Living it up!

Oh it feels good to get things unpacked and out on display - especially my books!

We've made a lot of progress in the living room by putting together the Billy shelves (after assembling five of them I think I could do it in my sleep), and by loading them up with all of my wonderful books that have finally been unpacked!

We still need to get a few things to add to these shelves (maybe some fun wire baskets for the bottom shelves in the centre) and probably move things around a bit so it isn't just a wall of books, but adding them to this room instantly made it feel like home and a whole lot more cozy. Next step for the shelves is to get some MDF to create a uniform top and some moulding to make it feel like a built-in!

In progress - it's a great start, but we'll need to add some trinkets and perhaps some art on the walls to bring it all together!

Some of my all-time favourite reads!

There is still SO much to do, but this house is truly starting to become our home and we LOVE it!

Add to the fact that being so close to Grama and Grampa means that Mummy and Daddy are able to have more time to themselves and have a more balanced life, and we are all very happy that we made this move. Just this morning over breakfast we were talking about how much happier Emmy is and I really do think it's because she picks up on however her Mum and Dad are feeling. If we are stressed, she becomes stressed. If we are sad, she too has a sad day. But when Mummy and Daddy are happy, lighthearted and filled with whimsey and adventure, she is too.

A window seat fit for a Princess

It's in!

The amazingly talented Tommy of Trillium Custom Woodwork in Brantford came today and installed Emmy's new window seat slash shelf unit! She will be thrilled with it since it really is fit for a princess (and she is now constantly referring to herself as a Princess!)!

Without any permanent furniture in that corner of the room, it really felt a bit awkward and barren. Add to that the fact that we really needed some functional storage in her room to house books, special mementos and pretty, princess items and I can't get over how perfect the piece ended up.

I did some research online and found a few examples on Pinterest that I loved - from there Tommy measured and started building and here we are:

Here she is! Tons of storage space and the perfect thing to frame that window and fill the awkward space in that corner of the room. 

I'm on the hunt for perfectly fitting baskets to go in those bottom cubbies. 

I can't wait to get in there and fill those shelves with all of Emmy's favourite books (she has SO many and honestly loves them all - case in point I found her asleep at nap time with a book open across her chest, but she was sound asleep).

Next up for the Princess' room is choosing fabric and having some curtains made to fit the unique sized windows and a cushion for the seat! Exciting!

Fab Finds!

I went shopping today and scored big time at Winners. I love the thrill of the hunt in stores like that where you never know what you will find!

These lamps were $49.99 a piece and will match the color palette in our master bedroom perfectly! Love the oatmeal shade and the brushed silver bases! They feel like the kind of lamps that grow ups have in their bedroom - right?

The brushed metal bases match our door knobs and fixtures nicely (it's the little details!), and the shades couldn't be more perfect for our bedroom colour palette! At $49.99 each, they were a deal-and-a-half!

I also picked up a few decorative items including this awesome but useless (functionally speaking) gem that describes exactly how I feel about this house!

Home Sweet Home is right - love the colour. Love the saying. Just love everything about this treasure that only cost me $16.99!

Making an Entrance!

We've made some great progress over the past few days and the giant pile of shoes sitting on grubby white towels at the front door has been transformed. BIG YAY!

We did, however, discover that the wall that we placed the Ikea Hemnes shoe cabinets on is not straight, and we did have to make a decision on the fly to deviate from our original plan to butt the units up together. Instead, due to the wonky wall, the units sit about 6 inches apart and have a cute little umbrella container placed in between. I really like the end result, even if it wasn't what I had originally envisioned. We haven't done much styling yet, but have plans to put a piece of artwork on a hinge to hide the security system touch pad and to mount that mirror on the wall.

Ta da! Each unit holds eight pairs of shoes.
PS: Emmy hung her own coat up in that spot. Cutie pie. 

Some of Mummy's shoes!

That cute little umbrella container is a ceramic pair of wellies - a gift from my Aunt!

I LOVE my Ikea tray that holds whatever is in my pockets when I come home. I love the fun colours and the playful feel of it!

This one-of-a-kind bowl holds about six sets of keys! 

There is still a ton to do in our foyer area, including hanging coat hooks, choosing art for the wall and getting a few baskets for under the red bench that is on the other wall. More pics to come!

Feels good to get this checked off the list, especially since each of these units took nearly an hour to put together and had 25 steps to the instructions. Nutso!

A dish of delish

I made dinner again.

And it got rated a 10 by my Dad and a 9.8 by my Mum. Although they might be the most loving and generous parents on the planet, they are very stingy when judging and wouldn't give high marks if I hadn't honestly earned them, so I trust that I blew their taste buds away tonight!

Thanks to my friend Tracy and Pinterest, I created a one-dish, three item meal featuring chicken, green beans and baby potatoes and was mmmm-mmmm-good. And easy.

The only hiccup I encountered was that I washed my hands about eight times while working with the chicken since I'm paranoid about getting someone sick by contaminating my hands, the counter, the utensils, but other than that it was very straightforward to do. The potatoes needed to be cut into cute little bite-sized portions and then the rest was just filling up the dish with the ingredients, sprinkling a pack of dry Italian salad dressing mix over the top and then pouring some yummy, melted butter on top! Did I mention how easy this was?

The assembled dish (left) before going into the oven and the yummy leftovers that I will gladly have for lunch tomorrow (right)!

The end result was super yummy and I'm feeling encouraged and excited about my next cooking adventure. Feel free to share another easy recipe you may have with me and I'll gladly tackle it - it just needs to be beginner level and relatively easy!