before the marble

 I'm sitting here just watching the installers putting in my new BEAUTIFUL marble counters , they are divine , it feels like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one.

 I was removing as much of the counters myself that I could this morning in preparation for this big event.
I am so so glad I went ahead with the marble and didn't do quartz , the natural beauty of real stone is quite stunning.

This is going to be quite a before and after , standing in front of the hole for this window while the house was not mine and at framing stage I knew this was my house , I could picture it all , the open kitchen the large sink and looking out here enjoying the pond across the street and now it is all coming together.

It amazes me how things can change in a year , last year at this time we  were just starting our bunkie and had no plans of moving any where any time soon , and here we are one year later creating a completely insane dream home and I'm watching my new carrera counters being installed , this I didn't honestly ever for see. I guess going for it , and taking a leap of faith and not letting fear stop me from making such a impulsive move like buying this house , so far so good , no so GREAT.
I feel very blessed to be where we are and to have all we do , I must give a BIG thank you to my husband for working always so hard to provide such a great life for us. He's a rock star. Of course it should be said I am most blessed to have a wonderful, happy ( most times) and healthy family and marriage , life is good.

Friday frazzle

 I had a a long laundry list for Friday , one was to top coat the island counter. I stained it with a dark walnut stain , beech doesn't absorb much stain I guess . It turned out well though , a little richer , it had originally become too orange when I had just top coated it in it's natural state. So I had to sand it down and and stained it lightly with a water based stain then I top coated it with the floor sealer . This is a counter not a cutting board, if it holds up on floors I figured it would be great for the counter. Best thing is the diamond hard Varathane doesn't yellow or change the colour when applied and it dries super fast. Check that off the list.

Then I moved  on to complete the tile in the kitchen. The reason I installed the tile before the counters are is because tiling is messy and since I am tiling so far up the wall I didn't want to climb onto the marble. I figure that I could just leave the last row or row and a half to be installed after the counters are in lessening the gigantic mess . I am a messy tiler.

I love how the sunlight floods in in the evening.

Next I moved onto the yellow paint, I had to give it a try , so I started on the laundry room door. The colour is Para called Rattan from the Sarah Richardson line.

We are so glad we chose to stop the tile and decided not to go all the way up to the ceiling. I used the chair rail type tile trim to finish off the top of the tile. Now to grout , oh I hate grouting .

Love the yellow on the doors , it's a much happier colour.

I was so busy , cleaning and finishing up the tiling and painting the doors , why would I go ahead with the plan I had to make pizza pies??? I don't know what I was thinking , but they turned out and I was wiped out by the time 7:00pm came around.

Deep dish pizza pie :

take 1/2 a Pilsbury pizza crust and place into a buttered disposable tin cake pan , cover crust with parmesean or mozzarella, add a layer of browned ground beef cooked with garlic and onions and taco seasoning packet, add a layer of pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce add whatever pizza toppings you like ( I added black and green olives , mushrooms and ricotta cheese and a little chipotle peppers chopped), top with a generous amount of mozzarella and bake for 15-20 mintues at 400 degrees. Enjoy a deep dish pizza just the way you like it. Sophie added pepperoni to her pie. Yummy pies.

I will make them again for sure.

Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day , we are hosting a Mother's Day lunch , we are finally going to have a real do here at the new house , exciting....

 I spent most of yesterday working on the stairs , I wonder how many hours has gone into finishing the stairs ? perhaps its better not to know. One more coat of Birch White on the risers and the painting of the stairs will be complete . Actually the upper level hasn't even been started. Just a few touch ups here and there and one more top coat on the treads also.

 It bothered me that the height of the front door was 1 foot shorter than the other doors on the main floor , so I added a large header on to make it a better height, it's so much more balanced now.

The stairs have come a long way  from bare raw wood.

I just need to finish up the wainscoting . That has been harder than expected , plans evolve though and I think it will all work out well. Let's hope.

It's so hard to go to the garden centre and to see all the plants and not be able to partake in the spring updates that I normally do this time of year outdoors. I decided to go ahead and get some pots and ferns since our porch is shaded most of the day , I love the little bit of green . We picked the door color a muted yellow called Rattan. Hopefully the painting will get done tomorrow , the paint on the door right now has taken quite a beating, yuck. The blue would not be my choice .

The yellow we chose looks as close to this as possible. I can't wait , this will be the first touch of mine for the exterior.

I'm staining the kitchen island top today , working on the wainscoting for the stairs , installing some blinds and a bunch of other little jobs that need doing .