Our First Barbecque

Kel and I were browsing at barbecques whenever we were at hardware stores since its barbecque season and its the featured product everywhere.  It wasn't priority, but definitely a nice to have with the great weather we've been getting.  Then one weekend afternoon, I get a call from Elaine and TA DA!  She and Ken came by and dropped off a barbecque  as our housewarming gift!  Awesome!  Thanks guys!  Kel's put it together a few weeks ago, and tonight, we had our first barbecque!  Burgers topped with sautéed mushrooms, onions, melted harvarti cheese, and crispy bacon!  Mmmm Mmmm Good!

One step closer to a complete dining room!

We've been on the lookout for dining chairs for quite some time now and we got really close two months ago.  We saw a style we liked at a warehouse, but the unfortunately, they weren't stocking any more and there were only three left.  What on earth were we to do with only three chairs?  So the search continued...  until today that is!  We went by a one day sale and finally found these that looked similar to what we had in mind.  We weren't able to take them home with the car we were driving, but didn't want to risk losing them from some human error (even though we paid for them and they were on hold, I mean, remember the battle with Sears?!)  So, we immediately went back with a van, did an inspection, and brought them home!

Here's a close up of the chairs we got.  We like the shape of the back, with the detailing of the nail studs  on the seat.

Looking back on what we started with when we first bought the house, we really came a long way.  Check out how the dining room looked before:

And as promised, our dining room now with our new chairs:

 

What an awesome way to mark our one year at the house.  Next up for this room: a chandelier, and Kel's project to make a two seater bench for the dining table!

Summery Sundays...

... makes me want to have pancakes!  And what's better than blueberry pancakes? RASPBERRY!!

Actually, my original intention was to make blueberry pancakes because they are my absolute favourite, but when I was at the store, I saw these perfect organic raspberries.  Now, how often do you see organic raspberries that actually look perfect?! Like, never!  So of course, I got to thinking.. how come no one ever makes raspberry pancakes?  And here it is.. I made one blueberry pancake, one raspberry pancake... and one blueberry-raspberry pancake!!  Of course, the raspberry ones don't look as nice since they don't hold together as well under heat. BUT, they are absolutely divine!  I'm normally not a raspberry person, but the tartness it gives the pancakes (along with dosing it with pure maple syrup of course) is A-MA-ZING!!

Warmer Weather = Outdoor Activities aka Yardwork

One of the pressing matters we had at hand last month was the rapid rate our lawn was growing.  We didn't have a lawn mower yet at the time, and even if we were to get one, we'd still need a place to house it.  (For those who haven't realized, our house doesn't have a garage.)  So our priority became shopping for a mower that was on sale, as well as the shed.  For those who've shopped at lawn mower sales before in spring, you'd know exactly what we ran into. Back orders.  What I don't understand to this day, is how there could be so much demand for lawn mowers every year.  Same goes for air conditioners and fans in the spring, and snow blowers and shovels every winter.  They're always sold out!  I would think that our electronic/gas powered devices work for many years. (At least I know my dad still owns his gas mower from the late 80s, fans too, by the way!) So are people just replacing them because they're old?!  Anyhow, we didn't end up getting the mower for another 3 weeks from when we bought it, but then that buys Kel time to put up the shed.

He, along with Erica's help, dug the majority of the six inches in our backyard for the base of the shed.  Ken helped Kel get the crushed rocks and offload them to form the base and alas, Kel's finally got his shed up this week!  Below, you can see his 8x8 shed nestled in among our trees.  (Did I mention how much I love our trees? :)  It's got windows and a skylight in the roof, too!  And there's Kel's tools and his new mower in their now home. 

I should probably mention that we didn't wait another month to mow our front lawn and backyard.  We borrowed Ken's mower in the meantime and took care of it first. :)

Wall Art

I finally got my wall decal installed!  I've had this idea to put up vinyl wall decals on my living/dining room wall for quite some time now and have been looking around for what designs are available out there.  I came across this blossom branch with birds that I completely fell in love with and had to get, but of course this was way back before much of the house was done, so I had to wait for the walls to be painted, the hardwood put in, and the whole nine yards.  During this waiting period, I found out that a friend of ours was actually looking to launch his own vinyl wall decal company and he informed me that when I was ready and have a design in mind I should check and see how their operations are going.  Sooooo.. that's what I did!  I showed him what I was looking for, and he said they have something similar and can always readjust their branches into the shape I like, etc etc.  What's awesome is that because they're local, they can come over to our house with colour palettes to try out on our walls to make sure the combination matched.  As well, they can come over to install the decal for us!  How awesome is that?  Totally takes the guess work out of shopping online and wondering if the colour showing up on my screen is actually the colour I'm getting!  Another great thing about these wall decals is that they're cheap and removable!  So you can change them as frequent as you'd like without damaging your walls and the messy work associated with changing wall paper!  Below you can see the design I've got on my wall now.  I'm contemplating doing another one for my bedroom walls...  For anyone who's interested, check out http://www.wallperfection.ca/

Tables.. tables..

After blast blogging on our trip last month, I've come to realize that this is only the fourth post for May..  That's not right!  So here I am, on the last day of the month trying to make up for it.

We've been looking around for furniture for the house for quite some time now.  We're still lacking a proper dining table (the two of us have been eating off our kitchen island and bar stool for some time now :P), dining chairs, sofa, bed, and of course those missing rails for the staircase!  Our original plan was to start shopping for all of it once we got back, but the priority of that task was lowered... why?  Because we've been getting summer weather in May already!  Now don't get me wrong, we haven't been slacking off and going to the beach every weekend, but day after day of 25-30 degree Celsius means our lawn's been growing in at full speed!  Now, where was I going with this.. yes, furniture shopping.  I'll post about our outdoor activities in another post.  (I promise!)

I've been eyeing this coffee table (in white) for a while now and getting quotes in store, online, and researching all the possible delivery methods.  We both loved the curves on this table because it'd be easier to maneuver around being without corners and all.  I inquired several websites on their policies and delivery and finally found one that was reasonable and with a promo code!  I placed the order online, and we went on to shop for a dining table.

We saw something at a store before that we really liked, but was looking for alternatives.  Kel wanted something not rectangular since it seemed like most dining tables these days were rectangles.  So, the original table we saw was circular... picture this table, but with a dark charcoal outside wood ring, and a dark tint glass in the middle.  What we loved about this table was that the middle glass part was a built in lazy susan, and the four metal legs on the side.  However, we came to realize that the metal legs would make the seating quite awkward and limited.  It took me another week to come upon something else we could agree on.  It was an oval wooden table with a off centre base.  We measured and placed markings on our floor to judge where everything would be when they arrived and soon came to realize that our coffee table may in fact be a bit too big.. and we'd much prefer the dining table and sofa.  And with that, I had to cancel the order on our coffee table. :(  Kel and Erica ended up driving down to Buffalo to pick up our dining table as shipping by that company would be far more expensive.  Below is the sneak peak of the table we got.  Now we're on to shopping for dining chairs... I'll share the actual look when we've got the area set up!