Happy Halloween

The sun did decide to make an appearance, and the result was a perfect evening for trick-or-treating. It also meant that I could snap a few photos of the living room again in better light.

On Halloween day I move all of our pumpkins to the front entrance. I find that they last a little longer now outside in the cool weather, and the house becomes a clean slate again, ready to be dressed up for Christmas - though that won't happen until the first of December.

I found so many great varieties this year!

This year Willen went dressed as Spider Man.

Hudson went out as Gecko from PJ Masks and Jude stayed in and slept while I handed out candy.

Here you can see how far our entrance is finished. We were advised to let it weather until Spring and then paint it. Also, we still have to find a light fixture and new screen door. One day I will get around to showing you that process.

Front Entrance Renovations

Tomorrow our contractors arrive to begin working on our front entrance.

Originally, the plan was to simply replace the existing iron railing with a wooden railing, and replace the crumbling concrete steps with wooden ones, and a railing.

Of course, as with all other projects it seems, we began discussing the idea of replacing the peak overhang with a properly proportioned portico. We really didn't want to invest in that large of a project right now, however, it just made more sense financially to do it all at once instead of in two stages.

In the end, we are happy we decided to do a full entrance all at once.

From the photo of the existing entrance you can get an idea of the size of what the platform will be. It will be roughly 9 inches wider and deeper, which will allow for 6 inch coloumns. There will only be two main columns supporting the roof, which we decided to do flat - in the end, that was an esthetic preference for both of us. The other posts will be capped off.

[via Martha Stewart Living]

This is a similar style home to ours, and we really loved the simple, flat roof entrance with two columns. However, due to the number of steps, we need to have a railing.

[via Pinterest]

So, while this isn't exactly the idea, it helps visualize the railing and steps.

If you can imagine this as a flat roof, with no corbel details, and no ball finials on the railing posts, this is a pretty good idea of what we will be doing. We like the simple, squared off look of the posts, and the square, untappered columns.

Once it is installed, we will paint it. I still haven't decided on an exterior paint colour, but it will be a shade of white, likely with a different colour for the floor boards and steps. I also need to pick out a new fixture. It will be a large pendant lantern-style fixture. I would have preferred to have a pair of lanterns mounted to the wall, but it was out of the question with having to run wiring through 2 foot stone walls. As for the door itself, we would love to open the top and add a transom window, and then find a very plain screen door.

I'm excited and anxious at the same time to see how it turns out and will share photos as it comes together.

Here is my most pathetic attempt at a rendering in Paint to help me visualize it. Seriously, it's pathetic, but it helps me...

I know... it's impressive.

The Front Entrance

Today I spent the afternoon cleaning up the front entrance. We had removed the garland hung for the winter already a couple months ago, but the urns still needed to be changed for Spring.

I contemplated planting them up with a few things, but in the end, kept feeling like I just wanted them simple. There's enough variety in the gardens and I'm always drawn to the simplicity of Boxwood in urns. And while they were fairly expensive, I opted for two larger Green Mountain round ones. 

Currently we are looking for contractors to do some work on this entrance. We would like to have a railing installed, and would prefer a wood railing all the way around in replacement of the iron one. As well, we would replace the current steps with more appealing wood ones to suit the railing. It wasn't really a project we were going to tackle right now, but it needs to be done.

I would also like to replace the existing screen door and add a transom window above it. The actual door goes all the way to the top of the blue, and the transom would add some extra light to the interior entrance when I have the door open - which is all day long if it's not too cool.

Our Blushing Bride Hydrangeas on either side of the steps have survived their first winter and are showing lots of new growth. They will be a lovely welcome when they are more mature and fill out the gardens on either side.

And these are the times when I wish I could capture and share smell with you! 

This entire entrance is filled with the smell of Lily of the Valley in bloom, another favourite part of our gardens.

An Outdoor Tour

This past weekend, my sister in law got married at our home. It was a lovely, small backyard wedding with immediate family. We had perfect weather and enjoyed the outdoor ceremony all the more with cozy blankets and mugs of hot chocolate. Afterward, we spent the afternoon getting to know each other and nibbled on cheese and meats and hor d'oeuvres and of course, wedding cake!

We did everything ourselves, and with everything going on just before guests arrived, I had no time to take any photos. So, I will just have to wait until she gets her photos back to share the day with you in detail.

I can, however, share some photos of our home all decorated for Christmas. It looks so cozy and inviting. Every time Ryan and I walk past still get giddy and can't believe that it's ours.

This is the front entrance.

We hung cedar garlands and filled our urns with some fresh green, Eucalyptus and birch poles. There is also a Boxwood wreath on the door.

This is the side of our home, which is used like a back yard since we really don't have a back yard. 

You can sort of see the different parts of our home that have been added over the years. The stone part is the oldest part and consists of our living room (bottom floor, left side), entrance, dining room (bottom floor, right side), master bedroom (top left), bathroom (top middle), and boys bedroom (top right). The white part in the middle is our kitchen, which runs along the back of the home, and is also the access to our back deck. The blue part of the house is our family room, bathroom and den/playroom. Beyond the blue addition is our apartment, or in law suit, which mirrors the blue section and has a living and dining room, two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and enclosed porch. 

You can see out Christmas trees waiting to go up. One is for the Family room, one small one for the boys' room, and the others for the side entrance.

Juniper and Evergreen wreaths were put on the bottom floor windows of the original house (there are just too many windows to do them all).

This is the other side of the house.

This part is mostly garden - our herb garden, and an entire section that's ground cover.

We use this entrance most as it's closest from our driveway.

The door enters into our family room which connects with the kitchen.

We just hung some simple garland, and added some fresh boughs to a vintage sleigh.

I also tucked some greens into the planter and added an antique ceiling tile.

One day, we would love to remove the siding and match the exterior to the blue part. I would also like the paint all of the blue details, and replace all of the doors with wood doors, but neither of these things will be done for a while.

Here is the entrance to the apartment. There is both a door to the enclosed porch (straight ahead) and to the living room (to the right). The apartment is attached to the house, however you can only access it from outside.

Here are the gardens from the driveway. In the background, to the right, is the canal. I'm looking forward to being able to spend some time in the gardens next year.

And that's our home. I'm still working on finishing the inside, now that the wedding is over. 

Crow Farm Stand and Christmas Urns

Willen and I made a stop after school one day this week to pick up a few things from a farm stand down the road from us, Crow Farm Stand. It's a unique little stand, mostly filled with interesting branches and quirky trees.

We picked up some birch for our Christmas urns, as well as a whimsical potted spruce tree for the boy's room. Since it's potted, I'm hoping to transplant it later if it makes it through the season.

As with most farm stands, they go by the honour system, which is always something I find cozy about our community.

We then spent our Saturday cleaning up the gardens for Winter, and raking leaves. The pumpkins were brought to the compost, and we made urns for at our entrances.

You can see our new roof, which went up in the nick of time! It was so hard to pick shingles that gave the house character and matched our current siding, all from these small samples that were viewed up close. Eventually, we will replace the siding, and so we wanted to be sure that what we selected would suit whatever we would decide on in the future. In the end, we decided on the shadow shingles, which were more expensive, but gave more definition to our roof. It draws out more of the taupe and makes the siding seem less yellow. We not only replaced the shingles, but we built a second layer to add space for air flow that is vented out throuh our roof's ridges. This will greatly help with the efficiency of our house. In the summer, our second floor won't be so warm, and in the winter, it won't be as cold.

This year for our urns I used Cedar, Scotch Pine, White Pine and Spruce boughs, with Magnolia leaves, Variegated Boxwood clippings and Birch.

This is the planter at our back entrance.

Temperatures have plummeted quite quickly here, bringing with them a few light dustings of snow. It makes closing the gardens a little easier to know that soon they'll be blanketed in beautiful snow, and not so bare and brown.