Sink Peek

I came home last night and it felt like Christmas when I saw our new gorgeous white large single bowl Kohler Bakersfield cast iron sink and amazing new Delta faucet in place.

It has to be hooked up still and our dishwasher Kitchenaid dishwasher is on the fritz yet one more time again so my honey has his hands full but hopefully it will all get done soon and I can share a picture of it.

I really can't get over how it just feels so right now and I'm beyond happy with my decision to make the change.

Have a great day!

Good Bones

This may not be exciting to look at but it IS exciting to me!

You see there was much to address in our living room and Todd has had to practically rebuild this room.

For those who think that an old house is not a money pit, you are sadly mistaken. Yes there might be some century homes that are not but you never know what you have until the plaster is removed. I used to be a stickler for keeping the old plaster but after the nightmares we have seen once we removed it  I am glad we did. 

The floor has new plywood to make it the same level as the kitchen and we are trying to find a finished maple strip 

floor the same size as the kitchen floor for dirt cheap but so far our budget

option is to go with unfinished and finish it ourselves which I hate the thought

of but if it saves us $700.00 we'll do it.

I am waivering back and forth between a medium stained floor and natural maple. You see a lot of dark floors and they look nice but I find them high maintenance and if we get another dog I don't want to see scratches. 

If you could share with me your favourite floor colour, light, medium or dark and why that would be wonderful.

 You can see the plaster oozing between the lath from the hallway on the other side of the room.  

And no, I'm not trying to decorate the room before it's done, just needed somewhere to put my plant and my free table base.

Fingers crossed we will have drywall up before Christmas!

Getting a little Christmas on

This weekend was nothing short of spectacular weather wise, and I was in the mood to stay home yesterday and try to add a little festive decor to our home in spite of the fact that we are under renovations in our living room and front hallway.

  

 My little tree graced our front porch antique table

and holds a special meaning to me 

I kept it simple and used very little to create an uncluttered

impact with decor I already had.

I simply adore sugar cones, there beautiful shape and texture

Our front door is one of my favourite things about our home with all it's aged crackled patina and original old wavy glass. 

The sun poured in and even though this is an uninsulated and unheated porch it gets  as warm as the rest of the house on winter days like this and is such a cozy place to sit. 

A strand of red berries and lights make our back porch  glow and is welcoming to come home to when

it is dark after a long day.

After a trip to Ikea to return the chairs and one ottoman I couldn't resist the great day and got outside to trim some branches off our pine, spruce and cedar trees for our window box on the garage. Then I took a drive to mom and dads for a quick hello and to steal some dogwood from their back yard which was the reddest dogwood I've ever seen. When we put this planter box up last summer, I had grand visions of it at Christmas and it has turned out much to my liking at no cost at all.

Hope you have a great week!

Love Seat VS Chairs

I hope everyone is having fun getting ready for the holidays. We are just getting out of our holding pattern from Todd's knee injury which has lasted an entire month and boy do I feel behind in life in general. Of course nothing has happened in our living room as a result and we won't even be able to have a tree set up as a result which is starting to make me sad but that is a sacrifice of renovations.

  I recently posted about our purchase of the Ikea Ektorp white chairs with ottomans during their buy one get the other half off and they were to replace the love seat in our new living room design once it is completed. So after spending many days on the love seat  which I've pictured here squished into our dining room set up temporarily as our living room. Todd said he likes sitting on it after all with the ottoman in front of it and doesn't want to keep the chairs now as he likes it better when he has an ottoman to put his feet up on in front of it.

ARGHHH!!!!!!!

 We found this piece in a great second hand store in Toronto many years ago for just $350.00. It is good quality heavy construction, hardwood frame with incredible down filled cushions and has the same william birch style as our sofa. Although beautiful, the good quality linen fabric was not our taste and so I had custom slipcovers made for it and the sofa which we previously found on sale as a floor model in a red chenille fabric that was also not to my liking as well. I found the twill on sale for $7.00 a yard and we had an extremely talented seamstress friend make them for a great price and I have loved them ever since. 

I still have to refinish the legs in a dark stain to match the sofa and can't believe I've left it all these years. 

I admit I'm torn about this decision because I know the chairs would be great but in the end can't bring myself to trade down in quality. I know Ikea is decent but it is no where near this quality. We will have to see how it all plans out once the room is finished. I guess in a perfect world I would sell the love seat and if money was no object I would go get two top quality chairs instead.

So it's back to Ikea we go and money back in our pockets!

She is a timeless classic.

So I'm pleasantly surprised lately as I have been able to resume my walking with my friend Joanne and now that the cold weather is here we  just love this time of year and seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations that people do to their homes. It truly is a magical time.

We live in a quaint little village on the top of the hill with the main street located in it's valley. I have been staying away from the hills until I had the stamina but two nights ago when she asked me if I wanted to try I said let's!

Low and behold I spotted something at the curb of a house in the busiest part of town and could not believe my eyes that someone would throw it out. Joanne says to me, let's hurry home and get Todd's truck to pick it up. I looked at her like, are you nuts? "It's not going to last that long" So I picked it up and sneakily stuck it back up in front of the home owners vehicle where no one would see it until we got back in time to get it. It is a solid wood table that the round table top was warped. We removed it as it is unrepairable and will replace it and with a low effort  makeover is  going to be an amazing little table for our home and it is the kind of deal I love,

FREE!

Now I'd better get my butt out of my pyjamas and get stuff done, this house is like a bomb hit it and I can't take it anymore!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!