These are a few photos that our inspector took that aren't of the utilities, bottom of the stairs, insulation, etc. So, I'm passing them on to you with some descriptions to give you a better idea of the condo.

This is the right corner of the back deck. The part of the house you can see on the right is the back of the garage. The stairs lead out to the side yard and if you walk towards the right you'll end up at the front of the house by the garage.

This is the internal stair from the garage to the kitchen. I'm hoping we can do a bit of a project here to create more space on the landing to have a mini mud room of sorts for dirty boots, coats, etc. especially in the winter time! Through the door is the kitchen. Literally. So, I'd like to avoid the dirty boots in the kitchen :-)

This is one side of our living room that shows the wood burning fireplace. To the left of the fireplace are the sliding glass doors leading out to the deck. You can see the light coming in from the double window too.

This is the beautiful kitchen with black granite counters! In an earlier post I showed the 'fridge we are hoping to get which will fill the hole to the left that has floor paper in it. You can see a bit of the bar on the right side of the photo. The taller counter overlooks the dining area making the kitchen open to the dining room AND the living room.

If you turn to the left from the last picture you will be looking at this view: down the hall to the front door. All the doors on this hallway lead to: the garage, the half bath, the coat closet, the stairs to the basement AND to the right of the front door, is the staircase leading upstairs.

The last picture..... is our mast bath. yes that is a granite counter with an under mount sink (weeee!!!), yes there is only 1 sink. Our bathroom also has a linen closet, along with the tub/shower and toilet.

Next up! I found fabric to make curtains for the first floor!

More backyard inspiration: Yard Lover

So I was trying to find more photos to show you of my thoughts for the back yard and meditation room and I cam across this awesome website! YardLover.com. They are based out of Canada but will ship anything except for their live plant collections. Those have to be picked up.
While the website has more than just flowers, here are some picks that I completely fell in love with!

I just love the colors and variety of their flower collections.

Makes it easy for us beginner gardeners!

My heart flipped a little bit when I saw this fire pit. So elegant and contained - it can sit anywhere - including the deck! It is powered by gel cans which aren't the most romantic thing in the world, but it certainly makes setup and cleanup easy!

Day lilies have to be my favorite type of lily. I just love them! The greenery also makes them perfect for naturalization which is a goal of mine for the yard. I think these would make a lovely transition piece from the grass to the woods.

Hostas have to be one of the easiest plants to take care of. And look at all the colors they come in!! I hope to plant this collection on the front walkway that leads to the parch along with a few other plants.

Phlox are another all time favorite for me. The blooms get so big and so stacked together that all you see are the flowers with no stems.

This is exactly what I was looking for in terms of the front porch railing! They come in white, which I will get (although they have 6 other colors too!) I want to get some trailing flowers to go in these so that over the spring and summer we will end up with flowers all over the front porch!

I have always thought that sunflowers would be fun to grow. I had a neighbor who grew them every year down the tiny strip of grass that was between two paved driveways. They would turn with the sun and created this sort of flower fence for the summer.

I'm thinking maybe along the back deck or in the wildflower section of the yard that doesn't have any grass?

Doesn't this look like a mini-blueberry topiary? I just love it! How much fun would it be to keep them in pots so they can be taken inside during the winter months!

What I have been referring to as the wildflower section currently doesn't have many wildflowers. It's mostly tall grasses. I'm going to get a big container like this one ever year for a few years in order to turn the tall grasses into more of a wildflower mix. I think it will be lovely and much prettier than looking at tall grass every summer.

This is what they call their woodland mix. I hope that the soil in the woods will allow some ferns and wildflowers to grow. I know that means I have to deal with the leaves rather than letting them just sit for years and years, but I think it will be worth it to see ferns and flowers on your way to the meditation space rather than trees and dead leaves.

These are bright and fun!

This flower reminds me of the Scottish thistle with its colors. It's beautiful!

My mother has always had a clump or two of chives under neath the back porch. They peek their purple flowers out every spring! I'm seriously contemplating a small herb garden on the deck railing. Decorative, fragrant and useful!

This begonia, with its dripping flowers! I think this is something that will go in the porch railing boxes on the front porch.

This lovely water bell feature I found and couldn't stop staring at. Wouldn't it be absolutely perfect in the meditation space? How awesome would it be to walk on a flowered path (maybe with some moss on the stones?) towards a meditation space with the beautiful sound of bells?

LOVE IT!

1 Month to Moving!

AAAAAH! 1 month left in our apartment!

While I am totally thrilled about being in the new house, I have so much more I want to sort through, organize, clean out, etc. There's just so much going on between now and then in addition to what I want to get done it will be a challenge to fit it all in. Actually, to be a bit more honest, it will be hard to get my body off the couch after work, commuting, P90X, making and eating dinner!

My new veggie/vegan diet has meant that there is different food that needs storing. So I'm looking into more containers for the counter and cabinets.

And I really would like to get a stainless trash can so it matches the stainless steall appliances. I'm that means it will blend in a bit more and scream less "I'M A TRASH CAN!" but we'll see.

This little baggy holder has gone under almost every kitchen sink we've had and is just a simple fix-up for all those floating around plastic bags. Did you know you can now recycle them at certain grocery stores? How cool is that!

This is just perfect for our compost can. Our wonderfully green condo has no garbage disposal so I figured, what better push do we have than to start a compost? And this little guy is so clean and classy looking I won't mind having him sit next to the sink!


This little space saver I've seen in so many hotel rooms but never used until we were on our honeymoon cruise. It became a total sifesaver and a great way to wash out bathing suits and let them drip dry. I think I'm going to get two, one for each of the upstairs bathrooms.


I must confess I already have 4 black big ones of the following item. I love them! What a great way to not only organize, but you're able to dump projects in different boxes and you can always go back and sort through the box later. But in the meantime, you look snazzy and organized!

Happy organising to me!

PS - all of the above can be found through The Container Store. ie one of my FAV places ever!