Moving onto the wainscoting

 We just completed out 1 year touch up list with our builder Tribute Communities. Our builder has been so great and very reliable to make any and all repairs that were needed. One little issue we had but that we thought we could live with was a missing bit of framing of the door way leading into the living room. But it was causing a problem for painting and it really needed to be added.

That's much much better, a little 2"x 6" and some drywall and the rest is up to me. I need to trim up the opening so that I can get what I want. I just need to get motivated and mostly I have been waiting for the weather to warm. Good news it has started , the thaw has begun. 

I even started the wainscoting to see how I like it. I am doing the same design as I used on the stairwell wall , which I love. I am going to continue this through the main hall.

Maybe I need to add another baton to the bottom and one to the top space??? decisions decisions.

Thinking spring

 We may just have received a fresh coating of snow here but I am hopeful that spring will eventually come our way. We have been discussing what to do with our blank slate of a back yard.
First things first we need a fence for the front of our side yard . Secondly we need a deck , a nice spot to sit out and enjoy mornings, afternoons and evenings for about 5 months of the year.

 Here is a reminder of what we are working with.

                                                                         
We have also decided to take the spot behind our garage (see pic above) at some point and have a custom spa created.
Here are some of the photos that I love of custom spas.

 We have the space for 8'x10' sized spa. I would also like a water feature , a water fall of course.

 I love this one with the water fall coming out of the stone wall and with the lovely pergola.
I think it is time to get some quotes. I think it will be amazing when our back yard is done , in a couple of years. We have big plans. We want to create a great get away and an awesome entertaining space.

       Another great plan we have is to create an outdoor kitchen and bar area somewhat like this one. We will build it off of our separate garage , this will be amazing to have.

 Back to the deck , this we will do ourselves. I want a lovely railing to define the space , like this one but crisp white.

 I love this deck , I am stealing this cut back design and the ground level stone work.

                            Cedar for sure for the top and pressure treated for the frame

Simple beautiful details , I am looking forward to working on the yard for sure. I am so longing to get outdoors in the warm weather.
You can check out more of what is inspiring me on Pinterest HERE 

 In the upcoming months we will be finally taking our girls on a trip of a lifetime to Aruba. We haven't been on a family vacation in 4 plus years, so sad I know. And our kids have never experienced the tropics or the ocean so this is going to be really fun. I am so looking forward to it and especially having my kids experience something so amazing.
I was very fearful because of my daughters life threatening peanut allergy , so many places like Mexico and Dominican were out for me due to the language barrier. English is a spoken language in Aruba and it is especially safe to explore which is a great comfort. Although I am a touch nervous still regarding my daughters allergy but that comes with the territory.

                                 I can not wait to be here... this is going to be great.

After this winter we really need a getaway....

Did you get away this winter , are you dying for spring and warm sun like me?

So where was I ????

Seriously I suppose I have been on a little break from blogging, but it was not planned, it just kind of happened or rather didn't happen.

I  never suffered from the baby blues but let me tell you every winter I get the blues and sometimes badly. This season has been a bad one for me. I was plagued with daily extreme headaches I gather they are from the low pressure or is it the high pressure from the cold weather , I don't know but it is killer. It zaps my energy and motivation to do really anything , which is not like me.

I decided to get off of all the white stuff, like flour, sugar , pasta , potatoes all that good stuff. Well that was hard but after 5 days of headaches I had it all out of my system. Moving onto healthier eating and generally being healthier. This year there will be changes. No time like 40 to get serious, right.

I was able on one of my better days to tackle the remaining closets of my daughters , just making them more functional by adding towers and re-arranging the single hanging to double hanging, what a difference.

I removed the single rod and one shelf for this set up, nothing fancy. Sophie is so tidy , this closet always looks like this which is so nice.

What else have I missed , oh the snow , I must show you the snow. Oh I hate snow , it's cold , it's a beast to clear and it gives me headaches, we just don't get along. Oh and it's March , mid March why are we still getting snow , it's crazy. This was taken a few weeks back.

 One morning about 2 weeks ago I woke up to this view , I will admit it was pretty this day.

 We have a lot of clearing to so , and we got way more than this actually, grrr.

 Go to bed, snow! Wake up in the morning, snow! Help...!!!!
Early spring , didn't that ground hog say early spring. What do ground hogs know anyway? nothing that's what....

 This kind of sums up this winter, stay in bed , hunker down , get cozy , stay lazy.....

Create, yes that is what I love to do most and I will I have big plans , lots of plans. Heck this is my wrist , I had it tattooed after all just recently.

I will get my mojo back , I better we have lots to accomplish this spring summer and fall. We need a fence and a deck and hopefully some more pine floors will get installed and some wainscotting on the main floor.That is the tip of the iceberg really.

Built-ins in 4 rooms, ceiling trim work 2 rooms or 3, painting lot's of painting, an in-ground hot tub , out door kitchen , gardens , front walkway,the office, basement someday,pine floors, finished garage.....many years of work ahead.

One the weather decided to be spring and a reasonable temperature I will back to work on a couple of projects in April, oh April please bring some nice warm weather , we sure need it in Southern Ontario.

So there you have it , I am alive and well just haven't had much to share , thanks to those who wrote to see if I was OK , I really was touched.
Chris