Change Orders

Kane gives his approval to the new rug in the front hall.

When you are working with a contractor, it is no surprise that, if you ask for changes half-way through a project, you will incur a surcharge. It only makes sense: they've hired labour, bought supplies and booked time based on your agreed contract, and they've taken time to revise any plan drawings.

When you share a bed with your handyman, however, you get away with a lot of "change orders." Often, instead of costing you more, these changes actually save you money.

Sell, dammit!

I swear, our house has never been more beautiful. Every surface is painted, swept, or wiped. The gardens are putting on a show. And yet ... it still hasn't sold.

Winkie's Way: There's no Time Like the Present

If you've followed this blog for a while, then you have heard of my beloved Aunt Winkie.

Over the past few weeks, I've reflected on the many things I've learned from Winkie, not by any direct instruction, but simply by example and observation. I've decided to start sharing them with you.

There's no time like the present.

Winkie welcomes help in her tiny kitchen, but I keep my support to the sous-chef role: slicing, dicing, fetching, stirring. Once, as I grabbed utensils to set the table, she noticed that there were crumbs in the cutlery tray. (We all have those, right? It just never ends.) I grabbed what I needed and was ready to close the drawer when she stopped me.

La retraite

Sunset at Apache Pier, Myrtle Beach

In French, the noun "la retraite" can mean both retreat and retirement. To retire is to "prendre la retraite" or to take a retreat, step away. I give this little linguistic lesson as a prelude to explaining why my husband and I have begun thinking about selling our suburban house and looking at rural properties.

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.

A Room of One's Own

My space (I need to get a picture of our dog Kane up there).

For the past six months we have had two bedrooms in our four-bedroom house that have been little more than storage areas (and we all know what happens to storage rooms). So, following my adventure at writing camp this summer and inspired by my friend Shelley who just set up her home office, I decided to Get Serious About Writing and convert one of those rooms to my very own space for writing and other forms of "work" and creativity.

Of impulse shopping and miscommunication

A 20-year-old two-person hot tub

What do you do if you and your husband accidentally get a huge bargain on a hot tub that neither of you wants? Here's the story.

The Big Reveal

Clematis and salvia from our garden.
I'm seriously contemplating having this picture printed to hang in the dining room.

Done. The kitchen is done. Done like dinner -- never was that phrase more appropriately used, I think. Let me show you the glory that is now my kitchen.

Tuesday Coffee Chat: DIY

This may be the least flattering picture of me in the whole entirety of my existence.
Booking liposuction on my neck right now. 

Many of you may justifiably be wondering why I haven't posted about our fabulous new backsplash, especially given that I posted some sneak previews on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.

Colour me happy.

We have, at long last, painted the kitchen!

The last time I wrote about our kitchen renovation, I prophetically wrote, "We have arrived at the stage in this project where it is easy to run out of steam. The space is functional and attractive. But there is still a long list of things to be done. Not least of them is the backsplash. Every time the water splashes onto the counter, I wince."

That was at the end of February, folks. Almost exactly two months ago.

Kitchen Update: It's what's on the inside that counts.

A pretty kitchen is a wonderful thing, but if it is poorly organized, then its beauty really only runs skin deep. With our renovation, we really put a lot of emphasis on the organization behind of all our stuff -- the insides, as it were. So today, let's take a peek behind the doors and inside the drawers, to see what's lurking.

Slow and Steady

Just a few of the boxes for our kitchen renovation.

Project managers love to trot out the "time-cost-quality" saying: You may choose to optimize only two in any project. If you want to improve the quality, you're going to have to increase time or cost or both. And if you want to reduce time, you're going to have to increase the cost.

Wordless Wednesday: Ice Storm -- UPDATED

Japanese lilac

Sometimes a subject is so captivating that words are not needed. Updated with new pictures!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

The crowd of kitchen renovators at IKEA during the post-Christmas rush.

Today, after two false starts, we finally made it to Lee Valley Tools and IKEA to purchase some of the fixtures and all of the cabinets for kitchen renovation.

At Lee Valley, we picked up a fancy pull-out fixture that will make the best use of the one blind corner we will have in the kitchen.

Blind Corner Unit from Lee Valley

Good Christmas

As I sit here enjoying my turkey sandwich, I've been trying to figure out what made this Christmas so different from other years. So much better.

It wasn't that I didn't make an all-in Christmas dinner (including egg-wheat-dairy-free variations for one daughter). And it wasn't that I didn't make elaborate to-do lists. (See photo above.)

Comfort Food: Irish Stew with Dumplings

Stew is one of those classic "peasant" foods that make me feel like I'm sitting in front of a crackling fire with a wool shawl wrapped around me and a mug full of wine. Ideally, there would be a baby asleep on my lap, and a dog snoring lightly at my feet.

Ah, sigh.

On the day I saw my first fluffily floating flakes of snow in Ottawa this year, I pulled out my biggest pot and started an Irish stew simmering in the kitchen. Then I added dollops of dumplings, and we all sat down to a hearty meal.

Since you couldn't be there with us, I decided to share the recipe here. I've learned a lot of lessons about stew -- all the hard way. I hope this post will save you some scorched pots and leathery meat.

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.