laundry days

In light of not being able to stand much to paint my bedroom, which is next on the reno list - my thoughts have turned to my dingy messy laundry room.  Right now it is dark with bare pipes, the boiler and water heater exposed. A concrete floor and a clutzy mess of shelving and unpacked boxes.  My intention is similar to this picture. I'd like to put curtains up to hide the storage shelves and bare pipes, then have a nice folding table and space to iron. Not sure what to do with the floor but maybe an outdoor rug would be appropriate and bring much needed warmth to the room.  With 4.5 children laundry is something that is never done/finished/sorted - and I'd really like to be more on top of that especially with a new baby on the way.

Spider Woman

Just as I'm getting back in the swing of things after all the renos in the house, and the scorching temps, and my son's 2nd Birthday bash - I get bitten by a spider. And of course I come out in a massive burning lump that blocks my vein and causes my whole leg to swell up! Off to hospital I went to be told I'd had an allergic reaction. Gah! Thankfully just another few days of "elevate and ice your leg" and I should be up and about again. From now on though spiders and me well we don't see eye to eye anymore put it that way! Oh I did however find out that the lovely Valley Hospital, which is where I may or may not deliver, more of that another day, anyway every time a baby is born they play a lullaby throughout the whole hospital - it's just the sweetest thing!

a chill in the air

To consider we had temps touching 80f last week brrr not so this week! It's in the 40s today and there was a hard frost last night.  According to the weather forecast tomorrow on is to be back 60s high 50s.. and I'm really hoping that this is the absolute last cold day of Winter - or Spring as it is now! I have racks of plants waiting to be planted outside, and some are starting to get a bit leggy argh. I will be planting more today some lovely Canterbury Bells, Snapdragons and Asters. Tomorrow I'll be out all day sorting out where my raised beds will be going, as I want to get them ready for planting after Easter.  I need to take measurements for edging too, as right now I'm doing it with logs - and with the threat of those nasty termites ever present - don't want to keep that there for long! There are beautiful Hyacinth popping up all over the place, daffodils, tulips, bluebells and the peonies that sprung up last week are now a good 12 inches tall!

Haven't seen a hummingbird yet - but I'm ever hopeful! Spent most of the weekend choosing patio furniture - so hard when they all seem to look the same - but I think I've settled on this Martha Stewart set from the Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=202497395&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=202497395&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D28X-_-202497395

I like that all the chairs are swivel, I also like the tabletop very much. Not sure I'm keen on the linen effect chairs but at least I don't need to buy cushions for it! I also want a small bistro or what they call a conversations et for the top deck - basically a sofa, 2 chairs and a low table.  Then there's the BBQ to consider.  We have a gas hookup outside - but there's something about cooking on coals that makes it more authentic - after all I have an amazing 5 ring burner in my kitchen so why would I put one outside too? I'm launching a new hair flower range - Maribella Rose next week.  Really need to step to it picking what colors and themes I'm going with, and I plan to do the first show of the season at Spring-fest in Nyack, so there's that to organize too.. then there's always laundry and cleaning, and unpacking, and making lists for the home side of the renos - back to the grindstone!

kitchen dreaming

So I am deciding what will be best for our small galley style open to family and living room kitchen.. ideally I want to bust out the top of the wall separating it and the dining room, re-tile the whole thing with quarry tiles, and swap out the counters for butcher block, paint the cupboards and off white antiqued of course, and add some lighting.. in theory this is all very good but actually deciding on colors for tiles, and how much of the separating wall to take out proves difficult. I want to add a cupboard and more counter the other side of my cooktop, so won't be losing space, but trying to make it all work and still look good isn't as easy as it seems!