N'S OBSESSIONS ... TAKE 1

okay well n wants to step away from the reno stuff for just a teeny tiny second and indulge in what are currently her favorite things and things she just can't get enough of ... enjoy

p.s. these are in no particular order just random things n thought of at the time

1. n's pointy toed flat shoes from aldo ... for work for wherever they are just so pretty and comfortable

2. project runway ... with a super long hiatus n is so glad to have back designers doing what they do best and how she missed heidi and tim

3. gossip girl ... yes the soap opera about unrealistic rich teenagers - n can't get enough of the drama, the scheming and the city ... oh how n loves new york

4. fall ... the trees on n's street are back to their dreamy state full of yellow and gold and driving down the narrow passageway with a slight breeze causing a few leaves to drift and fall delicately to the ground is enough to feel like n is in a completely different place

5. zoe ... n is back at work and is super happy to be working with the littlest kidlets again but it also means leaving zoe at home all day ... it is so nice after a fabulous day of work to come home to the most excited puppy and puppy kisses

yes i know the picture is from christmas but look at all the cuteness :)

6. harry potter series ... n is so close to finishing the last book of the series after a few weeks of pouring over the pages ... she wants to find out how it ends but is a little sad when it's over because she will truly miss hogwart's, harry, hermione and ron ... side note j started the books and is also obsessed and is quickly catching up

7. the office ... just finished season 5 on dvd and laughed so hard ... how is it that this new season seems to be getting more and more funny

8. riding n's bike home from work ... in an attempt to save some money and help j out by not having him chauffeur n around in our only vehicle, n has been riding her bike home and n is converted ... there is nothing better than arriving home via a workout and the 30 minute ride is a great way to unwind and relax from the day

this is not n's bike or at all where n lives but it looks so cute up against the brick house

cheers ~n

IN OUR HOUSE IT TAKES 2 ...

... 2 weekends that is

well no one said it would be quick or easy to renovate a house and we have seen the proof of that. n posted on the september long weekend the beautiful progress made on the covered deck however it wasn't finished on schedule ... like so many of our projects ... things like work, commitments and adult responsibilities got in the way ... boo being a grown up

well it is 2 weeks later and the roof is being shingled as n types this and n is happy to say that after this weekend the back deck project is almost completed (just the soffits, siding and staining to go) and we all deserve a medal because it was in the midst of visiting with family, j taking time out to cook an absolutely delicious dinner for our large crew and running to the hardware store numerous times. j and n are very happy at this moment ... okay moments over ... now we turn our attention to another task

cheers ~n

NOW THIS IS HOW YOU SPEND A LONG WEEKEND!

well it was labor day weekend here across canada (and other places too) and i'm sure that for a lot of people their time was spent relaxing in the yard or doing some sight seeing one last time before the kidlets are back in full swing with school and before we sink into our fall work routines longing for our next long weekend in october where we can eat loads of mash potatoes, turkey and pumpkin pie ... oh yeah and also to be thankful

well n and j's long weekend was neither relaxing or peaceful but that is so okay ... the weekend was filled with the sweet sounds of hammers, power saws and footsteps on ladders. j's dad came up this weekend to help us build the roof covering our back deck (well j, his dad and sister helped cut and build ... n was the official photographer and delicious meal maker for the weekend) and the progress made is a beautiful thing ...

enjoy all their hard work:

j and the happy helpers getting ready to raise the deck (this was done during the summer)

we can almost walk outside ...

yeah progress is a good thing!

time travel a few weeks and

amazing things happen

n is very happy cuz the deck stain almost matches the flooring and the 2 spaces flow and that is a good thing

i spy with my little eye some tools ready to do some work ... now where are the happy helpers to use them? ... oh yeah it's important to stop for a coffee break

a little visitor who decided he'd rather not help :)

and so it begins dun dun dun ...

that's all for this long weekend - happy helpers come back soon

j and n miss you already

cheers ~n

THANKS PETER AND RANDY ... YOU COMPLETE US

i have managed to pull myself away from my loads of schoolwork, lesson, unit and year planning and never ending preparation that washes over me when i go back to work in the fall (oh and also being completely obsessed with reading the harry potter series)

well i've done it for just long enough to post some pictures of our one and only finished room in our house and that would be the office ... which is mostly j's office because he works from home

i wanted the room to be masculine (well truthfully we both wanted this because it is j's domain and i'm sure he would have put his foot down if he had to work in something completely girly), to continue with the dark furniture and paint color that's in the rest of the house and have that clean crisp look to it that we both love ...

... aaaand it also had to be able to incorporate some of our favorite places to travel (london, nyc and paris)

the room came together fairly quickly with bits and pieces of objects from ours and others travels and our personal life (pics bought from a street market in new york city, handcrafted african wood carving, mementos and souvenirs from sports teams and a home for our hard earned degrees) but something was still missing on one of the walls

and then one summer day when j and n were bored and window shopping they went into urban barn and up on the wall were the most amazing paintings (one by peter and its partner by randy) and that day they were purchased and have since found a new home in the office

so without further adieu some well overdue pictures to showoff all our hard work:

entering the office from the hallway

j's workspace decorated by n

new york new york

(it also appears that n or j needs to dust a little more often ... oh well maybe next time)

getting creative in the closet

(aka hiding but still keeping j's baseball souvenirs ... hey you may judge but they just didn't go with the room)

custom designed and custom colored coat rack

(a christmas gift from a very talented father-in-law)

and without further adieu the stars of this post

(thanks to peter and randy whoever they are and wherever they may be)

let's look a little closer at the pretty, pretty pictures (don't forget the oohs and aahs)

hope you enjoyed the tour please check back for more updates because that means there's more to showoff and that makes n very happy

cheers ~n

IT'S ALL IN THE INCHES

argh!!!! ... some days having an old house to renovate can be awesome because you get to do these amazing things to make it totally you and other days it is such a frustrating process much like today. lately it feels like j and n are having more of the later days and we are questioning why we even bought this house in the first place ... oh right back to the dream of the totally personal finished house ... i don't even think that the towering trees on the street will help n feel better today.

how did all this frustration start? it's saturday and it is finally sunny out and the temperature is absolutely perfect - it should be an awesome day ... it started off with n being able to sleep in (one of my last saturdays before i have to go back to work with the kidlets) and then n being woken up by puppy zoe with kisses (my fav) and then n joining j on the new deck and having tea (for n) and coffee (for j) and pastries for breakfast ... a discussion of riding our bikes to the nearby farmer's market to get some delicious veggies so we can make delicious meals this week and then a quick mention of measuring in the dungeon (aka the basement) to get ready for the new laundry room and bathroom that the plumber will be roughing in this week before we go to the market - who knew such an innocent comment would lead to such frustration

and now n sits at the computer 3 hours later veggie-less because there was no bike ride to the market ... instead time was spent measuring and remeasuring this tiny space to try and fit a shower, toilet, sink, washer, dryer and optimistically a freezer into the world's smallest space made even smaller by water lines and hvac pipes and wires and oh an electrical panel!

j and n have finally come up with a solution that we think will work but not after every possible scenario. we think we will separate the laundry room from the bathroom but to get to the laundry room you will go through a passage way under the stairs (don't forget your fee to pay the troll on the way by), the freezer will be stuffed under the stairs and somehow we will also fit some shelves for storage cuz goodness knows we are sorely lacking in that department.

the bathroom will have an angled shower and the toilet and sink will be on the opposite wall which is actually better because we will now be able to get a bigger sink and that is a good thing because the old way of having everything in a line would allow us to get a sink which is 14 inches and we are trying to do this bathroom on a budget and ikea simply doesn't make sinks that small

so now that n's head is spinning she is going to try and salvage the rest of her day and try to get to the market but the day is looking up because we have family dinner tonight and n heard the menu has steak, potatoes and corn and the evening will be filled with laughter and fun with the family so that is good news :)

cheers ~n

WHERE TO START?

well i didn't really know where to start ... i created this blog on a whim 1 summer day when i was bored on my vacation

(side note: i know i don't get to ever complain or mention the "b" word in front of anyone i know because i do get 2 months off in the summer while the rest of the world slaves away and works and i get to relax. and also as a teacher i know all about the importance of capital letters at the beginning of sentences and especially for the word i and about things like periods at the end of sentences and not starting sentences with and, but this is my chance to not follow my own classroom rules and i'm okay with that)

anyways i created this blog because j was teasing me and said "you always read so many other people's blogs why don't you start one of your own?" and so i created the blog and it has sat here for a few months with me pondering what to write about and then it hit me. sharing with the world about our adventures, especially the ones involving the renovations on our house

i promise pictures will come soon showing the progress that has been made so far because we are so proud of all the work that we've done. but first a brief history of about our little house in the city (aka project 109):

1) back in the spring of 2006 we sold our brand new house in our brand new neighbourhood just because i think we wanted to get close to a more natural habitat

you know one with huge towering trees with branches that almost touch each other from across the street, where wildlife inhabitants like squirrels, rabbits and birds actually live in your front yard and there are walking trails through a wooded area not some path in a wide open farmer's field

and that naturally led us to point number 2 on our house history list

2) we then drove madly around the city in the summer of 2006 looking for a neighbourhood that would fulfill this criteria (and also because we now had no home) and looking back we foolishly bought a 60 year old house in the city

if you ask j or n why we did this - we will dreamily reply that its because of the trees that almost touch and the loft upstairs that tricked us into purchasing this house and then we'll snap out of our dreamy trance and remember that we're still living with our foolish decision ... three years later and still hoping that one day soon it will be finished

and you might ask why was it a foolish decision? well because we had very little money to renovate and the entire house needed to be fixed and the little money we had we didn't know what to use it for because neither of us have ever done anything remotely close to renovating

3) enter the trusty dads who are the renovating kings (and our personal heroes)

with their help we are well on our way to finishing the main floor this summer woo-hoo!!

- when we first moved in we tore the upstairs loft apart and sadly we haven't even touched it since but we're hoping this fall we can put the dormers in and the bathroom upstairs and actually live in and enjoy our master floor loft (one of the dreamy reasons why we bought this place)

- over 2006 j, n and all their fabulous helpers (aka family members we can bribe with food and beverage) have taken out several walls, doorways and entrances throughout the house and opened it up to create a beautiful open main floor

- in the summer 2007 we completely gutted the ugly old kitchen and put in a beautiful maple kitchen decked out with fancy slick stainless steel appliances, re-did the ugly old floors with a dark laminate and updated the small main floor bathroom with new fixtures, toilet and found an awesome custom sink that had to be under 16 inches (good luck trying to find that at a regular hardware store) and not to mention the sweetest custom made doors n has ever seen!

- over 2008 and 2009 (usually in extremely cold or unusually hot weather) j, his dad and our trusty helpers have replaced all the windows in the house by having to cut stucco off the house and create custom sized holes to fit these magnificent windows, they have also moved the front door from one side of the living room to the middle, removed the side door entrance and recently put in a beautiful set of french doors leading to our new upper deck which is soon to be covered

well we have much much much more to do until our little house is transformed into a place that reflects us and our dream and vision for this place but with a little bit more hard work, patience and planning we can start to see the end in sight

thanks for stopping by and joining us in our crazy adventure ... please visit again and check back for updates

cheers ~n

p.s. i was worried that i wouldn't have very much to say for my first post and was procrastinating at posting anything but as i re-read my long winded post i see that this won't be such a big problem in the future