our house

Our new shed :)

2009-07-19T16:29:00.006-03:00

So, I used to have a workshop in the basement of our house. Only, our basement is finished, and every time I tried to make anything in there, I made a total mess of the house. Sawdust everywhere, it stunk like paint and stain, not to mention the holes and paint splatters that ruined the walls. Not really ideal.
So, this spring, we got a shed! It has changed our lives! The old workshop is now a guest room, the old guest room is now a workout room, and all the clutter from our utility room is now OUTSIDE. I'm sooo happy about it!

The old workshop:

Now the guestroom (still in progress):

The shed being delivered (yes, they just picked it up off the truck with the forklift and tractor and put it down in our yard!):

Outside before:

Inside before (obviously just an empty shed!):

Outside after (Maui loves that we have shade in the yard now other than beside the cars):

Inside after:

This is where we put all the camping chairs!:

My gardening corner (with still more camping chairs):
Can you believe this thing is only 9 x 11?

Is a house ever really finished?

2009-07-19T16:11:00.005-03:00

So, I've obviously taken a very long break from this blog. I didn't really want to post every time I got a new lamp or moved the couch to the other side of the room, so there hasn't really been much to report.
But! This summer there has been action! Gardens, flower boxes, a shed and a new front walkway! Yay!

I can't even remember what the old walkway looked like, and I can't find the pictures, so here is the new one! (I have to admit, we finished this last fall. I just didn't tell anyone.)

Then this spring, I built a flower box to hide the hole we created.

I then worked on our gardens for what felt like FOREVER! We have a very late start to the summer here, and we even had frost last week! This meant I had a while to get the beds prepared, which was good because it was super hard work. We actually used the sod that we cut out of the beds to patch up the front lawn, so it was about twice as much work as it should have been. But it was worth it, here are our new, expanded gardens!
Herbs:

Peppers, onions, garlic, chives:

Tomatoes (these were the only things that really grew last year, I'm hoping for another bounty!):
Zucchini:

Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, snap peas, spinach:
I'm a big fan of the square foot gardening method. Not only is it easier, but everything lines up in little boxes, just like I like it. It's as though my garden is a giant Excel spreadsheet :)

I'm going to give the shed its own post, it's just that monumental!

outside - start to finish

2007-11-30T12:30:00.000-04:00

The outside of this house has gone such a huge transformation since we moved in last April. We painted it in the fall, finished the deck in December, planted gardens this spring, built a front step *just* in time for the wedding (this was all Chris!), got a paved driveway (HUGE improvement!), and finally grew some grass!

Who's that up in the corner?

dining room - start to finish

2007-11-30T12:25:00.000-04:00

I think the dining room is the one that we've changed the most since moving in. When we got our furniture from Ikea, I didn't really think there was much we could do, since it's such a small area, but it's changed a lot! We still don't have curtains, I just haven't found the right fabric yet. I also think I might recover the seats of the chairs, also once I find the right fabric. It's funny how sparse this room was when we moved in!

living room - start to finish

2007-11-30T12:01:00.001-04:00

Well, the living room isn't quite finished, but the only thing left is the pellet stove, so it won't really look too different from how it is now. We changed things around last week to make room for the stove, and now it's much better for entertaining (you know, because we entertain all the time). The couches were always too far apart, so now they're much closer. This is my favorite room, but it's sooo cold at night! Thus, the pile of blankets.

kitchen - start to finish

2007-11-30T11:53:00.000-04:00

I think the kitchen was probably the first room that was finished, and we haven't really changed much since moving in. I didn't take any new pictures since there's a big pile of dirty dishes today, but it looks pretty much the same as always.

home theatre - start to finish

2007-11-30T11:45:00.001-04:00

I can't believe how long it took us to finish this room. We had posters and pictures waiting to be framed and mounted, so we just didn't put anything on the walls! Now we've got most of them up, although the photo wall isn't complete, we'll add to it at some point so it fills the whole wall. This is Chris's little hideout, and I have to say it's pretty comfy for watching movies!

workshop - start to finish!

2007-11-30T11:08:00.001-04:00

Well, there isn't much to show in this room since it's so tiny! Also, I cleaned it earlier this week, then did a little work and it's a mess again! Anyways, this is where the magic happens, so I guess I can't expect it to be spotless all the time!

Hey, guys, guys, did you see my new china cabinet?

2007-07-30T10:45:00.000-03:00

Sorry for the Friends quote, but I don't get to use those too much anymore!

What with the amazing gifts we received for the wedding (thanks everyone!), we decided that we really needed some extra storage in the kitchen. I had a picture in my mind of a corner cupboard with a glass front. I planned to go to this great antique store near Summerside (Riverview Antiques - great stuff, check them out!). The last time I was there, I saw this, which I loved:
It's great, and it was in our price range, but not the right size at all. I walked around the corner into the back of the store, and look what jumped out at me!
Perfect size! Perfect colour! Lots of shelves! The only problem is that it's a mirrored front instead of glass, but I think we can change it out without too much trouble.

After much himming and hawing, and looking around all kinds of furniture stores in Charlottetown, we decided we couldn't pass up the one piece that was exactly what we needed for something cheaper that would "work", but not well. So I went back and used my amazing haggling skills (who am I kidding, he offered a lower price that was just what I was prepared to spend!), and now this wonderful cabinet is now in our kitchen! It's perfect!

The painting above the bar shelf was also a wedding gift - we got a painting of my home town from Chris's aunt and uncle who live across the road from us, and a painting of his home town from my parents who live in Merrickville!

bedroom - start to finish

2007-07-30T10:44:00.000-03:00

I totally thought I posted this entry months ago when I finished the mirror frame, and I was coming back to edit it. Well, apparently that never happened, so here it is, start to finish.

This amazing chest was left to me by my Grammy Williams. My wonderful aunt Kathleen brought it up to me from New Hampshire when she came for the wedding. This is where it was put when she brought it in, but we decided that it goes perfectly in this room, so that's where it's staying!

jenga books

2007-02-26T21:30:00.000-04:00

We have bookshelves! The books were last thing that we needed to unpack, and since I used all our bookshelves in other rooms, we didn't have anywhere to put them! One of the downfalls of having lots of windows is that there isn't very much wall space for things like bookshelves. So, we decided to put them UNDER the windows! It works out great, and the shelves make a great place for my plants.
The process of organizing all the books was a bit daunting, and a big dangerous. That big tall pile fell on me once, and on the piles of organized books another time, negating all the alphabetizing I had just done. Don't worry, I got them re-alphabetized :)

The equivalent of the Christmas letter

2006-12-16T11:05:00.000-04:00

You know those Christmas catchup letters some families send out? Consider this ours!
This has been a bit of a crazy year:

January/February: We worked on the house in the freezing cold. I did a lot of sweeping.
March: Hours upon hours of painting.
April: Moved in! (and went to New Orleans)
May: Tonnes of sewing of curtains. I had bruises on my knees from cutting fabric out on the floor!
June: Made furniture. Put on the finishing touches before Mom, Kathleen and Dorice visited. Umm, got engaged?!
July: Took the month off for visits from Ontario. Found that our new house can sleep up to 10 people, even without a guest room. Got deck finished enough for numerous barbecues.
August: Recovered from July, worked on deck. Finished craft room including amazing folding table! Now I don't have to cut out fabric on the floor!
September: Built stairs to deck, installed outdoor lighting (this was all Chris!). Painted outside of house!
October: Prepared for craft sale, used craft room!
November: Craft sale! Tried to make picture frames for numerous unframed posters and pictures, failed miserably, resulting in trip to emergency room.
December: Finished deck! Decorated Christmas tree! Updated blog!

Now you're caught up! I can't wait for everyone to visit here and see our house next year!
Oh, and of course some pictures:

The finished deck:

Our sad little tree:

Homemade decorations:

We blocked the "dog window" so now she has to peek around the tree to see outside!:

craft room - start to finish

2006-09-01T17:25:00.000-03:00

it's only a bit unsafe...

2006-08-26T17:40:00.000-03:00

We have a deck! It just needs the railing and steps, but they're coming in the next couple of weeks. For now, we're using it anyways, and Maui loves to hang her paws over the edge, so I'm not sure how she'll like the railing.
I think it just stopped raining, so I'm off to make some deck furniture!

why, thank you, jeeves!

2006-06-15T14:55:00.000-03:00

Last weekend I finished the butler's trays! It was a whole new kind of project for me, but they weren't too hard to figure out. Once I realized that you can't drill into plywood with a 3/8" bit without it splintering to smithereens, and made an ingenious dowel-and-wood-filler repair, it was all paint and tiling and grouting.

I call these "free with purchase of house" because all the materials (except for the tiles) were salvaged during the construction of our house. One day we were doing a big clean up, and there was a big pile of pieces of 1" x 2" pine and plywood, so we took it all to Chris's parent's garage until the house was done, and now I have a closet full of wood! Even the handles were left over from the kitchen cabinets!

Edit: Look at what I found in the HBC catalogue! I like mine better ;)

I also made some regular trays too, it was a tray-making assembly line!

mo money, mo curtains

2006-06-06T16:49:00.000-03:00

Well, not really mo money...but I could definitely use some to pay for all the curtains in this house!

Living Room (the elusive striped velvet):

Maui's Room (wow, what a terrible picture! I'll work on that):

Sewing Room:

...and matching pillows for the living room!:

I'm currently working on some butler's trays for the living room and dining room. I ran into a little problem last night (that took a huge chunk out of one of them), so back to the drawing board tonight!

ottoman & headboard

2006-05-29T11:27:00.000-03:00

Two new additions this weekend:

The MacGyver Ottoman

Headboard and bedskirt (I tried to take this photo from an angle that didn't show off the muddy pawprints on the duvet, apparently there isn't one!)

Current works in progress: curtains and pillows!

a very productive weekend

2006-05-15T14:00:00.000-03:00

So, I almost finished my to do list this weekend! Well, I'm going to say that I technically did, since I did a lot that wasn't on the list (unpack and organize the workshop for 4 hours!).

Some of the items crossed off were:

New curtains for bedroom and theatre room:

Finish downstairs bathroom:

This wasn't part of the list, but Maui's room, now that she's not allowed on any of the other furniture!:

I also made plans for a wonderful velvet covered ottoman for the living room, and an upholstered headboard for the bedroom. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks!

new furniture!

2006-05-06T22:21:00.000-03:00

Finally, we don't need to sit on camping chairs anymore to watch TV! I was torn about actually paying for couches, after having a 10 year run of free ones (let's see, the futon that you could feel the slats through the matress, the awful shiny black speckled sofa that "folded out" but was really just a mat on the floor, the infamous brothel couch, Roger's parents THREE hand me downs, and finally the ultimate 70s orange and brown scratchy sofa), but we figured with the whole house being new, we could splurge. But, we got a REALLY good deal on the leather set, so it wasn't really splurging that much.
Funny story, the paint colour of our trim throughout the house is called "leather", but the paint itself is so rich, you have to pronounce it "leatha". So here are our new leatha couches :)

The home theatre sofa:

The dining room set from Ikea:

bathroom - start to finish

2006-04-22T14:52:00.000-03:00

Well, we've got one room finished, the bathroom! Once again, the first picture hung up was Bonnie's portrait of Maui! Check out the shower curtain, it's terry cloth! Oh, and I'm so glad that our bathtub is no longer a trash can...!

moving day!

2006-04-10T17:26:00.000-03:00

Well, the day has come. Our house is no longer a construction zone (as of 3 pm Sunday!), so we moved in! Here are some pictures from before we filled it up with boxes. From now on, I'm going to try to post each room as we "finish" it, which may take a few months! Knowing me, I'll probably update every time I get a new lamp or picture frame, so you'll just have to bear with me! Other than moving in the rest of our junk tonight (yeah, I brought one work outfit and forgot the salt and pepper shakers and the *very important* dog cookies!), we probably won't make too many changes until after Gill's wedding. It looks like it'll be a very busy summer! It's so great to finally be living here!
PS I made the pictures small, since there are so many of them! Just click on a picture for a full size image.

kitchen:

living room:

bathroom:

bedroom:

hallway:

workshop:

home theatre:

guest/craft room:

after a long day of being locked up at the big house while we moved, what better to do than curl up with a rawhide and watch Twin Peaks!:

so many changes...

2006-03-14T21:44:00.000-04:00

I don't even know where to start! We've been painting every weekend for the last month, but I didn't really take any in-between pictures. For a while, everything was primer-white, that's all you really need to know.

Then, all of a sudden this week, they put in the flooring and painted the cupboards, and it's awesome! I'd move in today if there was plumbing...

Here's the kitchen:

the bathrooms:

the hardwood in the living room and bedroom:

here's some of the basement, which looks exactly like the house we're in now because we used the exact same paint colour and flooring:

the entertainment room:

this room turned out pink....yeah, we're repainting it!

and finally, are we happy because our house rocks, or because we're done painting for the night?

downstairs

2006-02-26T22:18:00.000-04:00

spare bedroom/craft room

laundry area

rec room

stairs/hallway

workshop

home theatre

drywall

2006-02-12T10:02:00.000-04:00

All of a sudden it's starting to look like a real house in here! The drywall is done upstairs, and they're starting downstairs next week. Next up...painting!

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siding is (almost!) done

2006-01-29T20:47:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I updated this! There has been a ton of work done, but not a lot that's really "visible" (unless you want to see pictures of the wiring). The siding is done on 3 sides, with the third side to be done this week!

This is the workshop:

This is the stairs and the workshop from the other side:

inside!

2005-11-27T20:19:00.000-04:00

you have to use your imagination a little on these ones...

master bedroom/bath

"home theatre"

living room

kitchen/dining room

view from the living room

my personal favorite...the walk-in closet!

shingles and windows and doors, oh my!

2005-11-27T20:16:00.000-04:00

just think of all the curtains i get to make!

walls and roof!

2005-11-10T08:18:00.000-04:00

It actually looks like a real house!

overhead view

2005-11-09T15:13:00.000-04:00

Well, maybe I'm the only nerd who thinks stuff like this is cool, but here is an overhead shot of the property, from the PEI website.

In 2000 (the x is the new house, the circle is where we live now!)

In 1958 (our road didn't even exist!)

I'll definitely have some new photos up soon. The other day when I walked the dog down to the house, it had WALLS (!), and today the roof was started!

the foundation

2005-09-25T14:19:00.000-03:00

just a big hole in the ground!

2005-09-15T14:05:00.000-03:00

pretty dirty!

the lot, the view

2005-09-15T13:52:00.000-03:00

the lot

the view