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New Front door Color

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:30:59 -0400

We painted our front door F&B Etrustcan Red at least 4 years ago.......
We liked it but never loved it........We revisited F&B again and have gone with a more classic look........F&B #256 Pitch Black. You can see the comparison below. We love it.

Home Humour

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 08:36:41 -0400

A teenage boy had just passed his driving test and inquired of his father as to when they could discuss his use of the car.

His father said he'd make a deal with his son: 'You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your Bible a little, and get your hair cut, then we 'll talk about the car.

The boy thought about that for a moment, decided he’d settle for the offer, and they agreed on it.

After about six weeks his father said, 'Son, you've brought your grades up and I've observed that you have been studying your Bible, but I'm
disappointed you haven't had your hair cut.

The boy said, 'You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I've
noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, John the
Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair and there's even strong evidence that Jesus had long hair.

'You're going to love the Dad's reply:

'Did you also notice they all walked everywhere they went?

Happy Canada Day Everyone

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:35:46 -0400

Hope we all enjoy the day and savour the feeling of 143 years strong. Here's to us.

Power Outage

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:43:43 -0400

You might have noticed we weren't available since yesterday. The downtime was related to weather issues in Chicago (where our server lives). I'm investigating the possibility of a second server, in another city so we won't have issues like this again.

Here's a cool video from the lightning storm yesterday, though!

Kitchen cupboards almost a reality!!

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:51:06 -0400

We accepted the latest submission for our kitchen cupboards!! I am so excited. They do a final measure on Tuesday and then we play the waiting game.....8 weeks!! And of course with the construction holiday that means sometime in the early part of September. Not too happy about that but what can you do. Oh well,
lots to do in the meanwhile. The new kitchen window can go in, need to rip out a portion of the kitchen wall for the new entry to the bathroom and laundry room and seal up the old door, do the electrical, plumb in a gas line for the stove and.....hmmmm.... looks like 8 weeks may be necessary?
Our "workie" is saying that the floors are better installed before the kitchen cupboards....but I don't agree.

Gaspé Coast

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 19:46:03 -0400

I just got back from a week of work up on the Gaspé coast. I absolutely love it up there, the landscape, the people, the culture......EVERYTHING! One night we sat on the beach, ate lobster, built a fire and drank wine while the seals played in front of us. I mean really....what more can you ask for!!! Simply fabulous. If any of you have a chance to visit that area then you really should. I will be happy to recommend to you some great places to stay!

How are the gardens shaping up??

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:20:25 -0400

Haven't seen any pics for a while!

I'll start. Caught this guy on a new hydrangea..

bathroom walls

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:58:10 -0400

I am still planning my ensuite bathroom. We are going to have black and white wallpaper on the top third of our walls, with a chair rail and plain white walls below. There is quite a bit of wall showing because we are going with pedestal sinks. I would like to have some panelling below, but I don't know what I should have. I don't want bead board, because the look is classic, with a 1930's feel. Any suggestions as to what it should look like and what kind of molding it should have?

Sure is quiet around here

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:03:17 -0400

The last post was six days ago. I hope everyone is just too busy decorating to post!

HELP! :)

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:38:27 -0400

Okay, I might have asked this question already but I am getting so stressed out with too many decisions that I feel I have to make but not sure about.
Sooo...here goes.
I chose a subway tile, in white, not sure if it is the right white now but it is the creamier one of the two. I want to go with white cupboards but not a white-white if you know what I mean. We are getting the cupboards through Reno Depot since in the end there prices are going to be the best. BUT....not sure about the white. Should it be a white that really goes with the subway tile, same white, creamier white (more browns)....Of course with the pine wood ceiling I am thinking that will be our best approach. Then of course I have to determine the stain colour for the wood floor. We had that sourced out and since we have an open concept main level we are going to have to think of the whole space at once. I am now thinking that the island will be the 'colour' feature. We are thinking of painting the base of the island in a colour, perhaps a 'yellow'
Yikes, does all sound crazy??

Need bathroom inspiration

Thu, 27 May 2010 22:31:53 -0400

My husband and I are remodeling our bathroom and are having trouble deciding on tiles. The vanity will be dark wood in a simple shaker style, with undermount sinks and a granite or marble countertop. There will be two dark wood framed mirrors to match, and three polished nickel sconces. The shower will have two glass walls and two fixed walls. There will be a white freestanding tub (contemporary style). We keep bouncing back and forth between darker taupe/beige tiles on the floor and cream tiles on the wall or Carrera marble and white. I've recently been thinking about a mixture of blue and white mosaics on the shower walls to add some color, but I'm not sure what to put on the floor with them -- I don't think Carrera will match, but I don't want just plain white tiles on the floor. Everything else was relatively easy to choose but the tiles have us paralyzed! Ideas and opinions would be welcome.

bottom freezer models

Tue, 25 May 2010 00:02:16 -0400

I have owned a bottom freezer model fridge for about 5 years now. All of a sudden the food in the crisper, which is just above the freezer, is freezing. I have played with the settings now for the last month and no change. While shopping for our new stove, I asked about this problem in one store and the guy said, 'oh, yes, that has been a problem in the past but they fixed it about 3 years ago and now that won't happen with any of the bottom freezers. I then went into Sears, again looking at stoves, but asked about this same problem with the fridge and she was completely surprised, no idea, never heard of any problems like that and said perhaps I got a 'lemon'.
So,any ideas out there. Is it a problem, was it ever a problem or what? My DH wants to get a new fridge with this kitchen renovation but I am really worried about buying another bottom freezer. The problem of course is....what to buy?

The things you can learn

Mon, 24 May 2010 08:58:46 -0400

We bought a house that we move into next week and on another post I mentioned that it has aluminum wiring - built in the 70's and the whole neighbourhood has it.

Some insurance companies do not like it at all and mine asked for an inspection . $250 later we learned that there are some issues that should be addressed - nothing fatal but there are no GFCI's in the house and it needs three. It also needs a line moved as it is too near water pipes.

Okay no biggie methinks. Wrong - after sending in report I get denied insurance until brought up to code and another assessment provided proving it. That would mean we would have no insurance until it was upgraded....hmmm that could mean a month or so without coverage. Nope- so changing companies had to happen. It did and they didn't care about having the report as long as I was prepared to upgrade and sign a statement - over and done. Saved more too.

So I get company that did report to price out the job - fix the faults and put in a new panel - that estimate was over $2400 - YIKES.

That led us to wandering into HD Saturday where a great guy in the store confirmed that to make the upgrades was something we could easily do ourselves and we can buy the panel and save more and then a good electrician can come in and do the work for about $800. That advice saved me enough to go buy the flooring for upstairs. Yippee.

He told us what to buy and what to do and even went around the store showing us. That was fantastic and sure solved a lot of the stress I was feeling over having to get this done. If he reads here he will recognize himself I'm sure. Thanks S......

Pool decks

Sat, 22 May 2010 19:02:16 -0400

Our six-year-old concrete pool deck is in really rough shape. There are big cracks in several places and a couple of areas where small chunks of the concrete have popped out. I can fill it with concrete patching material, but I know it will look really bad. Has anyone ever had another material put over a pool deck? I've seen the spray-on or roll-on stuff at the home show, but I don't know if I'll like the result. I was wondering whether we can put concrete pavers over top of it. We have to have our interlocking patio relaid anyway (done by the same people who put in the pool -- Foster Pools of Lindsay, Ontario -- beware of them because their work is very shoddy!), so we can always raise the level to match the new deck.

Just too cute

Thu, 20 May 2010 11:38:27 -0400

The family cat waiting in anticipation
They visit every year and wander around waiting for the neighbours to feed them.

kitchen questions

Thu, 13 May 2010 12:04:22 -0400

I had a designer come and look at my kitchen to draw up plans for the renovation. She is the daughter of one of my best friends, just graduated from design school and keen to get started soooooo.....I thought I would let her give my kitchen a 'go'!
Anyway, I already know that her and I share very similar tastes so that part is easy. Of course being fresh out of design school she has a lot of interesting ideas. She is also working on a big project with an architect/designer so that individual has agreed to be her sounding board.

All that said, here are a few questions I have for all of you seasoned decorating pros. I am looking at a stainless steel counter on the one wall where we will have the sink and dishwasher. I will not be having upper cabinets in that area but there will be a large window running along the wall so a great opportunity for light reflection. BUT, I have no experience with stainless steel countertops so I am wondering, what are peoples impressions of them?

I am thinking of going with wood on the island which will be the main counter space for all prep work. Do I need to go butcher block? Or, can I go with a wood that you treat with mineral oil, not sure of what to call it but it is somewhat thinner than the butcher block and seems to be standard for counter tops.

I want to go gas for the stove. We have electric right now. We do not have gas lines so we will have to convert to propane. Is anybody using a propane-fed stove right now?

Anyway, just a few questions. The dining area is being finished off on the 29th, all little details, the stairs look fabulous! I had hoped to wait to do the floor for the entire main floor at a later date but I think I am now going to have to do it at the same time, doesn't make sense not to do that.
Update:
The living room space is coming together as I had hoped. Of course, changing the direction that you turn when you descend the stairs from the upper level (bedrooms) is not easy for people, but OMG does it give us more "living space". I still have to work out details, like the lighting which is presently just propped up on the odd little table and stool until we figure it out but the overall feel is what I was hoping for. The artwork above couch scenario has to be determined as well.
I have included two photos so you can see how I changed up the living space. In the Christmas one you can see how there is a lot of "dead" space over to the left side of the photo. That was because the stairs came out there so you had to have room for people moving around in that area but now we do not have to do that and the second image shows how we are nowplanning on using the space. It also means that in the summer we can have our french doors on to the deck open so that we have a sense of "flow" from outside to inside. And we are maniacs about that outdoor space where we have an outdoor gas fireplace.

Yard work is heavy work

Tue, 04 May 2010 18:50:17 -0400

We have decided to build a walkway in our lawn instead of a side walk. We were able to get our hands on free slate and set out to built this thing. We had to walk about 200meters up a hill to get the slate from an old quarry. We used a wheel barrow to haul it down and it took both of us to keep it from going to fast. First we had to pick through the pile of slate looking for the right size and flat pieces. So we got enough slate we hope, brought it home and we had already dug out the sod and prepped the path. We then went and got a load of bedding sand and hauled that in and leveled it and started to place the slate. We worked about 3 hours on the prep and today we were at least 4 hours and we are about half done the path.
It rained and hailed today it was cold and ugly but the path way looks really good. We are filling in between the stones with dirt and will seed it for the grass to grow around the path and we can just mow over it. Both DH and I are happy with it and the cost so far is $5.87 for the sand and all our sweat equity. We priced out the slate at the rock quarry and it is $600 a tonne and we think we would need about 2 tonne.I will post pictures when we are done.

Wedding reception help

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:33:15 -0400

Hey guys,

I am hosting a wedding reception for my sister in June. It will be at my home and I'm doing all the catering myself. There will be between 25-30 people attending. It will be buffet style. I am thinking about an Italian menu because its my sister's favorite! I will give you a list of things I was thinking about serving, and I'd love any feedback you can give me about the menu...the quantities...etc. How much food is too much? Is there enough? What about veggie options?

Appetizers:
-A gorgeous display of veggies and dips (see pic)
-Cherry tomato and boccocini skewers with basil and balsamic dressing
-bruschetta on crostini
Entrees:
-9X13 pan of meat lasagna with tomato based sauce
-9X13 pan of veggie lasagne with cream based sauce
-alfredo penne with chicken and broccoli
-roasted red potatoes
-slow-cooker roast beef (I need help with this in particular)
-salad
-garlic bread
Dessert:
-Wedding cupcakes
-Tiramisu
-fresh fruit

What do you guys think? I am open to ANY AND ALL suggestions.
Mel

Now...pics of the pups!!

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:50:37 -0400

Those of you that haven't visited the old site, are unaware of the fact that DH and I have added to our family. We brought home a 10 month Newf/Border Collie X a couple of weeks ago. And she is WONDEFUL!!! We named her "Cola" because she is the colour of my most favorite thing....Pepsi! Her and Heidi are the best of friends. I am the happiest doggy mom in the world!! Here are a couple of snaps of the girls.

Can't wait to get all caught up again!
Mel

Wow...the pic of Cola is TINY! I will try to make it viewable and repost

Nevermind...I don't know how to make it bigger. LOL. I will add another one.

I found you!!

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:38:38 -0400

Hey guys.

I'm here! Let the fun begin!

:DMel

And....I just scrolled through the member list!! So many of you are here too!! I missed you guys!