hey that was fun!

Once per week the men get together for their Bible study and the women and friends get together for their little social gathering. While the men tackle to book of Matthew, the women tackle personal stories, cheese platters and a good game of Six Degrees of Wikipedia. This week we changed it up a little and decided to make it a craft/DIY night. I got this notification about 5 hours before our meeting, and because I don't usually make what I'm going to label as small tool crafts, I had a difficult time coming up with something that didn't require my sander, staple gun, sewing machine, table saw or a can of spray paint.

So I started to research  for a craft on the internet for a small tool craft and found something on a very reliable site many of us know as Pinterest. I have been so addicted to this site lately. There are sooo many fabulous ideas there. So I found this fabulous wreath made by a lady named Myra who is a wonderful Christian lady  whose blog I happened to just stumble upon and who does amazing DIY thrifty things.  You should read her blog

this was the wreathe she made :

I used her's as inspiration to make mine:

I think it turned out pretty good for my first wreath. 

I didn't have burlap so I used an old tweed skirt that I bought at Value Village to make the base, then I wrapped yarn around a bout 1/3 of it and added some fabric flowers, beads, buttons and feathers. Voila!

Also side story. 

(Fritz actually wanted me to post this in my blog. he said, "make sure you mention this in your blog" on our way home from Bible study.)

Do you remember, when watching Rugby, and whenever the game was starting or a goal was made (I can't exactly remember the occurrence) this Spanish sounding trumpet tune would play. So Fritz made that little tune his ring tone for his texts.

Last night He was standing by the coffee table and picked up a shoe horn that happened to be present and proceeded to play it like a trumpet. An right on cue, he got a text and his trumpet song played as he was pretending to play the trumpet on the shoe horn. We all had a good laugh.

High/Low vs Louw

First off, I have an awesome new name for these types of blog entries. They used to be just called High vs Low vs Lowest, but then after my second post my friends, the Tuckey's told me I should call it this instead which I thought was genius because that really is what it is. 

So I saw the latest issue of Style At Home which is one of my favourite magazines especially now that I am preparing to move. Anyways I noticed that it had another High vs Low budget room design articles which is something up my alley 

Now I don't know if this room is from the latest issue, but I do believe it is from a very recent issue

HIGH

Here is the High Cost room and the items along with their prices:

price: $15,787

SOFA  $4,495,

 END TABLE, $695,

 COFFEE TABLE, $949,

CABINET, $2,245,

RUG , 8' x 10', $3,248, 

THROW in Cream, $295, 

TOSS CUSHION, 20" x 20", $345,

TOSS CUSHION in Saffron, 18" x 18", $637, 

BOX, $125,

TABLE LAMP with taupe shade, $600, 

 DECORATIVE BALLS, 4", $7 each, 

DECORATIVE BALLS, 2", $9 each,

 BOWL, $275 (large)

 BOWL, $75,

 DRAPERY PANEL with Perfect Pleat, $660 per panel,

CUSTOM FRAMING, $525 each, Pi Fine Art.

LOW:
Here is the Low cost room, the items along with their prices:

price $6,326

SOFA in Coal, $1,799,
 END TABLE, $239
 COFFEE TABLE, $399,
 CABINET, $600,
 RUG in White, 8' x 10', $1,995,
 THROW in White, $59
TOSS CUSHION, 18.5" x 18.5", $79,
 TOSS CUSHION in Grey/Gold, 20" x 20", $135
BOX in Natural, $19 (small),
 TABLE LAMP with taupe cylinder shade, $210
DECORATIVE BALLS, 3", $3 each,
 BOWL, $75 (large)
 BOWL, $22
 DRAPERY PANEL in White, $190 per panel
CUSTOM FRAMING, $239 each, Pi Fine Art.



LOUW

Here is the" Louw cost room's items
(again, the room is not set up but the items listed above are also listed below. The items may not match exactly or even as closely as the comparison above, but will give the same feel/look to the room)

bowl  $3.50 (ikea)

bowl  $5 (ikea)

basket instead of a box $6  (ikea)

cabinet  40 (kijiji)
I would remove/replace knobs, off-centre

coffee table $20 (kijiji)

couch $250 (kijiji)

white curtains $40 (Ikea)

just the yellow cushion $16 (ikea)

cushion $14 (ikea)

end table $10 (kijiji)
paint this white...who doesn't have white
paint laying around the house?

Ribba frame from Ikea-35
you need 2...so $70

silver based lamp and shade  $10 (Kijiji)

White Rug 8X10 $50 (kijiji)

Throw $40 (ikea) 

(I did not include the silver decorative balls because the price in the LOW room is pretty basic, but I suggest buying some Christmas balls at your local thrift store or wherever and place those in the bowl)

My grand total
$574.50....let's just say $575.


So total differences:

High: $15,787
Low: $6,326
Louw: $575

It's Official

    We have officially sold our house. Pretty much all the papers are signed. We sold our house through Comfree,  a fantastic private brokerage. They seem to be a relatively new thing, but my experience with them is absolutely fantastic!. Basically you pick from a number of advertising packages and they come and take pics of the house and set you up on their website, advertising for you. You do the rest. So once we had all that set up in only a matter of a couple hours, we were responsible for setting up appointments, doing open houses etc. The best part is that we don't have to pay commission to an agent. I'm sure an agent would have done a decent job but, in my "humble" opinion they don't have experience living in the house they are selling. They don't know all the details of the house or the neighbourhood, they buyers can never know the whole truth about the house before they choose to purchase. Where as with  Comfree , you are speaking to the people who live in the house, who know about the little details, the costs, the neighbourhood and what not.
    So my point here is that I totally recommend  Comfree . Their website is so easy to navigate through , much like a social network. You have total control of the sale of your house, and a bunch of people to help you out just a phone call away. And you save a whole bunch of money by not paying an agent. ( I'd say roughly $5000 for every $100 000 that your            house is selling for).
    We are pretty stoked to move into our new house at the end of this month. But we are also kind of sad to be leaving our first home. But now it is time to move on. I guess the feeling really are mixed about this change. I mean  we put a lot of work into it, and I have done many blog posts about the renos ad updates and yet at the same time, this is like a fresh start, a new house to decorate and many posts to write!
    I have spent so many hours on Pinterest, picking out ideas and colours  for our new house. One of the first things I plan on doing is repainting the cupboards in the kitchen. At the moment, they are a 1993 light blue...as in the colour my mom had in her kitchen in 1993. I will also need to paint the big bedroom downstairs because it is currently a soft lavender....a circa-1997-in-the-bathroom kind of purple. The tiny bedroom has a 1992 wallpaper on it which I don't despise as much as the '92 blue or the '97 lavender, but will eventually have to go.
   The basement for the most part is unfinished with the exception of the rec-room. the laundry facilities are in the basement too, but not in an enclosed room, which is something that I would like to change in the near future.
    And one of my favourite things that I am really looking forward to decorating is the mantle! I think I am going to hang my ugly horse painting above it but I won't really know until I get there.  Either way, I can't wait to start on the new house, doing all the decorating and landscaping! Oh and  I wan't a picket fence!!

Old house. It will be missed. 

New house. I hope to paint the brown trim black and add
some shutters and and a nice red door. And a picket fence!