South, when I read south, I figured way down south like Florida. LOL

Okotoks, I'll have to look that up on the map.

If I were to move again, I surely wouldn't move 400 species of plants ever again. LOL, it took me 6 trips back and forth to Saskatoon at aprox 60-70 plants each trip. The transplanting was done in August, hottest, driest month to move and replant perennials/shrubs/trees. 1/2 of them died! Not only because of the heat, but the soil wasnÂt properly amended.

I would take only your dearest plants, the rest you can start again from scratch.

Keep us updated on your move and goodluck!

Sharon

Just make sure you collect tons of seeds from your garden this fall. They don't take up much room when you pack ;) Is it a long distance move? If you have any gardening friends in Okotoks, maybe you could divide up some of your "must have" plants and over-winter them in their gardens?

It would be so exciting to build a new house! We're in the midst of renovating, and some days I think it would be far easier to start from scratch. Right now I'm sleeping in the basement on an air mattress in a tent, because the bedroom is totally ripped apart. So renos aren't a whole lot of fun!(although my boys think it's soooo cool that I'm camping in the basement, and are very jealous of my sleeping quarters!)

Laurie

YAFI--had to look that one up. Learn something new, every day. (And I keep feeling older...because I have to look these things up!)

Even though you'll be in a warmer zone, garden chicken, I hope you'll keep visiting this forum. ;-) Good luck with your future move!

Sharon, Okotoks is a very short drive south of Calgary's city limits. I just love the sound of the name.

Laurie, if you're doing your own renovations, I can't imagine how you're also keeping up with the garden. That's a lot of work! And if you've hired someone else to do it for you, I'm jealous. In Calgary, it's next to impossible to book contractors and trades people, right now. The building boom has just got worse, and those of us who have small renovation projects in mind can't compete with larger jobs. Not enough workers...

We would have loved to be able to hire the work out, but unfortuneatly, due to finances, we have to do it ourselves :( DH is a bit of a perfectionist and I think it would have been futile even trying to find someone who would live up to his expectations, so he ends up doing most things himself. Which is fine, as we save a lot of money that way! And yes, my gardens are suffering because of it. The veggie garden hasn't even been worked yet, no less planted. But I'm hoping by next week that'll all change ;)

There's also a bit of a building boom happening in Brandon too, but not as crazy as in Calgary!lol So yes, to get a person in to tape and mud one wall of drywall just ain't gonna happen here either. We've developed a good system that works for us, dh muds and I sand. Seems to be keeping us away from divorce court anyway.lol

Laurie

YAFI, ok, what does it mean ;)
You aked for information, I'm I right? LOL

Sharon

Save seeds... I'll do that! And there are just a few ;) plants that my MIL gave me that I can't leave behind. Oh my, this will be interesting!

calinriley, we currently live in SE Calgary, yes, I'll still visit when we get to Okotoks! (oh boy! Is Okotoks a warmer zone? Yippee!) :)

YAFI - oh, that could be a lot of things! ;)
You're A Fine Individual
You're A Funny Individual
You're A Fabulous Individual
... but really, it's from Discovery Canada, You Asked For It (although Information works too!)

Laurie, is your DH a perfectionist THAT FINISHES THINGS??? lol We considered renovating (just had the kitchen done 5 years ago - lived in the basement and ate out of the microwave... not fun!!) but aligning trades plus the cost & hassle prompted us to look at building. So far so good, who knew the husband would have an opinion about kitchen cabinets????

You're so brave GC, I would be too scared to move now. I'd probably leave my cat behind before I left my garden (just kidding). But a new house, how exciting! Now that I would not say no to!

BTW I am back out of shock now that you have explained YAFI - the meaning I know for it is very rude! "You're All F...reeeeking Idiots". We don't even think such obscenity here on the Far North Forum, not even about dandelions and fungus gnats! So I was waiting to see what it meant to you. *trying to return my eyebrows to their normal position* LOL ;0)

I just looked up YAFI and the meaning was pretty much what Gil just said ----- so I figured THAT is NOT what you meant to say!!!!! LOL

I like "You Asked For It" MUCH better! LOL

Congrats on the new home! But, yeah, I hear you about moving plants... one load of plants was all my DH "allowed" me when we moved... He doesn't know about a load or two I did myself ;)

Ang

GC, yes DH is fairly picky about the finishing details of a job. So he likes to see whatever project finished, then his stamp of approval can go on ;) Some of his friends hate bringing their wives over, because we had one of them comment about "why doesn't it take him 5 years to put the baseboards back on"!lol

Laurie

Oh my gosh! I never even considered the rude meaning! Sorry!

What is it with baseboards anyway??? I ended up having to finish them after we renovated - it only took 3 years to get them done, not a fun job...

Next week we choose lighting, flooring & plumbing fixtures, then the following week is paint, appliances, tile & carpet. Maybe then I can concentrate on gardening again!

Laurie - good little chuckle over your comment about your dh's friends not wanting to bring their wives over! As i was reading the first part of your post, i was thinking, "Hmm, i wonder if i could borrow him for awhile!" I've said it before - things move slowly around here. Baseboards included!

I don't want to see another baseboard again!! I just finished painting the last of them in our bedroom and I'm done, for good, hanging up my paintbrush! In the past 16 months(winter time mainly) we've replaced all the flooring on the main level. When we first started, I decided to change the colour on the doors and trim from stark white to a warmer, creamier off-white(it actually made a big difference, in my eye anyway!lol). So the master bedroom was the last room in the series and now we're finally finished. Yippeeee!!

So GC, what kind of flooring are you thinking of getting for the new house? I don't want to be nosy or anything, but since I've spent countless hours deciding on our new flooring, I do find it very interesting! It's just mind boggling the amount of choices that are out there, and always I had to keep in mind that we have young kids to contend with too.

LOL, Marcia, after he's finished roto-tilling the garden, hanging the closet doors back up, moving the dresser back in the room, and BBQing supper, I'll send him right over!!

Laurie

YAFI (the other version) OH MY, I looked it up! LOL
Oh GC, would never use that kind of language, would she? NOT

GC, You have shared your fruits from your garden with me in the past that come this fall I'll collect a bunch of seeds for your new home.

Have fun decorating your new home!

Sharon

"Oh GC, would never use that kind of language, would she? NOT" Hehehe Sharon! ;) Thanks for the offer of seeds! You are so kind & generous!

Laurie, I'm a little scared about the flooring... it's so... permanent! Sadly we're going to have a mishmash of flooring, basically a bit of everything. The 'great room' (I love that term - so grandiose) and kitchen will be hardwood, the foyer will be tile... after that things fall apart. The mud room & powder room will be lino. Bedrooms will be carpet, we're thinking about cork in the 'bonus' (aka computer) room. We have cork in two bedrooms in our current house and really like it ('cept the pattern choice - wouldn't do that next time).
We don't have children but do have a dog & cat. I'm pretty stressed about what the dog is going to do to the hardwood, she's done quite a number on the hardwood in this house, not to mention having no fences or grass for the first few months... and then there's all those stairs. Ahhh... she's getting old, maybe she'll go to the big dog house in the sky before December.

Thanks Laurie - i do need some closet doors hung too. The list never ends! He did plant potatoes this weekend, though, and cook supper twice. Maybe if i cook a couple of times, he might do those doors? :)

Laurie, have you decided on flooring? Where is it going to go? A guy I work with is also in the process of building. He has 3 little boys, and said he wouldn't be putting hardwood in his new house, it was all going to be lino. Said the hardwood (in his current house) never looks clean with little feet & fingers roaming on it.

It sounds very nice for the flooring you've chosen GC. I looked at cork flooring too, but the cost was a little higher than we wanted to spend. We are thinking about doing cork in the basement bathroom when we get around to finishing the basement(that's a whole other story!). My aunt & uncle just built a new house 2 years ago and put in hardwood in the kitchen and dining. She was very distraught when her son had scraped the floor a few times because there had been a pebble that got stuck under the leg of his chair. This was only a few months after they'd moved in, and she wasn't happy about it! It's funny that you have an older dog, as she also had a 13 year old lab and didn't want to move him into the new house either for fear of his claws scratching the hardwood. They ended up finding a home for him, and he passed away a year later.

So anyway, I do really love the look of hardwood, but was concerned about scratches, so decided to go with a wood laminate instead. When I brought samples home, I did the scratch test on every one with a knife and also took a lighter to them to see what would happen(a friend's son had dropped a lit sparkler on her lino and burnt it, so this was why I did the fire test ;) ). So I'm fairly confident that the wood laminate should hold up to my boys! We did the kitchen, dining and entrance hallway last winter in what's called antique oak. It's a fairly dark oak, but has some lighter hues in it as well that goes well with my honey oak cupboards. Then, in both entrances we put in porcelain tiles. DH did the home depot saturday morning course and installed them himself. Did a very good job too! I love the tile we chose because of the colours in it, it hides dirt and mud REALLY well.
This past january, we had berber carpet put into the living room and down the hall to the bedrooms.
Last winter DH put a very realistic tile looking lino in both the bathrooms.
And this past week we finished putting in wood laminate in the boys bedroom and our master bedroom. This stuff is a little different from what we put into the kitchen, but it's in the same colour family and has the beveled edges, so it looks more like real hardwood.
Have you decided on what colour of hardwood, tile and carpet you're going for? Please don't tell me that grey is coming back in, cause that's what we got rid of!lol Our house was built in the 80's, and had that grey and dusty rose thing happening. I still have to get rid of the pink countertop in the kitchen yet, but that'll have to be a fall/winter project. It's funny how reno projects keep snowballing, because you update one room, and then the room next to it just looks terrible beside the "nice" room, and so on and so on.

Marcia, if he cooks, he's a keeper!lol

Laurie

Congratulations on the new home GC..and south is a great direction to be going in..savona

FWIW, here is my take on flooring, cannot beat the look and warmth of hardwood, the real stuff. I don't like the pristine looking oak as it looks fake to me, so we chose a lower grade with lots of variation and a darker colour, I absolutely love the stuff in the LR, hallway and bedroom.

In the KI, foyer and bathrooms we have tile. It is very easy to maintain, is indestructable but is cold and hard. I love it in the KI but there are trade offs. If you decide on tile, make sure it is being installed on the proper substrate, plywood isn't it.

I don't like carpet, we put it in the bedroom, the only room that got carpet but ripped it out after one year and put in hardwood. I would like to try cork in the basement but it is quite a bit more expensive.

Oh, if only I could be picking out flooring now...(humungous sigh!) Sounds like fun. We've been in the process of building a log home since before we were married. And no, I'm not going to tell you how long that's been...

Just a thought on the hardwood flooring thing...I think the trick is to not be picky with it and look too closely at it, because inevitably its going to wear and get dinted. Personally (and this depends on the 'look' of your home) but I love the lived in worn look to wood floors!!! Makes it homey. My cousin actually installed laminate flooring that looked like old dinted and scuffed barnwood. I love it. It's held up very well for them - with kids. The neighbor put some in too (looks like big tiles) and she's happy with it (and she's immaculate with her housekeeping!) I'd be inclined to go laminate as you wouldn't have to refinish it. My DH is stuck on the idea of sawing, planing, and finishing a floor ourselves (where does he get this stuff?!) but I know the finish just won't last and guess who'll be moving fridges and couches to redo it!

GC- When we moved I made a little plot in the new yard kinda outta the way and I used it as a holding pen for the plants untill I had started some permanent beds. Nothing fancy. I'll be moving them into their homes this year. Seems to have worked and has let me do some yard planning and set up the beds properly before filling them. Good Luck! Its hard to part with plants isn't it?
Toots

Well, I think the hardwood has been decided upon, we are seriously leaning towards bamboo (have to see if it fits in our budget - budget???). This is the stranded stuff so it's not quite as stripy as some bamboo tends to be. Amazing selection of floors out there!
If I were doing this just for myself, I'd be using the old barn planks with the built in character, everything else would be old world, castle type stuff, but alas... I do have a husband to consider! We picked plumbing fixtures today, next is appliances.

garden chicken you tend toward the same tastes as I. I would love to finish the basement walls with barn board but I don't want to have to tear down a barn, that wood is hard to get off without splitting it. Old fir flooring was my dream but I had to snap back to reality and get finished hardwood.

Old world, I love it, I have psuedo medieval decor, battle sword, pics of knights and Joan of Arc etc. but I would love to have a large tapestry also. My LR walls are red, foyer and hallway are "Edwardian Gold" go for paint colour if nothing else!

GC, bamboo floors are very cool! And according to Debbie Travis, they're going to be the wave of the future, as bamboo grows so much more quickly than trees do.

Once the house is built, you should post pics, so we can have a virtual tour. I love looking at house pics almost as much as garden pics!(shh, keep this under your hat, but sometimes, I even go check out the home decorating forum. There's some good ideas there too)

Laurie

I'm going to have to check out the bamboo next time I'm in GP! I don't think I've ever seen it. You know something funny? When DH and I got married we built a small cabin to live in until we were done the log house (still in it!lol). We had it livable only days before the wedding and were on a tight budget so we threw down some K3 particle board and I slapped on 3 coats of woood floor finish. It looked nice and had a warm tone to it. Anyhow, I've noticed in the last couple of years you can buy flooring that's made to look like K3 or OSB board! Too funny!

tabardca - Cool sounding decor! Way to be adventurous! I too am addicted to barn board and I used it to do my cupboards in our cabin. Planning on doing the same in the log house. The great thing about it is when you're doing it yourself you don't notice the mistakes so much and things don't have to be so accurate. My dream would be barn wood and lots of stone! Maybe even a whole house made of stone!

Old fences work good as a replacement for barn wood, too. Even with old paint on the boards. Just sand it lightly and VOILA it's smooth and "old" looking! Keep your eyes open this time of year as people replace their fences. Most are only too happy to have you take their "mess" away! :^)
Toots

I have old fence mess! Someone please take it away! No, you don't want it seriously, it was so rotten when I demolished it I basically leaned on it and it fell apart.

This should have been called the "what is good for flooring" thread. LOL. My childhood friend's parents built a log house (it was elaborate) and it took 16 years to finish. Then her father passed away about 5 years later. How sad he never got to enjoy it much. Actually what makes me think of it, is the cork flooring. Their walls were logs (dark) and the floors were cork (darker) and the place was like a cave. Even with a two-storey loft ceiling and skylights it was still pitch dark.

I love that new bamboo flooring too. Supposed to be very eco-friendly. My SIL just had new hardwoods installed, it was some super nice tropical wood, I can't remember the name but it started with C, I think. Hardwood is nice but I kinda think it is cruel to make dogs endure it throughout the house. Especially if they are older and have pain walking. I have berber carpets in the living room, marble tile in the hall, laminate in the kitchen (big fan) and various horrid old tile elsewhere.

A little update. We thought we were sold on stranded bamboo until we saw it in a show home - a $1M show home... if that was my $1m bucks I'd be choked! The bamboo, which they had all through the main floor (which was maaaasssive) had gaps between the boards, both the sides and the ends. Gaps in places large enough to drop a dime (sideways) in!! Apparently this is a common problem with bamboo, can't say if that's just here in the Calgary area (where the RH hovers at 40%). Anyway, it really turned my hubby & I off. Sooo... back to the flooring place we go! Not sure what we'll end up with now, but the bonus room will get cork. I wish the whole main floor could be cork but the DH is convinced that the dog will wreck it - we have seriously differing opinions on that. ;)

Also finished with the carpet, tile, lino & countertops. Thank goodness that's over, now I'll second guess our choices until the house is build and it can't be changed...

Whew.

So you heard that all bamboo flooring shrinks like that? I wonder if it wasn't installed on a humid day?
I know that when installing hardwood, you do have to be careful and let the boards sit in the house for about 48 hours preferrably with a dehumidifier in the same room. This is what my parents had to do when they had hardwood installed and they haven't had any gap problems.
It would be interesting to check with some other installers who put in bamboo flooring(not the people who sell it, as they'll tell you whatever they think you want to hear) and get their ideas on it, because like all floorings, good installation is critical. You can have the absolute best flooring in the world, but if it's not put in right, it's worthless.

I beleive the person that said this about the bamboo was eluding to the stranded bamboo, maybe not the bamboo 'tile'. You're likely right, they likely didn't acclimatize the bamboo properly prior to installation. Having said that, all these people do is hardwood, cork & bamboo - no other type of flooring whatsoever, so you'd hope they know what they're doing, especially in a $$$ showhome! Of course, as fast at things are being constructed around here they may have taken a risk. Or, bamboo just isn't suited to our semi-arid environment. (Household humidifiers can only do so much...)

We're going today to make a different selection & will talk to the designer about why the bamboo gaps like that.

Rather than post pictures for a 'virtual' tour, why don't y'all grab a shovel & trowel & come on over in the spring... I'll give you a personal tour, then we can start on the yard! lol

Good luck picking out something else. Make sure you let us know.

A personal tour would be awesome, but by the time we actually made it out that way, you'll be busy renovating your house to update it, because it'll be 10-15 years old!LOL Hmmm, but by then your garden would be mature and would be lovely to tour...........;^)

OK! Now we're on a cork kick. I think I may have (tactfully) convinced DH that it really will be okay! lol
Glue down (we think), two colours, maybe a dark band around the border with lighter in the middle. Expresso & moka are the colours - yummy! My only fear is that, overall, those colours will be too dark.

Our flooring chick seemed a little shocked that the bamboo in the show home had gaps, but couldn't really offer any explanation other than it not being acclimatized. I'm sure she'll be making a trip to see it for herself though.

We've got to finalize this soon...

The cork sounds really nice. You'll definitely have to post pictures of it. I'd really like to see how well that border looks.

YAY!!! All the choices have been made! What a relief!

Here is the flooring (and cabinets & countertop)... we're doing cork through the whole house, except the mudroom, foyer & ensuite! Sure hope we like it.

These are the cork colours we're using, we decided to ditch the borders as the stairs pretty much ate up any budget we may have had for extras. (Apparently borders were going to be $$$) We chose the more evenly grained cork throughout.

Whatd'ya think???

{{gwi:692331}}

(Ugh... looks like 'save for web' killed the richness of the colours...)

I really like the natural cork, its going to look awesome GC when its done!

Very nice! It's amazing how many different looks cork can have isn't it?

So which cork will go in the kitchen? The cabinetry is going to look very rich. Have you gotten to the chosing wall paint colours time yet?

I am also interested in which cork will go where, 'cause we will be redoing the flooring in our home in the next few years. We have already settled on the idea of using cork.

My DH is going to be starting on building new kitchen cupboards for us this winter. I also am curious what color/kind of wood the cupboards in your new home will be and which cork will go with it. It is always nice to see how someone else's kitchen/home looks like.

Keep us all posted with the choices you are making. Looks great so far!

Brenda

Hehehe (~evil chuckle~)... this is great! It's like having a whole 'nother bunch of victims girlfriends to blab to about the choices! :) Thanks!

Ok, so because all our big windows face north and our cabinets are dark, we decided on the natural through the main floor, which includes the great room, kitchen and dining nook, and up the stairs (aging eyes need light coloured steps). The moka is through the upstairs hall, main bath & bedrooms, and the espresso goes in the south facing bonus room. There were two choices of finish, one that has quite a bit of variation (like the natural in the picture), the other having fewer 'accents', hard to tell but that's what the moka sample is. We chose the one with less accents throughout.

Apparently we are the first ones 'brave enough' to put it through the whole house, our flooring chick is very excited about it! LOL

Brenda, lucky you having your DH build your cabinets, you'll be able to have exactly what you want! What wood/colour are you using, is that decided yet or still too early to know?

The wood sample is our cabinetry, Alder w/ 'cinnamon' stain, w/ brushed nickel hardware (ooohhh... and stainless appliances - hope that's not a mistake!). The walls are going to be 'toasted almond' (aka tan) with the trim colour 'cookie crumb' (sounds good enough to eat!).

The tile shown is going in the foyer & around the fireplace - might change that though... I'm not convinced....

GC,

We haven't decided on the kind of wood we will be using for the kitchen cabinets, yet. I do like the color of wood you chose.

Two years ago, we had an addition put on the house that included a sunroom with the hot tub and a large deck. At the same time they took the little porch that was falling apart away, knocked out the existing kitchen wall with its large window (that needed replacing) and made a new foundation for an addition to the kitchen. Now I have a 7' x 9' new addition to the kitchen. We had them install a set of three windows that face south, southwest and west in the kitchen where the future sink will be located.

We decided against stainless steel appliances years ago when we needed to replace our stove and fridge. We used the $ from my annual perennial sale to buy a white Fridgidaire self cleaning (that was very important) convection oven with the glass top. We also bought a side by side Fridgidaire gallery fridge with the built-in ice and water dispenser. With having two sons go through the football program at high school that ice maker and dispenser in the fridge was absolutely wonderful.

It is a big decision to choose the wood the cabinets will be made of. All I know is that the existing cabinets are made of plywood, are durable and small. They will probably go out to DH's garage later. Because we live on an acreage in the country we had already decided that we want wooden cabinets not the white melamine. Our quandry is that the living room already has mahogony beams and accents in it so we need to use the same wood in the kitchen or a totally contrasting and probably lighter wood.

Brenda

Just curious as to why you're not convinced about the tile? Which cork will it be butting up against? The tile in our entrance way is similar to your sample, but a bit lighter in colour. I love it because it hides an AMAZING amount of dirt and mud. Being out in the country with a couple of kids, this is a wonderful thing for me!

Tile is wonderful in our foyer! I agree with Laurie that it hides the dirt and really stands up well to all the wear and tear that an entrance way gets.

In our home, in the future, we have decided that we will be taking out the indoor/outdoor carpet that the previous owner put in our livingroom and putting cork in the room except by the fireplace at the one end. We have a brown marble fireplace mantle with the black insert fireplace. We are looking at putting black shiny tile down on the floor around the mantle. Since the indoor/outdoor carpet is too close to the fireplace, it has little burn marks in it that look like someone butted out their cigarette in it.

The tile you have in your picture looks almost the same (color wise) as the tile we put on our sunroom floor. I like the multicolors in it but it is mainly a greeny grey coloring. We had a green cover on the hot tub and decided to finish the walls with cedar instead of painting them.

Brenda