Glorious Granite!

I want to show you what the flooring looks like because it has really changed the space.  But first... The granite is in!!!  It looks really pretty.  We wanted to choose something neutral because we want the kitchen to appeal to lots of different buyers but we didn't want it to look common.

So here it is:

Note the apron-front sink under the window.  I love that sink.  A whole lot.  I love the farmhouse vibe it gives the kitchen.  Casually elegant.  All the lowers are in the kitchen and we're just waiting for the doors to arrive.  What do you think?

Promises, Promises... The drywall is up

Ok, so I'd just like to point out that it's really hard to blog about a renovation when you are constantly working on said renovation.  I know you've missed me.  I know I haven't kept you in the loop.  For that, I am sorry.


Wanna see it with drywall?

The photo below is taken from the dining room into the kitchen.  The sink will go right in the middle of that big window.  To the right side of this photo, you can also see the small built-in servery in the dining room.  It will have a little sink and cabinet storage.

This is a view of the dining room.

This is the front living room.

This is the Master Bedroom. 

 Note the slanted ceilings.  A ceiling fan fixture will hang up there.

(sorry the photo is so dark)

This is the closet area of the Master.  

There has been lots of work going on.  Dusty and dirty with all the sanding.  We are in a constant stare of clean-up!  The flooring is next to go in.  Then the kitchen cabinetry and granite.  Tracey and I went on a road trip to choose our slab and I'm really pleased with what we found.

Bye for now,

Progress

Hi Everyone,
  Sorry about my absence of late.  I know, I know... I promised I would write faithfully.  Somehow, life got in the way.  We went on a little holiday to the cottage and I just haven't been able to get back into the swing of things.  But now I'm back and boy, oh boy, you should see the changes.
  I'm going to catch you up with what has happened.  We have finalized the kitchen design.  It looks amazing and is in production right now.  The electrical, plumbing and HVAC stuff is complete - at least until the drywall is done and we can install finishes.  Everything is looking pretty good.  Our timelines are decent and we are really working our budget... squeeeeezing every last drop out.
  Last week drywalling began.  I think that creates the most dramatic change when it comes to a renovation.  Suddenly, we have rooms!  Especially since we opened up the walls on the main floor. Everything was just looking so crummy.  Dusty, dirty, messy and well, unfinished.

  This is the kitchen and main floor staircase.  Pretty gross, huh?

This is the closet and built-in area of the master bedroom.  Also, pretty nasty.  

Front porch, practically falling in.  Yuck. 

I'm heading over there to take some new shots of what it looks like with drywall.  I think you'll appreciate them much more.  And I promise... no more long absences.  

 

Day 25

     Well, we have hit day 25 on this crazy project.  Sometimes I just how we are ever going to get it finished.  Jason assures me that we are right on schedule despite a few minor hitches.
      Here's where we are:  The house is still in its shell state - right down to the plaster and lath.  It's messy, dusty and dirty.  The plumbing rough-ins have happened.  The HVAC system is currently being installed.  The electrical layout has been planned and the installation of it is happening.
  We had a beautiful kitchen designed by Jennifer Teeple of Red Razberry Design Group.  The first version looks like this:

     We love this design.  Jennifer thought of things we sure didn't.  She is an excellent kitchen designer and very easy to work with.  She added pantry space and a mudroom near the back door.  She has also strongly suggested that we should use upper cabinets and not just open shelving.  We are going for the 'Modern Farmhouse' look with this kitchen and had planned to install thick shelving rather than the upper cabinets.  We've made a few modifications to this plan - and compromised on some of the shelving...

   Tracey and I even tried our hand at creating this kitchen with pieces from Ikea.  We were very successful at this with the help of Paul, a kitchen associate there.  The kitchen was lovely and included all the cabinetry, the sink and the butcher block counter-top for the island.  The price was really good and we went back and forth about it.  The savings would be great but the kitchen wouldn't have quite the high end look we are going for in this house.

   In the end, we have decided on a custom-built kitchen.  This will cost a bit more but will be worth it.  We get to choose the perfect colour for the cabinetry and everything will be exactly as we envision it.   I think some things are worth paying extra for.  Can't wait to show you the finished photos!

Coffee

Were you wondering exactly what Tracey and I were doing during all that dusty demolition?

The front porch is a really lovely spot for enjoying a coffee in the morning.  Actually, I was reading an article on kitchens without upper cabinetry.  And drinking a coffee.  

Tearing Down the House Contest

Well, the house is ours!  We were so excited to get our hands on the place that we had a small party to celebrate.  We gave everyone who came a Sharpie and they all wrote their messages to us on the wall (the kids especially enjoyed this!).

Demolition

   The demolition officially began on Friday morning.   We wanted to encourage our young labourers to work quickly and efficiently (and safely) so we designed a contest for them.  We had 5 guys working on the tear-out and each guy was given one room to demolish.  The rooms were distributed fairly so that the most experienced labourer got the largest room, etc.  There was a bonus for the worker who finished his room the fastest (and safest).  They guys worked really, really hard, despite the 40 degree weather!

There was plaster and lath.

Dirt and mess.

And a big, red bin or two.

The big contest winners?  Jordan, Shane and Isaiah.  

Congratulations on the bonus boys!

   The demolition has been a messy, dusty disastrous event.  Jason works on project like this all the time but I was unprepared for the actual amount of dust and mess produced.  The boys worked all weekend on it but there is still some ongoing demo.  The main floor is looking pretty cool though.  Remember my layout plans?  Well, we've opened up the walls for the kitchen space and you can really see what the possibilities are now.

Looking forward to shop-vac-ing the whole place clean and getting on with the pretty stuff!

Let the Shopping Begin.

Shop, shop shop.  That is all we did yesterday.  We headed over to Household Plumbing.  They have an excellent showroom of all things plumbing and when you are doing a whole house on a small budget, with a short amount of time, it is handy to find everything in one place.  We perused the showroom and came up with fixtures and faucets for the kitchen, main bath and powder room.  We decided on this sink for the powder room:

     Its pretty, vintage-y feeling is just what we're looking for for the powder room.  This room has a fresh scheme and we like to keep things simple.  I also like that the built-in towel rail means we don't need to install hand towel holders on the walls. 

   Below are the faucet sets we are using in the main bath.  These have an interesting handle and are available for the claw-foot tub, sink and shower.  We will be going with the chrome version.  

     Then we were on the hunt for a farmhouse sink that would fit our budget.  Our tight budget.  Did you know that apron front farmhouse sinks are really expensive???  I don't know why I'm surprised.  We looked at porcelain, fire clay and stainless steel sinks and I think we have decided to splurge on this one:

     I like the look of the stainless because we are doing off white cabinetry with a creamy granite counter-top and stainless appliances.  

   I think the hard thing about renovating a house for re-sale is knowing where to spend and where to save.  We talked about the sink and how it fsts in a really long expanse of cabinetry.  You can see the sink from many different vantage points in the house as the kitchen is at its centre.  It makes sense to choose something really beautiful to go there.  We also made the decision to splurge a little on lighting for over the island and the dining table for the same reason.  Hopefully these decisions pay off in the end.  

  

Bathrooms

We're excited to be moving forward with our plans right now. Only four days to go and the place is ours!
I thought this would be a good time to show you the plans for the two bathrooms in the house.   The bathrooms are in bad shape.  Really bad shape.  There is a family bathroom upstairs and a powder room on the main.  The upstairs bath currently looks like this:

Dreamy, no?

The foot print goes something like this:

  You might notice from the photo that it is actually difficult to get through the door.  And that while you are sitting on the toilet, you can probably also wash your hands... saving valuable time.   Now that's multi-tasking.

The tub is also short.  

I don't even need to mention the peeling tiles, water damage on the ceiling, heinous linoleum flooring or rusted out tub.  

Here's what we're thinking:  

    We're scooping some space from the bedroom beside the bathroom and the hallway linen closet.  The linen closet is a built-in job that is pretty cool looking but we think this is the best way to maximize the space.  Since this is the only upstairs bath, we feel we need to dress it up as much as possible.  That means a soaker clawfoot tub, glass enclosed shower and lots of beautiful tile.  The tile we are using is a honed marble and we are still on the hunt for the rest of the fixtures in the room.

I've also created a mood board for the space:

Most of the products are from Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware but the rug is Dash and Albert.
  

Olga Adler via www.houzz.com

Source Unknown

Source Unknown

The Blissful Bathroom at Rambling Renovators (one of my absolute favourite local-ish blogs)

Well, the house is nearly ours and I can't wait to get my hands on it.  Tomorrow, I am shopping with Aron and Tracey for fixtures for the powder room, main bathroom, laundry room and kitchen.  I'll post some pictures from this exciting field trip. 

Until then,

How Ready Would You Be?

The big day is fast approaching for us and I think we are all getting excited.  Maybe nervous is a more appropriate word.  The last couple Tuesdays, we've walked through the house with the final trade visits.  Each time we have walked through, Tracey has gotten this completely freaked out look on her face.  I'm pretty sure the same look was on mine.  Yikes!  The freaked out feeling isn't because we think the project is going to go badly or because we think it is an insurmountable task.

It's because we get possession of the house in exactly one week and it still looks pretty much the same. 


 The rooms are still filled with the furniture, china and stuffed animal remnants of a long life in the house.  And not a lot of moving preparation has been done.  The house is currently home to an elderly gentleman and I'm sure the enormous task of going through 50 years of life in a house is  a lot for him.  It makes me just want to pick up some boxes and garbage bags and drive over there and help him!

We have personally moved a couple times and I'm one of those hyper-organized, box labelling freaks who actually perversely enjoys it.  It's a chance to clear out the clutter and quickly make decisions about what you really need in your home.  I know you shouldn't have to move to do this de-cluttering process but there is no room for procrastination when you have to be out of a house in a week.
   As far as the project goes, we are currently planning out the space for the main bathroom upstairs and the powder room on the main. Here's the feeling we're after:

We're thinking bead board, hexagonal tiles, vintage pedestal sink...  Also, I like the height of the chair rail in this room.  I'll post later on the layout of the bathrooms in the house.

House Walk Through

     We met up with our real estate agent, Mary Johnson on Tuesday at the flip house.  We were hoping for an hour or so to walk through the house and get some planning done.  Also, the HVAC guy needed to come through again to give us a more accurate quote on replacing the crazy octopus furnace.  Unfortunately, we only got half an hour.
   We spent most of the time we had there planning out the kitchen.  For me, it's really hard to plan a space when you can't stand in it, look around and absorb it.  I was having a few issues with the kitchen as it was sketched out by our architect.
     First I should tell you, I have issues with symmetry.  I don't like things to be askew.  I need order.  I need symmetry.  And the island we had planned was sort of stuck out on one side of the kitchen.

The yellow rectangle is this great kitchen piece we found at the Aberfoyle Antique Market .  It's currently in pretty bad shape but we're planning on doing a little fixing up to make it look 'country chic'.  That's me and Betty with the piece at the market.

   So back to the space planning issue.  I got to thinking about how we were using the space.  We need access to the rear garden door through the kitchen.  To me, it was feeling like all the cabinetry was crammed into one end of the kitchen.  I thought, if we raise the large window a couple of inches, we could run the counter top across the entire side wall and centre the island a bit better.  Something like this:

This allows us to centre the island, add a command central computer nook and  a ton of counter-space in the area you want it for entertaining or food prep.  We can also expand the opening to the dining room to a wide double doorway.   I think it's looking pretty good. And I'm really pleased with the way the team is working together to come up with solutions.

Kitchen Dreaming

So the vibe we're going for in the kitchen is a creamy, pared-down urban farmhouse:

You feelin' it?

No???  Us either...  Here are a few inspirational photos from our files to give you an idea of what the finished product will look like.  

I love the use of the creamy cabinetry with the wooden table.

The creamy subway tile with the darker grout gives a vintage feel and I love the nickel pendant fixtures over the island.  

Open shelving is a must.  I like the pretty display of china and glassware. Of course, the butcher block counter-top and light marble counters are perfect.  

     Right now, I'm researching projects to use in the kitchen.  We are looking for a high end look on a budget.  Unfortunately, I always seem to be drawn to the more expensive items.  Here is a mood board I've created for the kitchen.  I used a photo from A Country Farmhouse in the board.  The open shelves are from their kitchen and are just the look I'm going for.

Hope you like it!  I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have.