Ave's Kitchen Nightmares...

Kitchen Nightmares... Turn into kitchen loveliness?

We haven't quite finished the kitchen yet....we'll get there, once I can get a hold of someone to put some cursed tiles up as a backsplash.  The kitchen has been the source of a heck of a lot stress, and tears, and just... bleh.  I'm not made for setbacks, even if they are minor, and I swear I never want to go to Home Depot again.  I'm ashamed to admit I may have had a fit in the plumbing aisle...

Aaanyway, it's sad that we put our faith in a contractor (who had done work for my family before) and he was quite unreliable, and never finished what he started.  He just kind of...disappeared.  So we were left scrambling to find people to finish the jobs he started.  Anyway, take a look at what we did below...

Do you like the view?  ;)

It all started with a heck of a lot of cleaning... the previous owners weren't the tidiest people in the world, in fact the cupboards were all stained.

 We decided to hide the cheap laminate stuff on the peninsula...with my fave, white paint.

 I think it turned out pretty good - in fact the thing is almost unrecognisable!

 Anthropologie provided us with some knobs for the cupboards, luckily most of them were on sale...they get a bit pricey (10.00$ per knob...hm)

 John removed all the cupboards, and numbered them so we knew which order to put them back in. 

There is no photographic proof, but I actually used a "Random orbital sander" to remove all the weird stains and the cheap looking finish on the cupboards.

 We stained them then with a light white wash for a bit of a shabby chic feel, and put the knobs on...

 As you can see all the tiles were removed (they still are...grumble grumble), but we got excited and started putting things in the cupboards.

 Down below all the handles match, thank you Ikea (don't get me started on them right now though)

 And here's what the tea station looks like.  Yes, I said tea station...

After a while, we got Mr. Stucco to close up that hideous window and leave just a little one to get some light through.  Nice, right? So much better than it was.

Then came the new tap...which quite frankly makes a huge difference. The sink is kind of hideous because the previous owners stained it with something that neither CLR or Bleach will remove...We're working on it...

 After that came the fun part...and when I say fun, I mean not fun at all.  Our fantastic contractor (cough) had removed the old microwave (it was beyond saving) but also (for some reason) removed the cupboard above.  It seems nobody makes cupboards of that size anymore, so we had to make one ourselves (with a little help of the neighbours).  This is me attempting to cut out a hole in mdf.  Not that fun. 

The good news is - John is awesome and hung it up!  The new microwave is snug underneath...

 And that's how much better it looks now!  Just waiting to finish up those drawers soon... Unfortunately it may be another "make them yourself" job as the old ones were quite warped. 

 To finish off this post... John got a nice birthday present from my fams... a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that he had been eyeing for a while.  As you can see, he was rather pleased.

Then he got artsy.  Giggle.

The best thing was when J just stood there with his hands on his hips looking at the kitchen, and said "I think we're going to have one of those kitchens like they have in magazines".

Well that just made my day!

More to come...of course. 

Thanks for reading, and for the nice comments!

xox

Ave

Blank Canvas

Oh my how quiet I've been! 

I'll tell you quickly what's been taking up my time in the last few months - and here she is.  A condominium I seem to have purchased in a moment of insanity.  Ok fine, not insanity, I'd been planning it for ages, but then it finally happened, and lo and behold, here she is. 

Not much to look at really, when you think about it, but the potential my friends, oh the potential!

Here's the not so exciting kitchen...

 That happened to have some random window thing over the sink - Presumably to let light into the second bedroom.  First thing I said was "UGH, that's gotta go"...

 Semi unfortunate flooring, horrible shelving unit and weird light fixture...

 Master Bathroom, some form of odd hospital green.

 Double doors into the second bedroom, which in theory is a good idea, but in practice really doesn't work as they swing out and take up so much space...

 Here's the powder room, which has that same iffy colour to it. 

And the rest of the living room/dining room, that had some odd fake fireplace in it.  Hm.



And the master bedroom, that didn't look like much to start off with...

Well that's what the old girl looked like before we got our hands on her.  Want to know what it looks like now?  No, it's not quite finished, but after much annoyance, many setbacks, and me ripping out my own hair... it's starting to look like a livable place.

More to come my friends....

Ave

xox

Laduree London

How often do I dream of Laduree Macarons? More often than I'd like to admit. When J & I went to visit London in August, I got my yearly increment and also one of those lovely boxes I so covet. We also walked away with more tea than we'd like to admit (Laduree blend and Marie Antoinette) so we'll be sipping our way through til our next visit. The place is so expensive, really...but aren't we worth it? I think so.

Burlington Arcade, you saucy place you. No undue whistling or fast walking in this place!

Here we go....one of the great pleasures to be had. I'm still holding out for a full brunch in Paris one day, but we'll get there.

Le sigh. I think I like vanilla the best, oddly enough! The others were Salted Caramel, Cassis, and something else. Quite frankly I was just having too much fun to notice. They all taste good anyway.

Next time, my little lovelies, I shall be eating one of you. Prepare yourselves.

I hope you all have your taste of sweetness...

xox

A.

Stately Homes and Thatched Cottages

Greetings to all from England!

We've been taking in the local sights here and I just can't seem to get enough of taking pictures of cute cottages, and lovely houses, as well as some well-tended pubs. Sometimes just a little detail goes a long way, and around these parts, the thing that makes a huge difference is flowers everywhere.

The Green Dragon!!!!!!! Found this place in a town called Malborough, and made such a big deal over it that John drove back out of our way just so I could walk around and get a picture. I really just wanted to start singing Ho, ho, ho! To the bottle I go...

Pub + Thatched Roof for the win.

Come on, have you ever seen anything this cute?

Indeed, indeed, a lovely home in Salisbury, right near the cathedral.

As you may have guessed, I heartily approve of the lavender lining the path to the door.
Again, in Salisbury

The Lazy Cow!

Thatched cottage getting some work done in Avesbury. Right by the River Avon.

Trying to unravel the mystery of the hedge maze in the gardens at Chatsworth. We didn't succeed.

Chatsworth viewed from the back...... It is quite literally ENORMOUS.

Lavender in the gardens of Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire.

The ruins of Bolsover Castle... Found it quite by accident, you know!

More adventures to come. Luckily, it hasn't rained too much!

xox

A.

Defining Styles

A decorating book I read once said that before you got started on anything, you had to define the style you were going for, and name it. It seems that I have trouble trying to come up with such a name. I know it's not "simple" or "modern" or anything that tawdry, but the closest I could get to something was "French Country Bazaar". Yeah, I know - sounds weird. Basically what that means is that I like fancy furniture and white walls, and then throwing a heck of a lot bits and bobs about. I'll try and show you what I mean.

This chair is rather insane, but if you put it in a white room, I think it would look quite nice.
Lilly Pulitzer, combiner of pink and kelly green par excellence.


I actually thought I hated white walls, I really did. But then I joined Tumblr, and it turned out that everything I "liked" ended up being rooms with white walls - go figure. I like the mix of colours in this room.

You really can't go wrong with a lovely bed like this. Maybe a bit too much white for me, but go on, isn't it gorgeous?

Here's that Bazaar thing I was going on about. In my mind, it means hypercolour with moroccan touches. Is that odd? Probably, but hey...that's me.

Fancy bed.....check, I'd put a different bead spread, but generally...I like it.

This room is interesting, a little bit on the crazy side for me, but kind of reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, or something like that... I like the general idea of the mix though.

This is is more classic, which I really love. Green, and hydrangeas, you can't go wrong.

I think all these pictures are yet another example of my different personalities. I was always the person who when answering quizzes in Y&M or Seventeen (sniff!) would end up having split answers "You're a girly girl" AND "You're a hippie!". Split personality syndrome... permeates everything when it comes down to it.

So defining styles - good luck narrowing down a word, because I'm down to "French Country Bazaar Shabby Chic Romantic Eclectic Wonderland Indoor Garden Classic Mix"

Kind of rolls off the tongue, don't you think?

xox

A.

Anglophilia

Well, it's coming. Yep, the Royal Wedding. I'm not really a Royal watcher or anything like that, but I've always had a soft spot for crazy celebrations and basically anything British for as long as I can remember (except Marmite - not a fan...). Apparently the last time a big wedding like this happened was 1981, and I quite frankly can't remember it as I wasn't quite born yet. This year, I'm going all out with my students, so I searched out some inspiration... As far as I can gather, the British enjoy their street parties. I could come up with some super amazing fact about the number of official street parties that will be taking place on April 29th of this year, but that would just be silly... However, there are several things that need to be present. 1.) Lots of little flaggy things 2.) Long tables 3.) British People 4.) Cucumber Sandwiches I love a good tea cup.

Ooh, look - aforementioned ubiquitous cucumber concoctions.

Not sure I can get my classroom to look anything like this, but hey - it's worth a try...

Alright, this is the aim. Less actual bone china (to avoid unfortunate dropping that will inevitably happen), but street party bunting visible in background, and super fancy cakes at the ready.

Aw pretty.

Confetti - I'm tempted. I'm pretty sure the caretaker would attack me.

Now this is quite lovely, this is by far the best commemorative china I've seen...but here's my question. Do you really want this in your house afterwards? I mean come on, it's a little odd. Am I just too Canadian to understand? Probably.

I think we'll have to make some crowns....what do you think?

Pip pip, cheerio!

xox

Ave

ps: I was joking about the cucumber sandwiches....kind of.

pps: Also about the pip pip cheerio....kind of.

Sitting in an English Garden Waiting for the Sun

Sometimes you go places where the people who live there swear up and down that it's not lovely, and there's nothing to see. Then you discover they're wrong, and find beauty all around you. If you're lucky, you can show those very same people that they are surrounded by lovely things and they'll be astounded. Sitting in an English Garden, waiting for the sun. But if the sun don't come, you get a tan from standing in the English Rain.

These aren't row houses you know.

The moors! I first heard about them when I read the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Now I've stood on them. Cool.

A church peeking out from behind the undergrowth.

Rochdale Town Hall - I think it's bigger than Old City hall in Toronto, don't you?

Spring is springing there about 3 months before ours even deigns to get out of bed...

Poor angels. But lovely anyway.

He is not well pleased, his exchequer must be empty (St. Chad's, Rochdale)

I can never pass up a picture with a wonky tree. Makes me think of Ents.

So after a brief taste of spring, I'm back amongst the snowbanks, dreaming of crocuses (croci?) and moss, and daffodils.

xox

A.