Dollhouse Update!

Last night, after a busy day of meetings, organizing, shopping, cleaning & helping, ending with yoga & meditation, I was wired & needed to calm down before bed.

So what did I do?

Took out a line of trees, pulled up the last of the grass, removed all the wooden shutters & ripped off a bit more wallpaper.

Pictures to follow.

But that was just what I needed to make me tired enough to have a really good sleep.

Ready to tackle the day. And in my spare time, in between projects today, I'm reading thru the websites I've found that show how to restore a dollhouse. Yeah for the internet!!

Our "secret" revealed!

At the beginning of the year, I alluded to a gift we had received after Christmas that was a dream for us. Here's the post: 

http://cottagebriarrose.blogspot.ca/2012/01/post-christmas-gift.html

Today, we started the process of renovating our gift. And now the secret is out!

Yes, I will admit, the Victorian we were gifted is not a real house but in fact, a full scale dollhouse. It's going to take a while to get to our real dream but for now, this one is just as exciting, as we pull off the old wallpaper, rip up the "grass", tear down the trees & put in new floors, doors & railings. It's been fun searching for websites to help us do the job well & to find the materials we need. We are currently waiting for a big order to come from Eastern Canada that will have lots of wallpaper, flooring & some furniture & accessories. Tons of hard work to do before that big packages arrives. So far, the wallpaper is proving to be a challenge to come off easily but the "grass" ripped up right away & all the furniture has been stored away until the house is ready for it's return. 

Hope you enjoy our new journey!

And now, the reveal of the before:

The upper level from the outside. 

Lower level. Don't you love the little pup waiting 

in the doorway for his family to come home?

View from the back. 

More pictures to follow as we dismantle 

& then put this house back together. 

Changing Plans

We just arrived home from our "new home" out on an island. 

As my husband declared to our family & I'm saying to my colleagues, we're here "on an extended visit" until we "go home again"!

Now the big work starts, trying to figure out how to change our plans to move there, instead of out to the country. It's a huge move, one that would involve a lot of planning around our current professions & one that would mean leaving some precious family & friends behind. We still might build in the country if that will net us more than selling our current house & then selling our land here to buy land there & build a new house there. Need to chat with a realtor to see which is the most efficient both in time & in dollars.

The chance to live out the next part of our lives in paradise is too tempting to not act on our gut feelings. 

A change in lifestyle would be in order. 

Actually, not a complete change, just a "getting back to the real us in a natural way".

Right now, we live a life that is orchestrated to adapt to all around us, to fit in, to measure up, to be "normal". 

Reality is, we're unique & really need to stop being who we are not & go back to being who we are!

And if that means moving to an island, wouldn't you? 

A couple of pictures to make my point!

Our sunset each night!

Wine to complement our daily activities!

Fairies & buddhas every where you look!

Sea shells by the sea shore!

Daily view from the hot tub!

Our yoga & meditation space each day!

We're pretty sensible people & realize that being on vacation is vastly different than becoming an islander. However, we've spent enough time on this coastal oasis to know how we would work our lives to be there & we know there will be stresses. We truly "live" there while we are there - we stay in a cottage, secluded in the woods, cook our own meals, do our laundry, stay connected to our work & shop as the locals do. 

We feel like islanders already! We know the lay of the land, how the system out there works & what is different. Having lived on the west coast already, we know the ups & downs of the rain & are not concerned at all. Seriously, I'll take 2 weeks of downpours over 2 weeks of -40 thanks!!

So very happy that the commitment we've made to live here will be a true commitment. 

Now we just have to figure out how to do it!

Scary!

I was not able to post on my blog for the last 2 weeks & it was driving me crazy. There was a message that kept coming up & it looked like someone had tried to connect Spam to my posts. After reading for hours thru the Help Center Forum, I changed my password, then connected thru Google Chrome. 

And for the 1st time in 2 weeks, this box came up. 

Posting now to see if it works. 

Happy to be back!!