A great idea worth sharing

Jen from the “adventures in homebuilding” blog on HGTV recently posted a great little trick on her website. I figured it was worth sharing since I wish we had done this.
Her designer suggested she photograph (or film) her walls before the drywall is installed so that they have a record of where all the pipes and wires are, this way, if they want to have work done or install something they have a visual record and know what to expect before they start a project, tear down a wall, or even hang a picture.

Check out her blog for more info on how to do this. I do think it’s worth the time.



Pam

We Have Cabinets!!!

I know it's not ,cool or hip, but I am truly excited about kitchen cabinets. In fact, since we have started building the house I have found my self getting giddy over everything from a hole, to bricks, to tiles and now cabinets.

We had a great surprise Saturday afternoon when we passed by the house. The cabinets that had been delayed and delayed were finally being installed. Our installer, a super nice guy from Victoriaville, was amazing. He installed almost all the cabinets by himself and took the time to check our preferences, measure our wine fridge to make it fit better, and just really make us feel good about his work. Its awesome to see everything together and finaly know we made good choices...

I spent most of my Sunday at the house measuring windows and showing my dad around the property. He took some awesome pictures, they are below:

The Marina

J-f and I took a walk down to the marina that is being built in our development. We bought the house in February and at that time, the marina was still in the planning phase. Since we don’t own a boat, it didn't occur to us to ask for plans. A marina just sounded fancy and posh to us. When we visualized it, we both visualized a yacht club like complex, maybe with a nice café I could go sit at and enjoy the view of the river (OK, I visualized the cafe not JF). , but so far however, it looks like the marina is just a plain old dock you can tie a boat to.

This being said, when we got down there it was awesome. They built a little gazebo, but what was really impressive was the view. It’s amazing that we are only 3 minutes from the city and yet it’s all so peaceful and beautiful. I can’t wait to get my kayak and put it in the water.

Here are some of the pics

Our furniture

JF and I went furniture shopping. We decided to take a chance and order our furniture before we actually moved in. Many people suggested we wait to see how we felt about the house, but neither of us relished the idea of living with a couch or a table for a long period of time. We both want to enjoy our home fairly quickly and the furniture we were looking at required up to 6 weeks to deliver. Living without seating for over a month seems just wrong.

IFurniture shopping with JF was fun but confusing, from the beginning he said he wanted modern or contemporary furniture, when in fact, it turned out he really meant dark furniture. became suspicious of this when he pointed out this type of table. Luckily, he actually likes contemporary though, cause or else it would have been more difficult.

We got a great deal on some chairs at the Maison Corbeil liquidation center. They are beautiful chocolate brown leather chairs and when you sit in them, it feels like your getting a nice warm hug.

The sofa will actually be white... or light grey; I am still trying to decide. We chose thick velvety corduroy (the same as the pillow on the chair), but we are a bit worried about that choice. I know it will look awesome against a dark chocolate of turquoise wall, but I’m afraid, at least slightly. The picture is of the sofa in leather.


The dining room table is very sleak. It’s made of ash and we will be getting it in Moka to match our kitchen cabinets. It’s designed and made right here in Quebec by Poitras.We are taking the table, but we chose white leather chairs to contrast the dark table. They were both cheaper and in my opinion look better. The buffet will have to wait for now.

Counting down the last weeks.

We have Tiles!!!

JF and I had a great surprised when we passed by the house this weekend. They had begun the painting and the tiling was almost finished. All the floor tiling seems complete and only the grout on the bathtub and in the shower is left to finish.

I was initially worried about the bathroom. We had decided to stick with standard choices for the tiles to avoid some insane costs, but the bathroom tiles that were available were a bit limited, I was afraid they may look cheese because they were in fact, just simple gray tiles. In my opinion though, the bathroom looks awesome and definitely not cheesy. Once in their environment and with the light, I find it almost looks like slate.

The tiles on the first floor also look awesome. Here is a picture of our main floor powder room. These are the same tiles as the entrance, the kitchen and in front of teh fireplace

I’m so excited they started the finishing. The cabinetry should be in by the end of august, and I am assuming the hard wood floors and carpets will be in before that.

I can’t wait to see the final product and of course I can't wait to finally move in. Hopefully everything turns out as well as the tiles. I am keeping my fingers crossed but so far so good.