Where We Eat

I was originally going to title this post 'Dining Room', I am so creative, I know. But then I realized that I am not sure if we actually have a Dining Room or an Eat in Kitchen. Who decides these things anyways? Does it even matter? Clearly I am over thinking this.

In our old house we had a formal Dining Room and a Breakfast Nook. Where did we eat in that house? On the couch of course. The formal Dining Room was used maybe 3 times in the 4 years that we lived there, it just seemed too stuffy to eat in there. The Breakfast Nook was rarely used because it had a higher pub style table which we just didn't find comfortable. In this house we wanted a place for our dining room table but somewhere that was still casual, somewhere we'd feel comfortable eating everyday. I think we succeeded.

There needs to be an area rug in here, that table just looks lost right now. I want to put a console table against the wall to the right of the island and our island needs stools. Right now we are just using the extra dining chairs but the plan is to get some stools to go there. 

Side note: If you look closely you can tell that our stair rail isn't done yet, we started on it upstairs and it looks amazing so far. I can't wait to see what it looks like down here. 

Isn't my fall centrepiece fancy? Ha. The plan was to add some pinecones in the bowl. Then it snowed. I am not digging around in the snow for pinecones. My centrepiece is just going to have to deal with it.

Sitting Room

Now that we are pretty much all moved in I thought I'd share what our house looks like furnished and decorated. Technically we're not done decorating although, is anyone ever done decorating? We still need some wall art and other things here and there. I'll start with where we are now and I'll update you on any changes or updates we happen to make down the road.

You've already seen the Kitchen so I guess we'll move to the Sitting Room next. Our main floor is made up of the Kitchen, Dining Room, Front Entrance, Sitting Room, Pantry, Mud Room, and Laundry Room. The Kitchen, Dining Room, and Sitting Room are all open to each other.  When I show you the Dining Room I'll show some pictures of how those rooms work together.

We wanted more of a formal Sitting Room (we use the word formal pretty loosely around here) so that if we are hosting big family events people can be hanging out in the Sitting Room but still be close to the Kitchen and whoever is cooking in the kitchen. Considering that we are self employed we also wanted a comfy place to hold informal meetings without having our clients come into the areas of our home that we use more frequently.

Anyways, enough rambling. Let's move onto some pictures!

I would like to upgrade the coffee and end table at some point but these cheapie Ikea ones work for now. We also need to get something on those walls, I am just not sure what yet. I like how it is all coming together so far though!

Sources:

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Cape May Cobblestone

Curtains: Sears

Coffee and End Table : Ikea

Area Rug: Rugs USA

Sofa and Chairs: Palliser

Lamps: HomeSense

Throw Pillows: Etsy Shop, Pickfair

Pretty Shiny Things and Some Backsplash

One of the last things we finished before moving in was the backsplash in the Kitchen. I didn't want to be cooking in there without the backsplash up and I didn't want to have to put the stove and hood vent in only to have to take them back out so we could do the backsplash.

I absolutely love how the backsplash in the kitchen turned out. We used a white subway tile in a brick pattern with a dark grey grout. Nothing earth shattering but I think it totally suits our kitchen.

Aren't our appliances so pretty and shiny? They are just a small step up from the ones in our camper. We ended up going with Electrolux appliances. Appliance shopping was hard. I really went back and forth on this decision. Originally I had wanted Electrolux but the I wasn't sure if buying a pricier appliance would be worth it in the long run. I figured that any appliance suite is going to be somewhat pricey so I might as well spend the money on something I love. I ended up getting them cheaper than we had budgeted for so it was a win win.

So far I love them. We had Thanksgiving here last weekend (Canada, eh) and they all did awesome. The dishwasher does a great job, our dishes literally sparkle when you take them plus it's super quiet. We ran it after Thanksgiving dinner and I don't think anyone even noticed it was running. The fridge is massive. It held all of our turkey day leftovers and there is still lots of room. If you've ever been to one of my family get togethers you'll know that that's really saying something. Plus it has this cool zone drawer that's like bonus space. We used it for our beverages. It held a dozen pepsi and I think two dozen beer. I don't know but there were a lot of drinks in there. The range has really been put to the test. So far it's cooked a pizza, 3 pies, a turkey, and our traditional breakfast dish. They all came out great. Well I didn't eat any pie but people went back for seconds or maybe thirds so it must have been good. Overall I am very satisfied with our appliance purchases.

I wonder what I should bake next...

Disclaimer: I am pretty sure Electrolux doesn't know that I exist. I was not compensated in any way, shape, or form to write this post. I just really like my appliances.

And We're In.

I haven't blogged in a while but I have a good excuse this time, we have been busy moving in! Two weeks ago I felt like we'd never get to move in and now look at where we are. We still aren't completely done, there are little details to finish up like the baseboard in the gym, the stair rail, the backsplash in the laundry room, and a few other odds and ends but it's enough that we can stop and catch our breath. We don't have to spend every waking moment tiling or dealing with trades or whatever else gets thrown at us that day. We can take our time and finish up the final details on our own time when we want to, not because we have to.

In the meantime, it is so nice being in the new house and being able to rest our heads here:

And the tiling continues...

Last week we finished the tile in the shower in the Master Bath. This was the biggest tile job we've tackled so far, actually it's most likely the biggest tile job we'll ever do. The Husband says if we ever want to re-tile we're hiring it out. So, I think it's pretty safe to say that we are both glad that this shower is done. We still have most of the grout left to do but at least the hard part is over.

We're still waiting for the glass company to come out and give us a quote for the shower doors. I am guessing it's going to be at least another month before we get shower doors in here.

The shower head was mounted a bit on the low side. I am not sure if our plumber had a momentary lapse in judgement or if it's the fixture we bought, or what happened there. In all honesty we're both short so we can both safely stand under the shower it just doesn't look right to us. We might get a different pipe to attach the shower head with, or maybe change out the shower head all together. I don't really see the big deal but The Husband is not impressed so I'll leave that up to him. I am just glad we have a shower, that you know, looks like a shower.

Now we just have the backsplash in the Kitchen and the Laundry Room left to do...

Electricity is Good.

Oh the things we take for granted in this day and age.

The electrician has been working on the house for the last week or so trying to get all of the final electrical work done. He has a bit more work to do but it is so nice to walk into a room and be able to have light with just the flick of a switch.

Our old house had ugly builder basic light fixtures so I was excited to get to pick out lights that we actually liked. I think my favourite fixtures are the kitchen pendants. I am not a fan of mini pendants but I was worried that picking a larger pendant would the away too much from the rest of the kitchen. We ended up going with West Elm's Industrial Pendant.

I think it's a pretty popular fixture but it fit what we were looking for. It's a fairly substantial size but the clear glass globe doesn't hide too much of the kitchen. I really like how it looks in our kitchen. I am not sure we hung the pendants at the right height though. To me they look like should be a bit higher. What do you think? Higher? Lower? Just right?  

Now if we could only get running water. Our plumber showed up for a whole 15 minutes today. At this rate we should have water by December.

Front Door Impressions

Our painter is officially done!! When he first started working on the house both The Husband and I really liked him. He was really picky and saw imperfections that we would have never noticed. That didn't last long though. The longer he was at our house the sloppier he got. You could tell that he was just over the project and wanted it to be done. I am going to be finishing up any paint touches up that need to be done at the end just so that we don't have to deal with him anymore.

The last job that the painter did for us was to stain our exterior doors. We have three. The front door, the door off the kitchen to what will be the deck, and the door from the family room which will eventually lead to a patio or a lower level of the deck. We really like how the front door turned out.

Before

After 

The outside of the front door

It's funny what a difference a few small changes can make.

The other two doors are a different story. They are a different wood finish, they are oak and the front door is fir. We didn't really realize the difference until they were stained. We would have preferred that they were all the same but at this point we aren't willing to take the time to see if that was our mistake and we missed the difference on the quote or if we were just shipped the wrong doors. It looks like the stain didn't take as well to the other two side doors as it did the front so they aren't quite the same color. Plus the painter did a sloppy job. Once we are moved in and have a bit more time we might try to touch up the stain ourselves or see if there was a mistake made by our door supplier. For now we are just going to live with it. They look okay during the day, it's at night when all the kitchen lights (yup, we have lights!! I'll be back to talk about those later) are on that they look the worst. They are slowly growing on me, they don't look nearly as bad as they did when we first picked them up. Maybe I'll eventually learn to love them or maybe we'll replace with a better quality door down the road. For right now we have doors and that's what really matters.

Door from the Kitchen to the not-yet-built deck