if he's still not done). 

For those of you who haven't headed over to our blog on Saturday's, we've been sharing some links to articles and blog posts that we found interesting throughout the week. They range in topic from DIY/house-related, to recipes, to anything that we find interesting and think that our readers might also enjoy. So here goes!

This first link takes you to all the worlds we've grown to love, it shows blueprints for a lot of the apartments/houses of popular sitcoms. Want to see a blueprint of Ted Mosby's apartment? Lorelei & Rory's house? This is where you want to go!

At Making it Lovely this week, Nicole shared some accessories, media stands, etc. to pair together to make a beautiful TV centre. This piece from Target caught my eye because it was so interesting to be a Target item, and pretty reasonable! Target is supposed to be opening here soon, might have to go see if this is still around. I especially like it in Charcoal.

At Our Fifth House, Carmen transformed her dated fireplace into a conversation piece by painting it with chalkboard paint. I'm not sure if I'd be gutsy enough to do it myself, but it looks fantastic!

If meal planning still has you stumped - check out this super informative video where she walks through her weekly meal-planning method. I do something similar, but still have to hone my methods.

Philip has to wake up at 5:30 every day, and while I have a bit more flexibility over my sleep time, I often find myself waking up groggy, in the middle of a dream. This link has you enter the time you need to wake up and it tells you which times you should go to bed so that your sleep cycle won't be interrupted in the morning, leaving you groggy. 

Another Target find over at Mini Manor, but this article caught my eye more with her "One thing in, One thing out" philosophy. If you've read our blog before, you probably know I like to purge. It's so much easier to keep things clean and organized if you don't own a bunch of things you don't use. With Spring Cleaning in full swing, something to keep in mind! (Also if you live in Winnipeg and you're acquainted with us, we're planning for a garage sale this summer that will be open for anyone to join in with us - we don't have enough for a huge sale, so we were thinking we could all pool our resources - something to remember when you're going to purge this Spring!)

Sanity Will Return

You might remember a long time ago, as in before Christmas, when we finished our master bedroom and office. They were beautiful! You may also have noticed that I said were. 

Fast forward a few months, and our bedroom has been high jacked by bathroom staging, and our office is where paperwork goes to die. 

Well, since our bathroom is on hold for the moment (due to the insulation in the ceiling needing work, and Winnipeg weather not being ideal for removal of insulation for a few days at  the moment).  I'm retackling these beautiful rooms we created. There are still some decor features we want to add to each, for example I want to make a headboard extension for our bed, hang some hooks, artwork, etc. in the Master Bedroom, but first we have to tackle all this clutter. A lot of the bathroom stuff in our bedroom can't be dealt with until we have a bathroom to put it in, but I can get started on the office. Here's how it looks now (I just took pictures in a circle around the room, moving right for each one, so this is basically a 360 degree view of our office). Excuse the photos, we still need to get a high quality camera - as in higher quality than our iPhone 4's, we don't have a window covering and it was pretty bright, and it's just crazy messy in there.:

The view straight ahead from the door. Here you see the area to the left of our desk,
as well as one end of our desk.

Moving right, you can see the other half of the desk. 

Directly to the right, is the closet which houses our filing cabinet. 

Next up is a console table we inherited from the condo. 

On the other side of the door, is the first of three bookshelves. 

And finally the last two bookshelves. 

It isn't a huge space, but I think we've planned the storage pretty well. Now we just have to get it clutter-free and organized!

Office Sanity Checklist...plus a few extras for aesthetic purposes that might happen down the line (run on sentence alert)
Yes we're list oriented...in case you didn't know.

Create Mail Center/Cass' Area
- Hang White Board  We completed this on Monday night with the help of 4 velcro command strips as you can see in the photo with the console table! P.S. I did this almost all by myself, Philip was there offering guidance but I was in charge. Woot Woot, pink toolbelt here I come.
- Hang Art Gallery
- New Console Table
- Mail/Card Area
- Craft Supplies
- Receipt Inbox

Desk
- Set Up Printer
- New Office Chair
- Hang Art
- Storage Solution for Philip's Drama paperwork, temporary papers

Closet
- Stain Closet Rod & Shelf
- Organize Games
- Organize Filing Cabinet
- Create Warranties Binder
- Gift Wrapping Supplies
- Paint Closet Door

Bookshelf
- Style Empty Shelves
- Go through books for potential garage sale

Other
- Sand, Prime, Paint Door & Rehang
- Window Covering

Some more things might spring up as we go, but this is my initial goal list as far as bringing our once beautified office back to a beautiful state.

In My Defense...

Last Friday, Philip had his turn, poking fun at Urban Barn. In order to provide a balanced perspective, it only seemed fair to share the photos we took of some of the Urban Barn products we loooved. Yes, we did feature Urban Barn another time recently, and no, it's not the only place we shop, but we love it! Also, we were too early on our Spring product preview, because they only just released their Spring line and it is fabulous! We're obviously biased as lovers of yellow, and their two feature colors this year are Wasabi (green) and Dijon (yellow), with a base of Charcoal to ground everything. So very Spring-like! 

Urban Barn is interesting, because I feel like it's going through  bit of a style change, as am I. When you first get married and move out, you have to kind of find your style. At least I did. Most of what I like is shaped by what my mom decorated with (she has amazing style and probably should have been an interior designer - we will do a house tour there one of these days so you can see some of what shaped our style), but since moving out I've definitely felt a shift towards things with more personality. Philip loves color, especially as someone in Marketing with a knack for graphic design. The move towards more fun items, and towards color, is leading me towards some of the more fun things that Urban Barn has to offer, and before you know it I might even be buying some of the crazy products Jonathan Adler sells. I would definitely say that my style is easily influenced. Often blogs I read, things I see on Pinterest, etc. can have a big influence on what I like. I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm a trend follower, but it definitely happens on occasion. Pinterest can't convince me of all things, I would still say we have contemporary style rather than rustic or country, however I am moving more to the eclectic end of the spectrum. 

Here are some of the great items that Urban Barn has to share in their Spring collection (click this link to view the entire Spring Collection). 

Charcoal base, I love Charcoal...especially when paired with yellow.
You can tell by our wedding invitations! 

Philip made our wedding stationary, including invitations, thank you cards, wine labels, menus, & programs! All with a grey and yellow theme. 

We've been thinking of a clear chair for our small office.
This one is pretty cute, there's also one at Ikea we don't mind. 

I like the graphic pattern of this chair, with the Dijon throw -
it's a match made in grey and yellow heaven! 

I almost always love the placemats & cloth napkins at Urban Barn. These are my new loves, I think they would work for all seasons! Summery with the right table setting, or definitely fall like with settings more in the browns and oranges. 

I don't know if I'm such a fan of the affirmative sayings pillows,
but "Don't Forget to be Awesome" is a pretty good reminder.
Maybe for a wall print?

Color dipping is everywhere these days, I'd be nervous about DIYing it, and the resulting non-dishwasher friendliness. However, I'm thinking of trying this on our martini glasses that we never use (we aren't really big drinkers), it would dress them up in the glass cabinet, and if we used them washing 4 cups wouldn't be the end of the world. 

These cups glow from a distance, they're just 4 tiered cups and up close on their own they look pretty much like normal glass, but from afar they look almost ethereal. 

The numbered items theme is also pretty prevalent these days.
I definitely appreciate a good numbered item. 

A little more rustic than we go for, but spray painted high gloss white?? These squirrels that "press hands" are my cup of tea. 

Yet another set of napkins/placemats that I love. These ones a bit more Spring & Summery. 

Last but definitely not least, this blanket is drool worthy.
If I'm sick and cuddled under a blanket all day - this is what I want to do it with. Mentally adding this to my birthday list (mothers reading this take note).

Disclaimer: We are in no way paid or compensated by Urban Barn for these posts, we just love their products and have yet to find another store that embodies our style so well. Ceramic Gorilla Butts and all - they speak our language. 

Pastels and Egg Shells

Easter is a mere 2 weeks away, and for us it even seems to be coming sooner because a few of our most key family members are going to be on vacation over Easter so we'll be celebrating early with both sides of the family most likely. Pinterest is especially thrilling around holidays I've found, all of the pumpkin flavoured desserts and wreath DIYs around Christmas...and now Easter, with hip new ways of egg dying and Easter mantels. I didn't know people decorated so much for Easter! This year our house is definitely too crazy to host any kind of Easter gathering, but maybe next year. In browsing the internet for ideas, I definitely wanted to get an Easter centerpiece going! Maybe something like this...

Here are some of my favourite Easter decor ideas I've come across lately.

Martha Stewart shows these beautiful egg ornaments, so elegant for Easter eggs!

One day when we have a frame gallery in a hallway somewhere, it'd be neat to switch out some of the pictures seasonally, and at Easter I like the look of this. 

These cute Easter eggs to use in an Easter advent are such a cute idea for kids. I would even think about doing 40 of them as a Lent/Easter countdown activity with tasks we can do as a family along the lines of Lent. 

This article on Real Simple explains some of the Easter traditions
we've come to know and love. 

If you're hosting an Easter dinner, what a cute way to fold napkins! 

What are your Easter plans? Ours is a little bit non-traditional this year so far, my parents will be away as will Philip's brother and his wife, so we're having a Friday night Easter games night with my cousins, and potentially having lunch with our friend and his dad. We'll also have Easter with Philip's family but that isn't planned yet. Is Easter a big deal in your household? As Christians, it's one of our major holidays, but my family hasn't always had a huge celebration dinner. As kids we went to my grandparents and had an Easter egg hunt, but as we've gotten older and everyone has their own families it's kind of fizzled out. Glad my sister is planning something though because it's always nice to spend the holiday's with family, maybe we can even relive our days as small kiddo cousins where we'd have an older cousin teamed up with us helping us to find the eggs in the yard to fill our ice cream pails. Those were the days. 

Next Monday we'll share a few more Easter themed ideas as we countdown the days to a beautiful Spring and Easter celebration.