A visit from Cobi

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From last Friday till yesterday morning it has been a whirl wind of touch ups , cleaning and preparation to get ready for Cobi Ladner to visit and film a tour of my "beachy" house for the Steven and Chris Show , it was a complete thrill to have Cobi to my home , I have followed Cobi since I was probably 20 and living in our first little basement apartment when she was editor of Canadian House and Home magazine, oh the stacks and stacks of old issues of H&H I still have from when Cobi was editor I have missed her touch at H&H, I have learned much from Cobi and admire her personal decor style.

Cobi has some very exciting news , she has launched a line of home decor goods , from furniture to draperies , all beautiful of course and full of colour and feminine flair , a nice and welcome change, check out her website links above for more information .

I had a very nice day , it was great to meet Cobi , she is as sweet and friendly as she has always appeared on her many television appearances I have seen , truly a warm and lovely lady , what a treat for me.

She was so kind and complimentary of my home , how amazing to hear kind words about my work from one of my design heroes, Cobi even gave me a great suggestion for my kitchen counters.

I simplified the bedroom , removed the elliptical and big ugly TV( just for the filming) , I centered the bed and removed the decal over the bed to create more balance, it feels so pretty without the functional stuff.

I have decided I need to get a smallish white LED tv to replace my tube TV I normally have in there, it will look much better , so excited they make white LED's.

I love when my house is simplified and de-cluttered and freshly washed and laundered.

I'm not quite sure when the segment will air but I will let you know as soon as I know .

Travel to Santa Maria Della Salute

Travel destinations to the Basilica of St Mary of Health commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic Church and minor basilica located in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. It stands on a narrow finger of land between the Grand Canal and the Bacino di San Marco making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from the water. The Salute is part of the parish of the Gesuati and is the most recent of the so-called Plague-churches.

In 1630 Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence, the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health. The Salute is a vast, octagonal building with two domes and a pair of picturesque bell-towers at the back. Built on a platform made of 100,000 wooden piles, it is constructed of Istria stone and marmorino (brick covered with marble dust). At the apex of the pediment stands a statue of the Virgin Mary who presides over the church which was erected in her honor.

While its external decoration and location capture the eye, the internal design itself is quite remarkable. The octagonal church, while ringed by a classic vocabulary, hearkens to Byzantine designs such as the Basilica of San Vitale. The interior has its architectural elements demarcated by the coloration of the material, and the central nave with its ring of saints atop a balustrade is a novel design the great dome represents her crown, the cavernous interior her womb, the eight sides the eight points on her symbolic star.

What an ordeal I tell ya

First off I will show you how lovely my new bridge faucet turned out , but it was quite and ordeal

to get to this state. I needed a new faucet and why not push that improvement ahead in time for filming at my house on Monday? It was ridiculous I tell you , I had such a hard time getting the water to stop flowing , the shut off was turned off but it went on and on ....and then I couldn't get the old faucet detached , we had to sever one connection , annoying ... of course that is when Sophie flushed the toilet which pushed a huge amount of water throught the open pipes leading me to totally freak out .... I had picked up a lovely brushed nickle faucet with lovely styling and with a sprayer , but when we positioned it it looked dinky and it wouldn't even reach into the sink , since I have a monster huge sink....it is a Kholer three bowl sink which you can now buy at Home Depot for $1500.00 , ours was second hand and $100.00 but I hope to get new counters soon as well as an apron front sink that I think the bridge faucet will be perfect for....but for now I live with what I've got , cause the washing machine is leaking even worse than our old faucet was and that will have to come first.
I spent the better part of Friday working on the computer desk and hutch , I have always meant to paint the inside which was plain MDF so why not now , I also have been meaning to go through all the junk bursting at the seams in the cabinet , I freed up so much space ...feels good to purge , don't worry the doors were put back on and it looks fabulous all fresh ready for the kids to re- blemish , after Monday ...

I have to show you why I needed a new faucet this is a very popular Price Pfister faucet , which I think no one should buy , because it fell apart nearly right away ...the sprayer broke within the first 6 months , the finish wore off, I mean come on I don't have hands made of steel wool now , how do they explain this , the worst part was the leaking , it literally poured water out and down the sides of the faucet stack

Evidence of awful leakage....so I am steering clear of bronzed finishes in faucets for sure....it is a short term finish , I am glad to see it in the trash , good bye ugly .

Going into hiding

I love how pretty the sun looks streaming into the family room in the mornings ...

I managed to get two of the four curtain panels done yesterday , as well as the lampshade slipcover.

Trying to train my new drapes ....

I have to :

sew two new panels of drapes

sand and repaint my desk top
clean all my slipcovers

clean pillow covers

clean windows and floors

touch up cupboards

paint kitchen ceiling maybe

put away anything ugly

clean clean clean

touch up living room wall paint

repaint kitchen door

I better go now ...bye

I think I can come up for air in April

I have been busy working towards my personal goal to get down to a healthy weight , it is going slow but well...I have also been busy in what time I left trying to pull the house together , adding character to the living room with the paneling , which we all love , and now I have turned to the family room , I needed new drapes for the sliding glass doors {which I am dying to change to french doors or Martha Stewart pretty sliders}but for now I will work with what I've got. I bought simple white Ikea tab top panels to start with , $29.00 for a pair and I picked up two sets for a full look.

But I don't like tabs , so I cut them off and now I am adding a band at the bottom in the floral bird fabric , as you can see I am also making another lamp shade slipcover ....its looking so cute , I have so much work to do to get ready for The Steven & Chris show to come by on Monday to film a house tour of my house , so you can see why I have a lot to do ....

Can I ask my followers and readers a favor

CLICK HERE > http://toyotatoday.ca/en/gallery/166 < CLICK HERE

My brother Brad is in real need for a new car , his 13 year old Toyota is hard for him to get in and out of with his disabilty , and its 13 and showing its age ....as in not working right now , and guess who is giving away a car Toyota , can you please view my brothers video , it would be so wonderful if you would , he shares a bit of his story , please view ...

Travel Destinations to Sydney

Sydney is probably the most beautiful city in Australia, and is the capital city of New South Wales. Sunny and much visited, most of tourists come to this city to see its major attraction the Sydney Opera House, one of the most famous buildings on the world, and it's also the pride of the city, of course there are other interesting buildings and monuments.

Sydney is a very big city but the main attractions are located in a small area which is also one of the most luxurious areas in the city. The beaches in Sydney are simply amazing, that's why they are crowded of people in summer time, there are more than 20 waiting for you, the most famous between them is Bondi, located seven kilometers away from the city centre, is very visited in summer and through all the year, many tourists come here to spend Christmas time.

Manly Beach is also a much visited tourist destination, it's near the Sydney Harbor National Park, and you can take the ferry to get there in thirty minutes or can take the fast Jet Cat catamaran to be there in fifteen minutes. And to come back from a fantastic day on the beach the best time to get into the city is at night, the lights of all the city gives to it a special view, you have to see the lights of the tallest buildings around Circular Quay looks like rainbows over the water of the harbor. Sydney is also the dynamic centre for Australian economic activity and one of the most important cities for finance in the Asia-Pacific region.

Wall paneling , check that off the list

Well happy Saturday morning all, I wanted to share with you my finished living room wall , I completed it last night after much painting , my wonderful cousin saved the day and cut me a 4" wide strips of MDF so I could complete the wall , I am so grateful to him , he even picked up and delivered , I have great family, thanks Scott.

This makes the room feel larger which is a little bonus , I decided to scrap the shelf above the sofa , its always nice to change things up ...I have been craving a simplified look lately as well.

Here you can see where I just extended the horizontal lines of the existing trim to create the proportions of the paneling , everything looks great on a clean white backdrop , the white as always is Popped Corn by Behr in satin.

I am happy with this new addition , there is one thing not lacking in my house and that's character and MDF ok that's two things.

Sneak peek

I finally found just the right lamps for my front room , they are large and lovely , they have a slight crackle glaze and I love love the colour and the linen shade matched the ottoman slipcover perfectly . From Homesense .

What a big wall I have right , I know most say the double height room is OUT well tell that to my room , this is a very small room 13'x 12' and the high ceiling huge window and volume make this little room feel much more grand we love it , it is still intimate, it works for us .

But to this room some change is needed , a partial wall of paneling to add more character ...

I started by painting out the wall first ,I didn't do this in my bedroom when I did the board and baton lesson learned.

Here is a little sneak , the paneling is nearly done I just need to get one more strip cut , Home Depot couldn't cut it down anymore , and we can thank the middle east conflict for jacking up the price of MDF sheets , from $19.00 to $30.00 quite a jump right ...

Model home love

We live in an area that is continually developing, our builder has just opened a new model called the Lakeview , I knew just by the exterior I would love it , but I didn't know it was the perfect home for me it has everything on my wish list . I will take you on a little tour...Here the girls are checking out the computer lounge just upstairs...

The spacious kitchen ...

The most impressive dining room with two chandeliers...

I nearly died when I saw this huge walk in pantry , oh and at the front door there is a walk in closet , now that's thinking , this home has 7 walk in closets ...

A view if the butlers pantry across from the pantry ...

The main floor office ....

I also loved how well this home was decorated ...

This shows just how tall the doorways are and the ceilings , this is a major upgrade ...and a great one , all over sized doors with all the upgrades this house would ring in at well over half a million ...

This house has it all ,9 foot ceilings, main floor laundry , lots and lots of storage , 4 bedrooms two with a jack and jill bathroom , every bedroom has its own bath and walk in closet , huge walk in pantry , butlers pantry ,window seat in the family room , fireplace , his and her walk in closets in the master , a computer nook and main floor office , it is a real dream home ...

Travel Destinations to San Francisco

San Francisco Zoo, one of the peak San Francisco attractions with more than 250 animal species located in the southwestern corner of san Francisco California between lake Merced and the pacific ocean along the great highways of san Francisco. The San Francisco zoo’s main entrance located on the north side across the street from defunct doggie diner, one block south of muni metro L taraval line is now to the west on the ocean side of the zoo of great highways. 

Excellent San Francisco sightseeing can be enjoyed by the people. The zoo was opened on 1929 in United States with very good growth and tourist attractions. The major exhibits of the zoo are African savanna, gorilla preserve, grizzly gulch and lemur forest. 

The animals transferred from golden gate park to San Francisco zoo include two zebras, Cape buffalo, five rhesus monkeys, two spider monkeys, three elephants. Hardly, 930 animals and 250 species can found in the San Francisco zoo which established with membership of AZA.

Polka dots

I have had a sewing machine sitting on my dining room table for well over a month , it was there with good intentions , See Sophie asked me to make her a dress , a simple dress , all the pieces were cut, then when it came to sewing it into an actual dress my confidence disappeared . Recently I decided to put the sewing machine away but I knew if I put it away I would never get to making the dress , that is when I decided to just do it and to not let my self doubt get the better of me ....

I did it , I really did it , I made my kid a dress , and it actually looks like a dress , I am so glad I just pushed myself to get it done , getting Sophie to let me take photos of her in the dress was actually harder .

I went with buttons to avoid putting in a zipper , I think it adds to it as well .

Do you let your confidence make decisions for you or hold you back ....?