Kitchen... Kitchen... Kitchen..

Welcome to the 3rd installment of the kitchen. The kitchen will not be finished now until next week sometime. At which time I will take pictures of the finished room.

This picture shows the beginning of the backsplash tile.. It is called subway tile and very much reminiscent of the Arts & Crafts era. The tile is not finished yet as you can see the green wall inside the area where the stove will go. The big white space above there is where my tin tray is going. Those are actually cupboard on either side that come down to the counter.. Will be real good for spices and that kind of stuff.

There will be one skinny cupboad on the right of the hood fan surround and of course backsplash tile too.

This is a view looking down the back hall. The powder room is the first door on the right and the coat room (yes not coat closet but coat room) is the doorway you see at the end. This room is bigger than the powder room which is so funny.

All we need on this side is the fridge, the crown moulding on top of cupboard and the open cupboard on top of the fridge. Oh, and some under cabinet lighting.. You can see the tile on top of the island in this picture. They had just finished grouting it and it was wet from wiping the top with a sponge.

This picture shows the tile finished all across now. It is just missing the small cupboard at the end of the counter and of course my tray.

The cupboards on either side of the fridge have glass doors on the top.

This next one shows the front of the island and a bit better view of the tile on top. Your looking into the diningroom and Tim's den.

This is the last one - we will just have to wait till next week for the next segment. The house is very quiet right now while the trims and shelves and doorways all get spray painted. Then the excitement will start again next week.

The kitchen has color.....

Okay, I tried to bait you all by talking about the kitchen color for a few weeks now and not one person was curious.

Remember this is the paint color that the builder called about before I had seen it to tell me that I could change the color if I wanted to. He scared me to death. But, despite what he thinks I like it more every time I see it. Many times over the summer I saw this color in the books from the library.. I dreamed about this just like I did the fireplace tile. It is definitely a look and color that will draw lots of opinions.

Well today you get to see a bit more of the kitchen with one coat of the paint on so the cupboard could be installed and painted around easier after they are done.

These pictures I put up today are the second stage of the kitchen building. Tomorrow I will put up the pictures with the backsplash.

The empty spot to your left is where the fridge goes and of course there is going to be tile between the top and bottom cupboards. The hole in the bottom cupboard on your right is where the microwave will go. Yes, under the counter - it will be much easier for a short person to reach and keep clean and it leaves room in the top corner cabinet for a 14 inch tv. Yep, get to watch the news while cooking dinner.

The floor is hardwood and finished onsite but is covered to protect it right now while the work goes on in the house.

This picture is the other side of the horseshoe. The slide-in-range goes in this spot with the cupboard surround the is above and comes down to the countertops and has the range fan up inside of it. Most of you know about that part of the kitchen. Above the range and on the front of the surround they are building into the cupboard my tin tray I bought this summer. That is what's taking some time right now.. There has to be some custom work onsite to do that work. The counters have to be put on before they can put that part together.

This is the tin tray that will be above the stove. I can hardly wait to see the plan come together. Hopefully it will look as good as we hope.

The Kitchen Island - not quite finished yet - but you can see the it has 6 posts in it. We will have 4 stools (one each side and two across the back). It will have a tile top and oak trim around the edge of the counter . The other side of the island closest to the sink and window has two banks of drawers in it.

You can get a good view of the diningroom here and that moulding above the doors where the ceiling paint will come to. One day I will put a wallpaper frieze up there.

I will be waiting to hear what you think... and bring on the names.... come on people I need some help...

Fireplace with grout.... it's still a little wet

For my very impatient daughter ... hahaha

The tile and grout are a little wet from the work being done.. When they finish putting the grout on they always wipe it all down with a wet sponge.. So I can tell that things are just a little wet. But it's all good....

The builder spent all day cleaning up all the layers and layers of dust all over the house because of the installing all the wood trim etc. Then he taped all the windows and doors and as of tomorrow at noon the house will be off limits for a few days. He is going to put on his safety suit and spray primer on all the wood trims and shelves all over the house. I guess this is industrial stuff and really strong and not safe to breath so the house has to be sterile and no one in.

I will likely spend the next 2 to 3 days putting up pictures of the kitchen as it is being put together. It isn't quite finished yet.. but I am very curious what the comments are going to be when you see it.

I am also going to be updating the - "NAME THE HOMESTEAD" page. I am hoping you will all get your thinkin caps on.

Seriously - this fireplace is absolutely outstanding. When you walk in the front door and see the transom window above the doorway going into the living room and then see that fireplace with the bookshelves. Tim and I can hardly believe we are going to be living in this house. It is so different from houses of today. Speaking of transom windows... those are being made by the glass lady as we speak.. oh I can hardly wait to see them.

I had to take a picture of the front entrance way tile after it was wiped down a bit today. You can actually see the color much better. It is so warm and welcoming. This picture was taken from standing up on the stairs so I could get a better shot.

I don't think I have posted a picture of the stair posts since they were built last week. They match the posts between the living and dining rooms. They will be painted the trim color and the rest of the railings will be wood that will be stained to match the front, back and side doors.

Check out the way he has built the post right down the wall to the floor - unlike most stairway posts that end at the stair level. What makes these posts kind of cool also is that they grow taller each one as you look up.

The "Fireplace" - minus grout - that's tomorrow

Oh Katie Lamourstewski - just for you.. Dad and I worked so hard this weekend both Sat. and today that when we got back to the cottage we literally died. Every bone in our body is hurting. We have never felt such body pain.... :-( but the yard is starting to come together a little.. Just the back yard mind you. We have only just begun.

Here is the famous fireplace. We get grout tomorrow.

So right now you can see white lines between the tiles where the grout will be... Ooooooh it is so beautiful.. Exactly and I mean exactly liked I imagined it would look. Actually I think it is even better than I hoped it would look.

The plain tile (field tile) is hand made in Mexico. You should see the tiles.. they are very irregular on the top and bottom but they have this old look which is what we were looking for.

The man that did the rock outside the house stopped by on Friday when they were doing the fireplace and told Glen our builder that the house is looking more and more everyday like his sister's old house in Victoria. That made Glen so happy because that is the plan. Gave him a big smile and a 'YES'.

All the times I looked in books from the library this summer and dreamt about this fireplace - I can't believe it really...

SO - SPEAK UP... WHAT DO YOU THINK......

Changes everyday... wait till tomorrow

Oh, it is getting so exciting.. Tim came home from work today after he had stopped by the house.. He was beside himself..

Here are some of the latest.... This the the main bathroom and it is the beadboard (solid wood) that has been put up behind where the claw tub will go. This is going to be painted out in the trim colour and will look so awesome.. Most of the beadboard that people put up these days is made out of pressed wood so I was so surprised when I saw that this was real wood. You can't tell and for those that don't know what beadboard is - it's that old fashioned look with the grooves (kind of like a tongue and grove) It looks awesome when it is painted the trim color.

You can't tell from the picture but there is molding around the top of it that will make a bit of a ledge.

This next picture blew me away today.. Do you like it or what. There is beadboard in the back of these cupboards against the wall also.

Tim and the builder were talking tonite because he hasn't put the trim on the bottom at the front of the shelves yet. And he was asking Tim if he was thinking about putting anything under there - I didn't get it at first but then it was explained.. I guess Tim had been thinking the exact same thing - a sort of time capsule.. So that if someone renovates the house 50 years from now they will find our time capsule. hahaha. great idea isn't it.

So I guess tomorrow morning I will go get a Friday local newspaper and maybe write a note of some sort etc. etc. and put our time capsule in place before the floor trim board goes up.

And tomorrow is 'TILE DAY'. I sweated over those tiles for 2 or 3 months this summer trying to find just the right ones that would give the look I had seen in all the books I borrowed from the library this summer. Oh, I can hardly wait. You might remember I had to go all the way to UBC almost to the store that carries these tiles and then I ordered the 4 decorative ones from England.

This next picture is taken in the diningroom. It's a little hard to see but the builder put some different size wood pieces on the wall to make a really nice moulding. This is so that the ceiling paint will be brought down to the moulding and the wall colour will be below it.

The doors to the den will match these door that go out to where our patio and pergola will be except they will be painted to match all the other doors. Oh, and speaking of doors - we don't have a "BIFOLD" in the house. All the closest doors are the same as the bedroom doors. Wait till you see.

They did this alot in the those days and then quite often they put a wallpaper frieze in the area above the moulding. Here is a picture I found on the internet of a frieze.

In the picture they actually have a matching wallpaper fill it's called on the bottom part of the wall. Of course in those days the houses were full of real wood where we now have painted wood.

Columns all trimmed out..

Things are really starting to come together and Tim and I can hardly wait. It is so exciting to see the changes now because they are making it real, making it really come together like the books I borrowed from the library all summer long. It is amazing really. The picture below is taken from inside the living room looking right thru to the den. In many of the books they had these columns in both doorways so you looked right thru..

But I told the builder we just can't do that because Tim needs french doors on his den so he can 'FLICK' hahaha So there will be wooden glass double doors into the den which will mean we can still see thru to all three room even if the doors are shut. The den has big windows in it which let in alot of light and also you can see all the trees in the back so it will be nice to be able to look thru the french doors. The doorway into the den will have a transom window above it.

The pictures just don't make it come alive like seeing it in real life but when I walked in and saw this I was blown away because of all the times I had seen this look in the books. Wait till this gets all painted out - it will be awesome. This is a closer look at the column below.


The fireplace tile that I ordered from the shop by UBC in Vancouver is going up on Friday. Oh man I can hardly wait.. I thought I would put a picture up now and then I will take one of Friday before it gets covered up to protect it.

I think Glen is going to build the shelves on both sides of the fireplace pretty quickly too. The plugs on the inside of each window is so we can have small lamps on either side on the top shelf. I'm looking for something that would suit the era and that isn't too big.

Kitchen has begun...

I took these few pictures last week after they got some of the cupboards in. You can't tell much yet but it's coming.

The builder has old carpets and paper down on the hardwood floor to protect it now that it is finished. He is guarding it with his life he said. The fridge goes on the left side of the above picture where you see the cupboard end. We have wood boards to match the cupboards going up both sides of the fridge and the fridge is counter depth so it doesn't stick out beyond the counter.

The hole you see in the wood cupboard below is for the microwave... Now I will have to crouch down to clean it instead of get on a stool. It's all good when your a short person. The open space is for the dishwasher and the stove goes on the right.

Oh there are going to be so many pictures coming in the next little bit. The house is absolutely amazing. People are slowing down when they drive by - a young couple stopped when they were walking yesterday after I had left and Tim gave them a tour. They loved the house. Wait till you see the color on the walls in the kitchen.

I had a couple of ladies come and help me pick paint colours and after these pictures were taken our builder went to get the kitchen paint and quickly painted one coat behind the cupboards so it would be easier after they are installed to paint around them.

Oh man, he called me that night and tells me he painted the walls and that if I don't like the colour he will change it. He wasn't sure if he liked the colour with the cupboards so he wanted to assure me I could change it if I wanted to.

I am the last person who needed to hear that. I have been such a freak show about paint colours that when he said that it sent me in a bit of a tizzy. I called one of the ladies the next morning to tell her what he said and she said they would come and look at it on Sunday. She also said that it didn't make sense to her because it would go against nature these colours not going together. In the meantime I have had 3 days to look at it and I love it. So we shall see what you all think.

hahaha A little tease for pictures to come.

A backyard escape...

On the Monday of Thanksgiving weekend we stopped by our friends Julie and Clare to have a little visit on our way to the ferry to come home. It was a beautiful day to sit outside and have one of the very last opportunities of the year to enjoy their beautiful backyard.

On the left of this picture is the fish pond. The path that goes thru the archway goes around the side of the house to the shed and also to the front yard. This picture is taken from the sitting area just in front of the pond.

The flower pole in the background is something I have admired every time I have been at Julie and Clare's house. The first time they came to visit us this summer - they arrived in their minivan and out of the van came a pole just like this one. I can't wait to put it up in our backyard and have flowers hanging just like in this picture. Thanks so much for the lovely gift guys. I will always think of you when Iam sitting in the yard and enjoying the flower baskets hanging from it.

This is the pond - although I really didn't capture the beauty of it in the picture. The garden just looked awesome and here it is October. I want a garden like this in the new house. My new challenge in life. Clare and Julie are going to come over in the spring and help us plan out the side yard with the pond and garden beds etc. At least get a start anyway.

This is the sitting area closest to the pond. The pond is to the right. Behind this area is a table and chairs for eating outside and behind that is the hottub area and another arbour. . Oh - it is so beautiful.. It is so relaxing to sit and just enjoy the gardens.

A Second Thanksgiving....

Rosie's and Don's House

We enjoyed the second Turkey dinner as much as the first. Each dinner was delicious and yet they were different from one another (except the turkey)

After dinner we sat around talking while the kids played with Jessie.

Two Thanksgiving dinners....

Stewart Clan Dinner

Just a few pictures taken on Thanksgiving weekend. We had two dinners that weekend. Saturday night was with the Stewart clan. Uncle Bill cooked a fine meal as usual and we all had a good time.

All the cooks very busy in the kitchen. Sandi was here from Ontario.

We were missing Ian and Jessica. We missed you both. Not quite the same without you.

Dessert was Pumpkin Pie - ala Aunt Barb. It was soooooooo goooood.





Chelsey and TJ came from Kelowna. It was so good to have them with us.

I think the Monuk girls enjoyed her company that nite.







We had lots of laughs.

But Jessica - we missed you.

Here's Tim sitting and watching the antics of younguns.

River Rock posts .... oh wow

I drove up to the house one afternoon recently and oh my goodnes what a surprise. I had no idea that the 'Rock Man' was comin. Does it look good or what..


They still have to put the top cap on which should finish it off quite nicely. So what do you all think?

One more front view and then a picture of the back porch.


The back was designed to look as good as the front as because of the parking in the back of the house. Our builder wanted it to be pleasing to look at from both.. Because the garage doors are in the back of the house it actually looks very much like it could be the front because we are used to seeing garage doors.

I will take more pictures of them when the caps go on and the porches get built around them..

Oh man, I am starting to get excited finally. All the decisions have been made and I am finally free and clear of all that stuff... that makes my crazy...

And now I can just enjoy watching it come together.