Tuesday Site Visit

For todays post I'm going to take you on a field trip.  Once a week (more if required) I do a site visit to my SGG house, well, actually it's not really mine.  Lets start again... today I'm taking you on a visit to one of Moving Designz ongoing construction projects.  We've nicknamed it the SGG house. 

 

Work is progressing at a feverish pace, which was clearly evident by the amount of work vehicles in the driveway when we arrived today.

Bayside Builders, the general contrators and builders extraodinaire.  They are doing a top notch job.

  http://www.baysidegroup.ca/

And just around the corner,  3 more vehicles, one is clearly not visible in this photo but I assure you it is there.  The electricians are here as are the flooring and surface contractors Tops to Floors.

http://www.topstofloors.com/

And another pleasant surprise!  Ralph is here, which means the staircases are getting installed.

 http://www.ravenwoodstairways.com/

Oh look, they rolled out the blue carpet for us.  Actually this blue film is a protective covering for the flooring that is being laid throughout the house.  Though technically a mudroom/laundry room there is no mud here.  I love that they cover the floors like this... it's a great extra step that some contractors miss.  It keeps the floors clean and protected.

A November flashback, in case you haven't been here with me before.  This is the great room.

A little further along our timeline and now the fireplace is framed and the drywall is installed.

Last Thursdays site visit.  The fireplace is looking WOW.  The last time I uploaded pictures the masons were hard at work applying the stone.  And that amazing light fixture is now up.  I just love it!  In this picture to the very right you can see the hardwood flooring has just started to go down, with more blue film.   

And the biggest reveal for today.  The striking railing and stairway system is well underway as you can see the bridge looks fantastic.  I along with most of the other people on site are happy and relieved to have this now installed.  It was getting kind of scary walking across it... as the barracades came down to allow for the flooring to be installed.

Ashley and myself striking a pose.  We're both fairly tall but as you can see we are completely dwarfed by the size of this fireplace.  We were busy checking on the progress and taking window measurements.  Custom built in cabinets will be installed on either side of the fireplace later this week.

Here's Ralph working on the other side of the bridge and the main staircase.

Craig from Tops to Floors busy installing the beautiful dark hardwood flooring.  Lets look at what else is going on in the house today.

Here we have Paul, the project foreman, and Sean checking the location of the diningroom light fixture box.  I think it might have to come a little to the left, like 12".  

Ronny from Tops to Floors holding up the master shower wall tiles.  We're laying them in a stacked vertical pattern.  Lets see who did we miss?  Ah yes, the electricians.

Guess they're both camera shy today.  That would be Dons legs and boots, I think it's Don but kind of hard to tell.  They were busy installing the electrical wires for the infloor heating system in the master bathroom. 

Lets look at some other work details that are getting checked off the to do list...

The guest bathroom shower tiles are done complete with a gorgeous glass tile detail band.

The girls bathroom showers are done with their pale blue glass detail border and shampoo niches.  On the floor we were checking out the tile pattern for the large grey tiles.  Yes, a perfect complement to the tile border!

Here I'm trying to show you a close up of the barrel vault ceiling in the great room which is completely finished in beadboard.  It's light and airy and lends itself to a seaside atmosphere.  On a house like this it is all in the finishing details... and everything is looking fantastic thanks to all the hard work by everyone on this job site.  Kudos to you all! 

The entry light fixture on the other side of the room is now installed too! 

This picture is just inside the entry below that fixture.  Now that that last high light is up, it's time to remove the scaffolding.  I hope someone remembered the lightbulbs...kidding!

 I hope you enjoyed the tour.  It's clearly obvious that the custom cabinetry is missing, plumbing fixtures and remaining lights need to be installed.  Yes there's still lots to do.  However with everyone working so hard it won't be long before we're delivering furniture and decorating this beautiful home.  In the meantime, I'm off to check on Number One Grafton, in Charlottetown, tomorrow.  This project is beyond the construction phase and the decorating has begun.  I hope to post some images on this fantastic soon to be open B & B over the weekend. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!  

Susan 

Blooms, Blooms and more Blooms

I'm posting late today.  It's Sunday evening and the first time all weekend I've found some free time to get my weekly post done.  (and I still have to catch up on all my favorite blogs...)  Why?  Well, I went shopping out of town all day yesterday with one of my clients.  We were looking for some bedroom lamps for her new home.  We did find some really beautiful ones. Two with turquoise shades and two with orange bases.  They are stunning!!!  I know they are going to look so wonderful in her new home, which I can't wait to share her home with you.  It's almost done just a bit more tiling and decorating to be completed.

I'm inspired today with ... Blooms.  I also found the most beautiful books...perfect for my coffee table.  Actually, Kate spied them first and we both had to have them.  She's a very good shopper!!!  And has a terrific eye.  Thank you Kate ;)  This book is simply titled Blooms... by photographer Ron Van Dongen.  The images inside are absolutely strikingly gorgeous with such equisite detail and colour.  And did I mention oh so wonderfully beautiful?

"I love flowers anyday of the week is fine"  SS

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Todi’

 

Tulipa ' Bonsoir' 

I took this image off his website since me photographing or scanning a page out of my new book does not do anywhere near the justice his images deserve.   Each opened page has the official name of the flower and then the beautiful flower beside.  http://www.ronvandongen.com/  His website and works are as stunning as his books.  I urge you to go have a look and then go get any of his collection of printed books.  He is amazingly talented.

I found not one but two of his books.  This is the second one I bought A Bloom a Day.  And there are several more but they weren't available.

Aptly titled, it has a birthday fortune and a flower for every day of the year.  The one on the right is my date. 

Tulipa 'Pink Parrot' (Tulip)

The slightly ruffled edges of the 'Pink Parrot' tulip represent your ability to bring calm to heated situations.  With your nuturing nature and your unselfish love you make a perfect partner.  You have a fascination with the finer things in life, which may need watching in case of overindulgence.

I think I have some work to do on myself... However I remain absolutely facinated with flowers.  Every good stylist/decorator knows flowers make the rooms we photograph and decorate come to life.

 

An excerpt from the latest edition, May 2010 of Style at Home magazine.  (also sitting on my coffee table)Such a beautiful image.  That table looks so pretty with those lovely green blooms.  And I quote " Colour palettes borrowed from nature are a breath of fresh air for any room".  So very, very true.

Green carnations from my diningroom table.  Normally it's tulips this time of year but the grocery store was out of them last weekend, mine are nowhere near being able to cut so I snagged these pretty spring green blooms instead.  And the thing about carnations is they last... like forever!  I'm very picky about my arrangements too.  I like my flowers to be 1. All the same colour if using a variety of species or 2. All the same flowers all the same colour.  No mixed bouquets for me.  I'm just that way.

Have I ever mentioned that I live right beside a greenhouse operation?  Yes, it's true.  My driveway borders not one but a series of nine greenhouses.  It is a long driveway...  and my view in the spring and summer is lovely, amazing, and fresh!!! 

Spring and Summer is when the greenhouses come alive.  And the back doors facing my driveway are always open to let out the heat.  This is the Geranium greenhouse today.  It is the closest one to my house.

The next one has the Lilies, Hostas and other perennial favorites.

On closer inspection, at this stage, they look like little palm trees... missing my yearly trip south right about now...

The Hostas look nice and healthy.  I wonder if there is a sale, tonight at midnight?  lol.

I don't know what these little seeding are but it should become obvious in another couple of weeks.  This is the nursery with all the baby annuals.

And lastly here is a little peek of my spring garden.  My tulips are popping up ever so slowly... it is PEI afterall and though we're enjoying an early spring we haven't quite caught up with the rest of Canada.   

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Susan 

Egg-quisite

Happy Easter to all my readers and blogging friends.  I hope you are all enjoying the long holiday weekend.  For todays post I'm going to share a few pictures of Easter decor ideas, my finished diningroom and a look at Number One Grafton from this week.

I had some friends over for dinner a couple of weeks ago.  This was the hostess gift they presented me with along with a lovely bouquet of tulips.  Hmmmm .... interesting choice I thought.... are they planning on staying for breakie??

And then I opened it...WOW... a dozen gorgeous hand painted eggs.  These eggs come from Judy's collection which I had oogled at her house at least a couple of dozen times.  She has a basket which I would guess holds a hundred or more.   

Judy and her husband lived in Indonesia for several years.  It was there at the markets that Judy's penchant for these absolutely exquisite eggs began.

 

The eggs start off as wooden shapes and are handpainted in the most beautiful colours and patterns.  I love love them...  Thank you so much.  And just in time for Easter.  But how to display them?

Anita displayed our pretty and oh so popular silver birds at the store in one of our lovely glass dishes, nest and all.  So I thought wouldn't the eggs look wonderful displayed the same way?

I think a row of these on my diningroom table is quite perfect! Or...

Isn't this pretty?  Simple yet... so very pretty.

You could mix them up, some eggs, some birds and some eggs and birds.  Why not?

 

These sweet little silver birds are quite literally flying off our shelves.  And speaking of my diningroom, it's done, finished, finito... for now :)

 

My new diningroom table and chairs.  I love it!

Favorite new artwork. We have a few more of these in the shop but I don't expect they will last long.

As part of my renovation I had the glass in my built in cabinets changed out to mirrors.  It totally expands the space, since my diningroom is pretty tiny this helps make it seem bigger.  It certainly is brighter.

Looking the other way towards my livingroom.  Want to see it too?

My livingroom is almost complete.  One last thing remains to be done.  See that door to the very right of the room... soon it will be a built in cabinet.  I've been waiting on my carpenter for months now.  He assures me it will be done by the end of April.  Now readers I have one more thing...  I'm looking for your input here :)

All my lovely drapery panels were wreaked by the dry cleaners.  First they shrunk them and to try and fix the problem they let down the hem.  But as you can see it's a mess... we cannot get rid of that crease.  So I need to order new draperies.  And by the way this is at my cost since the cleaners had an "at your own risk" policy. Not happy about that, but I must accept it and move on. 

I am seriously thinking of changing from my off white panels to this pale blue silk and doing french pleats as opposed to the grommets.  Our supplier is going to give me a very good price since we are good customers.  Well, now that you've seen the diningroom and the livingroom... what do you think?  Should I go for it.  I'm thinking yes, yes, yes.  BTW I had a manicure today, see nails above :)

Moving on to more diningrooms and houses getting done, I want to show you the diningroom progress at Number One Grafton.  The soon to be B & B.

This is the diningroom way back in October.  Note the light fixture.  And all those crates on the floor are actually the new windows.

A couple months later and the windows are installed but now we have furniture, furnishing and boxes replacing them temporarily.  Emphasis on temporary.

Monday of this week.  The construction phase is almost over the diningroom has been cleared out with the furnishing allocated to rooms and other areas of the home.  Graeme and Judy were working hard this week and last... Almost ready for guests.  The draperies, blinds and the rest of the furniture, accessories should be in place within the next 2 weeks.  Doesn't it look great? 

 

One last thing, while driving through the PEI National Park last weekend saw a little more wildlife.  Seems to be a weekly occurance for yours truly :)  Notice the sign... Cavendish, Green Gables, that way.

 

He or she was such a poser.  How pretty ... a beautiful red fox out for a spring stroll and photo ops.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Thanks for reading.  Have a great Easter Sunday and long weekend.

Susan