Sometimes It's the Little Things...

... that make me happy! (with the exception of exiting trips to NYC to visit an old friend, meet all kinds of fantastic bloggers and watch a taping of the Nate Show). Alright, so I originally intended to share another project with you today, but with so much going on this week I haven't had a chance to get that one last piece of the project done. You'll have to come back next week and I promise to share!


Anywho - so what's one of the little things that make me happy? How about getting those last two boxes I needed to finish storing my DVDs out of site on my bookcase...

Before... and yes, the bookcase needs some styling. We plan on eventually getting some built in's on either side of the fireplace in this room, so I'm not concerning myself with it at the moment.

Here we are after. Nothing exciting... probably not even worth sharing, but it honestly meant a lot to me to clear up that clutter of DVDs on the shelf!

What little things have made you smile recently? (Another little thing that made me smile was when Liz from WALLPAPER asked me to take part in her Beauty Bag feature! Head on over here to take a peek at my Beauty Bag... and Liz's awesome blog of course!) Happy Thursday!

Nuts 'N Bolts - Going Tankless

Back again with another edition of Nuts 'N Bolts. Today, I'm talking about Tankless Water heaters and why we decided that getting one was the right choice for us.


Much like going ductless, going tankless can help lower your monthly bills and make your home a little greener. When Kerry and I began discussing opening up some more space in the basement we were throwing around the option of getting a tankless water heater in addition to removing the furnace. Thus opening up what used to be the former utility room and creating more usable space in the basement. 

We did our research and discovered that many of the companies, who sell tankless units, will also rent them to you and install them for FREE. After making some calls and finding the most favorable monthly rental fee, I set up an appointment for a consultation. Following our meeting I had to take a day off for the company to complete the installation and over the course of 4-5 hours the installation was completed.


I must say I was a little disappointed in the fact that they did not upgrade my piping from a 1/2" to a ¾” feed to and from the water heater like I had requested during the consultation, however they did extend my gas piping and place it in the spot I wanted for no extra charge. Later I would discover when I installed my PEX piping upgrades, I should have demanded they do it since it probably cost me another $150 in piping and fittings. However I was able to do it exactly the way I wanted it and it made for a much cleaner installation than the way they would have done it.


The main advantages to having a tankless unit is that it only is running and burning fuel when you are in need of hot water. There is no constant heating of a tank even when you are not home, it will instantly fire up when it senses that water is flowing through it and the unit will send the hot water to the tap in almost the same time as it would take for the conventional tank to do so. 


However, one drawback is that if you are turning it on and off constantly (like I do when I shave in the morning) the water will not stay hot, it needs to be constantly running or you will get drop offs in temperature as the system fires up and cools down. This might seem like you are wasting water, but the cost of that small fraction of water is highly outweighed by the savings you will have on gas over the course of a year. 


The other main advantage of the tankless is that you can set the temperature digitally, to be the exactly what you desire for showering.

A typically tank heater will heat the water to an extremely high temperature and then you will have to cool it back down by mixing in cold water at the tap. The precise nature of the temperature setting will allow you to calibrate the temperature to that of the people showering and set it as hot as possible without having to cool the water down, and wasting energy.

I look forward to having our second eco-energy audit where we will also receive a hefty rebate for replacing our tank with the tankless unit. If we planned on staying in the house for years to come we would have purchased the unit outright but with the rebates, it was in our best interest to rent. I’m thrilled we have gone tankless, and I’m sure you would feel the same.


So how about it people. Have you switched over? If so, what do you think about going tankless? If not, have you been thinking about it, or do you have reservations? Would love to hear other people's takes on the tankless water heaters.

Mid Week Joy

My brain cannot comprehend that it is only Wednesday! Yesterday was absolute insanity... in a completely good way. The day started off pretty normal, with the exception of a bit of excitement for me to head back to classes. I headed into work as usual and made my way through the work day like I normally do.

Around 1:00 yesterday afternoon an email popped into my inbox, inviting me to the Nate Berkus Blogger Show next Tuesday in NYC. 

Wait, WHAT? NEXT TUESDAY!? The RSVP deadline was... YESTERDAY. Um, YUP! We're talking seriously short notice, right? I immediately tried to convince B that we should fly out early Tuesday morning together and spend the day in NYC to celebrate 3 years together in the city where we first met (Next Monday is our 3 year anniversary). He couldn't be sold on it, so eventually he just offered to pay for part of my plane ticket so that I could at least attend the taping. Fine I'd take it... and right away my RSVP went in for my lone ticket! (I totally would've spent more time trying to find a guest, but I was so anxious to get that RSVP in... I'm an emotional decision maker). 


Then I heard from a wonderful and long time girlfriend who currently lives in NYC, and offered me a bed. Sounds perfect, especially if I get to spend some time with her. So I'm anxiously awaiting my ticket confirmation so I can book my flights. I hope to head to NYC next Monday night and spend Tuesday in the city soaking it in before heading to the taping! It would be a great opportunity to meet so many other talented and fantastic bloggers, as well as provide all of you a taste of what it was like being at a Nate taping!


It seriously made my day... and I'll be sure to keep you all posted! *fingers crossed*


Make sure to come back this afternoon to check out a new post from B... and of course, don't forget to enter my giveaway this week! Head over here for details and a chance to win! This giveaway is open to everyone!

Dream Home - Aloha Home!

Today's Dream Home is for Shannon, who's always wanted to live in Hawaii! I did some digging on my favorite real estate website - Sotheby's Realty, and came up with this stunner in Kihei, Hawaii for $19M USD! According to the listing the residence was originally designed for a world renowned celebrity and overlooks Keawakapu Beach, in South Maui.

The wood used for the stairs! The sculpture hanging from the ceiling! The colours! The lighting! The little peek of blue you can see through the back windows! Fabulous!

Love how cool and calming this living room is, especially in the heat of Hawaii! Those wood cabinets on either side of the fireplace are absolutely gorgeous, and I'm ready to sink back into one of those couches for an afternoon nap.

The formal dining area is not too fussy, and looks like the perfect spot to hold a dinner party in such a relaxed place. All of the clean lines, and lack of clutter make for a great getaway dining space. But if you're looking for a little less formal, head towards this cozy little dining nook...

Inside, outside - whatever your little heart desires! With views like that I don't think it matters where you're sitting when you see it.

This room has to be my favorite. With those bookcases and those views, I think I would find myself curled up here all the time with my most recent book or a new magazine. I'm also smitten with that incredible ceiling. The wood in the centre draw your eyes up, and I'm loving the contrast of the darker wood on the white ceiling. Plus, isn't that light fixture magic? I'm sure it would come with the home!

The bedroom and bathroom/dressing room (?) that were pictured in the listing were to die for! Who wouldn't love to roll over in the morning and see that blue water out your window? I so wish they had shared more of the 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms that this home has to share. I can only begin to imagine how incredible they are!

 

Of course, the reason everyone want's to live in Hawaii... the beach!

On top of all the beautiful interiors and this stunning beach front, the house also boasts; gardens, a golf community, a guest house, a security system, spa / hut tub. Are you sold yet? Want to check out more of the listing? See it right here.

Any place you dream of living? Somewhere in particular you want me to hunt out a gorgeous home? Shoot me an email or leave me a comment and I'll hunt out your dream home.

OH - and don't forget to enter my "Dream Home" Giveaway! You can head over here to read all the details and enter to win! Good luck!

Fancy Magazine Storage

For a while I've been thinking about taking it upon myself to spice up my IKEA magazine holders. I wanted something fun and colourful, something with pattern. It took me a while, but finally I realized my best option would be that beautiful paper I bought last month from Chapters.

I started by taking my magazine holders, and tracing all of the four sides onto the back of the paper. (Oh, and don't make the same mistake as me... make sure that you don't trace the same sides twice... yeah, I know, big mistake... but at least it was an easy fix!)

I just used scissors to cut out the shapes. I'm sure I could've tried to use a razor to cut them, but I found it much easier with the scissors. Once I had all of the (correct) pieces cut out, it was time to adhere them. Out came the trusty spray glue...

I sprayed the glue on the back deck, and used a paper towel tucked inside of the magazine holders to make sure the insides didn't become tacky. The last thing I want is these holders to destroy my magazines! The spraying went pretty quickly, and once all of the sides were on I used a razor to clean up any edges where the paper was overlapping and sticking out. The final product? Well - take a look for yourself and let me know what you think...

I think they look so fun, and B even mentioned that they look great! That's pretty huge since he rarely has an opinion on projects like this! It's big impact for very little effort! I'll have to keep my eyes out for more fun papers, as I have a feeling I'll have to be picking up some more magazine holders soon! 

Do you have a fun and fantastic way to store all of your magazines? Or do you keep it simple? I'd love to hear your approach!

I must also thank Anne-Marie from 10 Rooms! I won a giveaway over on her blog yesterday, and will be receiving free tickets to the Toronto Fall Home Show! Thanks so much Anne-Marie! Will I be seeing anyone else there?

Dream Home Giveaway!

Sorry... didn't mean to mislead. I won't be giving away your dream home today... and probably not ever. Instead, I will contribute to the development of your dream home! This week's giveaway is brought to you by... ME! I stumbled across this book during a shopping outting for an outrageously fantastic price and thought "my readers may enjoy this wonderful book"....

Filled with all kinds of great tips and secrets, as well as a TON of fantastic inspiration photos, this source book is meant to help you turn your house into your very own Dream Home... and I want one of you lovely readers to own it!

As a bonus for me, it completely fits with my brand new Dream Home feature that I will be posting every Tuesday afternoon!

Here's how you enter!:

- You must be a follower of the blog (pretty please!?)

- Leave a comment telling me something... ANYTHING about your dream home! The location, a must have feature, or do you already live in it? Spill!

- Tweet or blog about the giveaway for an additional entry (make sure to leave an additional comment to let me know - and if you're tweeting, be sure to @FirstTimeFancy)

- Anyone can enter - be it far or near! It may cost me a bit more to ship, but worth it for all of my wonderful readers who keep me posting!

Contest is open until 11:59EST, Sunday September 19th. Winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Monday September 20th! Please make sure you leave an email address so I can reach the lucky winner next week! Good luck... and as always, Thanks for reading!

Weekend Recap

Is it over already? Is it actually Monday? *sighs* I guess I can't complain that much... I had a pretty great weekend! Friday evening I came home and discovered B had hit up Habitat for Humanity's Restore and picked up a window for us to use for the front entrance that we plan on building VERY soon! (exciting, I know!) We also had plans to go to the movie, but we changed our minds and ended up staying home to work on some projects on my to-do list. I cannot WAIT to share them with you this week. Just little ones, but fun!


Saturday B was up early and out the door to his work golf tournament. I took my time getting ready and then headed downtown to meet my brother's fiancee and the two of us headed to go and see The Way, an Emilio Estevez film at the Winter Garden Theatre. It was a great movie, and both Emilio and Martin Sheen (who stars in the movie) were there for a Q&A following the film.

Yeah, we sat pretty far back, but it was great for viewing the movie! I highly recommend it if it hits the theatres!


Afterwards I made a quick stop into HomeSense and did a bit of shopping. Some new pillows (to replace some eaten ones) and a few decor items for the fall! Successful trip indeed!


Sunday was a day full of food and football! We ate, cooked, ate, watched the Patriots in action against the Bengals and then ate some more with my parents in honour of their 35th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow! 

The delicious pear crisp I made for dessert... yum!

We also kind of celebrated someone's first birthday...

Yeah, that's a rawhide birthday card we found for him at Wal-Mart...

That's the run down. Don't want to bore you with details.... but I am looking forward to sharing some new projects with you this week... oh yes, and a giveaway is coming this afternoon! So be sure to come back!


Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!