A Garden in Banmanland

I've been collecting pots for a few weeks now.  Somehow in the 10 years that I have been keeping a home of my own, I have never had a desire to keep plants.  I suppose I was too busy growing babies!  This year I am so excited to do some gardening.  I will let you know how it all works out.

 Today after taking the girls to soccer and ballet, we spent a little time outside.  Here are two of my pots with their new inhabitants.  The plant on the left is a citronella plant (Mosquito plant...hopefully it works to keep them away!) the other is a begonia.  Isn't she pretty?

Two more pots, one with geraniums and one with another bubblegum pink begonia.  I may need to put a third geranium in the big pot...

Have I shown you our retaining wall?  That went up last year.  I guess it's been in the background of pictures.  Anyways, it's back filled now with soil and we are planing a garden!  This is another new venture that we are going to take on as a family.  Should be fun!

I am not a fan of how ugly that dirt hill looks.  What is the solution?  If you have any ideas, let me know!!!  I am planting zinnias and sunflowers along the back of the garden but they won't grow tall for a while (if at all) and I want a quick fix!!

Here's another view of the garden.  We are trying "square foot gardening" .  I say "we" very liberally because so far I have purchased the plants and drawn up a "plan" and Mike has planted them so this is most definitely not an "I" type of a thing! If you have any tips, please share!

 
Now let me introduce you to our new yard!  This is at the end of the deck.  Luxurious grass!  Soon the fence will be complete.  We are so excited to have a "real backyard" with grass for the kids to roll around on!

 Look at that pretty grass!  Cait Bear is going to have lots of fun toddling around back here while I am "gardening" (ha ha, it makes me laugh to think of myself with dirty hands, all one with the bugs and dirt!).

 This should be a fun summer project that the whole family can enjoy together.  Stay tuned for updates as our little garden grows.

Newish Couches!

I guess I forgot to mention this cause it all happened the week of Cait's party.  Mike's Grandma got new couches and we inherited her old ones!  They are neutral and comfy.  What more could we want?  The plaid chair was at mike's office.  It is Gretch's from high school.  Such a cute little chair!  I have started collecting pillows and it's all coming together really nicely!

Look at all those fun textures!!

Bright Little Changes

I have been wanting to brighten up the kitchen.  When we were down in California I got a chance to pop into Joann's and I came away with some awesome fabric for really great prices.  I REALLY REALLY misshaving a great fabric store close to me!  (no offense Fabricland but seriously? $23 a meter is too much. And I don't think I should have to pay you a membership fee in order to get a STILL way over priced sale price.  No thanks.)

ANYWAYS...pictures...

So here is the before picture.  I have had these pictures (there are three of them) since we moved to Canada 6 years ago.  I really like them but I needed a change!

 Ahh!  That's better!  Nice and bright and FUN!

I love this pattern, I could stare at it all day. (This is a good thing since I seem to spend most of the day in the kitchen:)

Coming together...

Here are some updated photos of the basement. We are getting down to the little details.


The two bedrooms are almost completely finished. We have to paint the trim one more time and I have requested that we wait for closet organizing systems to go in before kids go in but other than that, they are "move in ready".

Shower has been tiled but has not been grouted (actually it has, but I have not taken that picture yet...so here it is before grout!)

Here is the awesome cabinet that Okanagan Classic Cabinets made (My father in law and brother in law's business). It has 6 soft close drawers and a large cabinet under the sink. Lots of room for 3 girls and all their stuff.

The beautiful grey granite counter top. I love it, it's pretty, it's classy, it's durable, it's easy to clean!!

Oh- and yes, the walls are a purple color. It's called Sonoma :)

I can't wait for the girls to move downstairs mostly because I am READY for Caitlyn to move out of our room! I'm not getting much sleep these days.

Basement Today

Here are photos of the girls' rooms. The bathroom is being tiled so those pics will have to wait!!

Mikayla chose these colors. I love them. it turned out great!! Her chandelier is her favorite part of her room. Thanks to Grandpa Don for spending HOURS our at our place helping out with things like hooking up lights!!

Mailee and Maddie chose fun bright colors. It's so cute! They have big plans for the "theme" in their room:) We were going to paint stripes on the walls in a darker shade of green but we are ready to be finished with this basement reno so we are opting for leaving it like it is!!

GG's Chandalier

I went into Cranberry Junction yesterday (and fell in love with most everything in the store) and noticed this fantastic chandelier. Upon closer inspection, I knew this chandelier! About a year ago I brought my Grandma's chandelier in and sold it to the owner. I had grand plans of refurbishing it myself but no confidence to back it up so I let it go. She paid me 50 bucks and that was that. When I saw the "new" made-over chandelier in all her glory yesterday, I wanted to buy it back!! I asked the owner and she said it was "vintage" and not for sale and that she really likes it! I am satisfied to see it ever day in the window of the store as we drive by after school. Oh, and I took some pictures, isn't she pretty?

Basement Today

So here is the current status of the basement. The tile and flooring guy is downstairs right now so there will be big changes in the next few days!!!



Mailee and Maddie's room...


Mikayla's room...

"Media Room"...



Last weekend we tried painting baseboards as a family. The kids were excited to be let loose with paint but it was raining out so once we did 6 baseboards we had to stop and let them dry. We let that be the end of our painting baseboards as a family experience :)

Check back soon for more updates!!

Coming Along...

Here is the current status in the basement!

Mailee and Maddie have some pink accents and soon they will have lime green striped walls...can't picture it? keep checking back :)

The "media room" is chocolate brown! We painted all the hallways the same color as the upstairs hallways.

Mikayla's room is seawater on 3 walls and a darker shade on one wall. She has big plans for her room!!

Tonight Mike let the kids help with the painting. They had fun and Mike said they actually did a really good job!

Tomorrow the doors go in. Things are moving very quickly!!

On The Hunt...

...for a mirror like this!! Mikayla's room is getting painted right now! I can't believe how quickly this has happened. We are searching for all sorts of things; furniture, curtains, closet organizing...too fun!

And The Painting Continues!

I loved the living room color so much, I requested that we also paint the dining room!

Mike got right on it. Here he is preparing the wall!

The drywall in the basement is getting sanded on Sunday and then it will be time to paint!! The girls have chose their wall colors and I have picked a shade for the bathroom. The only decision left is what color to paint the large "media room". Any suggestions??

Cupboard Renovations

Last weekend I tackled the kitchen cupboards.


I washed and de-labled bunch of old jars...




....filled them with spices and other items that were in plastic bags or packaging, labeled them....

...and wa -la! Things are looking much better! (I wish I had taken a before picture!)

Look at all the bags and awkward packaging I got rid of!!!

Drywall Begins!

The basement is completely insulated and ready to go. The drywaller (also a faithful patient of Mikes for 5 years) has arrived and is getting started!


I took this picture before all the stuff was out and when Mike had a little bit left to do, but you get the idea :) This picture is taken from standing in the "media room" looking at the doorways to Mailee's room, bathroom and hallway. (l-r)

This week I am trying to decide on bathroom tiles, counter, flooring. I have discovered I don't do well with so many choices! How do I narrow it down?? Here are some of my current thoughts on the matter...

I like this tile on the floor look. Not sure how white grout would look overtime...Also, we are going to tile the entire shower area so this may be too much teeny tile...or it may look great...??

This is just completely fabulous! I love the white subway tiles, love the dark cabinet (ours will bot be a piece of furniture like this, but I am speaking of the color)..I thought I wanted a marble counter top but the stone guy said it is not durable and that was enough for me to change my mind. He did show me a grayish granite that could give the same feel.

Here's another "feel" that I like, looks like grey subway tiles and marble floor and counter top.

This is a chunk that he showed me that is a great price and more of a neutral look like the rest of our house...

BUT...

I am afraid it may end up looking like this...YUCK!


What's a girl to do?

Semi Boring Basement Update

The pictures below do not in any way do justice to the amount of work that has been done in the basement. Why is it that the most time consuming and intricate jobs are ones that can take forever and look like nothing has changed? Next week the drywall goes in and then the place will really begin to take shape!

Insulation looks like cotton candy. I had to have a discussion with the kids about the importance of staying far away from this enticing stuff.

these wires = Mike's media room.

Mike's Dad has been so helpful. I feel at ease knowing he is overseeing this whole project. What a blessing!! Here Dad is giving Mike a list of supplies to purchase. Can you see the bathtub in the background? It is in at this point but no plumbing yet....

there's the plumbing! Yay! We have water in the basement.

I will update with photos once the drywall is up and we have actual walls and rooms!

On a more inspirational, girly note, the girls and I are having a great time dreaming and planning for their bedrooms. Mikayla even wrote a blog post on her blog all about it!

Basement Update

Things are moving along in the basement. Here are some of the details..

This was a door to the garage. We have another door from the house to the garage so we decided to frame this one in and give ourselves more room space, less hallway. Goodbye door!

This was a door to the basement. This was almost always closed because of the horrifying state of disaster in the basement. Now that we will have bedrooms downstairs, we decided the door won't need to be closed...

So out it went! This opens up our entry way even more and should help to connect the kids that live downstairs with the rest of the fam that is upstairs.

Before the basement could be renovated, we had to get all the junk out. Mike put up tons of awesome shelves in the garage and got me some new tubs to store all our "stuff". It feels good to have everything in happy little rows, all labeled and organized.

Smokin'

There are a few fires going crazy in Kelowna right now. The first one started at 2:30pm yesterday in the neighborhood where Terri and Matt live. They are away for the weekend but their in-laws were able to get their computer, car and dog. Later that night, we smelled smoke at our place. We looked out and there was a second fire just a few miles up from us. Around 4am I got a call from a friend saying our street and neighborhood was on "alert" and that we should be prepared to leave at a moment's notice. We have our van packed with a few really important things and enough clothes for everyone for a few days but we are still at home and hopeful that the fire is being, well, fought!


This was the scene from Bylands nursery at 12:30pm last night. This is probably about 4 miles from our house. (Photo stolen off Face book from Ruth Anderson's album- thanks Ruth!!)

We are all fine and prepared to leave if need be. We will keep you all up to date :)