Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Anyone reading this who has been to our house will know that our house has two main living areas: the main floor great room (open concept kitchen/living/dining room), and our second floor family room. When we moved into the house last May we decided that since the second floor family room was so open and airy, with 16+ foot ceilings and big windows, that it would be our media room/chill zone and that the main floor living area would be more formal (but not "don't sit on that!" formal). Since we moved into the house with one set of couches/side tables, we put them upstairs in the family room.

Now, 8 months later our great room is still sans living room furniture. Don't get me wrong, this was intentional on our part. We didn't want to rush into buying the first pieces we liked. We made the decision early on that we would wait until we'd lived in the space for a while (and painted) so we could really figure out what we wanted. After painting the house last November, and spending the better part of six months looking at Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and Restoration Hardware I finally knew what I wanted. Now I just needed to find the pieces at the right price!

Over Christmas we were in Calgary visiting family. One night the girls went to Crate and Barrel while the guys watched football at home. While casually browsing the store my eyes focused on "the chair" (or chair(s) as we needed and bought two). I quickly snapped a photo and BBM'd it to Brent back at the house. He really liked them but I wanted him to sit on the chair before we bought them, so we went back the next day. Brent loved it and we ordered two! Here's a couple pictures of the beauties. The first one was taken in the store with my BlackBerry and the other is from the C&B website.



I think they'll look great with one or two toss cushions on each!

Yesterday I got the call from C&B that the chairs had arrived and are ready for pickup. Great news, except that the pressure is now ON for finding and purchasing a couch, not to mention waiting for it to be delivered! I am pining for this Pottery Barn sofa:

Pottery Barn Buchanan sofa

I like the colour shown as it coordinates with the cushion on the chair. What do you think? I'm a little wary of buying a sofa from PB, as I've heard the quality doesn't match the price. Do any of you have experience (good or bad) with PB?

TGIF

This has been one of the longest and most stressful weeks in a long time. I'm so glad it's the long weekend. We're heading up to the cottage with our good friends Mel and Jay tomorrow morning until Monday. I'm really looking forward to some solid reading/wine drinking/catching-up time with friends.

I also really love this BlackBerry smartphone case that is just so conveniently made for the 9700, which I currently use. The price point isn't bad either, at $25 and free shipping.


What are your long weekend plans?

A Year In Review

This past weekend Brent and I celebrated the one year anniversary from the day we said "I do." To commemorate this milestone we planned a long weekend away up North in Muskoka at The Rosseau. It was a beautifully relaxing (and much needed) vacation away from the craziness of our every day lives and a chance for us to spend some quality Renee and Brent time.

While on vacation we exhanged our gifts to one another. We decided a few months ago that we would stick with the traditional anniversary gifts (year one: paper). Brent proved (yet again) to be a super observant husband when he surprised me Sunday with incredible tickets to see Wicked in November! I've been wanting to see it since it's last Toronto engagement and he was obviously paying attention! For Brent's gift, I knew how much he wanted to golf at Grey Silo here in Waterloo, so I surprised him with a round. His reaction was equally as awesome as mine.

One other tradition we decided to start was inspired by one of my favourite blogger couples: John and Sherry at Young House Love. Each anniversary they take a picture together that displays the year they're celebrating and then display the collection in their home. When I mentioned the idea to Brent I half expected him to give me the cute-but-not-happening look, but to my surprise he was all for it! So, on the terrace of our suite at the JW this past weekend, we took our first photograph of the collection honoring our anniversary:



Our first year of marriage has been incredible. We've purchased (and moved into) our first home, taken a few trips to great spots like here and here and (Brent) started a new job. With all of the adventures we've had over the past 12 months, I can't wait to see what the next 12 are going to bring!