Renovation Update

This picture is a little old already as we now have everything cleaned up and our furniture back in place. It is such a relief to come home to a normal house. I know that Reuben is going to start working on drywalling again soon but I'm loving it for right now. Anyway, this is a sneak peek of our paint colors ... you'll just have to come over to see what it really looks like.
Actually, last night we bought all the crown moulding and baseboards for this room and Reuben's father is coming at Easter to help him install it. After that, we will be fixing the drywall joints going up the stairs and in the hallway upstairs including the ceilings in our 2 other bedrooms (our bedroom was done before we moved in, thankfully).

Mont Tremblant

Last week Thursday and Friday, Reuben and I and 2 other couples went to Mont Tremblant for a little getaway. We shared a 2 bedroom plus loft suite right in the village! We left at 6:30am from Ottawa and were in Tremblant around 9am...with a little detour at Timmy's/McDonalds on the way. Here are some pics of the suite....

This was the view...Reuben is wearing the coolest goggles of the weekend...they have pretend bullet holes in them....don't ask me why...As you can see, we were just a hop, skip and a jump away from the bottom of the hill. The weather wasn't the greatest the first day as it was pretty drizzly. While the boys snowboarded, we shopped and looked around the village and went to a delicious creperie for lunch. In the evening, we took a dip in the pool and the outdoor hot tub and then had dinner at the local microbrewery, La Diable. Here are our friends, Heidi and Bryan Feenstra at the pub. And this is us at the pub.And that evening, my brother-in-law, Josh drove up and joined us as he had a one day ski pass to use. In the morning, the boys plus Carrie hit the slopes at 8 am and got 3 runs in then came back to our suite for breakfast. Heidi and I made waffles and bacon with strawberries and whipping cream. It was delish!Then we had to check out of our hotel so we loaded all our stuff into the car and everyone continued snowboarding/skiing except for Heidi and I. We grabbed our books and found a nice, cozy couch to sit on in the lobby of one of the hotels right at the base of the hill. We read for about an hour and a half and then Carrie called and we met her for lunch. The rest of them stayed on the slopes. We wandered around the village some more but then as the weather was so warm and sunny, we joined the crowd at the bottom of the skihill watching people go off of jumps. We had a grand time people-watching. At 4pm the lifts were closed so we watched the boys end their final run right at our feet. They enjoyed their final run in their t-shirts because it was so warm. Then we packed up and headed home after agreeing to do it all again next year.

Quilting

This morning,while flipping through my usual blog readings, I spied this lovely quilt with instructions. It looks totally doable, even for a non-quilter like myself. But maybe my sister can help me.
Doesn't it just make you thankful for Spring? It's my favourite season by far!

Elyssa Walking

Just wanted to post a cute pic of my niece, Elyssa. She's walking a lot now and is very sweet. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to remember to take my own pics of her so this one is borrowed from my sister. Enjoy!Click here and you'll see what she looked like a year ago.
Oh and the painting is coming along but I'm recovering from the flu so I can't get it done fast enough. The first coat is done but it needs another coat. I promise to post pics as soon as the second coat is done. It's so hard to know when to post pics because I want it to look beautiful and it's just not done yet. Do you want to see it part way done?

Paris When It Sizzles - the movie

This past weekend, while convelescing, I watched 2 Audrey Hepburn movies that I hadn't seen. One was Funny Face and the other, Paris When It Sizzles.
Funny Face is a musical with Fred Astaire. It has lots of neat choreography and singing. I watched it for the beautiful clothes and scenes of Paris (suprisingly both movies were set in Paris). I did not watch it for the plot. It was hilariously cheesy and usually I like cheesy but I was pretty bored by the end of it.
Paris When It Sizzles on the other hand is just one of your everyday romantic comedies but so much more than that because of the classiness that Audrey Hepburn brings to the movie. The storyline is that of a screenwriter who hires a typist to write out a screen play that he hasn't written yet and is due to the producer in 2 days time. So, the movie jumps between the story of the movie being written and the real story of screen writer and typist who get written in as the main characters of the movie. I won't give it all a way but I do recommend it. Oh and Reuben liked it too so if your partner is as endearing as mine and will sit down to an old film with you than go for it!

Update 3 or 4

The ceiling is done! It did need another coat but it looks amazing and I love the color:) We also primed the walls on Saturday. Reuben did the rolling and I did the cutting in although I had this awful headache and sore throat. I really wanted it done though so I worked on it as long as I could and then collapsed into bed for a nap. I'm still feeling sick but I really want to get this done so I'm persevering.
Tonight, I'm going to paint one wall with a tinted primer and the other walls with a neutral color that is called Monroe Bisque. Over the tinted primer we will be painting the wall Vintage Wine. These are Benjamin Moore colors so if you're curious you can go to their website to check it out. There will be one more color in the room which will go on the exterior of the kitchen walls that face into the living/dining area. We are waiting to paint these walls because we still have some more prep work to do and also because when we do the kitchen reno the walls may be reconfigured.

There is still a long ways to go.

Of painting a ceiling

Painting our livingroom/diningroom ceiling takes me approx 1.5 hrs. Last night I did one coat of color...actual color...not just plain ol' white. When I first put it on I was shocked by how dark it looked and was sort of nervous but I kept going. This morning, although it was still pretty dark when I left the house, it doesn't look so bad. It's going to be cozy. I also can't tell yet whether I need to do a second coat although I have a feeling it's too streaky to leave the way it is.
Reuben is also done with the walls so we'll be priming them on Saturday!!! Woohoo....there is an end in sight. At least I'll be able to move the loveseat back into the livingroom by this weekend.
We'll probably keep the rest of the stuff out so that we can move around more easily to paint the walls.
I'll take pictures as soon as I can. Reuben took one of me painting last night but I'm sure you don't want to see that ....!

the state that we are in

I'm sure you're all curious as to how the renovations are coming. Well, I'm here to report that there has been progress! Today, I took up the drop clothes and swept the floor. Tomorrow, I will put them down again and paint the ceiling. The ceiling needs a coat of drywall primer because it is now all new drywall and then a coat or two of ceiling paint which will be tinted Muslin from Benjamin Moore. You can look it up on their website if you're curious. I'm not sure when the walls will get painted because Reuben plans to do a few more coats of mud on some stubborn spots. This will ensure that our walls are as flat as humanly possible without having to re-drywall them all.
Anyway, I still can't navigate my kitchen too well and there is dust everywhere!! I'm so thankful we can go to my parents to escape the insanity!
More updates to come....