Around the house

I found a grey linen duvet and sham set at Homesense on clearance, it took me nearly three years to find something I really liked...I see its time to give it a wash and iron but I am not looking forward to that task...

 Currently my dining room project is on hold, I needed some time to recover from the flooring install but I am hoping to get back at it early next week...

 After dealing with insane amounts of dust during the flooring install I decided it was time to get some dust collection, I found this beginner unit second hand. I am hoping it will really help reduce the mess...I have yet to decide how I am going to set it up, it is moveable so it can be used inside on occassion also...kinda excited to give it a spin.

 I was killing time the other day at Winners and found this fun marquee sign...aren't they all the rage? It was even in my shade of  deep blue so I didn't hesitate to bring it home.

 I moved the black media cabinet out of the living room, I am trying out this lovely dresser instead I love this piece as I've said before...I plan to mount the tv on the wall ...the sign is a fun touch it is battery operated.

I moved this cabinet from the living room up to our bedroom where it fits in beautifully with our black bed.

This cabinet has had many transformations, it was a hand me down piece from my in-laws, I think it is maple, it had other shelves and a lot of curves and a shelf with a little fence type detail, over the years I have transformed it into what it looks like today which to me is kind of a Pottery Barn style media cabinet which is more current and clean lined, I suppose I up-cycled it.

I searched for an early photo of it and this is all I could find an old photo of our old house...circa 2007 wow I sure over did it with the accessories back then...

So that's what has been going on around the house...oh and more importantly please pay attention to your breast health, if you have them...I know it is the last day of October but it is still officially Breast Cancer Awareness Month....I had my first mammogram last week and its not scary and painful like you may think it is....check your self and get into the Dr asap to have anything suspicous checked out....OK that is my little PSA.

Lot's of love, 

Chris 

It's well over due....my journey to buying some new custom chairs

 Well you know how it is inevitable for the Purolator delivery to happen either right after you leave or within a 10 minute window of you returning home, for me this happens nearly every time...well it happened again , we ordered three new coats on sale  40% and didn't the delivery miss us again by 15 min ... when this happens we need to drive out to Pickering three cities away to the depot to pick up the order ourselves...this is a huge annoyance.This time on my way home I noticed a Sklar Outlet...it caught my eye for outlets are awesome usually.
I stopped in and took a look and was honestly shocked by the items available and by the prices....$799 for a beautiful sofa...sorry WHAT! there must be a catch.....I nearly on a whim bought the sofa above but in a slightly darker fabric...I came this close. But I thought you don't buy a custom sofa on a whim....
After thinking about it our family room sofa is not super comfy but I love the look of it and it is a pull out and it does have a slipcover...so maybe we should just get new foam cushions because the cushions are the problem really.
But we do need a new chair in a big bad way...

This is our 14 year old Ikea Ektorp chair...this is the 5th or 5th slipcover....it has a broken piece of wood in the arm , the back cushion is a makeshift mess I have put together and its big and bulky and not pretty to look at.Oh and FIY I slept in this chair when I was pregnant with my second baby, yup slept upright, that pregnancy was a tough one on my body.

 I was really loving this chair, it is possibly the most comfortable chair I had ever sat in, it rocked and swiveled...and although this fabric would have been my dream fabric oh about 5 years ago I am over this sheme so I seriously considered getting it in a plain fabric....

 I beyond loved everything about these swivel chairs, the frame the fabric and that swivel and $599 as is...but they didn't pass the hubby comfort test at all....this was visit two BTW I dragged  the other half along. These would have looked great.

On my third and final visit, solo this time, I was there to place an order...two chairs....two matching chairs because if we need to move these to another room or a different house at some point matching chairs makes sense. I saw this chair on my first and second visit and didn't give it much thought but this time I really loved it....its pretty , it would go with my family room sofa, it would look great with a plain sofa too...and it was beyond comfortable...and it is a great shape and since you walk into the room into the back of one of the chairs so a pretty shape in a simple fabric is a nice thing... so I figure , I hope I'm right becasue its not like I could preview it we will se in 9 weeks.

 This chair was $599 if ordered as is in the fabric shown on the floor model, it was a little more to be made in a differernt custom fabric just in case you were wondering sugg retail is well over $1100.
OH and we are getting two chairs because we can't just have one new chair for the room , I thought we each should enjoy a new chair.

 I was also mad about this fabric....

 But I played it safe and went with this fabric...its really nice, neutral and hard wearing and since we got the fabric insurance I think it will be a great choice. I had realized that my kids must be getting more careful because I haven't had to clean my slipcovers in quite some time....that's a good sign.

Speaking of chairs my hubby brought home this chair from his office, it is also a Sklar Peppler chair that my Mom had custom made for my Dad when I was around 12 if I can recall correctly , well that was 29 years ago and this chair is nearly as good as new, I mean the leather is aging but it looks great and has character but it is as solid as a rock.

So if you are in the GTA and in the market for a new chair or sofa I would give this place a look, it is in Ajax, Ontario.

this is NOT a spnsored post I am just sharing a great fiind.

Dining room update day 5

 I got started last Friday...I got the basic boxes completed so that I could get the flooring started on another day as I did not want to waste flooring under the built-in which was a good call because I was only left with 2.5 extra boards.

I made sure to frame out the wine cooler opening...

I was happy to pick up y wine cooler of choice on sale this past Monday

 I know it doesn't look like a lot but it will look lovely I'm sure.

 I adjusted the origional plan to have the center lowered, it was feeling a bit high , I think it looks interesting also, I think the liquer bottles will look great there in the middle.

 I started the floors Monday by framing out the built-in, I think it will add a nice detail.

 Here is how far I got Monday...it was slow going but thins went well

 In case you want to try this layout this is how you start the corner of each run...pretty simple actually

 I could not have been more happy when I completed this install...until I realized I had cleaned up and then realized I had missed the part beside the built-in by the window...annoying, in total it took three days

I had a bit of left over material so I finally installed flooring in the closet...I thought the dining room was a tight space to work....

I am going to take tomorrow off to recuperate and take care of some personal business and to order some new chairs for the family room.....kinda excited for new chairs...thanks for stopping by....

Dining room renovation...plans, decisions & wish lists...

 Tomorrow is the day that the dining room renovation begins....I have most of my decisions made and I have the overall plan all ironed out....but I am also going to let the process lead me in the right direction.
I was going to start with the ceiling as I did in the family room but then I thought maybe I will tackle the floor install first as my only timeline is to have the floor installed before Halloween and that is fast approaching....I will stain it last though.
Then I was thinking maybe I would install the base of the built-in since I can install that right on the subfloor and install the flooring around it instead of wasting flooring underneath it.
Then that lead me to thinking I should put a wine cooler in the built-in for wine and beverages as a big part of the dining room will be it functioning as a bar.
Here are the functions of this room ...it is obviously a dining room to seat 4-6 people, it will be the bar area for wines and spirits and probably beer for my husband as well the built-in will house all my stem wear and table linens.
I have never had a dining hutch or so this custom one will be my first & I'm pretty excited.
I also want to house our printer so that it's handy for all of use to print things out from time to time. I also want this room to double as an office for me when needed.
This room will be primarily used at night so I want it to feel cozy and intimate for that lighting is key so I am toying with lamps of sconces....

I want to still use the big mirror we have in the dining room so it will stay but behind it I am thinking horizontal planks will be nice.

 I may or may not add glass doors....we will se about that.

 I think this is the wine cooler I will be getting , I'm finding with wine fridges run around $400 for stainless steel on the low end up to well over $2000, I am happy with the low end, it has two zones and nice wood racks and lighting, all the things I want. $2000 it way too much for me to spend on a small wine fridge, we're not even big wino's...

 I have been patiently waiting and letting my wood sit....for the recommended 2 weeks but I am looking forward to having another completed room....
Unlike how I have tackled projects in the past I am going to take my time and not put so much pressure on myself to get this done quickly...this blog used to give me the motivation aka pressure to pump out makeovers and projects in an insane timeline....people used to say all the time "wow you're fast" or "how do you have all the energy you do?" but I don't feel the same pressure that I used to, I guess that's the perk of no longer having a so called popular blog...I have a lot of loyal readers/followers and I appreciate all of you but I am thankful I don't feel the pressure I used to.

I had pinned the above photo to my built-ins board a while back, I love how slim and simple they are, with the help of the designer Meredith Heron I found photos of the completed built-ins....aren't they beautiful. You can see more of her beautiful work here MEREDITH HERON she is from Toronto but works internationally.

 

I need to keep much of my built-in shallow much like this one to allow ample space for my round dining table, of course the left and right side will be deeper to fit the wine cooler. 

Don't forget that I will be adding beam and perhaps v-groove to the ceiling also....

As for the pattern I will lay the flooring...well it's not going to be quite like this but a version or a modified version of this and my boards are 5" wide so it will look different but there will be a kind of chevron pattern...I think...I will work that all out tomorrow I guess...or perhaps I will go pick up the wine fridge and start the built-in boxes....reguardless things are definately getting started tomorrow....

See you later with some updates...follow me on instagram for more frequent updates and photos...link up on the left

It's official my part is complete, a built-in and fireplace makeover

 I thought a side by side photo was in order...it just shows you you can make something not so pretty... pretty, there was no need to tear out all of what was there, the bones were good, this built-in was maybe not designed that well but it was build solidly so it was more than worth the investment of a re-vamp.
There was no saving the mantel hearth or surround so those were removed down to the bare bones but then re-built with better proportions and more classic details and design.

 we wer just two knobs short sadly...these things happen, other than that it is complete it just needs some paint and then styling, which takes time I really don't think you can rush aquiring the right accessories so there is no rush.

Those solid doors we had made at Marbel where I have had other doors made are the perfect finishing touch and will now allow lots of hidden storage and who doesn't need hidden storage.

I will do another update when the room is painted and put back together....thanks for stopping by today.

Built-in update part three....almost complete

This is where I left the fireplace update today....it is drool worthy I think... I would be happy to have this beauty in my house any day. 

 After strimming the oak and attaching the under layment with nearly 100 screws it was time to firgure out how to build a fireplace mantel...there is a first time for everything, how hard could it be...?

 Not hard at all really, I simply attached 2x3's to the face of the fireplace and attached MDF to that , that was it.

 I added some simple trim which echoes the wainscoting in the adjoining room and a bit of a base detail as well as a larger over hang and some additional trim at the top of the mantel.

 We kept the design very simple as per Ellen's request, of course we scoured Pinterest for hundreds of pics of amazing mantels first...the trend is definately paneled mantels that have a bit of a craftsman flavor but Ellen really was digging the simple designs and I think it was for sure the right decision.

Monday I installed the hearth tile which went really well and smoothly this area took 9 square feet of tile, I let this set for 24 hours before doing the area around the fire box. 

 This area took 6 sq feet of tile for the surround, I needed to cut 90% of these tiles which took 6.5 hours to complete....ugh! but the other tiling went so well, regardless it was so worth it to get this lovely look. I wasn't going to make this a two day install so I didn't leave until it was all installed.

 Today I showed up to grout...that went brilliantly....it just pulls everything together so well

Just a little reminder of where we started.

Hopefully I will be able to show you the completed after very soon for tomorrow is my last day on the projects as I am competeing the bases with custom kick plate similar to the one in the photo below and the new doors will be installed.

thanks for stopping by....