House Tour

One of my favourite shows lately is NBC's Parenthood.  (The new season is premiering Sept.13th BTW!).  I'm not sure if it's the actual show that I love, or just the homes!!!  They have the most incredible houses!!  But my favourite by far is Adam and Kristina's house.  It's a craftsman style family home that I would die to have one day!

I am such a huge fan of coloured furniture like the red cabinet shown in this pic.

Check out the hall door!  Look familiar?!?!  That's what I ordered my new house.

Is there anything more cozy that built-ins around a fireplace.

I'm getting 3 pendant lights like these ones above the island in my new kitchen.  They look great!

Not sure about the check flooring!

Check out the light fixture!

And so it begins...

This morning I spent 3 hours meeting with my builder and his agent.  It was overwhelming, intimidating, and all around nerve racking, but I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it!  I never knew just how many details I would be responsible for.  I don't know what colour I want the bars in the side window of my front door.  But,  how cool is it that I get to pick that out!

We went room by room and agreed on every last detail.  This poor builder will make $5 bucks off this house if he's lucky....I warned him I had good taste!!!

Here are a few details we decided on today!  I can't wait to see it all complete! 

Garage Doors - These are custom doors so I don't have the exact picture.  It's this door, but square windows.  I'm still not sure on the colour.  I'll have to wait until I choose the stone and stucco.  I'm thinking something like BM Mediterranean Olive.  We'll see!!

The Staircase - The spindles are white wood (not the iron) and the stained steps and railing will match the hardwood flooring.  I just love the chunky pillars.  They are going to look great with the interior doors.

 Interior Doors - Masonite Anniversary Collection Riverside Smooth

Molding for all Interior Doors

The Fireplace - The stone won't be going all the way to the ceiling.  It will stop just above the mantle, but you get the gist.  There is a window on either side of the fireplace, and if I had the stone to the ceiling, I'd have to sacrifice the windows.  Not going to happen.  I'll compromise this one time!!!  I love the white mantle against the textured stone.  And I definitely wanted to stone step, I don't like when the stone is built into the floor.  Can't wait to see how it turns out.

My Beloved Farmhouse

Inspiration

I love everything Sarah Richardson does.  I'm using a ton of her rooms as inspiration for my new home.

This bathroom is gorgeous and completely attainable.  You can buy this style tile anywhere (I was at Lowes today and they have it) and glass showers like this come in kits now. No need to go custom and spend a fortune.

I want to incorporate rattan and wicker in the new house.  It's a way to bring the outdoors in.

I love the flooring in this picture.  I want something warm and rustic in the new house.  Nothing to cold or modern.  I love the white kitchen and barn board dining table. 

I wish I could just copy and paste this picture into my ensuite!  I love everything about it.

I love this basement.  I have a thing for navy and cream but have never had a chance to use them in a room.  Maybe I'll slip cover my sofas for the new place.  Or, as my mom would advise, just buy new ones.

I have had this picture in my scrapbook for years.  If I had to describe my style in one single picture, this would be it.

White bead board, silver blue, and lots of fabric patterns...my fav.

I love the detailed flooring.  That shower is to die for!!

Fit For a Princess

I am so proud of the bedroom I created for my Princess Grace. I really had no inspiration for this room, I just kind of winged it, and it turned out beautiful. Grace loves her room and I know she is going to miss it as much as I will. I'll just have to make her next room even more spectacular!!!

If I weren't moving, I'd paint the trim white, and who knows, maybe even the floor.







A few details...

• Chandelier from Canadian Tire ($99)
• Floral Mirror Decal from Len's Mill Store ($14)
• Curtains from Ikea ($39/pair)
• Chinese Lanterns from Ebay (just pennies and free shipping right from China!)
• Bedding from Target ($160)
• Bed Skirt from www.bedbathstore.com ($25)
• Crystal Closet Door from www.shopwildthings.com ($14/ea, I used 4)
• Crystal Curtain behind bed www.shopwildthings.com ($22)
• "Couture" print, frames, feather wreath, floral all from Home Sense

I love the DIY projects in this room. The light switch/outlet covers were really simple to make. I ordered the mirror covers on Ebay. They were a third of the price at Home Depot. I ordered the crystal stickers on EBay as well. They are actually cell phone stickers. They didn't even cost me a dollar!!! I love how they turned out, but I actually broke one installing it. The mirror is so delicate and I tightened the screw just a tad to tight and smashed it. Frustrating!

I had an ugly floor lamp from Ikea collecting dust in my garage so I decided to spray paint it white. I picked up a cheap lamp shade and some feather boas from Len's Mill Store in Port Dover. I think the feather boas were $4 each and I bought 3. I just glue gunned them around the shade and hung some extra crystals I had from the chandelier. I love it. Too bad the lamp is a piece of junk and doesn't work anymore!!!! Poor Grace is always tugging at the switch and saying "It's broken".

A few special things are in this room. The "Grace" letters and growth chart were hand made by my Dad. Can you see the crystal sitting on the shelf? It's from my brother's wedding. And the dream catcher is from Auntie Baba. Ryan won't let me hang it in the window!!!

I love this room and plan on taking everything with me to the new house to recreate Grace's Princess room. Maybe I'll go peach instead of purple this time. Who knows!!

Floor Plans Are In

I'm building my dream home! This is absolutely a dream come true for me. The house is in Waterford, Ontario and is scheduled to be completed November 30th, this year. Unfortunately, we are closing on the farm house August 30th, so we'll be moving into one of our rental properties in Jarvis for 3 months. A little inconvenient, but well worth it!!! We are working with Landstar Homes. A fellow Ukrainian that has standards on par with mine.

I can't believe the floor plans are here already. I'm posting the original plan without our changes. We have a revised, hand drawn rough copy, and once it's drafted up properly, I'll post it.

New Little Treasure

My Mother in Law and I were in one of my most favourite stores in Waterford today. TradeWinds Emporium on Main st. Waterford natives would know it as 'the store next to Yin's'!!!. We were there picking up a chair and my mom in law says "ohhhhhh, look at this". On the floor, under a table, was this beautiful little treasure. Being a Libra (Scales is the symbol), I knew it was mine. I took it home for just $14.99.
It's perfect in my front entrance. LOVE IT!!!!

Most Favourite Washroom

This room, along with many of my friends, is my absolute favourite room in the farm house. I searched for months for the perfect shower curtain, wall decor, and door knobs. The new shower itself took just over a week to complete, but it took me a lot longer than that to finish up all of the details...painting the walls, refinishing the vanity, painting the molding, and fixing up the old mirror. Every hour was worth it, because this room screams sunshine. Every time I walk in it, I get in a good mood!!!

This is the kids bathroom, so I knew I could get away with doing something crazy colourful. The first thing I thougt of was Amy Butler. Her fabric designs are cheerful, colourful and full of life. I found the shower curtain, matching valance, and matching hand towels at www.bedbathandbeyond.com.

I then got to work on the new shower. I picked a simple white subway tile because I knew it was neutral enough to work around - we all know I'll get bored in a year and change everything!!!
I refinished the vanity mirror by painting it and distressing it with sandpaper. And added some final touches that I was lucky enough to score at Home Sense.

One of the best finds was the toilet paper holder and towel rack. They were less than $30 for the 2. What a deal.

Oh My Goodness - How could I forget to mention my prized door knobs!!! These things took me forever to find! I wanted a dramatic, overstated knob for the vanity, and look what I found. Can you believe I can across these at Home Sense. Totally random, I was in line paying for a few other things, and there they were. Sitting, abandoned at a cash. Just enough for my vanity. I scooped them up and they now have a loving home! One of my most favourite finds EVER!

Hope you like my kids bathroom as much as they do!

I'll track down the paint can and post the paint colour.