Welcome Wagon - Happy to be Here

Since moving to the 'country' -- (yes, yes, I know I've said it's only 5 mins to town), little things pop up regularly that make me happy to be here.

For example, it's pitch black at night.  Our last house in town had a streetlight right outside our bedroom window.  In Montreal, the house I lived in overlooked a freeway.  I can regularly see stars at night -- well, as regular as it doesn't rain.  There was a full moon last night and it was just picture perfect above the forest in front of the house.  Unfortunately my photography skills are not up to scratch (Add 'master night shot settings' to my 'To Do' list).

The other morning we saw two hares in our yard.  And they didn't just scamper off, they jumped around the backyard for a bit, chased each other, moved back to the side of the house and then finally took their leave.  Alannah was delighted.  I think she thought they were cats though.

And we have a lovely view.  The house is on a little hill and we're the first house on the road so our living room windows have an unobstructed view of the green hills and farms in the distance.  I am caught up in the daily habitual movement of sheep wandering up and down 2 farms I see in the distance.  And I've become fixated on comparing the amount of rain and angle of direction of the drops each time I look out the window when it has been raining (and it has rained a lot since we moved in!).

The last thing I want to mention are the neighbours.  We've had a real lovely welcome from a lot of people living on this road.  Perhaps it helps that we know some of them or know of many of them from around town but we probably know or have met as many people on this road in the last month than we knew in our estate/subdivision in town (and we lived there for seven years!).  Two ladies from down the road dropped by to with the most wonderful welcome basket (and what a basket!) and flowers, I just had to take pictures.

 Gorgeous hydrangeas cut from her garden.  Everyone loves hydrangeas, don't they?!  And she has a lovely varitey that have a pretty blue centre on the white petals that I've not seen before!  And of course in neighbourly fashion, she's offered to make a cutting, set a plant, and give it to me when it's ready for planting (well down the way of course but how kind!)

 Bottle of white wine, homemade coffee cake (DELICIOUS -- thankfully, the walnuts were just decorative and I could eat every bit of the rest of it!), homemade gooseberry jam, and fresh picked veg from her garden.

Selection of veg:  yellow courgettes (even Stephen ate them in the pasta dish I put them into), purple peas, french beans, and garlic.  Let me tell you -- fresh garlic is something else!  So easy to grow and SUCH a difference in taste and freshness!

I am itching to start our own garden now!

And a gorgeous orchid too!

For the Little Miss

Of all the rooms, Alannah's playroom is probably the most complete.  It is fantastic to have a room right off the main open plan area that is designated for her toys and play.  Now she's still too young to be off there all the time on her own but it's great to chuck everything in there and have far less stuff to trip over in the kitchen, living room, hall, etc...

It was originally a bedroom with a north facing window.

However, the renovation plans include the creation of our laundry room/utility that will be behind the wall where the window is.  So first step was to move the window.  A fantastic move because now the room gets absolutely amazing light when the sun is setting (on the days of course that it is not overcast or rainy).

The previous owners had already fit a skylight in the roof so we just needed to open up the ceiling to access it.

The trip to Ikea in June was definitely worthwhile as we picked up the Klippan sofa, Expedit unit, and Lusy Blom rug to finish up the room.  The Expedit unit I'll have to say is perfect for the size of the room and Alannah's age.  She can get in and out of the boxes easily and there aren't any drawers or sliding units to break or catch herself.

Here's our before/after:

 

And Rocky (our dino slide) loves his new home.  As do we.  In the old place we had to put him up on the couch to get him out of the way when not in use!  

Everything else we already had.  Alannah loves playing with the foam mats (as do all the kids who come over) and taking the mats apart are a lot more fun than putting them back together.  A lesson learned is that it takes a lot longer for us to tidy up a mat that looks like ours:

As opposed to these other mats that I've seen at the store:

And there's a lot more smaller pieces that kiddies love the chew (thankfully Alannah never did but most every other kid who has come over seems to enjoy doing so).  So if you're thinking of getting some of these, bear this well in mind when deciding what to buy!

As for the finishing touches we just need to get some pictures on the walls.  I'm thinking a small gallery of pictures of the kids or brightly coloured prints.  And I saw a cute set of decorative flowers in Horkan's last weekend that would be a great cheap and cheerful addition to the white walls too.

The natural light from the two new windows really makes the room a surprise gem we didn't expect and it makes sitting or playing in here great for both kid and adult.

First Look

I always think I'll have loads of time to do 'stuff' while on mat leave because babies just 'eat and sleep', right?  This is my 2nd child as well and for some reason I was still disillusioned.  Perhaps also as having a c-section this time around, I figured I'd have loads of time to be in front of a computer to post updates, Skype friends & family, etc.  Admittedly, I have had loads of opportunities (as I've spent atleast 2 weeks stuck on the couch feeding this babe) but I've lacked the focus (in retrospect, ok I should have anticipated that) which has just started to right itself recently.

So our official moving day was July 20th but we still had the other house so there was on-going bits & pieces getting moved over the next week.  I was seriously skeptical about settling in on that Friday as I still felt there was so much to be done but all fears were for nought.  We had all the necessities and things have just gotten put away or moved around in drips and drabs since.

We still need to do loads to settle in but it's early days really.  I have no idea how people can have everything in turn-key condition right from the get go.  So here we go, 'bienvenue chez nous'.

Well, it doesn't look so inviting yet but hey, the door's open, come on in!

The entry hall has a double height ceiling so it gets lots of light from the skylight.

Turn left and it takes you into the living areas of the house.

Remember, this is what it originally looked like:

And then after walls came down and loads of work under way ...

Walls plastered, painted, radiators in & floors poured ...

And NOW!!!

The funny square above the window is where the old electricity meter used to be.  It was only moved last week so a bit of fill and paint will touch that up fine.  There are shades to go on the chandeliers.  Decisions about blinds.  What sort of storage/shelving to get.  What to put over the stove.  The list is endless.  And I would love a new set of sofas that would suit the space better but everything's money now isn't it?!

The old main door was replaced with a single pane window.  It lets in loads of light and on a good day I can't help but stare out it and think what fabulous scenery surrounds us (minus the building site rubble of course!).

 You walk immediately into the kitchen from the entry hall and here's how it turned out:

I love it!!!!!!  Colin, at Abbey Kitchens did a fantastic job on the units.  The colour is a sort of khaki grey instead of a blue grey (which I initially thought I wanted).  And without even planning it, it goes perfectly with the feature stone.  So as you can see, I went with grey and decided on this pewter-kind-of bar type handle after the handle dilemma I 'faced' a few weeks back.  And while I still like cream kitchens (which we had in our other house),  after a few weeks of living here I can already see that the grey will hold up far better against the tornado that is our 19 month old toddler.  I'll try to do a separate post on the kitchen features I like best when I get the time to take a few more pics.

I'm still on a look out for light pendants above the sink & counter.  I'm undecided about what sort of backsplash should go behind the cooker (glass, tile, stone?).  Eventually, I'll decide about blinds too.  And of course there's the little bits that bring the kitchen together both for the pretty factor and functionality.

As for the living room, here's the best before & after extreme:

A shout out to the many people who gave us a hand, with moving, storage, cleaning, baby-sitting, etc ...  This just a small group of the gang taking a break with a fry up.  Thanks so much!

And Tommy, this one's for you!

So hopefully I'll start posting again more frequently, if not for you, then to keep the ball rolling on further projects and finishing touches!