littlehouseinKanada

baby play mat

2011-06-09T15:48:00.001-07:00

baby play mat, a photo by sara.cali on Flickr.

I guess this is going to be yet another one of those blogs about houses that turns into blogs about baby stuff. Guilty.

But all of my decorating/crafting energy is going into the babies lately.

Latest is this baby gym/play mat. The gym is from IKEA (apparently being discontinued). I actually purchased one of those ones from babies r us, took it out of the box, and couldn't get over the polyester plastic fabric and the plastic toys (yes, I know, not that big of a deal, but while I have nothing but time to obsess over these things, obsess I will!).

So back it goes to the store, and I made a super simple quilt using a tutorial from purl bee, this super clever method for making applique circles (wayyy simpler than all those other ones I found online where you need templates or make them out of wax paper, etc., and heavy duty IKEA fabric i had in my stash, perfect!

LittlehouseinKanada is getting some new residents

2011-05-01T19:56:00.001-07:00

IMG_1639, a photo by sara.cali on Flickr.

in the meantime

2010-04-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

the bed in its new home in the larger bedroom:

and the little laundry basket i made out of felt in the corner:

not sure how this room will change, i like it simple but it feels like it is missing one or two last things.

bedroom wall

2010-03-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

we tried sleeping downstairs. turns out wood floors are really good at transmitting the sound of cats, jumping onto them. so at 4 in the morning we heard "thunk" x 100 as they jumped up and down from the window. not so much.

so we are back upstairs. and im still trying to decide what to do with the second bedroom (which we are currently using as ours, moved the guest bed into what was our bedroom). i painted it all a fresh white and ordered a saucer pendant for the ceiling.

i have this image of a wall of wallpaper behind the teak headboard. havent found just the right thing yet, but ferm livings new collection caught my eye. i kind of love it (am i crazy?)

wallpaper

2010-03-16T21:03:00.001-07:00

thinking about a wall of wallpaper behind the headboard in the other bedroom. current contenders:

more random posting...

(Also, where to find the flower one for purchase in the us/canada??? it is eco brand, the name of the print is "decorama", ive loved it since i saw it on Nestled In but my google skills fail me :(

Always scheming

2010-01-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

We have a house guest staying with us for 2 weeks (a student of the husbands) and its sparked some rethinking about the way things are organized.

I am a big believer in having things set up for the way you live 90% of the time, but we have more and more guests lined up for the future, and it feels like we could improve the bathroom situation.

The house has 1.75 baths (is that the technical term? one full bath and one bath that just has a shower, no tub). the 3/4 bath is downstairs in the lower level. Its not quite a basement, it has a full size window, but it is half underground.

This is currently where the cats sleep/stay when we are not home, thus rendering the second bath not very much used (we have the kind of cats that like to get into trouble with whatever you leave laying around).

So the wacky idea we came up with this weekend is to change things all around. Turn the downstairs into a master suite of sorts, its a HUGE room (14 ft by almost 20 ft), with the attached bathroom. Use what is now our bedroom as the guest room, which will then have its own bath just around the corner (and the bathroom we will use most often during the day), put the cats in what is now the guest room, and turn what is now my room (which has all my clothes) into the sewing room/office.

The master could turn our really nice I think, has enough space to put in some big IKEA wardrobes or some kind of open clothing storage, it has the laundry room just off the side, and due to some weirdness with the heating vents, is actually the warmest room in the house.

The wacky part is the cats would have the master bedroom, but I'm sure they will enjoy it :)

As far as things to do, I would need to put down a new floor downstairs (thinking about a glossy white laminate), and do some painting. Otherwise possibly tile the downstairs bathroom, the sink and toilet are in great shape, there is a nice sized closet, and a very nice floor to ceiling tiled shower.

So... watch this space!

can you love cabinets?

2010-01-18T07:22:00.001-08:00

it sounds silly. but if you can, i sure love these

They are from Viola Park, the slightly less expensive little sister of henrybuilt. I've been googling for mid century modern-ish cabinets for a good 6 months and only now found these. Apparently they came out about 6 months ago (ah, lame google skills). They are just what I want for the kitchen and bathroom. A little bit MCM inspired (in the pigment laquer) without being over the top.

I've contacted them to see if they recommend against using them in the bathroom for any reason. If not I'm thinking a single sink cabinet will solve my vanity woes.

Of course then its time to pick the color. They have a range of whites and grays (more love!). I do like the super duper dark walls as is, but I'm thinking of going back to something a bight lighter if I do replace the tiles/toilet/vanity. But I can't decide if I want a combo of whites (tiles, walls, vanity, sink) or more something white/off white/light grey (and if so, which elements which colors). The other undecided pieces are the bathroom lights, faucets, toilet, etc.

If all goes well I would like to use them for the kitchen as well. I had always had a plan there to do dark cabinets plus white solid surface countertops, but I do like the whites and lights they have as well. This is a longer term plan though so only thoughts there.

closet, again

2010-01-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

I was digging around in the hall closet again and noticed that there was a lot of cold air right by the old mail slot.

The slot was closed off from the outside, but they left the metal tube in the closet. This basically meant there was a 10"x4" hole to the outside. And when the outside can be -30, this is a big deal.

So, excited about a project, off to home depot I went. I had some leftover styrofoam block insulation from insulating the attic door, but I splurged on the x-small roll of the pink fiberglass stuff. It was only $8, and it makes it easier to get into all the nooks. Plus it is pink ;) And oh so fun when you are trying not to inhale the fiberglass bits.

With the supplies it was really quite easy, I cleaned off the little bits of glue that were around the opening. Then cut squares of the pink stuff and stuffed it up in there. Instantly I could feel the difference and the lack of cold draft.

Next I stuck on 2 drywall patches. One was too small so I just layered them.

And finally applied the spackling stuff. This took a little while as it was hard to get a smooth layer that didnt leave holes. It will dry and then I will apply a second coat. And eventually give the closet a good coat of paint.

This was a really fun project, not too complicated and gives instant results AND saves energy. It is also nice not to have that funny metal thing sticking in to the closet.

closets

2010-01-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

There are 2 pretty nicely organized closets in this house (the ones we use for our clothes), but some others need work. The front entry closet is pretty large (and tall, it goes to the ceiling) but other than a bar and shelf it has no storage and its a mess. I made a list of what I want to be able to fit in it:

~20 pairs of shoes
~6-8 pairs of boots (what, i live in Canada, even my husband has a pair of boots)
~6-8 coats
2 computer bags
1 purse
shelf for mail
+ assorted hats, gloves, scarfs, face masks, etc (again, see Canada comment)

I dont think that it is crazy, but I'm not sure what the best approach is. I know I need to use the height for storage, and some kind of shelfs or cubbies for the bags/purses/mail. im not sure what the best way to store boots is (i dont want them in boxes that you have to open as they wont get used that way).

ive been looking for pictures of closets and organization systems, but havent found the perfect thing yet. if you see anything, send it my way!

Lights

2010-01-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

Saw these on a blog recently (cant remember where, sorry if it was yours). Love them, they are paired with very country furniture here, but i think they sort of have a midcentury vibe to them. I ended up taking down the bedroom lights I had picked out, the swing arms were just too big for the space (our master bedroom is not the "official" master in the house, just one of the other bedrooms, so its on the small side).
the swing arms will find a new home elsewhere (maybe one over my desk and one over C's?) For now I have some simple IKEA table lamps in our bedroom, but I think these would look kind awesome with the bed.
Now to plan how to get my hands on a pair of them.

bathroooommmm

2010-01-12T07:50:00.000-08:00

I saw this sink at IKEA the other day. I've never really given it a second look because it is always displayed on a kind of country looking vanity (with old fashioned faucet), but really it has a kind of softened version of the large square sinks i've been looking at. You can't tell from the picture but it is also oversized. It has a slope to the sides to help prevent the problem Liz mentioned. Of course it only has the one tap drilled. It is also approx 10x less expensive than the Duravit sink.

One thing I wonder about is the size, is it a standard size so I could put it on top of a different vanity?

Living room

2010-01-07T09:18:00.001-08:00

The interior designer came over to take photos! They are her pictures so I don't want to post them here, but you can see them on her flikr page at:

here

here

here

and

here

tiles

2010-01-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

i started looking at different tile options, im sort of leaning more towards hex

or my current favorite octagon and dot than penny rounds.

I'm also leaning towards white which I think will work better if we decide to change the paint color one day.

For the sink I havent found anything I like more than the Vero

Still not sure about the vanity, I love the Vero with chrome legs

but having almost 0 storage in the bathroom, while we don't actually use it, seems like it would be killer for resale. not to mention the fact that it could be nice to have.

While I love and drool over super modern bathrooms, I've convinced myself it would look out of place in our 50s home (if we ever move and get one of those modern pre fab homes then I will have one). But I don't want to the "recreate the 50s bathroom down to the avocado green tiles" look either. (or are black walls already super modern?)

Maybe the simple wall mounted vanity would work (lighter wood perhaps?)

It is more on the modern side but I don't think it is over the top.

Pair this with simple streamlined modern fixtures.

Still some thinking and planning to do...

Painted!

2010-01-02T15:41:00.000-08:00

I decided at the paint store that dark grey wasnt dark enough, and picked out a very very dark grey (Benjamin Moore Soot). I freaking *love* it! Somehow the dark color makes the room look twice as tall (so much so that its kind of weird when you walk up to it and someone is in the room, they look like a midget). And the bright lime green inside the medecine cabinet turned out super fun looking (It still gets its white cover put back over it, at least thats the plan).

I'm glad I gave the black a try, even the husband who usually doesn't care about paint says it looks great. I think it will look even greater when we get a new floor (white penny rounds?) and a new vanity/sink/mirror/lights, but I'm glad I did the painting first, and I'm happy to live with it until we get around to changing that stuff as well.

Bathroom - before (ish)

2010-01-01T15:30:00.001-08:00

The colors don't come out quite right in the picture but I'm getting ready to paint (decided that I dont have the energy/time to deal with changing the sink/tiles/toilet this month, plus this will give me a chance to try out a color first)

So while the walls are yellow compared with the freshly painted (decorators white) ceiling, they, and the shower tiles, are not quite that yellow. But I'm getting ready to go crazy and paint it all a dark grey (Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal to be exact, the color on the right. it looks black here but is really more of a dark grey).

So on the one hand im kinda chicken, but on the other hand its only paint, but on the third hand it is a dark paint and will be a PITA to paint over, but on the fourth hand i already painted over a bright pink and survived, plus its a small room so it wont be a huge task.

my other thinking is that painting the whole room white will highlight the not totally bright white tiles and floor in a not so favorable way.

so if i havent talked myself out of it by tomorrow i will be at the paint store picking up the paint. plus as a surprise for my husband, who when i asked him what color he would paint the bathroom showed me a bright orange swatch, im painting the inside of the medicine cabinet (on the right wall you cant see in the picture), bright orange. i think it will look nice with the dark walls and white cabinet. or not. but then i can paint it again right?

the one other option would be to paint the medicine cabinet outside in the same grey (but a more glossy finish) so it blends into the walls more and the orange is more of a pop.

thoughts? or am i crazzzzyyyy on the whole grey thing?

more bathroom

2009-12-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

I'm going to go ahead with the bathroom early next year. The plan is to change the sink (I'm pretty set on one of the two posted below), put down new tile, and change to a dual flush toilet.

What I'm clueless on is the tile/paint/vanity (so pretty much everything but the sink).
For the tiles I have 3 favorites:

1 50s era penny rounds, or other similar
2 very large white glossy (glass?) modern tiles
3 darker slate tiles

The walls would depend on the tile, if its 1 or 2 then dark grey, if it is 3 then white

The vanity, again depending on the rest of the colors, but either a darker wood, or a shiny white.

I can't decide how much to stick with the era of the house vs something more modern.

More bathroom

2009-12-14T22:47:00.000-08:00

I found the sink(s) of my dreams (do I dream of sinks? I dont think so, but if I did it would be this/these).

From Duravit

From Hastings

I love the dual faucets, and the slightly larger ledge at the back which is just enough space for a few things (but not too much space, we keep most of the bathroom "stuff" in the cabinet. I imagine it sitting on top of a nice wood (dark but not too dark) clean lined vanity.

ETA: This is a very dangerous combination, dreaming about a bathroom remodel the week I should hear about my bonus at work, and a few weeks before my birthday.
To go with the sink I would like a glossy white bathroom floor also please.

If you give a mouse a cookie...

2009-12-13T20:59:00.001-08:00

You know that book? Where you start with the cookie and you end up with, um, a bunch of things (I don't know what exactly, but a lot of stuff). That is how I feel about our bathroom. I would like to spruce it up a bit, the shower and tub are actually in pretty good shape, but it starts with needing a coat of paint.

Of course if I give it a coat of paint, I'm going to want to paint behind the toilet.

And if I have to remove the toilet to get it really well painted back there (I want to go from white to a dark charcoal, so it needs to get done well), I will want to replace it with a dual flush model.

And if I'm changing the toilet, I will want to have tiles laid down (it is currently a laminte, which is just sort of eh, and the whole room can't be more than like 15 sq ft so it wouldn't cost that much_

And if I get a new floor, I will want to change out the vanity (a sort of blah 80s thing which isn't wide enough for 2 sinks, would love to replace it with a trough sink with two faucets on top of a simple clean line vanity).

At which point the desire to put some paint on the walls means a whole bathroom redo.

I wonder how much that would cost...

in case anyone is still reading...

2009-12-12T12:21:00.001-08:00

surely everyone is using google reader right?

the dining room is done! before

after

who wants to come over for dinner?

Working working work

2009-11-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to come up for air in the past few weeks with what has been an insane work schedule. The only house related stuff that has happened is I ordered this blanket for the bed from lands end (according to the e-recipet, it was 1:55 am at the time).

It came the other day and is lovely and just what I was looking for (and the price dropped and they gave me another $10 back!). And one day I will take a picture of it in the room.

progress

2009-10-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

things are moving along slowly, but there is some progress.

Got 5 more Billy bookcases from IKEA (at the suggestion of the interior dectorator) to line the long wall in the living room. We put them together this weekend and made the cutouts for the electrical and heating vents.

The new table is setup with the chairs.

Many of the bigger pieces are picked out for the living room/on their way. I can't wait to see it all in place!

we have lights!

2009-10-04T07:55:00.001-07:00

the bedroom lights arrived and i mounted them! and i am super excited to learn that you can get LED light bulbs (instead of the halogen that they come with) for these fixtures!!

the last remaining task is the window covering, not sure what to go for here. I saw some nice solid colors but maybe an interesting pattern would make things a little more exciting.

Bedroom lights

2009-09-19T20:20:00.001-07:00

I think I found them! And they aren't crazy expensive like some of the others I like

Also, I'm crazy with the paint

2009-09-16T10:35:00.001-07:00

I painted the living room and dining room a few weekends ago.

Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore.

I hate it.

A combo of too much reading online/too little testing colors on my walls.
I told myself it was fine, that I would go with it. But I'm ready to admit that I hate it. And I'm changing it this weekend. To a pure cool white. And yes, I know a warmer white would be warmer in the winter. But I have a furnace, and I live in a place that is very very cold but also very sunny. And the room has 4 giant South facing windows.

I'm just glad I decided before I also painted the hallway, and the bathroom, etc. etc.

Pictures to come when it is the nice pure white I wanted all along.

stuff

2009-09-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

So I will pretend people read this blog in Google reader and thus are totally unperturbed by the lack of updates.

I got a toaster this one

it looks like this.

For some reason I have been looking for a toaster for weeks, unable to make a decision. Do you get like that about random things? I'm pretty sure I spent more time looking for a toaster than a car, and about as much time as I spent looking for all the rest of the appliances (fridge, dishwasher, stove). And actually I haven't owned a toaster for 5 years because I never got one in France (i guess partially because the bread there doesn't really need a toaster)

So come on over, toast at my place.

bedroom, again

2009-09-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

it is inching along but getting closer to being done. the two main unfinished items are the window covering and the bedside lamps

for window covering, it is a very wide but short window. i was thinking honeycomb blinds, as i think floor length curtains might be too fussy, but then if they are plain white maybe it would work. long window is annoying because it = custom necessary. none of the off the shelf honeycomb blinds are wide enough. same with most of the curtain rods. (i didnt see the point in paying for temporary shades so that is some packing paper taped up to the window frame, classy!)

for the bedside lamps, i had a square one for me, but it got a little crowded on the nightstand now that the clock radio is here. im thinking maybe little ones you can clip onto the headboard above the nightstand, something in chrome?

blogging about home improvement is hard

2009-08-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

after all the energy it takes to do the stuff, i have 0 left to write about it/post pictures.
but rest assured it does continue. highlights of today include:
- making our hedges have nice flat edges. I've never had hedges before but I love them, they are so green and pretty and square. I want to put them all along the fence in the backyard
- installing a door knob on the door we had put up to the 3rd level/basement (it is not really a basement, it is only half underground, but whatever). this will be the cats room, so it has a locking door knob on it, as in, lock them in the basement. This freaks me out a little (to have a door knob that you can use to lock the door from the outside), but less so because it is one of those safety bathroom door knobs you can unlock with the side of your fingernail (but hopefully you as in person you, not cat you). And then more so because my Austrian husband found it totally normal to install a locking door knob into a room (insert comments about Austrian tradition of locking your family up in the basement here).

So, as you can see, things are happening. Boxes (with the exception of the books) are all unpacked. And... interior designer is coming over on Friday for a 2 hr consultation about the living room. Woo hoo!

Pictures and all that good stuff to follow.

My room

2009-08-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the after of the room from the previous pictures:

It is our third bedroom, and it is all mine :) This is partially because I have an awesome husband, and partially because I have a husband who doesn't like looking at my sewing mess.

It isn't all done, I need to paint and rehang the closet doors, put up some art, and I would like to get a new chair for the sewing desk. But things are put away and everything has a place.

more paint

2009-08-22T13:26:00.001-07:00

the master bedroom is done, with the exception of the mattress. I had completely forgotten that beds are different sizes here so our mattress wont fit! pictures to come.

and i have started attacking the second room, just one more coat of paint to go. this will be "my room" with a sewing table, my closet, and a general place for me to make a mess :) i had left over grey paint so im using the same colors, i think the red cabinet will look nice with the grey.

bedroom

2009-08-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

i finished the second coat of paint today, Benjamin Moore Metropolitan, which turned out to be exactly the not too light, not too dark, totally neutral, gray I was looking for!

I suck at taking "before" photos as I'm just too excited to jump right in, so you are going to have to use your imagination and picture the whole room in this pink color:

and now:

i need a second pair of hands to help me bring the rest of the bed in the room (those are just the floating nightstands), and i need to hang the pictures and get some window covering.

For the pictures, I'm thinking white frames would look best, IKEA has their RIBBA frames in white now. For the window covering I'm unsure. Either white wooden blinds or some kind of curtains? Any thoughts?

kitchen put away

2009-08-17T20:11:00.001-07:00

we finished washing, drying, and putting away all the kitchen stuff today. here is how the kitchen looks now

and just so you dont think i took a picture of empty cabinets:

i really wonder if one can just change out the doors to ikea cabinet doors. because many components of this kitchen (the white frames, the white counter) are pretty close to what i want from an ikea kitchen. the cabinets are in great shape and there are even nifty things like pull out drawers for pots and pans...

It is ours!

2009-08-16T17:42:00.001-07:00

Everything went just fine with the walk through and closing and our stuff arrived yesterday. Now we are surrounded by boxes, boxes and more boxes.
Yesterday we realized that the carpet downstairs (the lower level half basement) smells bad (the previous owners had cats), so we ripped it out (even the movers commented on it smelling bad). It smells approximately a million times better, still need to put a coat of primer on it to seal it and then lay a new floor on top.

It feels like there are about a million billion things to do, and im still exhausted from the 60 hours i worked during the last short week (as in 60 hours from m-thur). But the house is perfect and we still love it. the chairs look awesome in the living room, the bed the seller left for us is perfect, we met two of the neighbors who were so so friendly (our next door neighbor is a nice old german woman), and we OWN A HOUSE!!

Updates

2009-08-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Mostly just waiting (and working like crazy) so not much of interest to report. But today we went to the house to meet with the seller and learn about the plants (we apparently have a big bunch of raspberry bushes, score!)

And as a bonus she asked us if we needed a bed, because she has a teak bed with attached nightstands she doesn't need... um, YES PLEASE!
I didn't snap a photo or anything, because that would have seemed weird, but it looks something like this (picture snagged from here)

Granted I'm sure it isn't in as perfect condition as this one, but for free, already in my house?? When I have been searching the web/everywhere for a bed and nightstands? How more perfect can it get?

That just leaves me with the paint, I have approximately 45 gray paint samples layed out on the floor in front of me. There are a few I keep coming back to, but then I end up thinking they are too blue, or too putty colored, etc. Has anyone painted a room in Benjamin Moore Metropolitan AF-690??

sofas, round 2

2009-07-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

The store only had the second sofa in stock, which was declared to be too soft. I think the one with the built in cushions would be more firm but to order it without trying out first...

Christoph liked this one (which also comes in a sectional, in a few different grays), and oh boy is it firm!

Winner winner!!

2009-07-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

The gus modern sectionals I love are currently on sale for $600 off! And this is pretty much the first piece of furniture I wanted to get (our little Habitat love seat is going to be lost in that sea of a living room. Score.

We are going to go check them out this weekend.

I'm thinking of one of the darker grey fabrics, and there are two different models I like, any favorites between the two??

Carter:

Jane:

I originally fell for the second one, but the first one is kind of growing on me and gaining ground. But I wonder about the practicality/durability of having the bottom cushions attached? On the other hand, it means they cant slide off like they do with our current couch...

Inspiration

2009-07-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

Saw this picture on apartment therapy:

And it immediatly made me think of this picture from the new house:

It is just off the living room (which i plan to paint a shade of light grey), so im thinking a wall of grey/white/black wallpaper could look really cool right there!

In the long run I would love to change the railing on the stairs to something more modern, it isn't one of the highest priorities now but it goes on the list.

true gray

2009-07-14T18:27:00.001-07:00

I was doing some digging online about Sterling and found some references to the Munsell Gray Scale. I had never heard of it before, but what I understand from reading a little is that the axis of this scale is neutral gray (well really the spectrum of gray from white to black). It turns out Sterling is quite close to a neutral gray, which seems to confirm my idea that I am looking for something along this scale.

I want to find out more about this scale, and if I can find other paint colors along it (lighter and darker).

Paint

2009-07-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

This is what the floor looks like right now. I went to Home depot and got all the grey/gray paint chips they had.

So far I really like Sterling (780E-3), it seems to me to be the most pure, without blue or purple or yellow undertones. It is a bit darker than I was thinking of for the living room, but more or less what I had imagined in the bedroom. I know they can mix paint, can they just mix it with a pure white to make it lighter, or does that change the tone? The next color up on the card I don't like as much, it looks more purple to me.

There are various pictures of the color online but they all look way more blue to me than the card does.

simple bed

2009-07-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

Back to the drawing board for the bed question. IKEA has a new metal frame Rebbenes that might be just the thing:

(simple, right?)

what i cant figure out is if it works the same as all their other bed frames? As in can it be used with the wooden slats and just a mattress (both of which we have from the last IKEA bed)? The description here does talk about "mattress bases in the SULTAN series" but does this mean only the box spring style ones IKEA started making? Something to be investigated...

As for the nightstands, I haven't come across anything I love yet. I think they will be the only furniture in the room really (the closet is large enough for Christoph's clothing) so I'm willing to spend a little more to have them be just right.

I do like the low knoll side tables but the husband is insistent on something with drawers to reduce the clutter (and i am known to have piles of books, magazines, jewelery, etc, so it is a fair point)

So the search continues...

Bedroom photos

2009-07-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

This set of bedroom photos from Judith Wilson has me rethinking the bedroom plan. I think instead of the metal bed (which I'm still afraid of hitting my head on when reading in bed), I'm going to start with just a support for the mattress

And this is an idea I hadn't thought of, I have a yellow throw blanket and yellow shams but otherwise white sheets. I like the idea of putting the yellow sham under the white pillows (earth shattering i know)

Inspiration pictures

2009-07-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from different books by Judith Wilson - these are mostly living rooms.

bathroom sinks

2009-07-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

I was wandering around IKEA today (went to pick up some cheap dishes for the cats and sheets to protect our friends couch) and came across their (new?) line of bathroom furnishings. (click on the picture to make it bigger)

In particular, the sinks were just what I had always had in mind for a bathroom, a molded counter with the sink built right in, meaning no area for stuff to get stuck in. and in a nice shiny white finish. They had double sink counters, and also more narrow counters with one large sink but 2 faucets:

Love this!

I'm not at all sure what will take priority with renovations and updates when we get into the house. What is clear is that the furnace will be replaced (boring but necessary to prevent it from breaking when it is -30, and also because it is 55 years old and thus is something like 40% efficient, as opposed to the 80-95% you can get today, how can the previous sellers not have replaced it??), and we will paint the house. The rest (including furniture) I will start making a list and making some choices once we are moved in and its clear what I want to tackle first.

cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater?

2009-07-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

I contacted an interior designer today to inquire about her rates for a single room. I am thinking about hiring her for the living room, I have all these ideas of how I want it to look, but the large size and almost totally open 2 walls has me stumped.

On the one hand, I feel like it is a little bit cheating, like this is my project and then I'm just going to get someone else to do it
On the other hand, I think it could make a big difference, it is only one room, and I love her style and the rooms in her portfolio.

Then there is the question of price, but her fees seem really reasonable, and it would be less than the cost of a new piece of furniture I'm considering for the room, so probably worth it to get it right in the first place.

My room

2009-07-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

As described below it looks like plans are shaping up to give me my very own room for sewing/crafts/closet space (this is partially because I have a totally awesome husband, and partially because he knows I make a mess of my sewing space and this way he won't have to look at it).

I haven't even started to think about how this room could be arranged. I know I want to use one of the BIG tables we have as a workspace, it will have my red ikea cabinet to store the crafty supplies. There is a small closet in the room, but maybe I will put a second IKEA wardrobe in there for more space?

And what about the colors? I am going to do very pale gray, along with white, and a slightly darker gray in the rest of the house. But this room?

I do know that we want to get all our stuff in and live with it for a while before we go crazy getting new things, but I'm excited to see how this unexpected space will turn out.

Beds, beds, beds

2009-07-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

I love the look of two twin beds in a guestroom:

Something about the symmetry is really appealing. And on the positive side, it means you can have two guests who might not want to share a bed (friends, etc) at the same time.

But is this really mean for guests who do like sharing a bed? Would you be annoyed if you were staying at a friends place and you had to sleep 1 or 2 feet away from your loved one? Would you be less annoyed if it was in a really pretty room?

master bedroom?

2009-07-03T18:24:00.000-07:00

The house has 3 bedrooms upstairs, a big master bedroom (15X9.5 ft, this seems big since our last bedroom was about 7x8), one small room, and a good sized third bedroom (10.5 x 9.5 ft approx).

The current thinking is to use the second biggest bedroom as our bedroom, the master bedroom as an office/guestroom, and the littlest room as my sewing/knitting/crafting and also dressing room space.

this leaves the third level (the low one) as the cats level, but at this point, with only two of us in the house, it seems to make sense. we dont end up buying extra furniture just to fill space, and i get the luxury of my very own space to make a mess and have a dressing room.

it also means the guestroom won't just sit empty when it is not in use, and it (for the time being) doesn't have to be on the third level with the cats litter box (so come visit us fast before we change our minds).

Inspection

2009-07-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

We had the inspection this morning (2.5 hours!). On the whole it was quite good, the main issues is that the furnace is original to the house (over 50 years!!, we knew it was old when we offered though) so on the one hand it could break at any moment, and on the other hand it is realllyy inefficient. As it isn't broken it is unlikely the sellers will give us anything towards fixing it.
Otherwise there were little things that should be done eventually, and mostly it was just overwhelming to hear all the the things you have to do when you own a house! Can we really do all of this? I guess lots of people own houses so it must be possible right?

As for the furnace, I think we will probably replace it when we move in, both to get something more efficient, but also to avoid having it break in the dead of winter. There are various energy and renovation tax credits so that should help reduce the cost some.

The good news is we still loved the house :) After we heard everything from the inspector we also made some measurements of the rooms (um, huge compared to our dinky apartment), so I have lots of thinking to do about the furniture.
And for now we are just waiting to hear back from the mortgage broker, everyone says it should be fine but we will be much more relaxed when we hear the loan has been approved.

In contract!!!

2009-06-29T12:19:00.001-07:00

Just heard from the realtor, the sellers signed the offer and she is on her way over to pick up the deposit check!
The conditions (financing, inspection, etc) should be met by the 6th of July and then if all goes well we will close on the 21st of August.

We both *love* the house and are over the moon excited!!

Distraction

2009-06-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

Lets distract ourselves from the offer by thinking about the shiney white flooring by Ikea, MARKLAND.

It looks like this

and when installed something like this:

(photo from here).

I'm not a big fan of carpet, even for a basement, but tiles seem so cold. Laminate flooring that looks like wood is kind of eh, but I love the idea of a white glossy floor that isn't trying to look like something it is not. Plus the bright floor would help brighten up a basement. I'm not sure what one would do with the stairs (can you lay this kind of floor there? is it too slippery?).

Offer in

2009-06-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

We just signed an offer for the "red door house". Now we sit around waiting and obsessing until we hear back from the realtor (we should hear something tonight but might not get the final word till tomorrow morning.)
I'm afraid to jinx it so I will tell you all about it if it works out...

Getting a little tired

2009-06-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

Went back to visit "hot mess house" again today. The neighborhood - AMAZING, the house - found a few more issues that are more than just cosmetic, so sadly we have to cross it off the list. Le sigh.

Good news is that I get to go pick up The Husband from the airport tonight! Woo hoo!!

Then tomorrow we will go out and look at maybe 5 places, a mix of ones I've seen (so he gets an idea of whats out there) and maybe one or two new ones. There have been some price changes so who knows...

Pictures don't tell the whole truth

2009-06-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

Back from the morning with the realtor. The rundown on the houses:

Diagonal floor house - this actually had an offer in already but we went to check it out. For the price I felt like it was just kind of "meh". It had some serious noise from the road a few blocks away, and other than the cute outside shape, in person it was underwhelming

Pimped out house - Being on the same street as diagonal floor house, it had the same road noise. The first level was dominated by a giant island in the kitchen, leaving not much space for a living area and table. The master bedroom was GIANT, I think the bedroom + closet + bathroom was bigger than our last apartment. And as a result the other two bedrooms were on the lower level of the bi-level. Too pimped out for us.

That 60s house - This one will be renamed "hot mess house". It is being lived in by university students (apparently one of them partially owns it with their parents or something?) And they are all boys. And just wow. BUUUTTT I was able to see beyond the piles of dirty dishes, empty bottles, and other random stuff strewn around the floor to realize that it has potential. It would need to have new floors put down, and possibly the kitchen done, but much of the rest could be given a good cleaning and be livable until we decided to change it. The layout is great, the neighborhood is PERFECT. And don't they always say "location first!"
So the realtor is going to pull comps for the area and I'm going to go back for a second look and put in a first low offer. We want to see if they are willing to negotiate on price at all (it is a bit above what we were thinking given the updates - and i think overpriced for the condition as well). Fingers crossed!!!!

No fireplace?

2009-06-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

I just was looking at the pictures again and realized that diagonal floor house has no fireplace.

This isn't a huge deal for us (I've never used a fireplace, and although we are going somewhere cold I am fine to do without), but I wonder if it would really hurt the resale, given that lots of the homes I've seen here have a fireplace.

I will ask the realtor what she thinks, but what do you think? One option would be to install a direct vent gas fireplace, I wonder if one of the 2 or three sided ones could look nice between the living space and dining space in the main room. Otherwise in the so called "family room"?

2 other houses for tomorrow

2009-06-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

There is a second house on the same street as the new one (oops, forgot to name that one, lets call it "diagonal floor house"). So even though it is priced a tiny bit above the range we were thinking of, I will have a look tomorrow (the realtor says she thinks they might come down on the price).

A good name for it would be "pimped out house" (hmm, what if we end up with this one, i wonder if im going to regret that name...)

It is a bi-level, which has been all updated

With fancy bathrooms like this

And a kitchen like this

From the way the description is written, it sounds like only the master is on the upper level, and the other two bedrooms are on the lower level. Of course they have full sized windows, but I'm not sure how I feel about that (Megan, I know how you would feel about it!) But it will be fun to at least see the updates they have done and get an idea about the street.

The other house I am going to see is pretty much the opposite (although it is also just a smidge above the range we were originally thinking) and they don't even show pictures of the inside, just say that the house is pretty much original from when it was built (which would be 1967... which sounds like a good name, "that 60s house") It does however, have a pretty nice look from the outside.

And it is in one of the most desirable neighborhoods near the university (basically all the other houses are in the 700k - 1 million + range), would be walking distance to work for The Husband (instead of walking distance to transit), so it could be something to consider as a longer term project. It would need to be at least livable to start with though.

Should be an exciting day tomorrow!

Back on the horse

2009-06-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

I am more addicted to checking my email for new house updates than a girl waiting around by the phone for a guy to call.

Today I was rewarded with this pretty little thing, another slope-y roof style home:

which has been nicely redone inside:

(although what is up with the diagonal hardwood floors? i find that so weird. but then that isnt really a reason not to buy a house is it?)

we are going to check this one out tomorrow morning.

Wasn't meant to be

2009-06-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Our realtor called first thing this morning but they got an offer yesterday and the house is no longer on the market. Oh well. Back to waiting for something new to come up!

Never a dull moment

2009-06-23T22:05:00.001-07:00

Our wire transfer went through so first thing tomorrow morning, if the house is still available, we will be making an offer!

Cross your fingers and hold your thumbs!!

I can't think of a creative title for yet another post about house hunting

2009-06-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to realize I should name the houses because talking about them later is confusing otherwise.

So today I saw

- pool house (i bet we can all guess which one that is): to much noise from the roads behind (they are pretty far away but no wall i guess?), and just eh overall for the price.

- house with the red doorway: lovely house, it was built in the 50s and has the original hardwood floors. Very nice neighborhood (but also $100,000 more). We will go back to visit this one when The Husband gets here.

That leaves us with the house we tried to make an offer on last night (lets call that first offer house). The Swiss bank finally is moving (they money has actually left our account there) so if the house is still on the market in a few days I will go back to see it again and make another offer, if not, there will always be more houses to come.

This house hunting is exciting, but also a little stressful. I am very greatful for our awesome realtor, but also looking forward to having the house and moving onto the fun decorating part ;)

A little excitement

2009-06-23T07:53:00.001-07:00

So I saw the latest house yesterday afternoon and we decided to make an offer that evening.
Unfortunately, due to the incompetence of some Swiss bankers, our wire transfer from Switzerland has not arrived so I could only put down as a deposit the amount you can get out of an ATM machine with 3 different accounts, with a promise of more to come by Friday, but that wasn't enough for the sellers. (And fair enough for them, I think the house got quite a bit of traffic the first day so they weren't ready to accept the offer).
I will go see the other two houses today, and if the first house is still on the market when the money comes we will probably make another offer. I will be happy if we can still make that house our own, but if not, thats life and not the end of the world either.

I am officially impatient

2009-06-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

A new house just got posted today and from the pictures I *love* it

From the slope-y midcentury roof

To the hardwood floors and big windows in the living room

To a bunch of other things I don't have pictures of here like the ensuite with shower, the great neighborhood and the walking distance to the transit.

I emailed the realtor to ask to see it tomorrow (side note, the showings for this morning got pushed to tomorrow because of not being able to reach the sellers) but then 5 minutes later had to call her and ask if we could go tonight instead. She is going to check if we can get in this evening!!! Eeeekkk!

Another house for today

2009-06-22T06:48:00.000-07:00

The realtor sent some listings last night for another neighborhood she thought we should look at, and I got weak in the knees when I saw this one:

And the lovely wood floors inside:

It was built in 1955 and looks so cute. Its in a neighborhood close to the university and to the hospital, it seems quite mixed in terms of 50% rentals and 50% houses (but really quite expensive ones, even this one is over 100,000 more than a similar house in some of the other neighborhoods). I really really hope it has a nice neighborhood feel to it!!

the house for tomorrow

2009-06-21T15:43:00.001-07:00

here is the house i am going to look at tomorrow. the layout is great, it has lovely bay windows in the living room:

but it also has this big pool in the backyard

it seems like a perfectly nice looking pool, but a pool just isnt for us. we have to see about the cost for removal, but i guess there is always something to compromise on.

So, househunting

2009-06-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

It continues, I've seen about 18 houses so far, and haven't found "the one" yet. I do have a much better idea of which neighborhoods, and which parts of those neighborhoods I want to be in.
The best of the bunch is one in a great neighborhood, with a nice layout, but backs onto a large road. So even with the 2 large walls, you can still hear the traffic noise. And we know that you can't change the location, so that one is off the list.

I will go out Monday to see another house with the Realtor, we had originally passed it over because of a large pool in the backyard (um, I thought I left Southern California!) but if it can be removed it is something we would consider. I'm a little worried about what it would do to the value of the home to remove the pool, but we can't be the only ones who don't want a pool in this city where it snowed last year in 11 months! It also would need new floors and some other updates, so we are going to see what the realtor thinks in terms of if it would be worth putting the money into it. On the plus side the house is on the lower side of our budget so we could do the work right away. Of course maybe it will be gone by Monday, or maybe I won't like it, but I'm still enjoying playing out the scenarios of each house in my head.

house hunting is hard!

2009-06-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

I've seen 12 houses this week, and discovered I am super duper picky when it comes to the neighborhood. Combine that with the recent fact we learned that it will take 1 year before The Husband can get a drivers license so that he can drive without someone in the car (meaning, after our first winter here, when he will be walking to the light rail stop) and its quite a challenge to find something close enough but still nice!

The Realtor is great though, and we have decided to expand our search out one more stop on the light rail line, so fingers crossed there will be some good properties to go look at on Monday when we go out again. I know that 12 houses is not that many so I'm not discouraged yet!

p.s. putting disgusting amounts of air freshener in your house doesn't cover up the smoke smell, it just makes me want to run out of there as fast as possible. thanks.

The most boring blog

2009-06-12T04:41:00.000-07:00

I have no time to think about houses and home design because I'm knee deep in pension plans and Canadian-Swiss-American-French tax law (I know, you are so jealous).

So I will leave you with 2 pictures of my current favorite house (click on to enlarge). Been on the market 11 days now. If it is still there in 5 days I will be visiting it with the Realtor.

How cute is the front? Love the little stairs, it just looks like a friendly house

Living room. Pretty pretty new floors. I can already imagine how they would look with super pale grey walls.

Hurry up and wait

2009-06-09T04:58:00.000-07:00

With one week left to go there is lots and lots to be done here and limited time for thinking about the new house.
I'm selling off everything electronic which won't work on 110 V. I had considered messing with converters, transformers, etc. but it feels good to make a clean break, and with the high prices for electronics here, the used prices i can get for things will almost cover new stuff in Canada.

The Realtor wrote to ask when she should send the updated listings for us to look over. (I was so excited to get her mail, she is turning out to be really great, especially as far as being responsive and proactive, I had thought I would need to reminder her to send it to us but she beat me to it. Given that I'm a horrible impatient person this is a huge plus). She will send them this weekend and we will have another look through. But given that we went through the last list pretty closely, and are getting any updates by mail, I don't expect a big change to the list of homes to visit. There are 3 on the list which seems like a good number. (Of course this can change as they may sell before then).

So not much else to say around here, but I'm sure things will pickup again soon!

Security systems

2009-06-07T00:10:00.000-07:00

I've never lived in a home with a security system but I'm thinking about getting one for the new place. I have an irrational fear that people will be hiding in the closets and jump out when I'm sleeping. Now this makes very little sense, especially because the way I usually deal with it is checking the 2 closets in our house before I got to bed if I'm home alone, and I have no actual plan for what I would do if I found someone in the closet. But there you go, it makes me feel better when I do go to bed. I do the same in hotel rooms (and also under the bed). This isnt such a problem in a 600 sq ft apartment, but it seems impractical in a house. And moreover after so many years in apartments, being in a house on the ground floor, with all those windows, makes me feel so exposed.

I suppose the companies will be different up in Canada, but any words of advice regarding security systems?

White paint

2009-06-04T08:29:00.001-07:00

This post has me thinking about white paint. For a long time I wanted a house so I could paint it how it want it, but now my tastes have evolved and its rooms with crisp white paint that make my heart beat a little faster.

But who knew there were so many colors of white?? I much prefer gray to beige so I'm thinking I would prefer something with those undertones, but I'm also stumped about the trim, same color white? different? Really I want to throw up my hands and just paint all the walls in a very very pale shade of gray with crisp white trim, but then I wonder if I will get over the gray phase?

Oh, and then there is the minor detail of the cats, who seem to have gotten our previously white doors a little dingy looking, so I guess it should be something pretty washable moreover.

What colors are the rooms in your house?

Housing crush

2009-06-01T00:32:00.000-07:00

I find myself getting really attached to one house at a time. And while I feel a little disappointed when it goes off the market, I always seem to get over it and move onto the next one which I decide is really actually better (what does this say about me?)

So meet my current housing crush. There are a few things which make it crushworthy. Such as this master bedroom:

What you cant see is the space on the other side with the room for the walk in closet. I'm pretty sure that make this bigger than the first few apartments we lived in. Which is kind of silly. But OMG WANT. I can totally see the gray room, with the wood either stained or painted, and maybe the fireplace too.

The second thing is the combo you see here:

On the one hand you have the open dining room, with huge glass doors, lovely redone floors (again what you dont see is the living room next to that with similarly nice floors and big windows). And on the other hand you have a kitchen which could use some updating (and even better with nice floors!) This combo is super. I have some very specific ideas (big surprise right?) about what I want the kitchen to look like, and while all the updated kitchens I've seen are very nice, they arent exactly what I want. But at the same time, who rips out a perfectly good kitchen just because the counters arent the right color (not me). So really I would rather find something where I have a good reason to change it. This house gets bonus points because the things I am not as picky about (the color of the wood floors for example) are already nicely done.

Its been on the market about 20 days, so it really seems that there is a chance it could be there in 2 more weeks, fingers crossed!! Of course I know I can always come up with another crush :)

The living room

2009-05-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

I have more inspiration pics on my computer than will fit in this post as every time I see something I like I save it. It has actually been really instructive in defining what I want for the living room, rather than having to identify what exactly I like in a given picture I can see the common themes across all the ones I have saved (not very hard)

Lots of white walls, clean lines, wood floors with only small amounts covered with rugs. (and white eames rockers, i have a slight obsession. it took 6 months to convince The Husband that they were not too funny looking and I now have one. And 99% of the time he can be found sitting in it)

And here is what I have pulled together so far:

The chairs I have already, the couch is also basically the one we have. The main piece which is missing is the sideboard/media stand. This one pictured is from room and board (they have a few that I like), but I haven't given up hope on finding a true vintage one.

More lights

2009-05-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that currently our apartment has nothing but the cheapest IKEA lights we could buy when we moved it. So I'm enjoying expanding my horizons about lighting options.
Another possibility for the dining room (or maybe the bedroom, I'm going to need light somewhere other than just the dining room right?) is this cool DIY bubble chandelier that was in readymade magazine

The balls to make them are still available at CB2, and you only need 12 of the small ones. Very tempting! I need to wait until my package receiving service is back to accepting packages, but I might go for it.

Also coming with us...

2009-05-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

Is this chair which is currently in the living room

I got it for 40 francs at the thrift store, when I got it home it looked like this (the before picture would be more impressive if it had the horrible cushions, but I left those at the thrift store)

Then I spent more than the 40 francs on foam and fabric to make new cushions (they are box style with zippers. And now I have nothing else creative to say about the chair. But I hope it will find a happy place in our new home.

Lighting options

2009-05-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

I have various ideas going through my head about lighting. In no particular order:

Nelson pendant lamp. I think either of these look great over the table, or maybe in a kitchen?

Tube top lamp. Don't know where this would go but I like it. It also comes in a ton of colors

Arco floor lamp. Love the marble base. Couldn't see myself spending this much on lighting.

Random pendant, apparently made in Netherlands, wonder if I could find a local source before I leave...

Giant white drum pendant (no good picture, just a big huge white shade).

Thrifty

2009-05-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

Only a few weeks left to search the Geneva thrift stores for gems before we move. I already have a few great pieces I've picked up for next to nothing. They are all coming with me (well, to be accurate they are all going in a container on a big container ship, I will be getting to Canada via airplane. I am however quite disappointed that I won't be here when the big container comes on the truck down our street to pick up everything. It reminds me of when I was little and we had a new roof put on the house and a big crane came and it was the big excitement of the neighborhood).

Anyywayyyy...

Here is one of the furniture pieces that is coming along (I'll share the others as well):

The items on top are also all thrifted. But look, a typewriter, something other than white and black!

And here is what it looked like in the middle of the sanding and staining

Prints

2009-05-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

I don't yet have a feeling how I want to decorate the walls, but I do have my eyes on a few prints I've liked for a while

This print is called air lines and it is a map of all the scheduled flights on a given day. It appeals to me for a few reasons, flying and traveling the world is a big part of our life, husband really likes maps in all shapes and forms, and i also just like how it looks very graphic and I think it would be striking given the size (A0 poster, so BIG)

This print I love but I've been debating for months now, mostly because I can't decide between the black and white version (am I going to end up with a black and white house?) and the red version (but I'm not sure that I'm really up for the red). Also because I like a few of the others (rising of the setting sun and the new sammy seagull).

The dining area

2009-05-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

First the inspiration (i really should have saved these with info about where i got them, but i didnt, so sorry about that...)

And then my take on it:

No bench (husband is strongly against it) but 6 of the chairs (the modernica fiberglass ones, which I think are nicer than the so called official reproductions that are made out of plastic). The dishes are crate and barrel everday, thinking about a set of 12? the wallpaper would be for an accent wall or accent frame.

For the lamp I was thinking of an oversized white drum shade like in some of the pictures, but another option would be a sort of felt version of the capiz pendants you see around. This is my attempt at a sketch. Still thinking about the options here.

Pears!

2009-05-20T23:04:00.000-07:00

I saw these pears from NewMoonStudio on the blog Nestled In and I had to have them. So since they are a handmade Etsy item I broke the rule of waiting till we are actually in the house and ordered them already.

(By the way I love the blog Nestled In, I think I was Scandinavian in a past life. I find it funny that after years of living in apartments where I couldn't paint the walls, I want to paint the whole place in shades of white and gray)

The bedroom plan

2009-05-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

First a few of the inspiration pictures:

Notice a theme?
Here is what I've put together for the bedroom

A mix of pieces we have already (bedding, alarm clock, picture, nightstands) and ones I want to get (namely the bed). The grey is for the walls. We currently have a tiny tiny bedroom without even space for a small dresser, but I like how simple and cosy it is. As long as the closet in the new place is big enough (and our closet now is nothing near large) I won't bring a dresser in either.

Just under a month to go...

2009-05-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

... before we are off to Canada, and start the search for our new home, and our first house. Which means all the decorating plans I've been scheming since I was about 5 can finally be put fully into place. We don't have the house yet (though I do have my favorites), but I already have the plans, and many many pictures to go with. So here is a little place to put them all together and share with whoever feels like reading.