Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Cabin Tour and Life

What a busy and exciting Summer it has been. It is hard to believe it is already over, I feel like it was just the start of August then I blinked and it was September. I feel like life has changed a lot for us since I was able to blog last. 

It is strange, but I usually feel a guilt and longing when I go too long without blogging, but this time I actually didn't feel that. I'm not really sure what that means, but at the very least I think it means that blogging is changing for me. It is still something I want to keep up, but more so on my own terms. I guess I always had the power to make my own blog what I want it, but sometimes you get caught up in making sure that you are keeping up with everyone else. Maybe it's just me, but I can sense a change in blogging. I feel some are becoming too editorialized, commercialized and definitely over saturated. But most of all I can sense that readers are finding it easier and faster to keep up their favourite blogs and bloggers through things like Instagram. How do I know this? Because over the last year I cannot tell you how many comments and emails I get about something in a photo that a reader is interested in knowing about when I fully described or linked the item in that post! People are skimming, looking for pin-able pictures and not really participating in blogging like they do with faster platforms. 

I am actually totally fine with that! I think we will start to see the end of the blogging bubble, but maybe better things will come about. 

Besides neglecting my blog I've also had some big life changes happening. First off, Wren is now in grade 1! Whoa, I was not ready for being a parent of a full time elementary student. It means she has her own little life now, and is growing up so fast. But of course that also means that I now have weekdays to grow my real estate/flipping company. This is huge for me, because Wren has always been by my side but I didn't want to make her feel like it was her job, when it is obviously not! But knowing that this Fall would be bringing a lot of time for me to focus I worked all Summer to line up some projects. The first was Laurier Heights which is about half done, and the second was a tear down house in a nice older neighbourhood that we plan on building a duplex on. We are starting the re-zoning process and then the building stage will come. And I am so surprised and excited that while I was typing this blog post I got a call from my realtor that we just bought a house I have been lusting over for the past two months. It has been a long road, lots of negotiations and patience but it will have been well worth the wait. 

The other excitement in our life all started with an email back in July. I was approached by a production company to be potential host on a real estate show. One thing led to another and like all the best things in my life, coincidence and fate had a role in changing the plan. A series of events led to my test video being seen by a different company than it was intended and before I knew it a producer and video crew flew out and was filming a pilot episode for a show about us! I don't know when or if will ever become a full blown TV show but I can tell you it was one of the most fun and interesting weekends of my life. I mean, how many people can say they've shot a TV pilot? So we will keep playing the waiting game and see what happens next!

And last but not least we've been enjoying the new cabin! I know many of you have been waiting for a source list, but I don't think I'll have time to include in in this post.  But I am too impatient to wait to share the photos, so here they are!

The great room.
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The dining room.
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main floor powder room.
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Entry. We still have some trades doing touch ups and such so we haven't got this area finished with all the dirty shoes and boots going in and out.
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My parent's bedroom.
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Their master bath.
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My bedroom.
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Wren's room.
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I still have to take big camera pictures of the kitchen, basement bedroom, and upstairs bathroom! But here is a quick phone shot~
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And of course, what we go to see: the view!
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I hope you have had a full and happy Summer, thanks for being to patient with me here in my slow lane LOL.

23 comments:

Colette said...

Congratulations! I am so excited for you and your big news!! I hope it pans out and becomes a show! Will keep checking up on your blog to find out!

LifeBegins@Thirty said...

Congratulations on all the amazing things happening for you! The cabin (if you can call it that!) looks incredible. Great job!

Erika said...

Wow! The cabin looks absolutely amazing. And CONGRATS about the TV show! How very, very exciting!!

Julie said...

Oh man! That is a whole lot of awesomeness in one post!!! I'm SO excited for you and can not wait to see your videos/tv show! I hear ya about blogging. I'm beginning to wonder what "category" I fall into, for a lack of a better term. At this point, everything is working well for me and so I guess I'll just keep going and doing what I'm doing. This is my first year home alone during the day too, I'm excited to be able to go for some of those dreams and say yes to more projects in the future. Exciting stuff! Love the cabin, what a special spot!

Caitlin said...

absolutely gorgeous. ilove how restrained it is and the used of white. it makes everything look so clean. i can't wait for the source list!

also, congrats on the real estate show. that sounds like so much fun.

Anonymous said...

Holy moly, Holly! That is incredibly exciting news! Congratulations! I love when good things happen to great people and The Bakers definitely deserve this. I can't wait to see it all happen!

Kristi said...

such exciting things going on with you! If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know! I love that I have a tiny part in making your cabin so very cute, and would love to do anything I can for you! You are amazing!

Rebecca said...

It's so wonderful that you are comfortable blogging about what you want when you want without the pressure to post every day. I love authentic content... And I'd love to watch a TV show about your family. Good luck to Wren in grade ONE!

Freckles Chick said...

Holy moly, talk about keeping up with the Kardashians! Keeping up with the Bakers!! I'm so happy for you, Holly. Good things come to good people who work hard. I miss the old days of blogging and I refuse to jump on the affiliate links bandwagon ;-) Whatever direction you take your blog will be true to you, but I'll always have nostalgia for those early years! And Wren in first grade...cue my ugly-cry.
Xoxo

Kristen said...

congrats on the show! that's so cool - i hope we can see it here in the US?

i agree about blogging. i have not felt much of a desire to blog the past six months or so, because i feel like it's just a waste. all these other blogs look like magazine spreads on every page and mine's just like "look at this pot i painted". ha. anyway... not sure what i am going to do about it - i don't have time for over produced blog posts! hmm...

204 Park said...

Wow, you are one busy lady! Sounds like you have a ton of new and exciting things on the go and hopefully we can keep up with you here and there because we want to know ALL about it! We especially want to creep you on TV, haha ;)
Congrats on everything lady, and loving the cabin! XO, Sarah

Karen Smith said...

Congratulations! You deserve it - you are amazing and it's so exciting to see a fellow Canadian get some recognition.
My son is buying his first starter home in Edmonton and wants to add his own sweat equity - could you pass along the name of your realtor, Holly? Sounds like she/he would put him on the right path.
And keep up the great work!

Janey said...

Hi Holly

Love watching you grow in business and being creative!
Being a mom is fun busy and crazy when running a business, eh?
Cheers to you keep it up
Janey
My Daughter Fragrances

Sara said...

The cabin is BEAUTIFUL! I love it! :)

I also totally agree with your comments about the "blog bubble" and some of these blogs becoming way too editorialied. I swear some of these people have photographers following them around all day. In addition, its not even these people sharing their real lives, they have become walking advertisements! So not real life. I am finding myself drawn way more to the simple, honest, sites.

Pam K said...

How exciting! Congratulations! And it's hard to believe Wren is in grade one. There are moments I would love to slow down to a crawl. You deserve the very best! Congratulations again.

Georgia Milton said...

The cabin is very beautiful! Every single room looks great,I wish I had some place like this.
And the view is amazing!
You are right about blogging has changed these days and became so commercialized. It's awesome that still there are blog's like yours :)
Steam Carpet cleaning Kensington

Jen @ RamblingRenovators said...

Congratulations Holly!! That sounds like a show I would totally watch :) The cabin looks fantastic. What a great place for your family to make memories.

I hear you on the blogging thing. It has changed. I think the good thing is there aren't any real set rules anymore... if you want to blog slow, if you want to change up your content, if you want to be slick and show a stylized life... you can. There's an audience for all of it. There always was but I think bloggers fell into a trap of thinking our blogs had to look and feel a certain way. But there's no way to keep that up! Life is so much easier when you do and talk about the things you enjoy on your own terms. Yay for slow blogging! I always enjoy your posts when they show up :)

Krystal Wight Armstrong said...

I just thought I'd pipe in to say that yours is still one of the few I always look forward to and am eager to read all the way through (and the first blog I ever really followed from beginning to present)! Even if others just skim, some of us still love all your written details, too.

I'm sure you are right about the blog world changing, as I know I now read most of my email (and thus blog subscription posts) on my phone, where it is harder to post blog comments and interact, so I do find myself having a much easier time of 'interacting' with comments & such via Instagram, but I still love the posts. (Side note, thank you for being one of the few blogs that still shows the whole post in the e-mails, I really hate it when I'm required to click over to the web browser part of my phone to finish a post.)
Obviously life changes and goes through new stages, but I hope you keep blogging to some degree. I especially look forward to any details you share in how you do what you do, especially with stuff like the cabin re-build, etc. Any DIY details/info, or even tutorials on stuff from flipping houses, to redecorating, to hair stuff is always exciting and anticipated by me.
...Oh and the way you stay genuine, with your clean, simple, and fun blog site is still much appreciated by many of us, I'm sure. (It's so refreshing compared to the overly commercialized/sponsored blogs)

Also, hurray for you and those television opportunities! I'd been waiting to hear more after that sneak peek on iG. Even if it was just that one weekend, wasn't it amazing!? Being on set, part of production, is my favorite! It's one of my creative passions that makes me feel alive, and so adore my career in video/filmmaking. I really hope you get more opportunities to have fun in that arena too!

Anyway, thanks for sharing all that stuff with us strangers. We sure love getting the beautiful glimpses of your life in the fun lane!

Erin said...

Yay for the new adventure!!

I agree with you on the blogging world. I don't have a blog but have been reading decorating/DIY/Lifestyle Blogs since 2009. At the time I was living with my parents when I really wanted to start one but had no "home" to blog about. Now I do since my now husband and I bought our first home last year but now I feel I wouldn't be able to compete with all the blogs I've been following since the beginning. I feel they have become too editorialized and not at all the feel they had when I first started reading them. If I see a post is remotely a sponsored post or just a "round up" of links that they get a cut for each buy (but NOT mentioning they do) I just mark "read" on Bloglovin. I don't feel that way with yours. Keep your honest and if need be. slow posting up!

Katie said...

RE: blogging. I don't personally blog but I read a bunch of them. I like yours a lot. You haven't sold out. It isn't just a bunch of product placements or canned material. It's old school, organic blogging, where you are just sharing what's going on and what you've been up to, the way blogs used to be. It's not just random projects for the sake of having a project for the blog. This leads to your projects being better executed and you aren't stuck trying to stick with a schtick that doesn't fit you (like budget, DIY, whatever) or whatever you are working on. I really appreciate that. Please, keep on sharing what you are up to, however often you feel like it.

Unknown said...

What you wrote is exactly why, in the last 4 years, your blog still remains on my (extremely dwindling) reading list! Thank you for your sweet encouragements and your insight in your blog and on instagram! As for the show....of course it will be amazing! But we knew this was coming for years...so glad somebody, somewhere else, realized it, too! :) Well deserved. Enjoy this new season for your family, business and life. Cheers to the next 4 years. Marissa

Kristina said...

First off, huge congrats on the show! That would be incredible and I hope it turns into something huge!! Also, I hear what you are saying about the blogging world and often I'm afraid I came into it too late. But my hope is that by just being myself, it will open some new doors eventually. Who knows! All I know for sure is, I love when you post, whenever they pop up! So, yes! Do it on your terms and the ones who still enjoy a good blog read will be there to read :)

Unknown said...

Oh, Holly, you deserve all the best! Selfishly, I hope you always blog but in whatever way suits your life best. Looking forward to watching you on the big screen one day:) Love from Texas!

 
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