We did it!!

It has been just over a week, and I am still in a state of disbelief! We bought a house!! It’s another new construction, but the same builder that built our current place. It’s in a different neighbourhood though, in the west of the city, Stittsville to be exact. I am not sure about most people when they move, but this is not a decision we took lightly. We did our research, found the lot, put a deposit down and then backed out because we still weren’t sure. We then spent the next several months, going to open houses (3 months x 4 weekends/month x 5 houses average per weekend = 60 houses) Some we visited twice or three times (not included in that count). But nothing ever compared to this place. So why not just get it then…well two main reasons factored into this doubt: 1) Its far 2) it’s close to the dump.

Its far....

When we were telling our family and close friends the happy news, a couple of them immediately shot it down saying: “Stittsville eh?...wow… that’s… far” or “Rush Hour traffic is going to be hell” and my personal favourite: “I hope you don’t expect me to visit you ALL THE WAY out there” . Whoa – I didn’t know we were moving to Mars. I guess that is a few less people that we will have to invite to our house warming party! It’s not really that far – from Blackburn Hamlet it is about 36 minutes door to door. To put that in perspective, it’s about 28 minutes from there to our current place. Yes the distance is greater, but the streets you drive on are faster. So it evens out. We have actually timed the drive, and it’s true, it is just 36 minutes (we played fair and went the speed limit too) While it is far from some, it is close to a lot more. There are grocery stores, shops and restaurants within walking distance. We have lots of family and friends who live in the area so if we need help with the little one, its just short drive away. This is HUGE for us. If I am late from work one day, I can get help rather than stressing about it until I get to the daycare and then having to pay late fees – I never wanted to be that parent. It will also be nice for our son to grow up closer to his cousin. We might even be able to look into a nanny share!!

Its close to the dump....

Yes it is. I don’t know what else to say here. This is something we were really worried about in the beginning. It’s the reason we pulled the plug the first time around. But after talking to some neighbours and my dad doing some research on the wind patterns, we hope it won’t be too big of an issue.

While it kind of sounds like I am trying to justify our decision to move, I am not. We are really happy and excited!!! And those who don’t think it’s a good idea: butt out and be happy for us!!

The house will be in the north-western corner of the subdivision. It is a little pocket of about 20 homes. You have a cross over a bridge and through a bit of forest to get there. Our place currently backs onto a lot of 6 acres that is for sale and is zoned residential. But word on the street is that the price is too high and therefore unusable for developers. So for now we back on to a forest. It’s a bit of country in the city!!! The house will look like this:

Ok...i am back.....

So I was at a Christmas party this weekend and my girlfriends were asking about my blog. Why I haven't been writing anything lately - I guess it’s because I really didn’t have anything to say.
I have been busy adjusting to my new life, a mom, wife and homeowner that lives in the 'burbs (if you can call it that, I prefer the middle of nowhere). It hasn’t been a particularly hard adjustment, just one where there seems to be no time for anything except that.
I can tell you, that I am going to try to make more time for blogging as 2011 will bring with it a lot of changes. They are big ones - I know, I have insider knowledge! Stay tuned, I will hopefully be able to write about the first one on Wednesday!

DIY on the Road

I took a break this weekend to help my sister with her nursery. She is expecting a baby boy in July!

She had painted the room green but felt the room was a bit plain.

The room before its transformation:








Our Mission….

She and I tossed around a few ideas but she really wanted to do wainscoting. So again we tossed around ideas for how to do it – whether we go with just a simple chair moulding and add in some trimmed out squares or rectangles below, or if we attempt something a bit more complicated and go with MDF strips to create a square pattern. She really liked the idea of beadboard, but what a pain to have to glue it to your walls. What if Baby R decided when he was 5 that he wanted to have something different?? It would be a nightmare trying to take it off. I know I had visions of having to re-drywall. Not fun and not to mention expensive too. So we kind of stalled for a couple of weeks until last weekend when we got the “DreamBook” from Home Depot. I was flipping through dreaming about my new deck and re-doing our master bath for the umpteenth time, when I came across Martha Stewart’s new line of paintable wall coverings (item #6 in the colour by numbers section of the “Dreambook”). I know what you are thinking: You’re crazy. My grandma used a paintable wallpaper in her kitchen to make it look like she had tiles back there. That stuff is uuuuugly! I was thinking that too. But we missed two key words: Martha and Stewart. It HAS to be a "Good Thing", right???


DIY Coles Notes Version

This paintable wall paper is easily installed, you put the adhesive on the wall and slap on the paper. Add a trim to finish off the edge. And then paint it out. It is really as easy as it sounds.


DIY Tips for the project

- We used a laser level to mark the height of the bottom of the trim and added 1”. This measurement became the length we cut the paper strips.
- We used one of those “completely useless for painting” edger painting pads (the kind that are supposed to make painting along the ceiling and around baseboards sooo easy) to apply the adhesive.
- Use a good sharp exacto knife to cut the paper off along the baseboard and around windows etc. You will know when it’s time to snap off the blade because it will shred the paper instead of giving a nice clean cut.
- Use a chair railing trim or for a thicker look, we used a casing
- After the trim is up, if any of the paper shows above the trim, use a SHARP exacto knife to trim it away
- caulk the top and corners of the trim for a more professional look
o Here’s how we did it:
~ We put a bead of caulking along the top edge of the new moulding
~ I ran a finger along the edge to smooth it out. A damp finger works best
~ I used a damp cloth to wipe off any excess caulking from my finger every couple of feet so I didn’t smear caulking all over the walls.
~ Paint out the paper and the trim. We found using a brush worked best for this project because it gets into the crevasses of the “beadboard”


The cost for the project:

2 rolls of paper at $24.99 each total: 49.98
5 pieces of 7’ long trim at $ 4.79 each total: $23.95
Wallpaper paste $16.95
Paint $42.95 (we bought a gallon but only used about ½ of it)
All other supplies we had left over from previous project.

GRAND TOTAL: $133.83
(plus taxes and stuff of course)


Conclusion

For less than $135 we achieved a look that certainly would have cost more – an 8’ sheet of beadboard alone is about $15. This is an excellent alternative to the real thing. It was not a time consuming project (about 1 day + painting time)
Would I do it again or hire a professional? I would totally do this again. If this was the look I was trying to achieve, it is too simple NOT to diy.

Welcome to the family Baby R!!!! We hope you enjoy your new room:


The paper is up! Now time for the trim work…



Just needs some paint!

Voila!! The Dining Room is complete

Panic only set in one last time after the painting and baseboards were in...the night the furniture was delivered. The room was EXTREMELY dark, so dark, it felt like a cave. Granted it was 11pm, Hubby was playing hockey and the baby was freaking out because the delivery company decided it would be ok to deliver the dining set at such an ungodly hour. Oh and did I forget to mention that we didn’t have the light fixture in yet and the only light in the room was the pot lights?
The next morning I felt a bit better when I went downstairs to find it wasn't so bad...we just needed something big and white as a contrast to the dark wood – an area rug. Typically I am not a rug person but we really didn’t have a choice. The room needed it. Luckily, the rug Gods were smiling on us that day as we found exactly what we were looking for at the first store. A really nice cream, grey and beige, non wool (I am allergic) area rug.

The Finishing Touches

We added some art to the walls which was another quick DIY project. Hubby took some pictures of the city from the roof of a building in downtown Ottawa. We had them enlarged and we put them in matching frames. We lucked out and found the frames at Michaels. They already had prints in them, but the frames matched perfectly with the room. So we bought new mats sized for the frame and our prints. Removed the old prints and put ours in. The frames were $14.99 each, new mats were $13.99 each, prints were $2.49 each. For less than $100 we got 3 custom pieces of art. The only thing I would do differently is get the prints done in a matte finish so they don’t look as shiney through the frames.

As I was putting together the room, I found the china cabinet a little too ornate for our style. I was able to remove the top decorative crown which made it look a little less format. I added a runner to cover up the holes and found some picture frames in different sizes to display some more family photos.

With all the neutral colours in the house, I have decided to add a pop of colour here and there with accents. This way if purple is in this season and red the next, I can mix it up and keep the décor looking modern. I used purple hydrangeas in the centerpiece, purple candle holders on the mantle, purple napkins when I set the table for guests and eventually purple candle sticks (pretty hard thing to find) and a purple patterned pillow for the head chair. See? There is a method to my madness…

Here is a before, during and after picture of the Dining Room.

Before:
During the Frame Walk…


View from the Living Room the day we moved in...


During:
All the Big furniture is moved in...


After:
Complete Room with pictures on the wall...

This room seems a little dark

With the room painted and the dining set moved in we needed to find a light fixture. We couldn’t make a decision on what exactly we wanted. I love glitter and my thoughts were a long rectangular light with crystals dangling from it. We look around and couldn’t find one quite long enough. You are probably asking yourself, how do you know what long enough is?

Project 1B: Lighting

The Numbers

Generally, there are 2 ways you can come up with this measurement of a dining room light fixture.

1. Add the length and width of your room together, the resulting number is the diameter of your chandelier. We calculated our room like this:

10’9” (10.75’) + 16’4” (16.333’) = 27.083
We would be looking for a chandelier about 27” in diameter.

2. Select a chandelier that is ½ to ¾ the size of your dining room table, but it must be 24” shorter than the table (ie 12” on either side). Whoa that’s some heavy duty math…. For our table we calculated like this (our table is 75” x 45”):

75” x 0.75 = 56.25”
75” - 56.25” = 18.25”
18.25 / 2 = 9.125”
By this calculation, a 56” long chandelier is too long

75” x 0.5 = 37.5”
75” – 24” = 51”

Now that you have determined your approximate size, you should also take into consideration how much light the fixture is giving off. To determine the wattage, multiply the length and width of your room, then multiply the result by 1.5. The answer is the number of watts your room will need to be well lit.

Our room was calculated like this:

10’9” (10.75’) x 16’4” (16.333’) = 175.58 sq feet
175.58 x 1.5 = 263.37 watts

The Shopping List

The calculation you go with should be dependent on the configuration of your room and the shape of your dining room table. Since our dining room houses a main artery to the kitchen and we have a long rectangular table, we chose to go with calculation number 2 since it made the most sense to us and the use of our room.
We decided we were looking for a fixture between 37.5” and 51” long, about 21” wide and would let off about 263 watts of light. We chose to ignore the pot lights as both lights would probably never be on at the same time. The pot lights were there to highlight our wall art and the dining room fixture was there to create ambiance in the room.

With our list in hand, off to the store we go!

The Selection

We went to a local specialty lighting store since we could not find anything that suited our (ok mostly my) vision for our dining room at the local big box hardware stores. It was at this store I found and fell in love with the fixture of my dreams. A beautiful, sparkly, rectangular shaped chandelier that fit our measurements. BUT it was like $1800. Agh. Hubby quickly stepped up and talked me out of it. His argument? Our dining room set was made in the early 1900’s and this fixture was way too modern for it. It made sense and for once he was right (he’ll tell you it doesn’t happen that often, but I will give credit where credit is due.)

In the end, we picked out a brushed nickel, 6 light fixture that is reminiscent of an antique chandelier where they used pillar candles instead of electric lights with glass coverings.



Its all good until we think it through…6 lights, with a max wattage of 100 watts each. Holy crap! That’s about 600 watts of light for a room that needs less that half of that. The guy at the store says not problem. Install a dimmer. It’s funny how everything snowballs eh?

New Plan

During our house search, we stopped into the Urbandale town home models. I noticed that they had upgraded their regular baseboards to taller more formal looking ones. I got all excited and pointed them out to my husband, who wasn’t nearly as impressed as I was. I immediately jotted this tidbit of information down on the floor plan notes and put a big star next to it as a bonus point for Urbandale. I was all gung-ho even if I didn’t really like the floor plan…that was until I took a closer look…

Project 1A: The Baseboards

My Mission:
To add some character to our baseboards by making our plain old standard 3” baseboards look taller without going to the expense of replacing them with new 5” baseboards. I was hoping to achieve a more formal look, especially in the living room and dining room.

Before: the old baseboards (minus the pretty painted wall of course).


Most people would probably think there was nothing wrong with these baseboards. I on the other hand I LOVE the look of a taller moulding. In fact I love all moulding – wainscoting, crown moulding, coffered ceilings. I reminds me of an older home, where character is defined by the eloquent wood trims they used on the walls and ceilings. In modern times it is painted out white for a more light and airy feel – even that doesn’t take away from the elegance it creates in a room. Go ahead, Google “luxury homes” and you’ll see for yourself exactly what I am talking about!

After: the new baseboards


DIY Coles Notes Version
It was a really simple fix. I went to Home Depot and found a skinny little trim attached it to the wall about 1 ¼” above the baseboard and painted the whole thing white so it reads as one piece.

DIY Tips for the Project
- Cutting the moulding with a mitre box and hand saw worked the best. The electric saw seemed to burn the wood and chew the ends.
- Drill pilot holes for the finishing nails keeps the moulding from splitting
- Use a small bead of glue to help the trim stick and stay put on the wall then hammer in the nails to keep it in place. (this is a 2 person job)
- Use a piece of wood or other straight object as a spacer to measure the height from the top of the baseboard to the bottom of the new trim. We used a piece of a picture frame that got broken in the move. You and your partner in crime should each have an identical piece.
o Here’s how we did it:
~ After we put glue on the back of your moulding, we slid the spacer against the old baseboard ensuring its flush against the top of the baseboard.
~ We put the new moulding against wall and slid it into place flush against the top of the spacer.
~ We hammered in a couple of nails that are in the near by vicinity of the spacer.
~ We slid the spacer down the trim to the next set of nails, repeat until all nails are complete. (We hammered the nails in half way so they were through the trim and into the wall board and then went back and counter sunk them. We didn’t need 3 hands this way!)
~ We made sure to keep a damp cloth near by to wipe off any excess glue off the wall.
- caulk the top and corners of the trim for a more professional look
o Here’s how we did it:
~ We put a bead of caulking along the top edge of the new moulding
~ I ran a finger along the edge to smooth it out. A damp finger works best
~ I used a damp cloth to wipe off any excess caulking from my finger every couple of feet so I didn’t smear caulking all over the walls.
- tape off your floor and paint all trim one colour

The Cost for the project
Trim: $4.87 per 8 foot length. I used about 10 pieces Total: $48.70
Mitre Box and Saw $12.95
Caulking $ 4.95
No More Nails Wood Glue $ 8.95
Caulking Gun $10.95
Finishing Nails $ 7.95
Grand Total $94.70
(plus taxes and stuff of course)

Conclusion
For less than $100 I achieved the look of taller trim. If we had replaced the trim, it would have cost double.
Would I do it again or hire a professional? I would probably just do it myself. It achieved the look I was going for and wasn’t too time consuming. Anyone who is handy can complete this project quite easily.

Let the painting begin….well sort of….

With the colours picked and the paint bought, I had a pretty specific plan of attack for the painting. I would start on the main floor as these rooms didn’t have any furniture in them. My goal was to finish the main level by December, so we could have a Christmas party and housewarming all in one. It wasn’t the painting that held me up….

To chose a colour or not to choose a colour...that is the question!

After spending 2 weeks riffling through my Benjamin Moore colour books trying to pick colours to tone down the brown, I got frustrated. I know what i like, but nothing seemed to match. I was deathly afraid to make the wrong choice.

On one side I had all the design shows saying, its just paint! It’s an easy inexpensive fix – if you don’t like it, just paint over it! But lets be honest here folks, painting isn’t really that cheap. If you price out a gallon of paint it can cost you anywhere from $40 to $80. When you are painting over builder’s beige, it really soaks in so I find you use a lot more. And then there is your time, it can take days, sometimes weeks to finish up. Or if you hire a painter, the labour cost isn’t that cheap either. I guess all of this is relative to ripping out your kitchen or bathroom but come on I don’t have a few grand to throw around on painting the walls, x2 if I have to do it again!

On the other, I have visions of picking a colour that looks nice on the paint chip, painting the walls and having it up looking pink. Just what I’d need a brown and pink house…

So I hop online and start to do some research. I find that some interior designers will come and do a colour consult and help you to choose your paint colours. If they screw it up, at least I have someone to blame it on!

After viewing a few websites and looking at different designers portfolios, I make my pick. A lovely lady named Catherine. She came in, we talked for a few minutes about what colours I liked and didn’t, I told her about my brown dilemma and within 45 minutes she did what I couldn’t – make the decision on colours.

Here is what she picked:



A relief right? WRONG.

After she left, I took a second look at the colours she left me with and started to panic. All I could see was that she wanted me to paint the whole main level brown (Coriander seed). And how was that supposed to de-brownify?? I started having heart palpitations because I thought I had just wasted $150 on something that got me no further ahead. I called hubby on the verge of tears and told him my doubts. He calmed me down and said that he would take a look when he got home and we could make a decision then.

We decided that we would trust her choices and paint the rooms according to her plan. After all she does do this for a living and besides it is only paint, if we don’t like it we can change it…

So then the next big debate is…what type of paint to choose.
I am totally partial to Benjamin Moore paint. I used the middle of the road paint when we painted our apartment and fell in love. The colours came out true to the chip, it was easy to paint with and covered really well. My only complaint though was the price, it wasn’t the most expensive paint I’d seen but it wasn’t the cheapest either. With this being a new construction home, I anticipated having to use a lot more paint. But maybe I should prime first?

Every store that sells paint seems to have one type that has a primer built in. In theory it sounds good, but is it really? How can you paint the wall with paint and a primer at the same time? Why did no one think of this one before?

So off to my local BM store I went to find out prices and get some more information on this primer and paint combo.

Their line is called Aura, it retails for about $70 a gallon! The benefits that really attracted me were:

-recoatable in 1 hour. I was sceptical, but it’s true. You can basically paint a room and just keep going once you are done. The regular 4 hour wait time is what really drives me nuts – it seems like such a waste of time to wait around to finish a room. I was able to start a room at 7 and be done by 9 – two coats and clean up. This made it really easy to paint a room during a nap time!

-2 coats maximum, even on the deepest colours. Again I had my doubts but its true!

-Low VOC. It definitely did not stink up our place like the regular paint did.

Armed with my information in hand, it was now time to convince hubby. He reluctantly gave in but made one small request, to see if they offered any kind of a discount if we bought the paint for the entire house.

So I negotiated with the paint store and ended up with a 15% discount on all my purchases. Every extra penny counts right?

Let the painting begin!

Our Little Brown House

About 6 months ago we moved into our new place. It’s a new construction semi detached in a southern suburb of Ottawa.

After more than 2 years of scrutinizing every little detail of this place, we move in and I am immediately disappointed by some of our colour selections. Keep in mind my first visit was 10 days after giving birth, so I like to blame it on my hormones. I had envisioned more grey-beige tones, instead, I got brown. Everything felt like it was brown, the tan coloured carpet, the chocolate coloured floors the café-au-lait coloured tiles. Brown, brown, brown. UGH.

Here are a couple of pictures from our PDI:

Kitchen from the eating area:


Eating Area from the Kitchen:


Living room:


3 Sided Fireplace/dining room:



French Doors into the Study off the dining room:


Front hall and Foyer:


Basement Fireplace:


Master Ensuite Shower (without the glass door):


Master Ensuite Tub:


Master Ensuite Mirrors and Lights:


Ensuite Vanity:

A bit more about me...

Originally I am from Ottawa. I moved out to Vancouver when I was 18 to become a fashion designer (that’s what I told everyone because I was embarrassed to tell them that I had really met a guy online and I was moving out there to be closer to him – it just sounded better as back then internet dating hadn’t really taken off yet).

I had a solid plan of becoming a world renowned Designer by the time I was 30. Then life happened. I broke up with the guy, and stayed in Vancouver where looking back I held some really interesting jobs that has shaped my current career path.

I got my first job, fresh out of school, as an assistant buyer for a local home decor chain of stores. I managed to fool them into hiring me with absolutely no experience. Later when talking to my boss, he said it was my attitude that sold him. He said I came in with a determination to succeed and willingness to learn. Who knew that was all you needed! Although I didn’t know it at the time, it was in this position that I met my future husband.

From there I moved on to another locally owned bedding retailer. They had more of a focus on design as they manufactured and sold their own line duvets, pillows and fashion bedding. It was a little more up my alley. I gained a wealth of experience working with the owner, choosing the next hottest prints and colour trends. I had a blast! And probably would have stayed if I hadn’t of gotten a phone call from home about my dream job.

In high school I did a co-op with a wedding gown designer and manufacturer. My old boss called me to tell me they had a position open in purchasing. I would be their buyer of raw materials. I accepted and happily moved home! I moved my way up within the company until I had my real dream job – production manager. I got to work with the most expensive silks and laces, helping out with construction issues and using all of my previously learned experience, I did the job very well. Unfortunately with the economic downturn (but more so because of a crazy owner) the company went bankrupt and I found myself out of work. This was a hard blow for me as I said it was a dream job and to watch it all crumble hurt immensely. It took me a while to pick myself up and move on…

Currently I do what about 80% of Ottawa residents do, work for the government. It’s a job that is WAY beneath my experience level, but I love the people I work with and the department I am in. It allows me the freedom to focus on other important areas of my life, like my DIY habit.

Jumping back a bit, when I moved back to Ottawa, I found out that an old coworker from Vancouver had also moved back to the city. We met for dinner one July night to catch up and we haven’t left each other’s side since. 18 months later, he proposed, 11 months after that we got married, 6 months later that we bought our first home, 2 years later we had a baby and 10 days after that moved into our first home! Its been a busy 5 years.

Introductions

Hello, my name is Jennifer and i am a DIY addict.

I can't really say when it all started...

...Maybe it was at 16 when I went to an office Christmas Party wearing a gorgeous little black dress with a boat neckline in front, plunging to a V in the back and sexy lace cutouts at the waist. I had my hair done up in a french twist and my mom let me borrow her pearls. Very Audrey Hepburn. I thought I looked amazing until a 60 year old co-worker showed up wearing the same dress, trying to pull off the same look. It was mortifying, especially with such a big age difference. I vowed never to show up at a party in something I hadn't made or at least had accessories to change the look of my outfit. This taumatizing event is when my desire for all things unique started.

...Maybe it comes from my parents, who have been married for 32 years and I swear have been doing renovation for at least the last 30. They taught me how to do things on the cheap and yet still make them look good. I think they were the pioneers of kitchen cabinet refacing.

What can I say? I like unique things but they have to be classic so they don't date too quickly. I like expensive things but i am generally way to practical to buy them. This combination makes me very picky and that makes it really hard to find what I like, so i scheme up ways to get what I want. Whether by saving for it or mostly by making it myself.

Now that we have moved into our first home, the monster has been unleashed!