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 !!!!!

It seems to be that I seem to only get here on Tuesdays lol. That should be changing soon! Fingers crossed for a call re: another new job! Otherwise, I will be starting something else on Thursday!

Anyhow, we went and took another look at the house last week. There still really, wasn't a lot to look at, but I had my camera, so I took random shots anyhow.

I also, had a nice little post all ready to go, since I had taken some photos of possible new furniture options.... and then there was a screw up with my blackberry, and they never sent. Unfortunately, I had deleted them already, so I will get out there again this week sometime!

Here's the progress on the house so far, which is really not too much different than last time, but they're with an actual camera, so I figured I would share!

They managed to pour the concrete in our garage

And also, in the basement... while this doesn't look like much, eventually it will hold a half bath, and a beautiful laundry room!

One thing that was really exciting to see, was that our cabinets had arrived! They weren't yet installed, but clumped in boxes in the living room, but finding them all tagged, was fantastic!

Here's a sneak peek at the color of the cabinetry, I selected. I believe it is either coffee bean or java...

And here's the room that they'll go in:

This is the view we'll have from our dining and living room windows, to the backyard. It'll be awesome sitting out on the large deck in the summer! We're so amazed at how awesome the yard will be with the walk-out basement!

Cory's standing right where my sofa is gonna go, in the living room. I'm also thinking beautiful dark wood blinds, flanked by beautiful drapes I will make!

One big project that I have already commission is the fireplace mantel! As you can see so far, there's not much special going on with the fireplace. Aside for a tile surround, their option was a shitty little "shelf" that can more accurately be described as a picture ledge. So, I opted to go without, and found one much more to my liking. In fact, I saw a picture of it in a magazine, and sent it off to my favorite contractor - MY MOM!!! She's already purchased some of the materials, but needs to come in and get some measurements. It probably won't be ready before we move in, but it is something I really looking forward to!!!

Anyhow, there's lots more, but I will leave you with that!

Have a great one!

Week's Update

Yes, it's been over a week. I apologize, life has a way of getting away from me from time to time. That, plus since I wasn't working fulltime, just 2 part-time jobs... my schedule was pretty helter-skelter. Any free time, was also filled by looking for jobs, or job interviews :(

Anyhow, I am relieved to say that I got hired on the spot at this morning's interview. Phew!! While it is a job that is for sure not a forever job, and not in an industry I want to work... it will pay the bills, and right now, that's enough for me!

Plus, the lady seemed really great, so I am excited. What sucks though, is that I did have to quit both my part-time jobs, so I'll have to do some re-structuring with my schedule to figure stuff out, but at least I am now on the right track.

Anyhow, as you're well aware, seeing as we'll be moving soon, there haven't been any home improvement projects, or plans happening here. Nor has there been any shopping as of late, since well, I had only a very small income coming in... but I am now back on track, and should have some fun stuff for you soon!

I've got a day of errands and hopefully a visit to the new house. But for now, here are some of the most recent new house pics! Enjoy!