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Renovating my House

My Kitchen Cabinets are in – Next the Countertops

06/16/2012
45 Comments

My cabinets were delivered on Thursday afternoon. When Richard from Quality Cabinets arrived to install them on Friday I had a question for him. I have seen so many half finished kitchens with the boxes installed without the doors, I half expected mine to arrive the same way because I thought maybe that was normal….

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Family Room Bookshelves in Progress

06/12/2012
36 Comments

The bookshelves in the family room were halfway there but needed some work (below). Before My carpenter added a few more shelves and we used the same crown moulding from the living room to finish the top. Then we added 2″ strips of molding on the front of each shelf so it achieve the look…

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Chocolate Beet Cake & Stress

06/10/2012
29 Comments

  Pinterest I got home from Toronto this morning. Since I was out of town for my birthday, my sister Elizabeth baked me this most amazing chocolate beet cake that we ate today instead. She also made butter pecan ice cream without ice or cream to go with it in her Vitamix! It all tasted…

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I Hate My Closet Contest & Maria’s New Closets

06/05/2012
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Photos by Maria Killam (partial view from my living room) Chris Isfeld from the Designer Closet Guys arrived the day before we moved in last week to install our closets! He had everything packed in his designer truck. Here’s all the boxes, ready to be installed. The orange closet is Cloverdale 7983 or SW 6661….

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The Shocking Truth about your Ceilings

05/26/2012
36 Comments

Having lived in rentals for so long, I am used to living in homes/apartments that smell. . . old. I always assumed that the bad, old house smell came from the carpets but Dillon, the owner of  Pure Painters (who are currently painting my house, we move Wednesday), said that your ceilings–especially if they are…

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Designer Closet Guys for Stylish Closets

05/17/2012
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Designer Closet Guys Master Bedroom Solutions There comes a time when you get tired of your clothes hanging on barely adequate shelves and rods, when having your shoes strewn about the closet floor just gets old. So I decided I wanted a grown-up closet before we move in to our new house at the end of…

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The New Footprint of my Kitchen Cabinets

05/15/2012
21 Comments

Well my kitchen is scheduled to be installed the middle of June and we move in on May 30th. All the floors are currently being installed, I will be posting on what I chose soon. Here’s the old kitchen with the uppers already gone! Now you can see the existing pink that it was when…

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Are Sunken Living Rooms 70’s? Yay or Nay

05/14/2012
53 Comments

One of the things I did not like at all about our house when touring it initially was the sunken living room (Both angles below). To change it though would be seriously over-renovating as obviously the fireplace would have to be moved. Photos by Maria Killam When designing what the new step would look like,…

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My Design Studio Behind the House

05/11/2012
37 Comments

Last weekend we ripped out every single plant in my front yard and this past weekend, we moved to the backyard. Here is what my future design studio looked like when we took possession. Do you think there is enough concrete here? it’s coming out. We will need serious landscaping in the front and back…

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It takes a Village to Own a Home

05/01/2012
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  (my nephew William) Photos by Maria Killam My sister Lea (I have 3 sisters) will be moving to one of the first Ecovillages in Canada just down the street from where I will live in Yarrow. source It’s a real community with 20 acres of farmland where everyone participates because this is about eating…

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Quality Cabinets: Maria’s New White Kitchen

04/25/2012
72 Comments

We have decided to renovate the kitchen now before we move in and not wait until next summer (and it may not be totally finished by the end of May but that’s okay). I called upon one of the best kitchen designers in Vancouver, Jan Romanuk. She doesn’t have a website because she pretty much…

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Pure Painters Paint Better Doors

04/18/2012
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source In my new house I’ll be replacing the casings and baseboards but leaving the doors. They have curvy tops but that’s not a deal breaker. And, once they are painted, they will not be noticeable to anyone but me. Replacing them would fall into the realm of over-renovating, if you are doing updates, you need…

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Cloverdale Paint Party on Elizabeth Avenue

04/16/2012
51 Comments

Today we took possession of our new (to us) rancher in Yarrow. It will still be about 6 weeks before we move in. The name of our street is Elizabeth Avenue (my sister in Yarrow is Elizabeth). I love it! Don’t you agree that the name of the street you live on is important? Now…

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The Before Photos of my New House

03/25/2012
47 Comments

We take possession the middle of April. This house is 21 years old and has not been touched which is exactly what I wanted. I was not interested in buying a previous homeowners choices in updates. Here is the living room and dining room. The master bedroom. Master Bath Family Room Kitchen. The best part…

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