This is a monkey hook.  Simple and easy.  Rather than trying to explain the finer points, I figured I send you to their website…..http://www.monkeyhook.com/ - We picked ours up at Lowes I think, but I’m pretty sure you can get them at any hardware store.  They have different weights and we even found some that will hold up to 50 pounds.  Pretty incredible.  I used one to hang this canvas in my studio.  The print is 30×30″ in size so it’s pretty heavy, and this little hook does a fabulous job!

I love anything that makes it easier for everyone to hang photos on their walls, cause really that’s where they should be!!

As a service to my own clients I offer photo thank you cards and Christmas cards, baby announcements … just about anything you can dream up!  I know that for couples who have recently gotten married the task of writing thank you cards seems a bit (or maybe a lot) daunting.  So many cards … so many addresses.  I encourage all of you instead to think about how happy the people who receive those cards will be.  The fact that you took the time and wrote them a note is always appreciated.   Here’s a photo of the card that Kaley & Aaron sent out to their guests this past year.

And this morning, I came across a blog entry called ‘5 Tips for Wedding Thank You Cards’ –  a great little read for brides and grooms – Thanks Emmaline Bride!.

So in short I encourage all of you too keep up the ‘art’ of sending handwritten cards… for any occasion! You can guarantee it will be the highlight of someone’s day when they find it in their mailbox!

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With the Christmas just around the corner, I wanted to make a quick post to thank all of you who take the time to read my blog and share it with others.  I feel truly blessed to have such amazing clients and friends and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous 2012!

Had to throw in a family photo at the end too!  Great looking bunch aren’t they?!?

I can’t tell you enough how awesome it’s been working with Cynthia, and would definitely encourage anyone who is renovating or building to contact Cynthia or  find a professional decorator in your area to help you bring your home to a whole new level.  It really is worth it!

I’d love it if you’d take just a minute and watch this little video I found on You Tube - and then make sure you have someone… anyone take a photo of you with your loved ones.  A snapshot is totally fine, Just Do It!

And of course I’m also so very thankful for the 5 gorgeous children we share.  Here’s a shot I took of them yesterday on the lawn…..

And here’s a very similar shot from 4 years ago…..

You’ll have to forgive the quality of this second image… with all the construction I have some hard drives in storage and I actually took a picture of a photograph I have so I could blog it.  It’s absolutely amazing to me how grown up my kids are getting.  Awesome to see!!  I hope this weekend you enjoyed sometime with your family and that you too have much to be thankful for!!

Happy Back to School – if you are looking for me today, I’ll be enjoying the silence!

We were busy for weeks recovering the bricks off the east wall of our main house and also behind the white siding of the addition…. yes there were bricks under that nasty aluminium.  We cleaned them and stacked them so we can reuse them on the new piece of the house.  Time consuming but totally worth the effort.

May 20th – Ready for the backhoe to take it away…..  I must say it was rather alarming how easy it was for it to get torn down.

And time to dig…. a big big hole.

Chris is a pretty big guy, but he sure doesn’t look it in this photo.

Time for footings.  The kids have been super interested in all that’s going on… and I think it’s awesome how they will look back and remember this whole project…. but my biggest concern is that they stay safe during the process.  So my answer to wanting to watch the big trucks and cranes was to tuck them safely away on the roof of our garage.  It’s pretty flat up there and they are completely safe and out of the way, plus they have an awesome view of what’s going on!

After the walls were formed and set it was time for the first floor joists to go on…. this photo was taken on June 15th.

There was a LOT of framing…..

Bailey even got in on the action helping with the second floor walls.  The crane arrived on July 5th to lift up the second floor roof truss.  We really want the new piece to match the old part of our house… which means a tall roof.  Chris is 6’6″…. the roof truss are considerably more.

The windows are in and the roof is ready for steel on July 26th.

The first bricks were layed on August 5th.

This photo is taken just last week.  The east side is all bricked, and ready to move around to the south.  Super excited to see the progress.  Thanks to all our contractors for getting us this far…. Ray Mathonia Backhoeing, D. Regier Construction, Prie-Form Concrete, D & D Electric and Terry Smith Masonry.  … so to recap…..

Before

and

Current

You’ll notice it doesn’t say “after” as we still have a long way to go, but I couldn’t be more pleased with the progress!

So here we go…. this is what greats you inside the door.  To the right, the kitchen.  I absolutely love it! Nice and bright and beautiful.

To the left is the dining room,  also nice and bright and ready for entertaining. (my favourite part!)

I absolutely fell in love with these beautiful side chairs in the living room.  The really cool part is they double as extra chairs if needed in the dining room.

This space is so inviting for curling up with a good book, isn’t it??

I absolutely love details.  This custom made ottoman has the greatest legs doesn’t it!  And notice how they match the couch legs?  Super cute!

The master bedroom certainly isn’t big in this little cottage, but it sure is welcoming.  I love the custom headboard that Cynthia created.  Just fabulous!

And again the details!  Matching buttons on the headboard, bedskirt and curtains.  Such a beautiful finished room!

Needless to say I’m super excited to be working with Cynthia to create the studio I’ve always dreamed of!  Can’t wait to show you all.  I’ll be posting more construction photos soon too, so be sure to visit again!!