More Dollhouse Pictures

These pictures show the main level,

starting with the kitchen ....

.... moving on to the dining room ....

.... full view ....

.... central hallway and front door ....

.... sitting room ....

.... fireplace ....

.... and finally, the library ....

.... with another fireplace!

More pictures to follow of the second story later.

Inspired!

I have been inspired this weekend to get life in to order. A big announcement is brewing in my world, created by me, supported by my boss, encouraged by my family ~ an announcement that will take my job to a new level and add to my workload. A good move, a great plan and part of the legacy project my husband and I have been working on for the last 16 years. Now all the small pieces are fitting in to place and the big stuff begins!

But to do this, it was really important to me to have life in order. Phase one was this weekend. Here's what we accomplished:

* took apart our leased office and program space to sort out what is not needed, what we still need and to move things into the middle so we can patch and paint the walls, make new curtains, sand and paint the furniture, hang new pictures and dejunk! More to do but this was the biggest piece to get the rest going.

* our son came over and helped us get the garage under control again. Still need to do a bit more but most of it is now complete.

* took apart our makeshift pantry we created a few years ago in our laundry room, that really didn't in the end, work well. Too cramped and we forever throwing our coats over the shelf because we couldn't reach the actual closet to hang them up properly. And because we couldn't always see what we had, we often would buy something then come home to put it away, only to discover we already had it! Not very efficient. So we created a new pantry today, in the kitchen, accessible, without any barriers and it looks great.

* cleaned out and sorted the kitchen cupboards. This resulted in many items being donated as we discovered we had doubles of some many "things". Yikes! But from there, we went thru the house and came up with lots to donate, including clothes, toys and books we no longer need. Love the feeling of purging.

* cleaned all the bathrooms, dusted the entire house, vacummed and scrubbed all the floors, and took all the recycling in.

* caught up the laundry. Never ending job. But all is well now, clothes hung up or folded and put in drawers, towels away in both the bathroom cupboard and the kitchen drawer, all bedding washed and back on the beds. The laundry basket now has just a few things to be washed by hand.

* rearranged our bedroom so that it functions better, leaving us more room to move. Created a new desk area and am so relieved that I now have a dedicated spot for my writing.

* sorted out the art studio/sewing room/guest room and the library/scrapbooking so that the items needed are back in their respective places.

* found our Brita that had been stored away. Ironically, Home Depot had the filters on sale this weekend. Tonight, we enjoyed fresh, cold, filtered water. No need to buy water now!

In between all this, we did treat ourselves to some fun Canada Day fun, including spending time at the activities our community organized, took our grandson for at least 6 long walks, visited the Antique Mall and visited with our son. It was a great weekend and I`m now focused to carry out this new project with a renewed energy and a house that is all put back together.

To reward myself and inspired by Mrs. Thrifty over at New Beginning http://craftthriftandlove.blogspot.ca/, I am now enjoying this yummy, fresh, warm Raspberry and White Chocolate Scone from Cobs Bread. Yum!

Learning to Watermark Pics

Thank you to Alicia from Time Worn Style who blogged today about Watermarking Pictures to reduce the opportunities for others to take credit. I'm still learning but here's the blog post:

http://www.time-worn-style.com/blog/2012/07/watermarking-your-online-photos.html

And here's my first attempt:

I can't figure out how to centre the watermark but at least now, this pic is protected!

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian Blogging Buddies. Raining & storming here, which has curtailed our plans today, which is ok, as I woke up with a raw throat & the beginnings of a cold. Bad timing as it's a busy week but have started overdosing on Vitamin C, so hopefully it will go away soon.

Enjoy your day. Hope it's sunny, whereever you are!

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!!

Treasures!

I haven't been posting much with so many projects underway. But I miss having time to write & have decided to make this a priority to get the creative words flowing. Heading out to the coast for a 2 week "writing holiday". Can't wait to enjoy the sun & the sea.

Lots of treasure shopping has happened lately. Almost every Friday we end our week by taking some time to check out the charity shop & occasionally, the Antique Mall. Here's a few thing we've uncovered in our travels:

Vintage sewing needles. Marked down to $1.

Vintage basket for $1.

Small china saucer commemorating the birth of Prince William.

Vintage lamp for our upper hallway. Vintage light fixture for the new house. Vintage porcelain hanging doll for our armoire. Vintage silver frame. Wooden frame.

Good finds this week. Part of our "writing holiday" will also be a "treasure hunt". Looking forward to our time off!