Curb Appeal

Approximately one foot between the tires and the edge of the driveway. 

Last winter, a friend dropped me off at our house and I almost slid under the wheels of his car because there was so little space between the car and the snowbank, given our narrow driveway. So this year, as his summer project, Stephen has built a landing and stairs in our front yard.

One Step Forward

Kane is happy as long as he's in the same room as we are,
but he doesn't think it's fair that the cat is allowed on the couch when he is not. 

I love those reality shows where designers go in and completely revamp a room, from ceiling to floor. It's such a satisfying, dramatic metamorphosis.

But in the real world, I expect that very few people completely redecorate and refurnish a room in one go. Even when we were a family with two professional incomes, that never happened. Instead, we change out one or two pieces at a time, hoping eventually to achieve a room we're happy with.

If you can't lose it, decorate it!

If you can't lose it, decorate it.

Someone gave me this set of napkins (as a stocking-stuffer, I think) and I just love them. Recently, I realized that the rule applies to more than just clothing. It also applies to home decor.

Before and After

Our newly-painted front door. The yellow and blue flowers are actually hair clips.

The kids in our house are starting to worry that if they stay in one place too long, they are liable to be painted. They may have a point.

Ever since tackling the ghastly-green living room, I've been pumped to splash some colour around.

Buh-bye ghastly green!

I can't tell you how happy I was to see that moss green disappear.

Last night, for the first time since we moved in, we were able to sit in the living room without feeling like we needed to install pot lights. I didn't even hang up the string of twinkle lights that used to live in the window.

It felt good.

Womp . . . womp . . . wommmmp.

Primed and ready for the test paint!
(iPhone pictures, so don't judge.)

After weeks -- nay, months! -- of procrastinating, I finally got out the paint and prepared to tackle the ghastly green walls of the living room.

Doesn't cost anything to look.

So many colours to choose from!

I've about had it with the decor in our living room. It's too dark, it's too green, and the furniture is too big for the space.

Deck the halls!

I can't believe it's mid-December and we just put up our Christmas tree tonight. If Katie and Emily hadn't put their minds to it, we might have gone tree-less this year!

Ever since Emily learned the professional way to decorate a tree (part of her co-op placement at Ikea), she has been our master tree-adorner.

Cool and Warm

Every now and then, I like to fantasize about redecorating. Now that I am unemployed retired, I get to exercise my imagination, but (since I'm not earning dough), it is all window shopping.

We've had the same burgundy, plaid livingroom furniture for more than a decade now.

I just realized the centre cushion is upside down.

And I'm tired of it. The problem is, there's nothing really wrong with it. It's still in amazingly good shape, especially considering its age and the fact that we have a family of four children. So I can't justify replacing it unless I sell it on Kijiji.

So far, only a couple of nibbles. In the meantime, I've been Internet-shopping. One of the issues with our big, comfy couch is that it's big. We like the comfy part; want to keep that.

But our living room is long and narrow and the existing couch and matching armchair are 44" deep. We would like to find something shallower, around 35-36 inches deep. We also prefer a loveseat (no one willingly sits in the middle seat. It's like the middle seat in an airplane).

Fortunately for us, Ikea is just down the street! I found these economical and "apartment-sized" options, with a depth of 35 inches:

Sandby Loveseat, approximately $350

Muren recliner, approximately $350

I wasn't excited about the colour options, however, so I decided to see what would happen if I put them in a room. Here's what happened:

COOL MODERN

I really like the slightly beachy yet still sophisticated feel to this room. The paint options are a Benjamin Moore's Blue Heather and Wickham Grey. (These "mood boards" were done in PowerPoint, so forgive the rather artless cropping.) The artwork is stuff we already own. Unfortunately, the window print is too tall for over the fireplace, and the portraits are too small for the space. The blueish accent colour came from the Ikea area rug - an inexpensive option, but it's a "flatwoven" rug, which I don't really love.

Then I looked at my Pinterest "Home Decor" board and realized that I'd pinned a lot of turquoise, warmer tones. So I scrapped the blues and tried warmer colours. Still mostly blue, but with a hint of green to them.

WARM TRADITIONAL

The paint colours are Benjamin Moore's Turquoise Mist and (again) Wickham Grey. I really love the rug that would anchor this room, but it's from Pottery Barn and is (as you might expect) pricey -- more than $1,000. Maybe we could find something similar in a more affordable price range? The photo is actually a colour-swatch inspiration I found on Pinterest. I would have to source some art with the same colours, but I don't think it would be a problem. I may even be able to find something in my own photo collection.

I'm more drawn to the warmer tones, but Stephen likes the cooler blues.

And isn't it surprising how the furniture works well in either room? That was the main question I wanted to answer, and I'm glad it does.
Not that we're going to be doing anything about this in the near future, but it's fun to brainstorm, isn't it? Which room do you prefer: warm or cool? Modern or traditional?

May-December Relationship

Or, in the case of our fireplace insert, make that a December-May relationship.

Early in December, Steve and I signed a contract (and a whopping big cheque) for a fireplace makeover. Specifically an insert that would turn our drafty, non-functional fireplace into a high-efficiency decorative furnace.

The least expensive option would have been to seal it off and merely make it an ornamental focal point. Next up would have been to convert it to gas, but I have secret pyromaniac tendencies, and I love to play with fire. (Ironic, really, since I am so susceptible to heat!) I like the smell of real wood smoke. I am mesmerized by the dance of flames and the sounds of crackling wood. Gas fireplaces just don't do that for me.

It probably appeals to something primeval in me. I probably subconsciously think food is on the way and that predators are kept at bay or something.

In any case, we decided to keep the wood-burning fireplace but invest in making it efficient.

In that vein, a free-standing wood-burning stove would have been another option, but, frankly, I think they're kind of ugly and take up a lot of space.

Fireplace inserts, as they are called, are a compromise between an open fireplace and a wood stove. But, boy, do they burn through the pocketbook!

Ordinarily, the process is fairy straightforward:

1. Measure your fireplace opening. Precisely.
2. Order an insert that fits the opening. (As well as your budget and your taste.)
3. Wait a few weeks.
4. Install the insert and chimney liner.

Our first hitch occurred at step two. We chose a beautiful insert that juuuuuust barely fit our opening.

A week or so later, we got a call from the salesperson telling us that the shop owner didn't think the insert would fit after all, because there was not enough leeway for the installers' hands to reach in and connect the various parts.

Wha'? Wasn't that the whole point of the manufacturer's specifications for opening size?

We pushed back, partly because we really didn't like the styles of their other options.

Eventually the installation supervisor came to the house and took a fresh look at the situation. He was a grizzled, tough fellow who would look very uncomfortable in a suit and tie, but looked just right in his dust-encrusted jeans.

He measured and poked, looking for solutions rather than problems. And he found them. They were expensive, but they got us where we wanted to go.

In February, we were excited to receive an e-mail asking to schedule our installation. Yay!

Alas, they came, partly installed the chimney liner, removed the firebricks and poured some concrete, and then left.

This is the mantel we chose. It is a manufactured stone.
Click the picture to enlarge it
so you can really see the texture.

There were more hitches and delays. The salesman never learned to call me at the office rather than leaving messages with the young adults at home. (That practice is also known as the Black Hole Message Service.)

He seemed to completely lose track of our file a couple of times.

The shop owner pushed back against our choice of mantel and hearth. It was from a new supplier and was a material he hadn't worked with before, but it was much nicer than his other standard options.

But finally, at last, today they came to finish the installation. (Never mind that they showed up two days early, unexpected. I was still pressing the snooze button.)

Half way through the installation today.

And now for the before-and-after glamour shots!

              

August 2010, about a month
after we moved in. (And before
I had scrubbed the stones with TSP.)

May 15, 2012
(The colours in this one are more true.)

There's still some finishing for us to do (we have to put a non-flammable extension beyond the hearth and patch the bookcases where they were damaged by removal of the old mantel), but I already love the new mantel and hearth. (The old hearth was just ceramic tiles with a metal trim.) I think the whole thing looks a lot more finished and grounded. I am very, very happy with the end result.

Now. About that furniture . . .

Putting Christmas Away

A Bombay Company ornament

Now that Epiphany has passed, we really had no excuse to procrastinate about taking down our Christmas decorations. This is a chore I do myself because I'm a little bit obsessive about how my ornaments go away.

Time for a Makeover

Poor, sad 45-year-old exterior.

I really can't say that I love the curb appeal (Hah!) of our house. That insipid yellow makes me want to smack someone. The dirty "white" bricks make me anticipate harvest-gold appliances.

Admittedly, a lot of what it needs is a good scrub of the bricks. The original owner had built a vestibule over the front porch, and you can see where it has marred the brick.

But I like to fantasize about what it would look like if we brought it into the 21st century. As I drive around various neighbourhoods, I've been looking at different colour combinations. Today I played around with Photoshop to see what I could come up with.

Possibly the least expensive: grey unifies the two levels and brick red adds pizzazz.

Doesn't that look happier? Stain the brick a modern grey, paint the siding (or replace it altogether), then add a splash of colour. No major renovation, but it looks like an altogether different decade.

I'm also fond of the classic red-brick exterior. Similar colour combination as above, really, but in different places.

Putty and red brick with a red door. Mmmm. I've always wanted a red door.

A very classic look, which suits my style just nicely.

The deluxe makeover: stone with coordinated siding and paint.

Oh, now THIS I could fall in love with. I've always loved stone, and now the faux stones they make are really quite nice. But also very expensive.

Perhaps I should not have done this little exercise, because now that pissy yellow just makes me mad. But which do you prefer? Grey, red-brick or stone?

Nothing Lasts Forever (but the Earth and Sky)

When we were just starting out, acquiring our first car, our first set of living room furniture, our first pots & pans, it never occurred to me that these things would wear out, need replacing. That, in short, we'd have to do this whole thing again.

It's not that I dislike new cars or redecorating a living room, it's just that I feel like I've "ticked that box":

Sofa? Check
Car? Check
Coffee table? Check
Really good mattress? Check
Matching plates and bowls? Check
Good interview suit? Check
Perfect pair of black business shoes? Check
Perfect black dress boots? Check

But then this happens:

The previously perfect "chair and a half" that now
sags and droops on the most-used side.

Soles wear through, straps break, fabric pills or wears through. Parts wear out, paint chips, wood gets dinged and scraped.

Even without the fickleness of fashion or the vagaries of personal preferences, things need to be replaced. We fight this entropy for a little while, resoling shoes, steam-cleaning upholstery, putting the chipped plates at the bottom of the stack.

It is merely a pitiable struggle against the inexorable march of time.  Eventually, we donate the worn items to offspring setting up their own homes or to others who are just scraping by and appreciate these previously loved items.

And it wouldn't be nearly so irritating if it didn't also apply to this middle-aged body of mine.

New game, kids!

Find the spots, wrinkles, bags, and lumps of which Wynn Anne writes! 

Bonus points for finding the cluster of red blood vessels. (Click to enlarge.) 

See if you can join all the spots to create a picture of a cow or a space ship!

What fun!

Hair thins and greys, skin sags in wrinkled folds, spots appear — and grow — on previously unblemished skin, lumps — LUMPS! — appear. (And, Jeff, I know you're going to chastise me for taking spectacularly unflattering photos of myself, but, guess what: this is me!)

It gets worse; it's not just aesthetics. Joints ache, muscles weaken, and organs complain. I now have osteoarthritis in my hands, such that a gentle rap on my pinkie has me swearing, holding my hand and practicing Lamaze breathing for several minutes.

And, of course, the mind goes.

• About 30 minutes ago, I got out a mug, placed in it a bag for Berryblossom White tea (smells delicious), then turned on the kettle and came back to my laptop to write. 
• About 3 minutes ago, I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and saw my neglected mug reproaching me. 
• About 3 seconds ago, I remembered that I wanted the drink so that I could take my pills.

[I do concede that some of this moment-to-moment forgetfulness is simply ADHD, but still.]

Folks, I'm not even 50 yet. I can't imagine what a sad case I'll be when I'm 80. And unlike the sofa and the car, I can't trade in my joints and neurons for an upgrade. At least, not yet. (Laura - drop the asthma research and get working on this!)

My point is, I am resigned to this process, but I'm not happy about it. You may now call the waaah-mbulance.

Welcome, Fall

Well, it just didn't seem right, having bright, summery colours on my front porch, now that the weather has changed. So while I was at Winners on Sunday, I picked up some fall decorations.

A more autumnal look, but not too kitschy, I think.

Fortunately, the chairs and table still work, I think. (Not sure how they'll look come winter.) Here's what I added.

Three funky pumpkins, including one in brushed aluminum.

A lantern with a battery-operated candle with a timer.

And a dramatic wreath for the door. (The lights are battery-powered.)

And in case you're wondering, the picture in the banner at the top of my blog was on my camera's memory card, but no one remembers taking it. I think it's kind of cool, so I'm using it for a while.

Also, my camera with the "hot pixel" was determined to have a "hot cluster" of pixels. It is on its way to Japan. I will be using my old camera for the next couple of months. Sigh.

In the Mood and Bored

I found a couple of beautiful things online this weekend.

Original artwork, for sale on Etsy

I love glass art. This also was for sale on Etsy, but has now sold.

I pinned them to my Pinterest board, and then started thinking that they would make a great leaping-off point for a living room decor.

We've had the same living room furniture and colours for about nine years. I quite liked them, but am growing tired of the red-green-gold plaid and oversized chairs. I'm ready for a change, but there is absolutely no budget for that. So I decided to fantasize.

I learned a new expression this year: mood board. It refers to the collection of colours and ideas that interior decorators put together for their clients. I first saw them on Young House Love, a great blog for people interested in interior design.

Anyway, I put together a couple of mood boards using these two blue-and-gold items. Here they are.

A relatively formal space, with emphasis on the gold.
The wall colour would be the blue-grey in the background.
The accent colour (gold) would go on the wall over the fireplace,
behind the painting.

I was thinking of this as a more relaxed space, but I don't think it is, really.
The walls would be in the linen colour, with the accent blue going
behind the painting over the fireplace.

As I said, this isn't actually going to happen, but it's fun to fantasize. The Internet is such a great source for window shopping! This could become a habit.

A Bright Welcome

If you look at our house on Google Maps' street view, you will see that our front porch has gone through a few changes.

The street view on left is circa 2006, I think.
Picture on the right is from August 2010.

The people who "flipped" the house before we bought it ripped off the porch, built a nice landing area, but then built a stupid little garden where the rain never reaches and the sun rarely does. So this summer, we had that little garden filled in to match the rest of the porch.

But then it just looked sad and lonely. Also, I had been hankering for a splash of colour out front, as the black-and-white-and-faded-yellow of the house is just unimpressive. I tried Craigslist and Kijiji, but didn't see anything I liked. I looked at Wal-Mart and Sears and even our pool-and-patio store, but their prices were ridiculously high.

I got lucky at Pier 1 Imports' end-of-season sale.

See? Bright and inviting.


Hmm. Can't see much. How's this?

Here it is catching the early morning sun.
A nice place for morning coffee or
to watch the rain fall.


[Or to sit and yell at the neighborhood children to
wear a helmet, pull up their pants, put some damn clothes on
and stay off the lawn.
Ah, I'm looking forward to retirement.]

And here are a few of the details:

• I love capiz shells! This wind chime doesn't get much wind, so it won't be annoying.
• A single cushion in a bright outdoor fabric. (I only got one because Steve never uses one, and because it was the last one in stock.) 
• Those little flowers on the door wreath are actually hair clips! A big splurge at $3. I went looking for a bright, but not too fussy wreath to match these colours, and couldn't find one.
• The ceramic-top table is just the right size for two glasses or two mugs. It also folds away for winter.
• The citronella candles came in a basket of eight in cheery colours, and I already had the lantern.

I'm very happy with this. I should note that this is almost my first foray into using bright colours rather than my more usual neutral or pastel palette. Don't think I'll do this to the whole house, but it is fun for summer and for an outdoor space.

Photo Class: Far

Since our previous assignment for our online photography class was "Near," we knew that this one would be "Far." For this assignment, I decided to photograph the tablescape for our Easter dinner. That alone would be challenge enough (for me), but it was particularly challenging because of the lighting:

Half sun; half shade.
f/2.8, 1/300, ISO/80

Almost every picture I took was half in shade, half in strong sunlight.

The theme for our dinner came from the china dishes I inherited from my Aunt Betty who passed away in August 2009. (Goodness. It doesn't seem that long ago ...) These were Limoges porcelain, from my father's side of the family, and they are so lovely. I couldn't wait to use them for our spring get-together!

But, of course, I had to photograph them as well! Here is one "Near" shot, showing the detail of the plates.

Aren't these plates just sweet?
f/2.8, 1/50, ISO/80
(As a side note, now that I've learned how to adjust the
light colour balance, the yellow tones in our
dining room walls is showing up better.)

And here is a collage of near/far with one of the serving dishes and the small floral centrepiece. [Why are all of the floral arrangements at Michael's designed so that you would need to have the neck of a giraffe in order to see your dining companions across the table?]

Click photo to enlarge.
NEAR photo: f/2.8, 1/500, ISO/80
FAR photo: f/2.8, 1/80, ISO/80

That sweet little handle is the top of one of the serving dishes. Notice how, in the first picture, the flowers in the background are in shade and out of focus?  For the "Far" photo, I changed the light metering and the focus; I probably could've notched the exposure up a bit for the flowers, but I didn't want to completely blanch out the serving dish, so it's a compromise.

In anticipation of today's assignment, I also took a Near/Far set yesterday.

You'll probably also have to click and enlarge these pictures to see the difference in focus. Or maybe it's just my old, old eyes.

I am thoroughly enjoying learning these new skills with my camera. Who knew it could do so much? I've had it for so long and have really done so little with it.

A Drain on the Pocketbook



Shelley Long and Tom Hanks had nothing on us.

It's been 25 years since Shelley and Tom had us laughing at the trials and tribulations of home ownership. When the movie came out, Steve and I were newlyweds, still renting our homes. I don't think we even saw the movie at the time as it didn't relate to anything in our lives.

Well.

Here we are, living the dream, er, the nightmare. Chez Sibbald IS The Money Pit.

I don't remember much of the movie, but I do recall that when the couple moved in, the house had been stripped of all fixtures - even the ones that were nailed down. Similarly, when we moved in, we found that the house lacked any of the following:

• towel bars or hooks
• toilet-paper holders
• mirrors

Not as bad as their situation (I believe they didn't even have doors), but humorous nevertheless.

Our house inspection had warned us:

• the roof was on its last legs (or shingles)
• the fireplace had no flue (I'm not even sure what that is)
• the chimney needed a new liner and repointing of the bricks
• the furnace was old and tired
• the air conditioner was ready for replacement
• several of the windows were old (including two single-glazed)

So what did we do? Why, we set about making improvements!

I think our house deserves one of these!


• an inground pool! (Oh, sweet mercy, will I some day regret that decision?)
• landscaping to correct the grade in the backyard in order to put in the pool!
• upgraded wiring to allow for hooking up the pool!
• gas line in order to heat the pool!
• double the number of cabinets in the kitchen!
• new chandelier! (small potatoes, but still)
• built-in shelving in the living room!
• new furnace!
• new air conditioner!

And then, the money ran out. Truth be told, the money ran out well before these were done. We're still paying off the landscaping. And, um, the furnace was on a one-year deferred payment plan, so it comes due in July.

This is the fifth house we've owned, so it's not like we're completely new to this. But we'd spent the previous five years in a rental home which was only six or seven years old and needed no improvements (though if we'd been the owners, I'm sure we'd have found places to spend money - not least of which would be getting rid of the beige carpet and all the brass light fixtures).

The home-improvement cycle is like childbirth: you swear you'll never do it again, but then you fall in love with the results.

You'll note that we have not yet tackled the following from the inspector's list:

• the roof was on its last legs (or shingles)
• the fireplace had no flue (I'm not even sure what that is)
• the chimney needed a new liner and repointing of the bricks
• several of the windows were old (including two single-glazed)

Those are on the agenda for this summer and fall. Along with finishing the landscaping around the pool (it currently is little more than a gorgeous pool, a beautiful patio and a great deal of mud surrounded by a lovely fence).

SURPRISE!
The paint is right at the base of the maple.
Click picture for larger view.


Plus, we still have to deal with the surprises, like the sewage drain from our house to the main sewer line. Said drain has been crushed by a very mature tree (presumably planted by the city) on city property. While it is almost certainly City responsibility to pay for the repair, there will likely be some collateral costs to us as well.

Or like the surprise ant infestation. Latest word is that they are carpenter ants - so not to be taken lightly. We'll have them exterminated soon. Ka-ching!

And, the city is "rehabilitating" the sewer system on our street this summer, which means they'll be ripping up the bottom third of our driveway. Our driveway is in dreadful condition as it is, so now would seem a good time to get the whole thing regraded and repaved. Right?

Part of me regrets doing the pool before we'd done the other more sensible improvements, but a pool is really a long-term lifestyle purchase (I won't call it an investment, because it's not). Ten years from now we'll be empty-nesters and the pool will see much less use, so we seized the moment.

I fully anticipate a comment along the lines of Anonymous, who wrote, "You are so lucky to be able to afford it! You are certainly not living in poverty. :) ," which is true, and I am grateful. But I also know there are others who consider our two professional incomes and mutter to themselves (or to others, but never to us), "What do they do with all that money?" The answer? Possibly not what you would do with it, but it's certainly not burning a hole in our pockets.

Festival of light

Emily put her tree-decorating skills to work and pulled off what I think is the most beautiful Christmas tree we've ever had. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. (You can click the pictures to enlarge them, then click them again to see them REALLY big!)

We're still trying to figure out
how to arrange the furniture
in a way that is conducive to conversation.

Our beatific angel.
I love her, but because she is not lit
she sort of disappears compared to the rest of the tree.

Look closely and
you will see my reflection in the gold ball.

I love this angel.
I've ordered a capiz star tree-topper to match her.
Our current angel tree-topper will then have to find a new home.

I've been playing around with a new photo-editing software. What do you think?

I'm not ready.

Photo taken by Emily.

I don't think I've ever been so ill-prepared for Christmas.

Our tree isn't up.
The eaves are unlit.
The liquor cabinet is bare.
No sweets have been baked.
There is no stuff for the stockings.
Half the gifts have yet to be bought.
The gee-gaws are still nestled in their bins.
Our annual letter has not been composed.
Our cards have not been written or stamped.
Of the gifts that have been bought, only three have been wrapped.