Lots of Action

We are getting nearer to the end of this renovation, people.  Nearer to the end!  I couldn't believe how much had happened in the house when I got home from school this afternoon!

First and foremost, Joe's lover (his Italian double-barrelled espresso maker) was delivered at 7:30am.  After all these months of waiting, she is finally here.  Sitting so proud and pretty in Joe's 'coffee corner'.  There is still work to be done before the machine is operational.  Holes need to be drilled through our beautiful countertop (ack!) for the plumbing and the electricity on that side of the kitchen needs to be turned on.  So no coffee yet from 'Big Bertha'.

I said to Joe, "Wow....this machine is waaaaaay over the top."  His response?  "Absolutely!"  "Did you really need two levers instead of one?" "Absolutely!"

 Big Bertha even warms the cups on top!

Arnold Bayer (604.815.9587), master tiler, has almost finished his work here.  He has re-surfaced the bottom section of our fireplace, tiled both landings in the stairwell, and tiled the bit of floor that the free-standing gas fireplace will sit on in our TV room.

Slate being set on the front door landing.

Slate set on the basement landing.

Here is a story that illustrates how amazing Arnold is:

The lower portion of our fireplace needed extra stones after the ugly shelf/hearth got knocked off back in November.  Joe went down to Ames Tiles in the city to buy a few replacement pieces.  He gave the stone to Arnold and left him to work his magic.

The new stone pieces were totally wrong.  Not the right colour.  Not the right texture.  Not right.

Arnold pondered the situation and asked himself, "Where could I get some rock that would match the fireplace?"  His answer?  Our garden.  Arnold went into our backyard and found some stone in the field behind our fence.  He cut it and fit it into place on our fireplace.  It is perfect.

Arnold is a genius.

And speaking of fireplaces, the gas insert came today!  Hurray!  Mind you, they shipped the wrong metal trim, so we have to wait for the correct trim to be delivered and installed.  But while we wait, it is very cozy and warm in the living room now!

Gas insert installation.

I love a burning pile of rocks.  And see what I mean about Arnold's brilliance?  Look at that stone along the floor!  Is it a perfect match or what?

Little things thrill me as much as big things.  Like door knobs on the hall closets!  Yippee!

Door knobs to match the kitchen cabinet hardware.

Well, folks, that's it for now.  We are striking things off of our 'to do' list left, right and centre.  Keep up the momentum, I say.  I can see the finish line now.  It's off in the distance, but it's there.  Not much longer now.

Sun And Snow

We were going to drive into Vancouver yesterday to return some leftover renovation bits and bobs to Lee Valley Hardware and Ikea.  We also have the ill-fated draperies to return to Restoration Hardware.

As we were getting ready to leave for the city, Joe and I looked at each other and said, "What are we doing?  How can we justify spending this glorious Saturday day driving around Vancouver?  Let's pile our snowshoes in the car and head up to the Callaghan Valley!"

And so we did.  Best decision we made.  Sun and snow.  Blue skies and green trees.  Miles and miles of snowshoe trails.  We had the entire place to ourselves.

Someone once asked me if it is crowded on the weekends.  Take a look for yourself.  No crowds.

Black Tusk

No crowds

As you know, Joe can sleep anywhere.  

Here he is napping in the shelter at the 'Top of the World'.

We're going to head back up there today for another much needed dose of Vitamin D.

Happy Girl

I am a happy girl.  This morning when I left for school my house was buzzing with the sounds of construction.  Saws and grinders were joyful noises to my ears.

My nervous breakdown over drywall dust is but a distant memory.

Marcel and Derek were here at 8:00am to install more newel posts on our stairway.

Cheese and crackers, could these newel posts be any bigger?  One could tether one's horse to them!

Hard at work.

Most of the posts installed.

Arnold and his son arrived at 8:10am and began work on our fireplace.  Arnold is a master at what he does.  

Hard at work.

Replacing the stone on the bottom of the fireplace.

The painters arrived after Arnold.  We figured if you are going to have most of your house painted, then you might as well hire the professionals to paint the bathroom.

Painting the ceiling of the TV room.

The bathroom gets a few holes filled.

And the closet doors got delivered!  They've been installed and the trim has gone up.  Just need door handles and paint.

Hallway closets with doors and trim.

And that my friends is what makes this girl happy on a Friday night.  Enjoy your weekend!

Drywall Dust Is Not My Friend

I am beginning to have a hate/hate relationship with drywall dust.

When I walked into my house on Thursday night my heart immediately sank and my blood pressure instantly went through the roof.  The reason?  I had swept and damp mopped the entire top floor that very morning and 9 hours later it was totally covered in another fine layer of grey dust.  Again.  And not only the floor was covered.  There was dust on counter tops, tables, appliances, dishes, books, window sills.  You name it, it was covered.

Drywall dust trying to hide under furniture.

Like the dry waller said to me yesterday, "You'll be sweeping this stuff up for months."  Oh, goody.

And can someone please remind me why we spent $140.00 to have our couch and chair professionally cleaned in the middle of the renovation?  Why did we not wait until the end to have that done?

I must admit that after 10 weeks of living in a construction zone, my enthusiasm for this project is beginning to wane just a wee bit.  I would love to snap my fingers and have it all done.  DONE, I SAY!  I would like nothing more than to wake up tomorrow morning and find doors on my hallway closets, drapes and blinds on my windows, a fire in my fireplace, books in my bookshelf, railings on my stairs, tile on the landings, carpet on the TV room floor, and no dust anywhere.  Please, no more dust.

Junk in the trunk.

Ray and his brother have now finished painting the top floor.  And it looks beautiful.  They are such precision painters.  Joe has publicly admitted that having professionals do that job was the right thing to do.  (Having the house painted by professionals was my idea.  Just sayin'.)  The boys are now tackling the TV room downstairs and it is starting to look great.

This is why you hire professionals.  Remember my motto:  DON'T DO IT YOURSELF!

(Gawd, I can hardly wait until that hideously ugly light is replaced by our gorgeous fixture from Murano, Italy.)

The downstairs work area.

I will leave you with these three little words.  I HATE DUST.  That is all I have to say for now.

Good night.

Things To Do

I like lists.

Not that I make many in my day-to-day life, but I sure do need them once in a while to keep me on track.  Especially now that I'm 53 and my memory does not serve me as well as it once did.  And I have to admit I really enjoy striking things off a list.  It gives me such a sense of accomplishment!

Joe and I have just finished compiling a list of 'things to do' for our house.  Even though an ENORMOUS amount of work has gone on in our house since November 17th, there are still lots of things left on the 'to do' list.

Many people have told us they want to come over to see our renovation.  I tell them they will be most welcome when all is said and done.  If you are one of those people, please be prepared to wait.  And wait.  And then maybe wait some more.

In no particular order, here is the 'To Do' list:

UPSTAIRS

• Finish painting the walls and trim in the kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway and stairwell
• Newel posts, railings, spindles and hardwood for stairs
• Slate on 2 interior landings
• Install doors on hallway closets
• Drapes in living room
• Re-face slate on fireplace 
• Gas insert for fireplace
• Get the damaged refrigerator either replaced or repaired (what the hell is the hold-up?)
• Install light fixture in entryway
• Buy side tables for living room
• Buy table lamps for side tables in living room
• Buy area rug for living room
• Enlarge travel photos, frame them and hang them all over the joint
• Receive Joe's espresso machine from Italy

DOWNSTAIRS

• Paint the walls and trim
• Install built-in bookshelf
• Lay carpet
• Install free-standing gas fireplace
• Blinds for window

Many of the above items are in the works.

The painters are here every day, Marcel and his crew are pretty much here every day, the gas guys have been by, our tiler is coming on Friday, and Vickie has just left our house after showing us drapery samples.

Ray (on the right) with his brother Michael.  They are fantastic painters.  Hire them.

Please call Ray at:

Howe Sound Painting

604.849.4770

Cleanin' up after a day of painting.

Hallway closets waiting for doors.  And there's Daisy, alive and scared.

Rusty from R&S Heating recently installed the intake and exhaust ducts for the 2 gas fireplaces.

Vickie Nickel

Glacier Interiors

C-1005 Industrial Way

Squamish, B.C.

604.892.3035

Vickie has been invaluable with her expert advice regarding draperies, carpeting, wall colours, and furniture placement.  (Eat your heart out, Lawrence!)

Rome wasn't built in a day.  Neither was the Sotham renovation.

This and That

Things in 'Renovation World' have slowed down.  But that's not to say nothing is going on in the house.  Things are happening in baby steps, people.  Baby steps.

For example:

We were consulting our 'kitchen godmother' (aka Colleen) about where we should put a bookshelf to house Joe's large cookbook collection.  Colleen suggested we install some invisible bookshelves on the wall.  "Invisible bookshelves?  What are those?" we wondered.  She patiently explained to us designer newbies what invisible bookshelves were.  And about how books were stacked on them horizontally.  She told us Umbra made them.

I quickly went on-line to find out which stores in Vancouver sold Umbra products.  I found lots of places.  But we weren't exactly excited to drive down to the city yet again for another spending spree.  So we put the bookshelf idea on hold.

A couple of days later, Joe and I were in downtown Squamish (yes, we have a downtown!) and decided to pop into 'The Hive'; a home decor and gift shop owned by one of my students' parents.

Well, guess what?  There they were.  Umbra invisible bookshelves.  Four of them.  And they were 40% off to boot!

Buy local!

Handyman Joe puts up the first of four invisible bookshelf brackets.

Cookbooks at the ready!

Another example of progress:

The evolution of our stairs (so far)....

The top of the stairs and railings as they were in November.

Stairs and spindles with open view to the basement.

No top railing.

No hallway railing.

No stairs or railings.

New stairs, no spindles.

Framed in.

Walled in.

Yet another example of progress:

Basement wall is framed in and the exposed foundation is insulated.

Entire basement wall is insulated.

Drywall is on!

The ceiling is on!  Pot lights are in!  

Mudding and taping the drywall.

Ceiling and wall are taped and mudded.

The stairs to the basement are filled in and drywalled.  We are planning to tuck our computer in this little corner.  Our electrician installed lights and electrical sockets under the stairs for us.

And that, my friends, is what has been going on around here.  Oh, and freezing rain.

My contorted hazelnut tree encased in ice.

And now for something completely different....

My daughter the flag hag.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Gettin' There.

The TV room renovation is going quickly.  Very quickly.

One wall was framed in yesterday.  Up until now, the foundation was exposed in our basement.  Apparently this is not up to code by today's standards.  But it was back in 1981.  Good Lord, no wonder it always felt cold in that room!

One wall is framed in.

Poor Derek had the onerous task of removing the 'harvest gold' tile from the wall and the floor.  And once that was done, he had to rip up the horrible multi-coloured indoor/outdoor carpet.  And once that was done he had to scrape off the 30 year old compressed rubbery underlay from the concrete slab.  Good times!

Off come the wall tiles.

Smashing off the floor tile.

Scraping off the underlay.

Fun times!

The TV room is now devoid of any carpet, tiles or pellet stove.

Our club chairs arrived today from Restoration Hardware.  We were given the sage advice (thanks, Shelley!) to either buy one large chair or two small ones.  The chairs are small.  They 'go' with our art deco furniture and will increase our seating capacity in the living room.  

But I don't know if I would ever buy furniture on-line again.  Things look a lot differently in a catalogue than they do in real life.  That being said, I do like the club chairs.  They look a little on the small side to my eye, but I'll get used to them.  I hope.

 The delivery guys thought I was nuts when I asked if they would pose in the chairs for a photo.  But not that nuts.  They willingly complied.

Our new club chairs.

Our over-sized clock arrived from Restoration Hardware today as well.  We like it.  It has an industrial edge and it goes well with everything.  It is now hanging over our buffet and we can see the time from the kitchen, dining room and living room.

Big and beautiful.

We're getting there.