New Lighting

Even though we're moving in a year, I had been eyeing this beautiful crystal and chrome pendant light from Lowe's for the last year. I installed these lights over our kitchen island two years ago, so I wanted something that coordinated since our house is open concept.  When I went to check out the Lowes' grand opening a few weekends ago, I couldn't help but take advantage of their 10% off deal, and I scooped up the light without hesitation.

I'm not sure if this new addition will add value to our home when it's time to sell, but i figured, for $200, I can at least enjoy them for the next year and a half! Right!? Check out the before and after!

        

Before

After

Goodbye for now!

The Design Plan: Kitchen Floor Plan

544 days and counting until we move into our new house, and I'm already dreaming of our new kitchen! Our new kitchen will be almost twice as big as our current kitchen, which is a key reason why we chose our model. My husband and I like to host family events, which often comes with a lot of people in the kitchen! So a big kitchen was #1 on our list of wants. I can't wait to have more space and somewhere to store all our kitchen essentials!!

Below is a picture of our new kitchen floor plan. The standard kitchen had much less cupboard space to make room for a breakfast area. However, we chose to eliminate the breakfast area and upgrade to the "Chef's kitchen" to get more cupboard/countertop space. The layout is quite open concept as the kitchen directly opens to the Great Room. I'm thinking of doing everything white again, like in our current house, and maybe some pops of blue since we have a blue Kitchen Aid mixer which we barely use because we have to store it in the basement because we currently have no space for it.

Anyhow, below is the architectural drawing of our new kitchen!

Goodbye for now!

Blogging Again for 2016

Happy 2016!

I started this blog a few years ago to chronicle the development of our new build townhome from January to August 2014. I didn't do a very good job! When we settled into our new house, wedding planning became our number one priority, so our home got put on the back burner as we had very little time and very little budget for decor splurges.

After Eric and I got married in July 2015, we I hoped to finally give our house some attention and I started to tackle a few house projects... This came to a screeching halt when we decided on the spur of the moment to purchase another new home.

...I had always wanted to upgrade to a detached house, eventually, and I have been watching our town home's value appreciate since we moved in, and I knew houses in our area are in demand, so even though my husband took some convincing, we figured now was as good as time as ever to invest in more property.

We purchased our new home the first weekend of November 2015, and I am already anxiously awaiting our closing day, July 13, 2017! Since we have over 1.5 years to go, I probably won't have much to blog about with that regard for a while. However, I'm hoping to share some small projects along the way as we get our home in top shape to sell!

Stay tuned!

Engagement Photoshoot

Eric and I had engagement photos done back in October. It was a little awkward at first, since we can be a bit camera shy, but it was great opportunity to get to know our wedding Photographer before the big day. Our Photographer was amazing! She was super outgoing and made us feel very comfortable. She went above and beyond to get the perfect shot, and we are really happy with how the photos turned out. I would definitely recommend engagement photos to anyone thinking about getting them done. We learned a lot of tips with regard to how to pose and what to do with our hands so it was nice to have the opportunity to learn what to do before the wedding, where we will have less time for photos. Check out a few of my favourite photos below!

***In no way am I claiming these photos to be my own work. I made slight edits only to fit them on the blog.

Our First Home!

On January 11, 2014, my husband, Eric, and I bought our first home! We stood in line for fourteen hours... outside in the snow... to purchase from the builder! (We live in an area where the demand for houses is far greater than the inventory, so when a builder releases new homes, it's mayhem and there are large lineups). We ended up getting our second choice model (however, after the fact, decided it was the better choice) and after a very quick 7 months, we closed our town home with no delays.

Below are a few pictures of how our house progressed. I forgot to take note of the dates, but the overall turn around was 7 months. The first picture was taken a week or two after we purchased the house in January, you can barely see the stakes in the ground for where our house would soon be built!