Basement update: the rug arrives

Notice I didn't say it was installed, but at least it arrived and my nervous little eyes got a glimpse of it.  I like it.  The wall colour I am not so sure on - sure looks blue more than grey.  But at this point I would settle for a finished basement of any colour.

In-laws arrive in two days... well, one and a half really... no worries... I have faith!

The dark side of home ownership

After all the searching, all the open houses, all the paperwork and signatures, you hear those magic words: "It's Yours."  You can hardly believe it, but there it is - in all it's lovely glory - your very own new house.  Gosh it's exciting.  You drive by it approximately 287 times in a slow, creepy way before you get possession, imagining paint colours and fixtures and landscaping.  You pour over the teeny weeny floor plan that was in the marketing kit, envisioning renos and furniture placement.  When you get the keys, you hold your breath as you push open the door for the first time, and maybe celebrate with a little bubbly sitting on the bare floor, your euphoric giggles echoing through the empty rooms. It is a mortgage commercial come to life.

It's a little smaller than you remembered from the open house and that one other time you walked through it... and the kitchen is much worse than you remembered (are those mouse droppings??)...but think of the equity!  The decorating potential!  Replace the roof?  No big deal, you knew that going in - but what colour should it be?

Sound familiar?  Who's with me?

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my house, I really and truly do.  The renos, the paint, the landscaping - it was hard work for sure, but the satisfaction of knowing it was my own cozy haven, my very own home made it more than worthwhile.  Even the essential-but-not-pretty things like plumbing, electrical, and chimney cleaning are all worth it.

It's the surprises that kill me.  Surprises are usually expensive, usually no fun, and decidedly UN-SEXY.  Here are a few of the visits to the dark side of home ownership that I have taken in the last three years of being here:

Sewage black flow in the basement Worse than walking down to a sight and smell that brought tears to my eyes was sitting in my dining room listening to them rip out the carpet, cut through the drywall, and yes, saw into my beloved built-in cabinets.  The sounds of destruction - not construction.  Expensive destruction.  I have not lost perspective - just weeks ago people lost their entire homes and all their possessions to Sandy - but it breaks my heart none-the-less.  Not our tree, but our problem. Surprise!

Fence toppled by high winds I can't remember exactly when this happened, but we awoke one morning to find the fence between our house and our neighbours' ripped and twisted, and lying flat on the ground.  The garden, to be exact.  OUR garden, to be completely precise.  We did split the cost of a new fence, and actually split it with almost all of our neighbours to build around on all three sides, but my poor, sad, smushed plants all needed to be replaced as well. Surprise!

Tree toppled by high winds You know this one - tree fell down.  Not part-way into our yard, nor into our and our neighbours' yard, nor any other of the 360 directions it could have gone, but smack into our property, taking the new fence, the garage eaves troughs, our garden furniture, many plants, and almost our 2 year old with it.  Not our tree, but our problem. Surprise!

Raccoon walking through our upstairs hallway At night.  While my husband was skiing in BC.  While I was at work until 11pm.  While my babysitter cowered with my then 1-year-old in his room, calling 911.  Surprise! When I got home, Will was asleep and the cops had come and gone, barricading the raccoon in my bedroom with a chair under the door handle.  I slept on the sofa in the next room in my work clothes (a dress) listening to the critter tear apart my closet all night, after calling every 24 hour wildlife removal number on the internet.  Oh and I was preggo (not really relevant, but it makes any story better, right?)  Critter-removal and re-entry prevention = not cheap.

masonry pointing repairs We haven't done this yet, and it isn't nearly as good a story, but there are several holes in the mortar between our exterior brick that need to be filled, and we need to replace the parging over our stone foundation almost all the way around the house.  We haven't done this because we could take the family to Europe for the amount we were quoted.  Who budgets for PARGING and POINTING? Surprise! Argh.

So it's not all sunshine and roses in my wicked and weird world (the raccoon thing definitely qualifies as weird though).  Amidst the the craig's list cabinet victories, the Value Village scores, and the crafty afternoon are loads upon loads of laundry, sink scouring, and potty training.  But who would want to read about all that? ;p  I would say my home and I are out of the honeymoon stage, but there are definitely more days that not that I look around fondly. I do love this house, flaws and all.

But seriously, enough sappy, misery loves company. I know you must have your own house surprises - please share!!

Basement down the drain

First of all, thank you all so much for the Steven and Chris love and support - talk about amazing! I was really quite touched by how many of you reached out with congratulations, and I am so grateful to have so many friends out there.  MOOAH to all of you!

One of the things I heard the most about was the basement - since I had never properly blogged about it or shown it off.  I was all set to do a post about it today and tell you the tale of how we got it looking so sweet after starting with this narsty, asbestos-filled, unfinished basement:

Blurry blackberry(!) shots taken at the open house

It was a lot of work and a lot of fun, as you can imagine, and we certainly did not do it ourselves.  In the end, we expanded our liveable area by 1/3 and created a really cozy spot where I spent a LOT of my second maternity leave.

Last night I was down in my newly improved "office" area doing some actual paid work (amazing) and heard some weird gurgling coming from the shower area in the bathroom.  People - when the drains gurgle, sputter, cough, or make so much as a peep - please call a plumber.

Because I am a kind and decent person, I will spare you the more graphic images of what I came down to this morning (and immediately texted my poor husband), and show you only this one.  The shower is one of three drains we have down there, the other two under the dryer and in the furnace closet.  Grossness was spewing from all three.  (Sorry, not often I get to use the word spewing and it is such a perfectly disgusting word, don't you think?)  So, a bit belatedly, I called the plumber (apparently the plumber Mike Holmes uses!).  Bob The Plumber* did not mince words, and, sadly, neither did he use the word spewing.

Blog buddies, I trust you remember this scene, in which we were attacked by our neighbour's tree, narrowly escaping the loss of one son, and burdened with expenses for removal and repairs?

It turns out this was just the first chapter in our "Nasty Dealings with Neighbouring Trees" - which hopefully ends after two (expensive) chapters.  This time, having been perhaps inspired by its ally Neighbouring-Tree-To-The-West's surprise air attack, the Neighbouring-Tree-To-The-North deviously tunneled underground with its roots, harpooning our defenceless clay pipes, and strategically blocking our sewage outflow.  Well played Neighbour's Trees, well played.**

My beautiful basement now looks like this.  Please note how much bigger the water stain is on the concrete than it appeared on the rug!  Luckily Bob the Plumber had me call Chad the Clean-Up-Guy*** and my basement has been cleaned, bleached, and disinfected by a fine crew who just left at 8pm.  The heaters and fans are running as I type, and the place smells like the YMCA.  Next up, digging up our recently-landscaped-with-patio-stone front walkway and the possible removal of our concrete front steps to replace our outtake pipe.

The moral of this story is, never show your house on National television - hubris is a bitch.

*not to be confused with Bob the Builder
**duh, of COURSE I am drinking wine - wouldn't you??
***not of the Pulp Fiction variety

Bathroom Beautification Complete

Well, this project took much longer than I thought it would.  I guess the last time I re-decorated a bathroom I didn't have two kids to amuse...  After installing the new faucet, my husband did all of the kid entertaining and I did the days and days and coats and coats of paint.  I used outdoor deck paint on the floor, and I washed it, sanded it, washed it, primed it, painted it, let it dry, painted it, let it dry, did the caulking around the fixtures, painted that, and let it dry, then did touch ups.  AND I LOVE IT.  It was worth every curse-inducing moment.  I also painted several coats on the walls, trim, and ceiling, and they were also worth it.  I love my 'new' bathroom.

We replaced the tipsy over-the-john cabinet, whose doors didn't close, and the medicine cabinet we had stacked on top of it with a lovely, sleek mirrored cabinet from Ikea.  It makes the room feel so much bigger and brighter. I got it on the last day of the "bathroom event" and it is being discontinued, so I got to drag Will all over the highways of Toronto from one Ikea to another to get one.  Worth it.

The lovely West Elm shower curtain that inspired the whole room looks even better in person.  The grey on the walls and black on the floor highlight the original black and white tile beautifully - especially on the floor where it runs into the black band on the bath.

The faucet is my favourite part - we went from two leaky separate hot and cold faucets to this lovely number, from which WARM WATER (i.e. a mix of hot and cold!!) flows with ease.  Heaven.  I have had the whale hooks from Urban Outfitters for years and was happy to find the perfect spot for them. (The other two are going to go on the long wall, but my stud finder said it was full of electricity so I thought I would hold off on that...)  The painting of Nova Scotia we bought years ago at the McMichael Art Show.  My Aunt Daphne got the rug for me for my birthday.  The mason jars I got at Value Village ages ago.  The blind I have had in a closet for years.  (I am thinking of painting it with some blue fabric paint - maybe stripes?)  All in all, I think the whole room cost well under $500.  Worth it.

Ahhhhhhh.  The photos just don't do it justice.  It is my new happy place.

Bathroom - prepare thyself for beauty!

There it is, our lovely designer bathroom.  Yeah, right.  You know, when we first bought this house I was so excited because this bathroom was so much bigger than our last house - now I realize that one foot wider does not an enormous difference make. :)  The bathroom is last on our list for renovations, and we certainly don't have the cash to do it now.  So I am fancying a 'facelift.' After a bottle of wine and some sweet-talkin', I got the hubser on board.

The one thing we have done is to put up a shower curtain, there was nothing there when we moved in. Finding a curtain rod that could cover the side and the end of the tub was no small feat, and in the end we had to custom order one.  What the photos here don't show is that it is all the original white tile with a black and white border at the top inside - you can see the black tile around the bottom of the tub.  The floor is nasty linoleum tile - stained and yellowing.  The sink and bath are both original, and the sink is a pain the the patootie because it has separate hot and cold taps (and the hot tap leaks so we actually have to use a shut-off valve underneath if we every want to turn it on).  The toilet is also constantly running for some reason, and I shudder to think of the wasted water.  We got the shelf for above the toilet on sale somewhere and it wobbles, and the doors don't close because they are missing the magnets.  Let's see what else... oh who cares.  On to the pretty stuff.

I had lots of fun on Olioboard the other night, imagining a billion options.  First of all, rather than pulling up the floor and opening a can of worms, I am just going to paint it out black.  When we are able to do a real reno we can put in pretty tile, but for now I just want to cover up the ugly.  For the walls, I thought grey, because I always think grey.  I love grey.

The rest of the palette came from the shower curtain, which I thought was really nice (and not too expensive).  That, and I also just bought blue/grey towels.  The fabrics included are possibilities for a roman blind for the window (that I am hoping to make).  And I want to fill that wall beside the window with some nice inexpensive prints and drawings to add some life to the room.

The light has to be spot lights like this because the ceiling light is the only light in the room.  Someday... pot lights and sconces.  For now... this contraption.

I crawled under the sink yesterday (gross) and measured the opening in the middle where the sink stopper was attached.  It looks to be standard width (1 1/4'') and the two taps are 12'' apart so I am going to try to find a nice wideset faucet for the existing sink.

Anyway, details - shmetails.  What do you think of the board?  Too dark?  Not enough colour?  Pure perfection?  I would love to know your thoughts!

The kitchen is really done. Mostly.

Remember my mostly-finished kitchen with the plywood back? The plywood that may or may not have fallen on the children?  Don't worry, no one was harmed...just a little startled.  Turns out you get what you pay for with dollar store duct tape.  Anyhoo... we got the cabinet in over the holidays!  I just love it, it gives some extra storage and completely finishes the kitchen off.  I was worried that it would take up too much space in the dining room, but it actually works quite nicely.  YAY!  We also got around to putting up some art work which also helps make the place feel a little more cozy!

Please don't mind the mess - my 'photo styling' consisted of moving anything that might trip me while I snapped some photos... So the last step (besides getting the plug put in...heaven forbid we be completely done) is the handles!  I was thinking of plain white ones, but then thought maybe some little crystal ones would be nice, since all the doors on the main floor still have their original crystal handles.  Then there are those mother-of-pearl pulls from Anthropologie that I have been drooling over for years... not sure if I can do brass though, since the rest of the kitchen is so stainless.  I do have that brass light in the sun room though, and it IS a separate room...  What do you think?  Below are my options from Anthropologie, Lee Valley and Ikea (with prices to match!).

I am so excited to have it finished!  Now I just have to find the time to wash it out, along with Dad's cabinet, and unpack those kitchen knick knack boxes we packed up last YEAR!!

The Kitchen - my dad's cabinet

One of my favourite things about the kitchen is the cabinet my Dad made.  I emailed him the measurements, he made it in New Brunswick and drove it up.  I had no idea he was going to do such an intricate design, and I love how the inlaid panels reference the original french door to the living room and the new one we put to the basement.  He drove it up here and painted it in our driveway...twice.  He was painting, the wind came up and it got covered in dirt, dust and leaves.  SO he spent the next couple of days sanding, and then repainted it in our (very crowded) garage.  But the cabinet is more than worth the crankiness that resulted...

You can see that it had to be a custom cabinet, due to the weird way that the wall came in.  He built around the post and made custom-shaped shelves to maximize out space.  We still aren't using it because it needs a few more coats of paint and some of the holes need to be re-drilled.  But just look at all that room!

I love the mahogany piece at the top too.  Thank you Dad - it is AWESOME and totally makes our kitchen.  I am so very lucky to have such a handy dad!

The Reveal!! (sort of)

OK, so I kind of feel this is a bit anti-climactic... the kitchen really isn't fully finished, nor is any of the decor.  But the bones are there, and thanks to my dad's last visit, the backsplash is in!  We are using it regularly and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it so much.  I mean, the first one was kind of the pits, so the only way to go was up, but man, did we hit UP!  

I finally got to take some photos in the daylight this weekend*, although it was raining so they aren't that great.  And I didn't really look back at my 'before' shots to line them up.  And the place is a mess... and... and... well, i've run out of excuses, you might as well just look.  Just be kind.

 Don't mind the plywood leaning against the peninsula... we have yet to figure out what to do back here and didn't want kiddie fingers in the back of the stove. 

 See above re plywood and duct tape... funny how you stop noticing things until you see a photo of them!

So I will do a couple of more posts on the whole thing, and the various decisions we made along the way (if you are interested).  The big things were of course the wall and the back door, but everything turned into a big decision!  Anyway, I am wiped out tonight so this will all have to wait.

So.... what do you think?


*damn you daylight savings...and the day job... (although thanks day job for helping pay for the kitchen...)

Kitchen update - countertops

Who knew there were so many things to pick in a kitchen?  Ok, maybe I did, having already done one, but some choices are tougher than others.  Countertops, for example.  I knew that I wanted light counters - the house is dark enough and I want to maximize the newly acquired light from removing the wall and putting in a full glass back door.  Plus - you will remember that this is my inspiration kitchen:

So obviously the first thing I did was research this particular countertop.  It turns out it is Luca di Luna quartzite, also known as quartzite di bianca.  I loved that it was light, and looked like marble, but was quartz so would be strong and reliable.  Here is another example:

However... things never go as planned, right?  Turns out this is next to impossible to find in Toronto.  As I was going from tile store to slab showroom to granite store in the design district up by Castlefield, one lovely sales girl finally said, why are you looking for something that looks like marble, and not going with marble?  Well, I had long since ruled that out - ever since our last limestone countertop.  It was BEAUTIFUL but spill a little orange juice on a glass while pouring and you would be stuck with a very noticeable ring.  So we had decided that marble (worse than limestone, we heard) was not a good idea, especially with 2 little kids.

Well, Edy at Marble Trends (should'a known by the name, no?) convinced me otherwise.  She told me the two things you have to worry about with marble are staining and etching.  The staining they take care of with the sealer they use - and here she showed me their marble top coffee station, which had been used daily for years and had not one mark.  

The etching you can't do much about, and every stone will etch (she showed me samples of all of them, including quartz and Caesarstone).  BUT they (of course) have this great finish called 'vintage' that masks the etching.   Here she showed me their marble work table, on which they slide around all their stone samples, and yes it was etched, but it was still beautiful - it just looked a little worn.  With the vintage finish, it is almost like they wear away the top layer so it is already worn-looking, and anything that happens after is just more 'patina'.  I had worried a bit that our new kitchen was too modern for our old house, so the idea of a warm, worn countertop to tone down the glitz was appealing.

Well, colour me sold. (I was also sick and tired of countertop shopping at this point and had always really wanted marble anyway.)

We toured the slabs and I picked one that was 1) affordable-ish 2) didn't have too much of a grain in it to compete with the cabinets.  It is Bianca Carrara - here is my slab:

I know, right???*   Super sexy.

Of course then I freaked out and had buyers remorse and got on Consumer Reports and felt sad, but the more research I did, the more I realized that no stone (or man-made stone) countertop is fool-proof, and this is really what I want in my heart of hearts.  The quartzite above can have pits and pock-marks, red veining, and has 'sparkles', which are not allowed in this house.  Caesarstone can burn and scratch.  Light granite has the dreaded sparkles, and no lovely veining.  I also found this great blog post testing marble and marble sealants.  So marble it is.  Should be here in a week or so.  SO EXCITED.  Please do not comment on how you once had marble and it was the worst decision you ever made in your life. :)

*I never say this in real life.

Guest Appearance

Check it out - the lovely Brooke from the blog Pure & Noble asked me to do a guest post for her while she is away on a much-deserved break.  My post is up today and includes a sneak peak at our kitchen reno!