A Table & Chairs

Well - we've been busy bee's around here. In just over a week we have FOUR house guests coming to stay with us - two for one week, and the other two for two full weeks. All four will be staying here for the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday so we are doing our best to have a mostly functioning dining room for the occasion. So what have we been up to?

Let's start with the table situation, shall we? When Halle and I arrived back to BC last Monday, B had our dining room table "mocked up" in the garage. As in, he had most of the pieces cut, and clamps holding it all together so I could get an idea of what the finished product would look like. I was thrilled, but there was still a lot of work to be done. So on Thursday evening last week, after dinner B headed back outside and spent a couple of hours  cutting a few more pieces and getting the base assembled. 

Unfortunately, that one night did not complete the table. B mentioned that night he had a lot of sanding ahead of him, and that he may even need to borrow a plainer to get our table nice and smooth and pretty looking. 

Even with an unfinished table, new furniture has made it's way into the dining room. Let me start from the beginning.

The week before I arrived back in BC, I had been online looking at different dining chairs. I somehow ended up on Cost Plus World Market and fell in love with the Plaid and Teal Green Wes Dining Chair. It immediately reminded me of a number of chairs we had seen in Scotland and loved, and as a bonus, it was on sale! I sent the link to B, commenting on how great it was. Turns out, he thought so too because he arrived home on Tuesday last week with two of them for either end of our dining table! True love people! He apparently ordered them almost immediately after I sent the link and then drove to our mailbox in Washington State after work to deliver them home for my birthday! I married a good one!

Two down, 10 more to go. (Yup, this table is going to be a BIG one!). 

... Now to start preparing the guest rooms! What did you get up to this weekend? 

Fancy Friday Love

Friday is upon us once again, and I have some favourites from around the blog world to share with you. Here we go...

Loved this adorable shared bedroom from Lay Baby Lay last Friday. Everything about it is perfect for children, while still being something they can grow into! 

I'm still collecting lots of dining room inspiration for us (I have new purchases to share with you next week - think seating). There are so many great spaces out there, and it's no surprise that I fell in love with this dining room, by Annsley Interiors, that was on House of Turquoise yesterday. Lovely, no?

I'd love to enjoy breakfast this weekend in this dining nook (designed by Benjamin Dhong). It just looks so cozy, and relaxing. A perfect place to curl up and enjoy my morning coffee... while Halle runs around wildly proclaiming "pum pay Mama! NOW!" (translation: Come Play Mama! NOW!").

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day for me! I had a meeting in the morning with one really cool lady (keep an eye out here to find out what that was all about soon!), and enjoyed a wonderful sunny afternoon with little H. The day ended nicely with Glee Season 5 coming back (Hi, my name is Kerry and I am a Gleek) AND we received our sneak peek gallery of wedding photos. I would like to share them with our families first, but I thought I'd share this image of my bouquet... that I made. Big thanks to Katie from K. Thompson Photography for doing such an incredible job capturing our big day! We can't wait to see the rest!

Well - it should be a good weekend around here. B has planned to have some people over on Saturday for my birthday, and I think Sunday we'll try to take it easy. B will be working on our DIY Dining table (hopefully some photos soon), and I will spend some time working on my office and downstairs guest room. Hopefully we can cross a lot off of our to-do list!

What do you have planned for this final September weekend?

Twenty-Eight

Today I turn 28. TWENTY-EIGHT! 

{found via Pinterest - no original link included}

If you asked me seven years ago what 28 would look like for me, I never would have imagined this. I had dreams of a career path, that after testing those waters I wasn't very excited about. I was single, and pretty happy to stay that way for a while, and I also hoped to spend some time living and working abroad. Now, 7 years later I am married to my best friend and love of my life, mother to one adorable and sweet little girl and living in our second home on the West Coast of Canada. I don't think there is much more I could possibly want! 

So today, I'll be happy to spend my day with my favourite little lady, and enjoy the evening with B. After all, what's a birthday if you can't spend it with the people you love the most?

Come On In

Happy Monday dear readers! Currently little H and I are on a flight back to BC. I've really enjoyed my time visiting with family and friends since the beginning of August, but I'm excited to finally return to our home.

Being away for so long (48 days to be exact) has inspired me in different ways, and I'm eager to get back to decorating our new-ish space! The whole place is still all sorts of empty... and grey, so we have our work cut out for us! Today, I'm finally posting up a house tour page for our new home! Progress photos will come as we work through the rooms, so make sure to check back regularly (There should be some updated office photos in the next week or so!)

So come on in, take a look around and stay awhile (just click the page link above that reads "Our Second Home")! With wedding and honeymoon stuff behind us, it's time to start focusing some more time and energy on our lovely home!

What things do you plan on tackling this fall?

Fancy Friday Love

B and I may be married now (1 month this coming Tuesday already!), but today still marks something very important to both of us. 6 years ago today, I boarded a flight to NYC to spend a weekend with a man I had only spoken to online and on the phone for two and a half months. I received a lot of criticism and negativity about taking that trip, but a few really great friends supported me and I am so thankful for that. So today I want to wish my now husband, a very happy 6 years together. I love you more today than I ever have, and I know it will only grow as we work on this relationship together. 

Now, onto my favourites from this past week...

I was reminded of my love for white interiors done perfectly when I saw this post on Daily Dream Decor. White done really, really well. I'll take one please!

Thanks to Lisa over at Wicked and Weird, I officially want to paint our in progress dining room a light neutral and stencil up those walls. I bet B will be thrilled when he reads this!

I'll be back in BC early next week and I'm sooo ready to get back into working on things around the house! There is still lots to be done there and I am can't wait to continue to make it feel more like us. In particular, I'm feeling inspired to freshen up my magazine holders after seeing this pretty project that Megan tackled. 

I'll take this kitchen (found on desire to inspire) please! Would be so lovely in our home, especially those windows! Absolutely my most favourite part!

Well, I hope all those that are attending Blog Podium tomorrow (and other blog related meet ups and events over the weekend), have a wonderful fantastic time! I will miss seeing so many familiar and new faces, but I have a very important wedding to attend tomorrow (with a very adorable flower girl, if I do say so myself). My friend of 14 years will be saying "I Do" to the man of her dreams and I could not be any happier for the two of them! 

What does everyone have planned for this weekend?

Ready, Set, BUILD!

While Halle and I may still be kicking around back in Ontario (we have a very important wedding to attend this Saturday), B is in BC and already working on some home projects for us (isn't he the best?). 

On the top of our to-do list at the moment is to do something about our big huge empty Dining Room...

The space was originally intended to have a dining room on one end and a seating area over by the window. Even after viewing the property for the first time I just knew that it was an awkward set up. Neither of us wanted to try and squeeze a small table into that area beneath the lighting, and we didn't need the extra seating area since we have one upstairs and one on the main floor, where our TV is. We love to entertain, and we love having more than two people over at a time when we do. In order to make better use of this large space, we have decided to transform the area into one big dining room.

At the moment, we are in the midst of building our own huge custom dining table for the room... or rather, B is in the midst of building it. My role was to send him my inspiration photos of what I want in the space, so after scouring Pinterest for ideas, these are the one's I sent...

{via Ana White}

{via Pinterest}

{via Brunch at Saks}

I'm a huge fan of the painted base on that last table.

While B is busy building, I've also been trying to collect inspiration on how I want the Dining Room to look when we are done decorating. Most importantly, I need to find just the right chairs since we'll be having four house guests for Thanksgiving (the Canadian one) this year. My ideal would be to have Madeleine Side Chairs from Restoration Hardware along either side of the table, with something larger flanking each end. 

We've already been thinking of lighting, and love the idea of having two pendants hanging over our large table. In my dream dining room, I'd love to see two (maybe 3 depending on the final length of our table) of the Pottery Barn Greenhouse Pendant lights hanging over our table.

So all things are being considered, including paint colour, artwork and the type of built-in we'd like to add to the niche in the wall. Lots to do, so take one last look at this big empty dining room. The next time I share a photo, you can bet it will be looking very different!

Are you working on any big projects at home? Have any rooms that are being redecorated, or maybe even decorated for the very first time?

Autumn Leaves

Last week, after B headed back to BC, Halle and I stayed behind in Massachusetts for a couple of extra days with his parents. We always love our time there and with all of the wedding planning behind me we had some time to get crafty with B's Mom.

I did some looking around on Pinterest for inspiration and found a great Pin (can't find it now) where you made a tree out of your child's hand print and leaves for them to glue on using on fabric. It was just our luck that B's Mom had a great big box full of old fabric samples in wonderful fall colours. So, last Monday night I sat down and cut out a ton of little leaves from different fabrics so that Halle could pick and choose which leaves she wanted on her tree.

On Tuesday before lunch, we all sat around the kitchen table to create a little fall craft. B's Mom traced Halle's hand onto some brown paper to make our tree. (We actually cut out four tree's in total for some extra's).

Next, Halle helped put glue on the back of the tree and we stuck it onto a piece of white paper...

Lastly, we started dabbing glue all over that handprint tree and let Halle go nuts sticking whichever leaves she wanted to it.

She only lasted for one tree that first day, but it turned out so lovely and she was pretty proud of it. I have plans to frame that tree and put it out this fall season. 

It was such a fun and easy craft for all of us, and a great way to use up some scraps of fabric that my Mother-in-law had! Plus it was a nice way to get into an Autumn state of mind (even if the few days following that felt more like summer).

Have you been thinking about fall yet? Have you started any decorating, or maybe some DIY projects for around the house? 

Our Honeymoon - Glasgow - The Final Days

Well, we've made it. If you missed last week I shared four different posts highlighting photos from our Scotland honeymoon. Today is the final day of photos from our stay in Glasgow. We spent our last day and a half just strolling around the city, doing some last minute shopping and visiting a few places, and enjoying some drinks on a patio. In the evening, we strolled around, stopped for drinks at a couple of places and made our way on to our final dinner in the city at Brian Maule, and yes everything there was fantastic! It was the perfect place for our final dinner.

{Buchanan Street by night}

Our last day was a little bittersweet. We got up early, did a bit more packing then headed across the street to Rose & Grant's again. We loved it there so much during our first trip we needed to stop in once more. After eating, we finished our packing and relaxed in the room until our check out time. Once checked out, we left our bags at the hotel and took one final walk down to Glasgow Green - it was the perfect day for it!

{The Winter Garden}

It was such an incredible trip, and though we were a little sad to leave, we were both excited to return home to Halle. Having her run over and wrap her little chubby arms around me when we walked through the arrivals gate was the best welcome home a lady could ever get. 

I'm already starting to dream about the next time we can get away just the two of us for a little while! Do you have any big trips planned? Exploring anywhere new, sometime soon?

Our Honeymoon - Edinburgh

I'm skipping Fancy Friday Love this week for a number of reasons. Mainly, since returning from our honeymoon I've had so many other things to do on top of just wanting to reconnect with Halle that I have had no time to read blogs. Second, I'm having too much fun sharing our honeymoon photos with you. Today, I am jumping to our day trip to Edinburgh which was incredibly fabulous and totally worth  our 5am wake up call.

We caught a 6am train from Glasgow and arrived at Edinburgh Waverly just after 7am. Nothing was open for breakfast yet, so we did some strolling before eating and then grabbing a hop on hop off bus. With only one day in the city, we figured it would be a useful tool to get us to the places we wanted to see a little more quickly.

Our first stop of the morning was Edinburgh Castle. We arrived just after it opened so we hoped to be there for a while before the crowds got too heavy. We lucked out and were able to enjoy our visit to the castle without feeling too overwhelmed by people.

Heading back down the Royal Mile after our visit to the Castle

We left the castle and went out in search of some lunch. We ended up back in the New Town area, and asked a lady waiting for a bus if she had a place she would recommend. She mentioned Pep & Fodder around the corner and we are so glad she did. The sandwiches were fantastic and there was a constant stream of locals popping in to grab a sandwich to go. Great find!

After wrapping up lunch we walked up the street to Calton Hill. The clouds were really starting to clear up at this point, making it a beautiful time to explore and take in the views of the city and Arthur's Seat.

The National Monument. Absolutely huge and beautiful structure.

Checking out Arthur's Seat from Calton Hill. After seeing it from this vantage point we decided it would be our next stop.

Waiting on the bus to head back towards Arthur's Seat. We could've walked but decided to reserve our energy for the hike up the hill. The large building with the clock tower above is the Balmoral Hotel - where J.K Rowling wrote the final Harry Potter novel.

Standing on Arthur's Seat

The views were incredible on this day. We both agree that these will be the photos we will blow up for our dining room (our next project at home).

St. Giles in the Old Town

We loved just walking around and of course drinking beer

We got some lovely sunsets as we headed from the Old Town back into the New Town for dinner

We enjoyed a simple dinner at a pub, and lingered over our drinks before we caught our train at 9:30 to head back to Glasgow. It was such a perfect day in the city, and we both agree that one day we will have to return to Edinburgh.