One thing at a time-Kitchen Windows edition

Hubs and I have made no secret of the laundry list of things we'd like to do in our new place (or the fact that we're actually pretty stoked to do it all).

We've (ahem, he's) already been working quite hard and gotten a lot done, but there's still A LOT to do. So, we're trucking away at the list piece by piece.

Next up was the kitchen window coverings. Prompted by the neighbouring homeowner at their kitchen at the same time as I was and a glance out the window at each other, I decided to bump this up on the list.

A reminder of where we started:
Which, honestly, was vastly improved simply by taking them down and having nothing on those windows. But that was just a transition until the next day when we installed wooden slat blinds in the place of the doileys:

Despite the colour of the walls AND the kitchen door, it's already a huge improvement and a very welcome change into the 21st century. Scratch that-half of the 20th century wouldn't even have used the doiley curtains. Regardless, an improvement.

Although the improvement is making the rest of the kitchen look bad, I have to keep reminding myself---baby steps! Can't do everything at once.

Hardwood Part 2 getting there

Hope everyone had a nice, family-filled and relaxing holiday.

I certainly did, although the relaxing bit was a bit out of sight. It was still very much enjoyable.

Hubs and I spent a lot of time prepping the main floor living room and kitchen and started on the flooring in there. My FIL is in town today to help hubs with some more of the hardwood, but mostly just to spend some QT together and see the new place.

Started with the front hallway section since there's a staircase and bullnosing required there:

Looks good non? Now we just need banisters!

And here's hubs getting to work on the living room (and yes, the room IS that vibrant blue-it's not just my camera this time):

God! I can't wait until it's done and I can paint those blasted walls!

And although the kitchen got off to a rocky start with floating laminate, plywood screwed down about a zillion times, vinyl and MORE particle board that is a PITA to rip up not to mention a leaking dishwasher (this house is haunted with water ghosts), we ended up getting it all up by puck drop last night so it's 98% prepped for installation today.

See all the screws-I told you! I'm a mad woman with a drill now though after so much practice:

And if past evidence was not proof enough of the poor taste this home has a history of, please note the vinyl flooring that used to be in the kitchen:

Yes-REALLY! And the cabinets used to be dark. Can you imagine!!!!! I'm so glad I wasn't around in the 70's! And I'm so glad that we're replacing it!

I am SO excited for what I'll be coming home to tonight! ANd tomorrow we're (ahem-hubs) is installing a new patio door and getting to work on the dining room hardwood, and then...and then the flooring's done!

Birthday List Revisited

I'm a lucky, lucky girl. This I already know. I was reminded yet again over the weekend/this week throughout my birthday festivities that I'm lucky and have some very thoughtful and generous people in my life.

Enough with the sappy stuff...here's my (huge, wonderful) haul.

If you'll recall from late July, I posted a birthday wishlist in the absence of anything else to post. Since very few people other than my family read my blog, I'm told it gave some ideas.

Unfortunately though, I was unaware that a certain sister *ahem* had forwarded this blog to my best friends for ideas. I hadn't updated my wish list because, well, that's silly and also because hubs and my siblings are the only ones who read this blog who may be inclined to give me something for my birthday and they all know what I've already bought myself and more or less what I have (we're a very close family and see each other very often). So...my friends went off and, using my wish list and my current obsessions with all things cake decorating and got me these wonderful things:

A turntable/lazy susan, a cake/cupcake carrying case (the very one from my wish list), some silicone cupcake liners (fantastical) and a lovely glass cake pedestal. Great gifts, non? Do my girls know me or what? However, I already have the carrying case and a pedestal, so I'll be exchanging them for some equally great gifts.

Aforementioned sister still did very well though, and true to form, gave great gifts. Specifically, some Bumpits (somewhat of an inside joke) and some bookends:

From my other sister, I got a lemon zester, a very nice metal (and thus chemical and yuck free) water bottle and some totally cute monogrammed hand towels (an A and a J are embroidered in brown). And we all know how much I like my monograms.

And hubs...well, hubs is getting very good at this gift thing. He pays a lot more attention than I give him credit for, I'll say that much. So he had originally bought some lovely metal bookends (almost identical to the ones in my wish list) and a car cell phone charger. Apparently I let my phone die constantly and forget to charge it...and apparently this is a problem :P However, since sis already got me bookends, which I opened Sunday at our family dinner, he had an errand to run and instead got me this:

A bread maker, which I initiated last night. Seriously. Phenomenal. How have I not had one of these in my life before? With less than a minute of effort and a little bit of patience (3 hours for last night's loaf) I had fresh baked homemade bread. Although I was a little eager and didn't really plan too well (wanted to get it going as soon as I was home), the bread was still very soft and fresh this morning, and last night at around 3 am when I was up for a bathroom break, our house smelled ah-mazing! I can't wait to try some other recipes, like cinnamon rolls, cheddar jalapeno bread, banana bread, etc etc. Yum yum--good work hubs!

And I can't forget my parents early birthday gift, which we use almost daily. Our wonderful BBQ! They also gave me some restaurant and store gift certificates which will be put to very good use.

And a similar idea from my in-laws-they got us central vac back in February that covered a whole lotta gifts and occasions.

And you can never underestimate the appeal of money and gift cards. Some birthday money from my Oma got me my very first item of lululemon clothing, the groove pants (which are definitely as amazing as everyone says, but also ridiculously overpriced, which is why they were my first purchase)-thanks Oms!

Also, a HomeSense gift card from my bro & his gf will be welcoming some fab accessories either to this home or our next one if I can wait that long. And a Pier 1 gift card from hubs aunt which will also bring in some lovelies. A cheque from my other in laws as well as some booze from several friends are all such great, appreciated gifts.

Wow--isn't that ridiculous?!?! When you list it all out like that, I feel like a spoiled little brat. Which, apparently I am. Thanks everyone---love you all!

How about you? Any birthdays or occasions lately that make you feel so blessed and maybe even a little guilty?

The finals are over

Cake lessons course 1 are officially over. Last night was our 4th and final class and we learned how to 'master' the Wilton rose...WAAAY easier than it seems, and even than the course implies.

So last night we learned leaves, ribbons and the remainder of the rose. Then we went to town on our final cake. You were given 2 options. The one I chose was to look something like this:

Or, the ridiculously perfect one from the course 1 cover:I liked the purple I'd used for the birthday party cakes & cupcakes, so I decided to go purple again. Plus, we had to make the little border flowers a few days in advance so they could set and I still had some icing leftover, so it worked out nicely. And here's my cake:

Unfortunately, the cake carrying case I got for the course, although multi-purpose, is a little shallow. So when I went to put the lid on to leave class, it smushed the top rose.
Whon Whon. But I made a few extra roses, so if I cared, I could swap it out for a new, un-smushed one. I haven't yet decided if I care or if hubs and I are going to be the ones eating it. Overall, I'm pretty pleased and had a great time in the course. We even signed up for level 2, which doesn't start until November.

New Obsession: my cake classes

So, I think it's safe to say that August goal # 9 will NOT be a problem.

We had our first cake decorating class last night at Michael's and the instructor was extremely sucessful in achieving her goal for class 1: to inspire us to want to go home that night and bake & decorate a cake. Mission accomplished for at least myself and my sister & brother's GF.

We got our books, learned the recipe for their buttercream icing, and how to ice our cake for next week (dirty ice it if you're the Cake boss, crumb ice it if you're Wilton). Then she gave us a teaser of some of the things we'll learn in the next 3 weeks and then gave a quick tour of the cake section as well as what we'll need for this class.

She offered to let us taste the icing-only me and 1 other person went for it. Weirdos! It was delicious, so I'm excited, but my waistline is quivering for what's to come in the next month.

My sister's already created a spreadsheet of all the items she'd like to purchase for the class. Some of them are necessary, some aren't, but all are helpful. And I'm pretty much in complete agreement with her list (with 1 exception).

Her list:

-course kit (agreed, but I think I'm going to get the 50-pc caddy instead)

-bake even strips (the exception, I just don't really care if there's a bump-I'll just cut it off)

-coloring (included in the 50-pc kit)

-meringue powder

-baking pan (I already have several, but may spring for a new one)

-spatula (that angled one looks too perfect to pass up)

-easy release goop (or spray) (meh-we'll see)

-footed plate with lid (this will be the turntable to make icing it that much easier. If there's one available with a lid so it doubles as a carrying case, that's wonderful)

My additions:

-flavouring (some included in the 50-pc kit, but I'd like to find lemon)

-slicer-saw thing. (this guy)

And then hopefully (although doubtfully), I'll be able to make these in no time:

OK, I started getting a little overboard saving inspiration photos considering I've never even decorated a single cake (well, not well anyways), and clearly I need to take the fondant class.

Can't wait to try it all out!

Ikea Home Planner

OK, seriously cool!

Has anyone ever tried this? It's Ikea's home planning program and I just tried it for a theoretical kitchen re-do and it's fantastical!

Hubs and I are entertaining some ideas...several of which include some completely redone rooms. Having the one-track mind that I do, I had to act on it immediately, so I was looking at ways to roughly price it out before further consideration.

Enter Ikea.

I downloaded the program and got to work on familiarizing myself with the program with a space I know quite well-our current kitchen.

It's super easy to use and in about 30 minutes, I'd created this:Although, the coolest part came with a little press of the 3D button at the top, which resulted in:

Come on...that's just straight up neat.

And although the 3D view was the coolest part, the absolute best part was when I hit the button that looked like a calculator. Sure enough-it gives you the cost of your choices...and mine? $3,604.83 +tax.

Are you serious??? That's insane. I have no idea what I was picking...as I said, it was just a trial run to familiarize myself, but there's a pretty sick gooseneck faucet, some walnut countertops and mucho pot drawers. I was expecting about 3-4 times that...clearly I'm horribly uninformed.

Anyway, this little exercise (/time waster) was a very valuable one and opens up a couple more possibilities to the ideas we've been entertaining.

Seriously-try it.

Birthday Wish List

Whew---it is HARD to get back into things after vacation. I'm pretty sure I'm sleep-typing right now and may have sleep-driven to work this morning. Hey! At least I wasn't also doing my make-up on my way in, which I've been known to do :)


So, since I've been awol and haven't thought about my home for a few days, I thought I'd post my home-related birthday wish list, which hubs asked for last week.
This board is mostly Decor-y stuff:
1-I can't remember where I got the original image (me thinks ZGallerie?), but an umbrella holder similar to these ones would be too cute.
2-I've loved these book ends for a while. Not these ones specifically, but ones similar would be fantastical in the office.
3-Z Gallerie Vector Sconce. You may have seen this on other "I want" lists, and that's because I love it.
4-Anthropologie Monogram mugs. Same deal as above-you've seen them before here, but a good thing is a good thing, right, Martha?
5-Apothecary Jars-the ones on the left from Pier 1 (and a bit too big) and the ones on the right from Restoration Hardware. Both lovely and would both look great in either bathroom with some bathroom-y stuff in them (q-tips, soaps, cotton balls, epsom salts).
And this list is a little more kitchen/crafty related:
1-Corner punch: You see, I make my own cards (laugh if you will) and it would be great to be able to round the edges in a less ghetto way that I am currently (holding plain-jane scissors and curving the paper resulting in a less than stellar corner). Enter Fiskars.
2-Cake carrying case. As the default baker in the family, and especially with decorating lessons starting August 5, something like this would come in super handy. And that it can carry cupcakes, mini cupcakes OR a cake is just icing on the...well cake. Baddum ching.
3-PVR. Enough said.
4-Bread maker: to be able to plop some stuff in before bed and then wake up to the smell of fresh baked bread...yes please!
5-Microplane Zester. Totally unnecessary if you have a grater, but sometimes it's just handy!
6-KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Doesn't everyone want one of these?

What's on your wish list?

Family Room Brainwave

With the family room on my brain and time on my hands, I hit up icovia room designer thingy to play around.

It's a great tool to have that lets you sort out furniture arrangement. It's not quite as cool-dude as floorplanner, but it's a lot simpler to use and you can use it indefinitely. It's basically my paint to everyone else's photoshop.

Anyways, not the point of the post. The point is this: while I was doing up absurd options for the family room (seriously-there were 15 versions at one point) I was trying to think of different ways to make the space work.

Here's the plan as it is currently:

Pretty sparse. I don't know off the top of my head the dimensions of our furniture so I did it all based on spatial reasoning....ha! Whatever-I guessed.

And here are some of the standard options I created (I acknowledge that the minor differences probably aren't even noticeable by anyone else):
And then I thought, well hubs and I love our little bistro table on the front porch, so how hard/ugly/weird would it be to try something like that in the family room? Afterall, it's right beside the kitchen and we aren't even close to getting our breakfast bar idea off the ground. Also---it's a flippin' floorplan planning software-it couldn't hurt.

So I added a couple alternative options that allow for a little bistro table or bar/pub table that can tuck into the corner or pulled out a bit if needed (and bonus: extra seating and a great place for snacks):

For visual ideas of how it would look, I just went with the last floorplan I was working on, which happens to involve the least amount of moving furniture :) Convenient!

So, I don't know. I'm not sure what I think (quel surprise) but I'm definitely intrigued by this option. I know hubs is going to vetoe it right away, so I'll have to have him think about it for a while before ruling it out. (Hey-it works-he's changed his mind about an area rug...now I'm just working on the size).

Please let me know your thoughts---do you like any of the floorplans above? What are your thoughts on the bar table idea? I'm clearly in need of an indecisiveness intervention.

Herb-ie Hancock

The herbs are planted. Hubs was surprisingly opinionated about how they should be planted, so Saturday morning I picked up a couple options I liked.

6 small white pots from Ikea for a whopping $0.99 each.

OR

1 large turquise planter from HomeSense for a whopping $24.99.

Here's hubs choice:

Smart boy! And he said he didn't want them indoors-heh.

So now they're resting happily in our kitchen window and I can grab them whenever a cooking or mojito emergency requires.

My herbs of choice?
Thyme

Basil

Parsley

Cilantro

Spearmint (seriously smells delish)

Chives

They didn't have Rosemary, which would be another herb of choice, so I'll have to find that somewhere else and invest another loonie into a 7th pot.

Now to just get Max and Layla to stop sneaking up there and eating the chives while we're at work. Cute little troublemakers!

Great Idea: Apartment Therapy

On Apartment Therapy this morning, I came across this great idea for a kitchen compost bin.

I definitely want to hae a compost bin once our sod is laid and our backyard is officially "ours" and no one's going to be grading it, etc.

Anyways, thought this was a neat idea for the in-between times and for when it's rainy or something and I don't want to run across the lawn to the bin with a handful of peels.