And kitchen complete part two.

My husband is a minimalist. This is in contrast to my business. So I have been trying very hard not to plaster all of our walls with numerous amounts of pictures, just a few here and there. Cut to the dear kitchen that I just completed one of the pieces of furniture. 

Mark insisted that the buffet would look best by the fireplace. I have to agree but the wall then looked off to me as We had one big piece of furniture on one side and a smaller one on the other. I don't know why but it was not balanced and very off putting to me. 

Then I remembered these wooden frames I bought about four or five years ago. I had intentions of using them in our apartment but funnily enough all the walls were covered (so I may have had a problem but I am toning it down). I bought fabric that matched the wall and the painting and stretch it over the frame, nailing it on. Again I see flaws but I did it not buy it a run of the mill store so it has heart. He he. 

Next I got out the trusty level, a tool that I love. And nailed the work onto the wall. And tada! The kitchen is no longer off kilter. Ha ha. 

I also put a friendship quilt that Casey made for me on the other wall. I figured friends and family socialize and have fun in the kitchen so it was meant to be.

Kitchen complete. Now the eating shall commence. 

Love

It's finally done

So here is what happened.  We moved and I went on Pinterest. My first mistake. I pinned tons of things to do this summer. Piece of cake. Pinterest makes it look so easy. I should have all these projects done in a two weeks right?

Wrong. But one is done and although I see some flaws I have learned a lot. What I took on was this beauty. 

I call it a buffet cause that is what my parents called theirs. Holds all our nice things. The hitch is that we had dark cabinets in the kitchen and this kind of stuck out more than I liked. So I perused some websites and decided to start the process. 

I bought a little sander at Home Depot and sanded away. And then did some more. And more. What was taking so long? I started to read up on it more and people said if the cabinet had a veneer it just needed a 240 grit. I scoff, he he. Maybe my sander and hands were not powerful enough but I just couldn't get it to the grain. I used 80 and then 120 to smooth it out but I found the process painstakingly long as one shelf took me two hours to do. Ugh. Maybe I need more patience. He he. 

Mark's Uncle John and Aunt Marie came by for a family dinner one day and suggested I try a chemical sander. At this point I was willing to try anything. So I bought a scraper and this little product. 

So I went away at it. Smoothed it over all the furniture. Waiting for approximately 3-4 hours and scraped it off.

So what do I have to say about this. It is messy. Seriously. And it can take a bit of time to shave off all of the product. But it works. Really well. And it cut my time to doing four shelves in one hour. I did go over all of the surfaces with the sander to make sure it was all smooth and even. Cleans everything right up. 

So the next part was to clean it all off and apply the stain. The hitch. The first product I bought basically stained the wood the exact same colour I just sanded down. Aaaaaaahhhh. So I searched for this gal's blog. She is my hairdresser and decorator extraordinaire. I knew she had done her kitchen cabinets so I looked up the product and used it.

I chose espresso for my colour as you will see. And it worked just as she described it. I did about four coats overall. And loved it as it has a nice sheen to it too. My only issue was my painting technique may not always be the best as I had some drips that escaped and dried. Grrrrrr. I need to apply a thinner coat next time I believe. And because I had a cat and no matter how hard I cleaned I still found strands of hair at times. He he. He is permanently etched in my furniture. 

New hardware after that as there was no way I was going to paint the wooden knobs. 

I then applied grey scrapbook paper on the back to match the back of our kitchen wall. And maybe hide some mistakes. He he. This was not before I put glittery silver paper on it and Mark said in his "I am not going to insult it directly but I am making it known I don't like it" voice of "oh it's sparkly". The next morning I looked and it did look like a giant disco ball. Grey paper it is. 

Obviously I did all this before putting all the things back in. But I wasn't smart enough to take the pictures. 

And here is the finished product. And I like it. 

So what do I have to say about the next projects. I need a break. Really. I am thrilled with the result and am eager to do another one.  Maybe next year as I want to do it in the garage it can get a little colder in the later months. Plus the car wants the garage back. He he. 

So this is my big DIY for this year. This is the reason that I will not be doing the half marathon as I can barely get past 11 km and I have to double that in two weeks. Sigh. But it was worth it. And the kitchen is back in use. 

Love

summer: are you coming my way?

i think so. this week it has been slowly escalating to hot hot hot. and i am loving it. and when i need a break from loving it. i hop down to my beloved basement where everything is cool and refreshing! fabulous!

anyhoo...mark is officially on summer break! whooo hooo! i don't think he could feel any better right now. we spent our first official holiday day (well mine was just the weekend off but regardless) at the St. Albert Farmer's Market. so i have never been. HUGENESS and LOVELY! apparently it is one of the biggest outdoor markets in Western Canada. and it lived up to it. plenty of lovely food and other delights. we got ourselves some tasty delights including lovely cinnamon buns, green onion cakes and pasta! yum! definite carbo loading if you ask me!

then mark went to work on his big landscaping project. i on the other hand lazed around (i.e. napped) and then attempted to do some sanding projects. a little frustrated with my project as i don't think it will be what i would like it to be (and it turns out it is a lot more work than i though) but i have to wait and see. future posts on both yard and mine later when all is completed.

speaking of beautiful projects. mark's uncle john made us the most fabulous-ly beautiful bookcase. i don't think we could have imagined it being any better than it is. it is fantastic. wendy, david, and john all joked asking if it was enough space for us. and yes it is. and it is full! as well as our bookcase upstairs. what can i say. i married a husband with a book addiction. i think there are worse things in the world?

i am kind of in half marathon training right now as well. but not doing as well as i should as my motivation is in other places and although there are places to run, i do miss the beloved river valley...that is presently very wet (although with the sun, probably drying out). jimi and i were suppose to do the colour me rad in Calgary today and i was quite pumped about it...unfortunately do to all the floods Calgary had other worries to think about than a little five km race.

AND lets just say that all of southern Alberta is doing a great job in handling this massive disaster...and on top of that the amount of generosity i have seen from Albertans, Canadians and people world wide have once again astounded me. its pretty awesome to see. and to be able to see it again on social media...really shows the positivity of these kinds outlets!

i think that covers it all for me. here are a few pics that i haven't posted this month.

a fire-pit in the summer. is there anything better? it makes for an easy but great meal of hotdogs, banana boats, and cherry pies and mixes in with mark's favourite pastime of making fires.

sibling love on this lovely evening of food.

graduation day with my fellow nurslings!

all dolled up for the lovely occasion. our next stop? home depot of course!

 the grass is back and wilder than ever! and yes it grew once again.

 

 i think mark is in heaven right now as he not only has his yard to play around in but he has "his" dog. we are dog sitting while wendy and david are on vacation. i am assured that this is only temporary. ;)

 i saw my long lost friend jeff who i hadn't seen since may and really didn't even get a chance to talk to all that much! so lovely. and yes this is jeaninne protecting her hair from getting wet as she didn't want to "frizz" out.

lovely friends

 "let's go thrift shopping," i said

"it is the perfect day to do it as it is rainy," i said later

"holy it is really wet," i said even later

"remember the whitemud flood that we got stuck in, in 2004, i think we better go home cause i think its going to happen again," i said lastly

he he. yes jeaninne and i went shopping and i guess some of the roads did flood but not really where we were, all was safe! but we did see this die hard fat franks guy selling hot dogs. we just had to stop and see him. cause really...in torrential downpours he deserved our business!

 ahhh hot dogs so worth it!

 

 no finds for us...but one lucky lady found a cute little toy!

till next time...

love  

It's just the beginning.

I must say. When we were first moved in I was massively overwhelmed. Not the unpacking part. But the part where you start to convert the show homey look into your personal look. You know the one. When people walk into your home and know its yours and your partners. 

The challenge for me has been trying to merge Mark's minimalism with my bold, bright and just a tad excessive. Not to mention my incessant need for urgency to finish it all up. And really all we have is time. 

It's kind of funny as it reminds me of how I started to plan the wedding with billions of things going through my head of what needed to be done. And dear dear Mark reining me in and stating one step at a time. 

So the process has begun. And I have lists and projects to fill my summer months. Plus I have amazing friends that know a thing or two of what to do and where to look. It shall be fun and let's hope not to expensive. Ha ha. 

Love

the stool

my mom told me to throw it out. we were cleaning out the "junk" in their basement. i came across a broken stool that mom got back in the day at county's reach. i loved that stool. it reminded me of a country/cosy style that fit in my parent's house perfectly. mom told me it was junk. toss it. i restrained. call it nostalgia...or that i wanted to grasp whatever i could of my parents but i was determined to make this stool mine somehow. thus the wheels started turning....

cut to two months later i went to a fabric store (i rarely frequent them). i came across this fabric (below). i know what you are thinking...orange??? but it matched a chair that we happened to have and the flowers are really pretty...or at least i think they are. i headed to casey's house for a craft night and we set up on stapling this fabric on to the cushion. easy-peasy.

the last bit i needed help. i didn't get a before picture but the stool was in pretty bad ruins and it was confirmed what my mom had originally said. it was junk. the wood was slightly cheap and a handy kind of handy man managed to put it together but warned not to put too much pressure on it. i promise i won't.

it now sits idly by the orange chair waiting for a nice kitty or a foot. the project is finished and i am happy!

thanks so much david for your hard work! :)

20 more days...

even with birthday celebrations yesterday, i still managed to sneak in a little christmas cheer. whether it was this gift i received from my mom:

...yes that is right. a christmas shower curtain. the bathroom now has a bit of cheer! :)

or getting out of the restaurant with mark and jimi, and walking towards the fantastically decorated tree at city hall. a tree whose lights look to be crying. OR as jimi says, "the tree is weeping because he can see that all his friends are books". yeah the library is across the street...lol

or listening to bony m pumped ever so loudly in the car with jimi and i bopping our heads while poor mark wonders how he ever got involved in this family...he he he

i heart you christmas season!

also: a heartfelt thanks to all those people that took me out to dinner, sent me facebook messages, phone calls, texts, and skypes. you truly are great friends and you made me feel so very special on my special day!

love

family photos

to end this weekend of thanks and family i thought i would share my little wall of love. this used to be in the living room but in all fairness the vast majority was my family (not that mark isn't family but you probably get the drift). so i put it in my office so that my family and extended family pictures are around me when i work. one of my favourite things...

hope everyone had a marvelous thanksgiving weekend!!!
lots of love

lime green

so i have a favourite colour. i really love anything of this colour. green. right now, in particular, i am really loving lime green. just a little spot of my house that i have dedicated to lovely lime. yes this includes some of my summer projects i painted (wall mural, and cd case)....i love limes (just like amy from little women!) or lime green for that matter....

love

the corner

i have talked about this for sometime now but i really have to say how happy i am the fishtank is gone. not just mark's but mine as well. they were taking much needed space and both were completely unused so it felt good to ship them off! before my parent's left they gave us a couple of items. now the said items have an official place and we are not living in as much clutter. so here is the wall now. i do realize we still have quite a bit of stuff (i.e. hiking/camping supplies under the desk) but i think we are getting by nicely with the space we have like behind the screen i hid the christmas decorations, vacuum, kitty kennel and storage-like items.

so there you have it mom. because the rocking chair needs a bit of tweaking to hold human weight i thought it could hold some scrapbooks instead. on a sidenote: when jimi saw the monky/bear he started laughing hysterically, i can't figure out why...*wink wink*. also note the lamp. yup that is what you gave to me but i spray painted it silver (try not to shudder) and bought a new lampshade. i think it looks great with grammie's desk. finally the ugly (but sooo sooo comfy) orange chair that we bought at a garage sale. we put it in the corner by the window. kind of a reading/study area. note the pillow: mama b gave that to me on my last visit...she is too cute!

so that's it. have a great monday!

love

pictures

now that the fish tank is gone i have room to put many things where that spot was once occupied. what i put will be in a blog soon to follow however i did realize as i was organizing that there were really no current pictures of mark and i...anywhere. we did have a couple of family photos back in 2008 but that's about it. so i took matters into my own hands and developed a few frame-worthy pictures and scattered them around the apartment (mainly the living room and my office). here they are...like??

from top left us fighting off bugs in the backcountry ha ha ha,
top right is a picture of us all dressed up for mark's cousin's wedding.
bottom left is us on the north coast trail.
the right us at hopewell rocks.

have a good night. off to celebrate a special hope lady's birthday. research for a paper and maybe (fingers crossed) fit in some glee!

love

my favourites...

i feel gross. i woke up yesterday morning sweating hot which quickly changed to immediate chills. yes, a fever. slightly distressing to myself as i have many things to accomplish in the next couple of weeks. i had to tell myself to JUST BREATHE, CALM DOWN, and RELAX. i took today off because i went to lilith last night. now it is officially a sick day where all items on my checklist are pushed back for another day. i am just going to sit in front of the television and watch cosby show reruns and old movies.

so instead of carrying on about how sick i am i thought i would give you a glimpse of my favourite things in our kitchen.

before i moved in with mark, i got a bird salt and pepper shaker for christmas (from urban outfitters). it goes perfectly with our pick up truck that stores toothpicks (got it at le gnome, which sadly closed down...tear)

my beloved butter dish and sugar bowl. i got these with my mom, from anthropologie. love love love that store! she also got a butter dish there as well. they are just so lovely.

right before my mom moved she gave us her old creamer dishes and a sugar bowl (right now there are spices instead of sugar in it). i love them as they remind me of my childhood and they are all too cute.

finally the controversial anthropologie decorative dish towel. i bought a couple of these and on the first day mark spilled spaghetti sauce on it. then we got into a heated debate of function and decoration. ahhh sigh, it makes us laugh now...such goobers.

have a good tuesday!

love