Saturday, April 26, 2008










I have been keeping a little secret that I would have loved to share , I held a shower for my mother for her upcoming wedding , to a very kind and sweet man.

It has been a lot of fun for me , I wish I could have an outlet like this more often. I had a wonderful helper with the invitation, you know who you are, and thank you so much, they were a big hit and very fun to make.

The theme was pink of course, I borrowed many things from around the house that worked with my theme, like covering the couch with a pink blanket and pillows from Sophie's room, as well for the dining room I used a blanket, the most fun and festive are the Chinese lantern's two for $1.00 so I cleared the store , I love the feeling they give, so fun, we will reuse them for the dining tents at the wedding as well, that green huh!

It was a complete surprise and for the bride to be my mom , her first shower ,I am so glad I held one for my deserving mom, the lingerie was from classy racy , really , to hospital chic.

Now I rest.



Hangin in there

Here is my before , the entry with baby gate UGLY , which sadly is still used , for animal protection (animal from abusive child , not mine) when I need to take potty breaks during the day , or if I want to protect guests from our overly friendly dogs.
Here is my lovely after , after much stress and aggravation because those special hinges don't come with directions, and you need to perform tricks on them to get them to work , thankfully I didn't give up. It is partially painted , but I wanted it up for today so there is still work to be done. But I love it , I installed a door stop to the wall and a stop for the door to stay propped open , for the most it will be open, but it is fun it moves so gently, the dogs can't figure out what is going on though.

A little trim work to do still to fill in the gaping, and painting , and ordering a couple of push plates for the door but I really really like it , it looks good and feels better, so when it is all complete it will be such a fun feature.
I will make sure not to carry trays towards it.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Swinging door

I have filled in the whole frame now, wow that was a painful experience, but worth the blisters, I love it , and even Todd loves it , ok he probably wouldn't say love but the fact that he was hesitant and likes it makes me happy.


I have pondered about a dutch door , couldn't figure out how to make that work, so I gave up , I have thought of a glass door, but it was altogether pricey which held me back, until a few days ago I found this promotional door at Home Depot , a solid wood door with pretty panels , and I sources the hinges in black, because my other option was bright brass , can't go there. I asked my husband who works in the city to come back with these hinges , and he did, $9.00.



Here is the door , good thing I don't care about my nails , because I bent one back trying to lift this beast into the truck , there are always at least two men around when I do things like this who just watch me waiting to see me motion for help, but I never do. I can do it. It ended up beinga mere$59.00 compaired to the $132.00 price tag of the glass door which I still love , I am very happy with my choice. Come back soo to see it hung and painted , now deep grey or white paint?
And where I will put this swinging door , entering into my kitchen family room, why well I never imagined needing to close off this area, however our kitchen has the computer and our lovely daughters love to sing together , and play youtube video's over and over, while we try and watch tv in the front room, this open plan makes this difficult, as well for late night R rated movie watching I always worry the kids will come down for something and view a terrifying scene unknowingly to us , so a swinging door would surely allow us to avoid those situations.


I am sure most of the time it will remain open but it will be nice to have , and will be an added detail, another detail to make our house different from all the rest , I love it when people come over like yesterday , a woman who has the same house and saw all of the details I came up with for this house , she laughed and said she could hire me to do her house in the same manor. She had wondered how her kitchen would look with a big island , well mine has it , she asked if the builder made it for us, what a compliment, as well she thought of putting in a window seat and I could show her how it would really look because I did one here. Maybe I will get jobs just from holding an open house on my work when the time comes.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Where have I been???

So sorry to leave for so long with out any word, I have fallen off my wagon, my blogging wagon. There was a time when this shelf could barely hold a few items, however after reinstalling it and adding the brackets it has become a fun place to play with accessories. This is my newest arrangement.
I decided to repaint this cupboard in my kitchen it had just been green on the bead board so I bumped it up a bit , with this lovely blue.

I have been struggling with this path way that leads right from the sidewalk to the front door , I had a couple of steps that always shifted after a hard winter, so here is my newest try, pea gravel, I wanted a casual beachy look, yes I will have to put stray rocks back in their place but it looks so much better , and the little ones can easy maneuver it .
This is where my living room stays, in flux, I have done all that I can , I have tracked down a capable painter to finish this job , as I can not bear the thought of climbing my 20 ft ladder that I despise to risk death to finish this job , I have never hired a painter but I will gladly pay to make this issue go away , as well I need to find a good painter to work with after I start my business.
I sprayed this table to match the other black table , it was just looking so drab , now it has a nice fresh finish , I used latex spray paint , how nice and easy.

Sorry I have become a complete slacker , I haven't done anything on my own to share with you , but I am up to a few things and I will share them soon.


The weather has been amazing here , hot , really great, so I have been tending to some outdoor maintenance, and updating, ripping out some plants , cleaning things up , I have some changes planned for the near future, and I will share them for sure, I have my husband picking me up some interesting components today and I am excited to try something new very soon. I rather feel under the gun , as we have some seldom seen family coming to stay and I want things just right for their arrival.


Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Range hood

I have had a few requests on sharing the directions for making this range hood. I really can't do that , because it is too hard to explain, I had no directions to follow ,I as usual just wing it.
Here is what I started out with , standard hood with flat cupboards above.

Here is a good side view of the triangular piece I added to build out the doors , as well the lower portion that I built and then attached to the side of the cupboards.
See not rocket science , but it works just fine, I am one for using what is on hand before buying materials.

The compact and very strong fan.
Filler piece and bracing piece. It really is a box construction.
Sorry I can not be more helpful, it was pretty easy to do .


Tuesday, April 15, 2008

More Debbie Style

This fan was so amazing , the blades go opposite directions

I thought this laundry room was so amazing, look how high the ceilings are..


This laundry room , I would love one like this the marble counters, and black cabinets, love it most of all, some day I will have a laundry room...
More marble...
These tiles were so beautiful , they have a crackle glaze , and were very textural...
This wall treatment is so easy and gives such class to a plain wall....
I love those doors , I want one for my kitchen....


A little workout space , what a luxury...
And a beautiful shower , and a separate room for the toilet...
Gorgeous...



Painting

BEFORE:
AFTER: The color is Tumbled Stone , Debbie Travis , available at Canadian Tire.

Well , I had fully intended to hire a painter to do this job for me , but after buying the paint this past weekend, I just needed to test it a little by the stairs, so with my trusty pole in hand I reach high and just king of kept going, it went on very well and quickly, and before I knew it one whole wall was done, and last night another.
Although I realize it doesn't show well this is the blue walls before. I was just needing a change.
The room is still a disaster so I will show more soon.








Monday, April 14, 2008

Part deux...

The nursery...
The view of the family room from the bedroom level...
The children's bedroom's shared washroom...stunning.....
The master ..........

sorry for the darkness , I could not get enough of this room and that light , what a room....someday , someday....