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Living in the House...

We do actually live in the house that Seb built at Mystery Hill. It is wonderful. There are many jobs to occupy any spare time we used to have. Some day I will update this blog with pics. Hopefully soon. Suffice to say, we live in a beautiful house and we're very happy. More later...

Family 10K - National Capital Race Weekend 2009

My running group is called the DIVAs. One of them sent me a note congratulating me on a time of sub-1 hour so I wrote a note to clarify. Here is a snippet from that note…

There must be more than one Linda Campbell in their system. This Linda Campbell (the Diva) ran the 10K with her sister Lisa, and while we did cross the finish line with huge smiles and holding hands, our time was a very respectable 1:15 ish, but not sub one hour.

Lisa was visiting from NC doing her first 10K ever and feeling every step. She had a chafing shorts issue.

Ultimately my job was to distract her two small children (4 and 2 yrs old) while my brother in law Matthew pushed their chariot. Not an easy job. Unfortunately just trying to get into the corral was a challenge. I think the 5K and family runs were spilling out into street as 10Kers were trying to find their places in the corral. Anyways, we were 4 adults and a chariot trying to stick together. Almost impossible. Eventually I picked up the front of the chariot and we managed to elbow our way to the back of the pack.

Initially my job was to run with my sister (slower than me) and my cousin Liz (faster than me). Hmmm. This responsibility quickly expanded. Firstly I had to ensure our chariot didn't injure anyone, it had a strange wheel out front that was just calling out to trip an innocent runner. So if it was crowded I ran up front with the wheel, much like a presidential bodyguard. My second job was to entertain our passengers. We had used up the cheesies while trying to get into the corral. (Yes, the girls were covered in orange cheesie crumbs for the duration, somewhat of a contradiction to the whole aspect of promoting good health through running.)

It was at the 3K mark that Jemma started "I want out now, Daddy". My sister Lisa tried to get them to modify this chant to "go, mommy, go" but was unsuccessful. And since she hadn't supported bringing them in first place (it was her husband's idea), she decided she had to focus on running.

It was an experience I'll never forget. I held my nieces’ hands while running along side their chariot. I pointed out hot air balloons. I got them water at the water stations (from their dad:“this is the only time its okay to litter, girls”), I sang the ABC song, I sang the Old Macdonald song. All the while, watching the crowd and darting up front to my body guard position as required.

Finally, I relied on the cheering strangers on the sidelines to help me entertain these young divas in training. We clapped at everyone we saw, we waved, we smiled and we admired their doggies.

And in the last sprint for the finish line, I told my sister what I always say when I feel like I can't go any further. "I run because I can." We both teared up, grabbed hands and she joined me for my traditional give it all I got sprint as we crossed the finish line together

My nieces got medals - their first 10K :-) And my cousin Liz experienced her first National Capital Race Weekend, and its scale - the sheer number of people involved. Matthew managed to keep his girls from climbing out of the cart while loping along and distracting them by targeting paper cups to run over with the chariot for the last km. Lisa finished her first 10K race with a great time, in good spirits, and with minimal pain (aside from chafing shorts issue).

In the end, it was a great day. I missed the Divas but I had an equally awesome and I think once in a lifetime experience.

Fireplace in Process

The fireplace has a honed granite slab for a hearth and the rest is tiled with our floor tiles. The section to the right is to store firewood. The wood is supporting the tile while the grout dries.

Laundry Room in process...

Paint colours

Its hard to tell but the pink room is Benjamin Moore pink damask and the Powder Room is Stormy Monday. They look awesome, the pics don't do a good job of showing the colours...

Shower curtain? Not...

This is the guest bathroom upstairs. We didn't actually know we were getting a glass panel here but we like it all the same :-)

Glam front hall...

These are mirrored closet doors - painted black! There is clear protector stuff on the mirrors in case you're wondering if the painting is particularly sloppy!

Richard inspecting the newly finished floors...

Master Suite - Vanity

Ground Floor Powder Room with Shower

The shower is made out of tumbled silver travertine marble. The faucet is a
Grohe Allure and the pedestal sink is from Duravit.

Kitchen Lights (from Rona)

The clerestory window in great room

Well Lights

These lights are installed in the floor in the great room and light up the posts between the french doors.

Baseboard Assembly Line

Progress in Master Suite

The freestanding tub is stored temporarily in the bedroom, it will end up in front of the window where Seb and Femmy are standing. We have the world's longest vanity with lots of drawers and his and her sinks eventually. The counter will be white caesar stone called blizzard and the sinks are American Standard undermount studio sinks. Faucets will be Grohe atrio style.

Some updated kitchen shots...

Kitchen is well underway. There is still a crown moulding and a kick plate around the base to install but they will be done later. We've had a number of issues with the kitchen counter supplier but the kitchen company (who subcontracted to them) is doing a good job of managing through. The kitchen will be covered up again as soon as the next counter work is done. You can also see the built in fridge here. The foreground of the room shot shows a bunch of baseboards that have been primed and are ready for installation.

The Master Designer & The Master Tiler

This is Irene Langlois and Frank. I dont' know Frank's last name. But he's an artist of tile.

Before putting tile on the walls of the master shower, Frank sorted all of the pieces by colour and pattern. Then he laid out an experimental pattern before installing.

What you might not be able to notice due to pic quality is that the pattern goes from busiest at the bottom to plainer at the top of the shower, its a very cool effect when you see it in front of you. The tile is called Arabascata and its a creamy white background with grey, black and sometimes tan veining. There is also a lot of variety in the tile as you can see here.

Bad cat

This is Murphy, in the dishwasher. He will stop at nothing when it comes to food.

A Crate of Slate

Many people have heard about how Seb shopped around for a good price on slate and ended up buying a whole container of it. Then we hired a highly recommended tile master named Frank. And we followed our designer's recommendation on pattern and went with a classic (but complicated) style of herringbone. This involves many angles as does the footprint of our house but the results are amazing.

A close up of the herringbone pattern taken in master suite:



The window seat (without actual seat) in master:



The master suite in progress:



And finished...

Slowly but surely...

The Pink Room - Seb wanted to have a pink guest room and a blue guest room for our nieces and nephews. I of course want an all white (or white on white) palette. So we compromised with pale pink and pale blue. The blue is great but the think leaves something to be desired... You'll also notice a block of wood embedded in the wall - this is holding up the screen porch roof - so it will make for an interesting night table "feature".


Seb in the Blue Room. Big changes are finished ceilings, the primer, and the pine floors.


This is from the loft looking into the two bedrooms.


This is Reilly, one of the guys on the construction team. This is the great room which also has new pine floors.


And here is one of the best rooms in the house, the one over the garage... It has the best light with south and west windows.

Our First Overnight Guest...

The pool shed doubles as a guest house. Hoo's there?

Ever wonder what's under your bathroom tile floor?

It's orange stuff.

Bathtub does not fit

This tub is going to be replaced with one that is slightly longer. It is a 60" tub but we have a 2 or 3 inch gap at the foot end of it but they can't do anything about it because of where it is with respect to the window. I dont pretend to understand, all I know is I'm shopping for a long skinny tub. We found one and (of course) its over twice the price. Argh. (I say, "Honey, it's not fault that we have to upgrade to a gorgeous Duravit tub...")

Mirrored Panelled Closet Doors in Entrance

These doors will be painted black. The panels are mirrored. It will be very glam (so I'm told) !

Kitchen Counters Partially Installed

These are the Cambria engineered stone counters in Snowdon White. One shot is of the island and the other is of the bar cabinet. Its really hard to tell anything about either from these pictures... :-)