Showing posts with label our home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label our home. Show all posts

Monday, May 13, 2013

[make-up, hair, nails, swivel stools, tile]


Love everything about this Revlon ad.
The hair, the make-up, the nails.



Super cute short hair!


Saw this photo in a magazine and I can't get over how skeletal the arms look. I'm pretty sure they've been Photoshopped. Why on earth would they edit the arms to look like this? Sick!


We're still renovating and getting things done in our new home. We found these kitchen counter top swivel stools at Crate & Barrel.
And this is how the front and side entrance tiles look like.

It's good to see so much green out there. Hoping for a long, long summer and that winter will be as late as our spring was.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

[this week]


Today was superhero day at Sienna’s school. She was little bit late for school due to me painting her face but I think it was worth it. The cutest superhero ever!




Flocks of birds (these ones were Bohemian Waxwings) – a sure sign of spring. I think it's finally spring as it was +18C today and most of the snow is gone. First playground day. Yey!




My new baby. Wish me luck for keeping it alive. I need it. ;)
Plus a cute little ceramic bird house to hang in our tree.





I love it when yet another renovation project gets done. This week it was front & back entrance tiles. What a mess it’s been (I took these photos to prove it) but so worth it when it’s all done. My back is kaput from all the floor cleaning (the grout haze is so hard to get off!) but I’m all smiles as I walk on the tiles now. I’ll try to remember to post a photo of clean tiles later. I love the tile we picked.




Monday, March 11, 2013

[a bit of this & a bit of that]



An evening in downtown with friends: The Finnish a cappella group Rajaton's concert.

Sielu huokaisi kuunnellessa taas suomeksi musiikkia. Jussi on edelleen ihan jees. J


Some more pictures of our new home. This one shows our white laminate flooring. Wide planks. So easy to keep clean.


  
Africa’s new morning spot is on the love-seat in the dining area. He can recharge his solar energy in the morning sun.



Close-up of the kitchen counter top. Laminate called “brushed aluminum”. More my style than the various granite counter tops out there.


Floor to ceiling wardrobes in the master bedroom. Four sections. Covers the wall opposite from the bed. We do have a walk-in-closet too but a chunk of it will be taken out eventually to make room for a larger bathroom.





Curtains for the family room.


A place for my rings by my kitchen desk.


Mmm! Naan pizza. I have shared the recipe previously. Me lovey!

And here are the March 2013 Project Life journaling cards. 






I just finished this book. A World War II story from a young German woman’s perspective. Adds insight to what life was like for the ordinary Germans during the war. These WWII books are hard to read but I find it’s important to remind ourselves of what happened so that history will never repeat itself. It's unfathomable to think that some people can be so evil. 
The book is well written and even though the subject matter was the horrible war, there was much beauty in the book. Reading the book made me think about what is most important in life. What would I do in such a situation? Would I have the strength to hold on to my values and morals?
Four out of five stars.
««««

Happy Monday everyone! J

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

[home inspiration]


An add for Scavolini in March 2013 Canadian House & Home magazine.



The kitchen of former Vancouver Canucks captain Trevor Linden’s Whistler, BC, home.
Found in March 2013 issue of Canadian House & Home magazine.




Not as fancy as the above homes but I’m still super excited how our new home is turning out. The counter top (brushed aluminum laminate) looks more silvery in real life and has texture to it, it's not just one color. 

Check out the flock of birds flying by our house yesterday. A sign of spring perhaps?

Friday, February 15, 2013

[laundry room photos]


I have a laundry room! I’m in love with this little room down the hall from the kitchen. Cupboards to store things in, big sink for dirtier cleaning jobs, built in drying rack…
I spent couple of hours cleaning the room this morning and now doing laundry will even be enjoyable.
The baseboards still need to be nailed in again. I also filled up the sink with water and cleaning solution to soak up the dried up paint before cleaning the tub super well.




These are the only magnets I’m putting on the fridge. Clean look is it for our new home.


Our dishes are in these large drawers instead of in higher cupboards. Easy access even for little ones.


Some Valentine’s Day fun even though things are not done yet.


And here’s my Valentine’s Day gift.
Jay knows me well. I'd rather have something like this than flowers.

Happy Friday everyone! J

Monday, February 11, 2013

[new home renovations, part II]


I finally downloaded some renovation pictures. These photos will show the major renovating we are doing to our new home. If you want to see the "before" pictures, click here.
This first photo is taken from the kitchen, looking towards the dining area and then family room. We opened up the two walls. All the rooms were closed up before.


Another picture from the kitchen. On the right is the hallway that leads to the front entrance. We took the french doors off and left it open.


This is looking from the hallway towards the dining area and the family room is on the right. How much do you love the old fashioned doorbell on the wall? Ha haa. Needless to say it was replaced already.


Family room. Baseboards are being painted. Built in shelves (kept them, just painted them). We haven't decided what to do with the fireplace yet. It looks dirty/spotty in real life. The rocks are expensive but we still want to do something to it to modernize it.



There are three bedrooms upstairs plus the master bedroom. Two bathrooms. White laminate being put in. Bye bye yucky wall-to-wall carpet, won't miss you one little bit!


Master bedroom. The paint color is light gray (Chincilla White by C.I.L.).


Kitchen cabinets being put together.


Upstairs hallway. The railing will be replaced with something more modern and simple.


Master bedroom. Yucky light fixtures everywhere. Will be replaced when we have time to look for new ones.


Looking from family room towards the dining area and kitchen. 


We wanted to rip down the wall between family room and living room but the engineer told us that we can't unless we're willing to do extensive work to strengthen the supporting beams. Too much work right now so we will be rebuilding this wall.
Our cat Africa scared us after we moved in by going into the heating duct. Needless to say the holes are covered now.


Little by little things get done.


Dining area/family room.


Kitchen.
Cupboards still covered with blue protective film.


Looking from dining area towards kitchen. We opened up this wall. Love it.


The family room and behind the opened up wall (which needs to be rebuilt) is the living room.


Sienna's room. The window will be replaced. The wall color is light gray (Wayside Inn by C.I.L.). Hard to see the actual color in these photos. I love the colors I chose.



We salvaged the laminate flooring from downstairs and used it in two of the other bedrooms upstairs.


Going downstairs from upstairs. On the right, living room (that little bit of wall was removed to open it up a bit). In the middle the family room. On the left the dining area. 


And these next photos show how everything looked the day before moving in. As you can see, lots to do still. The front door will be replaced eventually. 


The living room. Ran out of laminate and had to reorder some more.


Hallway, dining area (there will be bar stools by the counter) and the kitchen.


The stairway. It was a real pain in the butt to get rid of the million nails and staples that held the carpet together. The stairs will have the same white laminate eventually. The railing will most likely be simple brushed aluminum.


Dining area. The old fence will be rebuilt in the summer. Pile of wood left from removal of huge evergreen trees (three in the back yard, nine or ten in the front beside the driveway, blocked all the light). The previous home owners left us the wooden play set.


Dining area/kitchen.


Kitchen.



Hallway to laundry room, wash room, garage and side door. Will have tile eventually.


I had to take a picture of this. One of our neighbors (75-year-old lady) dropped us off a casserole in this grandmaish casserole bag. I couldn't find the salad bowl so made the salad into a Halloween bucket. :) Three people dropped us off chili & buns, we also were given perogies, a meatball crock-pot meal and homemade pumpkin bread. We were so grateful for all the food and help during our renovating/move. Felt loved and taken care off.


One of our neighbor's weathervane.


Here's what our kitchen cupboards look like now. Glossy white from Ikea. We are still waiting for the counter tops and haven't had time to do the backsplash yet.


Like I mentioned before, I love our new pantry shelves. I was able to fit ton of food in here and it's so easy to find everything and to restock. Now I better go and keep unpacking and trying to figure out where everything goes.

Happy Monday everyone! J