Cheep Cheep Decor Find!

So for many, many months I've oohed and aah'd as I watched everyone jump on the white ceramic animal band-wagon. In particular, I've been keen on little birdies! However, with the purchase of the new home, and with my 2 month unemployment a few months back, we were focusing more on saving money than spending it!

But since we move into our new casa in a week, (Insert crazy smile and a squeal only small animals can hear), we headed out to some stores today to see what we can snag for the house with some of the gift cards I've been hanging onto for months now!!!

I had a Michael's gift card that I was intending on using to buy a nice vase and perhaps some bamboo sticks, or feathers or some sort of bloom for the pretty art shelf in our front entrance.

Unfortunately, there was nothing I loved....fortunately, that caused me to take a 2nd look, which resulted in my finding this little cutie, hiding, barely visible on the bottom shelf of an end cap:

At only $8.99, I couldn't resist snagging him up!! Unfortunately, he's going right back into his tissue paper and is already snagging a (temporary) home in a box full of dishes. But I can not wait to find him the perfect new home in our new nest!

I'm also pretty sure he's the first of many other white ceramic companions that will find their way into our casa.

Anyhow, hope you're as excited as me, to see where this little guy ends up!!

Taking shape

The reason for my absence this time? LIFE!

In addition to packing up everything we own, I've been working out with a trainer 3 times a week. We also had a wedding this weekend, I work part-time a couple nights a week, and oh yeah, I'm trying to have a couple " do nothing" nights, so that I don't get so stressed out, and freak big time!

I'm also really busy researching new stuff for the new house. We've yet to buy anything - I just started working again and my bank account is finally recovering, remember?
But here are some of the latest pics of the house, that will be ours in less than 30 days!!




Once the deck is built, there will be a concrete patio area here. We'll be able to walk out from the family room onto a little sitting area. I also think I might put a little potting bench here, so I can work some magic with my plants!!


While the framing for the deck is wood, I'm thankful that we'll have Trex decking. Which means? NO MAINTENANCE!! We don't have to worry about it rotting,or needing re-painting!!

It's really hard to tell, since these photos were all taken with my phone... but the place is starting to look beautiful inside. It's been painted and the color we chose (ICI's Antique Sterling) looks a lot lesss grey on the wall than the paint chip. It actually has a lot of blue tones in it - especially when paired with a bright white trim!!

This is just a peek at part of our cabinets and you can sorta see the china cabinet/bar built into the island!


The only thing I am not loving 100% about the house, is the exterior colors. Since we were the first ones to buy, they let us choose our colors. However, the selection was limited to 5 color boards they had pre-selected for us. Unfortunately, I listened to someone else's advice and didn't go with my first choice, as someone said the cream siding looked too yellow in the sun!
Unfortunately, that means, I am going to have to grow on the garage door and trim color - it's a redish brown that reminds me of hershey chocolate..... I'm not sure...

Exciting News!

Well, yesterday I got a very exciting call!!! Yeah, we get the keys to the new house in 37 days!!!!!!!!

I don't know about you, but when I realized that was just over a month - I panicked a little. Then I realized I had to start packing!!! Oh my goodness. So first things first - I put out a call for boxes!

Then I came home and started packing up the few boxes I had already collected. It's gonna take a long time to get this done, so as we get more and more boxes, I will be doing a little each day.

I've got lots to do today, a trip to Walmart for essentials, and I'm working at the restaurant tonight. With the house on the way, I need all the money I can get!

So this weekend, while enjoying a 5day long weekend together, I dragged Cory out to do some furniture browsing for pieces for the new house.

Last week, I posted here about some pieces that I was considering as a media component stand. Well, we had a chance to go out and look at them and have Cory actually voice his opinion on them.

Thankfully, I think we found a winner!!!!

The Plantation Flat Screen stand from Pier 1 was PERFECT!!!! I absolutely LOVED IT!! Not only that, but Cory really liked it as well!!

It met the following Must-Have criteria:

~Must not look like a media piece, moust resemble a piece of furniture

~ must be relatively tall - like sideboard height

~ must be able to close-up or hide media components

~ dark wood

It was also a bonus that:

~it offered some space for decorative item storage

~ is available here in the city

~ had sliding doors instead of cupboard-style, which allows us to open it when we're using the media components, and close it up when not in use; but the slated doors might work BOTH WAYS!!

The only downside?? The Price tag!! At almost $900.00, it's more than we are wanting to spend. Thankfully, Cory is convinced that he can make me something comparable..... or possibly, we could ask my mom!!!

Anyhow, just wondering if anyone knows somewhere we can get either this piece, or an identical one, here in Canada, for cheaper!!

Let me know please - it's our ideal piece!!

Sweet (Scented) Score

This afternoon, I hit up Costco for the first time in MONTHS!! The last few times I had been there, I had been scrounging for some Reed Oil Diffussers that all my friends had apparently been snatching up there! Unfortunately, all I could find were candles (which, yes, I did buy)

Low and behold, on today's visit, I hit the jackpot!!! The three-pack was there! It was also only $20.00 , which is unbelieveable, since regularly 1 sells for around $25.00!!

The gift pack had Peach Mango, White Lily, and Sweat Pea! I've currently got one sitting on the bathroom counter, and cannot wait for the smell to start wafting through the house!!!

Tell me, what products do you use to scent your home??? What are your fave scents???

Can you hear me now???

Having been without full-time employment, I was trying to keep the shopping to a minimum. But last week, we had to make our first home purchase in quite some time. You see, with looking for a job and all, I was getting a lot of phone calls. The only problem? Unintentionally, I was hanging up on prospective employers!!!! (GASP!!)

We had 5 cordless phones in the house. Now, keep in mind, we have a funny layout and are spread out over 4 stories.... 3 of the phones were an expandable set, the other two were both independent handsets. Well, a while back, I accidently hit something on one phone, and from then on, two of the phones would ring as normal. When you hit "TALK " though, the line would go dead!!

Of course, from then on, it just so happened that ever time the phone would ring, it'd only be one of those handsets that was around..... SHEESH!!

So, after much frustration, last week, I headed out to pick us up another set of phones! I was pretty disappointed to see that despite declining use of house phones, with the popularity of cell phones - these things don't come cheap.

So, just over $100.00 later, I came home with a set of 3 Panasonic handsets to add to our tribe. YAY!!! No more hangups!

We also now have one in almost every room - The kitchen, living room, guest and masterbedrooms, master bathroom (a little weird, yes, but I was too lazy to find a power bar for my nightstand), garage (might be a bum handset....) and loft.

My question is, how may phones do you have in your house?? Where are they kept? How big's your home?? Do you find you can never find a phone??

Good News and a Stand(ing) Search!

I am pleased to announce, that as of this afternoon, I am gainfully employed full-time again. Yes, it has been a long, stressful 2 months, but I am happy to say a lot of pressure has been removed. Now, I can sleep at night, instead of wondering where I'm going to get the money to pay for our new house ;)

What this also means, is that I can go back to thinking about new decor and furniture purchases :) Much to Cory's dismay.

Anyhow, if you've followed along at all, you know that a big topic of discussion, is where we're going to put the t.v. in the new living room.

Currently, we have it, and a little shelf Cory built for our media components, sitting in the corner nook above our fireplace. While it works in the space, I absolutely HATE IT! Plus, I think it's a little high.

Thankfully, the new house does NOT have a nook. On the other hand, it now means I actually have to think of a plan and buy a piece for everything.

In the showhome, the cable outlet is located above the fireplace. Ideally, I'd prefer to have it somewhere else altogether, but I think our large furniture will leave us limited for floorplans. Meaning, it might be my only option at this point.

Being the smart cookie that I am, when the electrician came, I came up with a great idea: Have a cable outlet above the fireplace. But also have one, on the same wall, to the left, in the corner of the room. This will allow me to move things around if my furniture placement changes. But the best part???? I had the electrician wire the outlet above the fireplace to be connected to the lower, corner outlet. (Does that make sense?) ** You can see the 2nd outlet with CAT5 cables in photo - so components could directly hook up, and get wired to tv through wall!!****

What that means, is that we can hang the tv above the fireplace and have the DVR and DVD players sitting pretty in their own little piece of furniture just off to the side. But with having the two outlets connected, we don't have to worry about seeing any ugly cords running from the cabinet to the tv!!! Genius huh????

My biggest problem? I don't want a media cabinet! I want a piece of furniture that looks like a sideboard, essentially. I am also having a heck of a time finding one I like. Here are some options I've presented Cory, that he seems on-board with:

From Ikea , we both like the MARKOR sideboard. The black-brown color would suit the rest of our furniture, it's the right height, I like the hardware, it's under $400.00, and all the storage is covered! The only problem is whether or not the components would actually fit.... we'd need to measure!

Also from Ikea, the LIATORP sideboard comes in the white (which would match trim) or a dark brown color that looks nice as well. The info online says it is compatible as a media unit and apparently has electrical plugs in back. But is it a bit too country?? And could I live with such open storage???

This PLANTATION tv stand is from Pier 1. The doors slide, so essentially I could slide them both to the middle when not in use, and use the sides for decorative items, which I love! However, it's pricier, and looks pretty red, I'd have to see in person.

A Mid-Century piece I spotted on Ebay, this is perfect!! I'd probably throw on some sleek hardware and call it a day! However, it's more expensive, and buying online, I could never be 100% sure, the proportions would work, and it could properly be retro-fitted..... SHOOT!!


Anyhow, you can kind of see the space of the new house above in the crappy photo of the unfinished fireplace area. What do you think would work?? What pieces do YOU love??? What do you hate?? Do you know of something else that I'd like?? SEND ME YOUR COMMENTS !!!!!