and the old sitting room is now our dining room.....

The biggest room in our house, it goes from the from to the back.  It really didn't have much furniture in it when we saw the house, not really sure whether that was because they had moved some furniture into storage or that they didn't use the room much.  We decided to make this room our dining room and I am so glad that we did.

The biggest challenge was installing the light over the table since there wasn't one there before.  

We have had the floors refinished in here, there are new windows and the room is now perfect.

The old dining room is now our sitting room

The first thing that strikes me is the difference between the lighting in these photos!!!!  Karen has a great photographer who makes your house look fantastic (I was really impressed with the photos of Rockford).  I think they must also touch up the photos so they are brighter and the colour is more intense.  We have not changed the colour of the walls, even though it looks like it!!!!

One of our concerns was how small the dining room was in this house.  Then, Sam had a middle-of-the-night revelation that we could solve the problem by switching the dining room and the family room around.  That definitely made sense because we will likely spend most of our time in the family room at the back of the house.

These pictures are a little dark, the room is definitely NOT this dark in the daytime.  We bought two new chairs at Arhaus to put in here.  They are smaller than our other chairs, so fit in this room much better.  I also have my old Singer sewing machine and my fancy Christmas present light in this room.

The bookcase looks way better in this room than in front of the stove in the kitchen!!!

The ceilings are lower than in our old house, so I don't have anything on top of the bookcase any more.  The floors are beautiful now they have been refinished.  We still have the old rug in here, it doesn't really go with the chairs, but does with the floor and I don't really want to replace it.

I think this is one of my favourite rooms, if not my absolute favourite.  The kids love it too.  Ben is always sitting in here reading or watching something on his phone

Update on life

We have had a pretty quiet life recently, but I do have a few phone photos to share.

Janhavi got married in India and sent me this lovely photo of her.  I still miss her in the lab

Fall is well and truly upon us.  This is one of the trees outside my office window

We bought a Japanese maple and put it in the ground before it got too cold.  Hopefully it won't take too long to grow, it looks tiny now

The cats have FINALLY figured out that we have a bird feeder outside the kitchen window!!!!

I had 18 meetings at work last week and obviously did not have time to do laundry.  This is the result

Wrist update

Ben got his cast off last Thursday. He had dissolvable stitches this time, so he didn't have to have them removed.  Everything was looking pretty good, if a little swollen.

The doctor didn't want to take any chances this time, so he asked Ben if he would allow them to cast him this time.  He said yes, so now he has a fiberglass cast for the next 4 weeks!!!  At least it's one of Brentwood's colours (he got to choose!!)

Our family room-before and after

I am trying to plough through "before" and "after" pictures of the house since we have come to a stopping point in renovations for now.  These pictures are the "fishy" room that I took off the website.

The room looks completely different now.  This was the first room that we painted and it's now one of our favourite greens.  It feels much warmer now that the aqua is gone and of course there is no pool to compliment the old decor.

We got a new console to put the TV on and Sam wanted this huge ottoman to put his feet on-I must admit it has become a hit with everyone.  The floors have been refinished, that was the most difficult thing we have had done

We had the picture window replaced with two that can be opened and we have new blinds at all the windows

We also have a new back door and it is so much better than the old one.  Keeps the cold out and lets air in as we need it

Hallowe'en 2015

Halloween has definitely changed for us. We have moved to the prime trick or treating area, but we didn't have as many kids as we thought we would.  We had a low key year because we didn't have any decorations out.  Actually, the kids wanted to hand out candy and Sam and I watched the World Series!!!!
Maggie dragged out her old Spiderman costume at the last minute and Ben dressed up as his hero Dr Goldfarb (his orthopedic surgeon).  He is even standing exactly the same way as in one of Dr G's pictures!!!

I think Sam was a little disappointed that Maggie didn't want to go out and about, but she was perfectly happy at home.  Plus, it was trying to rain the whole time

Ben's surgery #2

Ben had his second wrist surgery last Wednesday.  He's always so cheerful about the whole thing.  I thought he'd be more apprehensive this time since he knew what the recovery would be like.

He always looks so vulnerable lying in these hospital beds

His surgery took longer than the first time.  They had him all wrapped up to keep warm when I saw him after surgery-my baby.  They took out a lot of inflammation and the ganglionic cyst.  As far as we know, they have opened up his original scar and they went in the other side of his hand, so he'll have more scars this time.  Stitches out in two weeks

It didn't take him too long to recover, or to figure out how to use his phone with only his left hand!!!!