Marbel Doors

Recently I have been customizing and creating built ins. In the past I have created doors myself , but I have my limitations. I have known about Marbel for a few years now but have never used them for doors up until recently. The have turned out to be a great resource for a beautiful custom finish. 

I can go into Marbel and select the profile , the material and the edge and the miter. In about a week I can pick up the exact size door that I need .

I have been asked about my door resource by a few of my readers so I wanted to share with you this information in case you are in need of some doors yourself. 

 Here is my daughters room where I first used Marbel doors. I get them unfinished so that I can paint them to match my project perfectly.

I was at Marbel yesterday ordering more doors and I asked if they ship , well they do , they use Fedex so if you aren't in the Greater Toronto Area you too can have custom built doors at a very reasonable price.
You should check around your local area for a similar co that makes custom doors.

Did you know Candice Olsen has even used Marbel for doors on at least one of her projects for the show Candice tells all!!!! well you do now. Check out Marbel here 

Built ins progress one week

Just a week into the build and things are really looking amazing... the desk is installed , the shelves are all in place and trimmed as well the crown moulding is on.
I just need to order the doors, sand, add more support for the shelves and add bead board to the upper open shelves then the painting begins. My hope is that this project will be done by Friday evening.
We will see!!!!

Built-ins are coming along , slowly but ...

 I am now at the one week mark with the wall of built-ins I am working on. Here are a few progress photos just for fun.

 There is one thing I just love and it's symmetry , these built ins are very appealing to me.I can't wait to tackle our master bedroom built-ins now, I am so inspired.

Here is how I left things yesterday, the shelves were all cut and positioned and the baseboards were re-installed. I primed and sanded them out of the room to save on mess and dust. Today the crown moulding will get installed and the shelves and desk top will all be installed , then moving onto the beadboard for the open shelving. I must get out to Marbel to order the custom doors for the bases. Painting is due to begin Wednesday.
There you have it , progress is good and steady and everyone is happy so far.
Off I go to start another busy day...have a good one.

Busy week

 I have been steadily working away on a full wall of built-ins. Built-ins take a lot of work , so many hours of detail work and these are "simple" built-ins.
What an enormous amount of storage. In between the bookcases there will be a desk surface. These are the biggest built-ins to date for me, it's hard to know how long it will take for a project this big. There are always little road blocks , challenges and details to work out along the way.

 The weather has been beautiful this week so I have been trying to squeeze in a little more outdoor time before it turns to fall...

In case anyone wanted to know how the composite decking was attached to the concrete porch, this is what was done, pressure treated studs were drilled into the concrete and the composite boards were attached to the studs, voila charming front porch. I now love love love my front entrance , it is so warm and welcoming now.

I hope you enjoy a nice weekend doing whatever makes you happy, enjoy xo!

Porch and entry makeover reveal

 I am so happy to share the reveal of the front porch and entry make over. It took longer than expected but it turned out so well who cares... MWG Landscape did a great job. I am pretty sure I am not the easiest client to work with I think I may be more picky than most. Issues would come up and I was glad I was here to talk with Marc to come up with the best solutions from his suggestions.

 This was our first outdoor project that we have hired out for. I think it went very well and I was so happy that I was able to sit back and watch it all unfold instead of me doing all the work like usual.

 I wanted the look of a wooden clad front porch without the maintenance of wood so we went with a composite material from Veranda in Arabica color. The white skirting is also a composite or PVC standard product found in the lumber section. The stone steps are Owen Sound stone I believe...

 Beautiful mitered corners.The pavers we went with were Unilock Copthorne in 3 color blend.

 What a lovely view from inside the front door. I am so glad I didn't go with the brick inside the house for the foyer.

 There was a last minute decision to no reattach the railings, our porch isn't very high so were are keeping it open.

Don't forget how far we've come with this transformation.
Just FYI this was not a sponsored project in any way.

Laundry room project

 I forgot to do a little post about this laundry room I completed recently for a lovely lady.
 We re-located the washer and dryer to this wall under the window , it was the perfect spot for the set. I was able to create a counter from a sheet of maple plywood that I stained Kona . I should really do another photo shoot soon it would be fun to stage it.
I added the upper cabinet I purchased from Ikea , I added crown moulding to finish it off.
The amazing light fixture I found at Homesense about 3 months ago on clearance for $36.00, why not have a great decorative light in the laundry room?

 On the opposite wall I created a mudroom by building a custom bench with storage that was only 12" deep to keep the space workable. We were going to try and save money by installing a pre-made piece but it would have made the space to tight. Spending more allowed me to create a completely custom built in bench to suit the space , it was money well spent. I also used maple to create the top for the bench.

Above the bench I installed two beautiful maple corbels from Home Depot that I painted white and I created an extra thick shelf by sandwiching two shelf boards together and edging it. A long run of hooks finishes this space off and creates kid friendly coat and backpack storage which is so helpful for a busy mom.

This project got bumped to the front of the line ahead of the master bedroom , only because I saw how important this space was to this growing family as it is often the main entrance off of the garage. This laundry room access needed to become a functional mudroom/laundry room.
I think this room turned out great , I hope that is has become more useful and that I have created lots of extra storage space to keep things nice and tidy.

Hope you liked it too!

Tonight is the Canadian Premiere of my hubby's new show Grojband

 My husband Todd and his business partner Mark have created a new show premiering tonight on Teletoon called Grojband at 7:00pm tonight September 5th 2013 , I am so proud and excited to watch. It also currently plays on CN in the US, check your local listings and Youtube of course. Enjoy and support , we will have all tv sets tuned , lol!

Sneak peek

 Here is a little peek at how things are shaping up around the house, I love  herringbone brick.

 I am so glad I got to hire this job out. It's a lot of work.

 We also had some beds cut out for some new gardens , under the kitchen I want all hydrangeas and under the windows closest to the front will be grasses , and on the corner I found the perfect susan magnolia

 My susan magnolia 50% time of year score.

 Here is a susan magnolia in bloom , I can't wait for spring.

So that's how its going , the porch will hopefully get done tomorrow if the decking order comes in.

Exciting project is beginning today .....

 So I haven't blogged in forever, in fact I haven't read a blog in forever either , since Google reader has left...so sad.
I have been busy just being a mom and keeping this place together some and getting kids ready for back to school.
It's official the kids are back in school , so things will get back to normal, early mornings , projects and even fitness will all get back on track, actually I have already done a little cardio.
We have been planning on a walkway project , let's call it "project curb appeal". It begins today .
 The porch will get clad in composite decking and the walkway will have real stone steps and red brick in a herringbone pattern....so exciting.Oh and the side gardens will get cut in or out and triple mix will be ready for planting.

Should be interesting to see it all progress. I can not wait for it all to be completed. It's strange to have someone else doing the work, I could get used to this.
I will show you progress on the project as it comes along.