Just beachy

Retail , oh no I don't want to pay retail

2012-02-03T09:13:00.002-05:00

I have been working on the flooring for our new house.I thought I would document a couple of detail photos of the process. I tried walnut water based stain I had used before around the house but it didn't give me the depth of color we were looking for . I went out and picked up some rich deep brown stains , one exspresso, yes it was spelled that way , and kona . Kona was an immediate home run. It was rich and deep , the top photo is how one generous coat looked and below two coats. I usually use latex as I just simply hate working with oil ever, but in stain I am a convert. There are no lap lines , it goes on flawlessly and soaks in superbly. I used Varathane that I purchased at Home Depot.

Onto the issue of retail, well I hate to pay retail I really get a charge out of getting a deal. I am not the type to go out looking for anything and to make a purchase on the first trip out.I am a comparison shopper with everything but groceries. I often will go back and revisit a particular item several times before going ahead with a purchase. Waste of time? I think not . Having patience with my range saved me $1500...good things come to those who wait!!! I will wait for a sale .
Well lighting is very important to me , one of the most important decor items in a house. I have been visiting a local lighting store over the past few months deciding what kind of lighting I want for the new house.
We really only have a couple of local lighting stores here beside the big box stores. One store that I will not mention I visited twice , but after being ignored and brushed off by the sales girls ( both visits) who were too busy talking to each other I decided I would not buy anything there on principal alone, even though they had a good selection and good pricing.

I went back to the highest rated lighting store just down the road. Todd and I had seen this light and we both really liked it . The scale , its big 14"x19" and the quality , its nice . We really liked the antique brass finish . It was originally $129.00 I believe then it was on sale for a little while for $99.00, I nearly bought it as a Christmas gift for my hubby but it wasn't in stock. So when I went in yesterday to see if there was anything new and to see what was on sale it was marked down to $49.00. Well that made my decision very very easy , I'll take two .....one for my husbands office and one for the laundry room. That pricing is boob light pricing.

It is beautiful . Pardon the awful harsh glow of my kitchen pendants please. This new light is twice the size of my current pendants which are great . I got these kitchen pendants in the back ground at Home depot years ago for $59.00 in the dark bronze, they come with varying lengths of extensions so they can work in many places, just in case you are looking for school house pendants.

Here is a close up of the new brass fixture , pretty right? I'm so thrilled with them and I can't wait to see them installed in 27 days. http://www.dvcanada.com/products.php?show_all=all here is a link.

Powder room

2012-01-30T10:50:00.003-05:00

I have nearly gathered all the fixings for our new main floor powder room. I have decided to try this lovely shade called Punch by Martha Stewart paints , my husband isn't too sure about it but I am willing to give it a try , he doesn't see my vision. This is a windowless room and I thought this would be a fun spot to try a "punch" of color....lol. It's just paint , if its not nice guess who will re-paint it, me!
I came across this very rustic over sized peg board at Winners yesterday . I went in to look for toilet paper holders and or towel hooks and I won for sure this day. I love the toilet paper holder in brushed nickle finish for only $5.00 on clearance. I will eventually get a brushed nickle faucet .

We have already decided on the galvanized lantern fixture for the lighting for the powder room $30.00 at Lowe's , I love this light. We really like this vanity by Martha Stewart , available at Home Depot, it looks green in the picture but it is actually more of a soft grey . Its great , nice storage for a powder room, it comes with the simple white sink. I will paint the trim to match the vanity , it looks great with the punch paint chip.We are going for rustic and polished ...still haven't decided on the floor I am actually considering carrying the wood floor into this room .

Speaking of flooring , I went out to a country mill on Friday to source out the pine flooring we are installing in the new house. I spent the weekend trying out stain options. It took a few tries but I settled on this stain , it is an oil stain in a color called Kona , it is just what we like , deep rich and chocolaty. I am a complete convert to oil stain , it goes on so well and doesn't leave lap marks and it really soaks in too. This is after two coats , so excited. We will have to wait two weeks for the wood to acclimatize so we will be living in limbo for a lot longer than I had originally hoped. Fun!!!

Here's proof positive it was the country. I parked and immediately this little kitty jumped right onto the hood of my car , it gave me a good laugh, I guess he was checking me out.

Wrapped up

2012-01-25T12:08:00.003-05:00

I wrapped up my lantern making project , I love how they turned out. I used some really heavy chain I had outside , it has the perfect weathered rustic finish . The tool I showed you the other day is so easy to use , even my 10 year old can easily open and close a link of chain with one hand , do you know how hard that can be?

I hung up the lantern and gave it a try , I think it looks great. I think it will really be nice in the upstairs hallway , its casts such nice light and shadows because of the grid pattern.

I am still deciding on the counters for the kitchen , definitely going with quartz for the ease of use . Either Bianco Rivers above or Lyra below ? what are your thoughts? I love some helpful feedback.

We are settled on the simple square edge.

I think we have settled on this style of sink , under mount , stainless steel square edged, we were thinking of farm house apron front but I think its getting a little over done and I don't want to do anything too trendy or dating even though I still love them. I think this will be a great choice, I can fit anything I have all the way into it and the counter install and faucet install will be a little more straight forward. As well is is much less than the apron front .

Can you tell I've been thinking!!! ha ha

We are down to 35.5 days to go , not long now ....

Making a lantern , what it may take?

2012-01-23T13:35:00.000-05:00

The oil paint has dried on my new lanterns I'm making, I am excited to get them all ready and assembled . I decided to attach one link of iron chain right to the handle so that the weight of the lantern will be carried by this handle. But how do you properly attach metal to metal ? Welding right? well I am not welding , I considered soldering but I was told it will not hold well, so I went with glue.

It worked so far , only 5 minutes of holding it in place. Like my little bag trick to hold the handle up right? my arm was getting tired.

I am using this easy to install swag kit , I am using a more rustic chain that I had laying around the one that came with the kit is too new and shiny,

plus a canopy kit ...

here is the glue , a two part epoxy. I've never used this before , its very neat stuff, really solid when set. I was on the hunt for a great lantern and happened to make my own perfect lanterns are you wondering how much this is going to cost me ? well the large one is coming in at $65.00 and the smaller one at $55.00 , I can not beat that and they are really truly one of a kind.

Ok breaking news...I spied this tool in the electrical lighting kit area at Home Depot today. I thought " what is this?" OMG its a chain opener/closer tool , are you serious !!!! I've been struggling with chains for 20 years and there was this amazing tool. It is so easy to use , no swearing needed and no damage to the chain at all . I can't believe I didn't know this even existed , did you?

I have to share with you this super exciting deal I found at Lowe's the other day. It took me a day to decide where and how to use these mosaic's and to go back and pick up 5 sheets. On the fireplace surround , I am going to use the vertically all the way around and 12x12 tiles on the hearth , this is a great place to splurge on tile . But what is better than finding an extra special tile for a steal $5.49 a sheet , normally around $15.00 of more a sheet for marble, LOVE!!!

snow , static and packing boxes

2012-01-20T17:57:00.001-05:00

Well we finally got a good dumping of snow . I have no magical warm feelings of snow like some people. I do not enjoy being cold or bundling up and static hair is just a nightmare. But it does look pretty in the backyard and the bunkie looks down right adorable. A perfect unblemished blanket since our dogs no longer use the backyard . I look forward to settling into the new house and getting a fence put up as soon as is possible all this dog walking is a bit insane.

I have given in to the packing , there is no way to hide it . I figure there is no time like the present to get everything organized and if possible packed . It will be like Christmas when I open some of these boxes.

The more cupboards that look like this the more peaceful I feel and the shorter the to do list is ahead of me.

There is no time like moving to get rid of junk and to organize your life. I finally have a place for all my little bits and pieces , how did I survive without this ? Its kinda funny before we listed I thought I cleaned and de-cluttered , and then when I started packing boxes I realized I only had just scratched the surface. How do people live without basements? you must have to be really disciplined.

I have been scouting for lighting , I have quite a few actually that I can not wait to see installed but there are plenty still to find. For me lighting is so important , it can really make a room , I don't want run of the mill. I love love love lanterns but most nice lanterns are in the $200-$500 range , that is not what I want to spent.I happened upon these lanterns at Homesense the other day. The spring pieces are coming in you know!! any how they were light grey and pretty as they were but I thought they would just wash out and get lost. They were not electrified , but I thought that would be easy enough , and they were. I then decided to darken them up , but I didn't want to use spray paint, sometimes the finish looks very spray painted , not what I was looking for . I decided to try artists oils paint , it was perfect , only problem is it takes a long time to dry , like 12 days of more. I have the time. It was so nice to do a project and something creative.

I have been ordering fabric for the girls rooms , I love this lilac chain pattern its so pretty. From Tonic Living.

I was over the moon when I came across this light today at Lowe's , it is so nice and substantial and only $26.00 , amazing , it will be installed in the coat closet in the foyer and one in the master closet .

So we're getting there 40 more days and we all know that time will fly by . The new house sits sadly empty almost complete , we can not wait to get in there and make it our home.
I realized the other day that I will likely have to set up a temporary kitchen in our laundry room while I install our floors in the kitchen , oh my !!! this will be quite an adventure.

Thanks for stopping by .

HGTV Canada is looking for your fabulous house

2012-01-16T14:50:00.001-05:00

Are you your own amazing designer, do your friends admire your design skills, do you have the nicest house on the block?
Then you might be just who HGTV Canada is looking for. If you live in Southern Ontario and are game for some fun competition going head to head against other fabulous homeowners with amazing pads then I have the outlet for you .
If chosen you will be competing against other homeowners to win the bragging rights and a $1000 prize.
Who's in ? I can think of a few fabulous home owners I would love to see participate.

Interested? Email besthouse@propertelevision.com for more details

Get your place ready for it's big spot light , its time to shine. Good luck!

1300 posts and Friday the 13th

2012-01-13T09:45:00.002-05:00

I noticed just yesterday that I have 1300 posts , wow , that's a whole lot of posts isn't it? I started this blog to create an outlet for my own personal design projects, I really didn't know how I would come up with topics and material at all and I truly didn't know if anyone at all would read this blog.
Happily I have made friends and opened my life up to so many new wonderful ideas and most importantly wonderful people along the way.

I have received support through my many projects , advice and encouragement through some personal situations.
Sometimes sadly I have experienced mean and hurtful comments and jabs but they pale in comparison to all the kindness that I feel from the majority of the comments and emails I receive. Most people are kind , but of course there is some ugliness out there, some people just can't help themselves. Here is where every post has been created.

Its funny to see how far this blog has come and how far the house has come, it is so much better than when I first started, well the house anyway.
I love this house even though we are moving on. Its not a palace or a million dollar home but it is our home full of warmth and loads of charm which we added one project at a time . In 46 short days it will belong to a new family who will make it their own. I'm sure they have plans .

I will miss all the one of kind details we leave behind. The finally established gardens. I hope spring brings the new owners lots of beautiful surprises outside. We added so many new plants to the gardens this past year including a front yard tree and loads of boxwoods and hydrangeas and so much more, we weren't planning on moving at all remember.We made sure to not let our doggies outside since we sold to leave the new owners with a clean yard , those of you with doggies who use the yard for their business will know what I mean. We have been walking the dogs lots and lots and we have been thankful for a mild winter so far.

This kitchen has come a long way. It was actually pickled oak when we moved in , by choice, and I painted them this mocha color two days after we moved in. I found it too gloomy , I love a white kitchen. We have spent so much time here. It is a great kitchen , just the right size . I always dreamed of adding soapstone counters but never got around to that . I wonder how the new owners will change it if at all. I think it would be so nice with a farmhouse style sink , but it is not mine to change anymore, boo . ( Mason was 4 years old there now she is 13 , where does the time go?)
I have been going through such DIY with drawl, I haven't been to Home Depot in so long....I wonder what they think happened to me , I should go for a little visit.

So thank you for coming to share your time with me. Don't know what the future holds but I thank you in advance for all of your kindness and support.

Have a happy day this Friday the 13th , it's a lucky day in this house.

Planning and deciding

2012-01-08T12:09:00.000-05:00

I love the planning and decision process of interior design , there are lots of ideas and too many choices , sometimes it is very overwhelming . Many people get stuck in the decision stage and become paralyzed and don't do anything because of the fear of making a bad or wrong decision. That is not an option for me. It took me 7 years to pull this house together to add all the special touches and to create a home full of character and I don't want anything less for our new house. I will not be giving myself quite so much time on the new house . I figure 2 years tops . Lots of blog post material.
We have finally decided on the wood flooring , drum roll please..... its is going to be rough sawn pine flooring stained dark . The photo above is my inspiration . I have done lots of homework and asked lots of homeowners that have pine floors to let me know what they think of them. Turns out they love them. See wood was a no brainer , we love wood, but having two kids and two dogs we know wood floors get scratched and show wear and that is just a fact of life. So do we want rustic floors that have loads of charm that can have character added to it by everyday life, or perfect floors that will get scratched and marks that will break my heart and make me mean, no we don't want that . I want the bones of the house creamy white and have quiet elegance but the floors obviously rustic.

For the family room we will need built ins flanking the fireplace to house the tv components. When I recently saw this image on House of Turquoise I thought how perfect . Where they have art we have windows. This will be the perfect arrangement for our family room.I think a lantern will be in order for our family room as well.

I recently ordered a box of these Moroccan tiles from Overstock , they made it all the way from Utah . I don't know how any of them made it in one piece however. The bottom of the box was wide open , they where barely supported ,its a miracle there were only 4 tiles broken, luckily I will have to square up the bottoms anyway to add these to our back splash above the range. They are so lovely and only $11.00 a sq foot.

I went over to the new house on Friday to measure for blinds for the bedrooms , did I mention we have 27 windows. For now I am only concerned about bedroom blinds and bathrooms . As you can see they installed the lovely slider closet doors , gosh they are something else. Mason and Sophie both want curtains and not doors at all , so they will be removed at some point.

I will have to absolutely replace the linen closet sliders , because they just look plain awful. I actually found the same doors we have throughout the house in slider form for $169.99 , I think that is pretty good , I will just have to trim out the opening nicely to add some character. Why don't they trim nicely around closets with sliders ? , well they did in the laundry room , which makes it look so much nicer.

eclectic family room design by general contractor Borges Brooks Builders

I have been noticing a lot of rustic wood accents in the houses I am drawn to on Houzz , like this photo above of the eclectic family room. I am planning on the cladding the soffits in the dining room with wood to create this look , so it will look structural .

So for now I am planning our first steps after we take possesion and move in .
Projects # 1 Kitchen: remove sheet vinyl flooring( laid in the kitchen to close the house , darn by-laws) lay wood flooring in the kitchen first and foremost , and finish the kitchen flooring.
#2 remove kitchen counters
#3 paint the kitchen cabinets before installing gas range.
#4 build onto kitchen island to add microwave cabinet and wire for electricity
#5 add stone counters and new farm house sink
#6 install appliances ( run gas line and water line for fridge)
# 7 customize kitchen cabinets with valance and crown moulding.
# 8 add wood counters to island.
#9 find and install two beautiful pendants
#10 back splash
#11 install range hood
#12 trimmed chalkboard wall

Other projects : (inside only list)
paint all interior doors black
install all the pretty lights starting with bathroom vanity lights
install entry hall brick floors in herringbone pattern (easy right)
stain and paint staircase
install remaining wood floors on main floor upper hall and office
beam treatment in dining room
add trim to staircase walls
customize entry closet
install open shelving in laundry room
paint kids bedrooms , bathrooms and our bedroom
built ins in the family room
add tile accents to master bath
build upholstered master king sized headboard
replace all interior door hardware
install floors in the powder room
trim out nicely all the bathroom mirrors

well that is a starter list , I'm getting worried , oh heck who are we kidding I love this stuff don't I , I live for this kind of list.

Fresh Start

2012-01-03T10:09:00.001-05:00

Happy new to you , hope you had a whole lot of fun.

We had a nice relaxing holiday and now its back to reality , back to work , working out , cleaning house and packing for our move next month.

Lots of planning and day dreaming going on here that is for sure.

We have almost 100% decided on rough sawn pine floors stained dark, this has been a tough decision for sure , but from what I hear we will be happy with it , lot's of character for our spanking new place.

Our new house is on a corner and we have been trying to figure out how we will fence our property when the time comes. Lucky us a near by community has homes by our builder set up exactly the same way as our new house is with the separate garage. So we have been able to see how at least 7 other home owners dealt with such a set up. I love the one below most of all with the open iron fence and all the mature trees. We also like the home above how they kept the fence back which visually connects the house and garage. Really in our climate you use the yard 6 months of the year maximum , and we don't need a ton of privacy as we mostly just hang out and relax in our yard. Most likely we will opt for the privacy fence .

But the fence is an issue for the future. For now I have been just looking for appliances.

As I'm sure I mentioned I have a 36" opening for our range , we had considered building it in to accommodate a 30" range because 36" ranges are very pricey. I have been eyeing a beautiful Kitchen aid range at Sears . This floor model has been marked down for quite some time , since well before the idea of a new house was in our minds. It was crazy expensive , I won't even say how much , let's just say there was no way no how. But clearly not many people around here buy 36" ranges , so they were trying to move it. The price was fair but not low enough for us, that is until I asked . It really does pay to speak up because they came back with an unbeatable price so it ours now I'm so happy to say. It is so exciting , it is duel fuel , 6 burner and so pretty. We currently have a Kitchen aid convection smooth top range which we love , but it was sold with the house . The new range has all the same digital features of our current stove which will be so nice , no new learning for the kiddies.

I am really loving this corner house separate garage set up , a mere 56 days and we will be moving in to our very own corner house.

We indulged in lots of holiday goodies for Christmas and New Years , I enjoyed cooking up some killer treats , but it is time to get things back on track.

This was the most delicious Pumpkin Chipotle soup for Christmas Eve.

And these are the easy chicken enchiladas I served with the soup, yummy .

I'm off to tackle some more packing and cleaning .

Here's to a great fresh start for 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday's

2011-12-25T16:04:00.002-05:00

Last night we had my side of the family over for Christmas eve as we always do , I made Eddie's Pumpkin chipotle soup and easy enchilada's , you must try these recipes , no fail delish great meals. It is our last Christmas here and I couldn't help but think ahead to next year and how the new house will function even better , it has a very familiar layout with the kitchen and family room which we love but it is much more spacious which will be nice since everyone is growing up before our eyes.
It was tough to get out of bed this morning to our eager crew , but after a lot of nudging I managed to make it down to start our last Christmas morning here. The girls were very happy and thankful for their gifts. Mason is very much into music as all teenagers are so I got her a iPhone speaker system which she didn't ask for but phew she likes it , and Sophie got the acoustic guitar she was really hoping for , she's pretty good at it already and everything else was a big hit too.

She looks like a natural.

Moe is enjoying Mason's new cozy robe.

A couple of days ago I asked our builder if we could get into the house for a preview of how things were coming along and to take some progress photos and they were happy to let us take a look.
It was so nice to get in , its warm in there with the propane heater going in the basement , other than that heat it has no electricity or water quite yet, so it was nice to have a good sunny day to take a peek.

A nice surprise was that the fireplace had been installed and the mantel trimmed up beautifully , its just like the picture, well spent upgrade dollars . This is the family room . The TV will be mounted above , we have that set up now and just love it , it was nice to have the builder do the proper wiring for this set up , well worth the upgrade dollars.

Here is Mason's sunny window filled bedroom , it is West facing . Where can I find those paper blinds for when we move in ???

And Sophie's room , three windows again .

And the jewel of a dining room which was supposed to be a parlour or sitting room but I love the idea of a square dining room with a large round table with lots of chairs for great gatherings , so this is the dining room we think it will work very well for how we live.

The stairs and railing are all installed , I plan to beef up the newel post with trim. The spindles will be painted and the railings stained by us, I think the newel post painted with a stained topper and the risers painted and treads stained.This entrance corridor flooring will be herringbone brick veneer.

Family room looking into the kitchen, the ceilings are 9ft and the windows are tall it feels like they are soaring.All smooth ceilings both floors , this was a must , and they did a great job.

This is the view from the kitchen into the front living room , the beautiful afternoon west light flooding in , I love the light. I am so happy how the upgraded trim turned out with the nice back band casings and 5" baseboards.

This is the view out from the breakfast area to the front door , loving the center hall. So much work to do still on the builders part and then on my part , but I look forward to making it all happen.

This is the front of the house looking from the living room into the dining room. It can all start looking the same with all the similar windows and white paint , which I love . I think dark stained floor will really look amazing.

Here is a good photo of the master shower , lovely carara jams awaiting a seamless glass enclosure. I am so happy we kept the tile simple and chose white subway , not a huge upgrade but a classic choice I won't tire of. We left the shower floor the standard white 1"x1" ceramic. I was pleased to see a nice square drain. We think we should get a square shower head too.

This is a good shot of the double vanity location , two sinks , we have never had that , we will soon see who is the tidiest. I got Todd a light for Christmas one of the lights for this room , it is a Martha Stewart light its so nice. The standard lighting was one light for this vanity area , I thought it would be best to add a second , we girls need good light in a bathroom.

The other side of the bathroom , the TV wall ... now would you go for a white TV or black , I mean the screen is black right , of course white is more costly...the walls in here will be a water tone, one of the few places that will have painted walls. I will be tiling the front of the tub apron , what do you think marble ? and the surround around the tub should have been flooring tile but I scratched that , I am thinking beadboard.

The upper hall with linen closet , it looks great with this railing installed. We upgraded the railing to a thicker spindle and handrail and square posts , the spindles are paint grade. Looking so forward to painting that ??? this will be my third railing from raw, I am a glutton for punishment. When I see the railing like this I can't help but think of liming ??? crazy?

The girls baths got upgraded subway tile too , I tried to talk them into colors but they wanted white . Sophie's flooring is a faux carara marble ceramic and Mason's floor looks kind of like a stone paper look.

The girls hallway , I love this feature it feels so deliberate. I think it will keep their sounds more contained which is good because they can kick up a lot of noise. I love the doors we chose to upgrade too. I decided to stick with the standard door hardware though , shiny brass which I will change to either rubbed bronze levers or crystal ??? or maybe crystal just on the bathroom doors for fun , why not? Decorating should be fun and pleasing to the home owner right . Can I rub that brass with something to make it nicer and less bright brass??

Well there I leave you with a tour of the house , progress is good . The kitchen should be in in the new year .

I hope you are have a nice holiday season whatever your holiday is , have a happy New Year too.
Cheers!

Looking back and moving forward.

2011-12-20T08:48:00.001-05:00

I was planning on waiting until after Christmas to start the packing process , but I thought it was best to take advantage of my days off and get things started. I have been meaning to organize our family photos and I'm happy to say I have now made quite a dent , 600 photos have been located into albums , what a relief. It nearly kills me to see how much my children have grown , this photo was taken just days after we moved in to our home , these girls are all so grown up now , it breaks my heart really. Sophie is on the left ans Mason is on the top , and these are their beautiful cousins.
Notice the unfinished staircase , boy looking back at how this house began its amazing just how much work I have put into this humble home , I am so proud of the final result and I am glad I did all the projects that I had planned for this place.

Can you believe these are my little girls , Mason was 4 years old here and Sophie 1 , if I could travel back in time I would live this part of my life over once again , happily. I miss those babies. Mason was such a wild child , so full of spunk , and Sophie was always a soft sweet cuddle baby .

Before

After: I got a little peek , things are looking beautiful , I can't get over the height of the main floor doors , beautiful.

Here is the dining room , I don't know who's door that is cuz it's not mine ??? I can't wait to hang my wine barrel fixture in there.

I have been looking for a round table for our kitchen breakfast area , and I found the perfect table for $40. I am going to sand it all down and give it a new life. Its perfect 48"solid and simple. It may end up in the dining room to start with and we were told it can seat 8, which is perfect.

I am all ready for Christmas are you? , I love watching the kids open their presents , and this year I think we will all sleep in a little too , the joys of having older kids.

Dusty progress

2011-12-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

I was able to get a quick peak last evening , but it was dark and very dusty as there was a nice man sweeping up. I asked very nicely is I could just take a peek at the progress and he allowed me a quick look. To everyone else this is just another house but to me this is my home , I am dying to see it all in reality after imagining how things will look piece by piece. So please forgive the terrible iPhone photos , it was dark and the air was full of dust. There is still no electricity to the house , that's soon to come I'm sure and hopefully I will be able to get permission to go in an snap a few progress shots.
This closet is the upstairs linen closet , holy cow right , I'm thinking its a little small.... ha, I am going to be so organized I tell you .

And here is the main floor laundry , where we will have front loaders and lots of shelving and large counter space and a nice closet for brooms and vacuum and extra pantry goods and dog food. I am down right giddy to have a main floor laundry with pantry. The dogs will use this room for yard access and feeding which will be very nice to have that out of the kitchen.

I went ahead and ordered two fabrics for the house , I ordered the white and grey zigzag which is Flatiron , in grey from Tonic living and Bethe in Robin's egg from Tonic as well , I need these for the new house. The paint chips are a selection of colors I am drawn too , of course robin's egg aqua tones and greys for sure. The lilac fabric is for Sophie bedroom.

I recently did a little sketch to see how the house will look with a fence bridging the house and garag. I'm not great with perspective drawing I know , but this gives me a good idea of how it might look.

I really wanted to get a look at the master bath to see how the subway tile looked and the floor tile , which has a fine stripe in it . I wanted carara but it was way too much of an upgrade. I am planning on adding carara to the tub deck and maybe even the apron of the tub but I haven't decided , normally it has the floor tile wrapping up the apron which I nixed, I don't like that look at all . I don't know maybe trim , we will have to see , I still have loads of decisions to make.
I have decided that there will only be color on the walls of the bathrooms and bedrooms and the laundry room , ok maybe the dining room , but the halls and kitchen and living rooms will all be neutral warm white.

So there is a little look at how things are going with the new house , I think its looking really really good.
I am trying to tackle a little organizing here and there and a tiny bit of packing , this seems like such a mammoth task . I'm trying not to get over whelmed .

Kitchen day dreaming

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

We have a 36" opening for our stove but we have decided after researching we are going to stick with 30" in hopes of incorporating some side detail or perhaps storage pullouts like these here, nice huh!

This is the color of cabinets we are considering , its looks very blue on my monitor but it has more of a green undertone. We have had almost all white kitchens in the past including the rental apartments we have lived in , so it will be nice to change things up , although I know it is quite trendy but that is because its beautiful.

I am taking a lot of inspiration from this kitchen as I always have , I love the configuration of the island with the open bookcases flanking the stool area, I think I might want to add this feature . It would be good for books and baskets.

I a still hooked on these chrome pendants , I love the beautiful sparkle they add , lovely , do you have some you love? With two pot lights over the sink and four around the perimeter and two pendants over the island and a 5 light chandelier over the breakfast table I think the kitchen will be one bright and happy place to be.

traditional kitchen design by san francisco architect McCoppin Studios

contemporary kitchen design by minneapolis interior designer Martha O'Hara Interiors

Haul

2011-12-12T09:23:00.000-05:00

photo from

http://blog.arcadianlighting.com/basement-light-installation-basics/

We are really keeping control and holding off on purchasing items for the new house with the exception of light fixtures but only when I find a great deal.
So far I have gathered a powder room galvanized fixture , two star lights , one bathroom vanity light , and the breakfast area fixture , because from what I recall the builder light fixtures are just plain awful...and since we upgraded to boxes in all of the bathrooms we will get closet / basement bulb fixtures(see photo above) , they will get changed asap.
I have been searching for door knobs for the interior doors , the standard builder selection is brass ...I really think this could change, why in 2011 are we installing shiny brass in new builds??? Do not like shiny brass, the upgrade wasn't huge but we do have 14 doors in the house , so $40 a door for something I don't like which was the brushed silver ball knob and matching hinges( matching hinges is a move in the right direction, I will change those later as well) was not a good upgrade choice. Good news I found black levers for $12.00 each... that is a savings of $392.00 .
You will rarely find me at Home Depot these days , no projects to do around here. Its so strange to feel like I have to be so careful , nothing can break or get damaged , this is someone else's house now right.
We did scoop up this beautiful huge mirror at Homesense , on Friday there were two and Saturday there was just this one left. Todd wanted to go back later to buy it for me for Christmas , but as we know you can't leave Homesense and even think what you want will still be there days later....its fine to get a Christmas present early and while your there , right? See how this mirror is bigger than that wall its leaning on its huge, we think it will look great in the new house with 9 foot ceilings and 8 foot door ways. I don't know where it will go , on the main floor for sure , maybe the front living room over the sofa that we have yet to choose.

I found this print on canvas for Mason's room , and a fluffy purple bath mat for Sophie bathroom, the girls rooms are pale blue , black and white for Mason and lilac for Sophie.

I am waiting until after New Years to get to the task of organizing and packing , not a task I am looking forward to. I know there is a lot of work to do , lots of things are hiding in the corners of this house that we do not need , is anyone is need of dozens and dozens of stuffed animals the kids are ready to part with .....????? is there a charity wanting stuffed animals , hopefully yes.

78 days 19 hours 36 minutes and 20 seconds till our big day.

getting a good look

2011-12-08T10:02:00.001-05:00

I am putting together the short list of selected items for the new house to get a good picture of the direction of the house design. I recently received a delivery from Delta , I was so excited to receive this beautiful kitchen faucet, it will be the perfect addition to the new kitchen, it has a pull out which will be so useful. Thank you Delta.

image from http://www.homebunch.com/inspiring-homes-interiors/I have made a final decision on the foyer flooring , it will be brick , just like this brick here , isn't it so lovely. I can just see our puppies laying around on it sunning themselves in the late afternoon sun.

How gorgeous is this tile , to die for right? I will be incorporating this tile in the powder room , but in white . photo from http://1910foursquare.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/current-obsession-moroccan-tile-mosaics/kitchen-backsplash-moroccan-tile-2/

As I have shown you before this is the kitchen sink. I will have it under mount under the marble , we will have the faucet installed into the marble just behind the sink.

I picked up a nearly identical fixture to this for a song , I am looking forward to installing it in the dining room .The dining room is turning out to be a lovely room , it is full of windows and is a square room , I love a square room with a round table. The chosen color of the dining room table is more of a mushroom color than the green tone shown here , 54" round should do it.

The new mantle in the family room , I am thinking cararra subway tile surround.

Two of these Steven and Chris pendants over the island.

Two of these star lights somewhere.

Carrara marble counters in the kitchen.

And we have decided on the GE Monogram commercial style dual fuel 30" range , it is self cleaning . The interior is a beautiful blue and it isn't missing any of the conveniences we are looking for. It has a great warranty and each burner grate flips over to accommodate a wok , which is pretty cool. I haven't heard anything negative about it so far and I've looked.

I love watching how all my decisions are coming together , you pick components and imagine how they will look but you just have to wait to see how things really look only in the end which is exciting and scary. So far the walls are all finished , so smooth and pretty , the ceilings are beautifully smooth also so pretty to see an unblemished perfect canvas. Everything is freshly painted Birch white, it looks lovely . I am always peaking in to see if anything else has been done , I am eagerly waiting to see how the trim will look and the 8 foot tall doors , I wish I had some tall friends . I look forward to seeing how the interior stair railings turn out and I hear the cabinets are due to arrive this Saturday .... 84 days and counting.

2011-12-07T09:53:00.001-05:00

I need some help deciding on the entry flooring material. what I am toying between is A. brick veneer or B. pewter travertine.

I know doing wood right up to the door is one way to go , but with our changing weather I worry how it will take a beating . Wood can become discolored from water and salt wear and tear , I don't like that. We have a walk in closet in the entry and my hope is to have everyone walk right into the closet to put away their coats and shoes with wood this will not happen , I don't want people walking in with dirty shoes that will just ruin my floors .

traditional entry design by los angeles showroom Blue Tangerine Art

traditional entry design by atlanta interior designer Brian Watford ID

I have really

wanted to incorporate brick flooring. Really the entry is the only place to add brick , as the rest of the main floor is going to be hardwood and the laundry is a stone look tile.

this is the pewter travertine , it has lots of grey tones and is quite beautiful, but we would certainly need it installed for us .

traditional home office design by minneapolis interior designer Martha O'Hara Interiors

this is Tommy Smythe's old kitchen I love this floor but I think its a bit dark , I believe it is slate , slate is a great entry material , wears beautifully in all seasons.

So what do you think we should do , do you have a better idea for me.

Going with the flow

2011-12-02T08:26:00.001-05:00

I am very grateful for all of the advice I received after my mention of choosing a Viking stove . Silly me I assumed it was a good solid brand , now actually and personally I don't know , but from what I hear I am choosing not choose. We were also thinking of this model , the GE monogram dual fuel , its got a lot of great features and has a great warranty. No appliance is perfect , right?

The other stoves we are still considering are the Kitchen aid commercial style gas and Jenn Air. We don't want to settle for something ho hum...good looks and function is not too much to ask.

I would love more thoughts , anyone want to chime in on their PERSONAL experience with the stoves I have mentioned ???

Some exciting news , I received a Delta faucet for my new kitchen , I will show you a little later, and sounds like they are ordering our railings as well the kitchen should be in on the 10th of December so I hear.You will see me with my nose up against the windows peering in .....such an exciting time.

Decisions decisions

2011-11-30T09:27:00.000-05:00

Sometimes making the smaller decisions is harder than making the big decisions.
Now that we have sold our house we finally feel free to plan and choosing appliances is at the top of our list. We will have a bar fridge , microwave and a toaster oven on move in day for sure but we will need some harder working and larger appliances to truly function.

How come we could choose the house in about an hour and choosing a stove can takes days and days. Normally I am a fan of the smooth top stove because of the ease of cleaning , but of course I love the look of a commercial gas range. I do have a little fear of gas but I am going to try and get over it because there is nothing like it or so I hear . But we could never afford a Viking or a Wolf , unless there was a ridiculous instant rebate , then wouldn't it be crazy to not get this top of the line stove? This is still such a tough decision, we needed to sleep on it. We measured and looked and looked and measured so so many models , from Ge to an Italian beauty and then Viking.
Did you know that the interior space of a 30"commercial range can be significantly smaller than a regular 30" stove, and that is can take 45 minutes or more to heat up a 36" stove because of the extra width now if you have kids you know that is a lot of extra time at dinner. Still Viking are you freakin serious !!! Ok it is only marginally more than a very nice GE Cafe model I had some what decided on, and I think we would be regretting not getting the one we really love. We are giving up a warming drawer but I think we can live without that . Adding a beautiful color is an extra $1000 so that is a NO. Sounds like we've made the decision, doesn't it?
We will be sure to save on all the other appliances , I don't need a fancy washer and dryer and as long as I get a tall tub stainless dishwasher I'm good it doesn't need to be high end.
Splurge and save right , well this is really both splurge and save.

I saved here , I found this light which is normally $149.00 for $50.00 at a used building store , it is new in box and everything, I got two actually. 20 more lights to go...I have always wanted one of these lights. I think they will end up in the entry hall.

Making over the standard cabinets is a huge save , I will be painting the cabinets and adding a frieze as well as crown moulding. I will also be customizing this fridge wall, I love this area, I think it will look great when completed. I toyed with the painted cream cabinets that were very nice but that upgrade was more than my new stove , so that was an easy decision and as well I can go with a custom color of my choosing and I will always be able to do touch ups.

I will be adding a farm house sink just before we have stone counters installed, I found a farmhouse sink for $600.00. Instead of eliminating our standard laminate counters we had our friends choose something that they would like , there was no benefit to eliminate it, and now they can take our new counters and cut them down to their kitchen and can even have the kitchen sink. Everybody wins and we move into a house that is ready to use. I'm still working on the kitchen sink wall, I think this layout keeping the uppers to the right and open shelving to the left maybe what we need. I added lots of drawers to the kitchen , going from 4 to 10 , how exciting.

I have noticed lots of people in the blog world who have recently completed a kitchen reno have gone ahead with carrara., I was so thrilled to find out that it is well priced . I will be sure to keep up on the sealing to prevent damage because there is nothing like it , this is a definite splurge but a huge savings sourcing it ourselves. This will be my dream kitchen , I plan on living in this home for many many years so I think its a good decision to do it right once.
Saving will come with me doing everything else , like the hardwood , maybe tiling the floor spaces that need tile, definitely the back splash , all the lighting , so much painting , lots of moulding, landscaping... its gonna take years I tell ya, but that sounds fine to me, I'm a girl who needs a project.
In sad news I just found out that my dream island lights are $1250.00 each....each! Well it makes my other choice look like a bargain now , because I need two for over my island. I would not spend $2500 on two lights , not ever.

I am on the hunt for great deals , Happy Holiday's everyone.

Sold

2011-11-29T09:28:00.001-05:00

Do you see that sign ? that's right , our house is officially sold. Exactly two weeks after we listed with a local agent , who we are just thrilled with, we got three offers in one night. How amazing is that ? super amazing. We are very happy for the new owners , we know they love this place as much as we do.

I wish them so much happiness and many happy years of cherished memories.

I was getting emotional the other day thinking back to all the years we have spent here.

When we moved here Mason was 4 and Sophie was 18 months old, just babies.
So many birthday parties with jumpy castles , so many Christmas mornings with waffle breakfasts and Thanksgiving dinners. Lots of fights and tears , laughter and fun. So many firsts like potty training, learning to ride a bike out front , learning to read and write, learning manners , getting new puppies. Everything seems to have happened right here. I have never lived in one house so long in my entire life, I will always feel attached to this house, although I am excited for the new house it will be very hard to say that final good bye.

Now we have peace , everything is going as planned , the new house kitchen is coming in early December . We will now focus on Christmas and then the mammoth task of packing and decluttering , donating and selling things will begin , but that is a task for January. For now we relax.
We will be moving on February 29th , we wanted that date because its a leap year and that's just cool , and that is the closing the new owners wanted as well, it seems meant to be .

So happy relieved and now relaxed, we are a very lucky family.

Missing in Limbo

2011-11-28T08:38:00.001-05:00

I know it has been a long while since I have posted on my blog but I have a good excuse. Life gets busy . Selling a house is very disruptive and life changing in fact it can be life halting. Because we have been essentially living in one room. The great room is where you will find us all at any given time, this is to save my sanity , because keeping a whole house show ready with two dogs and two kids is a difficult challenge to say the least. The house has never been so clean and tidy for so long . I mean we live pretty tidy but "showing clean" is a different thing.
We are feeling very happy with our decision to list with a local agent , she has been doing a great job for us , we hope to share some great news really soon . I think the end is near.

Saturday my friend Lisa and I went on the Station Gallery Holiday House Tour , remember last year my house was on the tour as well. We headed out early and left poor Todd with the two girls and two dogs to keep out of the house for the whole day for an inspection and then an open house. Poor poor Todd , I know the kids really tested his inner strength. It's no fun to spend most of the day in a vehicle with two dogs and two kids ( there aren't too many places you can take both kids and dogs)

After the Holiday tour I decided that it was time to put up the tree. I love my white Christmas tree , I purchased it a few years back at Walmart for $49.00 what a bargain. With the topper it stands at around 7 feet tall , it has an incredible glow.

I am so far getting my Christmas wish for a green Christmas. It's Christmas time if it white or not , its just easier if it's green . I should really add some lights to the bunkie and a nice urn I think.

Last night Sophie gave me a revised Wish list , this is so helpful. Canada gave black Friday a try this year and we got some really good deals , whoo hoo !
During the House tour Saturday I visited Costco with Lisa to look for a great rain shower head and I finally caved and joined. After all they are building a Costco right here in our city , and I know they have great deals . I mean for the savings on summer flower hanging baskets alone it's worth it . I got an incredible deal on some Christmas gifts , that place is crazy though , really nuts. I have a problem with stock piling large quantities of things so I don't see an truck loads of mustard or toilet paper in my future.

Things on the new house front are going really well, looks like we will be in the house in February. We have met the drywall taper , he is so nice and has been semi living in our new house , he really seems to like it too , he is doing a great job. I have such respect for all the trades and people involved in creating our new home.
We have not been able to find the wood flooring we want . Well actually the finished on site pricing came in a $15,000 , and that is about double what we want to spend so that's a clear no!
I have been really stressing about the flooring , and not being able to find a deal.
We have decided to put in the standard carpet for the move in so as not to have any problems closing and to make the move in easier.This was a great suggestion from my Mother in Law. I will be getting that wood flooring in ASAP.

Thanks for stopping by
Chris

house tour with dry wall aka sheet rock

2011-11-16T08:49:00.001-05:00

I wanted to show how things are coming along , there is a whole lot of work to do but things are really looking great.

So I was allowed access into the house yesterday to meet with a flooring installer , and we totally were in the way and stopped progress for about 10 minutes. I wanted to get out of the workers way asap , but I wanted to get a jump start on a flooring quote. Guess who is not getting finished on site floors , that would be me. At $10-11.00 a foot its not going to happen, that would be about $20,000.00. I will keep looking for a great deal. I did find very nice unfinished oak at Lumber Liquidators that we may just have to install ourselves and have them finished , because at $2.49 a ft it has got to come in way way under the $10-11.00. Perhaps we will just have to go with pre finished, its not bad its just not what I was hoping for. Looks like we are going to learn a whole lot about laying floors, my hubby is going to be helping out with this mammoth project.

We will be installing our tv above the fireplace and I will be building tall bookcases on either side of the fireplace to house the tv components and add display , some storage for the video game equipment and movies. I will be doing lots of built-ins in this house , now that I know how to do them.

The upper hall here has a very large linen closet. I can see just how much this area will need paneling . I look forward to seeing how our upgraded railings and posts will turn out , we went with square flat cap posts instead of the standard and paint grade pickets and we will stain the hand rail.

I can picture it all now, are you with me.

So we just need everything taped , sanded , trimmed ,painted and a little flooring and some basic light fixtures and cabinets and toilets and sinks and then we are all ready to go.

The new house update

2011-11-09T15:58:00.001-05:00

I am happy to update that the exterior is complete , well we don't have eaves troughs but that's about it , oh wait I forgot we are getting a porch railing , the grade is a little steep there so we will need one for code but we are getting there.

They took down the pretty plastic orange fence , don't miss that .

The shutters were all installed , they are dark blue and although they wouldn't be my first choice in color I am fine with them for now , selecting wood flooring within budget is higher on the priority list. What color do you think they should be ? we are open to suggestions please.

We wanted to go take a peek and measure Sophie's room for furniture , but we were locked out .

Today they made great progress on the insulation .

The tubs went in just yesterday .I am so happy to be able to document the steps and progress to look back on .

While floor shopping/ browsing I found this beautiful marble tile maybe for the powder room , we'll see.
Oh and why is wood flooring so expensive , anyone have a great source for me ? I am looking for 3 1/4" oak with dark stain , I was hoping for finished on site but it looks like I will have to find a well priced pre finished option, but we will see after I get a quote , you never know right .
How come so many options are $5.99 and up , doesn't that seem steep for basic oak ? I think I will be laying our floors by the look of it . Can you hear me crying ?
That's all for now .

We are officially listed

2011-11-09T09:28:00.000-05:00

We tried to offer the house for sale privately and although we had a lot of interest and and viewers to our open houses and tried for about a month , I think we just need to open up our exposure to as many people as possible. I feel like a weight has been lifted off me .
This is a new experience for us , we have never sold a house with an agent before . We've only sold one house before but by ourselves and it went very well and easily but maybe it was just a fluke.
We have picked just the right agent , we have a very good feeling about this . Let's hope we are correct putting it on the MLS, because as lots of you know selling a house is not always the easiest process. We are very grateful to be where we are and in a stable housing market and glad we live in a great sought after neighbourhood , we wouldn't live any where else.

http://www.realtor.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?&PropertyId=11296438&PidKey=-1523066087

This is how it looked yesterday and now we will keep the house pristine and ready to show .

Wish us a quick smooth sale.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T12:48:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share with you some projects I have been working on .

These custom built-ins with window bench are sure to keep this room organized and add major charm , not to mention how happy those cheerful pink stripes are.

Another project I helped out with was a complete redo of the trim in this bedroom. I added beadboard and shelving to the desk area to create a real nook .

Always a classic touch are generous baseboards and traditional headers.

We enjoyed some down time at a local Halloween party. Todd and I went in these super fun matching generic super hero costumes. Crazy aren't we?

I have been sick for a ridiculously extended time, I can't shake it . At the very last minute yesterday Sophie dragged me off the couch and out to a local spot to finally pick up some pumpkins to be carved .

Sophie also convinced me I needed to make cupcakes for their class party today, and somehow I did it. Can I mention I have no voice now.

I love this charming country landscape spot where we found our pumpkins , I even picked up a green pumpkin and a red one too . I love just living steps from the country life to be able to support little places like this.

On the house front things are really coming together , in fact the house is a buzz today , I saw electrical work going on , finally. I am loving the way things are looking especially those round vents , gorgeous.

I stopped by to talk with the guys doing the siding on Saturday , nice guys . I wanted to let them know how much I like how its looking , they are doing a great job. Look at those pillars , very exciting . Is it wrong I long to go just hang out there and plan and day dream? The headers are going on the windows today and the porch should be completely flashed also.

I almost forgot that today the episode of the Steven and Chris show , the Halloween episode my friend and I went to recently , well it airs today at 2:00pm.

Have a Happy Halloween everyone .

2011-10-27T09:27:00.003-04:00

I am happy to share a quick update on the house. The siding is moving along , although a little slowly. The rain is slowing progress. I am looking forward to seeing the shutters go up.

They are working in a terrible mess of mud.

Selena Gomez came to our city two days ago . I desperately tried to get tickets as soon as they went on sale but they sold out in 5 minutes. I tried again the day of by visiting the box office. I was so thrilled when they did have tickets and great tickets at that . I could barely wait to tell Sophie.

I wanted to bring Mason and Sophie but Mason would not go without a friend , I only purchased three tickets. I really tried to convince Mason to come with her sister and I but she would not give in. Sophie invited a friend instead, it was their first concert ever and it was a great one.

We even had a great view of backstage . Selena put on a great show .

I was so happy I was able to bring Sophie to see Selena Gomez , its not every day a big star comes to your city .

Thanks for checking in and have a great.

fun and finalizing

2011-10-18T09:45:00.000-04:00

Last week I got an invitation to the Halloween taping of The Steven and Chris show , well how could I say no ? I had a costume , a Kimono which was purchased for the upcoming annual neighborhood Halloween party , so after securing my date here below Lisa, we set off to have a good time at the taping yesterday , boy did we get a lot of funny looks . I loved this years theme , I won't spoil it , you'll have to watch on the 31st like I will .

This was the gift the audience was given a cup and saucer, I'm using it right now in fact , how cute , a saucer you can write messages on , love it .

I have finalized our kitchen design, I will have to finish the bulkhead with crown moulding in this area as well I will build the end open shelf for books ,it will be balanced in real life , I promise , I will also build the range hood , or go with a professional style stainless hood , not settled on that decision quite yet.

This is how the window wall will look, no cabinets at all on this wall to leave it open and airy , tile all the way to the ceiling and open shelving for pretty things. I did make a little mistake on this drawing the bank of drawers is actually one drawer with a door underneath , this kitchen will have 8 drawers including the pot drawers , I think that was money well spent , I will be so organized , I am doubling the amount I currently have .

We worked on a lovely plan for the fridge wall , this will have the look of a hutch and buffet , I have extended the bead board down to the counter , I may do a wood counter here with a routered edge just to go along with that furniture look , and it will be painted a different shade than the rest of the kitchen.

So exciting , can you tell I am dying to get this show on the road???

We have been so busy putting the house on the market privately , now this is in no way easy or free , it is all on us , but we do believe it is doable , when you have a good product it is worth a try to sell it for ourselves , don't be intimidated by an owner selling , they know their house best and can represent it better than anyone , I love to show my house , I love this place and I think it shows. But we'll see , I think things would move more quickly using an agent of course but we have time. It is getting noticed , lots of hits from our area as well as the greater Toronto area, so that is good news , that is what we are looking for , someone to love this place as much as we have and to make it their own , after all we will kind of still be neighbors right!

Looking so forward to watching Sarah Richardson's new show airing tonight where they take a builder home and customize it , kinds like I'm doing , should be fun .....tuning in tonight on HGTV Canada at 8:30 and setting my PVR of course.

2011-10-15T09:17:00.001-04:00

I have created a blog to showcase our house for sale , you can find it here www.oshawahouseforsale.blogspot.com

building a new home , step one , long post be warned

2011-10-13T11:47:00.001-04:00

I wanted to update how the new house is coming along, well its been kind of in a stall pattern until I was able to make my selections especially the electrical, they really couldn't go ahead, well I am happy to say I have now made all of my selections , I know that sounds like a lot of work right , especially to those who have build a new home . There are many ways to build , this is our third new build , this is a custom home in many senses but in other ways it is not , it is customized and a one of kind design but it is standard as far as what is "comes" with, we are using the same builder as the current home we are in now, Tribute Communities which is a home builder in Ontario Canada, we have always been pleased with the traditional stylings of their homes . We first noticed Tribute in Oakville when my husband was still a student there, they created a community of stylish town homes , three storey , I have always loved three storey towns , its a Peter Pan thing , they had alley ways behind as well as garage access in the alley allowing for beautiful street scape's, but we chose our current location to be closer to my family and still close to Toronto for my husband to be able to commute into the city for work, the perfect compromise , I love the suburb life , parks, community and a short drive into a major city for culture and entertainment although our medium sized city is becoming quite the hub for culture and entertainment and now a university town as well we are just a step outside of country life as well, we really get the best of both worlds , quiet safe community living with top notch public schools as well as Catholic schools, shopping and dining , I wouldn't live anywhere else , well maybe some day we will head out to California , maybe , I would be all over that lovely weather.

So now that we have scooped up our lovely one of a kind 2500 sq ft center hall Cape Cod style home with separate garage it was time to make selections at the design center , with each purchase you are allotted a upgrade amount to use on what ever you like, which allows you to personalize your home with upgrades.

Of course you get all standard selections at no extra cost , carpet , ceramic , laminate the basics, from which you can then choose colors, or this is the time you want to make changes , this is the hard part . I have spent the better part of the last 4 weeks planning and re planning my choices.

Here is how I approached it , I had a great amount of upgrade money given to me by the builder and I wanted to make it go as far as possible of course and through upgrading this house we live in over the past 7 years or so I have learned what I would do if given the chance to build again , I would upgrade to 9 foot ceilings for sure , which was already done , smooth ceilings were very very important , so we did add that , trim , now there was the dilemma , I have replaced every inch of trim in this house, I can't do it again , so we upgraded our trim in the new house to a nice 5" stepped base boards and a 3 inch combo back band casing for doors and windows , with beautiful square panel doors throughout , but I left the standard shiny brass knobs, which will be upgraded later but not much later, to a rubbed bronze or chrome , I am loving shiny chrome.

I must tell you I had the best interior design consultant at Tribute yesterday , she totally got where I was going with the house and she helped direct me through the sea of selections to be made, I will have to have her over when things are all said and done .

TIP : go to a preview if you don't have this option do your homework, we went as a family for a couple of hours and pre selected tile and cabinets there are so many choices you will need some processing time.

I even got a few extras I hadn't thought I was going to get like a lovely upgraded fireplace.

We first started with deleting , see flooring is a permanent or semi permanent choice depending on how you go , the main floor comes with carpet , but I am a wood floor girl , from now and always, so I deleted all the carpet on the main floor , oh and the entry tile which I will brick veneer, and the powder room , which I may just brick as well, or tile with mosaic ??? the only finished floor on the main floor will be the laundry , we went with a nice stone look ceramic , which was a nice standard choice , it will be great with the dogs. The master bath and the girls bath will get tile flooring as well the girls bedrooms will have carpet , which they requested , our dogs love to roll around on the carpeted areas of the house , do yours??? So upon possession the girls bedrooms and baths will be totally complete upon possession. The main floor will be a wee unfinished , but we will have the flooring done asap , it will be red oak finished on site , and the stairs will be stained at the same time to match perfectly.......woohoo , that was our consultants great advice , I was going to have the builder stain our stairs and try to have the flooring guy match , but what a smart move.

traditional staircase design, here is the look I am going for with our stairs , but actually we will have colonial pickets in paint grade in a nice thicker pickets and a square post , we love the square...

I decided to go ahead and upgrade the master bath cabinets to these painted maple in pearl color, to upgrade the whole kitchen to this paint finish would have been too much, so for all the other cabinetry we are going to have this Parma Oak for the whole kitchen and kids baths....but they will be sprayed by me , in at least two colors , kind of a pale putty and maybe a smokey blue grey green or aqua to be selected later for the kitchen and white for the girls baths well that's what they are requesting. So happy I have the sprayer now. I really wanted carrera floors in our bathroom for the floors as did Sophie but the cost was just too high , I chose a very simple striped ceramic called Romance which I quite love and I found a faux carrera for Sophie what was a standard that I know she will just love it really has the look and Mason's floor she wanted Cinq White which is also very nice.

I have my eye on some great chrome pendants like these, I added another box to the ceiling to allow for two pendants over the larger island I will build. Lighting is so important , I added lots of pot lights to the kitchen two over the sink and four around the perimeter of the ktichen and two to the living room and family room.

I want to use carerra subway as the kitchen backsplash and I want it to go all the way up the window wall , beautiful, with open shelving. Our consultant helped me greatly to create the kitchen I was planning , the drawings I brought in were very helpful for this step , adding drawers , balancing uppers with lowers , creating a lovely free standing looking aread by the fridge which I will paint a different color and add bead board too. Little tweaks in a kitchen go a long way , adding drawers here and there will lessen that sea of doors look , don't you love drawers.

I came across this white and chrome pendant which I am very curious about $$$???

Here is that brick flooring again which will be in the entry, it was a small cost to have them shim our base cabinets in the kitchen for the wood flooring that will go in the kitchen , great , but we can't take possession with out flooring in the kitchen so they will have to lay vinyl , OH MY WORD!!! so I told them to just go ahead and choose what ever because it will be pulled out right away !!! I will make sure they don't glue it down...that would be a nightmare.

I have to still work out the range hood design , we deleted the standard rangehood and cabinet above the stove and made the opening a bit wider than the stove area to allow for a more substantial decorative range hood which I will build.

Loving these cabinet colors minus the glazing. We will have laminte counters which are standard installed lightly for the move in then have quartz counters made by someone , to be determined...to be gifted to a great friend , to delete it wouldn't have made sense and that way our kitchen will function upon moving in . I am so looking forward to quartz...so smooth not pourous , clean , durable hygenic, I am getting an apron front sink so solid surface is a must.

Here is the laminate I selected for the three bathrooms with cabinets it is basalt , it looks very much like soapstone and I am quite happy to live with this choice for a while at least .

Here is the fireplace I selected , it is so pretty , looks like something I would have come up with and it was well worth the minimal upgrade , tv will be mounted above in the family room , with wiring ready to go, nice and easy.

Here is the quartz I will be selecting for the kitchen , it is so pretty , I love the light counters , I have always had dark and it almost hides too much stuff. The island will be butcher block with dark stain .

Here are a few little things I did that I though were good decisions , upgrading the bathroom lighting which comes standard as make up strip lights with NO BOX , this will save me a great deal of aggrivation when I go to install pretty vanity lights this means we will end up with bare buld lighting in the bathrooms which will look dreadfull but will be worth the small increase , because I was the one to put boxes in in this house and it wasn't so much fun .

I also deleted the floor tile which usually covers the skirting of the garden tub in the master and the splash area above the tub as well , I will add pretty millwork .

We were so happy to go for the seamless glass enclosure it makes such a difference over the standard framed shower and what I have always wanted was to have classic white 3"x 6" subway tile , I could only estimate while planning what that upgrade would be and it came in under what I was thinking , just slightly but I can't tell you how happy white subway tile makes me , we will have it in the girls baths too , that is what they wanted as well , my girls are so neutral , how funny is that ...

And I was able to add a tv hook up to the master bath the only cost was adding an electrical outlet, since they give us 8 tv/phone hook ups , that's a lot right ??? or is it .

So I think I did well with our upgrade money and just went slightly over which was what we had expected , but less than what I had anticipated and I got more than I had thought I would have , this is going to be a fun process to watch it all unfold ....I will keep you posted as things progress.

I will now keep my eye out for good deals on lighting and knobs for now and get my flooring guy all committed...I told you this was a long post , feast or famine with me lately .

thanks for stopping by .

Chris

Open house

2011-10-08T12:21:00.001-04:00

We are having our first open house tomorrow from 2-4 pm , come stop by for a tour , I'd love to meet you 1367 Dumont St L1K 2V3

Just Beachy house for sale

2011-10-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

It's official our house is now for sale privately, as hard as it will be to pack up and move on, it is just the right time , it is time to pass this home that we have loved on to a new owner .
The family room features a fireplace and wainscoting , cherry hardwood , and built in tv niche over the fireplace.

All the windows have been upgraded to casement throughout the house, master bedroom has walk-in closet with en suite bath with soaker tub and lots of mouldings.

Kitchen features large triple sink, pot lights, painted white solid oak cabinets with custom range hood , subway tile back splash , large custom island with lots of extra storage and butcher block top, kitchen walks out to backyard.

Backyard features perennial gardens , deck with pergola and recently added bunkie which we have used as a summer guest house , it can be a shed , or studio or shop.

Master bath

Built in custom desk nook in the kitchen & swinging kitchen door.

Family room right off the kitchen.

Living room features 16 foot ceilings and beautiful double height windows , paneled wall and hardwood floors and window seat.

Dining room

If you would like to see a great video tour of our house from the Steven and Chris Show click the link below.

$340,000, 3 bedroom , 2.5 bath 1850 sq feet in a great newer neighborhood with great schools and walking distance to recreation center, library , shopping , restaurants and more.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/Steven_and_Chris/1367500960/ID=1873163792

If you would like a private viewing please email me to arrange a viewing , or we will be starting open houses very soon.

Blogger party

2011-09-29T15:13:00.001-04:00

So I have been thinking about having a little party a blogger / reader party at my current home , after all we will soon be leaving and moving on and so many wonderful people have come here to my blog supporting me and cheering me on and even become friends , I would love to welcome you to my home to meet and enjoy some time together , have some food and drinks and share some stories, Would you come ?? I know many of you are quite far but for those Reasonably near by , would you be interested in coming for some girl time , I'm thinking on an upcoming Sunday afternoon , leave me a message if you be able to swing a visit , Hope you can ! See you soon ?? Chris

Lighting love

2011-09-28T09:39:00.000-04:00

I stopped in at a lighting store on my way back from Lowe's yesterday , they have a great selection of Steven and Chris fixtures , I spied these brand new pendants , aren't they so gorgeous , they come in two sizes and three finished , they would be perfect for over our kitchen island , don't you agree ...I'm going to save my pennies , lighting is the jewelry of the house.

Speaking of jewelry , look at this lovely lantern , I love love love the shiny chrome finish , breakfast light ???? gonna need more pennies.

Sophie and I found a great desk for Todd's office at Urban Barn , it has a trap door on the top and a built in tray , super cute.

Its fun to dream.

Lighting score

2011-09-27T09:17:00.002-04:00

I found a great deal on a beautiful light fixture for the new house , I couldn't believe the quality and the price couldn't be beat $169.00, it will be for our new dining room , at $1129.00 LESS than the restoration hardware version , I knew it was going to be the perfect choice , the one and only purchase for the new house, I sort of promise.

Here is the $1995.00 RH version

I had happened upon this beautiful orb fixture for $149.00 I really loved it but my husband wasn't so sure about it so I left it behind , when I went back the next day to see if it was still there of course it was long gone , as were the other smaller versions , I should have picked it up I could have returned it right, they had all the Restoration hardware fixtures at our local Homesense, but I missed them .

Our new house

2011-09-22T10:54:00.001-04:00

I drive by our new house about 5 to 6 times a day some days as I always have that corner , so I get to see how things are coming along , over the last couple of days the oak stairs have gone in and the final door was installed yesterday in the family room, so exciting .
I am so pleased to share with you that we have signed and this house is now our house ....our house is a very very fine house , it is literally so exciting , we had no plans on moving right now , it was over the horizon but now it is possibly only a just a few months off , don't know when we will be moving exactly ,but we will be offering the house for sale in a couple of weeks after I get everything just right...I just yesterday completed building and installing a custom closet in our master walk-in, one of those things I should have done a long time ago , it has so much more storage now.

I can now really show you why we love this house, starting with the separate garage, this is the only house in our neighborhood with a separate garage , which is super great and will have plenty of room for my carpentry work shop...

Here is the floor plan of the upper floor, I am so excited for the girls to have their own bathrooms , what a luxury , and I won't have to hear all the singing in the shower unless I want to of course, the girls will have to clean those rooms, well at least keep them tidy.I think its neat that the kids bedrooms have a little hallway leading to their rooms , and all those windows enough said , good thing I like bamboo blinds right...! all the windows will have to match .
I am also thrilled to have a separate shower I have never had one , I think I will really like it , I am looking forward to tiling the shower base myself, that is one place to splurge with something special.I've been pricing out marble counters for Sophie's bath per her request , I think I need to convince her to go with something more durable like quartz that looks like marble.

Here is the main floor layout , a classic center hall plan, walk- in closet in the foyer , high ceilings and doorways.

Here are the drawings of the house from the builder , we were allowed to select three choices for the siding colours , we really love greys so we are hoping for the darkest shade which was our first choice, doesn't that sound terrible , hoping , but this is how this works , they don't put the same colours together which I totally get , I think we will get our choice, they describe our styles of homes here as Cape cod style.

I love this side view , all the windows and all the shutters and great headers , the triple kitchen sink is so lovely , I'm going to have to build a nice window box for that window.I see a picket fence in my future, again , both previous houses we have built picket fences.

This is the side that faces our yard , we don't have a back yard but a substantial side yard , and a good deal of space behind the garage , I said that's for our boat !!! wait we don't have a boat??

And the front , I don't know why it says side , its a corner lot so its a bit complicated , oh did I mention that this was a parking lot , yes a parking lot , for the model homes , which are all family homes now , and we get the parking lot , I think gardening might be a little challenging, I see finding large crushed gravel in my future.

So I have been trying to plan our kitchen , I want open and closed storage , and drawers , I want drawers.

I think I will swap the location of the bank of drawers and the one door there for good garbage space, and under the sink will be recycling. I'm trying to really pre plan the kitchen as well as I can .

So there we have it , I am waiting for the call to go in and make all of our selections , some are easier than others , some upgrades we will do ourselves because the builder pricing can be steep for things like hardwood, it is just better to do that ourselves and some of the tiling depending on what their selections are , they have Debbie Travis options at our design center, whoo hoo , I am looking for white subway tile in the bathrooms, I almost feel bad for the design person that gets me, wouldn't you ?

Sink study

2011-09-19T13:22:00.004-04:00

Yes I said sink study , I know I'm not alone having a dream sink in mind for my kitchen , currently I have the above sink , it is a triple cast iron enameled Kohler sink , which we are going to have re-glazed before we put the house on the market in a couple of weeks , I so wish we had gone ahead and re-glazed it for our own benefit , but someone will be getting a fabulous sink with a fresh finish , ours is an original model , which was featured in the Uncle Buck movie ... funny tid bit , and has now recently been be re- introduced at the price of $1500 approx Canadian dollars , I will miss my little middle sink , it is so handy.

Last night my husband informed me I had spent 2 hours looking at sinks ... he found this excessive , but really is it ? I know plenty of you who stop buy see why each selection takes a great commitment of time .

I have been longing for an apron front sink for many years now , I know what it is to have a white sink , and I am fine with giving it a good scrub and a bleach to get it all spiffed up , but boy are these very popular sinks ever pricey , on average I have found them to be around the $2000.00 mark , but what you get for shopping around can be a great deal , like locally I found this one bowl apron front cast iron sink for $695.00 , you know that's a bargain, of course Ikea has an apron front sink for $350.00.

Since I will have a main floor laundry and the tub you get is a cheap and sad $20-$40 option , again , eww!! but I did come across this wall hung beauty , we just love it .

And this cute little utility sink is super charming but in need of a skirt., these two are of course Kohler , how can I get Kohler to sponsor my build??? gonna have to work on that , come on Home Depot , we can work together right....let's make a deal.

Ok now catch your breath , adorable right , this is the perfect sink for a busy kids bath room , I know a family with 5 kids that I bet could use this ...

I have finally found out where this classic laundry sink comes from Home depot of course...

How long would you invest in fixtures , some are no brainers , but making choices that will last possible decades if not longer takes its share of time.

So I think I have narrowed down the kitchen sink and maybe the laundry sink , now to move on to trim , do I do it all myself or let the builder finish it for me? that is a really tough decision , then flooring , wood floor ?, species? I think I am happy with oak , colour is a tougher decision , and tile I sure hope the tile options are pleasing , I am quite sure I have selected the kitchen cabinets , lovely sprayed soft off white...

Everyone has a special request , a couple of mine , main laundry , 9 ft ceilings, separate glass shower , apron front sink , wood floors ...check

My husband needs a ice making fridge , that is bigger than you can know , and a real office , one of a kind designed house, and room to spread out and a tall tub dishwasher for sure ...check

Mason wants lots of closet space , her own bath and an arm chair ...sounds doable

And Sophie well she wants that marble vanity top and lots of very soft purple, and a dress mannequin , sounds like a plan

Planning helps busy the mind

2011-09-15T10:45:00.005-04:00

I am feeling kind stressed with the work involved with buying our new house all the legal stuff and financing , so it is probably best to keep my mind occupied with design for now to help sooth my stressing mind.

The stairs will be oak , that was predetermined for us , but I do think painted and stained like in the photo , and we will still have a chance to choose the style of pickets and handrails...

I am really excited to have an actual laundry/ mudroom with a door to the backyard , this is so exciting.

In our breakfast area I am planning something very similar to this a little more clean lined though .

I will incorporate open shelving and closed uppers and of course painted cabinets.

I look forward to looking and finding the right tile for the backsplash, I played it safe here because I knew we would re sell at some point , but when you buy your forever house you can do what you love . I am hoping to get my apron front sink for my kitchen .

I love the pendants over this island.

The girls bathrooms will be so fun to decorate , of course my 10 year old has requested marble counters ... only my little girl right!

This is such an inspiring kitchen.

I am toying with the kitchen flooring , would you have wood or tile , I will be really picky with the tiles , but perhaps I will just go for the brick veneer floors , aren't they gorgeous? I will defiantely install them myself in the entry front hall.

So I will continue to dream and plan while the financing process moves forward , now I remember why I have post poned making a move...

House for sale , well not quite yet...

2011-09-12T08:45:00.007-04:00

I have some rather exciting news to share , a sort of sudden development , it is in the works and not final but we are hoping it will just be a matter of days before it will be so , WE ARE BUYING A NEW HOUSE!!!! and selling this house. We were planning to make a move over the next year and half or two years before we have extra drivers in the house but this house literally fell into our plans, snooze you lose... right!

My husband has been wanting to make a move for many years now , I have not been ready , I have been working constantly for the last 7 years improving our home , adding oodles of character , making it magazine and TV ready , both of those dreams have come true for me, I even finished the guest house I have always dreamt of , the backyard feels like a true oasis , so why would we sell??? you ask or wonder , well sometimes an opportunity just pops up and its worth the move.

Right in our neighbourhood where we have been for 9 years they are still building new , model homes are becoming family homes and as strange as this sounds the parking lot for the models has recently blossomed a house , a house with a separate garage and two side yards which peaked our interest . I inquired about the house which I assumed was a custom build since it is so different than any other house in our subdivision , boy was I shocked to hear it was for sale , I was told to "go take a look" which I did , it had all things on my wish list , 4 bedrooms , walk-in entry closet , main floor mudroom laundry , double car garage , dream sized kitchen , the triple window over the sink is when the deal maker for me , the windows are beautiful and every where , each bedroom has a bath {sophie thought I was pulling her leg when I told her she was going to have her own bathroom} , a separate shower in the master bath , an extra bedroom which will be my husbands office , center hall plan , 9 foot ceilings and best of all it is a blank slate , I will be able to choose all the finishes , which is a dream , my head is spinning with ideas right now .

This is the house how it stands right now , it is perfect to get a sense of space.

This is the view from the front door , to the right is the walk in closet followed by the powder room, then through the last door way is the breakfast area window , we love all the extra large door ways , I will build in a window bench ...I love that the house behind has a great amount of mature trees and plantings which makes for an instant view , its the best of both world's getting new construction in an established area.

The garage will finally allow me to make a proper work shop.

Here is my big kitchen , this wall is the stove wall , I am wanting some open shelving ...to the left is the breakfast area, plenty of room for an island of course.

These are the drawings of how the house will look when finished. This is the front really , its a corner lot so its a unique set up , we love how the yard is between the house and garage.

This is the side view that faces a street and pond and lots of trees.

I will miss this house desperately, it will be like leaving a child behind in some ways but it is time for something new a new adventure , but I hope we can find a buyer that wants everything done and loves all of the unique touches we have added, a home to just move in the furniture and enjoy.

Our new home {pending approval} will be ready in May , so we will put the house on the market in February or March.... for now my head will be spinning with options and lists of things to polish up in this house to get ready for sale...very exciting news huh!!!!

I will be finishing up the custom closet built ins in the master closet that I have recently started, I hope you will follow along over the next 8 months as things progress.

Oh yeah , how do you like my new header ??

My little bunkie guest house

2011-08-29T09:20:00.007-04:00

I am so happy to have our bunkie complete and to be able to share it with you. We started back in May and have slowly worked away as funds and time would permit . We just need to break it in with a real over night guest now that it is complete.

Welcome , come on in .

I left the ceiling open with a lofty feeling , I bought a Wagner sprayer and sprayed the ceiling , this was a huge time saver. The bed wall is clad in bead board panels and the other walls are horizontal v-groove pine the trim is all MDF sheets cut down to size.

Bold window casings and lots of white.

I used cottage pine wood flooring readily available at Home Depot, painted Jamaican Bay by Behr in high gloss floor porch paint, latex.

the only new pieces for the interior are the lantern on the table $10.00 and the two art pieces , the rest were all items I had. I will be replacing the table and chair with a wall shelf to allow for one more sleeping space on the floor.

I used existing quilts from the house and extra furnishings as well as a donated bed from a client that I painted the same floor color , the other bed is a trundle frame covered in a green quilt. I used simple inexpensive foam mattresses.

I was happy to find a spot for our candle chandelier from our dining room , it was a perfect addition to the bunkie.

All accessories are from Homesense , like these two art pieces which were $6.00 on clearance.

The exterior is clad in cedar shakes from Lowe's stained Cape Cod grey by Behr, the wrap around step is cedar , my husbands little creation which I just love , stained with Australian timber oil in the deepest tone I even used it on our pressure treated deck and it now looks like an exotic wood, we just need to finish up a stone pathway from our deck to the bunkie and a little sod to clean things up.

My favorite feature would have to be the painted floors , I would love this in the girls bedrooms for sure , so charming.

A little sign I made from roof scraps and hand painted .

Well there you have it , a little tour of our little bunkie , if you have any questions please feel free to ask in comments.

Jamaican Bay

2011-08-28T15:25:00.002-04:00

I am so happy to be back and to be able to share that the bunkie is complete, from the roof top to the bottom , even a lovely cedar wrap around step is done , all the trim is done the painting too , the furniture is in and all the decorative touches as well. I am beyond happy with this addition to our home , a little guest house for two , a hang out a nap spot or a place just to chat on the phone...

Our little backyard getaway , something I have dreamed of having is finally complete.

The last decision was the floor colour , I on the fly chose Behr's Jamaican Bay , it is the most perfect aqua ever, it is so cheerful .

I used gloss latex porch and floor paint , I would love this flooring in my bedroom , what a happy colour.

I am working on the photos doing a little editing and I will work on a Bunkie post for tomorrow , it has been hard to keep up with blogging this summer , its been really busy , working on the bunkie when I wasn't working one of my two jobs or doing fun things with the family and enjoying a really beautiful summer , but boy does it feel over today , it is cool and really windy , of course it is nothing compared to what is going on on the east coast , my thoughts are with all those going through such a disaster causing storm , scary stuff, keep well and safe , see you tomorrow .

Sneak peek before it's complete

2011-08-09T09:34:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to show you one last time how things are coming along for the little guest house we are building that we started back in May , these things take time since we are doing this all ourselves in our spare time . But I am happy to share this past weekend we made a lot of progress , we are almost finished the soffits , oh soffits now that is not fun stuff, my hands were so sore from using tin snips , ouch. Look here at my beautiful floor , it is just so lovely , it is 5" cottage pine tongue and groove flooring from Home Depot, I have used it in the main house and I just love it , $1.62 a sq foot, I am painting it , to keep it light and fun , I have decided on that colour but I am keeping that until the reveal.

All the walls are clad and painted , well it needs one more coat , and trim work still needs to be done , but I will have to rent a table saw for that job , coming soon .

I love how the bunkie looks a glow of light at night , I am getting very excited , the end is near.

I couldn't help myself to decorate just a little , next step is to rent a sprayer and spray out the ceiling , that should be interesting for sure , then the soffit finishing , and cladding the back ( our poor neighbours) and spraying the interior , trim , paint floor , exterior trim , building beds , just a teeny tiny bit of work right !!!! then we can give it a spin , sleepovers !!!

I should be taking some reservations soon , now no more peeks until it is all complete , I promise.

Roller coaster rides of life...

2011-08-02T11:03:00.005-04:00

I've been trying to take a little relaxation time , even if only for a few minutes at a time , time to put up my feet and enjoy this summer weather , I really love summer , I would trade Christmas for all year round to be summer I love it so much . I found a little bucket BBQ on sale for $9.00 , perfect for roasting marshmallows , I even found one in a lovely blue , but they also had pink, yellow and green to choose from at the Superstore.

This little guest house bunkie has really become a second job , I want to get it done so that it can be enjoyed before this warm weather disappears, so the pressure it on . I have the two side walls to clad inside and flooring to lay , and most importantly the soffits to install to keep the mosquito's out, very important.

I finished the door and window wall with horizontal pine v-groove , I figured the large panels of beadboard would be a nightmare to cut around the windows and door , everything will be painted out the same white and it will look great , the jury is still out on the bead board panels , I know a lot of bloggers use the big sheets of bead board but I love the real thing better , it is just nicer finish and nicer to work with , but because of the way the studs are I would have had to install horizontal supports and I wanted to give the panels a try just to see what they were like . So far they are heavy , pricey and rough the only plus is that they are quick to install and cover a large area in a short time, so I am not a fan but I will finish the bunkie with them and they will be fine but will require lots of sanding for sure.

I finished the bulk of the window wall trim and primed and painted it as well, there is still some finish trim to do , I just needed to see it a little brighter and finished . I know its not the right time but I did hang the candle chandelier just to see how it looked and fit in the space ,love it ! I must get a fire extinguisher for the bunkie for sure ... this will only be lit when I am in the bunkie , never for when the kids will use it , they will have battery operated candles and lanterns...

You may recall this chandelier from my dining room , its so perfect for the bunkie ...I am so anxious to get this room finished and pretty ...

We took some time for the beach again just me and the girls , they had just had a big sand sculpture contest , check out this amazing dinosaur , incredible.

The day was sunny and gorgeous , but seriously windy ...I blew up our tube for the girls and sent them off to play in the water and normally they stay safely near the shore , but to my horror I took out my binoculars to peek at the kids and to my horror I saw them out WAY too far , right out at the buoys ,are you kidding me , this is lake Ontario a GREAT LAKE, I wasn't sure if they were out there on purpose , Sophie was in the tube laying and Mason was hanging off the side , I freaked out , I couldn't get to them so I alerted the life guard and they sent one life guard out on a boogie board to check on them and to bring them back , while I watched I saw one of my girls fall into the very deep water , how helpless I felt ... They didn't see what the big deal was , apparently the wind brought them out about half way , and so they thought lets go touch the buoy and go back , are you kidding me ....yeah nothing bad could have happened ...the tube could have popped as it was already leaking , Mason could have become too tired , someone could have fallen into the very deep cold water , which happened , I was so freaked out , everything turned out fine he brought them back in . Although Mason said it was fine , but later admitted she was tired and Sophie did slip off the tube into the water trying to reach out to the buoy...it was all bad in my opinion, I didn't think I needed to tell them the buoy was TOO FAR TO GO ... no wonder I have grey hair , Sophie later admitted she was scared out that far...and the life guard was quite cute to walk by us a little later and tease the girls saying " you got in trouble "!!!! apparently they were embarrassed , but I was not about to just sit there and wait for something horrible to happen .... oh kids , love em and want to kill em all in the same moment.

Onto lighter issues now , like my wee surf board shaped sign , it will say when done THE BEACH house , I should really get that done already ...I used the cut off of the ceiling to make this little sign .

So there you have it , a little to show , I hope we will have lots more to show you soon , I am still unsure as to the floor finish , do I make beds do I pick up metal daybeds I saw on kijiji ??? I just don't know ... I will keep you in the loop ...cheers for now !

Guest house update

2011-07-27T11:34:00.004-04:00

This has been such a nice hot summer , we have never spent so much time on our little backyard deck , last year we had a big beautiful table but went with a more loungey set up this year which I have loved so much more , so relaxing .

Well here it is , our little guest house as it looks today , nearing completion , well there is still a lot to do , the deck for the front of the house , but that will wait for now , I know I hate those support blocks but they are a must, we will hide them under a little porch eventually.

Here is a close look at the inside , look at those nails , it's a house of horrors in there , in desperate need of bead board panels to cover this mess , I found out the hard way how bad falling into these nails feels .

I am getting to impatient right now , I want the interior finished so I can rent a sprayer and paint this baby all our white , and then I am toying with a little color on the ceiling or flooring .

Tiny but cute , this is going to be a fun addition to our house.

Are you as in love with this ceiling as I am , it is going to come to life once it is all painted and lightened up.

I just needed to paint out some of the inside to see the effect of white , I love white , and how much it brightens everything up.

Boy is this yard ever in need of some landscaping in front of the guest house , I am planning a nice country style path from the deck to the guest house and eventually some nice healthy grass but there is no point in thinking grass at this point ... thanks for stopping by , I will try to keep things posted as they progress.

Flooring finishes

2011-07-26T13:38:00.004-04:00

So we are working away a little at a time on the guest house , We have the roof shingled and it is now officially water tight , the siding shingles are about half way done , the inside just needs beadboard panelling and flooring and trim ... Not too far now . The flooring will be pine v- groove and now I am wondering what finish , it could be stained but I only like dark stains and I think we want to make it as light as possible , so do I do simple white floors or white and blue stripes ... ? It's so hard to choose ??? Your thoughts would be appreciated , thanks
I promise to take some pictures for the blog soon , it's just not quite ready for it's close up!

Summer at the beach and ourguest house progress

2011-07-19T09:22:00.005-04:00

When I saw this photo recently on House of Turquoise I knew I had to change my plan of painting the bunkie ceiling white , this is sheer perfection. There is still so much work to be done on our bunkie , I think I may start to call it our guest house since it will be just that , we are currently working on the roof , ourselves , roofing is not fun on a 100 degree day , sticky tar covered sheets are a nightmare on such a hot day , but you do what you gotta do sometimes.

As you can see our bunkie is no place to welcome guests, yet!

My daylilies are all in bloom.

It was so hard to decide on the roof materials , I love cedar and metal roofs, but I didn't want to spend the earth on a roof that we would never really see, so we went with architectural asphalt shingles in driftwood color which from a distance have the appearance of shakes. Thankfully we have a friend who is a roofer and he climbed right up there with me and showed us how to do it right , I even got my husband up there and he hates heights, I on the other hand am getting quite comfortable on the roof.

I need to try and finish the sides and back of the bunkie with the cedar but the heat wave we have been having leaves me with little time that I can tolerate to install , then I will move on to staining the shakes the perfect grey.

the inside is quite a mad mess , lots of debris and tools and supplies , inside two crucial steps are adding beadboard to the walls and pine flooring .I took the day off from bouncing between my three current jobs to spend the whole day with my girls at the beach , this beach is 30 highway drive away from our house in a little port town , the beach was so wonderful it felt like we were actually away on vacation ... can you tell which child had more fun , 13 year olds are too cool... look how dry that poor grass is , we have had almost no rain at all .

I took these beach shots with my iPhone , not bad eh! charming right! I will be back to this beach again and again .

The sand is so fine and clean , they rake it every morning .

It was truly a beautiful day at the beach , we are hoping to camp right there at the beach front camp site , I'd say that's pretty rare a camp site right on the beach , gorgeous , and I'm not a camper but I would do it here , we would love to rent a camper for a week ... we could use a little get away were we could bring our dogs and spend time just the four of us , we don't do it nearly enough.

Cedar shakes

2011-07-12T10:19:00.003-04:00

I have been waiting to show you all how the bunkie is coming along , it is slow going right now , with limited time and with the hot humid weather I have been taking my time ... I have been focusing on the front of the bunkie since that is our new view.It will look great with a little porch across the front , next year maybe we will get to that.

Isn't it looking so cute , I love it , just a few more pieces of cedar for me to finish in the peak , this is very fussy work , then I will stain it all a soft muted grey , then onto the roof and eaves.

Cedar shakes from what I have found locally come in two grades readily available , the one on the left is the king of cedars , it is fine and deep dark natural cedar colour , it is about 5 times the price of the cedar on the right , which I am using , I am staining my cedar so no need to over spend here . I find my New Brunswick cedar at Lowe's for $15.00 a bundle , I can not beat that and I have had great success with cladding exterior accents on the main house , we love the charm it adds.

I make sure to choose a bundle with nice wide pieces , take the time to be a little picky here , it is worth the effort , then I sorted the shakes for easier selection , I am just a novice at shingling so things aren't perfect but I am as always ok with imperfection.

The garden is filling in nicely , I am craving more new plants , it has become some what of a passion , from detesting gardening to loving it , it is a test in patience and effort.

I am hoping to find a great tree for this corner where the playhouse used to be , doesn't look like such an empty corner anymore does it ?

Loving all the beautiful hostas my friend has handed down to me , I'm just waiting on my brown eyed susan's to start blooming some time soon.

Hope your having a happy summer .

progress and play

2011-07-04T07:45:00.004-04:00

I am so excited to show you the progress we have made on our backyard bunkie , with this past long weekend off we were able to tackle the roof , the weather proofing , installing the windows and hanging the door and adding trim and yesterday I ticked off the list painting the door the same blue as our front door on the house, I even found a very well priced locking door knob for the bunkie so it is secure , its leaky but secure.

This is a view from inside the kitchen , it is a really welcome focal point, I can't believe how it pretty much blocks out the house behind ours , not that we don't like our back neighbours , but it makes our yard feel much more private.

Its really coming along isn't it ?

Still to do - water proofing the roof

- shingles

- shakes , installed and painted

- trim edges for exterior

- closing in the soffits

- interior walls clad in beadboard

- interior trim

- interior flooring and staining

- porch for the bunkie ( may wait till next year)

- lots and lots of painting

- Todd wants to build a cupola ???

I did all of the roofing , I do not like heights and really the bunkie is 11 feet tall so its not huge but falling from that height would hurt I'm sure , but better me than Todd to climb up there on that roof . I used tongue and groove planks, v-groove 1" x 6" planks, that way all I have to do is paint the interior ceiling and it will look just how I want , charming . But this kind of wood takes a little finessing , so I would have to climb out there and "encourage" each piece to fit together , I made sure Todd got some pictures of this , because you won't find me on the top of any roof any time soon.

As you can see I've lost a little more weight , that's 50 lbs now , it feels so good and worth all the work it took to get here.

I have been meaning to sand down this family room coffee table , and when I did this past Friday these stripes started to appear , I love it , how fitting I think , I nice sanding and a coat of wax and buffing and it feels good as new!!!

Yep that's me again . I think you can see that nice look of the v-groove , won't it look great painted out white? now should it be solid of semi transparent?

All the while I have been balancing a few balls , like this kitchen update I have been doing for a lovely lady , installing beadboard right over some old ugly tile , I used No More Nails for this , doesn't the faux tin panel look great behind the stove , they painted the cabinets white , what a transformation !!!

We had a lot of nice family time this weekend , I hope you did too , Happy 4th of July to all my American friends , we did a lot of city marshmallow roasting , see we aren't supposed to have fire pits or open fire in these suburbs , but this works ...

Outdoor projects , BBQ's , roasted marshmallows and Miller time , I love summer don't you ?

First born is 13 and baby girl is 10

2011-06-27T09:18:00.003-04:00

Today is Mason's 13th birthday , doesn't the time fly , how can I have a teenager ?

I am letting her play hookie today from one of the last days of school , two more days to go then summer officially starts for us. Mason is waiting till the bunkie is completed to have a party , won't that be fun !

Yesterday was Sophie's 10th birthday , baby girl is in the double digits now , they are getting so big.

She has been spreading her wings lately , it was time to get her a cell phone so I can keep an eye on her , there is nothing worse for a worry wart mom not to know exactly where your baby is .

Yummy cherry chip cupcakes , with sprinkles and a cherry on top , served with Shirley Temple's of course.

Beautiful pink heart balloons are always festive.

Bright and early and ready for present time.

We had a busy crazy weekend , bunkie work crammed in with birthday celebrations , I am officially exhausted.

Bunkie decor ,braces and birthday's

2011-06-24T08:56:00.003-04:00

I am eager to get the roof on and to get the bunkie closed up , but our jobs are getting in the way again ... we all know how that is ! regardless of our progress I decided to check Home sense for a lantern and bunkie worthy decor , I found some great clearance items that I just fell for . Mason and I found dozens of great lanterns ,lot's were colorful and then there was this perfect white washed rattan lantern, it spoke to me , it will hang from the ceiling , soon hopefully.

I also have decided that we will need a rug , either the dash and albert rug I have in the laundry room or this rug in the photo above, I want the bunkie all white, the only color will be from the accessories, like from quilts and rug and bedding , of course I will get bamboo blinds.

We are going to try and get lots done on the bunkie this weekend, in between the girls Birthday's , Sophie is turning 10 on Sunday and Mason is turning 13 on Monday .

Mason got her braces a couple of days ago , which was really big news here , she chose three colors of elastics pink, yellow and blue , they look so cute, poor girl is hurting and don't I remember those days well , I just adore the dentist doing Mason's braces I will be forever indebted to her .

I dug out this cute simple plywood art from a pile of clearance items, perfectly suited to our bunkie decor , it was only $10.00 I also got an alphabet one, love them they are perfect. And since the bunkie will not have electricity the lanterns are a must , most battery operated lanterns are UGLY but these were really cute , $29.00 which is also a good price, because you don't want to give your children open flames really ever.

Someone's got a beef with our bunkie/ shed

2011-06-20T09:40:00.005-04:00

Well we have been plugging away at the bunkie as much as our spare time will allow , there is not a lot of spare time in our lives right now sadly so it is slow going , but I do like to share the process.

I came home from the gym last Friday to find a notice from the city on my door , they had been made aware of construction being done at our address that "may" need a permit , first I was in a panic , but then I knew I had done my research and according to the city if my shed is under 100 sq feet I would not need a permit , I know we will be fine but the inspector is stopping by this morning to verify my measurements.

This means someone is hating our building , don't you want to know who it is , I hope I can find out today , just who it is , we have 6 backyards backing onto us that it could be I know awful eh! , but we think we know who it is , I just wish they had asked us about it instead of calling the city in ...

Oh well , we get to have out building and they will have to accept it , it will be nice to look at soon , I promise.

The toughest part has been figuring out the roof of course, but the joists are up , I did one whole by myself , it actually wasn't hard at all , thanks to the handy brackets I found at Lowe's.

I have decided to clad the front and back peaks and ceiling in v groove panelling so that I don't have to recald the interior with v-groove, it looks so nice , I am hoping this will save us some money and time. The walls will be clad over the framing with v-groove.

You can really get a sense of the space now , I am glad we didn't make it shorter , I wasn't sure if it would be too tall, but we like it , and it is well under the height restrictions , we may even add a cupola , although I think that sounds a little challenging , but I think it will look great.

Wish me luck with the building inspector , I will keep you posted. We Passed !!!!!

Moving along nicely and bunny watching

2011-06-15T08:45:00.006-04:00

I nearly died when I saw this house , it clearly jumped straight out of my mind and dreams and came to be ... have you seen this gorgeous home featured now on House of Turquoise

This house has a lot of features that we are going to use on the bunkie , the bold white trim ,the blue door, the grey shakes and port hole style window , which we found at a local re-use store , which mimics the front of our house. I hope they don't mind me sharing this pic of this beautiful home.

Moe is doing a little quality control , what are the odds we would find one of these at the re-use store , for $30.00 now how do I make rounded trim ??? any tips ?

Yesterday I framed out the peaks , this was fun....as long as we keep at it a little at a time this project will get done before the summer is over , the kids are so eager to get in there and have sleepovers , I can't blame them.

I never had a chance to show you this Nantucket beachy style bathroom makeover I did before winter , I love the charm trim work adds to any space.

I am so excited about our new addition , baby bunny , its a cotton tail bunny that has been hanging around for the last week , it's wild , and so darn sweet , it is tiny the size of a soft ball, sorry about the bad picture it is very skiddish , it nibbles our grass and hides in the garden and explores its world , I love bunny watching , it seems to be hiding under our bunkie quite a lot...which is fine by me , but I don't have a vegetable garden for it to destroy and if it wants to eat our grass and morning glories that are everywhere that is fine by me...I am really enjoying the bunny , we don't have much around here as far as wild life , so birds and bunnies are welcome at my house any day .

Weekly update

2011-06-13T08:32:00.004-04:00

I think this may be what it comes down to , a weekly update , I wish I could blog often and about new and exciting things but there is no time for blogging much these days , so I will have to do my best to post weekly. Monday's after the kids are off to school I try to catch up on some much needed cleaning , you know how it is , I am lucky to have Monday mornings for that because things have been getting a little out of hand with the pace of my life as of late.Funny fact : we have never picked or bought a BBQ grill , when we got married we were given a space saver grill for our then rental condo , then when we moved to our current home my father gave us his Weber grill which was great but I don't know if you have noticed but grills have come a long way since this Weber was purchased 15 years ago at least ....you can find a cheap as chips good looking BBQ anywhere these days , you can spend $200-$2000 whatever your budget.
I thought it would be the perfect time to buy Todd a nice new grill for Father's Day , so we started looking , there are so many to choose from ? It was a very tough decision , I decided to make sure whatever grill we got it needed a good warranty , because what would be the point spending our money on a grill that only has a one year warranty , that's no good! I think that is the sign of a low quality BBQ , because I don't want to buy a BBQ every other year , I took my time and did some research and digging.
What we settled on was a Cuisinart , yes a Cuisinart BBQ available at Canadian Tire stores , but then we kept going around in circles , I didn't have a strong opinion on which one to go with , they were good looking well priced and we wanted a side burner and they all seemed to have that too and most importantly the tank would be concealed by the closed cabinet and a 5 year warranty of course , I wanted to take advantage of the great savings offered , so we went early to purchase his new grill.
But we changed plans and went with a Kitchen Aid BBQ , it was all stainless , and was really good looking and had no plastic parts at all , has the side searing burner and a closed in back as well and is a beautiful product. It was perfect , except it came in the largest box ever and was so crazy heavy to move , but it came fully assembled which was a huge perk. Ok enough about our grill , it looks so pretty in the backyard too, and best of all I know Todd is really happy with it . We have plans to build a large BBQ deck where it will move to later , more space to move.

I don't know if it was my recipe or the grill but the burgers were extra delicious.

I have great bunkie news , we have windows...I know I had planned to use old windows but the wind blew them over and they both broke...so we started pricing windows , we started at the re-stores where you can get used building materials , but the prices were steep, we loved some windows but $400 and $600 a window seems unreasonable for our bunkie. We looked at stock windows at Home Depot , which were ho hum, and then we priced custom windows which were actually pretty reasonable , we could choose size and grills , then we had decided on a local window manufacturer Mason windows , which is where all our house windows come from , and I was just about to order them , then I learned where my Mom works they had two casement windows left over from a reno last year, I went to take a look and they were so beautiful , smaller than we wanted but I thought we could make them work with trim work, there was no 3-4 week delay or high cost and this would not hold up our build.

The grills are on the outside and inside , they just look so lovely don't they?

I was so pleased they are unpainted wood inside , which means I can paint them whatever color I want , what fun.

We framed the rough window openings and clad the front of our bunkie this weekend with chip board , it's really coming along.

Next step we frame the peaks and then the rafters go up , that should be fun huh !!! so then roof and wrapping the exterior , windows and door install , flooring , siding which is going to be shakes , and interior paneling the walls , I would love to have this closed up in time for the girls birthdays at the end of the month ...wish us luck and good weather too please. I should say how happy I am my husband is as eager to complete the bunkie as I am , we are so looking forward to having it to use and I am dying to get it to the decorating stage of course.

I completed the book cases I was working on , oh painting beadboard is so not fun.

I added bead board to the fireplace mantel as well as the back of the cabinets linking it all in style, I love how they look , so fresh and clean and Nantucket style.The paint color is Benjamin Moore cloud white.

So I'm off again to another busy crazy week , hope all is well with you and thank you for stopping by .

Chris

Sidekick crosses over

2011-06-09T09:44:00.005-04:00

Check this out, my husband Todd's cartoon Sidekick is coming to Cartoon network on Monday , you all can now tune in ...we are super proud and super pumped about this launch .

Check out a trailer here or on the link above , simply click on the word Sidekick .
http://youtu.be/lu8yqAHYJSM

Bunkie building begins

2011-06-06T08:05:00.003-04:00

How inspiring are these images , this is a real dream backyard we love...

traditional pool design by charleston general contractor Kirk Wood Homes

You don't need a big space to have a beautiful space. This space clearly has a bigger budget than we do , but isn't it beautiful?

traditional pool design by charleston general contractor Kirk Wood Homes

I had this Saturday off from work and the weather was gorgeous , so I talked my husband into getting started on the framing part of our bunkie /shed , this will mostly function as a shed but in the few hot months this will be a fun place for guests to sleep and most fun for sleepovers for the kids.

I know it seems big , but it is only 96 sq feet , there is no real benefit for us to keep our smallish yard empty , we want to create a get away right in our own backyard , some where to relax , entertain , BBQ and spend our weekend in the summer . We are trying to create a low maintenance backyard for our family.
My husband was such a trooper all weekend getting this work done , thanks so much Todd , we are celebrating our 14th anniversary tomorrow , I even bought a new dress to celebrate , we don't normally make a big deal over these things , actually most often we both forget our anniversary as we are thinking more about the two girls birthdays coming up in a couple of weeks.

It was so summery this weekend and we spend most of our time outside enjoying it thoroughly , even the hammock came out.

Isn't he cute ...well both dogs got the doggie stomach flu which was brutal , have you ever given a dog Pepto well you know how yucky it tastes , dogs don't like it much either , but it helps a little.

By evening we had sunburns and some walls , next we will clad some more walls , some weather wrap , cedar shakes , windows to order , roof joists , roof , pine cottage flooring , paneling for the walls and ceiling , just a little bit of work , right ...! I think we are officially weekend warriors now.

Weekend activities

2011-05-30T08:42:00.004-04:00

I finally made my way to Christie's Antique fair on Sunday, my Mom came along with me to check out what they had to offer . I knew my husband would want this item , groovy .

If I had had a UHAUL truck I could have really had fun , I loved this horse head , but a little pricey at $850.00

How much do you want this chair ? , me too ...all the good stuff is pricey $225.00

My Mom and I met up with Jennifer from Rambling Renovators and Sarah from Cozy.cottage.cute
it was so nice to see Jennifer and Handyman and to meet Sarah too if only for a quick chat, gonna bring the family next time.

Here is my only find, and just what I was looking for , two pretty simple windows for my bunkie , $40 for the two , you can not beat that , they will be perfect .

On Saturday we headed out to a lovely park by Lake Ontario to walk with my family for Muscular Dystrophy, I was so proud my daughters both came along for the walk, our team Team Brad ( my brother) raised more than $800 and the walk raised over $23,000... what a great cause , my little brother was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy when he was 10 , he is doing great , he is very determined to keep walking which is a challenge obviously but he is beating the odds and knows his limitations , never take for granted the ability to be mobile .
After we had a nice BBQ and it was also my older brothers Birthday , I made Rodney's pulled pork , ok that was so yummy and easy give it a try , I served mine with calibres buns , sliced pickled and shredded cabbage , and extra BBQ sauce of course , it was so easy and tender .

I've been filling in the corner where the playhouse used to be to keep the dogs out of the muck really ,finding great grasses and I think all I need now is a serviceberry shrub or two and this spot will be complete , sadly the dogs are more fascinated than ever.

We have had a remarkable amount of rain lately and everything is lush and green , but we are due for some warmer dry weather and looks like it is going to start today , yeah!

I am going to enjoy as much time in the backyard as is possible ... next weekend the bunkie will have walls I hear , I am so looking forward to seeing that project move forward .

Have a great week , talk soon.

Bunkie , bricks and bahemoth

2011-05-24T09:25:00.002-04:00

Well I hope everyone had a nice long weekend , we had some good weather some rainy weather , everything is filling in nicely in the garden , I still need to add some more to my window box but I was busy doing things other than gardening ...like building the bunkie base , yes I was able to convince my husband that Sunday was the day to get things started .

So here it is the start of our exciting new project here at home , a glorified shed if you will , it will be the perfect addition to the house , for now its a dance floor , next framing the walls and roof , finding reclaimed windows and doors , cottage pine floors , some kind of siding , the list will go on , it will hopefully evolve of the coming months.

I love these forget me nots , they came over from the neighbors behinds , I love free plants , we seemed to have gained a nice fern this year too .

I picked up a couple of galvanized deck candle holders on clearance.

Can you picture a great looking shed here , we can not wait to see it all finished , it is a little hard to imagine right now , so excited I have wanted this since we moved here , our backyard will someday be our own personal getaway.

One of the other projects we will be tackling over the summer is bricking the front steps , I have always love red brick steps and we have settled on this brick veneer , we have some work to do getting all the paint off the steps , but it will look great when its done and it is what we have always wanted.

Here is a great example of a red brick entry , don't you love it ....? I do.

We took a chance yesterday when they were calling for rain and went to Canada's Wonderland, but with the weather forecasts you really never know how a day will turn out , it turned out fine , a little rain kept a lot of people away and we enjoyed quick line ups and lots of roller coasters , I even braved the biggest roller coaster there , thought I was going to die for a moment of two , but I did it , we all did it , and I hate heights by the way ...there was a lot of screaming that helped me get through.

They had to do their spinning and turning rides by themselves , I can spin and spin ...I must be getting old.

So in case you have been waiting the winner of the Easy Decorating magazine is Andrea of www.noemptychairsblog.com , thank you for all the wonderful supportive comments.

What am I working on ?

2011-05-20T08:15:00.002-04:00

Well I have been feeling bad that I haven't shown you anything new , I'm sure you are wondering what ever happened to Chris , wonder why she is too busy to blog , well it is just that between working part-time and family stuff and making fitness a priority instead of finding excuses not to include fitness into my day I have been very busy trying to fit everything in to each day, I am also working on a few local projects while dust bunnies grow like a family in my house. My current project is a full wall of built-in bookcases flanking a fireplace .
I will be installing beadboard into the backs of the cases today , and a bit more finishing trim and painting , hopefully it will be all done next week. I'm just thinking , maybe I need a wall of bookcases in my house too ....

Giveaway

2011-05-19T08:19:00.002-04:00

I am so thrilled with my home being featured front and center on Easy Decorating magazine that I want to celebrate with a giveaway , so leave a comment and spread the word and I will choose a winner on Monday ....thanks for stopping by and have a swell weekend.

Planning and pricing

2011-05-18T09:11:00.002-04:00

Here is the final plan for the backyard , with a very wet environment and two dogs the lawn has been a significant challenge to say the least , wet muddy paws all 8 of them all day long have become such an aggravation , so our grand plan is to try and eliminate as much grass as possible I think this plan addresses this problem quite well , it think we can manage this amount of grass.
With the long weekend approaching and with no family cottage calling us to come I am hopeful we will be able to tackle the base of the shed at the very least .
I suppose we will plug away at this plan a little at a time , and eventually we will get this all done , one day!
I think I may have scored a free set of french doors for the shed , cross your fingers. I want to do this project for the very best price possible , how low can you go ?

I found these photos of Mason's nails on my camera , I love this design so springy and happy ...

I really need to work on my cuticles ...

I am going to be doing a magazine giveaway tomorrow so make sure you come back please.

Turning a page in the book of life

2011-05-16T10:08:00.003-04:00

I have always cherished this little adorable playhouse that my girls were given when they were small , it was a very generous gift from their Grandparents , and it has been a source of much fun play for both my girls and their friends as well as many children I have babysat over the years we have lived here, and I have had a lot of fun tarting it up adding shutters and making a built in bench and painting and adding shingles to the front peak , but it has become purely a storage shed in the winter housing our pool poles, the girls have truly outgrown the playhouse, sad but it happens. What we really need in our backyard is a bigger more functional building. I have long wanted a bunkie , some where people could actually sleep comfortable in the summer months . Looks like I am going to get my bunkie and in order for that to happen we had to say good bye to our sweet playhouse . I am happy to say it is staying in the family and a sweet little girl will be enjoying it soon , after it gets assembled if the rain ever lets up around here.

This is kind of what I am thinking , I would like french doors , which I hope to find from a restore , it is going to be about 10'x10' nice size but not too big . I want two good sized windows on the sides to allow for a good cross breeze. I may create bunk beds built in , or daybed corner bed , I'm not sure about that yet , but double bunks would allow for great winter storage , and it would be nice to have a little loft space as well. The kids are going to just love this bunkie.

This is the mess we currently have , I have a lot of transplanting to do here as well as a lot of clearing.

We have also decided not to put up our pool this summer , it just wasn't used as much as I would have liked it to have been used considering how much work I did maintaining it daily , I guess the novelty wore off after the first year. So if anyone locally would like to purchase this pool which is a 15' round pool with all the supplies , please let me know , it is in great condition.

We are therefore left with this circle of sand , we are trying to decide that to do with it , we worked so hard clearing the grass , it is trying to re-grow but since it is mostly sand I think we should do something with it , like brick around the edges and use pea gravel in the center , for a little firepit , or should we just grass it over , it is so hard to decide...but something needs to be done.

There is so much work to be done in the back yard ...it is a tad overwhelming right now actually , we tackle a little bit every season , we only can even use it half the year, so 6 months we ignore it and 6 months we try to make it better.

Here are some very inspiring bunkies.

I hope ours looks this cute when we are done , I suppose this is actually a shed but what a cute shed.

They grow up so fast

2011-05-11T09:23:00.002-04:00

Everyone knows children grow up practically before our eyes , and luckily I will tell you I love having big kids , not just because I can have a life again , but because they are really fun and funny to have around , most of the time. How can I have a daughter this big ? it really makes me shake my head , so glad I had them young, I had Mason when I was 25 , what a good decision for me that was , I have a friend who just had her third baby , I am in awe of that , I don't think I could start all over , but I could enjoy a baby for an afternoon or so and that would be fun.
This morning I sent Mason off on a school camp trip in cottage country , I know she will have so much fun , she was ready to go well before 6:00 am , eager to get going.

Getting photos of the girls is such a challenge lately , especially of Sophie I usually get the hand , she can't hide behind this window ....silly girl , got ya!

Look at this , Dolce begging to go with Mason ....how sweet is that , how do they know ?.... he is going to miss his sleeping buddy.

Moe too pulled at the heart strings trying to come along , he tried his best to sneak out the front door , he must think we were going to Grandma's.

Good luck teachers , you couldn't pay me to ride on a bus for three hours with 40 or so 13 year olds .

Safe journey kids!!!!

Spring has finally arrived

2011-05-09T08:06:00.002-04:00

We patiently waited and waited for spring to arrive and it finally has , as happy as I am to enjoy the warmer weather it does come with the task of cleaning out the garden , planting new and assessing what needs to be done. Late in the fall we cut down our front yard choke cherry tree , only because it was full of disease , this has left us with quite a hole in the garden . I have decided to polish up the front with more box woods this season and I have been thinking we definitely needed another tree , it is not so easy choosing a tree. Yesterday we headed off to the garden center and found the perfect tree it is a flurry serviceberry , fresh with white blooms , I will be adding more serviceberry bushes to the back yard as well, they attract birds and wild life too .

Can you see our little tree , it is a great start for this spring , I am looking forward to everything coming in and blooming over the next couple of weeks. Let's hope soon the weather will allow me to plant my window box and hanging baskets with flowers and color I need some color. Lot's of work still to be done.

This is going to make a great before photo , when the neighbours trees fill in it will be so lush here things are looking promising . I have never seen so many robin's as I have this spring, I love to see all the nature , spring is finally here, and my goodness I tell you here in Ontario we sure do appreciate it when it comes , last year at this time we were putting up the swimming pool , don't even think it is going up at all this year?

I hope you all had a wonderful time enjoying Mother's Day .

Two times the charm

2011-05-05T09:27:00.002-04:00

I completed the nail room floor on my day off , I thought it would take only a little of my day , but in reality it took almost the whole day lots of cuts in a little room.

Doesn't it look so nice .

It looks and feels great , so much more finished . Laminate has sure come a long way. Off to get some felt pads for everything that will go in this room.

Laminate floor time.

2011-05-03T08:36:00.005-04:00

I have been patiently waiting the 72 hours for the laminate to acclimatize and now I will tackle laying laminate for the first time. It is drop click , doesn't that sound easy?? the brand is Colorado by Goodfellow no glue laminate flooring, in apsen color , it is a deeply embossed laminate and it really looks like wood and has a 25 year warranty, amazing and it was only $1.50 sq foot I got it here in Ontario at Millwork.

There were so many projects around the house this weekend , Mason did this self portrait for art class , how cool is that ?? all those tiny little pieces.

And we completed this medieval castle , I had a lot of fun coming up with all the details , I found some extra slate tiles from our fireplace surround and attached it to the roof , might be a little over the top huh oh well there is only one 4th grade project right , its bigger than her , that is so funny.

Cover , girl!

2011-05-01T12:03:00.002-04:00

I have been too busy lately to do regular blog posts , sorry I don't have a whole lot to share on the home front , still keeping busy working part time out of the house and doing custom projects here a there as I can fit in , which is harder than I had imagined it would be and making time to work on my self , down 34 lbs now and nearing my goal of 40 lbs.
What I do have to share is that I made the cover , ok well I didn't make the cover but my home did ...what a thrill , it is late getting into my hands sadly , I have been searching and finally found the Woman's Day Special Publication Easy Decorating issue which is on news stands now . I am sure I looked the fool grinning from ear to ear when I realized it was my family room I was looking at on the cover of a magazine on the stands at Wal-Mart ....so exciting .

The article is pretty much the same as the Woman's day mag article but with more photos , of the living room which is my favorite shot and the landing as well as the master bathroom.

Even our pooch Dolce made it into the mag in the first shot of the post, funny huh!

Any way I will leave you with my wonderful exciting news and get back to reality , I've got to go get ready for a party at my girl friends house , should be a fun relaxing afternoon .

Coming soon , the nail room floor is going in this week and I am so excited to show you all that and I will promise I will tell all that asked where I got it and who makes it too.

Have a Happy Sunday

Gorgeous laminate and fitness updates

2011-04-20T10:27:00.003-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post I needed to go source some flooring options , I would love engineered real wood but the way basements can be fickle and can even flood I hesitate installing anything costly like engineered wood and about 1000 feet to cover in the entire basement this could get pricey . I did however find a very wonderful solution , the most real looking laminate I have ever seen , and it is so very well priced too ...we just need 45 boxes...no big deal right , still quite a bit of dough.

It is my perfect floor , it looks and feels so good and it is 12mm which is fabulous too , and it is click installation, easy.

I am crazy about it , it is perfect and will make the basement look so finished , eventually .

I thought I should give you a little weight loss update , I didn't want you to think I had given up again, actually I have conquered it, I got this. I have lost just over 30 pounds and I am feeling so much better , wearing things I have loved and saved , and that I am so glad I did not donate. I have about 6 pounds to go to reach my goal , but I will still keep going to see where my body will take me , my goal was based on my BMI so if I keep going as long as I keep with in that I will be happy and healthy and if I need to buy some news things than so be it.

I can't believe I have the nerve to show you the photo of me uncomfortably plump from last year but I've come along way baby, I know I never showed pics of me on my blog and the reason is I was embarassed of how I had changed.

I credit the Wii with my wake-up call , when the Wii calls you obese its not trying to hurt your feelings believe it or not...sure feels like it is though.

And after 15 weeks of calculating everything I eat and really paying attention to what I am eating and not eating and working out pretty much everyday doing as much cardio as my day will allow I have been able to drastically change my fitness level and my jean size , for instance when I first started to workout again my highest heart rate was hovering around 200 bpm not good at all , yesterday and my most strenuous workout it was 158 bpm.

Yesterday I decided after doing an hour of cardio on the arc , which is similar to to an elliptical machine I thought I would try to run on the treadmill for just 5 minutes, I am one of those people who has never been able to run for more than a sprint , it hurts my hips, my shins and I would always get a cramp ...painful , but I figured I have improved my fitness level greatly , and yesterday I ran 4 mph for 10 minutes I could not believe I could do it , it felt to exciting to be able to now do something that I couldn't do before, happiness.

Before here I am not healthy , not happy with myself or how my health was headed and going in very much a wrong direction , I have a couple of years to the big 40 and I want to really look as good as I can and age gracefully , I am after all completely in charge of that , no more excuses , no one else is going to take care of me but me.

Have a happy hump day all.

Pretty Storage

2011-04-18T08:56:00.002-04:00

I have been working all week on my basement built in storage area , making doors, that was an interesting challenge , I priced out doors all over the place , but just the tall upper doors would be about $100 a piece , that seems a bit much for basement storage to me ...so I decided to just make simple door frames . I toyed with mirror in the middle but went with an easier option of using fabric to make pretty panels for the doors , to keep them light , functional and most of all gorgeous...I am so thrilled with how this has turned out ...and best of all this was discount fabric which was $30.00 a meter but with the buy one get two free deal , it was a bargain and I have lots to make into the bench cushion and most likely pillows for my bedroom .{ from fabricland canada} I made the bottom doors out of planks of pine that I had left over from another project, this project was an after thought really I had thought of buying some easy closets from Ikea , but I am so glad I went with this one of a kind storage unit, after all this is a hang out on a regular basis with Mason and Sophie and Mason's friends most often.

Here is a close up of the beautiful fabric , it is a stitched on feathering pattern.

I really need to go look at flooring options , this subfloor is just awful , I get caught on it all the time and try finding a screw you dropped on it , it is camoflage for screws.

This basement of ours is finally feeling like a nicer place to spend some time , I very excited to see it come along a little at a time.

I think I should paint my little tool peg board , black? or blue? or white?hmmmm thoughts?

Storage happiness

2011-04-10T20:36:00.003-04:00

I decided to tackle the built in storage I had planned for the nail room / mud room , especially since I picked up the bench piece a couple of days ago for $20.00 , it was a very rough and basic pine bookcase I found on Kijiji , it fit this wall perfectly.

I will be happy to have all of this chaos contained and hidden .

I will admit things looked a little sketchy this morning , I used our old kitchen cabinet which was over the fridge before we got the new fridge I used it to bridge the two towers of storage.

Some primer , and lots of paint makes it all looks so much better. I used MDF 12"x 8' ready cut shelves to create the two towers, I had them cut down to the length I needed and had the excess cut into 17" wide shelves , having a pinner and nail gun made this project so quick and easy , even the family said "wow that was fast". Next step is to trim it all out and to make some doors to close this all up , or maybe I will try making drawers ?

I will store my magazines, sewing machine , fabrics , linens, books and even tools and paper work the middle open area will be a little reading nook for the kids , I am so glad I finally did this project , it is a great solution , how are you supposed to keep a room tidy without a spot to store everything?

my house makes a S&C show appearance today

2011-04-08T08:46:00.002-04:00

Your guess is as good as mine as to what I will see on the Steven and Chris show today at 1:00 and 2:00 , check your local CBC schedule for air times , I have my PVR set to record. They filmed pretty much everything , the great room , dining room , living room and bedroom , I think a lot will be cut out because of time, I am so excited to see how my home looks on television especially being toured with Cobi Ladner ...such a thrill , I hope the guys liked it too , I know they have seen it once before but a lot has changed since the 2008 visit .... do you think they will remember seeing it before?

I'll be watching , will you , it will also be online http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/ probably not today though so check back , you can also look up other great house tours here as well as much more worth watching .

Lipstick and rouge

2011-04-07T13:44:00.002-04:00

I decided I would try to pretty up the nail room ,to make the most of its current state , I installed the floating shelf that used to be above our living room sofa , I added two beautiful brackets I removed from the dining room , voila a beautiful feature for the nail room . I added some forgotten art and some pretty candle holders my cousin Sheri gave me and I think it is so much nicer now . The chairs here are extra dining chairs , I recovered them to match by using some remnants of fabric I had stored away , quick and easy update and it cost me nothing . Now to get the paint brush out to do all the touch ups and to paint the nail shelf , I sure wish I had a sprayer because I don't look forward to painting that shelf at all .

You can see here what about an hour of attention can do , click on the photo to enlarge.

Slowly very slowly

2011-04-07T09:17:00.002-04:00

basement getaway by chriskauf on Polyvore.com

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BOTNE $199 - ikea.com

EKTORP $199 - ikea.com

Dash & Albert Rug Company » Zanzibar Ticking Woven Cotton $364 - dashandalbert.com

Taylor Scott Slipcovered South Hampton Chair - Layla Grayce $100 - laylagrayce.com

Edgewood Coffee Table $699 - crateandbarrel.com

Wall Art LampsPlus.com $224 - lampsplus.com

coney island photography, wall decor, large prints, beach, 20x20 :... $85 - papernstitch.com

Our attention has recently turned to our unfinished basement ...we have lots of big plans to finish the space , we plan to make a nice office space for my husband , who currently works down there often in a very cold and yucky space , we want to also create a large open room that will be open to the office but can also be closed off with a curtain 14'x29', we would be creating basically a second family room , which will be great for the kids to entertain in the basement , a space for video games and movie watching and for occasional over night guests. We will tackle it a little bit at a time. For now though I do have a plan for a build , on the wall with the red shelves this is what I will be building , to house all of the stuff you see and don't see there , I want it all clean out of sight and un-cluttered , this will have a nice bench seat that hopefully will serve as a little reading nook for the kids , since they use this room most often and daily as the nail room . Today I am picking up the lower bench part which is a pine shelf that I will build all of this off of...its going to be so cute.

I recently re-configured the storage area I created a couple of years back , it wasn't working so I rejigged it to have hanging storage , and now I finally have a spot to hide my vacuum.

This area needs a lot of help as well I think I will make a base for the table that will provide more closed storage as well it just needs some pretty too . I think I may need to part with some of the items I hang onto that are taking up space , obviously I need to paint the nail polish shelf white

Oh and we need walls , floors I think I am going to go ahead with the brick veneer floors in this room and the laundry area too , I think it will look great .

Sounds like a lot doesn't it ...it is over whelming

Cautionary tale

2011-04-04T10:18:00.003-04:00

I am feeling a bit dissapointed today , wishing I could go to the filming of the Steven & Chris episode where my segment will be , I can't wait to see how it all comes together and wonder what the boys will say ....nervous and excited I guess...but I must work this afternoon so I couldn't go , its fine . Oh it will air this Friday at 2:00pm on your CBC station in Canada and in the US check your local listings.

How funny is this comparison photo , the one on the left is me at probably 10 or so at my friends house for one of our many sleepovers, and then Mason at about the same age , I sure see the similarities , I tell you it startles me everyday when she comes walking in and is now taller than me at 12 years old , almost 13 in a couple of months , I have definately noticed the changes that go on with teens , the annoyed looks , rolling eyes , not wanting to be with us too much in public, I love to embarass her so much I try to refrain when in public I swear, so far things are going really well in this dept , so thankful for this, we are very open and honest about everything ...

You know I always warn my kids about predators in life and online , we did have an experience with a creep on Youtube recently with one oh my daughters friends , a creep asking for a 12 yr old to expose herself , please don't under estimate the importance of teaching safe computer use with your family , we have our computer in the kitchen for just this reason ...I can keep tuned into everything the kids do on the computer . Web cam's please why do we need those ?, I don't think we do , if you have far away family I see the point but for kids and teens , no way, it only takes a moment to make a major bad choice .

When I have those talks with the kids about pediphiles and inappropriate behaviour and even have warned about proper behaviour for teachers I get the "OK Mom !" I often wonder if they take me seriously , I don't think they think these things would really happen in their world.

Sadly Friday afternoon we all got word and it was all over the news that a teacher who taught at my kids school last year, which is an amazing award winning school that we love, was arrested for many counts of inappropriate behaviour including making child pornography, luring , posing as a girl on Facebook and online convincing boys to expose themselves via webcam and through photos , this is truly devastating to all of us. It is a nightmare , for all of those affected and decieved by this man .

I would like to say that our local police did a great job catching him , so happy to hear he was locked up and the school relieved him immediately of his duties.

This is a great lesson for our kids , we weren't just blowing smoke , this can and does happen , anywhere and every where. Such a betrayal of trust .

I wish we could just protect all our children of harm but sadly that is impossible but we must give them the tools to listen to their intuition and to know what is right and wrong to expect, and that just because someone is an adult doesn't mean that you need to do everything they ask of you , and most of all encourage them to speak up when something feels wrong and keep talking to your kids ...about everything because knowledge is power.

I apologize for an spelling errors my spell check wouldn't work

A visit from Cobi

2011-03-29T08:27:00.009-04:00

You must check out Cobistyle you will love it as much as I do.

Check out www.cobistyle.com for great style , design inspiration and information on Cobistyle products.

From last Friday till yesterday morning it has been a whirl wind of touch ups , cleaning and preparation to get ready for Cobi Ladner to visit and film a tour of my "beachy" house for the Steven and Chris Show , it was a complete thrill to have Cobi to my home , I have followed Cobi since I was probably 20 and living in our first little basement apartment when she was editor of Canadian House and Home magazine, oh the stacks and stacks of old issues of H&H I still have from when Cobi was editor I have missed her touch at H&H, I have learned much from Cobi and admire her personal decor style.

Cobi has some very exciting news , she has launched a line of home decor goods , from furniture to draperies , all beautiful of course and full of colour and feminine flair , a nice and welcome change, check out her website links above for more information .

I had a very nice day , it was great to meet Cobi , she is as sweet and friendly as she has always appeared on her many television appearances I have seen , truly a warm and lovely lady , what a treat for me.

She was so kind and complimentary of my home , how amazing to hear kind words about my work from one of my design heroes, Cobi even gave me a great suggestion for my kitchen counters.

I simplified the bedroom , removed the elliptical and big ugly TV( just for the filming) , I centered the bed and removed the decal over the bed to create more balance, it feels so pretty without the functional stuff.

I have decided I need to get a smallish white LED tv to replace my tube TV I normally have in there, it will look much better , so excited they make white LED's.

I love when my house is simplified and de-cluttered and freshly washed and laundered.

I'm not quite sure when the segment will air but I will let you know as soon as I know .

What an ordeal I tell ya

2011-03-26T19:05:00.003-04:00

First off I will show you how lovely my new bridge faucet turned out , but it was quite and ordeal

to get to this state. I needed a new faucet and why not push that improvement ahead in time for filming at my house on Monday? It was ridiculous I tell you , I had such a hard time getting the water to stop flowing , the shut off was turned off but it went on and on ....and then I couldn't get the old faucet detached , we had to sever one connection , annoying ... of course that is when Sophie flushed the toilet which pushed a huge amount of water throught the open pipes leading me to totally freak out .... I had picked up a lovely brushed nickle faucet with lovely styling and with a sprayer , but when we positioned it it looked dinky and it wouldn't even reach into the sink , since I have a monster huge sink....it is a Kholer three bowl sink which you can now buy at Home Depot for $1500.00 , ours was second hand and $100.00 but I hope to get new counters soon as well as an apron front sink that I think the bridge faucet will be perfect for....but for now I live with what I've got , cause the washing machine is leaking even worse than our old faucet was and that will have to come first.
I spent the better part of Friday working on the computer desk and hutch , I have always meant to paint the inside which was plain MDF so why not now , I also have been meaning to go through all the junk bursting at the seams in the cabinet , I freed up so much space ...feels good to purge , don't worry the doors were put back on and it looks fabulous all fresh ready for the kids to re- blemish , after Monday ...

I have to show you why I needed a new faucet this is a very popular Price Pfister faucet , which I think no one should buy , because it fell apart nearly right away ...the sprayer broke within the first 6 months , the finish wore off, I mean come on I don't have hands made of steel wool now , how do they explain this , the worst part was the leaking , it literally poured water out and down the sides of the faucet stack

Evidence of awful leakage....so I am steering clear of bronzed finishes in faucets for sure....it is a short term finish , I am glad to see it in the trash , good bye ugly .

Going into hiding

2011-03-25T08:23:00.002-04:00

I love how pretty the sun looks streaming into the family room in the mornings ...

I managed to get two of the four curtain panels done yesterday , as well as the lampshade slipcover.

Trying to train my new drapes ....

I have to :

sew two new panels of drapes

sand and repaint my desk top
clean all my slipcovers

clean pillow covers

clean windows and floors

touch up cupboards

paint kitchen ceiling maybe

put away anything ugly

clean clean clean

touch up living room wall paint

repaint kitchen door

I better go now ...bye

I think I can come up for air in April

2011-03-24T08:51:00.002-04:00

I have been busy working towards my personal goal to get down to a healthy weight , it is going slow but well...I have also been busy in what time I left trying to pull the house together , adding character to the living room with the paneling , which we all love , and now I have turned to the family room , I needed new drapes for the sliding glass doors {which I am dying to change to french doors or Martha Stewart pretty sliders}but for now I will work with what I've got. I bought simple white Ikea tab top panels to start with , $29.00 for a pair and I picked up two sets for a full look.

But I don't like tabs , so I cut them off and now I am adding a band at the bottom in the floral bird fabric , as you can see I am also making another lamp shade slipcover ....its looking so cute , I have so much work to do to get ready for The Steven & Chris show to come by on Monday to film a house tour of my house , so you can see why I have a lot to do ....