Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween

I wanted to share with you some projects I have been working on .
These custom built-ins with window bench are sure to keep this room organized and add major charm , not to mention how happy those cheerful pink stripes are.

 Another project I helped out with was a complete redo of the trim in this bedroom. I added beadboard and shelving to the desk area to create a real nook .
 Always a classic touch are generous baseboards and traditional headers.
 We enjoyed some down time at a local Halloween party. Todd and I went in these super fun matching generic super hero costumes. Crazy aren't we?
I have been sick for a ridiculously extended time, I can't shake it . At the very last minute yesterday Sophie dragged me off the couch and out to a local spot to finally pick up some pumpkins to be carved .

Sophie also convinced me I needed to make cupcakes for their class party today, and somehow I did it. Can I mention I have no voice now.

 I love this charming country landscape spot where we found our pumpkins , I even picked up a green pumpkin and a red one too . I love just living steps from the country life to be able to support little places like this.
 On the house front things are really coming together , in fact the house is a buzz today , I saw electrical work going on , finally. I am loving the way things are looking especially those round vents , gorgeous.
I stopped by to talk with the guys doing the siding on Saturday , nice guys . I wanted to let them know how much I like how its looking , they are doing a great job. Look at those pillars , very exciting . Is it wrong I long to go just hang out there and plan and day dream? The headers are going on the windows today and the porch should be completely flashed also.

I almost forgot that today the episode of the Steven and Chris show , the Halloween episode my friend and I went to recently , well it airs today at 2:00pm.

Have a Happy Halloween everyone .

Thursday, October 27, 2011

I am happy to share a quick update on the house. The siding is moving along , although a little slowly. The rain is slowing progress. I am looking forward to seeing the shutters go up.

 They are working in a terrible mess of mud.
 Selena Gomez came to our city two days ago . I desperately tried to get tickets as soon as they went on sale but they sold out in 5 minutes. I tried again the day of by visiting the box office. I was so thrilled when they did have tickets and great tickets at that . I could barely wait to tell Sophie.
 I wanted to bring Mason and Sophie but Mason would not go without a friend , I only purchased three tickets. I really tried to convince Mason to come with her sister and I but she would not give in. Sophie invited a friend instead, it was their first concert ever and it was a great one.
 We even had a great view of backstage . Selena put on a great show .
I was so happy I was able to bring Sophie to see Selena Gomez , its not every day a big star comes to your city .

Thanks for checking in and have a great.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

fun and finalizing

 Last week I got an invitation to the Halloween taping of The Steven and Chris show , well how could I say no ? I had a costume , a Kimono which was purchased for the upcoming annual neighborhood Halloween party , so after securing my date here below  Lisa,  we set off to have a good time at the taping yesterday , boy did we get a lot of funny looks . I loved this years theme , I won't spoil it , you'll have to watch on the 31st like I will .

 This was the gift the audience was given a cup and saucer, I'm using it right now in fact , how cute , a saucer you can write messages on , love it .
 I have finalized our kitchen design, I will have to finish the bulkhead with crown moulding in this area as well I will build the end open shelf for books ,it will be balanced in real life , I promise , I will also build the range hood , or go with a professional style stainless hood , not settled on that decision quite yet.
 This is how the window wall will look, no cabinets at all on this wall to leave it open and airy , tile all the way to the ceiling and open shelving for pretty things. I did make a little mistake on this drawing  the bank of drawers is actually one drawer with a door underneath , this kitchen will have 8 drawers including the pot drawers , I think that was money well spent , I will be so organized , I am doubling the amount I currently have .
We worked on a lovely plan for the fridge wall , this will have the look of a hutch and buffet , I have extended the bead board down to the counter , I may do a wood counter here with a routered edge just to go along with that furniture look , and it will be painted a different shade than the rest of the kitchen.

So exciting , can you tell I am dying to get this show on the road???

We have been so busy putting the house on the market privately , now this is in no way easy or free , it is all on us , but we do believe it is doable , when you have a good product it is worth a try to sell it for ourselves , don't be intimidated by an owner selling , they know their house best and can represent it better than anyone , I love to show my house , I love this place and I think it shows. But we'll see , I think things would move more quickly using an agent of course but we have time. It is getting noticed , lots of hits from our area as well as the greater Toronto area, so that is good news , that is what we are looking for , someone to love this place as much as we have and to make it their own , after all we will kind of still be neighbors right!

Looking so forward to watching Sarah Richardson's new show airing tonight where they take a builder home and customize it , kinds like I'm doing , should be fun .....tuning in tonight on HGTV Canada at 8:30 and setting my PVR of course.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

I have created a blog to showcase our house for sale , you can find it here www.oshawahouseforsale.blogspot.com

Thursday, October 13, 2011

building a new home , step one , long post be warned

I wanted to update how the new house is coming along, well its been kind of in a stall pattern until I was able to make my selections especially the electrical, they really couldn't go ahead, well I am happy to say I have now made all of my selections , I know that sounds like a lot of work right , especially to those who have build a new home . There are many ways to build , this is our third new build , this is a custom home in many senses but in other ways it is not , it is customized and a one of kind design but it is standard as far as what is "comes" with, we are using the same builder as the current home we are in now, Tribute Communities which is a home builder in Ontario Canada, we have always been pleased with the traditional stylings of their homes . We first noticed Tribute in Oakville when my husband was still a student there, they created a community of stylish town homes , three storey , I have always loved three storey towns , its a Peter Pan thing , they had alley ways behind as well as garage access in the alley allowing for beautiful street scape's, but we chose our current location to be closer to my family and still close to Toronto for my husband to be able to commute into the city for work, the perfect compromise , I love the suburb life , parks, community and a short drive into a major city for culture and entertainment although our medium sized city is becoming quite the hub for culture and entertainment and now a university town as well we are just a step outside of country life as well, we really get the best of both worlds , quiet safe community living with top notch public schools as well as Catholic schools, shopping and dining , I wouldn't live anywhere else , well maybe some day we will head out to California , maybe , I would be all over that lovely weather.

So now that we have scooped up our lovely one of a kind 2500 sq ft center hall Cape Cod style home with separate garage it was time to make selections at the design center , with each purchase you are allotted a upgrade amount to use on what ever you like, which allows you to personalize your home with upgrades.
Of course you get all standard selections at no extra cost , carpet , ceramic , laminate the basics, from  which you can then choose colors, or this is the time you want to make changes , this is the hard part . I have spent the better part of the last 4 weeks planning and re planning my choices.

Here is how I approached it , I had a great amount of upgrade money given to me by the builder and I wanted to make it go as far as possible of course and through upgrading this house we live in over the past 7 years or so I have learned what I would do if given the chance to build again , I would upgrade to 9 foot ceilings for sure , which was already done , smooth ceilings were very very important , so we did add that , trim , now there was the dilemma , I have replaced every inch of trim in this house, I can't do it again , so we upgraded our trim in the new house to a nice 5" stepped base boards and a 3 inch combo back band casing for doors and windows , with beautiful square panel doors throughout , but I left the standard shiny brass knobs, which will be upgraded later but not much later, to a rubbed bronze or chrome , I am loving shiny chrome.
I must tell you I had the best interior design consultant at Tribute yesterday , she totally got where I was going with the house and she helped direct me through the sea of selections to be made, I will have to have her over when things are all said and done .
TIP : go to a preview if you don't have this option do your homework, we went as a family for a couple of hours and pre selected tile and cabinets there are so many choices you will need some processing time.
I even got a few extras I hadn't thought I was going to get like a lovely upgraded fireplace.
We first started with deleting , see flooring is a permanent or semi permanent choice depending on how you go , the main floor comes with carpet , but I am a wood floor girl , from now and always, so I deleted all the carpet on the main floor , oh and the entry tile which I will brick veneer, and the powder room , which I may just brick as well, or tile with mosaic ??? the only finished floor on the main floor will be the laundry , we went with a nice stone look ceramic , which was a nice standard choice , it will be great with the dogs. The master bath and the girls bath will get tile flooring as well the girls bedrooms will have carpet , which they requested , our dogs love to roll around on the carpeted areas of the house , do yours??? So upon possession the girls bedrooms and baths will be totally complete upon possession. The main floor will be a wee unfinished , but we will have the flooring done asap , it will be red oak finished on site , and the stairs will be stained at the same time to match perfectly.......woohoo , that was our consultants great advice , I was going to have the builder stain our stairs and try to have the flooring guy match , but what a smart move.




Stairs traditional staircase
traditional staircase design,  here is the look I am going for with our stairs , but actually we will have colonial pickets in paint grade in a nice thicker pickets and a square post , we love the square...

I decided to go ahead and upgrade the master bath cabinets to these painted maple in pearl color, to upgrade the whole kitchen to this paint finish would have been too much, so for all the other cabinetry we are going to have this Parma Oak for the whole kitchen and kids baths....but they will be sprayed by me , in at least two colors , kind of a pale putty and maybe a smokey blue grey green or aqua to be selected later for the kitchen and white for the girls baths well that's what they are requesting. So happy I have the sprayer now. I really wanted carrera floors in our bathroom for the floors as did Sophie but the cost was just too high , I chose a very simple striped ceramic called Romance which I quite love and I found a faux carrera for Sophie what was a standard that I know she will just love it really has the look and Mason's floor she wanted Cinq White which is also very nice.


I have my eye on some great chrome pendants like these, I  added another box to the ceiling to allow for two pendants over the larger island I will build. Lighting is so important , I added lots of pot lights to the kitchen two over the sink and four around the perimeter of the ktichen and two to the living room and family room.
I want to use carerra subway as the kitchen backsplash and I want it to go all the way up the window wall , beautiful, with open shelving. Our consultant helped me greatly to create the kitchen I was planning , the drawings I brought in were very helpful for this step , adding drawers , balancing uppers with lowers , creating a lovely free standing looking aread by the fridge which I will paint a different color and add bead board too. Little tweaks in a kitchen go a long way , adding drawers here and there will lessen that sea of doors look , don't you love drawers.

I came across this white and chrome pendant which I am very curious about $$$???
Here is that brick flooring again which will be in the entry, it was a small cost to have them shim our base cabinets in the kitchen for the wood flooring that will go in the kitchen , great , but we can't take possession with out flooring in the kitchen so they will have to lay vinyl , OH MY WORD!!! so I told them to just go ahead and choose what ever because it will be pulled out right away !!! I will make sure they don't glue it down...that would be a nightmare.
I have to still work out the range hood design , we deleted the standard rangehood and cabinet above the stove and made the opening a bit wider than the stove area to allow for a more substantial decorative range hood which I will build.
Loving these cabinet colors minus the glazing. We will have laminte counters which are standard installed lightly for the move in then have quartz counters made by someone , to be determined...to be gifted to a great friend , to delete it wouldn't have made sense and that way our kitchen will function upon moving in . I am so looking forward to quartz...so smooth not pourous , clean , durable hygenic, I am getting an apron front sink so solid surface is a must.
Here is the laminate I selected for the three bathrooms with cabinets it is basalt , it looks very much like soapstone and I am quite happy to live with this choice for a while at least .
Here is the fireplace I selected , it is so pretty , looks like something I would have come up with and it was well worth the minimal upgrade , tv will be mounted above in the family room , with wiring ready to go, nice and easy.
Here is the quartz I will be selecting for the kitchen , it is so pretty , I love the light counters , I have always had dark and it almost hides too much stuff. The island will be butcher block with dark stain .

Here are a few little things I did that I though were good decisions , upgrading the bathroom lighting which comes standard as make up strip lights with NO BOX  , this will save me a great deal of aggrivation when I go to install pretty vanity lights this means we will end up with bare buld lighting in the bathrooms which will look dreadfull but will be worth the small increase , because I was the one to put boxes in in this house and it wasn't so much fun .
I also deleted the floor tile which usually covers the skirting of the garden tub in the master and the splash area above the tub as well , I will add pretty millwork .
We were so happy to go for the seamless glass enclosure it makes such a difference over the standard framed shower and what I have always wanted was to have classic white 3"x 6" subway tile , I could only estimate while planning what that upgrade would be and it came in under what I was thinking , just slightly but I can't tell you how happy white subway tile makes me , we will have it in the girls baths too , that is what they wanted as well , my girls are so neutral , how funny is that ...
And I was able to add a tv hook up to the master bath the only cost was adding an electrical outlet, since they give us 8 tv/phone hook ups , that's a lot right ??? or is it .
So I think I did well with our upgrade money and just went slightly over which was what we had expected , but less than what I had anticipated and I got more than I had thought I would have , this is going to be a fun process to watch it all unfold ....I will keep you posted as things progress.
I will now keep my eye out for good deals on lighting and knobs for now and get my flooring guy all committed...I told you this was a long post , feast or famine with me lately .
thanks for stopping by .
Chris

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Open house

We are having our first open house tomorrow from 2-4 pm , come stop by for a tour , I'd love to meet you 1367 Dumont St L1K 2V3

Monday, October 3, 2011

Just Beachy house for sale

 It's official our house is now for sale privately, as hard as it will be to pack up and move on, it is just the right time , it is time to pass this home that we have loved on to a new owner .
The family room features a fireplace and wainscoting , cherry hardwood , and built in tv niche over the fireplace.
 All the windows have been upgraded to casement throughout the house, master bedroom has walk-in closet with en suite bath with soaker tub and lots of mouldings.

 Kitchen features large triple sink, pot lights, painted white solid oak cabinets with custom range hood , subway tile back splash , large custom island with lots of extra storage and butcher block top, kitchen walks out to backyard.
Backyard features perennial gardens , deck with pergola  and recently added bunkie which we have used as a summer guest house , it can be a shed , or studio or shop.
Master bath

Built in custom desk nook in the kitchen & swinging kitchen door.

Family room right off the kitchen.

Living room features 16 foot ceilings and beautiful double height windows , paneled wall and hardwood floors and window seat.

Dining room


If you would like to see a great video tour of our house from the Steven and Chris Show click the link below.

$340,000, 3 bedroom , 2.5 bath 1850 sq feet in a great newer neighborhood with great schools and walking distance to recreation center, library , shopping , restaurants and more.
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/Steven_and_Chris/1367500960/ID=1873163792

If you would like a private viewing please email me to arrange a viewing , or we will be starting open houses very soon.