Back so soon

Today was a long day trying to search out window coverings for the bedrooms. See I love bamboo blinds, they look great but they don't provide compete privacy. Since we are on a corner lot once again like in our first house we will need privacy. Both my daughters complained that bamboo blinds did not work into their design plans AT ALL... So I have been trying to figure out what would work for me , be private and make both my girls happy. I didn't want to waste money on paper moving blinds. My second choice would be simple roman blinds like in the above photo, who doesn't just adore this room, I do. 

I looked all day to find reasonably priced white or cream roman blinds. No one had the amount I am in need of ,which is 10 just for the bedrooms. I do not want custom blinds which can come in on a 27" x 60 " window at $200.00 a window, that's not even close. I was happy to find after a day on the road that Sears Canada was to my rescue, just what I was looking for for a small fraction of the cost . In two days I will pick up a bundle of blinds .This is making me quite relieved.

The nice thing I like about simple no valance roman's is that I can always add a decor fabric of my choice on top of the canvas cotton, easy and quickly I can have customized roman's. 

Now to go order the bathroom blinds , I am so glad Mason's bath has no windows at all however Sophie's has three, ugh!

The main floor will have the bamboo that we love where the need for total privacy is less of an issue. 

Like I mentioned yesterday we ordered a king sized mattress set , we currently have a queen , I hope we like it . We also decided on this contemporary 4 poster bed , we got another great deal. I was not sure about going with painted black finish instead of white but I really want to try some new things in the new house, why not?.

I am pretty sure they were getting our front door prepped today for painting because our PDI inspection is this Friday morning. Last I checked I think there is still some plumbing to do ...the house was a buzz today.

We are thinking this beautiful yellow might be the right touch for our front door come spring time.

I'm going to try to remain calm through the next week ,one week from now we should be settling into the new house , ahhh , should be a roller coaster ride as my PMS has just kicked in , of course beautiful timing right??? my poor family.

Kitchen finalized

If you have been following our home building journey you will know although we will be moving into our house in just 7 short days we will be not moving into a completed house . We are moving in and starting phase two of the finishing stage. Now if I didn't enjoy reno work then I'm sure that we would have just put out the money to have the upgrades all done by our builder . But I love doing home improvements, I love it although not always easy , I feel it feeds my creative soul. I have been running out of projects for this blog since I completed most of the projects in this house, however soon I will have lots and lots to blog about. 

The way we are choosing to make our house into our finished dream home is not for everyone , nor is there a right way or a wrong way to make a home , this is just our way.

We have been packing and packing all while choosing our appliances and choosing  little touches like lighting and some furniture. Mostly furniture is not even on my mind just yet. Beds however are our priority and as of today we will all have beds. We are getting a king sized bed , this is new for us. We chose a black painted four poster bed and we have the nicest blue round side tables that I gave my husband for his birthday. Mason will be getting our white cottage bead board bed and Sophie will have my child hood antique bed , which I need to paint this week somehow. 

I wanted to put together in one place our chosen kitchen finishes so I can keep it all straight , sorry it's a lot of  repeats I know , bear with me ...

The kitchen cabinets will be painted Bedford Gray a Martha Color like in this photo.

The floors pine stained dark. 

Our range.

I'm loving the look of this hutch , it is quite like I want my hutch area to look , like a free standing area, maybe white would be nice for my hutch too .

                         100% carrera marble counters on the perimeter , honed .

                                             Our large single stainless under mount sink

We are considering this style of range hood, I want something powerful , quiet and with good lighting.

                                        Our lovely Delta faucet with pull out in chrome

           Today I ordered this fridge , it is not the matching Kitchenaid only because they only offer the pro handle models in counter depth , and that means we would have to give up a lot of storage space. We also have a wall to the right of our fridge and a shallow fridge would not work there, well not a french door style.So after a lot of deciding and toying ( I really wanted to avoid the bow style handles) we settled on the GE Cafe 25 c ft fridge in standard depth, basically it is the very same fridge we have just with different ext styling and with water and ice in the door. We drink a lot of water in this house and we go through a lot of ice, probably 2 trays a day on average so hopefully this will become a handy feature. I also don't mind the look of water in the door , I think it's functional and kinda fun for us who have never had this before. We saved a lot on each appliance taking advantage of sales and price matching as well as rebates, we are pleased we have been able to get great appliances with in a reasonable budget , with a savings of over $5000 on retail prices , it really pays to do some leg work.

         Almost sure we will go with white subway tile with dark grout , clean simple and a little bold.

                     We are settled on these S&C antique brass pendants , two over the island.
                           As for over the kitchen table however I haven't seem anything yet.

I am going to order these chrome pulls which are Martha Stewart .

Butcher block for the island .

We did get this matching dishwasher to the range, Kitchenaid with pro handles. It comes with all the bells and whistles which will be very nice. It is back ordered until late March so we will be doing a lot of old fashioned dish washing...YUCK!!!

So there we have it , we are really MOVING, it is really hitting me now ...there are only a few days left and a whole lot of work to do ...wish us luck. We will settle in and then hopefully I will get back to a quick update here and there. 

See you soon . 

Just around the corner

 I'm happy to report that the house is coming along very well. The porch railings are up , don't want anyone tumbling off the porch now do we. I am looking forward to adding personal touches , having plants and all that loveliness , spring feels like it here but it is actually just around the corner. It is time for civic numbers to be installed. Isn't it funny how these little details can be the hardest to make. Thankfully I was included in the decision , it took three of us to decide on just the right location and spacing .

 We all agreed it was best to install the numbers above the door , I bought these simple slate numbers at Home Depot I like them much better than the basic brass numbers normally installed. What color would you paint the front door??? the builder will paint it navy as soon as the weather warms up enough to paint . But we aren't keen on the navy. No blue's.

The sinks are all installed, all the mirrors are in too . I don't know I think they could have gone a little bigger on this mirror? Can you say JUMBO. I will add trim around it for sure and I think a detail in between the two sinks also. I will be painting this room a soft greeny blue similar to the color of the shower glass. Accents of black , like the candle holders around the tub area. I'm so excited about all the storage, we can really grow into this house and spread out .

Its been a long wait , they poured the foundation back in the summer and have taken their time building this house just right. I think they should offer this house as a plan house , it would be a big seller (FYI this house is a one off from what I understand, it was designed to fit on this unusual 50 ft corner lot ) I think it is a no brainer. It feels so homey it seems to be laid out just right. We bought it in September , sold the house in November and have been some what patiently waiting for leap day to finally come.
 I bet the new home owners are anxiously waiting to get in here too.I hope they enjoy all the treasures this home offers them. I wonder if they will use the bunkie as a bunkie , oh I don't want to know!!
Soon we will all be settling in and making our houses our homes. I wonder if they are reading my blog at all, I gave them a magazine so I guess they know about my blog ??  " Hi " if they are reading " we're almost there " !!!
I think it has just sunk in that we are really going to be living in this new house , dreams do come true people.

Life is good.

February 2012 a very busy month indeed

   

We definitely have a busy month ahead , we kicked it off with my birthday on the 8th and more importantly the 8th is also the 20th anniversary of the day my husband and I met , we have been together since. If your wondering I was 11, alright I was 19 years old. Just a baby...but of course I didn't know it .

I was very kindly given a beautiful birthday cake , sorry for the terrible photo iPhone . It is quite a task getting me a cake , as my husband and daughter have serious nut allergies we can't just go and buy a cake and I'm sick of baking my own cakes (  bday cakes are important to me , they just are ) Todd ordered this cake from The Cupcake Shoppe in Toronto , they are one of the truly peanut/nut free cake shops around that I trust and Todd works in Toronto so it worked out well for me, didn't it. It was a 4 layer marble cake with butter creme , and it was so scrumptious and moist and not sickly sweet. 

 I'm still on the hunt for the perfect counters for the kitchen. I saw a sample of Lyra Silestone and it is too dark , not at all what I am looking for. I do like this Misty Carrara by Dupont above, and Torquay by Cambria below. Misty is $90  foot installed and Torquay is around $100 foot installed , not cheap at all.

 I am really back to considering and seriously considering the real thing. I know the pros and cons and I have finally found many who love them , they are work but what good things aren't work???? seriously, kids tons of work , pets , homes all great things that require work. I will go with honed and we will seal it often. Since we will have an island with butcher block top we will make sure to keep high damage items to the island.

I know there is no rush to put up the island pendants but I will admit I have spent an alarming amount of time trying to find just the right pendants. These are Allen Roth from Lowes and are only $118.00, but I am really wanting nickel of chrome or raw brass...

I do however need to put some more time into our fridge but I didn't know the exact dimensions until just recently. Happily we have found the perfect fridge that matches our stove , it has all we are looking for and its pretty too , we love those handles.

I drove by the house as I do everyday and notice they had installed the railings on the porch, we are almost there , 2 1/2 weeks ...which explains this crazy mess below . There is still a lot to do especially outside but that will wait till spring at least a couple more months.

Please forgive the quality of this post , I am trying out my new laptop and its not looking so good right now , and I don't know why. I will work on it .

Surprise update

 I went a peeking in the kitchen thinking I saw a darkness , aka cabinets. And there they were , the cabinets were installed. I asked to get a look see and they were happy enough to oblige me. I am in love with the master bath, the shower looks like perfection to me. The vanilla painted cabinets look beautiful , lots of storage and a drawer for each of us. I even will be happy with the soapstone look laminate counters that we will some day down the road will change to marble.

 I wanted to get in to see just how much work I have ahead of me , I have a lot. I will have to move the uppers to the left of the stove over to be flush with the bulkhead and we will have to remove the cabinets and take out that 2 inch spacer above the cabinets , its a bit strange to me. I didn't know to ask to have that eliminated, but I think we can handle that little issue. I'm very happy I bought a paint sprayer. Remember these kitchen counters are temporary , there was no credit to eliminate them and we want to gift them to our lovely friends.We will paint this section of bulk head out like the cabinets and have a crown moulding installed , well I will be learning how to do that actually.

 Sophie was able to come for a peek , this is her bathroom . She is happy with the tile I selected on my own , it looks some what like cararra marble. She wants the cabinets to stay dark .

Its a big brown kitchen right now , but not for long I tell you . I am so happy to have enough room to get the fridge I want . I will be removing the cabinet to the right of the window and will be having open shelving there, they will become laundry room cabinets.I will rejig some of this fridge wall , raising the cabinet above the fridge and adding a gable there , this area will be a different color. I will make this area look like a built in not kitchen cabinets or that's my plan . And don't get me started on the island , it will be growing and housing the microwave .

All that being said , I know it will be the dream kitchen in my head , it will just take some elbow grease money time and patience.

Stay tuned for the journey starting in March.

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

 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.