Hi kare, I think I have similar basket from old house, I can ask the guy who is working on our outdoor kitchen if he can build TV stand and similar to lack shelf. if he agree to build shelfs do you have any other custom design shelf or anything that can go well in the media room?

That would be great if he can build your shelves, although you may find it will cost more. What you could do is have him build (and install) the one shelf that will go on the wall that we plan to put the Lack shelves on. This will look a lot better than the Lack shelves, and all he's really doing is cutting you a piece of wood that is the exact length of the wall - easy peasy. Either you or the carpenter can stain it, which is also quick and easy. Make sure you stain it before it is mounted, to save yourself some work with taping and protecting the wall. As for the Besta shelf, I'm guessing you will find his quote to be higher than the cost of the Besta, so that might be better off as an Ikea purchase? If he does build both shelves, I would go with the same dimensions as the Ikea ones.

Merry Christmas, Anji! I bet you don't miss the white
Xmases of Canada! I hope all is well with you and your family, and that your house is feeling more like home?

Merry Christmas, Happy! I hope you are well, wherever you are?

Merry Christmas Karen and a Anji & family

Kare, I m in India, but yes my daughter is missing snow, she was saying that there is no Christmas vibes bcoz no snow :)
But yes our outdoor kitchen done, once I m back to home will finish everything.

That is great that you are in India...I imagine you get homesick now and then? So it's good to connect with family and familiar places. You'll have to show me the patio nice you get back. A,so, I never did see any final pics of the main living area...or did you get any art for above the ottomans yet? Anyway, enjoy your time back home. We leave for Mexico end of January for one month...can hardly wait.

Kare, I wish I stay in India for forever:)
I’ll ask my husband if he can send pictures of backyard.
Kare I did not touch anything in living room, it is as is. Did not buy anything after our last post.
But thinking to make my terrarium room upstair in spare 4th bedroom. So I can build my terrarium again.
I think my in lows coming to visit us so we need to finish guest room as well.

I can understand you loving and missing your home country. Their way of doing things is what you were raised with, and what makes the most sense to you. I would feel the same way if I moved away from Canada. I hope you can get back there often - it's good for your soul to reconnect with your homeland. I once met a lady who had immigrated from Czech with her husband and young daughter. She said they did it so that their daughter would have a future, but believed that she and her husband now had no future. It must have been so hard for her to start over.

I look forward to seeing the backyard pics. And if you need help with the guest bedroom and/or hobby room, you know where to find me!

Hi Kare and happy
How are you both in these days??
We don’t have jobs no schools here.
We are working in our backyard. My husband made this outdoor sofa, looking to decorate this area, Kare if you can help me please.

Here are some picture

I need to buy cushion for the sofa, accent pillows, I have to paint sofa, I want area rug, I like to hang some flower pots, Kare let me know if you want more pictures.

That looks nice your back patio and yard it's coming along yes some cushions would be more comfortable make sure you buy the out door Ones

I don't know what kind of wood the deck is made of make sure if its just lumber to treat at with protection you can ask the store for help I don't know if you want an outdoor plant a big one but the little 1 is cute

Happy, yes we just prime the wood and will paint it tomorrow.
What paint color should I go with for outdoor furniture.

If can match ur brick.

Hi Anji, I hope you and your husband being out of work will be temporary and very short in duration. Sooner or later, things will be back to normal but in the meantime there is a lot of financial hardship because of these lockdowns and I'm sure you two are also feeling some level of stress? In the meantime, I'm glad you were able to take lemons and make lemonade! The patio furniture looks great - tell your husband he did good work! And whoever did your BBQ area also did a very nice job....this looks like the kind of outdoor room I would want to spend all day in.
I am in Calgary for a month visiting my two oldest daughters and my two grandsons. I got here just before all the lockdowns started happening so it wasn't great timing, but here I am anyway. I think I would paint the bench and coffee table that same cream color that I see is on the cabinets and trim in the built-in BBQ area. We can have fun with color when it comes to the pillows, cushions and plants. I'd like to spend some time mulling over colors and looking for pillow ideas, so might not get back to you on that part for a day or two. I am pretty sure, though, that for the seat and back cushions for the bench/banquette, you will need to have them custom sewn unless you sew yourself. If you do sew, you can buy chunks of medium density foam from places like Fabricland and have them cut to the size you need...I can't remember if the store will do it all for you, or if they only cut lengths and make you do the fine tuning. Then for the fabric, someone will need to sew covers. Make sure the fabric is indoor/outdoor fabric that is treated with Sunbrella protection. A cotton twill Sunbrella is inexpensive, but not sure what the labor costs of sewing would be where you live. If I was doing this project, I would go to a furniture re-upholsterer to have it done. I will get back to you soon, and in the meantime happy painting!

Hi Kare, yes we are doing good, my husband is essential worker so he need to go one week and one week off, and most probably I’ll start my work from next week.
Tomorrow we are going to Jo-Ann for cushion and I’ll sew the cover once we are done with cushion.
Yes I was thinking same paint as door color.

Mine to go work.

Hi Anji, I finally found some time to think about your outdoor rug and pillows, and to do some looking around. I am having a lot of problems with my iPad so searching various sites wasn't easy. I decided to stick with Wayfair.com and thought I'd show you this rug and pillows and see what you think. The rug comes in several colors, so I chose teal because I know you love that color, and also a lighter turquoise and also a sand color. I think your rug should more or less be a solid color, as you can get lots of pattern from the pillows and of course your potted flowers. I managed to get two collages before the site crashed (or more likely the app wouldn't support my iPad). These are with the teal and turquoise rugs, and I used a Beige Sunbrella fabric for your sofa cushion covers. I'm not sure if you've bought the fabric to sew the covers yet, but if you did let me know what co,or you're using in case I have to re-think the rug and pillow colors.

OK I tried me more time to get the third collage done and it worked. So, using the sand coloured rug I switched to a blue fabric for the sofa covers. I am trying to use softer colors and not anything multi-color as I feel this would take away from the beauty of your flowers. Also, there tends to be a lot to look at when you're outdoors so we don't want to distract from Mother Nature!

Good morning Kare, thank you so much for these collages. I love teal a lot but my daughter wants different color for outdoor furniture :( I love last collage, can we keep beige area rug and change cushion and pillow color??

Those are beautiful Kare Even though it's family space it's not your daughter's Room pick what you like shall get used to IT

The last collage (with the sand color rug) is also using that Polar Blue Sunbrella fabric for the sectional....do you know what color fabric you will be using for the seat and back cushions? I should work around that. What about red pillows?

Hi happyleg! Hope you are well?

Kare, I like blue cushion color from
Last collage, i went Jo Ann, they have very good collection of outdoor fabric. I will try to get same blue shade from last collage, and will get sand color rug.

That sounds good I'm well. A red flower or pottery.

Good morning Kare, I got beige fabric for sitting and back side cushion from Jo-Ann, can’t wait to start working on it :)

Beige fabric sounds great - you will have a neutral background that will let your flowers be the stars of the show! Maybe we could mix the blue pillow from the collage (the one that doesn't have green in it) with some red pillows?

Or could do something like this for pillows?

That sounds good am where excited to

I love this pillow, I try to find similar pattern pillows from Hobby lobby, at home or may be in Joann. Can’t wait to stop the rain.

These latest pillows were from overstock.com. Can you shop at Hobby Lobby and local stores in person at the moment? Lots of rain in Texas at the moment? Well, I'm back in Calgary as you know and there's still snow lol.

No not at hobby lobby they closed down, but they allow 10 person at a time in the Jo-Ann. Yesterday I was standing at Jo-Ann for 3 hours for fabric.
Yes my friend from Edmonton told me that it was -18° last Saturday.

What size of area rug do I need?? Coffee table is 2’ X 4’.

I figure 8X10 will be about right. You'll want to make sure that the rug reaches the end of each side of the sectional. I'm guessing a 5X7 would be too small for that? Wow, 3 hours in Joann - you are a woman on a mission. If it was me, I'd have given up and waited until the pandemic was over lol.

Area rugs get dirty quicker they're outside

Good morning Kare, happy
How are you both......finally I am starting my work from next Monday....I can’t believe I stayed 3 months at home. Everything changed because of the corona :( but good thing is I slowly start building more terrariums and last 2 Sunday I had a booth at farmers market, now thinking to continue selling my plants and terrariums. :)

That is so pretty and I'm doing fine sometimes I'm stressed but stand well the moment Good to hear from you on the your well wear a mask when you go to work

Hi Anji, Your terrariums are beautiful! You have a real talent there and, yes, I hope you can build this into a thriving business. The farmers market is the perfect place to get started. Also you could maybe start building a Facebook presence to not only advertise your farmers market booth but also to start taking custom orders. Terrariums make great gifts for just about any occasion, so I bet you'd get tons of interest. Heck, I would buy one from you myself if I had a way to get it to Canada!
I'm glad you had that 3 months, not only for the terrariums but also maybe it helped with your depression and loneliness to be able to just stay at home and be with your family? Did you finish your patio project? If so, I'd love to see some pics - hint hint.

The coronavirus didn't affect us much since we're retired, and I haven't felt any fear or stress about catching it. I suppose I should since I have some immune and lung issues, but I don't know....I feel very safe and protected by the Universe.
I hope you stay in touch about the terrarium business and life in general - and of course any future decorating you might want to do. I remember something about a possible retreat room for yourself? Or perhaps a craft room for the terrariums? Lol

Hi happy, It sounds like you are doing OK? The only stress I have felt the last few months is on occasion I've had to stand in line for awhile to get into the grocery store. I have chronic fatigue syndrome due to an old virus so standing for any length of time is not my thing. Otherwise, life has gone on as normal. I do feel for anyone who lost their jobs and didn't have any savings to fall back on. That's got to be rough. It will be awhile before their lives return to normal, for sure.

Hi K ARE I have a lung problem too and can't stand the stand too long to

Sorry crazy phone. Anji, go into your profile and add pro for your business. And go to Houzz garden's/plants and post your plants. :)

Thank you happy and Kare, I am blessed to have both you in my social media life :) love you both :)
Yesterday I was feeling like I am failure and then I sent this post, now I m better than yesterday:)
Kare yes I have Facebook and Instagram page you can check at mydiyterrariums Vadher, I m selling around 20-25 at farmers market and 4-5 during weekdays, my next Sunday market is on June 14.
I really want to send my terrariums to both of you, if I can.
There is no update on For patio project but my husband bought little greenhouse for me, I will take pictures and post it here.
I make one room for my terrariums and it’s fully functional for now ( messy though haha)

Happy I would love to add to Houzz for my terrariums, I’ll try to update my profile today.

Anji, I'm so proud of you - you have accomplished so much. You have gone through at least three major moves in your life and landed on your feet and started a new life each time. And now this new business that allows you to earn money doing something that brings you joy - that is just fantastic! You know happy and I are here anytime you need to talk, so don't let yourself get depressed...we are only a text away.
I have a better idea for getting one of your terrariums - my husband and I keep talking about doing this winter road trip throughout the southern US. I picture it starting in October and arriving home in March, and we would drive along the pacific and southern coastlines. So......I will find my way to you! It's definitely not going to happen this year, and maybe not even next year, but sooner or later we will get there. In the meantime, I'm so glad you have this hobby that sounds like it will be pretty lucrative, as you are already earning great money.
Let me know when you're ready to organize that terrarium room lol - it won't take much; just some Ikea Kallax cubbies maybe, and probably something with drawers. I wish you well at the Sunday market!

That's wonderful

I see it in your title for your page to come to you