Home Sweet Home

Tomorrow is our 11th anniversary so to celebrate we sent the kids to grandma & grandpa's for the night and went out on a date. We spent a couple of hours visiting house in the fall Parade of Homes held annually. I LOVE exploring houses. We did a lot more of it when we had no kids but haven't done it in a long while. It was so much fun. You always find something in a house you like, something you don't and you try really hard to remember all the details as no photos are allowed. Well, since we are building sometime in the future, this touring became even more important. Using Jay's 6 foot arm span, we could easily measure the size of rooms. By being able to stand in a room of a certain size, I can much more easily picture the rooms in our next house. Very important! But the most thrilling part of the tours was finding an entire house I loved! The moment I walked in I could say, "This is our home!" If you want to see for yourself, check out 7 Hunterbrook Road in Bridgewater Forest in Winnipeg. It was built by KDR Design Builders and it is beautiful! Most houses nowadays are a little more modern, which is fine, but I am a traditional girl through-and-through! This house had beautiful brown tones on the walls, some dark and some lighter, with some white wainscot on the bottom half. The contrast with the dark walls is stunning! The flooring is a gorgeous multi-toned wood. It has swirls of darker and lighter brown throughout it which really made a statement. The kitchen had beautiful cabinets in a white color with cup pulls in a dark finish, just like I want! The range hood was a custom made wood hood in a dark wood finish, just like I want! It had a full fridge, full freezer, and a large island in that same contrasting wood finish, just like I want! The dining room was located adjacent to the kitchen and had beautiful square pillars framing it in the same dark contrasting wood as the kitchen! It was gorgeous! Then upstairs (yes, it was a 2-storey, just like we want!) it had 4 bedrooms! It was actually a family home! I have been contemplating using turquoise throughout our next house along with the dark brown and pops of red! Guess what I saw on a bed upstairs? A beautiful pillow with the turquoise and brown, just like I want (I told the lady I wanted that pillow - my inspiration piece for the next house - apparently, she got it at Home Sense!)! The doors and mouldings were just to my taste, a little more elaborate than plain without being over-the-top. The doors were white with the dark oil-rubbed bronze finish door handles. The contrast is perfect! And, I have already purchased our door handles which are oil-rubbed bronze levers! Oh, it was such a pretty house! It felt cozy and warm and inviting. It felt like a place you could relax and enjoy each other's company. A place you would love to linger with friends and family. A couple of minor changes I would make - there was no jetted tub in the master en suite which is a necessity (I realize that it is not an actual necessity, like food, water and air so just ignore my over-exaggeration!) plus I would like a more rustic fireplace - stone, maybe? But those are really minor! There is something so encouraging about envisioning something in your head and then seeing it laid out for you and YOU LIKE IT! So I am thrilled to have found this house and I may need to take another look or two before the parade ends on October 9, just to cement more of the ideas in my head!

Oh, then after the parade, we went to Red Lobster for never-ending shrimp. It is almost disgusting to think I ate 50 shrimp along with 4 biscuits, a salad and some mashed potatoes. Jay ate 60 shrimp. But it was good, oh-so-good!

Now, I gotta get ready for school as the kids are on their way home from the sleepover and time is wasting! Have a great weekend, everyone!