Random House Pictures

I introduce to you our beautiful finished fireplace. Wyatt is really admiring it and he spent a lot of time figuring out which piece of metal will finish it off perfectly. There is a space right in the middle of the fireplace surround that we can either put a circular piece of metal or a rectangular one. I think the consensus was the circular one to break up the straight lines a bit. We are in love with our fireplace and know we will spend many nights curled up on the couch by it.

Ella also put the first finishing touch to her room - a poster she purchased. We tucked it in her closet so that our painter won't get mad at us!

Our window bench is also complete and today Ella was the first one of us to curl up on it with a blanket and read her book.

The tiles are also up in the kitchen and some of the moulding has been added. This week our island countertop will arrive.

Fireplace

I am the first to admit that I am getting a bit tired right now. You may have guessed so by the lack of posts this month. Between school and extra-curricular activities, packing and last minute house decisions I am ready to move on. Except that our last move was pretty horrific so I am not exactly looking forward to the moving part. For the most part I would be content just to stay in our current house and visit our new house every once and awhile to admire it!

And then something exciting happens at Ocean Oasis and I feel re-energized and really excited about moving on. That something exciting is our fireplace. Like many of our light fixtures, our fireplace is something really special and personal to us. As John's Dad was involved in our lighting my Dad is involved in our fireplace. He made us this absolutely beautiful mantle out of yew wood and it has finally gone up. It weighs about 2 tonnes (well, it feels like it does) and is almost 8 feet long. They built two pillars to help hold it up and Rob and Anne are going to cover them with the same rock work that is on the front of the house. It is something very special and something we will be able to look at and enjoy every day. Thanks Dad!

For My Birthday I Received...

A driveway, new kitchen cabinets, a kitchen sink, and deck railings!

Now before you all inform me that one of my gifts is defective, with a gaping hole in the middle let me explain. We were super worried that the large driveway would take up the entire front yard and just look like one big hunk of concrete. John is also worried about drainage. When I mentioned this to Foreman Dave he came up with a brilliant idea. He suggested that they make an extra form (or more if we wanted) and put them throughout our driveway. This way they wouldn't put concrete in those forms and we could fill the empty spots with something else to break it up. John and I aren't totally sure what we are going to do with the diamond in the centre of our driveway. I would love grass but it would probably get pretty trashed. We thought maybe some more of the K2 stone, or even crushed gravel. We are open to suggestions if you have them. So my gift isn't really defective, it is just a little unique.

Tile Work and Kitchen Cabinets

The tile work is almost completed. Almost all that remains are the tile countertops in the kitchen and the backsplash.

The exciting part right now is watching the kitchen cabinetry come together. We showed up today as they were putting the fronts on the cabinets and they are perfect! They are exactly what we wanted and they look so great.

Tomorrow they will probably be pouring our driveway. I took the last action shot as Cam, Sonny and Peter were just finishing up building the forms. They have finished almost all the flooring inside. The only parts that need to be completed are the stairs and our closet.

Can you tell Ella has started decorating our new house for Halloween? Bonus points to whomever can spot it.

The Art of Rock

I want to do a special post in honour of the rock work that Rob and Anne have done over the past few weeks. They have worked tirelessly on this part of the house and it has turned out beautifully. Apparently at one point Rob was up on the roof at 3 am with a flashlight looking at the work that had been done and determining how to move ahead and not replicate a pattern.

I think he is proud of the front of the house and we are thrilled to have a very unique piece of art work. Thanks Rob and Anne!

The rock itself is from a company called K2. We used Tofino Sky Fieldstone and Black Pearl Ledgestone. In most applications the rocks are just placed horizontally but Rob bucked the trend and has them vertically and horizontally. All the rock is from a quarry here on Vancouver Island.

Our Resident Squirrel

We have a squirrel at Ocean Oasis that likes to take our hazelnuts and hide them in our dogwood tree. The kids thought it would be fun to give him some peanuts too so they climbed up into the tree the other day and hid peanuts all throughout. Lo and behold, the next day when we returned they were all gone!

The squirrel isn't the only one that has been busy at the house. We have more tile (including my foyer which I so desparately wanted to lay with black and white checkerboard tile), more cabinets and a tub finally in place! They have finished the flooring on the main level and are going to get started on the top floor soon. It is hard to get some good pictures as they are covering the floors as soon as they are done to protect them. Great idea, I think!

Our Second Picnic

When we first took possession of Ocean Oasis we celebrated by having a picnic. We headed to the house this morning and had a small picnic for the first time inside the house next to our new island. Phil installed the base of it on Friday so that the countertop people can come on Monday to measure.

John and his Dad spent more time this weekend putting up lights in the house. Ella's is a chandelier that John picked up at the local thrift store and him and his Dad re-wired it. It

looks terrific in her room with the purple. Tom is working hard on our bathroom, and aside from a few minor tile crises it is coming along beautifully.