Renovating

Today was finally a day for Alex and I to hang out. Of course he slept in a lot following his gig last night at Savannah House as part of NXNE. The show was really good.

After he finally woke up, I found out that he didn't have to go to work afterall. It was a day for us. So we went off to the tile stores at Lawrence and Dufferin. Picturesque part of town (I wish I could write in sarcastic fonts).

Anyway, after many no's, we agreed on a couple options. My favourite is a tumbled mosaic marble tile (2" x 4") in "Botticino" (beigey white) for our backsplash. It is beautiful. Looks like a mini brick.

The other options were 3x6 matte white or chocolate subway tiles. Pretty and probably OK, but not great. The chocolate I think would be too dark for our kitchen, which is already painted a brown-grey colour.

We're still looking at counter top options. The chocolate subway tiles are an option, but I'd really like a dark stone-like large tile. We just couldn't agree on any. I saw a couple of limestone options that looked very nice. But then, if we go with the marble tumbled mosaic tiles, will a stone-like counter top be too much texture?

Tough choices. But we need to decide soon, as we'll be having a lot of people over in mid-July and our kitchen is currently a construction zone. Ugh. I also hate that I can't currently cook in there.

Exciting to look at the choices, but we're not being very efficient with our time and I'm a little concerned about actually getting it done.

At the same time, we have another window quote coming in tomorrow night. A lot of money about to spent at the WebGoddessCathy house in the next short while.

I just want to like my house and be comfortable. But still on the list includes:

• landscaping - turning our lawn into a garden, regrading the soil, filling up my container gardens, buying patio furniture so that people have somewhere to sit when they come over for a BBQ.
  
• front porch - definitely redoing the railing, possibly changing the decking boards
  
• house exterior - possibly new siding or possibly stucco, which appears to be a very expensive option, but may be OK to replace a small portion at the front that is currently very badly stucco'd.
  
• laundry room floor - we finished the main part of the laundry room structural change over. Now we need to put in the floor so that I can put the dryer back in.
  
• ceiling fan - the master bedroom has a ceiling fan that has just been sitting there on the floor for months. Months!
  
• dishwasher - taking out one cupboard and adding a 1/2-sized dishwasher. It could save our relationship.
  
• master bedroom painting - painting a third wall jalapeno green and painting a headboard onto the wall above the bed (in white and brown, I think)
  
• kitchen sink replacement and possibly repainting the cupboards and redoing the under-counter lighting.
  
• entryway table - restaining/painting the baker's rack by the door to match our decor
  

But I do take comfort that we have done:

• floors
  
• painting (only a few small touch ups needed and master, as above)
  
• garden clean up - the stuff that's there is at least clean and neat
  
• laundry room head room
  
• air conditioning
  
• over the range microwave - just the cupboard door to put back on
  
• curtains - designed and sewed by me and my mom!
  
• insulated the attic - I am a superstar for doing that crappy job!
  

Oh the never-ending joys of house ownership. It's exhausting.