Wednesday, November 5, 2014

HAT SALE!!!

If you're interested in picking up some great Holiday gifts and decor you should check out Elaine's CHRISTMAS SOIREE AND GOODBYE SALE!

I'm also going to be at Elaine's selling my crochet hats.

I've added a few new styles and colours and right now I've got lots of men's, women's, boys' and girls' styles and sizes in stock for this winter season.

Here are the details:


Location  
Elaine’s House – 5634 Eagle Harbour Road, West Vancouver

Dates and Times
Thursday November 20th 5 – 9pm       
Friday November 21st 11 – 4pm     




Monday, September 29, 2014

Craft Fair Season Begins!

Monday, Sept 29, 2014

Craft Fair Holiday Season will be starting for me this coming weekend.

I'll be selling my crochet at the West Vancouver Community Centre Pumpkin Fest Artisan Market this coming Sunday, Oct 5 from 10 am to 3 pm.

I've been working all year - crocheting a little at a time - to prepare for this.

If you bought some of my crochet in the past - hats, scarves, gloves, headbands, boot toppers - or if you missed out please stop by and say Hi!

You might find the perfect handmade gift for someone or something you love!

I'll have more of the same and this year I'm adding a different patterned scarf and some beards!

Yes you read that correctly - crochet BEARDS!!

Here's my brother-in-law Mark wearing his.  It looks so natural on him doesn't it?



These are fun for dress up, halloween, or make great face warmers.

See you there!

Friday, August 15, 2014

House Front Reno - Front Doors

Friday, August 15, 2014

BEFORE Photos of the front of my house and my double front doors. 

In this photo you can see the ugly red clay tiles in the under cover front porch (is it a porch?)
Here are some ideas for replacing our front doors - the black ones are my favourite right now.







Thursday, August 14, 2014

House Front Reno Ideas - Stone Work & Columns

Thursday, August 14, 2014

I get a lot of ideas from the internet - particularly HOUZZ and PINTEREST.  
It's amazing what you can find when you are searching for inspiration.  
If you have other site suggestions please share them in the comments.

Some BEFORE Photos of our house front with the red clay brick facing.
I'd like to replace the brick with natural stone like we used in the backyard reno years ago.


Below are some photos of the back of our house.
I'd like the front of the house to have the same rock.  
In this photo it was used under the siding to cover the house foundation
This is Basalt rock and we used it to make a low level wall that wraps around the patio and acts as a fireplace hearth in the corner.  
It's great as extra seating when needed.

Here are some ideas I've found to replace the front brick with stone and replace the arches with columns.
I'd also like to replace the aggregate rock steps and planter.





Wednesday, August 13, 2014

House Front - BEFORE Photos

August 2014

Next year (2015) we are going to focus on updating and improving the front of our house.

Here are some Before photos


Our house is a typical 2 storey, wood sided house with some added red clay brick accents - fireplace and facing.

We have arches and clay tile on the front entrance porch.

There are steel double doors which we paint whenever we paint the exterior of the house.

Currently the paint is BM Raccoon Fur with a bright white trim.


The doors are painted BM Sundried Tomato.


Next Reno - Negotiations have begun...

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

My DH and I like to do a house reno every other year.  Schedule and Budget permitting of course.

We've been in our house 16 years now and we've done a lot.  But we still have a huge list of things that "need" to get done and also stuff we'd "like" done

So every year, in the spring, we sit down and prioritize the list.

Here's our WISH LIST (in no particular order):

Kitchen - Cabinets and countertops
Master Bath - total gut
Laundry Room - total gut
Outside Front - Landscaping
Paint the Exterior
Replace Windows - not all just 3 large ones on front of house
Outside Backyard (was done 10 years ago but needs some minor work)
Garage Organization - finish walls and install shelving/storage
Misc Repairs and Organization throughout house (on going)

I'm sure it looks familiar to a lot of you!

My Wish....

This year I really wanted to put in a putting green in our backyard.  I thought it would be a fun thing to have for entertaining and we still have a teenage boy at home who is an avid golfer.
We don't have a sprinkler system (no real need for it here in the rainy west coast) and we don't water our grass so every year around this time (July/August) the grass dies and looks awful.
The artificial turf and green sounded like a perfect plan - and that reno would be easy and not disruptive to family life.


It seemed like it was going to happen until the quotes came in and we realized that it was more than we thought and there were other things on the list that should be done first.

DHs Wish...

DH really wanted to do the laundry room/wine storage (or as he calls it "wine cave with laundry").  He has a lot of wine and wanted something "nicer" and more organized to store it.



Results....

After comparing quotes on both projects we decided to pitch the putting green and use the money to redo the laundry room. In the end the costs were almost the same!

That's how the laundry room reno came about.  It's still not done, but should be by the end of next week, so I'll post the completed wine side then.

Our current outstanding WISH LIST was re-prioritized and we also negotiated the next 2 years reno's - House Front (2015) and then Kitchen & Master Bath (2016).

Next year we're going to "try" and do the front of the house.  This will address some problem areas that need repair and add much needed curb appeal.

This is what's coming up for next year's reno -
Replace 3 windows
Paint and repair wood siding
Paint and repair wood trim and fascia
Remove red clay brick from front, arches (yes I have arches) and red clay floor tile porch.
Replace red clay brick front with gray stone (basalt like in backyard)
Replace red clay brick arches with stone and wood posts
Replace red clay floor tile with slate or another natural of "faux" stone tile
Replace front doors (double doors)

I'm going to start sharing my ideas and inspiration here and I'd love any feedback or tips you might have!


Thursday, August 7, 2014

Laundry Room Reno ALMOST Done!

Thursday, August 7, 2014

My laundry room is almost done.  The laundry side is now finished and functional.

The wine side is still in a holding position - we are waiting for the racks and fridge to be installed.

 It would be done except DH could not imagine what he wanted there until the room was demo'd.

So we had to wait from that first week of demo - and after I made him consult with an expert - for the wine racks to be made and shipped.

The tentative install date is now set for Friday, August 21.  Unless there is another delay....

Here are some photos of the completed laundry side.






You might notice that the paint is NOT BM Revere Pewter as I had earlier posted.

I had to make a switch to BM Bleeker Beige 


because the room ended up being too "warm" for the cool Revere Pewter paint colour.

Some of the fun things I did with this reno were:

Converted an unused closet into a pantry just outside the laundry room

Kept the kids growth chart - on the inside door frame of the laundry room


Used drink dispensers for my laundry detergent and softener (that's my lost sock basket on the right)

Now we just have to wait for the wine side to be done...



I'll post more pics when its all done!

Monday, July 28, 2014

Laundry Room Reno Continues...

Monday, July 28, 2014

My laundry room reno continues into it's 4th week.....just 2 weeks over schedule.....

This is where we are at now.

A new 5 panel glass entry door was installed.



Wine rack wall was drywalled and space was prepped for wine fridge


Washer and Dryer were moved back in - that was the best thing that happened last week!!!



Today the granite comes - yes I'm having granite for countertops in my laundry room.  My husband bought a brand new wine fridge at a charity golf silent auction and saved $1,000 off the price of another we were looking at so I get granite countertops (his idea).

This week the baseboards will be added and then the room will be painted and the backsplash put on.

Here's a recap on the materials we are using in this room:

The room will be painted BM Revere Pewter.  I think it's a good "greige" for this room.




I had a hard time with the floor tile and trying to match up with the Harvest Gold Slate that was used throughout the rest of the house.
So I went with a "faux" slate porcelain tile called Bengal Sierra from Home Depot


Here's a pic of how it ties in with the slate on the step.  It's a pretty good match don't you think?


Here is the backsplash tile - Sassi Etrusca Villa Brick Mosaic
 Here's a sample of how it will look - I hope!


I think it will all look well together don't you?

I'll post  more pics when finished.