It’s been 6 months since we first moved in. It’s been a fantastic few months, albeit very BUSY. I would like to say we knew and were ready for the things to come (new home and all), but honestly, you can never be ready.

Memorable things:

Sump Pump

Apparently the connection from our sump pump to the city sewer was faulty because Jason located a 1 foot diameter hole near the diverted on the east side of our home.

Initially we were really worried because A) it was leaving a puddle of standing water beside the home and could cause foundation issues over time and B) the water was shooting out of the diverter like a bullet because the hole was always half a foot deep.

The good news is the backup plan for the sump (i.e the diverter) was working, the bad news was it wasn’t being taken away from the home.

We called the builder and luckily they had someone come out, dig out the clay around the area and fix the connection. So far so good!

Rough Grade

Surprise, we failed our rough grade! Good news is that it’s now fixed…

Concrete driveway

Some of the rebar is showing up through the concrete driveway resulting in orange spots in certain areas. It looks like the concrete above the rebar has flaked off. Builders say they will have someone come out to look at it..but we anticipate nothing will get done. We hear too many stories of apathy when it comes to driveways.

I jumped the gun and listed one thing in limbo (concrete driveway), but it’s on a list of a couple other things that need attention. But as Jason says: “all the things you expect to fix in a home 10-15 years in, you get all at once in a new build”.

Here’s a look at our current bonus room.

It’s a very large space with two large windows. So we’ve decided to split the space into two parts, one for viewing the TV and another as a sort of library. For this room, all the seating and bookshelves were from IKEA. We wanted items that were modern, durable and a good price point. This room is casual and will likely be used the most, so it was important that the seating be comfortable.

The sectional is so comfortable enough to sleep in. We chose a 3+2 karlstad in Isunda Grey. The fabric was an upgrade and Jason chose it because the color variation would show stains less than a solid fabric. Unfortunately, this fabric also has to be dry cleaned unlike the other fabrics, which we think is ridiculous, considering that would cost more than the sofa itself!

We love the kivik chase which we got in a dark grey. Literally THE most comfortable chair in the entire house. It’s awesome for naps and playing video games. We placed it on the open side of the sectional in front of the large window, providing more additional seating. It might look a bit cramped, but we like how the cozy the space feels.

We are now trying to figure out what wall to paint as the accent wall in a dark charcoal. The one behind the TV? Or the one behind the library bookshelf? Or both?

The house was relatively clean after a party, so I picked up the camera to take some snapshots of the decor progress. Below are images of the main floor space (kitchen + living room)

It’s coming together…

Has it been this long? I havent updated in a long time and when my notification about my upcoming hosting was soon to expire, I realized I kind of neglected this blog for a more frilly one filled with tablescapes, white dresses and ridiculously beautiful shoes.

Exciting news to share is that we got our Spencer Sofa in Urban Ink Tweed and Delano Chair in black leather from Gus Modern. We opted against the sectional because we have one upstairs in the casual bonus room and to ensure the room was left open via both sides.

Here they are in the living room. Don’t mind my iPhone pics and the absolute mess/clutter that we seem to enjoy living with.

Doesn’t it look better than our previous camel sofas?

I have to admit, I’ve fallen sick for the “re-upholstering item syndrome”. It’s absolutely amazing seeing the before and after shots after a chair or bench has been upholstered with a modern graphic, especially if it has a more traditional style/frame.

A couple weekends ago, Jason and I visited the Strathcona Antique Mall in Edmonton and set off to check out the furniture like we always do. But now that we have a house where we can put our purchases, it’s a lot more fun buying rather than envisioning what could be.

Immediately, I was drawn to a bright tangerine coloured chair in the back all by it’s lonesome. And as any wedding professional or interior designer would notice…”It’s in the pantone colour of the year!!!!!”. I squealed this with excitement as jason face-palmed still standing and wondering what the heck I was thinking in wanting this piece of furniture. In fact, when we purchased the item, we realized it didn’t fit in our car and had to drive home to pick up my dad’s van to get it. And the damage for this chair? $55. I thought it was steal.

Well, here it is!

It’s got nice lines. It’s clean, sleek and sort of mid-century modern-ish, which I love. I can say that what immediately drew me to it was it’s resemblence (or rather, the other way around) to the green truss chair from the latest line by Gus Modern. A piece I was eyeing for a while but couldn’t quite muster up the $1000 for something so simple.

The fact is, the wooden frame is still solid with minor cuts, but it just needs some TLC, oil and a new uphostery finish. Actually the foam itself has probably given way, but it’s still quite cushy and aside from the colour, the fabric itself is in good shape and all it needs is a good clean.

The bottom of the chair states that it was made by the “Global Upholstery Co. Ltd” which is based in Downsview, Ontario. We believe it was made in 1969 based on the label.

Now the debate is whether we can incorporate this tangerine chair into a colour scheme of one of the rooms. My guess is that it won’t, albeit a coworker of mine insists I should keep it the way it is. But I can imagine that it would be quite the stunner if I added a bold black and white stripe fabric..or yellow/white chevron pattern. Oh the possiblities.

And while I’ve tried to learn how to DIY the box foam upholstery myself, I think I’ll leave it to the professionals. But the question is, will the cost of upholstery end up costing us more than buying a new item on the market? Guess we shall see!

In other news, Jason’s really catching on because on Valentines Day, he bought me tangerine dyed roses and proclaimed “they’re pantone color of the year!” Oh love.

We’ve been without actual dining chairs since Jason moved out into his condo. For the time being, we were lucky enough to have 2 beige card table chairs from Jason’s grandmother. But with the house, we decided it would be nice to have chairs for guests to sit on. Until now we were moving each chair up and down the stairs when we needed to sit to do anything.

We wanted them to be
- comfortable
- fairly modern
- dark fabric

We wanted to go with the grey theme of the entire home, but wanted the fabric to be dark enough so that stains wouldn’t show as well. The winner? The Frank Chair by EQ3. We took advantage of a post boxing-week sale and after waiting 3 weeks, they were here!

The chrome legs and charcoal fabric match the overall home really well. And it’s funny, but Krista, one of my Wedding Obsession blog contributors suggested that Jason and I were more into the glam side of modern. I hadn’t really thought of it, but somehow these dining chairs are exactly that. But still minimalist in a way.

It’s been a while since I’ve last posted. Don’t I say that everytime?
Well, there’s a bit of urgency in today’s post because one of my favorite lines, Gus Modern (canadian!) is having a ‘give back’ sale and well, I’d love to take advantage of it. But then I’m stuck with the issue of “How do we organize our furniture?”

Obviously we have a budget we need to stick to, but any combination of items I bring up here will keep us within our bounds.

The living room. The focal point.

When you enter into the home, you immediately see the living room which is connected in the main space as the kitchen and dining nook. Here is the current simple version of the floorplan.

We have a fireplace/TV combo centered on one wall and a large 8 foot window on the left. On the right is some railing. Can you tell why we’re upgrading from our condo furniture? The current sofas are bulky and camel colored.

The potential pieces:

Sectional

We’ll also have a rug and coffee table, but that will come later.
The arm chair (delano) is a maybe. We do like the industrial/modern look of it.

We’ve already ruled out having a sofa in front of the window and a sofa in front of the railing like this:

It’s important that we sit facing the TV. And with the sofas that we want, we can’t get two..it would blow the budget out the water!

OPTION #1

This includes the sectional, coffee table and arm chair.

We thought about the sectional because we really like the look of the ones by Gus Modern. It’s contemporary and a good use of sitting space. The sectional takes up majority of the space. THe good news is that it’s fairly low visually with clean lines. And the long portion without the arm is found on the left side of the sofa just below the 8 feet wide windows so that the view isn’t blocked.

However, it does restrict the size of coffee table, one which I’ve already fallen in love with. And what are your thoughts about seemingly restricting the left side entrance into the living room? Of course, it would bjust be from the nook or kitchen. Inately, you’d want to enter the room from the right. I threw in the arm chair on the right at an angle since there’s some empty space there and it would be nice to bring in another element to the room. But it does seem sort of cramped in the space.

OPTION #2

Here, symmetry comes into play. The spencer sofa has a mid-century modern feel that we absolutely love and the sofa itself has a sense of formality to it. ONe thing we wanted was for the sofa to face the TV so that we weren’t sitting on the sides turning our heads.

There is overall less restriction and there is access via both sides of the room and seems a bit more open.

OPTION #3

Essentially option #2, but replacing the armchair (in front of the window) with a daybed/bench or another armchair with less of a footprint. Or maybe have 2 armchairs next to each other in front of the railing?

This brings up an issue I’ve been struggling with. Does the furniture in a room have to be symmetrical? You normally see designers do things in “two”.

Enough rambling! Any help would be much appreciated.

One of the things I was looking forward to doing when I had a house was to hang a wreath. Silly, I know. Well, I searched everywhere for the perfect wreath and I think I found it! It’s simple, white and kind of modern. It looks so nice next to the dark front door. I picked it up at the Bay for just under $30 and I think I’ll be using it for years to come. J likes it too, so that’s even better. I forgot to mention that the wires or pipe-cleaner-type material is absolutely covered in glitter. It sparkles but it leaves sparkles on just about everything as well. It’s pretty so we’ll forgive it.

-M

The first thing we did before we had furniture was put the Christmas tree up. Talk about priorities!

The thing is pretty tall. I’d say about 7 feet. We actually bought it when we were still in the condo. The 75% discount post-xmas convinced us to buy then and enjoy later. I’m pretty happy with the blue + silver colours and thrilled at the white sparkle snowflakes that I forgot to return (oops), work perfectly on the tree. J wishes the tree was multi-colored but I’ve had to convince him it should be filled with style..for the time being :)