Our Summer Vacation So Far

This is a short post to tell you where we are :). It's a quickie summer vacation as DH only gets a one week off from his French classes. But we're making the most out of it.

Here's what we've been doing so far - enjoying each one's company (DH, DK, and myself) away from the comforts of our home, in the comforts of this lovely beach house in an island, where we see waters everywhere and eat all the seafood we can eat :). I must have gained 20 pounds in just 3 days. Not. Good.
We are lucky to have found this place in the island. I think I know what our next major project will be. Or what DH will constantly hear after this vacation hahaha.

And of course, a stay in the island means tons of light house photos. Here's one of them. :)

Home building is mostly compromises

… with the first and foremost goal of making your household members happy. And possibly getting the things you want. ;)

When DH and I started looking at buying another house, we looked at several options, considered a thousand and one scenarios, and started enumerating the things we’d want to have in our new home. I wanted a bigger lot, DH wanted a serviced lot, DK wanted the new home to be close to his school and friends. It took us months, over a year even, to scour for something that will meet all major criteria we have. Thankfully, we found this little corner in Kanata Lakes which ‘somehow’ meets everyone’s “must”. There were compromises done but the very thing that struck me was what DH said:

The new home should bring us all closer as a family, will allow us to share our blessings with family and friends, and improve our quality of life.

But making compromises does not end as soon as you pick your corner. It’s just the beginning. And it’s all good because really, it gives you the chance to show your loved ones how far you’d go (and let go of the things you want sometimes) to make them happy.

My side of the counter. Mirror will be replaced. Paint wall will be replaced as well to match the tiles.

I mentioned the grief we had of not having at least one working sink in our second floor bathrooms last week. It was quite inconvenient to have to go to the washroom/powder room downstairs to do simple things like washing our hands and brushing our teeth. Well, finally the most-awaited sinks came in last Friday. I would have wanted everything installed in all the bathrooms ASAP. But DH and DK’s toys “arrived*” last Saturday. So what’s it going to be – let them play with their new toys or install at least 2 of the sinks? Well, we had both in the weekend. DH a.k.a. my Handyman installed the sink in DK’s bathroom first and the one of the two in the master ensuite. Our countertop looks funny with the big hole on the other end (where the other sink will go in) but I’m okay with it. I think it’s the most beautiful countertop I’ve seen. As for the guest bathroom, well, it just has to wait for now.

As soon as DH finished installing the 2 sinks, he started to open his long overdue Christmas-slash-birthday-slash-Father’s day gifts. They were setup just in time before the world cup finals started. DK was kind enough to lend us his TV since we still do not have the TV for the family room.

Christmas-slash-birthday-slash-Father's day gifts

I was happy looking at them nestled in the couch in front of the TV, waiting for one of their respective teams to win. They both rooted for different teams. And I say “waited” because DK fell asleep shortly before Spain scored :(.

Blind no more

You know how sometimes too much light can blind you? Well it’s not the case here but I can’t think of a subtitle. teehee. I just wanted to say, the roller blinds for the family room and kitchen windows were installed last week. We now have nice natural lighting in both rooms that can be controlled. Not as glaring sans roller blinds.

Our nook in the kitchen

We got them from one of the Benjamin Moore stores. It’s their new house brand and the price is quite reasonable. It’s almost half the price of the leading brands. In terms of quality and materials, it’s comparable to the leading brands. The only disadvantage is that you do not have as many choices of colours and options. In our case, I instantly liked this specific colour and material (slate grey) of the house brand and couldn’t go past it. So it all worked out.

Roller up close

* They actually had to do a short trip to the US to pick them up from one of the UPS stores there. The toy company does not ship to Canada.

The Ghosts I Want

These are the only ghosts I want inside the new house ;). Not inside our closets but in DH's office and DK's work area in the loft.

Ghost Chairs

They will arrive in 2 weeks. I've been crushing on these gorgeous chairs. I think they're perfect to be used as office chairs.

Whatchathunk?

It has been one productive day today -

• We just did the 30-day inspection. Nothing major on the list except for the crack in the whirlpool. Unfortunately because it wasn't reported on the 24-hour report, builder is not going to fix it. Dang!
• The rollers in the kitchen and family room have been installed. We got them from Benjamin Moore and we're pretty happy with the overall service. And oh, I like the colour too. Colour is called "slate grey." I'll take photos of it tomorrow. I know some friends are in the lookout for reasonably priced window coverings.
• And yes, the sinks have been delivered. So if Mr Handyman a.k.a. DH will find the time to install them, we might have at least one working sink in our ensuite this weekend.

Sneak Peek of Our Kitchen

... and a quick update of our move.

1. I realized moving is not as easy as it used to.
2. Our dear friends came over, brought some food, and helped assemble most of our furnitures to ensure that we'd have comfy beds to sleep on on our first night in the new home. We are so lucky to have very helpful, loving, and caring friends.
3. The kitchen was the first area in the main floor that became functional.



That's MDH's gadget - a dual fuel, convection oven

4. The only fully functional washroom in the house at the moment is the powder room. The other 3 bathrooms do not have the countertop sinks installed. Blame it on A* S*. The vessel sinks that I want for the bathrooms are back ordered. At first they promised they will be available on June 14th, then June 28th, and then mid-August. Boohoo. We're looking at another alternative which is a bit pricier but I don't care anymore. I just want sinks in our bathrooms. I am so darn tired having to go downstairs to wash my hands, brush my teeth, etc etc. Not fun.
5. I am loving our kitchen.
6. DH is quite admirable. He will have his French Language Test tomorrow and in spite of all the ruckus in the new house, he still tries to prep for his test. Whatta guy! As a reward, I made sure that his office was ready ASAP.
7. Other parts of the house that are already a-okay - living room, dining room, DH's office, laundry, powder room.

And because the title says Sneak Peek ... blah... blah... blah...., here are some pics -

Love this faucet from Moen. It has a pullout too.

Our island. You can see part of the dining room from the kitchen

Bar sink on the island. We find this very useful.

I will post some decent pics of the kitchen later. At the moment, there are still some work to be done like putting up the valance lights, changing some of the cabinet doors to glass, and so on and so forth. The list is endless. But I don't mind.

Backsplash: Honed Carrara Marble in mosaic rectangular strips
Countertops: Kashmir White Granite
Cabinetry: Chalk White; Shaker
Kitchen and Bar Faucets: Moen
Kitchen and Bar Sinks: Kindred
Pendant lights (all light fixtures in kitchen including chandelier for the nook table): Kichler