Intricate Sink.

No we haven't moved and don't intend to

for a long time. BUT when we do move

again, down the road, kids are gone and

it's just the two of us, we'll build again,

a tinier English~styled cottage, and I so

would LOVE this sink! We already have

a white farmhouse sink. But this one is

amazing. I love the detail and know it

would be a perfect fit for the next cottage.

Wouldn't you agree? I sure hope so ....

~ Chy

Build Ideas.

When we built our new home a couple of years ago, our little cottage in the big woods, we knew we'd love to build at least one more time in our lifetime. This current house was really meant to be just for the two of us once our children all left home. But life took a bit of a curve when the marriage of our eldest daughter did not continue after the birth of their first and only child. She came home, baby in arms and we didn't skip a beat in welcoming her to be with us. While she went back to school to become a nurse, we built a house that would accommodate her tiny family and give us space to move and live. It's been worth every moment so far and after sharing a much smaller house, without all the options we have here, we have truly cherished our little cottage. Truly cherished.

I think we did really well to create a unique home with such a limited budget. The key was finding a builder who could give us almost everything we hoped for without a huge premium price. We also had a side budget to do a bit of extra shopping for a few perks, like our dream range (our AGA from England), the stone fireplaces (all the way from New York), an art studio, theatre room, extra big kitchen island and pretty wood floors. We still came within our budget. We are such great treasure hunters that we found each of these at decent prices, though each of these looks like they cost a million bucks! Well, not quite but you get the idea. Truly a ton of fun.

Now that we've settled in and are concentrating on our landscaping, we have had a couple of conversations around how long we'll all live together. I don't think this will be a short term situation as our dd does need us to care for little guy when she works her 12 hour night shifts. And help out when she works a day shift and we need to take him to school. We enjoy this and know until he's a teen, she'll need our support. In time, we might build again, and that makes me a bit excited, though I would be very sad to leave here. A bit closer to town might be appealing, especially in the Winter. But not too close as we love the quiet in our little forest. No noise, except the wind. The sound of cars, people, city life is just not appealing to us at all. But a bit closer would be. We're only 8 minutes from town, but in the Winter, on a snowy, icy day, those few minutes can feel like a lifetime. In order to move, it would have to be just the right piece of land, close enough for a shorter drive but then far enough for the quiet. Sometimes we come across listings of land and we peek, but then we say "not yet" and close the link or newspaper. One day, it will fall in to place, just like this did when we were ready to build the first time. It will take patience and energy. For now, we stay.

But this decision hasn't stopped us from gathering new ideas just like we did for years before this house. I was in a waiting room the other day and started looking at a home style magazine and found these shots. The first is an iron tub. A very different look but one that intrigued me. Next house, I truly would love to have a claw foot tub. This one is just too neat but I suspect, likely out of our budget. Unless we find a  similar look within our budget! Next picture is my favorite. I'd love more of a "chunky" look for our AGA range and this is just what I'd have in mind. Finding a builder who could do this might be challenging. But then he'd (or she) would have to create this fireplace too! Again, similar to what we have now but in a larger scale. And probably a larger budget then. But this house, right from the moment we took possession, has gained some lovely equity. In the end, it will likely be relevant to the building process at the time. Equity is a good thing!

Until then, we'll keep loving this house and work on the landscape design, which feels like it will take forever. I know one day we'll stand back and say "we did it!!" For now, we plug along, trying to fit life, theatre, work and play in between all the dirt and lifting, moving rocks and creating paths. Such fun. But tiring too! I look forward to the next house and can't wait to build again. Hopefully next time, we'll have another great experience. We lucked out and our hard work paid off.

I'm off to our Centre today ~ it's my day off from work so I'm using it to meet with my Summer Students and paint our walls and trim. A bit of a refresh before preschool starts on September 4th. Can't believe that Fall is just around the corner. I need more Summer so I can finish up my task list. Just a bit more please! I want to enjoy Fall instead of working away. 

Is your Summer task list almost done?

Are you looking forward to Fall?

Anniversary #3.

 

And just like that, we've lived in the country for 3 years. It still feels like we're the new neighbors, with the brand new house. But truthfully, we've now been on this little piece of land since the weekend of June 26th, 2018. So much has happened since then. Great things and bad things, and everything in between! We were not sure we'd actually enjoy living out here. We wondered if we'd "chicken out" once Winter arrived that first year. After just a day and half, we knew it was the right thing. And we haven't looked back. 

Since moving in, we've done a lot. We've unpacked, decorated, hung art work, created our art studio, stained the front veranda and began our landscaping. There is still much to do, including finishing our landscaping (will it ever be finished!), creating curtains, putting up the crown moulding and wainscotting, and redoing our master bedroom closet with a custom closet system. The deck will begin off the back porch the week of July 23rd and the veggie patch is in but we still have to put up the pickets for the fence. It's all coming together but we know it will take time to feel like it's finally all complete. And then maybe, just maybe, we'll start all over again in a new location, with a new house plan. Or maybe we'll just stay here. Or even better, find a little spot on our favorite island. The future is unknown but our time here has been our dream and we've loved every moment!

The Next House.

At some point down the road, we'll build a new house again. This house, that took us so many years to get off the ground, has been an amazing experience. But now we're excited to do it all over again. Finding the right piece of land will likely take quite a bit of time. We're not in a big hurry. But I have started to gather photos and ideas in a file for reference. The picture above is one that popped up on my feed tonight and is now safely tucked away in the file. I LOVE the oval window on either side of the front door. We have 4 oval windows in this house .... 2 in our Master, 1 in the hall and 1 in the garage. I love the character but these ones have so much more. In my few minutes of spare time here and there, I'll try to find the source and add that to our list as well. Exciting to think about all the planning and decisions to make again. 

Light Woes.

This is the light we searched for over many

months of planning. A light we love.

After a careful measure, with a tall ladder and our 

dedicated builder, we chose to keep the long chain.

However, the electrician had his own plans and

sadly he cut the chain, so now the light is too short.

Stay tuned for the update on our "Light Woes".

Do you think we were able to get it fixed?

I'm Chuffed ....

                                                                                   

.... and not sure what to do with it! The insurance guy was so kind today and told me that he evaluates up to 50 homes a month. And today, our new home became his very favorite on his long list of lovely homes. He said "it was so thought out, so beautiful and so cozy that it should be in a magazine"! Made me feel quite proud that all our work was worth the effort to hear such amazing comments when someone comes to visit. I can't ever imagine it in a magazine but the idea that someone actually thinks it could be makes me beam all over. 

Did you receive a nice compliment today?

What do you do when someone is so kind?

Organizing the Pantry.

We've lived in our new house now for 8 months and I'm still thrilled each time I open up our pantry. It's such a treat to have a place to store food and to stock up when there's a good sale. But it can get messy at times and I've been searching for some nice bins to help create "zones" on the shelves. This will be a work in process. I finally found a system that I decided to try out and I love them.

See, it's getting messy again!

Too much stuff. But stuff we will consume.

The lovely bins, on sale, at HomeSense.

I took everything out and created my "zones" and

now look how sweet it all is. Nothing was thrown out.

Even a bin for hot chocolate mixes and popcorn packs.

And one for our teas, both hot and cold. I need more

and will be back to the store soon to pick up extras.

How do you keep your pantry organized?

Do you use bins or baskets or just stack items?

Tiling is Done.

It was a long week as the tiling began

on Tuesday and continued each day

until later this afternoon. After months

of waiting, it was worth the time. 

I'll post a better picture of the finished tiling.

But wanted to introduce our tiling man!

This is Tony. He turns 70 next 

month. And he is incredible!

Offering suggestions, going

beyond our expectations.

He wanted to take a picture to

show his wife the finished work.

In all his years, he's only taken

a picture of a kitchen once before.

It's done. And now our kitchen feels 

real. We had a vision, a picture in 

our minds that no one else could see 

then but they can see it now.

Love it!!

It finally happened ....

.... the tile man showed up at our

door late yesterday afternoon.

Ironically, it was seven months ago

yesterday that we received our keys.

I know that even months is a long time 

to wait for the tiling to be completed.

But after meeting this gentleman

and seeing his beautiful work ....

.... we are more than happy that we 

remained hopeful he'd show up one day.

Have you ever waited patiently for something to 

be completed and were grateful when it was done?

The Christmas Room.

I love all our seasons but Christmas is my favorite, next to Fall. You'll notice I referred to Christmas as a season, because in our house, it is a long experience, not just a day. We begin decorating right after Halloween and often leave everything up until early to mid February, sometimes later if winter is particularly harsh. It seems to make our winters not so dark to have twinkly lights, ribbons and garland and candles every where. I know most won't agree with our approach, but in our little house in the big woods, it's what we do and what keeps us smiling when the wind outside howls and the snow falls down, covering our Earth in white flakes and frosty pebbles. 

In our old house, we kept bins and boxes of Christmas decorations in our furnace room that doubled as a storage room. It was packed! Before we moved, we purged boxes and donated items that no longer fit with our current decor. Our new house, as roomy as it is, lacked a large storage space. We gained more closet space, an art studio, a storage room in the garage and a desk under the main stairs, but couldn't fit in a large storage room without giving up one of the above assets. However, our builder did manage to carve out a small space in the lower level, between the furnace room and the theatre room. It became affectionately known as "The Christmas Room" and I finally had a chance this week to sort it out. Until now, our decorations have been stored in bins in the garage but now that winter is moving in, it was time to move them out. The room itself had been used by our builder in the last few weeks before we moved in as a place to store the leftover flooring, some paint cans and some boxes we moved in. Not pretty at all! Here's the before:

An eclectic mess!!

Flooring, paint, boxes and our light.

Next post: the "reveal" of The Christmas Room.

Surprise!!

When I packed this box last fall, I walked away to do

another task, then couldn't remember what was inside.

My sarcastic side ~ always witty.

Finally opened it today after many guesses

of what could possibly be inside.

And what was inside? This sweetie!

My favorite woven heart & a shell from the sea.

Earthy & fragrant pieces for our bookshelves & pots.

My tiny bunny.

A "pregnant" bear.

And the color inspiration for our entire house: 

light lavender, sage green, pink & ivory.

Almost Home.

Yesterday was Possession Day & we received confirmation that our house was complete. We knew we wouldn't get the keys as the final inspection wasn't able to be scheduled until 4 p.m. Today, our apartment in the lower level will have a separate inspection by our County, then funds have to be delivered between lawyers & then we do our final walk through with our builder. Receiving our keys could happen later today & everyone behind the scenes is hoping to make that happen. But if it doesn't, if there is a delay, we know that "gotcha day" will be tomorrow for sure. I have to head into work for a bit this morning, then I'll be meeting our banker at lunchtime, then I have a bit of free time until I have to meet a family for counselling, then it's pick up daughter time, have some dinner then we're off to our theatre rehearsal ~ first show is in 2 short weeks! Today would be grand but tomorrow would probably be more realistic. Our moving company is set for tomorrow morning, so even if we got the keys today, we wouldn't be moving until the morning anyway. No complaints here at all.

Officially tonight is our last night sleeping in our current home. We've been here for 24 years & though we've been planning this venture for the last 14 when we bought our little piece of heaven, we knew when this day came, we'd have some tears for sure. Such a beautiful house, a lovely neighborhood, close to everything. But nothing can beat the chance to live in the country, in a quiet & scenic setting. A new adventure, but we are thankful for the memories we've created here. Sad & happy at the same time.

If you have moved, how did you 

say goodbye to your other home?

Did the excitement of the new home 

wipe away the sad of moving away?

Wow!!

We had 2 possession dates. The first was

May 20th. But then we had a delay with

the kitchen counters. That was resolved.

All are now happy & things moved along.

Our second possession date was to

be today, June 24th. But it wasn't

really looking too good the other

day, so we didn't get our hopes up.

But this morning, our builder sent

a text, asking if we can get the

inspectors out today so they can

sign off on the house & hand it over ....

What?? It's done? Already!!

Now the fun begins ~ moving ....

Another delay ....

This is the sink we chose for our laundry room.

This is the faucet we chose for our laundry room sink.

This is what they look when they are installed together.

Don't they look lovely & functional together? We thought so & love what we chose. However, the plumber is refusing to install said sink & faucet, claiming that the sink is round & the faucet is "too square" so it won't fit. And the sink won't work as it's not "big enough" for me to do laundry. To be fair, we have no intention of using it as a laundry room sink. I plan to use it as my gardening sink. But didn't share that with anyone, except my dh, as I didn't know that it was relevant to anyone else except me. So now we have another delay, as the plumber holds firm to his frustration with what we chose & I hold firm to my intent on having what we want in our new home. The adventure continues!

Shaking my head ....

Anxious.

The kitchen in our new house is supposed to

be completed some time late this evening.

To say that I'm a bit anxious is clearly an

understatement. I'm soooooo very anxious

I feel like I can't concentrate. We're hoping

tomorrow we'll find out our new move date.

I'll share the news once we hear from our

favorite builder in the entire world ....

How was your Friday night?

Anything on your mind tonight?

Should I Scream? Or Cry?

I am so confused, I don't even know which one would make me feel better in the end. But before I go there, before I explore my feelings of frustration, let me start with a preface: I am acutely aware that our world is full of true issues & many grave concerns. As a community advocate, I fight for those who seek justice, for those who live in poverty & for those who suffer abuse, neglect, racism & bullying. In an instant, I realize that life can change & we as a family have certainly suffered great loss & pain. I do not in any sense wish to minimize any one's plight by my writing. My blog is a personal space to share daily life, in our little house in the big woods. The good, the bad & on occasion, the ugly. Know that at times, I do "spout" off & I'm sure some of my posts don't make sense in the grand scheme of real world problems. But for an instant, they are my concerns or as in today's post, my frustrations, & not meant to trivialize life in any way. I welcome comments & your thoughts as I continue this amazing life, with authentic gratitude & creative intention.

If you're still with me, here's my rant for today. We bought our little piece of heaven in 2000 with the idea of moving our growing family out to the country. It was a divorce sale & we to this day can still not believe the incredible price we paid for the land. Today, it is literally worth 650% more than we paid for it. Not a bad investment. We ended up not building on it right away, as we realized how busy our lives had gotten with dance classes, football practices, soccer games & school projects. Although it is just a few minutes away from our little hamlet, the driving would have been a deal breaker. So we went to plan B, which was to keep the land & work on it slowly, planting fir trees in amongst the poplars & old growth forest. Wildflowers & pussy willows. It was a good decision & we were still comfortable in this house, with short drives to all our busy activities.

Fast forward to the year 2012. Our dd's marriage had just ended & she came home, with baby in arms. We changed our home & our lives around & all of us have thrived with a tiny boy in the house. But we've run out of room! Two households in a home that is meant for one has meant a bit of crowding & tons or constant reorganization. Yes, we could have told our adult daughter to find her own home & she did look, as it wasn't her desire to continue to live in her childhood home as a single parent. We all get along really well but everyone needs their own space. For the sake of our marriage, at this time of life, we also need privacy & sacred spaces. So out came the house plan books. And suddenly, we found ourselves knee deep in blueprints, color swatches, paint chips & flooring choices. It's been a blast but a very long one & we're finally ready to admit, we're tired!! We found our amazing builder, a local small builder, who only does one to two custom homes a year. A real bonus. And we were the first home that began in 2014. He was just finishing up a home & was planning a show home but for the most part from June of 2014 when our hole was dug until the show home started this year, our home was his only. Things went quite fast but now we're at the end, & everything has slowed right down. And the frustration has reared it's ugly head. 

I want to scream to the roof. And cry sobs. I'm so tired ....

This delay is big. And it could have so easily been avoided. But here we are. On April 24th, we sent our builder our counter choices for the house. It was the final choices we needed to make & easy to do. Originally in our plan & budget, we had chosen granite. As we worked through the kitchen design, we added in some neat ideas. The budget started to stretch but we promised to reign ourselves in & then our builder guided us as well. One way we could stay in a comfortable spot was to not include granite at this time. It made sense & of course, it's something we can add in later. So we took it out. We chose some quality laminate with a radiance finish that looked very much like granite but without the cost & upkeep. All was well, or so we thought. 

Visiting the house about a week & a half ago, we met the three lovely, very Irish gentlemen, with beautiful accents, who were installing all the cabinets. The lead installer pulled me aside to ask why, with such a beautiful house & a very unique kitchen were we putting in laminate. I explained that although we wanted granite or a stone of some type, we needed to stay in budget. He told me that he could actually get us granite for a "mere $1,000 more than the laminate you've chosen". Intrigued & knowing $1,000 wasn't going to sink us, I conferred with my dh, who of course, said "absolutely, if it's good quality". Our builder, upon learning of this conversation said "go for it; this guy is the best stone guy around & his stuff is amazing". The bonus was that the laminate wasn't done yet for the kitchen (everything else was) & the stone is in town, so we'd have our counters done in a week, instead of three. We made arrangements to go pick out "our slab". While there, the stone guy/lead installer really convinced us that the light color we had chosen wasn't a good choice & was adding in an extra element of color that was going to make it overwhelming. As we stood back & reflected on his suggestion, it made sense & we did agree. In the end, we chose a black granite & are so excited to see how this will look in this kitchen. Our builder was impressed & now all that had to happen was a simple form signed indicating the agreed change & a price clarification. That's when everything went south.

Are you still with me?

The price quoted came back much higher (though I will say much lower than what we originally had in our budget) & that didn't make me too happy. But I'm not a screamer, so I just pouted a bit while I reworked our budget. Turns out, our kitchen designer didn't estimate the laminate very accurately, so that was the reason for the higher cost. We accepted that & continued on with setting up a time to sign off on the counters. Yesterday, one hour before we were set to meet our builder at the house to do this, he sent us a text that the stone guy/lead installer had "forgotten" to add in the counter for the tea cupboard & now there is an additional charge. 

Ouch!!

Now I was mad, because the additional fee wasn't the only issue. The timeline had also changed to a move in date of at least three weeks from now. We were supposed to have possession on May 20th. This is clearly not going to happen. We won't go back to the laminate because everything that was suggested to us does make sense & we do like it. So now we're stuck with a higher bill & a changed possession date. Now we're not moving until June but if we have to wait, I'm hopeful we'll at least get not only the counter we would like, within budget & with an added feature, if he'll go for it. If not, we'll be at a standstill even longer. The house sage continues. Thanks so much for listening & letting me rant without guilt. I know this will, in the end, work out. Just need to get to that sweet spot.

And how was your week with Mercury in Retrograde?

Did you have any obstacles in your way?

Hoping, Hoping, Hoping ....

.... that this beautiful cabinet that we

refinished will fit in the main floor 

half bath. It's a very tight fit.

But we're hoping, hoping, hoping

our talented builder will figure out

how to make it all work. I have one

more coat of paint to put on for the

doors & then I can drive those out

to the house so he can put them on.

Fingers crossed it fits ....

10 More Days ....

.... until our new house is truly ours!

There could be small delays but our

contract says May 20th, so we're

aiming for that day as our official

day of possession. We're almost home.

64 Door Knobs.

 I counted a whopping 32 doors in our house today.

That makes a grand total of 64 doorknobs. Not

an easy job to choose that many for each room.

In the end, we chose 2 styles to make it easy.

This set is for the front door. The small doorknob

at the bottom is the same as the knobs all over the

house. A bit of character, instead of  just a round

silver ball. We love it & are very happy with these.

There are 4 french doors, so we chose a set of

glass knobs for each. Such a classic look!

Close up of the glass sets.

Sparkly & filled with character. My

grandparents had french doors with

glass knobs when I was a young child.

I loved playing with them, feeling like

a princess living in a castle. Maybe our

grand baby's will have this sweet memory.

Are all the door knobs in your house the same?

Just 21 Short Days.

Yikes! In just 21 short days, we

get the keys to our new house.

Will it be ready??

Will we be ready????