the final renovation

Eric's now in the States or perhaps on his way to Montreal. We had deliberately scheduled the retiling of the balcony while he's gone. It's just easier and I like the idea that he'll come home to a transformed home, or part of a home. The plan was to leave the apartment to the maid and cinnamon while the kids and I stay at my mom's for a while... The plan worked except that my mom took advantage of it and now refused to come back to our apartment. So Christian stayed behind while Alex and I are now back.

We wanted to add grilles to the balcony because we live on the 10th floor and we KNOW how our toddler is capable of the scariest mischief that includes scaling the wall in the balcony. BUT that toddler doesn't have depth perception yet, I think, and he doesn't know the consequences (man, just typing this out is enough to send shivers down my spine.)

Anyhoo, up went the cage-like structure (not a design I fancy but was part of the condo's code) we replaced the crooked and humongous doors and a little retiling and paint, our balcony is looking pretty swanky. I had second-guessed my choice of a faux bois tile but now that all's done I'm glad I didn't get real decking - wood decking could split and i'm not ready to be picking splinters out of Christian's soles yet.

I bought herbs to indulge in my whim to have a herb window box...deep down, I know that I'll probably kill them in a matter of days, but a girl can always dream she has a green thumb, yes?

I didn't have any before pictures, but I thought these of Christian hanging out in his favorite space are pretty cool(he has this i'm-too-sexy-for-my-slippers look, lol!)...