Amy
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tile ♥
I have been telling Dave for a long time that we simply do not have enough surfaces in our house to tile. I would love to find a place for these fantastic mosaics.
Amy
Amy
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Writing on the Wall
Seems like all of our progress lately is on paper... sketches of the exterior house, quotes for siding the house, sketches of the front entry wainscoting and storage bench... however we have managed to make a little progress in the front entrance.
We started by combining all of our inspiration for wainscoting into a little wall art. No better way to visualize the final product then to just draw it straight on the wall! Plus who can pass up the opportunity to do something you had been told not to your entire youth...
Drawing the wainscoting on the wall actually turned out to be quite useful - the 62" height we had initially picked out hit the windows at an awkward point in relation to the rails and stiles. So we have decided to make the wainscoting 2" taller so the top band is centered on the window rails.
From all of our inspiration for storage benches, we decided we wanted to copy the detailing on the bench we saw in the Victoria Cross show home.
We are hoping to have the entry ready for paint by the end of this week. It will nice to finally have somewhere to store shoes other than in a pile in the hallway... Scout is already making good use of the bench!
Amy
PS Hop on over to Playing with Food to check out the progress in the garden (and another cute dog photo).
We started by combining all of our inspiration for wainscoting into a little wall art. No better way to visualize the final product then to just draw it straight on the wall! Plus who can pass up the opportunity to do something you had been told not to your entire youth...
Drawing the wainscoting on the wall actually turned out to be quite useful - the 62" height we had initially picked out hit the windows at an awkward point in relation to the rails and stiles. So we have decided to make the wainscoting 2" taller so the top band is centered on the window rails.
From all of our inspiration for storage benches, we decided we wanted to copy the detailing on the bench we saw in the Victoria Cross show home.
Dave has made good progress on the base of the bench and is now experimenting with router bits to build the drawers.
We are hoping to have the entry ready for paint by the end of this week. It will nice to finally have somewhere to store shoes other than in a pile in the hallway... Scout is already making good use of the bench!
Amy
PS Hop on over to Playing with Food to check out the progress in the garden (and another cute dog photo).
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Etsy Finds
I am the first to admit I am addicted to Etsy. Having a whole house to decorate does not help my addiction, however recently it has produced two fantastic purchases.
First, two prints from Big Ant for Dave's mountain inspired office.
Amy
First, two prints from Big Ant for Dave's mountain inspired office.
And a vintage fan from Retro Groovie to make up for the lack of the ceiling fan in the master bedroom.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Break from our Feature Programing
We took some time away from the house this weekend and took the gods out for the first hike of the season - Nahahi Ridge in Kananaskis.
Still a little bit of snow on the ground...
Amy
Friday, May 20, 2011
Money in the Mail
We received our first cheque for the ecoEnergy Retrofit Program in the mail today!
The cheque included the $100 rebate for completing our follow-up assessment and a $1968.75 rebate from the Government of Alberta for improving the insulation.
We are a little confused if the insulation rebate is the amount we qualified for out of the $2565 maximum rebate or if we will still be receiving more from the federal government... the auditor warned us that the money would come in several cheques and the level of communication in the program is a little lacking.
However we are still ecstatic - the renovation is finally starting to pay off!
The cheque included the $100 rebate for completing our follow-up assessment and a $1968.75 rebate from the Government of Alberta for improving the insulation.
We are a little confused if the insulation rebate is the amount we qualified for out of the $2565 maximum rebate or if we will still be receiving more from the federal government... the auditor warned us that the money would come in several cheques and the level of communication in the program is a little lacking.
However we are still ecstatic - the renovation is finally starting to pay off!
Amy
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
♥ List
I am loving... unique uses for wallpaper
Amy
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| Apartment Therapy |
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| Door Sixteen |
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| Apartment Therapy |
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| Tid Bit du Jour |
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Sunday at the Show Homes
Since the overcast weather overrode our gardening plans, we found ourselves spending this afternoon visiting the new Victoria Cross development on the Currie Barracks. We were sent there by a contractor to look at potential siding options for our house but couldn't resist the opportunity to take in a couple of the show homes while in the neighborhood.
Although we will not be buying one of these homes anytime soon (starting at $690k for a townhome or $860k for detached home), they did turn out to be a source of useful inspiration.
We discovered two new potential designs for the bench in our front entry - the first bench is actually the current front runner for our own bench design.
And a unique catch system for double closet doors using recessed magnets - much smarter the traditional ball or roller catch.
And of course the siding options we originally set out for.
A very productive grey Sunday afternoon!
Amy
Although we will not be buying one of these homes anytime soon (starting at $690k for a townhome or $860k for detached home), they did turn out to be a source of useful inspiration.
We discovered two new potential designs for the bench in our front entry - the first bench is actually the current front runner for our own bench design.
And a unique catch system for double closet doors using recessed magnets - much smarter the traditional ball or roller catch.
And of course the siding options we originally set out for.
A very productive grey Sunday afternoon!
Amy
Friday, May 13, 2011
Lily Pad
For those who have been wondering how the rainbow of paint chips fits into my white decorating scheme...
We previously had a pale yellow cabinet that provided the only storage for the upstairs bathroom. The colour seemed a little lost in the new bathroom so I headed to the paint aisle in search of some inspiration. I may have gone a little overboard...
I was leaning towards a raspberry or coral colour but David vetoed any shades of pink (I will find a room to decorate with pink yet!). We quickly narrowed down the choices to two shades, both from the Martha Stewart Living paint line: Hosta, a deep blue-green, and Lily Pad, a jade green. Since we already have blue in the office, we settled on Lily Pad.
A couple coats of paint later and the cabinet went from pale yellow to bright green! I kept the yellow on the inside of the cabinet for a little contrast.
At least the shower rod is adjustable but it means we will have to patch the drywall and repaint. We are both in agreement that we might procrastinate on this for a little while...
Amy
We previously had a pale yellow cabinet that provided the only storage for the upstairs bathroom. The colour seemed a little lost in the new bathroom so I headed to the paint aisle in search of some inspiration. I may have gone a little overboard...
I was leaning towards a raspberry or coral colour but David vetoed any shades of pink (I will find a room to decorate with pink yet!). We quickly narrowed down the choices to two shades, both from the Martha Stewart Living paint line: Hosta, a deep blue-green, and Lily Pad, a jade green. Since we already have blue in the office, we settled on Lily Pad.
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| Lily Pad |
A couple coats of paint later and the cabinet went from pale yellow to bright green! I kept the yellow on the inside of the cabinet for a little contrast.
Since the old bathroom mirror broke in the move, we decided it would worthwhile to incorporate a little more storage in the form of a medicine cabinet. We found a white medicine cabinet at Home Depot with similar details to the first cabinet, treated it with a couple coats of Lily Pad paint and...
Viola! Two steps closer to the bathroom being complete!
Unfortunately we were so excited about our new larger shower enclosure it never dawned on us to check that it still fit with the cabinet. The shower rod now hangs almost six inches past the cabinet.
At least the shower rod is adjustable but it means we will have to patch the drywall and repaint. We are both in agreement that we might procrastinate on this for a little while...
Amy
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Entry Storage Inspiration
We do not have any closets on our main floor, so we have been searching for creative ways to create storage in the front entry. Ideally we would like to work it into a bench under the front window.
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| Houzz |
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| Amber Interior Design |
Monday, May 9, 2011
Progress: What Progress?
It has been three weeks since we moved home and it feels like the renovation has ground to a complete hault...
We have been making progress... but it is all small (un-photo-worthy) tasks to make the house more livable.
Hanging bathroom accessories, hanging doors, installing closets shelves, fixing the dishwasher (thankfully only a $30 valve), evicting unwanted house guests (thankfully moved out)... and a lot of cleaning!
We have a couple big projects in the planning stages so hopefully we will be back up to full renovation speed in the near future.
Amy
We have been making progress... but it is all small (un-photo-worthy) tasks to make the house more livable.
Hanging bathroom accessories, hanging doors, installing closets shelves, fixing the dishwasher (thankfully only a $30 valve), evicting unwanted house guests (thankfully moved out)... and a lot of cleaning!
We have a couple big projects in the planning stages so hopefully we will be back up to full renovation speed in the near future.
Amy
Thursday, May 5, 2011
ecoENERGY Retrofit Program Rating
In our original assessment, our house was given an EnerGuide rating of 29, mostly due to the fact that our house was almost completely uninsulated.
If we completed the list of recommended improvements, the evaluator predicted that we could improve the rating of our house from 29 to 70. We completed the follow up assesement in February and last week we received an official EnerGuide sticker stating that our house now has an EnerGuide rating of 70.
We were actually surprised that we received a rating of 70 since we did not complete all of the recommendations on the list, especially a few major items like insulating the basement (actually makes us skeptical of the validity of the whole assessment scheme beyond a federal government employment scheme...)
We still are waiting to see how much we will get back in rebates. If my dealings with the federal government at work are any indication, this weeks election will have us waiting a long time to see our cheques...
Amy
If we completed the list of recommended improvements, the evaluator predicted that we could improve the rating of our house from 29 to 70. We completed the follow up assesement in February and last week we received an official EnerGuide sticker stating that our house now has an EnerGuide rating of 70.
We were actually surprised that we received a rating of 70 since we did not complete all of the recommendations on the list, especially a few major items like insulating the basement (actually makes us skeptical of the validity of the whole assessment scheme beyond a federal government employment scheme...)
We still are waiting to see how much we will get back in rebates. If my dealings with the federal government at work are any indication, this weeks election will have us waiting a long time to see our cheques...
Amy
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
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