Posting from "my office"...creating a workable wardrobe for 3 weeks in France using a carry on.

Our arts and crafts bungalow circa 1912, was designed before home offices were even on the radar, so I use our kitchen as my "office."

This is the view from our trestle table where my Mac sits waiting for me...

it's handy too as I spend many hours in our humble kitchen.

It's a pleasant space in which to write as there is a window beside the table and many birds are in the side yard.

I sip my tea, look outside

 and ponder...

It might not look like much right now as the beds are "resting up" for their displays in the spring and summer...

there are two dwarf fruit trees, roses and hydrangeas.

I am a messy cook and so I always wear an apron when I am cooking and when I am cleaning...

Here's the newest one handmade by my friend LA, a thoughtful Xmas gift.

Thanks L!

OOTD...

White long sleeved Tee ~ Ellen Tracy

apron

jeans ~ Talbots

cashmere socks

Timberland boots

While the laundry spins...

I am hard at work trying to figure out my travel wardrobe.

3 weeks travel in France...

2 weeks in Paris with just a small carry on...

I've been writing notes and lists

 then...

editing, editing editing...

Over the holidays I went out with my lovely daughter and we did a bit of a shop.

I found an inexpensive fun new top in a bright shade of coral...

in the same shade as my new Lands' End cashmere cardigan, which is also coming with me to Paris.

If the weather is sunny and warm I will wear this top when I venture south to visit our friends.

Love the lacy details...

now I am looking for some ethnic jewelry to pick up the same shade.

 I have the cardigan...

I have that Jones of NY dress with splashes of coral in the pattern.

I am trying to tie it all together so living out of a carry on for three weeks will be easy.

I am taking layers...

tanks and tees and two pairs of pants.

One is a pair of jeans and the other Eileen Fisher black knit pants.

The tweedy black Banana Republic dress is coming too...

I think I will take this vintage navy leather bag 

 inside this Longchamps expandable bag as my personal item.

I have to work on the accessories that I will bring...

 I have one scarf so far...

It's quitting time in "the office" I've done enough work for one day and I am closing up the laptop...

preparing dinner is next!

Mr. HB and I are ready for the season 5 premiere of Downton Abbey tonight.

Will you be watching?

The Ugly Truth ~ The metamorphosis of the back deck of The Humble Bungalow

Third in the series "The Ugly Truth"
Our Back Deck...

Our fixer upper in 1982...

Not much curb appeal I know but we knew that it had wood siding underneath those shingles and the dining room was in it's original condition with dark fir waiscotting and beamed ceiling...

plus it had the granite faced fireplace that I wanted and several fruit trees in the yard.

The reason that we purchased this fixer upper was it's wonderful location;

2 blocks to the water

 good schools nearby

walking distance to Mr. HB's office

 and close to the Cook Street Village shops.

The bungalow had been rented out for about 10 years and as you can plainly see had been sadly neglected.

We were young energetic and thought sweat equity was a great way of getting into the real estate market!

We had a golden retriever and two small children so we had to act fast to get the yard cleaned up after we moved in.

 A dump truck was hired so we could remove all the junk...

Mr. HB worked with the truck driver all day and they made two trips to the dump!

The deck was rebuilt again in 2013-2014 and I love the look.

I think that Mr. HB has really outdone himself with this design.

We still have a few projects on the back burner...

the house needs painting and we have to redo our master bedroom and closet.

All in good time...

The Ugly Truth ~ before and after our kitchen restoration...

Several readers commented on our kitchen and Mr. HB suggested that I show you what our kitchen was like before we did the renovations...it was UGLY!
See for yourselves what we lived in before we did the restoration.
It took many years, lots of money, and hard work AND it required IMMENSE patience on my part...

I cannot believe we once lived in this kitchen...and what was with all the baskets?

Believe it or not I was able to serve meals to our growing family

host Christmas dinner

and we continued to entertain hosting many dinner parties!

The kitchen changes one wall at a time over a period of several years.

Starts to take shape...

Can you guess what I got for Christmas in 1998?

The Humble Bungalow Kitchen today.

The mission arts and crafts table is where I sit and write my blog.

I see that Chester snuck into the picture.

Mr. HB did these renovations on weekends and evenings over several years.

He could not take time off from his busy practice so he worked weekends and evenings.

He's a very talented fellow and has a keen eye for design and detail...

perhaps that is why his chosen profession is architecture.

Restoring our bungalow has been a labour of love...

Our Humble Bungalow is a designated home on the Victoria Heritage List which protects it from demolition.

I hope you've enjoyed this post.

Hostess

Introducing Mr. HB...

Mr. HB likes to remain behind the scenes here on The Humble Bungalow Blog.
As well as being my husband, father of our two wonderful children, he works hard at his craft.
Mr. HB is clever, he's scientific, mathematical, detail oriented and his artistic creativity knows no bounds...
put all those talents together and you'll arrive at architecture.

I have decided to put this post together as he recently took me to see his newly opened UVIC University Centre Food Services project and I got to view first hand what he has been up to for the last four years of planning and this past year overseeing the construction. He's a busy fellow!
(all the while working on other projects)

A picture is worth a thousand words so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking...

a living wall feature

lush greenery

"the boardwalk" 

flooring snakes through the various food kiosks

We visited very early Saturday morning before the masses decended...

This is a bit different from my usual post topics but one that is very near and dear to my heart.

It is hard to me to imagine just how much work goes on behind the scenes of a successful project...

I only know many hours (years) are put into making a project of this scope happen.

When friends ask to go for a walk I might suggest we wander along the campus nature trails and then stop for a coffee or a bite to eat at the Food Services venue at The University Centre... 

Thank you Mr. HB for another exciting venue!