#novakobes

pictures from our trip to halifax this past christmas.

 bruce and lydia's place. so fun to experience living in the city for two weeks! they live so close to downtown and right by the halifax commons where the skating oval was. david skated almost every day.

going for a walk down to the water on our first day there. 

eli in his christmas jammies from oma. "i'm not an elf, they're just pajaaaamaas."

where bruce went to school!

 the new library in halifax. such a neat building, the outside looks like stacked books. 

the view from the citadel. you can see the mckenzie bridge in the distance. bruce and lydia's street starts just to the left of this picture. 

 looking in the other direction.

brother bruce.

eli. those rosie cheeks kill me!

two cuties watching tv.

eli feeding his baby. after marieke got one for christmas he was suddenly interested in his again ;)

peggy's cove! such a beautiful place to explore.

 the beautiful mosaic that eli made ;)

we went for a day trip with lydia and the kids to mahone bay, lunenburg and la have. first stop: mahone bay. three old churches on the other side of the bay. 

second stop: lunenburg. we had the most delicious lunch in that red building over looking the water! 

 taking the ferry to la have. 

going to the bakery that mom recommended. the yummiest coffee and baking.

david touching the atlantic on our way back from the dutch shop.

snow day! marieke's first time sledding (i think ;)

 they both loved getting pulled down the hill!

dinner at the old triangle with live celtic music. 

on our way to pei we stopped at victoria park and it was soooooo cold. 

 hard to look enthusiastic in -17 weather.

beautiful frozen waterfalls made it all worth it though!

 confederation bridge!

car selfie. we were in three provinces in one day!

charlottetown 

driving around the coast 

our very own charles wysocki puzzle! 

 red sand and frozen water

me and david went for a drive to the lookoff one day.  this is a view of minus basin, part of the bay of fundy. 

the BEST provolone and ham croissants from two if by sea in dartmouth. 

 eli was pretty pleased with his cookie. 

 couldn't finish that last bite! so greasy and cheesy and delicious. 

 on the ferry back to halifax. we lasted all of two seconds up there before the cold was too much.

the view of the inlet from york redoubt, an old fort on the coast.

exploring the tunnels.

crystal crescent beach.

aaaannnd then we had to leave :(

next up.... orlando!!

master bathroom inspiration.

I'm obsessed with the white paneling with the dark walls on top!

love these floors! i really like the idea of a long, skinny tile in a chevron pattern. maybe in white though... not sure.

and, depending on the cost i'd love to do two big round mirrors. or maybe something like this if i can't find/afford round ones:

overall, the master bathroom is going to black and white with wood accents. also, a claw foot tub is happening for sure! (like seriously, we already have it ;) 

all photos from my pinterest page

kitchen inspiration.

we are starting to get to the point in building our house where we have to make big decisions. lately we've been visiting cabinet makers to decide on kitchen and bathroom cabinetry. while i'm having trouble nailing down idea's for the bathrooms i've got a clear idea of what i want in the kitchen.

here's my inspiration...

basically, here's what i want:

• shaker cabinet doors, medium-to-dark grey on the bottom, white on top
• white-ish countertops (probably quartz but we have to price it out still. crossing my fingers that we can fit it into the budget!)
• brass hardware. i'm seriously obsessed with the drawer pulls on the bottom left picture. now i just need to find somewhere that sells them for less than $30 a piece! 
• a big island. i think it will end up looking like the bottom left picture. big, with a sink, but with stools along one side. 
• also, drawers. lots and lots of drawers. 
• for a backsplash i'm thinking either white subway tiles or some sort of planking like they have here. what do you think would be better? 

so! what do you think? any red flags going up? do you have something in your kitchen that you love and we definitely need to get? i'd love some advice! 

by the way, i never actually shared our floor plans! here is the upstairs, where we'll be living. david's oma (grandmother) will be calling the bottom floor 'home'. basically we come in on the ground floor and go right up the stairs in the middle. also, it's cut off a bit but we have a front porch going out off the great room. 

(all inpiration pictures taken from my pinterest page)

new art for my living room.

the other day i was at my mom's house. she had been cleaning out the spare bedroom so she could make a sewing room. there was stuff all over the house waiting to be sorted through. while i was looking through some boxes i found these amazing vintage patches. my mom said she collected them when she was a kid, buying one from every place they visited. one of them was a sports participation badge my mom got when she was in school. i instantly pictured them displayed in a shadow box and told my mom she should get on that! knowing she would never actually do it she gave them to me. and i'm sooo glad she did because they look awesome in my living room. i think in the new house this would look really great in a gallery wall in the dining room or office.



basically i just wrapped a spare piece of grey flannel i had around the back of the shadow box and then used hot glue to stick the patches on. easy peasy.

i love that the shadow box makes them look so fancy, like they are worth a lot of money. now i'm dreaming up other things to put on display in shadow boxes. maybe some ticket stubs? origami paper cranes? the options are endless!

ps. sorry about the lame pictures, the glare on the glass was really killing me!