We're on TV... well Kind of...

I didn't get my house altogether this last weekend like I had hoped so I won't have any after pictures until next weekend. Why?

I had a set back with my drapery panels. I took my drapes into the cleaners to get freshed up and when they came back last week they had shrunk 5". Apparently instead of dry cleaning them they accidentally laundered them. So right now they are letting down the hemlines so they will once again fall at 96". I find my windows naked without them even though I have pleated shades underneath the rooms still seem so unfinished without them.

Hopefully when I get them back, fingers crossed, they will be just like new. Luckily most drapery panels have 10" in the 2 bottom folds which can be let down in case of emergency :)

We had an ad produced for tv over the past few weeks so I thought.. why not share it with my blog readers?

Send me your comments this week on our ad and one lucky reader will receive this lovely Christmas cushion cover from Moving Designz Home & Cottage. Isn't it so pretty? We'll draw for it on Saturday Dec 7.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

My New Obsession

I remember watching an episode of Design Inc with Sarah Richardson in which she confesses that one of her guilty obsessions is vacuuming. This was during the wrap up phase of one the projects when they were all in a cleaning frenzy.

And while I'm in no way comparing myself to Sarah... this last week I could hardly wait to get home every night to vacuum. As I said to Anita and Ashley I think I've lost my sanity. By now you are wondering why would she be so keen to vacuum.

These past couple of weeks I have been the one who has been living through renovations, normally thats my clients job. I had new hardwood flooring layed at my house this past week. I also have to mention that the cases of hardwood have been stacked in my kitchen and stairway landing since May. Just like the carpenter whose house always comes last so in fact did mine.

I've had closets ripped out and found myself peeling 10 layers of wallpaper from the inside of these old gems before going to work in the morning. This is in preparation for the seam filling. My house is about 100 years old and the interior of the upper closets with the shelving had never been touched.

This is the rental beast I used to do the clean up. It's a standard shopvac with tons of sucking power. Perfect for getting rid of the sawdust which managed to cover everything in its path. Prior to beginning the renovations all of my furniture was moved into a rental container parked in my driveway. Since the entire main floor was being restored it only made sense to get everything out.

This is my vacuum which inconveniently kicked the bucket on day 1. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the shopvac is the way to go.

This is a picture I took on day 2 of the flooring installation when they had just finished laying all new subfloor to level all the surfaces. On day 1 the old light maple hardwood, that had seen better days, was removed.

By the end of day 3 all of the flooring was complete and on the morning of day 4 in came my sofa and area rug. The new flooring is a rich medium brown in a 2 1/2" plank width. I felt this wood was very much in keeping with the age and style of the house. It's actually called Ash Cappucino and has a rich grain to it. I can't even tell you how happy I am to have the new floors, they look so beautiful.

This is my diningroom after the install. On Thursday and Friday all the main floor walls and trims were freshened up with a new coat of paint. The painters I use sand after the first coat of paint so the shopvac was in use every single day. I was also able to slowly start bringing the larger pieces of furniture back in to the house.

This weekend all of the furniture is back in and I am slowly putting things back together. I actually got to sleep in my own bed last night. Yesterday and today the carpenter has been here cutting down the doors and rehanging them. He also hung up the flat screen tv and today is working on putting the quarter round trim on the bottom of the baseboards expansion gaps.

I will post pictures of all the completed rooms in next weekends post. I have ordered quartz countertops for the kitchen. I am hoping to have them installed by Christmas. That would be a nice way to end the year and the renovations.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

Holiday in Jasper

I feel so guilty I haven't been posting. Since I've been back which is almost 2 weeks now I have had to overcome jet lag and a cold (caught from my adorable nephew) and getting back into a regular work schedule. I climatized very well to a 3 hour time change, after 2 weeks of sleeping in until 8am, which is really 11am here, it made readjusting here very difficult. Not being a morning person trying to get back into the swing of things has been a challenge for me.

I've been emailing with Kelly from Design Ties http://design-ties.blogspot.com/ and following her lead I am going to share some of my favorite pictures of my holiday with you. I hope you don't find them boring. My trip was fantastic.


This is my beautiful sister and full time tour guide and hostess for my trip. She moved to Jasper 20 years ago and has never looked back.


Because the town is so small the most popular mode of transportation is biking. And people take their bikes seriously. The retro bike look is definitely "the in thing".

Here is my sis aka Vanna White getting ready to pick up the kids from kindergarten and pre-school. It's hard to tell in such a small image but inside that cart are a total of 3 bikes and assorted helmuts for her 3 young children.

I had to take a picture of her front yard. It's the only one like it in Jasper ;) Directions to her house, follow Princess St (private joke) ...errr Patricia St until you come to the house with the yard full of toys...

My 2 adorable nephews checking out the fish at Malinge Lake.

This is my sweet little niece on a perfect fall day in the mountains. I love this picture.

Nephews with dad...

One of my favorite pictures, little Thomas and me. He was the only one who could sit still for a picture.

The local stores had some absolutely stunning flower boxes. Have you ever seen Nasturiums so big? I might as well mention that the temperatures were in the high 20's the entire time. No wonder the flowers were doing so well!

I liked this marked entrance to a restaurant. You just don't see this mosaic work everyday. Again kind of retro... I couldnt believe that for a town of 4000 people they had something like 30 restaurants, coffee bars and pubs.

And speaking of which... I came across this dog dish in front of the Ded Dog Bar. Read below for further comments.

Perhaps the people of Jasper have such a sense of humor and whimsy because of this... they actually deliver wine to your house in this town!

I couldn't help but take a picture of this adorable little grey dog and her pink harness. I considered a new career as a dog napper after seeing this cute little pooch. I wonder what her name is?

We did a tour of The Jasper Park Lodge Resort. This is the largest of the cabins and where my sister and her husband got married and had their reception. While you can't tell from this image it is a massive cabin with 8 executive hotel rooms at the rear of the cabin. The Queen stayed here when she was in town a few years back.

Proving Adironack chairs aren't just an East Coast thing.

I got to see some wildlife too. Big horned sheep by the side of the road.

My close encounter with a black bear right outside our vehicle. Thank you very much for all of my friends who joked about bears. Looking carefully you can see the rear view mirror with me taking this picture. That was a close call and something you don't see everyday.

Lets go Fly some Rocks. This is me getting ready for my helicopter tour of the Rockies. My sister and her husband operate High Country Heli Tours as a sideline business.
http://www.hcheli.com/

The adventure is about to begin...

Scenes from up in the air.

The valley leading to Jasper.

Mt Robson off in the distance is the highest of the peaks in the Canadian Rockies. So many shades of grey.

This picture was taken at Pyramid Lake. The water was like glass.

The golf course at Jasper Park Lodge. We played in a fundraising tournement one day.

And lastly this picture was taken at the watering hole for the golf tournement. The lake is an amazing azure colour.

Next week I will be posting pictures of the interior of the store. Much of our colourful fall merchandise has arrived and the store is looking fantastic. I can't wait to share our new displays with you.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

On Holidays

I flew the coop! I will be back in another week or so... I'm enjoying a long overdue vacation in beautiful Western Canada. Todays picture of the day is , what else? Canada Geese.







Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

More Projects... Completed and in Progress

For todays post I thought I would share some images of a couple of the projects we've been working on over the summer and finishing up during these last couple of weeks.

First up a major laundry room and bathroom renovation. I posted progress pictures of this project a few weeks ago. Both of these rooms are now 100% complete and we're waiting for a few more things to finish off the house in the diningroom, livingroom and kitchen. I'll post those rooms later this month.

Thursday, Anita and I spent all day at Mary's house applying finishing touches to her laundry/powder room. Below is the original laundry/powder room. It is a small space at only 8' X 9' so we had to make every inch count. The room was in need of additional storage and updating as it is the only washroom on the main floor of her home.




View 1 before the renovation. This is the original wall of appliances with open storage.

View 2 after the renovation. Our solution was to have 2 sets of closets built to enclose this wall. A small coat closet on the left and a double laundry center closet on the right. Now all of the laundry equipment and cleaning supplies are conveniently hidden and well organized.

And behind those custom built double doors a newly organized laundry center with shelves attached to the inside of the double doors . Now there is plenty of room for organized storage of cleaning supplies. The interior shelving has storage for laundry baskets and a rail to hang dry clothing.

View 2 before the renovation. The original location of the main plumbing fixtures.

View 2 after the renovation. The new plumbing fixtures are now moved to the wall opposite the laundry closet. The scope of work involved new tile flooring, new built-ins closets, a new set of stacking appliances, installing wainscotting, new toilet, new vanity with matching storage cabinets, new faucets, new lighting and a new paint scheme.

The artwork is an original painting of the homes exterior. It's a very pretty house.

Let's look at the upstairs washroom renovation.

View 1 before the renovation. Everything was removed so we could start fresh.

View 2 after the renovation. This room has completely changed. Here we added another new marble topped vanity, new faucets, new wainscotting, new built in storage under the eave, new lighting, new wall colour, new tub with double shower heads, new shower tiles, new artwork, new towel racks, new window treatments and a shower curtain. The only last detail missing is the shelf for the top of the built in cabinets. Our carpenter will have this last element painted and installed next week.

On to another project. I was at this house yesterday with my installer to hang up the beautiful silk draperies. This room has undergone a major change as you will see.

View 1 before the new furnishings, the original livingroom. This client desired a new updated look for her livingroom.

Here is Bruce up the ladder starting to install the drapery hardware. This is the in between shot that I couldn't resist taking.

... and a couple of hours later the room was looking pretty good!

Although not completely finished the room has undergone a remarkable turn around. We're waiting for the back ordered lamps and the large piece of artwork that will be placed over the sofa. Back orders are annoying but usually worth the wait to get the perfect piece.

View 2 the diningroom before.

View 2 the diningroom after. I love the clean new look of this large open space. I particularly love the new modern diningroom light fixture. We are the exclusive dealers on PEI for this line of Canadian made lighting. In fact every piece of furniture and all of the accessories including the area rug is from Moving Designz Home & Cottage. I've been hoarding the area rug back in our warehouse for months waiting for just the perfect project and it looks WOW in this room.

Next up... I was in Western PEI late last week to review progress on another bathroom renovation.

I took the following pictures while getting lost on the way to my clients home... Getting lost wasn't so bad as I got to see some spectacular scenery. PEI is a very windy place to live but the wind does have its advantages when its energy is harnessed with these giant wind turbines.

There about 54 of these giant beasts dotting the landscape in the Cape Wolfe area.

And on the other side of the road is the fabulous picturesque PEI coastline.

When I finally found the house... here is the bathroom I am working on. Still under construction this room was once a guest bedroom. Soon it will be a luxurious master bathroom complete with a custom vanity, storage cabinets, a large jetted soaking tub and a flat screen television mounted at the foot of the tub.

Stay tuned for the completion of this room and other projects we have on the go.

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful long weekend!

Susan