Blog

OK so at some point I’ll stop making excuses for not posting more often. I’m not saying I’ll post more often, I’ll just stop making excuses.

The last three weeks has seen a lot done, but one of the most noticeable things, at least from my perspective, is that we can find time to sit and relax. For the first month of the project, we were working almost 18 hours a day, counting the day jobs. Days start to fade into one another when you don’t take some time to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Now that the “must-finish” items are moving off the list, we can get home, work for a while on a given project, and then start to feel at home. Watch some tv, play some video games, make some music, work on pictures. We even found time to go out of town and photograph Eaglewood Folk Festival (see pics here). The flip side of that is I forget what got done when, and am stuck going back to my photo record, which gets sparser as things get done. Not much point in taking a picture when all that got done is the floors getting washed (that’s actually a massive project, there is A LOT of floor). Its not like a new wall went up.

Anyhow, I’ll try and recap as best as I can.

Living Room: When last we talked about it we had temporarily hooked up the TV and surround sound. The TV has now takes its rightful place on the wall, soon to have its cabling concealed. We got a nice little rug for in front of the couch. Oh, and we got our new leather couch. I can say easily that it is the nicest couch I have ever owned. It is comfortable, sturdy, and the reclining is motorized, so it can be set to any amount of recline you would like. Turn on the fireplace, dim the lights, and it is a welcome retreat after a long day. We moved the old couch to the sitting area of the living room, and it looks good there too.

Dining Room: Painting is done. Mostly. I spent a weekend and did a few coats across the whole room, and it looks very good. A bit of touching up, and cleaning up some blotchy areas on the ceiling left to do as well as painting the trim. Once that is done, we can start to clear up the protective plastic, and make it less of a construction site.

Laundry room: Is now a laundry room! We installed the stacking front loading washer/dryer and once again we can have clean clothes, without a trip to a laundromat. Much nicer.

Bathroom: this is definitely the focal point of the work. Dan and Shelley came back several times, and helped us get the tile put down in the whole room, as well as grouting, and then caulking everything. It looks great. Just have to put baseboards in. We also have a toilet and working sink. And as for the centerpiece, we have a working tub!! The unfortunate hole has been repaired, and you can’t even tell it was ever there. The jets all function, and water only leaves by its intended route. Once we seal the grout we can start bringing in furniture and decorations, Leah tried out a couple things and this is gonna be a nice room.

That’s all I can think of for now. I have the feeling like I’m forgetting something, but I can’t seem to think of what.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m glad I’m getting these updates done. However I should put a disclaimer here, I am pretty tired. I think these sentences are making sense, but for all I know it’s a random bunch of letters going up here. But I suppose if that’s the case, than you can’t understand this disclaimer. So there’s that.

Week six. This was a very, very important week. We passed a major milestone, and I can pretty safely say, that in the 133 year history of this building, it was a first.

Ladies and gentleman, we have a working shower. That’s right, the bathroom floor may, as of this posting, still be plywood, but there is a handle, and when you turn it, water comes out, and then goes into a hole in the floor. It’s amazing how important the simple things are to just feeling comfortable.

Anyway, lots of other stuff happened too. Another big one is that this week is technically the last week of contractors. Pretty much everything from now on, other than a few last-minute items, is up to Leah and myself, and anybody good enough to help us.

So I already mentioned the shower. Leah and I applied the grout after my parents left. It was our first time grouting. For those planning a project, I do not recommend learning how to grout on a wall. It is not fun. Or clean. Or calming. It does however, look pretty good, considering the mess we made. The next day they tried to install the shower handle, but found that the box was missing a major piece. We had bought the faucet set in a clearance section, but it looked like everything was there.WE took a drive to Rona and they were nice enough to provide a replacement part.

When we returned, we were happy to see that the part fit. But we also noticed that it was missing the two screws required to install it. I went on a treasure hunt through our many, many piles of screws, and managed to find a screw with the right thread, but it was too long. I cut off the excess, and promptly dropped it into the drain. Seriously. Don’t cut small things over a drain, should be taught right after measure twice, cut one. It should probably be common sense, that’s more likely. Anyway, another treasure hunt and I found another one that fit. I think it was from the old furnaces, and it will be one of the few things that still had the original shade of pink on it on the house. Got the handle installed, and tested the water.

The next day we came home to find the glass installed, and it looks great. We were a little nervous that the design of the shower would not keep the water in, but after using it, it does a fine job.

In other plumbing news, we also have an outside hose, which has made cleaning and prepping painting and tiling a million times easier. Which reminds me, I also primed and painted the whole bathroom. I almost forgot about that. That happened before the shower glass went up.

Another exciting thing to come home to was the electrical work being completed. We ran around like kids turning lights on and off. After a few days coming home to bad news, it was refreshing to feel excited about what got done. With the electrical being done, it wasn’t long till the tv and entertainment stuff made its way downstairs. Not that we have much time to sit and watch tv, but its nice to know it’s there.

The living room and bedroom taking shape has been a major inspiration to keep working. Doorknobs have been installed, the pocket door is in, trim is mounted. It is really starting to feel like home. We also got some of the displaced appliances out of the kitchen, putting one into a utility closet Leah tiled.

Speaking of tile. Since my parents were not able to help with the tile on their visit, Dan and Shelley once again have earned our gratitude, coming over several times to help. The first trip ended without much getting done, as we discovered a problem in the bathtub box that would have likely caused tiles to crack. After that was fixed they returned and over the next couple evenings, we have gotten the bathtub box tiled. We still have to grout (tomorrow) and tile the floor, but it is going pretty smooth.

Again, Dan & Shelley, you guys are awesome.

So this weekend Leah and I are planning on painting the dining room, grouting the bathtub, and getting some stuff organized. Once the dining room is painted, we can hopefully take a break from rollers and brushes for a bit. There is still much to paint, but other things need to get done before that.

Sorry again for not posting more, I’ll try to keep on top of it better.

 

 

 

 

See, I told you I’d eventually get to updating! We have literally been working on the place every spare moment we have, and by the time we are done, I have been far too wiped to even think about writing.

Since I havent been able to update daily, the pictures have built up quite a bit, but the daily excitement (or frustration) has had some time to dwindle down, as the next days excitement (or frustration) takes it place. What I do know is that we have gotten an enormous amount done.

We started the week with a setback. On any construction site there are bound to be mishaps. Unfortunately, our involved our new tub. During the installation, somehow a screw managed to puncture the bottom. Since it was a special order tub, it’s not like we could just go get one off the shelf. We are told it can be fixed, and are anxious to see that sorted out. The next day,  Leah’s brother Dan came back and sprayed the living room and bedroom with primer. We got it all prepped and he got the whole thing done fast. The next morning it was surreal, since everything in the room was the same shade of white. Later Shelley came with some helpers and put a few coats of blue on and got the ceiling pretty much done too. Shelley also mowed the lawn. Dan and Shelley are Awesome.

Outside, they started getting the siding in place, and it makes a big difference, rather than looking like a shed it is starting to look like a house.

After letting the paint dry, we were excited to get our bedroom stuff setup. We got the floor scraped and washed and not long after we were moved into our new bedroom! It was a great feeling to be sleeping in our own bed, let alone not be sleeping on an air mattress.

The other reason it was good to not be sleeping in the air mattress, was that we needed to free it up for company! My parents came down to spend the long weekend helping us get stuff done, and did they ever! The original plan was to have them come down and get the tiling done, but since the bathtub was damaged, we couldn’t do that. We decided that just the shower stall would get tiled this weekend, and we’d find other stuff to do.

We ran into a setback that required the shower base to be removed and reinstalled, but after that my mom was able to get the tile on and it looks great. She also took the pink support posts and transformed them into majestic marble pillars, with elements of colour from the rooms they are in. They look amazing, and I think they will be a centre piece for years to come.

My dad an I got a majority of the lighting installed, as well as reinstalling the shower base, which took the better part of a day. Having an electrician for a dad is very handy. Leah and I were having trouble getting the lighting fixtures for the dining room to, well, stay on the ceiling. They are somewhat heavier than the ones that were there.

After my parents returned home, I got the closet systems installed. We bought two kits from home depot and they are great. I haven’t had a proper dresser in a ling time, so this is new for me.

That’s about all I can remember for week 5. I’m going to try and get the update for this last week done now too, so stay tuned.

 

 

Sorry again. I haven’t been updating frequently as I should. We have been working like mad. My parents came down for the long weekend to help paint. We also now have a bedroom and a tiled shower! Anyhow, I promise I’ll have a proper update soon, I just need to stop working for a few minutes!

I have to apologize for not posting more. It has been very difficult to find the time, as this last week we were in the process of emptying the apartment, and finally moving into our new home. This hectic schedule means I have a camera full of pictures, but haven’t had a chance to even upload them to my computer, let alone sit down and write a post.

So I also have to apologize for the lack of pictures in this post too, I guess. Cause right now, there aren’t any.

That being said, there has been some great progress over the last 5 days. On Thursday night Leah and I stayed at the church till 2AM, priming and then painting the box for our fireplace, so it would be ready for delivery the next day. Leah was there to see them put it in and said it went well. It looks great, even without the mantle, which we will be adding after all the other construction is completed. We turned it on, and are very happy with it. It will be very nice to have in the winter, and makes a great centerpiece for the living room.

In the bathroom, they have completed the insulation and drywall is going up. It looks like it will be pretty comfortable. The base for the shower stall is in, but they still have to build the box for the tub. I had some plumbing adventures of my own over the last few days, as I tried to diagnose and repair the toilet in the other bath room. I am not a fan of plumbing.

The bedroom and living room drywall is almost completed and as I write this, I think they are sanding it, so we might be able to start painting soon! Having those rooms completed will be a huge milestone, as we can start to empty the upstairs and get furniture delivered.

The other big milestone is that as of yesterday, we are completely moved in! We turned in the keys to our transitional apartment, and have spent the last two nights, albeit on the floor of the office on an air mattress. Our bedroom set, though in the building, is covered with a tarp until the drywall and painting is done.

It is such a relief to not be living in two places anymore. There is nothing more frustrating then looking for something only to realize it is at the other house, then having to plan a trip to get it, only to realize something you need for that place is back at the first place. Plus the trip ever goes as planned, and you usually end up spending an extra hour or two on something you weren’t expecting. Now that we are completely in the church, we can head straight there after work, and hopefully get a quicker start. We have also had two successful commutes into work, and it takes exactly as long as we were expecting, barring some big traffic problem.

Anyway, that’s all I can think of for now, when we left this morning there was a pile of new siding, so maybe the outside will have a new look to it when we get back.

UPDATE – I found time, here’s a few pics:

Mike here again from the office in Fingal. We’ve had another busy week so far of day job followed by getting as much done as we can on the church. I have been heading home at 4:30, throwing as much stuff as I can into the van, then picking up Leah at 5 and of to the church. Leah has done a bunch more sorting the kitchen, and it is really starting to feel like home. Some of our food has even made the journey!

Construction wise, it’s tough to list progress on a day by day basis, so I’ll try splitting it into parts of the project:

The Bathroom Extension

The bathroom extension is really coming along now. For a while it felt like it was slowing down, mostly because we aren’t there to see all the work going into it; I imagine there is a lot that goes into framing an external addition that I don’t know about. We have now got a full set of shingles on the roof, as well as the plumbing roughed in for our new bathtub and shower (can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait!). The electrical is roughed in as well, and the whole space has been insulated. There is also an attic door that wasn’t there before, plus the bathroom fan now vents outside, rather than into said attic.

The Dining Room

After our adventure in spraying the ceiling with paint last week, Leah and I finished priming most of the walls we could. After a trip to Home Depot for some very heavy buckets (barrels is more like it!) of paint, we also got a first coat of colour on the east wall. It went very well. I think I may be finding my groove with this painting game. Just in time too, there’s plenty left to paint. We did what we could, but stopped short of where the old furnace had been removed from, as it needed drywall to be completed, which as of today has been completed, so we will likely finish this room up soon. We also have to prime the new wall, which we will likely use the sprayer for, as it is very, very fast.

The Living Room

A lot of drywall has gone up in here this week. They framed in the dropped ceiling, and have the drywall and mudding done on half of it, as well as the mudding and drywall on all the walls and the fireplace. Just needs to be sanded, and we are ready to paint here too. Good thing, cause they are coming to install the rest of the fireplace in a few days!

Plumbing

In addition to the plumbing for the bathroom being roughed in, we also had some plumbing added to get to the new laundry room. After a couple days with no drainage hooked up, it was a relief to be able to wash dished and use our new air conditioners without having to empty a bucket several times a day. I think the washer and dryer set we picked out will fit in nicely in this room.

That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure I’m forgetting something. The last month has been a surreal whirlwind of activity, and living in two places is starting to get old to say the least. But we should be able to really call this place home soon. Not that that means the work will be done, but it will mean a shorter walk to the bed at the end of a long day!

;

Hello again! Mike here writing this post from our new office! Leah is up in her fenced off desk area (she prefers “raised office area”). I’m watching a Ray Charles concert DVD (yay for unpacking and finding things I forgot I had!) and Leah is looking at colour swatches. She is making me nervous.

Sorry about the lack of posting in the last few days. Our internet connection was moved to the church at the beginning of the week, but we were still living at the apartment. In addition we are back in full swing to our 9-5 day jobs, and by the time we get here all the contractors have left, so we have to piece together what got done by what looks different, which isnt always an indicator of everything that happened.

Even though we only had a few hours a day to work, we still got a lot done.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Leah’s Brother Dan and his wife Shelley came out and helped us both paint the ceiling in the dining room and sort out the amazing amount of dishes that were left here.

I helped Dan mostly, and unfortunately there aren’t any pictures yet of the sprayer in action. If you had seen us after we were done, you would understand why, spraying a ceiling means a lot of paint everywhere else too. I didn’t want to get any in my camera.

Despite the large amount of prep that goes into spraying paint, it is amazingly quick when you get going. We had the whole section of ceiling covered in under a half hour, for both coats. A quick touch up with the roller and we were done. Now its just the walls.

I can’t wait to be done painting.

Leah and Shelley in the meantime went through and organized the kitchen. We were able to dramatically thin down the dishes. Which is good, as we need room for food!

I’d like to take this chance to again thank Dan and Shelley so much for their help, it really has gone a long way!

On Friday, Leah and I headed to the apartment right after work and started packing. I managed to get my office workstation dismantled and packed, and Leah got a bunch ready from the kitchen. After we filled the van, we drove to the church and unloaded it.

On the construction front, the guys from Lake Excavating have dug, installed and covered up our new septic system! Two days, that’s all it took. It doesn’t look like much (we have yet to name the new mountain in our yard), but I guess if you can see your septic system, that would mean there is something wrong. We also had a plumber out Friday and he started getting the drains done

The guys from Construct 3 did more work on the bathroom extension and the drywall. The walls for our bedroom and living room are now drywall and taping and mudding has begun! Our electrician was back and started roughing in the bathroom electrical. With the drywall up, I roughed in my installation for the speaker ports and network jacks in the living room.

On Saturday we got up early for a meeting at the bank, and then headed back to the apartment. I got my desk dismantled, and packed several boxes, while Leah got more form the kitchen and office ready to go. Once we got it to the church, I started working on setting up our desks. A friend gave us some old cabinets they weren’t using and one of them  fit perfectly in the spot where Leah will have her desk. I don’t have my networking finished, but we are able to use our wireless well enough from here. In fact considering how horrible cell reception is in the building, the wifi does a really good job everywhere.

While I was upstairs Leah did an amazing job of consolidating dishes we don’t need, while unpacking and organizing all of our stuff. This kitchen is gonna be great.

It sucks to be missing Home County Folk Festival (Joel Plaskett was tonight) but it is worth it to see so much progress. Having our offices functioning is a major milestone, since we will be spending a lot of time in here.

Even though we missed the festival, we did have some music. I packed my trumpet and last night took it for a spin in the main hall. It sounds awesome. I can’t wait for some of the jam sessions we are gonna have here.

We are likely gonna do more moving and painting tomorrow, then back to the grind. Now that I have an office again I’ll try to post more frequently.

Thanks everybody for reading, I hope you are enjoying our adventure!

 

Today was the first day since the third of July that we didn’t go to the church. It was apparently also the hottest day in recorded history. Since we now have working air conditioning at the church, it would have made sense to go there, in hindsight.

Instead, we took a much needed culture break. A friend of ours, Jeremy Smith of the Driftwood Theatre Company, was in town with his Bard Bus Tour. They put on an amazing outdoor (and musical!) production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night Dream.” It was nice to take some time to sit and enjoy some great theatre. If Jeremy’s tour is coming your way, I highly reccomend it.

Speaking of recommendations, I updated the links page on this site as well, so you can find some of the contractors and service providers we are using for this project. Everybody on this page has been great, and if we ever do something crazy like this again, we would be glad to deal with them.

Remember when you were a kid, and you got some awesome toy, but you had to leave it at home when you went to school? That’s what today was like. After spending every day for the last two weeks at the church, it was very hard to be away all day, and not be able to watch everything progress.

That being said, it was also kind of cool to show up and see all the changes. After work we rushed home to grab some things, then straight to Fingal. Lake Excavating began working today, and it looks like they got a lot done. They dug out the old septic tank, as well as putting in the new one, and they started preparing the raised bed. Its going to change the look of the property quite a bit, but it should be worth it.

The guys from Construct 3 did more work on the bathroom. They took off the old shed door, and framed the roof extension. I’m excited to see this room come together.

By the time we got there, all the workers had gone, so we worked on prepping the dining room hall for the painting of the ceiling, which will be done with a sprayer. Leah’s brother Dan came by with some friends to drop of the sprayer and check out the place. He’s going to come back and help us get it working. Hopefully it makes quick work of the job.

After that Leah and I started working in the kitchen, getting an idea of what was there as far as dishes and what we might use or not. We managed to get a few boxes unpacked and put in place, but there is still quite a bit to go.

We also had our internet connection moved from the apartment to the church, so I got us setup with wifi. That way we can have some level of connectivity while in the building, which will be nice. I also used the wifi to have a “facetime” conversation with my parents back in Sudbury, and gave them a video tour of the place.

Today we are going to pick up more paint, and try to get some packing of the apartment done. We have two weeks before we have to be moved out, so we should be able to get everything done in the van, a little at a time.

Well here we are, the last day of our holidays. Two weeks sure flies by when you are in renovation mode. Tomorrow we head back to our 9 to 5’s, then straight back to the church to see what progress has been done.

Today it was just Leah and me, and we managed to get through a lot.

We started with a trip to the laundromat, as we are in dire need of clothes for work. Afterwards we headed to the church.

I started by taking down the lighting fixtures in the dining room area, getting ready to paint the ceiling and whiten it up. Afterwards I tried to tidy up a bit, moving things out of the room that didn’t need to be there.

Meanwhile, Leah was upstairs painting the doors in the office, and cleaning up the painters tape from the now completed paint job there.

After a quick break for lunch, we both worked downstairs, covering the windows and the wainscoting. We are going to be using a paint sprayer, so we don’t want any to go where it isn’t supposed to. That means covering up pretty much everything we don’t want to be white. It apparently makes the painting go much faster, but there is a lot more prep and cleanup.

Once we finished that up I went upstairs to survey the boxes, getting re-acquainted with our stuff that has been locked away in storage for the last six months. I’m glad I did. I found a Christmas gift I had gotten Leah in 2010, specifically for when we finally moved into the church. While Leah was still downstairs I assembled her gifts and placed them on the stage then went to get her. She’s pretty clever, and had a good idea as to what I was up to. She liked them just the same. It was nice to see something from what seems like a long time ago put into the place it was intended.

After that we locked up and headed back to the apartment. We will likely both have pretty long days at work tomorrow, and hopefully progress is fast at the church. They are starting on the septic system tomorrow, so maybe we can have our occupancy permit by the end of the week. Also, our internet is supposed to be getting hooked up, which means we will have some connectivity, other than holding our phones in the air hoping to catch a 3G signal.