Off for a little learning and a Whole Lot of Fun!

This week we are off and away, to Las Vegas to attend the Western Veterinary Conference.

Not to worry, my days and nights will be filled with continuing education courses, and learning only....no fun to be had at all (Yah, right!). 

With the hectic pace of life these past few weeks (months?), I haven't been able to prepare posts to publish while I am gone, so I will just take this opportunity for a wee break.  I will be back soon, and will miss you all while I'm gone!  (It's probably a good thing for me to go through a blog-detox.  It's easy to get addicted to my daily reads!).

Have a great week!

Today, I'm in Love with....

Today I'm in love with.....

This man:

These two munchkins, the very reason for my being:

This kitchen:

Vintage light fixtures:

Image: Restoration Hardware


Spring flowers:

Smelling pretty:

My absolutely favorite perfume

A beautifully prepared meal:

Image: Barefoot Contessa

A glass of wine, out on the patio on a warm summer evening:

The thought of moving into a new one of these:

or maybe this:

or perhaps adding one of these to our new home:

On second thought, maybe one of these would be a better idea:

What are you in love with today?

Inspired by: Plate Racks

After seeing this plate rack in the December issue of Canadian House and Home, I decided that in my new home, I would search out a space appropriate to put in a plate rack. 


Here are a few more fabulous examples that are inspiring me:

I pretty much love everything about this dining room, from Brabourne Farm Blog. I particularly love the plate display. Oh ya, and the snippet that we can see of that chandi looks pretty fabulous also!

Willow Blog showed us that a plate rack can even be displayed on a brick wall.

And how about this fabulosity for a child's room, courtesy of Martha Stewart?  I'm thinking that this will be one for the to-do list for my daughter's rooms.

Kari & Kijsa installed a plate rack in her kitchen, and filled it will a fabulous display of black and white.

What do you think?  Do you have a plate rack?  If so, I'd love to see it!

Project Preview.....

I was hoping to have a project reveal for you today, but it was not meant to be. Apparently, our alkyd enamel paint was taking a wee tad longer than the listed 12 hours to dry (try 48 hours!) so we still have a few more coats to go.

I thought I'd show you a little preview at what we were busting out butts doing over the weekend:

We decided to get our bathroom updates done.  Keep in mind, that since we are just doing this for resale, we are trying to do things as inexpensively and quickly as possible.  This is certainly not what I envisioned for this bathroom if we had stayed.

First we removed the molded faux marble top.

 This is the new granite top, just placed to see how it will fit.  We removed it again to paint and plumb in the sink (thank goodness for handy husbands!).

Speaking of handy hubby's, here he is now, priming the oak cabinets.

We also were painting the surround to the tub.  Check out those snazzy gold strips!  Thankfully a coat of primer and paint took care of that situation!  The molded faux marble jetted tub is too expensive to change out.  Our realtor said we just wouldn't get our money back out of buying a new jacuzzi tub, and this tub works perfectly and is huge!

This is the primer we used.

Our ever diligent helper! A DIY Goddess in the making!

And here is the slow drying culprit:  Our dark, ebony Alkyd Enamel.  It will look great in the end though!

We set up heat lights and a space heater to help speed the process along.

We painted two bathrooms, including the ceilings, replaced and plumbed in a sink (with new Granite top), changed out baseboards in both bathrooms, and changed ivory electrical switches and outlets to white ones.  We're pooped! Let's hope all this effort will help in a quick sale for our home!  I'll be showing you the final reveal just as soon as we've finished the final coats on our vanity.

Please help me choose my new home!

For weeks now, I've been obsessing over which of two homes to buy. After pouring over the MLS listings for 6 months, and viewing many, many homes, I've narrowed it down to two distinct possibilities. I did take photos while I toured the homes, but apparently I could only use them for personal parusal, so instead, I will show you the published MLS listings (sorry for the not so great quality!).

I would so love your help and opinions on this! I'm at a complete loss with which to choose as they both offer pro's and con's.

Firstly, let me describe to you what we're looking for: A large home (minimum 4000 sq ft) on 1/2-2 acres (we love to garden), in a family friendly area, near great schools. I want something very similar in style to what you've seen on my blog, or something I can make into that style.

Option 1:

A lovely, large West Coast style home, built in 2004. It has delightful finishes, thick moldings, a nice layout, and is on 1/2 acre. It is in some need of basic maintenance, as the current owner is a single mom, and is overwhelmed by the size of the home and maintenance. It is 5500 sq ft (huge!), has 6 bedrooms, a theatre room, and many other great features. It is in a lovely, family friendly area: You know, the type of street where you just let your little ones out to play with all the neighbourhood kids.



Cons: Some maintenance issues (easily remedied by my handy hubby), and the kitchen does not have a lot of storage, and is in need of some major repair. For instance, I went to open a cupboard, and the drawer front came off. It is a lovely looking kitchen in pictures, but obviously made of cheap materials and in need of some tlc.

Also, the basement provides tons of room, but is a bit choppy feeling.

While the yard is 1/2 acre, we'll still be hardpressed to fit in our outdoor 'toys' such as our RV, garden impliments etc.

No shop for my hubby, and the garage is on the smaller end, so he would use one bay of the garage, but be quite pressed for space. While he says this doesn't bother him, he's coming from a home with a separate 600 sq ft shop and I think he'll really miss it.

HOME #2

This home was built in 2009. It features 4500 sq ft of high end space, with features such as air conditioning, 'green home' building standards, 1.43 acres of yard. It is a beautifully built home, on a gorgeous acreage featuring towering trees and a woodland feel. The neighbourhood is quite sought after, but is more of a private area, not particularly one where the kids all play together outside, but need to be driven to each others house to play.

Pro's: A large, very high end kitchen. Fabulous appliances, great layout and space, a professional gas range. Great storage space, a fabulous area for a craft/quilting room. Many high end building features. A huge, 3 bay garage with a workshop already in it.

Con's: While a gorgeous home, it is very contemporary in style. I despise the kitchen cab's, yet they are high end, very expensive solid walnut. Can I make this contemporary home into my cottage chic, frenchy space that I adore?

What would you do?? I would be incredibly appreciative of your ideas and opinions.

We are going on a second viewing of both homes in a few weeks, and would love to see them both, armed with your thoughts and opinions!

Spring Dreams

There's nothing like a soft pink Begonia, to get me in the mood for Spring:

Wait, what's this I see?  Blessed Daffodils, making their first appearance. 

And the Heather's blooms whisper to us, "It won't be long now".....

Why is it that in the summer, we yearn for a Winter's chill and warm, cozy nights, yet in Winter, all we dream about is the chirping of the birds to awaken us on a sweetly scented Spring morning?

While I am trying to enjoy and embrace the current season, there is little doubt that I anxiously await the next.

Paint Colours Around my Home

The Nester is hosting an impromptu Paint Colour Party. I thought I'd join in, as I too get a lot of requests for paint colours that I've used in my home.

I am a fan of Benjamin Moore paint. I love the quality, and the colours. All of the following paint colours are from Benny Moore.

My kitchen, family room, breakfast nook, laundry room and entry way are all Nordic Grey. It is quite a dark colour, but it's the perfect contrast to the light cabinetry in the kitchen, and white wainscotting in the entry. The kitchen cabinets and all trim in the kitchen is Marble White. This is the perfect creamy white. The trim in the rest of the house is Cloud White.

My Living Room and Dining Room are Seaspray.  I usually go for darker colours, but I've gotta tell ya, I love this light, creamy colour.  In certain lights it's a soft yellow, in others it's a taupe.  I plan on using this in my new home as well.

My daughter's room is Pink Pebble.  It's the perfect earthy pink, which is sure to please the little girl in your life, yet not be too little-girl-pink for Mom!
I'm am enjoying all the grey toned rooms I've been seeing, and see myself tending towards more cool grey's and blues in my next home. Then again, I do love these colours in my current home also, so I may just repaint my new home in entirely the same palette.