Merry Christmas from Canada.

A little bit of re-organisation

I know Ive been quiet over the past few months, but have resolved to start up blogging more regularly again in 2012. To kick start the new and improved 'Behind The Blue Door' Ive re-freshed the layout and added labels (on the right hand column) so you can more easily find past posts.

In other re-organization news, back home in Canada Ive been trying to go through and empty out some of the old boxes stored in my childhood bedroom. I've decided however that some things I cant possibly throw away, such as this 64 pack of Crayola Crayons (with built in sharpener) - which was one of my most prized possessions when I was about 6. I remember using other sets so as not to wear these ones down too much, and keeping them all in colour coordinated rainbow order. You can tell which my favourite colours were by how worn down the tips are - clearly I always loved greens and blue and tended to steer clear of the pastels and pinks

Christmas Cards

Just before leaving for Canada these pretty Christmas Cards fell through my letterbox.... Thank you Heather & Elisabeth!

Autumn Leaves

I saw these colourful leaves by the train station on my way to work this morning and thought Id snap a quick photo. Ok, so London dont have quite the same spectacular display of colour as in Canada in the Autumn, but there are still some pretty moments.

Sunday Mornings

Relaxing with breakfast, email and the paper on a Sunday morning at the kitchen table. Perfect.

Bolon Rug in Dining Area

Here is an image of the Bolon carpet offcut that I used for a rug in the dining area.

Bolon Carpet

We specify Bolon carpet tiles quite regularly at our office. Its a more contemporary take on standard carpet, and easier to clean as it is essentially made of plastic (vinyl) woven like a carpet. I decided to get some for the kitchen as a runner to catch the crumbs. My original plan was to have it the full width, but because the 'grain' of the carpet was perfectly straight, and the walls were not, it only made everything look out of alignment between the two sides. The solution was a shorter runner on the 'activity' side of the cabinets, and using the offcut as a rug beneath the dining room table. Im really pleased with the result. The colour I chose was Umov from the Spektra range.

An Autumn Walk in my neighbourhood

Yesterday the weather was gorgeous, sunny and mild - in essence the perfect autumn day... So I went for a little stroll around my neighbourhood in the morning. Here are a few photos from the walk.

The kitchen renovation story

I have resisted posting the before, during and after photos of the kitchen because its not quite finished yet. That said, its close enough and Ive decided its time to share. I am still waiting to install the kitchen countertop and consequently the new tap and gas hob, (which cant be connected until the countertop goes in), but you get the idea.

10.2010 - Before photo showing no built in cabinetry and free standing appliances

12.2010 - In Progress in December - the kitchen at its most deconstructed

01.2011 - Cabinetry and appliance installation

08.2011 - The blue film was left on all cabinets to protect them while works on the window progressed over the summer

09.2011 - Blue film finally removed - Yay!

Happy Birthday Philippa!

Happy Birthday little sister... With Love

Happy Birthday Muz!

Happy Birthday Muz! Hope you have a great day. Big hug. xo

Birthday Cakes for Friends

On sunday I made a birthday cake for one of my friends (because that's what friends are for).. Chocolate cake with armaretto mousse interlayer, dark chocolage glazed icing and lightly toasted almond topping. Yummy (even if I did have to make the mousse twice...)

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday Dad! Hope you have a great sunny day for your birthday. Here is a photo of Tobermory harbour that I took a few years ago... thought you'd enjoy the boats!

Autumn Nights

I cant believe September is almost over already and the nights are noticeably drawing in... Autumn is definitely in the air as the chestnuts and leaves are falling on my street.

A morning smile

I saw this and it made me smile.

Window Pulleys Before & After

Thought it might be interesting to show you the state of our window pulleys when we took out the windows, compared with the new ones we replaced them with. I can only hope that they also last 200 years!

Christmas Ticket Home

Ok, so it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas but this weekend I finally got around to booking my ticket home to Canada. With any luck the weather this year will be a bit more cooperative than last. The photos above are from December 2010 and show the departures board at Heathrow Terminal 5, with all flights canceled, and a view of my street here in London (not Canada!)

Kitchen Window - Finished!

Thank you Flo for all your hard work and patience...

Kitchen Window - The Epic Journey

June 2010 - Summer after we moved in April 2011 - Two months after starting work it was fully stripped and dismantled (Scary!)
July 2011 - The window panes are restored and go back in
September 2011 - Complete at last!

Live, Laugh, Love

Seems like good advice to me!
I saw these posters the other day on Etsy and figured Id post them here to brighten things up a bit as everything was getting a bit black and white.

Cloakroom Progress

The cloakroom sink from Duravit, tap from Crosswater, mirror and corian backsplash have now all been installed and Im thrilled with the result.

There is still a little corian ledge beneath the sink and a front panel to be made to conceal all the untidy pipework (which I have carefully cropped out of these photos) - but its almost there. The photos make it look as though the walls are black, but actually they are just a very dark slate grey.

Anne Black

Thank you Mark for your sweet birthday gift. Sugar will now be served in style. Anne Black is a Danish porcelain designer and Illums Bolighaus is one of my favourite stores in Copenhagen. That and the newly discovered Norman.

7 Year Anniversary

7 seems like a lucky number, so I thought it worthy to make a blog post on my 7 year anniversary of landing in London.

7 years and 2 weeks ago today I said good bye to my colleagues and friends from Chicago, packed my belongings into a U-Haul and began my journey to the UK. Here are two photos of me from August 2004.

A new coffee pot

I put my stove top espresso maker in the dishwasher a few weeks ago and unfortunately the dishwasher salts didnt react kindly to the aluminum and it was instantly destroyed. I finally got around to replacing it by ordering this one from Alessi as a special treat and it arrived today in the post. Even the packaging is cool!

Sunday morning just isnt quite the same without the smell of freshly brewed coffee...

(Thank you Philippa!)

TV commercial being filmed on my street!

I received this flyer last night letting neighbours know that a film crew will be filming a television commercial in the house just a few doors down. Im not sure which one, but when I find out I'll be sure to post a link to the finished product! Cool.

Toilet Pull

The new ceramic toilet pull arrived in the post... here it is installed, the pipe from the high level cistern to the toilet is at left.

We decided not to replace the toilet with a contemporary close coupled toilet in the WC to save on cost, and also because I actually like it in a quirky sort of way. Georgian properties did not have internal toilets, so there wasnt a historic precedent to match a new one to either.

Toilet Roll Holder

There hasnt been much progress in the flat worth photographing recently, but the toilet roll holder has been installed and looks fantastic. (Its the little things!) Im really pleased with how the white and chrome looks against the dark charcoal walls.