First Home Dreams

Things I've Got My Eye On

2013-06-19T07:30:00.000-04:00

Just a quickie post for today...a few things that I found over on Pinterest that made me go hubba hubba.

THIS ROOM.

via House and Home
Tommy Smythe is a brilliant man.

So this next things doesn't make my heart flutter, but I'd like to give it a shot and see what happens.

via DIY Natural
I made some of these two weeks ago and they've been working great, so I'm definitely interested in seeing what else I can do.

Next up, this stone.

via Home Depot
I'd like to use something like this to pretty up the two small walkways we have outside, and possibly also for a little patio to put our picnic table on so that we don't have to deal with grass growing up underneath it. We thought about putting the picnic table on the back porch, but it's so big that it's not a good use of space.

Finally, this shower curtain.

via PB Teen
You can see it in action over on Making it Lovely. I love her entire bathroom and kind of want to copy her colour scheme.

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That Which Has My Heart

2013-06-17T07:30:00.000-04:00

I love my barn.

Ok, I know it's not mine, but I will develop a permanent twitch if I have to explain how we live on a shared property every time I talk about it. No one likes a twitchy Ashley.

Things might get a little weird now.

I was in exploring the big old bank barn the other day, and although it's full of mud and cobwebs and racoon poop and old hay, it could easily become my happy place. Putting on my boots and walking through the door, traipsing down the dirty aisle, pushing open gates, unlatching doors, imagining feeding and watering animals of some sort and cleaning up their mess...it felt good, like it's something I'm supposed to be doing. Not supposed to be doing because it's part of being a functional adult like vaccuuming, but something that my soul feels like it should be doing.

And now I feel all awkward and dirty for talking about souls and purpose. Insert Hank Hill-esque shudder here. Blerg, feelings.

It needs a good scrub down, but it will never be one of those fancy barns you see in pictures. And if I'm ever going to have something like chickens in here, I'll need to do a bit of retrofitting to make sure no racoons (or cats) have a feast. It's a job for next spring, because with us still needing to finish and sell our old house, everything that I would like to do at the new place is staying firmly in the dream stage.

Except for the horseshoe pit. We're building one of those soon.

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I shared this post at the Homestead Barn Hop #115.

Floor Plan

2013-06-14T07:30:00.000-04:00

When I shared a quick house tour the other day, a few of you mentioned in the comments that you were confused and would appreciate a floor plan...so here you go! Please note that not a damn thing is to scale, since I haven't measured a single wall.

The first floor...

And the second floor.

I used FloorPlanner to make these, and found it even easier to use than my previous go-to, The Make Room.

I didn't include the porches, and I'm sure I probably missed a window or misrepresented the swing of a door here and there, but at least I hope you kind of get the gist of it now.

On another note, I'm still trying to get my image mapped header to center. I've been unsuccessful with everything I've done up until now, so until I get it figured out, I've widened my entire blog so that it at least appears centered. This isn't a permanent solution since the posts are really wide and it's driving me a little bit crazy. Content in the pages is a little sparse right now, but over time they'll fill out and hopefully be a little more dynamic.

Mike and I have a friend coming home for the summer from Igloolik, so we're heading out with friends tonight to see him. Tomorrow we're taking a day trip down to Buffalo to see the Book of Mormon - has anyone seen it? We've heard it's hilarious and are really excited! Sunday we'll hopefully sleep in (we won't get back home until laaaaate Saturday/early Sunday morning), and then it's a day full of slo-pitch. What have you got going on this weekend? Hope it's a good one!

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Appearances

2013-06-12T07:30:00.000-04:00

I think I owe you guys a bit of an explanation.

We don't own this whole property.

Of the 100 ish acres, Mike and I own only maybe 2. The rest is owned by his parents, who we co-purchased the entire property with. On paper it's a two-thirds, one-third split, with them owning the fields and us owning the house. What Mike and I got the house for is way under market value (thanks to my in-laws), and for that I am so unbelievably thankful.

As for the outbuildings, that's still sort of up in the air. The drive shed (which I haven't shared a picture of) is entirely Mike's Dad's for his equipment. Though we did sneak our snowblower in there...

As for the bank barn, it's basically empty. We have some stuff being stored in it from when we started renovating the upstairs in our old house, but that's about all that's in there. There's the potential for a corner of it to be used for chickens, but that conversation will happen when I'm ready to actually get some nuggets.

The horse barn will never house horses again - as long as we live here, anyway. Mike wants to build a bar out there, and it's also where the majority of his tools are going to live. The haymow has a huge amount of potential in it, too. But what that ends up being, who knows.

As for the old house, we're still working on it. We're incredibly lucky to be able to move into the new house so that we can finish what needs to be done in the old house without having to live in the construction. Again, big thanks to my in-laws! This honest-to-goodness would not be happening without them.

I just wanted to share all of that so you didn't have conspiracy theories running in your head about how we could go from a shack to a really nice house with a huge amount of property. Drug lords, we are not.

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From the Outside

2013-06-10T09:59:00.000-04:00

We're slowly getting settled into the new house. None of our furniture is here yet (except a rocking chair and our bed) but that'll come over from the old house this week. I spent the weekend schlepping boxes from the old house, in what is the most inefficient method in the history of the world. Mike's truck is a wee guy, and only has a five foot pick up, so there's a whole lot of back and forth happening. Thank goodness it's only around a three minute drive. I also got to give mowing the lawn a try. Zero turn lawn mowers are hilarious when you've never been on one before and you can't quite figure out how to turn smoothly. I don't think I've ever laughed doing yard work before.

The weather was gorgeous, and just after dinner the dog and I headed outside to snap a few exterior pictures. Here we go!

There are dairy cows across the road and they make me happy. You can just barely see them in this picture, but believe me, they're there.

One of my favourite things about living here is the big old century barn - it's amazing. It needs to be cleaned out, though (think old hay and racoon poop).

How was your weekend? Anyone find a dead coyote in their yard? Because I did. I need to find a shovel. And get the wheelbarrow from the old house. Blerg.

Redesign

2013-06-06T16:26:00.000-04:00

New house, new blog!

Sort of.

It's nothing fancy, and I definitely still have some tweaking to do...so just bear with me while I get the kinks sorted out!

In the mean time, here's a picture taken from my new backyard.

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Did somebody say house tour?

2013-06-04T15:01:00.000-04:00

Although I asked for input on whether I should do a video tour and the majority said DO IT! I chickened out, so you get good ol' fashioned pictures. Today you get the interior - well, most of it. Some of the pictures were so terrible that I had to delete them. Later this week I'll try to share some exterior shots.

Onward!

The mudroom/laundry room...

I'm kind of in love with the huge ass concrete sink. The dog now sleeps in here...big transition (for me more than her, I think!) since she's slept with us since she was like 6 months old. Last night was the first time and all was well. Hooray for no more dog hair in the bed!

The kitchen isn't quite as big as the kitchen in our old house, but everything is laid out much better.

Just off the kitchen is what I'm calling the reading room...

Going slightly right from the reading room brings you to the living room. It's a nice shade of bubblegum.

I don't know why I took a picture of only half of the bay window.

The front entrance can be accessed from both the reading room and the living room. The staircase is narrower than in our old house, but it's prettier!

Straight ahead is the master bedroom.

Then we've got a big ol' hallway leading to the rest of the upstairs.

The first door on the right is what will be Mike's office for now.

The dog had just scared herself in the mirror in that picture, haha.

The next door down the hall on the left is what's going to be the guest room.

For some reason this room has the fanciest baseboards in the entire house. And the plushiest carpet.

At the end of the hall is a neat little "pass through" room, which I didn't get a picture of. I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do with it yet.

Once you're through the pass through room, you're at the back staircase landing.

I'd like to turn this part of the house into a library, because apparently I'm pretentious.

The last little space upstairs is the back room.

This room doesn't have a single outlet. So that's...inconvenient.

Going down the back stairs takes you back into the kitchen. The last room in the house is the bathroom (you can see the door to it in the first picture of the kitchen).

The door in there is the basement access.

So, that's that! Can you look past all the crazy wallpaper and see the potential, and perhaps even why I love it so much?

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Coming soon...

2013-06-01T11:57:00.000-04:00

I need to start packing!!

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It's Cold Again. Make It Stop.

2013-05-24T11:00:00.000-04:00

May has been a tempermental son of a gun. And like most everything else these days, it's starting to annoy me. How's that for pleasant?

The crappy weather has me thinking about warmer weather, which leads me to think of one of the (many) things I'm excited about for the new house - porches! Our current house has zero porches, and sitting in the middle of the lawn just doesn't have the same feel as sitting on a porch. Unless you are picnicing.

The new house has a whopping three porches. One out front, one out the back/side, and one above the front porch that is accessed from the hall of the second floor. Is it called a verandah? Sounds fancy pants.

While I can't do anything more than dream about sitting out at this point, I'm going to share some of my favourite inspiration images from my "Curb Appeal" board on Pinterest. I feel that it's important to note that Alan Jackson's Where I Come From is rolling through my head while I write this. Do with that information what you will.

Wendy Posard and Associates

Ikea

Country Living
Big picture inspiration aside, here's a few ideas for seating that I'm jonesing over.

Outdoor Rocking Chair - Lowes

Resin Wicker Porch Swing - Costco

DIY Porch Swing - This Old House
Got any favourites? Or have a porch that you'd like to show off? Let me know!

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This past weekend. Late again.

2013-05-23T09:57:00.000-04:00

Just outside of Sebright, this lovely little abandoned farm sits. On my way up to Ottawa last Wednesday, I stopped on the side of the road and clicked away with my phone. The pictures aren't the greatest, but I wanted to share one anyway.

Once my friend's wedding was over, Mike and I were free to be tourists. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest so we didn't do too much before we made the trek home...but here's a few obligatory Ottawa shots.

I'm hoping to have good news to announce on the blog soon! Hold tight.

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Weekend Recap - A Day Late

2013-05-13T21:55:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I actually did something worth talking about!

On Saturday morning I drove five and a half hours to get to Ottawa for my oldest friend's bridal shower and bachelorette. I stayed at a hotel downtown so that it'd be easy to get home after a night of indulging in wobbly pops. Thanks to Hotwire, I got the room for half price!

We went for dinner at the Cornerstone Grill in the Byward Market and the food was great! If you ever find yourself downtown Ottawa and you're hungry I'd definitely recommend it. My friend and I were drinking Long Island iced teas by the pitcher. Where I come from, beer comes in pitchers. That's it. The novelty of this will not wear off for quite some time.

We then went to a comedy show at Yuk Yuk's and the MC was actually the funniest guy of the night. No one gave my friend too hard of a time despite being dressed up in your typical bachelorette accessories.

We ended the night at some bar that I can't remember the name of. It was 21+ which was kind of a relief...I pretty much hate the bar and being around drunken teenagers is not my idea of a good time.

The next morning I checked out of my hotel, ate breakfast, and drove the five and a half hours back home. The drive home was much less fun since I was so tired. Not hungover, I swear.

I made the decision to drive back roads all the way, and the extra bit of time it took was seriously worth it. If I didn't have this thing called a job or people in my life called friends and family, I would move to Bonnechere Valley Township. I drove past the most beautiful farm and I'm kicking myself now for not stopping to take a picture. There was an old abandoned farm in a wee little town called Sebright which was amazing, too. When I Google Sebright this comes up, though.

And now I really want one of those chickens.

I'm also pretty sure I saw a moose, but it could have been a moose shaped log and/or shrub. Either way it made me really want moose pepperoni.

So that was my weekend. What'd you get up to?

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5 DIY Ideas for Your Bedroom Décor

2013-05-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

This post is brought to you by Simons. Written by Mireille.

5 DIY Ideas for Your Bedroom Décor

With a bit of imagination and creativity, you can fully redecorate your home with self-made items. The possibilities are endless! For a unique bedroom décor, check out these 5 easy and original DIY projects.

Wood Pallets Bed Frame

Among the many things you can do with wood pallets – coffee table, bookshelf, wine bottle rack, etc. –, a bed frame is one of the coolest. Besides from being almost free, a wood pallet bed frame is durable and looks amazing. It is pretty easy to make and you can organize the wood pallets in many different and inspiring ways.

Capitone Headboard

Not only is a capitone headboard stylish and trendy, it is also really comfy and will be ideal for reading in bed. By buying a few items and spending a little time on the project, you’ll end up with a beautiful, custom-made and trendy headboard. Follow the simple steps of this very well made tutorial.

Wooden Picture

Tired of your good old framed pictures? Want to display your family, your lover or yourself in a different, original and unique way? Try and print out your picture on wood. It is so simple, a child could do it! And the result is just amazing. Check this video out to learn all about the making process of wooden pictures.

Drawer Ottoman

Got an old dresser you don’t use anymore? Before giving it away, take out one of its drawers. Steal Becky’s idea from her blog Beyond the Picket Fence and turn your old drawer into a comfy ottoman. Ridiculously easy to make and great looking!

Ruffled Curtains

With a little patience, a little skill with a sewing machine and lots of creativity, you can easily make ruffled curtains that are unique and beautiful. There are various styles of curtains you can make. You can go with Painted Therapy’s little top-of-window ruffles, of Bit of Blue Sky’s full panel curtains or Besserina’s fancy drapes.

Mireille is a travel, music and theater enthusiast. She wrote for the stage and television, and is now working as a freelance blogger for Simons, a major Canadian retail store providing trendy clothes and home decoration items.

Currently...

2013-05-07T09:32:00.001-04:00

Right now things feel a little overwhelming and crazy.

We're still sleeping in the living room. The cat is sick again. I have a doctors appointment on Wednesday and immediately following that Tass has a vet appointment. On Thursday my car goes into the shop because it's clunking around like you wouldn't believe. This weekend I'm heading to Ottawa for my oldest friend's bridal shower and bachelorette. Next week I head up to Ottawa on Wednesday night to help out for previously mentioned friend's wedding that's on the following Saturday (I'm a bridesmaid!).

And all I want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep and pretend like nothing is going on at all. Stupid adult responsibilities.

We don't have a date yet for when we get to move, but things are moving along and I hope I can share more soon!

And that's what's happening in my life right now.

Is it summer where you are yet? It's finally turned gorgeous here! Distract me from the chaos in my head, please. Aaaaaaand go!

PS. Sorry for the back to back sponsored posts last week. I have another one coming up at the end of the week...I hope you understand! Life is expensive, haha.

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Collecting Inspiration from Others

2013-05-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

This post is brought to you by Savills.

Inspiration from Others

Whether you’re a professional or a hobby-designer, in one way or another everyone takes inspiration from other people’s houses.

We can’t always rely on friends or family’s homes; they may not have a similar style, or they may just not have any style in the first place (and fair enough – not everyone is house proud!). One solution is to take some inspiration from beautiful dream houses. Once the green mist of jealousy subsides, the home-elite can provide a valuable source of creativity. Pinterest (of course), certain television shows, magazines and prestigious estate agents are all excellent sources of luxury home imagery.

The key is to look at these properties subjectively; thinking what it is about the place that you like down to the most basic elements of its design, and then consider how that would work in your own house. To demonstrate this, one example is the contemporary Branksea Avenue House found at Savills, in Poole, England. This stunning house has 22 photos, all displaying some sort of beautiful touch that could be adapted to some extent, in order to match nearly any style of home.

Before even looking at the location, it is clear from the architecture of the property that this is a waterfront home – the waves of the house demonstrate a flawless example of how a property’s design should take inspiration from its surroundings. These contours have been carried on into the landscape of the garden, creating a chic relaxing space. The chess set is a fun and quirky touch too!

Both the home gym and the walk-in closet above show how a relatively simple makeover of spare space could make a practical use of an area, as well as an indulgent and dramatic impact. With the right use of materials this could suit any home. Similarly, the elegant design of the simple sauna could encourage many to tackle an ambitious DIY project for unused pool houses (everyone has one of those, right?).

The breakfast bar is a fantastic example of how a simple touch of interior remodelling could work wonders in complimenting a somewhat awkwardly shaped kitchen.

The lighting used in this room, particularly the colourful strips to the sides of the television, would be an inexpensive and elegant method of transforming an ordinary living room into a home cinema.

These examples are based around significant projects such as remodelling and renovating. But similarly, dream homes can provide diverse and stimulating sources of inspiration for smaller interior design projects.

6 Key Modern Interior Design Trends for 2013

2013-04-30T15:13:00.000-04:00

This post is brought to you by Wren Kitchens.

6 Key Modern Interior Design Trends for 2013

1. DIY furnishing projects
With the ever increasing amount of DIY resources available, it’s no wonder that there has been an upward trend of people "doing it themselves". Industry professionals tip DIY furnishings to be prevalent in 2013, with even more people looking to personalise their homes through innovative furnishings produced by up-cycling the artefacts they have collected.

2. Exotic influences
Styles from around the world have been adopted in Western culture ever since ships first landed on foreign shores. Today is no different, as the design industry witnesses the wide embracing of African inspirations. From warm colours and animal skin imitations to intricately designed dark-wood furniture, it is easy to create an oasis right in the home. Browse through this Pinterest board for some inspiration!

3. Sketching and stencilling
The popularity of street artists such as Banksy shows that the use of text in otherwise plain spaces works really well, as a result more and more people are taking to stencil kits to add some personalisation in their homes. Get creative like these designers did and soon the writing really will be on the wall.

4. Green living
As there is a rising trend in environmental awareness there is also a concurrent trend for more greenery throughout the home. Designers have even resorted to building ‘green walls’ made entirely from living plants - however this is not easily implemented. Herb gardens are another popular source of greenery in the kitchen; however it is important to design your kitchen carefully, giving your herbs the optimum growing conditions. Kitchen designers from Wren Kitchens can help plan your kitchen to the last detail.

5. Bright colours
Decorating feature walls with bright colours is a great way to add some flair into a home. As long as it is used in moderation and in rooms with plenty of open space, you can use it to break up the sometimes-dull creams and whites.

6. Natural Materials
Natural wood grains are being used to create the most impressive pieces of furniture and home art available. The beauty about using natural wood is that it will work with pretty much anything within the home. The only drawback with using natural wood is the price tag that often comes with it.

Spring Flood

2013-04-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

For a short time each spring, the Minesing wetlands swell with water, giving us the illusion of having water front property. After fall, it's my favourite time of year here in Ontario. Bird watchers flock to our road in hoards on the weekends, but in just a few weeks when the water recedes, grazing cattle will replace the scavenging seagulls and quacking ducks.

I'm surprised (and thankful) that Tass didn't jump right in. Would have been a little bit muddy, I think.

I'm going to miss this road. But the new property has it's perks, too, and I can't wait to explore it.

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Let Auction Season Begin!

2013-04-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

Well, our first auction of the season has come and gone, and it was a fairly good one. It was in our community, too, so we only had about a five minute drive. It was packed when we got there with trucks lining both sides, but thankfully Mike's Dad has a shop on the same road and we were able to park there and walk over.

I only stayed for about an hour and a half because it was freezing cold, but even by then we had bought a few things. I missed out on an old wicker and leather fishing creel (pretty similar to this one) and I'm kicking myself for it now, because it only went for $35 and I see ones with no leather for $80+++ in antique stores all the time. Sometimes I'm way just way too cheap. And then other times things truly did go too far out of our price range, like a vintage butter churn (sort of like this) that both Mike and his mom were bidding on before it went too high. I think it went for $65.

Anyway, here's a peak at some of my favourite buys.

46 (yes, 46) grain sacks, $11.

They were pretty filthy after sitting around unused for who knows how long. They've all gone through the wash once, and whenever I go to use one, I'll wash it again with some bleach or other stain remover. With this many, I might end up selling some...but for now they're all coming with us to the new house.

The ever elusive lawn darts, $7.

Mike knew these were going to be there, and he was dead set on getting them. I think there was only one other guy who was half-heartedly interested in them, hence the $7 price tag. They haven't been sold in Canada since 1989 so they're definitely hard to come by! And really...if you use common sense they're not dangerous in the least.

Vintage cash register, $45.

This was our spendiest purchase of the day. It's works, but it's in pretty rough cosmetic condition. We might look at restoring it at some point (that chipping blue paint isn't original!), and it will likely end up as a display piece in our future bar area.

Sunday was spent finishing off priming the rooms upstairs. I'm hoping we'll be moving out of the living room soon!

What'd you get up to this weekend?

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Primed and Boring

2013-04-17T13:49:00.001-04:00

It's hard to share anything more than snippets here and there of what's going on with the house, especially since I'm not the one actually doing any of the work (everything seems to be happening while I'm at work). And...I just don't care. My heart isn't in this house anymore. There's no excitement of a before and after - we're planning on leaving things in a decidely "during" phase when we sell (whenever that may be). I still want to blog, I just have nothing to say these days. I haven't done anything that I'm proud to show off to the interwebs at large.

But in case anyone is interested in how things are progressing, here's a few shots of the rooms upstairs.

The room above previously looked like this. Please believe me when I say that the walls were not as nice as they appeared in the photos...

This room never made it onto the blog before now. It was pink when we bought the house, and then we painted it a soft blue colour. The back right corner had a huge ugly patch in the plaster, apparently necessary from a long time leak in the roof. There was only one electrical outlet - it now has four, plus hookups for satellite and phone (the rest of the rooms got the same electrical/phone/satellite upgrade).

This wee narrow room was the office, and it never got a chance to show off it's face here before now either. The very first night we stayed at the house was in this room on an air mattress. We spent half an hour sucking up cluster flies with a vaccuum because the buzzing was driving me insane. I don't remember what colour it was when we bought the house, but we painted it a dark red soon after. When I was gone for Christmas the first year we lived here, Mike spent hours sanding down the original random width pine floor, but we never got around to finishing it. It has amazing potential, though, and whoever gets this house and refinishes it is one lucky son of a gun.

Ah, the master bedroom that we will never sleep in. You first saw it back here, when it was jam packed full of crap and demolition debris. It didn't have an overhead light before, and the closet had no light at all. That's been changed now, just in time for us to not enjoy it. Ha...

Well, that's all I've got.

Later days, folks.

Check Out Blogger Homes!

2013-04-15T10:27:00.001-04:00

I'm a big fan of Pinterest, and the section I spend the most time browsing is Home Decor. But sometimes, there's just too much other stuff that's managed to find it's way into that category that doesn't belong (like recipes, fashion, etc), and it drives me a little nuts.

So when I saw that Shannon Acheson of AKA Design had created a new blog specifically for showcasing blogger's homes, I was pretty excited to check it out.

Different spaces are labeled right at the top so that it's easy to find inspiration for the rooms you're currently working on. But of course if you want eye candy in no particular order, you can just browse through the posts one by one, too.

I think my favourite part is that these rooms (and photographs!) are for the most part done by bloggers themselves. No fancy magazine equipment or budgets here. And even better? You can submit your own room to be a part of the site.

I know some of you out there have amazing spaces to share - go get in touch with Blogger Homes!

This is NOT a sponsored post. I willingly offered up space on my blog to spread the news about Blogger Homes.

The Reading Room - Ideas and Inspiration

2013-04-10T20:10:00.000-04:00

Despite not living there yet, and the fact that I've only ever been inside the new house once (true story)...I've already given most of the rooms names. I think that's pretty normal.

The space that I've been thinking about lately is what I've been calling the reading room. It's on the first floor, and is the first room off of the kitchen when going into the rest of the house. It's a bit of a fancy room, with an original to the house tin ceiling as well as a corner fireplace that was added by the old owners.

Being a Queen Anne, the new house sort of asks for a more traditional and formal decorating style than our current house, especially in rooms like the reading room. Traditional and formal don't have to be boring, though, right? Traditional Home happens to be one of my favourite shelter magazines, so I don't think so!

My main source of inspiration for the room comes from these two images...

Please click on the image for the source.
I'm picturing dark walls, dark wood, white trim, and classic furniture.

Which lead to me making this haphazard moodboard...

1. Since the room is going to have a lot of white sort of "built in" with the ceiling, fireplace, trim and doors, Benjamin Moore's Temptation would give it the cozy feel I'm looking for.
2. I can't remember what sort of light is currently in the room, but if it's not something original to the house I plan on putting up an antique pan light that my parent's brought us from their house when they came to visit this summer. It's similar to this one (restored by JC of My 1923 Four Square), except it has just three lights instead of four.
3. With all the heaviness going on with the dark walls, I thought a bit of floral would be a happy juxtaposition. It would also inject a bit of colour into an otherwise fairly monotone room. This mint green pillow from Etsy is really cute, although I'd probably try my hand at making my own pillow cover.
4. This fabric (Hyde Park from Tonic Living) is another choice for pillows.
5. I have a wingback chair that was Mike's grandparent's and I plan to use it in this room. It's currently pink, and in desperate need of being reupholstered since the cat may or may not have had an accident or several on it (gross). I like the idea of getting it done in something classic like a grey herringbone. This is an oversized herringbone from Colefax & Fowler and while I looooove it, it's unbelievably out of my price range.
6. This is the Amy Hamilton print I bought for the gallery wall I'm envisioning for this room. I'd like to find frames in antique bronze or gold to tie in with the antique light.
7. Awhile back, Mike's aunt gave us an old Victorian settee and I think it would go great in this room. I want to take off the red velvet that it's sporting right now and replace it with this gunmetal velvet from Tonic Living.
8. The table pictured is just to represent the dark wood that I'd like to have in the room. In reality, that element will come from a side table, the wood of the settee, the legs of the wingback chair, and the vintage secretary desk that another one of Mike's aunts gave us. While I do like this coffee table (found here), I don't think the room is wide enough to accommodate one.
9. Like I mentioned above, this room has a fireplace that was added by the old owners. It's a white corner unit, and I can't remember whether it's electric or propane. Either way, it's awesome.

Update: I didn't include any mention of the floors because they are currently carpeted. I'm remembering pink, but that could be something I dreamt (nightmared?) about. Anyway, I'm hoping the house's original hardwood is underneath it, but we won't be looking into revealing that for a long time to come.

The reading room could easily become one of my favourite rooms in the new house. In addition to the tin ceiling, it has a stained glass window, huge baseboards, and two antique doors - complete with hardware - leading from it. Hooray for architectural character!

So there you have it. Are you planning any rooms that you might not be tackling for an indeterminate length of time?

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The post in which I dump the entire contents of my brain.

2013-04-09T09:13:00.001-04:00

How's that for a wordy title? I hope you're not expecting a brilliant post, because I promise you, this is not one. In no specific order...this is what's on my mind right now.

1. Last night was a little dreary and rainy, so we had homemade chicken noodle soup and bread for dinner. The soup was decent (except I way overcooked the noodles into mush), the bread was a glorified pancake. It went into the compost this morning.

2. I get overwhelmed easily, so I used Manageflitter last night to unfollow anyone on Twitter who hasn't been active in the last 30 days. It's free, which is nice. Thanks to Tasha from Life of a Canadian Angel for mentioning it in one of her tweets.

3. I bought six prints from Society 6 a few weeks back for a gallery wall that I'm planning for the new house. One of the prints is by Ontario artist Amy Hamilton, and her stuff is eligible for free shipping right now! Go here to check it out.

4. The drywall upstairs is allllllmost done. There's still some sanding to do, but I'm guessing that I'll be able to start priming the walls this weekend. I am so ready to move out of the living room.

5. Does anyone out there coupon successfully? I ordered a bunch and they came yesterday, but I have a feeling I'm going to forget about them and they'll just expire. I do use Checkout 51 almost every time I shop though.

6. I'm still working on the re-design for the blog. If you follow me on Twitter you've seen some sneak peaks. I have a dummy template set up and I want to make sure it's really ready to go before I make it go live.

Now...please tell me what your favourite food is? Because I'm hungry.

Plumb, level, or square.

2013-03-20T09:27:00.000-04:00

Pick two, when it comes to old houses. Or so the saying goes.

In the case of our second floor, pick none would have been more appropriate. Take a look at the shimming going on up there:

The walls have had their share of shimming, too, but that's harder to get a picture of. It's also not as dramatic as 2x4s. Although the rooms are losing inches, I'm happy with the decisions we've made to get this house ready to sell. Fingers crossed that when it's all said and done, it sells quickly! We still have no concrete listing (or moving) date, but hopefully in the next few weeks we can get a general idea.

Anyone else shimming lately? Or shimmying? That sounds like more fun.

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Forgive me for complaining.

2013-03-15T13:08:00.000-04:00

When we first ripped into the bedrooms upstairs, I mentioned here that sleeping in the living room felt a little bit like camping, and that it doesn't anymore.

Well now it really doesn't feel like camping, and it's really just making me cranky.

I know it's not forever - in fact the end might only be a couple of weeks away. It was just really hard coming back to a construction zone after staying in clean houses and rooms during our wedding and honeymoon. And what's the point of having a personal blog if I can't whine and complain every once in awhile?

With the chaos currently happening in the house, there's no room to do anything besides sit and watch tv (almost all of the reno is getting done while I'm at work). It's getting old really quick. I want to create something. Make something. Do something. Once the weather warms up I can get started on sanding and repainting all of the baseboards from upstairs, but right now it's decided to be winter again despite fooling me earlier this week into thinking that spring might have arrived.

Believe me, I know all of this is temporary, but I'm frustrated none the less. Not at anybody, of course. And not necessarily at the situation either because it's getting us to something really, really good. Does that even make any sense at all?

Blerg.

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Raise the Roof

2013-03-12T10:59:00.000-04:00

It would be more accurate to say "replace the roof", but that doesn't sound as cool.

Now that the wedding is over, we can finally concentrate on fixing up our house and getting it ready to sell. All four bedrooms upstairs are currently gutted, new electrical was put in just before we left, and insulation is being finished up. Next week we're hoping for drywall to get cracking.

I hate to show pictures of the destruction, because I don't want to give the impression that tear out and replace is my preferred mode of action when it comes to old houses. I don't have any pictures today, but I might down the road, who knows.

Instead, today I'm going to talk about the roof. It needs replacing, badly. It's been patched a number of times - sometimes with shingles, sometimes with more sheet metal that doesn't quite match. I wouldn't be surprised at all if there's an entire second roof hanging out underneath it, either. You can see some of the patching in the top right corner of the picture below, which is from last summer after we had cleaned up the disaster that resulted from tearing down the shack. It doesn't look so bad from this side, but I don't have any pictures of the worst bits.

I'm in a bit of a hurry to get this roof done. You see...we have bats (no, we still haven't gotten rid of them despite my post about it way back here). That being said, the bats aren't here right now. It turns out, in the winter they migrate and hibernate. They'll be back, and soon. I would love to be able to get this roof replaced and sealed up before they return. I sort of feel bad that the little guys will be homeless...but...they'll manage.

We have a number of options for roofing material, but we've decided that sheet metal is our best choice. It installs much faster, and is comparable to the cost of shingles - possibly even less expensive if you do it yourself. Which I'm almost positive we will. "We" being Mike, his dad, and his brother, I'm guessing.

How about some examples?

Tamarack Custom Builders

Connor Homes

Connor Homes

Steel Tile Metal Roofing
I'm not sure what colour we're going to go with yet, but I'd prefer a charcoal grey. I'll keep you posted!

Are metal roofs common in your area? Would you ever put a metal roof on your house?

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I'm baaaaaaaack!! And with some wedding pictures.

2013-03-08T10:45:00.000-05:00

After 3 weeks of fun (and exhaustion), I'm back to reality and finally able to relax. The whole extravaganza was a whirlwind, but honestly amazing.

The wedding went off without a hitch, and despite a slow spot early on in the reception, we were up and dancing until 1 am. My feet killed! And then they killed some more when Mike dragged me all over Los Angeles on our honeymoon.

We don't have our pictures back from the photographers yet, but here are some that our guests posted to Facebook. Some people on Twitter have been demanding to see some pictures, so hopefully this will satisfy them!

And my favourite picture so far...

Ta ta for now!

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