Today is a bit of a weird blog post. I’m posting the winner of one of my contests, while also entering a contest myself!

First up, this is my contest entry for the Cat Skiing at Mustang Powder Contest. I’ve never been catskiing or catboarding before, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to try it out!

The contest asks for a blog post, but I also thought I’d include a video just for fun. It’s a little silly, it was filmed and edited late at night in the midst of chaos. Still, I think I’d be a great candidate to win the contest and I’ve put together some reasons why ( in text, just in case):

- I am extremely passionate about snowboarding and I’m constantly on the hunt for deep, fresh powder lines
- I’d love to take high quality photographs and videos of the catboarding experience; I’ve got a ton of equipment such as a DSLR with fisheye and telephoto, an HD video camcorder/DSLR, and a helmet mounted or board mounted GoPro HD camera which can help capture the experience
- I’m always on the lookout for new adventures!
- I have my AST-1 avalanche certificate so I know some of the basic safety principles for the trip
- I love road trips!
- I’d love to post about the experience on my blog and Twitter

Cross your fingers for me, friends!

ALSO, I thought this would be as good a place as any to post the winner of the contest I held for the Volcom Snowboard jacket!

Congratulations to the winner. Again, please excuse the silliness, as this was even later in the night. Winner, please e-mail me at allie@vancityallie.com. If I do not hear from the winner within 2 weeks I will do a re-draw.

Thanks to everyone for entering!

If you’ve been following the blog, you may remember that last year I spoke a lot about our bedroom makeover. Our apartment makeover is pretty much done now… you can see our sports room here, and our living room here… but the bedroom has always been close to my heart. I wanted it to be just perfect.

Here’s a shot of our old bedroom. Although it was at our old apartment, all the components were pretty much the same. The same mattress of the floor, wooden IKEA shelf and lots of boxes!

You may also remember the post I made about our bedroom concepts way back when last year. This was the concept I came up with after lots of brainstorming and soul-searching. The bedroom is really important to me — it’s the place you wake up in to start the day, and the place you rest your mind before going to sleep. It is important to me that it imparts a sense of peace. We wanted something clean that is not too girly, although I did ask that the bedroom could be a little more feminine since the rest of the apartment is quite masculine. I think it is a good compromise, and the green is quite a neutral-gender colour.

So here we go! This is the new bedroom with the makeover! I think we did a pretty good job of staying true to our concepts.

Here are some shots of the bedside tables and highboy under construction

The biggest part of the makeover (and the most time consuming) was the furniture. We bought some old dressers and side tables in French provincial style off Craigslist and completely re-did the hardware, stripped, sanded and painted for many many weeks. The paint is a white antique lacquer finish from Mohawk, and the handles were purchased from Lee Valley. We also painted the handles with metal paint and I think they look really cool and very similar to the design concept. I’m really proud of the beautiful curvy King-size bed that we custom designed and ordered from Vancouver custom woodworker KLK Woodworking. Kelly was really amazing and built the bed that we dreamed of! It has a French style but it is still whimsical to make the room look a bit more modern. To save money, we ordered the bed unpainted and it took several more weeks of sanding and painting to finish it.

The linens and bedding are where we really splurged though. We really pinched our pennies by buying used furniture and getting a custom bed, but the bedding was something I wanted to make sure was good quality and lasted. After months of looking around online and in stores, I FINALLY found the sheets we were looking for! We got our bedding from Terra Nova Interiors downtown. They are gorgeous Italian Sferra sheets… we purchased the “Alice” coverlet, 3 euro shams, and small green throw pillow in the front. The bed sheets underneath are from HomeSense and the two green throw pillows from the Bay.

I am absolutely in love with the scalloped edges and the texture of the linens!

The lighting is also an important part of any room, so it took me about 6 months to find the right lamps. We finally ordered these white Robert Abbey Piero lamps from Chintz and Co downtown. I like how they are modern (following the Oversize design trend this year), but they are still timeless with a classic design (I hope!) .

Here’s a better shot of the bedside tables we re-did and the base of the lamp. I also made the flower arrangements with silk flowers from Chintz, as well as the vase. Picture frame from HomeSense.

Here’s a shot of the view of the bedroom if you were laying on the bed. The tallboy dresser has a flower arrangement I did from Chintz, as well as two silver and glass candlesticks from them as well. The white shelf holding the candles is from IKEA, and the candles and glass holders are from Wal-Mart. It really sets a romantic mood in the dark with lots of light!

The other bedside table has two beautiful mirrored accessories from Nicole Jane Home. I was looking for something mirrored but couldn’t find what I was looking for from other stores. They are actually one of the few stores you can deliver interior design goodies to Canada (they are based in Vancouver!!) and they have a great selection. I literally just ordered the picture frame and jewelry box, so I haven’t even had a chance to change the default photo yet.

The last finishing touch to the room is of course the picture frame, which I had mentioned in the design concepts is an absolute key to the room. It’s an image from the drive to Tofino… a peaceful forest with a rushing stream. It really brings the room together in my opinion, and I love the green in it. I learned how to custom frame a photo myself at Opus Framing on Granville Island! It’s much cheaper than ordering a frame and it’s actually quite easy to do. Highly recommended for the photographers out there.

So that’s it! The room is finally done and I think it’s pretty similar to the design concepts. I am really happy with it, and Allan and I have been sleeping in it for the past 6 months now and we really love it!

What do you think of the makeover?