A Very Big Day

Before today, my house had zero insulation. None. Well, a useless sprinkling of it in the attic, but nothing in the walls at all. Can you imagine building a house with NO insulation in it?!
Anyway, that all changed today...


Here they are, blowing insulation into the attic and sloped ceilings very early this morning (before it got too hot up there to work).

The house around midday, riddled with holes...


And by the end of the day, from the outside you wouldn't even know they'd been here! But the inside is a much different story - it's SO much cooler!! I'm so excited to have this finished - and even more excited that the government will cover the work (through the ecoENERGY retrofit rebate program)!!

Isn't it crazy how priorities can change? Who'd have thought I'd ever get this excited about INSULATION? :)

HGTV - Design Dilemma

On a whim, I emailed HGTV a few months ago when they were looking for outdoor design dilemmas... Well guess what? They featured my 'dilemma' (and my house) on their website this week!

Have a look:

http://www.hgtv.ca/BLOG/archive/2009/08/19/outdoor-design-dilemma-with-carson-arthur-when-back-of-the-house-is-actually-the-front.aspx

What do you think of their suggestions?

Home

I fall in love with my house a little more each day...

Home Sweet Home Print found in JennSki's Etsy shop, specifially right here.

Kicked to the Curb

Yep, I must still be high on spray paint fumes! Here comes another fun one:

After an eventful evening last week involving a soccer game, a trip to the ER, and a couple of stitches - yikes! - my friend Mish and I took a little detour on the way home to do some curb shopping (when we happen upon a neighbourhood's garbage night, we can't resist!).

Look what I found:
They're a little weathered, but they're cute, and small enough to fit on my deck, so I figured I'd help them out with a bit of glossy paint to ward off the elements (the fun colour choice was just for me!)

There, they should last a while longer now!

Cuts Like a Knife

Here's a crafty 'problem-solver' that I can't take any credit for at all. It's all over the internet, with pricey designer versions here, here, and variations well, everywhere... and tutorials to make it yourself here and here.

The 'problem' was that I had more knives than I had slots in my knife block. It happens, right? Well this DIY knife block has no 'slots', so it can accomodate as many knives as I want!

I found a stylin' bamboo box at Value Village for $2 (I seem to be doing well there lately!), and stocked up on a few packages of bamboo skewers from the dollar store.

After a fair bit of trimming, here's what I ended up with:




















Not too shabby, eh?! A designer look for a fraction of the cost. That's my kind of craft project!