Help Wanted

I hate to use the blog to beg... but I need everyone's help on a small task... it would mean the world to us if you could please vote for us in Tourism Tofino's Focus on Family Photo Contest!

Tofino holds a magical spot in our hearts.

We were married on the beach in Tofino surrounded by our closest family and friends.

Any time we need to truly relax and reconnect as a couple, we return to Tofino for some quality family time.

So of course when I saw Tourism Tofino's Focus on Family Photo Contest, I jumped at the chance to enter.

The photo with the most Likes will receive the 'Tofino Family Focus Getaway' including two nights accommodation, a family portrait session with Marnie Recker and much more!

Winning this contest would be the perfect opportunity for us to return to Tofino to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary this spring.

So.... please, please, please, pretty please vote for us!

Amy

I ♥ comments...

Eight Years

Eight years ago today we took possession of our house.

At the time we were young (only 22!) and only had one income (I was still 6 months away from completing my engineering degree) but we decided to take a giant leap of faith because Dave was convinced that the only way we would ever be financially secure was buying a house as soon as possible.

Boy was he right!

By time I graduated in May prices had begun to sky rocket. The average house price in Calgary rose $100,000 with a year.

We have come a long way in eight years... the house now barely resembles the house that we purchased... but it still represents one of the best investments we have ever made. Not just financially, but also in terms life and love.

This house has taught us so much. Most importantly that you love something more and more the more love you put into it.

It is truly our home.

Amy

I ♥ comments...

Monday Blues

Martha Stewart

Desire to Inspire

La Maison Boheme

Amy

I ♥ comments...

Hot Pink ♥

If only David would let me...

New York Times

Amy

I ♥ comments...

January Cure: Day 8

 The second week of the January Cure has now passed. The assignments for the past week included:

• Get a Fresh Perspective
• Work on a Project
• Choose a Piece of Art to Frame
• Plan a Get Together
• Weekend Cores: Buy Flowers, Clean Kitchen, Make a Meal

 

Choosing a piece of art to frame was an easy task since I have a shelf full of prints and frames awaiting to be hung since we have moved back into the house.

 

I decided to focus on the two prints from Big Ant that I purchased for the office way back in 2011...

 

Now I just need to make it to IKEA to purchase frames since I have a $20 gift certificate from purchasing our Christmas tree there.

For dinner on Sunday, we chose to forgo our plans for a sushi date and I made Green Curry Steamed Mussels using a recipe from Spoon Fork Bacon instead. They were AMAZING.

Spoon Fork Bacon

And I am definitely making good progress on my project list!

Basement

• Defrost and organize freezers
• Tidy and purge cleaning products

Kitchen

• Organize tea cupboard - just need to find an appropriately sized basket
• Clean cabinets
• Tidy pantry
• Organize and purge cookbooks
• Organize spice cupboard

Master Bedroom

• Wash and hem curtains
• Clean pendant lamp
• Vacuum loft

Office

• Organize filing - new hanging file system and file folders purchased
• Organize and purge cords

Spare Bedroom

• Organize and purge wrapping supplies
• Organize and purge craft supplies
• Organize and purge office supplies and relocate to office
• Organize and purge toiletries and relocate to hall closet

Bathroom

• Replace broken towel hook
• Wash walls
• Replace shower curtains
• Clean shower caddy

Hall Closet

• Organize and purge linens including blanket chest
• Organize toiletries - just need to find an appropriately sized basket

Amy

I ♥ comments...

Minted

House Beautiful via Michael Penney Style

Hunted Interior

My Morning Inspiration

Abode Love

 

Sterling Style

Kirsten Ellis Design

 

Amy

I ♥ comments...

Inspiration

Before there was Pinterest, we all used to read magazines for decor inspiration. We would carefully clip out our favourite photos and keep scrapbooks of dream houses.

Remember when...

During my purge of the spare bedroom closet this past weekend, I came across my scrapbooks. It was interesting to look back through books I have not touched in years to see how my tastes have changed and what ideas actually got incorporated into the house along the way.

Amongst all of the pictures was one of a beige stucco house with a lush garden and brick patio.

Not the most eye catching house ever. Not really my taste in houses at all.

But surprisingly this photo was the inspiration that started our whole renovation adventure.

No really.

It all started back in early 2008... while Dave was away for a ski vacation, I had spent a night at my parents house and returned home to find that someone had attempted to break into our house, leaving our back door broken. Wanting to surprise Dave with my handy abilities, I bought and installed a new back door (with some help from my fantastic dad). 

When Dave returned home, although impressed that I had fixed it without him, he prompty decided he hated the new back door. HATED. 

So we began to shop around but I could not justify wasting the $300 door I had just purchased (and installed on my own!) let alone another more expensive door on our ugly, decrepit, rotting back porch.

Shortly there after I stumbled across the picture in a copy of Style at Home. And although it looked nothing like our house in its current condition and nothing like my dream of the house in its renovated state, it got the wheels turning...

we had patio doors upstairs in the office... 

currently they led to a leaky, rotten balcony that we never used... 

we didn't really need the balcony... 

or the ugly, decrepit, rotting back porch beneath it... 

we didn't like our dark kitchen hidden behind the porch... 

but we would love french doors in the kitchen... 

leading directly out to the back yard without have to go through the dark, smelly porch...

wouldn't our house look cute with matching upper and lower french doors?

wouldn't our house look cute with a juliette balcony too?

Now do you get our thought process?

So next thing we knew we had commited ourselves to demolishing the back porch, relocating the back door I had just installed to a new shed we would build, installing new french doors in the kitchen where the entrance to the porch previously was and completely re-arranging the kitchen to accomodate the new doors.

Suddenly we went from a $300 back door to a $30,000 renovation...

And five years later we have taken a random photo in a magazine...

And turned this...

Into this.

Looks exactly like the inspiration photo right?

We still need to paint the lower french doors and windows black and install the juliette balcony. But we definitely have come a long way.

Amy

PS. For more on the kitchen renovation check out: Part I Part II Part III 

I ♥ comments...

January Cure: Day 3

The weekend assignment for Apartment Therapy's January Cure was to Buy Flowers, Vacuum, Mop, Gather Earth Friendly Cleaners & Use Your Outbox.

You don't have to tell me twice to buy flowers!

Gathering Earth Friendly Cleaners was easy too - the majority of my cleaner is already done with vinegar or Dr. Bronner's Soap. I love the smell of the peppermint version but also use the tea tree oil version when I am looking for a disinfectant.

Recently I discovered a recipe for a fantastic all-purpose cleaner that works amazing on wood floors, granite counters and stainless steel appliances.

• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup rubbing alcohol
• 1 cup water
• 2 to 3 drops Dr. Bronner's Soap or dish soap

Simply combine all of the ingredients in a spray bottle using a funnel. For wood floors, lightly mist the floors with cleaner and wipe with a dry micro fibre mop. For stainless steel, lightly mist and wipe with a dry rag.

And as I predicted the urge to purge has taken over and I already have an overflowing Outbox!

Previous Posts:

• Day 1: Make a List of Projects
• Day 2: Set Up Your Outbox

Amy

I ♥ comments...

January Cure: Day 2

As part of my New Years Resolution to get my life back under control I have decided to participate in Apartment Therapy's January Cure. The January Cure is a series of 31 daily tasks with the aim of whipping your home into shape, getting it clean, organized and under control.

The first assignment was to Make a List of Projects. The second assignment was to Set Up Your Outbox. The outbox is a space, that may or may not be an actual box, that acts as a "halfway house" where items are placed while you decide their ultimate fate.

Outbox Rules

• Anything can go in the Outbox
• The Outbox is allowed to get messy
• Everything must stay in the Outbox for at least one week
• After that time you have several choices:
• Take anything back out
• Leave anything you are undecided about for one more week
• Dispose of the rest by moving to the garbage, recycling bin, or giveaway pile

I designated a corner of the spare bedroom as our Outbox since the room is rarely used and since a good portion of the project list revolves around the second floor rooms.

The first item I placed in my Outbox was kind of cheating since I know it is destined for Goodwill - the old spice jars from my recent spice cupboard re-organization. Knowing me, the Outbox will mostly act as a giveaway pile.

I am definitely feeling inspired to start purging!

Amy

I ♥ comments...

January Cure: Day 1

As part of my New Years Resolution to get my life back under control I have decided to participate in Apartment Therapy's January Cure. The January Cure is a series of 31 daily tasks with the aim of whipping your home into shape, getting it clean, organized and under control.

The first assignment was to Make a List of Projects, to walk through your home and make a list of areas that need to be cleaned, re-organized or de-cluttered. I added the rule that the projects must not be renovation related projects, the must strictly be home maintenance, operation or organization projects. From the list, you are to highlight the 3 to 5 items that will make the biggest impact on the room and those are the ones you will focus on.

Have I ever mentioned I love making lists...

Basement

• Defrost and organize freezers
• Tidy and purge cleaning products

Kitchen

• Organize tea cupboard
• Clean cabinets
• Tidy pantry
• Organize and purge cookbooks
• Organize spice cupboard

Master Bedroom

• Wash and hem curtains
• Clean pendant lamp
• Vacuum loft

Office

• Organize filing
• Organize and purge cords

Spare Bedroom

• Organize and purge wrapping supplies
• Organize and purge craft supplies
• Organize and purge office supplies and relocate to office
• Organize and purge toiletries and relocate to hall closet

Bathroom

• Replace broken towel hook
• Wash walls
• Replace shower curtains
• Clean shower caddy

Hall Closet

• Organize and purge linens including blanket chest
• Organize toiletries 

Seems achievable? Right? Wish me luck!

Check out other bloggers participating in the January Cure: A Lovely Lark, Fairview Place, It Started with Yum

Amy

I ♥ comments...

New Years Resolutions

Via Tarafirma

As I mentioned in my last post, 2012 seemed like an anti-climatic year. It feels like we did not accomplish much in 2012... more than likely just because the previous two years (2010 and 2011) just set the bar too high...

But also because I feel like I have fallen off the wagon in every respect of my life this past year. Fitness... diet... sleep... renovating... decorating... blogging...

I let stress take control and it was a downward spiral from there. By December I was feeling burnt out, depressed and generally unwell.

It is time to take control of my life back. Period.

So my resolutions this year are simple:

1. Take better care of myself - eat better, sleep more, exercise more, relax more
2. Enjoy myself - learn to enjoy the little things, not everything has to be a grand adventures

Oh yah... and maybe, just maybe, finish the renovations...

Amy

I ♥ comments...

Looking Back on 2012

The past two New Years (2010 and 2011), I have taken the time to look back at what we accomplished over the previous twelve months. 

This year looking back was actually a little depressing... compared to the previous years, it feels like we did not accomplish much in 2012... Don't get me wrong, 2012 was a great year. Maybe the previous two years just set the bar too high...

Nonetheless, we are definitely looking forward to possibilities that 2013 has to offer.

January

In January, we started work on the living room trim. Which is actually not done twelve months later...

February

In February, we had the high of Dave's first ski mountaineering race at the Coldsmoke Festival in Nelson and the low of the failed electrical inspection. No, we have not yet finished replacing all of the sockets or repeated the electrical inspection...

March

In March, we finally began to unpack after being moved back into the house for 487 days.

April

In April, Dave escaped to the spectacular Icefall Lodge for some backcountry skiing.

And, we started work on the built-in desk and shelves in the office... which still are not done...

Are you beginning to see the trend?

May

We celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary by heading back to Vancouver Island where Scout's mysterious sickness prevented us from hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail.

June

Returning from the West Coast early, motivated us to start landscaping our yard in June. In three weeks of intense work we managed to complete the french drain system, rough-in a irrigation system, build new raised flower beds and pour a new concrete patio.

 July

In July, the exterior work continued. We continued our landscaping binge in the front yard and began painting the exterior windows.

Just in time for our home to be featured in a parade of century homes. 

centruy homes. Research in to our home's history connected it to Florence (Kinrade) Wright who was famous for standing trial for her sister's murder.

We also managed to escape for a weekend to hike the Skoki Loop.

August

August was a month of celebration. First pulling together all of our hard landscaping work to create a backyard oasis. 

Then christening it with a big barbecue in honour of Dave's 30th birthday!

September

The year was finally starting to pick up... and September saw us undertaking an epic adventure - we hiked our first segment of the Great Divide Trail. Over eight days we hiked more than 150 km, covering five parks and nine passes, from Upper Kananaskis Lake to the Floe Lake trail head on Highway 93.

Oh yah... and I still have not managed to blog about it...

October

In October, it was my turn to celebrate my 30th birthday... which we did by sneaking away for two weeks in Turkey. 

Oh yah... and I still have not managed to blog about it...

Are you beginning to see another trend?

November

 November managed to go by in the blink on an eye... being thrown into a new project at work consumed almost every waking moment. I honestly can't even remember this month.

December

Motivated by my desire to decorate fro Christmas, Dave finally managed to get back to work on the house - finishing the living room trim that he started way back in January. Hopefully this January will see the crown moulding installed.

Dave participated in his second ski mountaineering race - the Vert180 at COP. He had big plans to complete the entire ski mountaineering circuit this season but unfortunately the three heli-lodge ski trips he has booked interfere with most of the races.

The year finished off with two heavenly weeks of relaxing at home - for the first time since I can remember Dave didn't have to work on Christmas and we took full advantage of both of us having the time off to do nothing!

Amy

I ♥ comments...