We're so close!!

Here are some of the latest and greatest. We still need to get a few things for the bathroom (mirror, towel rack, etc.) but we're pretty darn close! I'm really happy with how it looks. The wallpaper turned out so well.

The kitchen just needs a few little things as well (we're still deciding if we want a backsplash or not and a few little trim ideas). Other than that, we can move on to the next thing on the list. Just Kidding Simon!!

Looking forward to having many of you over for cocktails soon!! xx

Where were you on Wednesday at 7.30 AM??

Well, here's where we were! We picked out our marble slabs at Margranite in Burnaby. Caprice Countertops from Richmond is doing the fabrication for us. Me being me, I wanted to pick out the exact slabs for us to have. No easy feat when there are a 600 to choose from! We looked at a lot and finally settled on a three beautiful slabs of Bianco Statuarietto Marble - it's gorgeous!!

They are being installed on Wednesday the 22nd. Plumbing them happens on the 23rd. Then it's just lights and backsplash. Then we're DONE! :)

We're getting closer...

So much has happened in the last few days!

We've got cabinets, we've got lights, we've got a range, we've got laundry again!

We've got a toilet in the powder room!

Monday saw the installation of our cabinets from JMV Woodworks. Our main contact there Jon was fantastic. He really hit the nail of what we wanted to do and we're thrilled with the results. There are some little niggly things to fix, but we're in pretty good shape. One of the things that needs to be fixed is the cabinets in powder room. We went through the handle placement with our installer, but unfortunately he installed them incorrectly. New cabinet doors have to be cut, stained and installed. The installer probably got an ear full when he got back to the shop!

Next up was the electrician. All pot lights and puck lights in the cabinets were installed. Also, all the in floor heating was connected and it feels fantastic!

Then the gas installer came and we've now got a range! We can cook!!

We met with the counter top guy after work and we should have our counter tops in 3 weeks. Shortly thereafter we'll get the sink and everything else can then be installed. Sink, faucets, dishwasher, water and ice in the fridge.

Still waiting on the wallpaper (so we can finish the bathroom) and the pendant lights... stay tuned for more!!

Looking forward to putting everything in the cabinets this weekend!!

Sunday AM Update

So does the bathroom wallpaper look like Mick Jagger should be in there with the rest of the Stones or what? We had fun (insert sarcasm here) putting up this crazy pattern. There was A LOT of waste due to the pattern match so we are short... which I'm so angry about!! There is a three week lead time on this wallpaper and now we're going to have to install the rest later. At least we were able to do the bits behind where the cabinet is being installed, so this won't be held up. Other news is that the floor looks FABULOUS. We're really happy about it. We really wanted to mimic the look of poured concrete but knew that actually doing this was a) super expensive and b) not the best idea in an older house as shifting can occur. So we got these great tiles and we love them.

I was up at the crack of dawn to hit the Gardenworks 'Sunup to Sundown' Sale that started at 5.22 AM Saturday morning. I got some lavender for the front and some bamboo for the side of the house. The plan is to plant it against the neighbours concrete wall so that we are not staring at it while standing at the kichen sink. Should be covered in a year or so!

Well, it's off to the backyard again to do a little work. Roses need to be cut back to bloom again, tomato flowers need to be pinched off... it just never slows down in the burbs!!

Big Saturday continues...wallpaper and paint job

Big Weekend is underway

Here's a taste, more to come...

Paint Paint Everywhere

Tonight we painted! We primed all the drywall and all the mudded parts. We also filled any little holes we found. Simon painted the ceiling... a really tough job!

And I did all the little bits. Tomorrow the final little pieces of tile go in and then the grout goes in on Friday. On Saturday we'll do the actual colours. White (I know, I know, but it's our thang!) and grey - I know, it's a variation on white, but hey, it's a colour!! :)

Earlier in the day we went to Margranite in Burnaby and picked out our countertops. We went with a gorgeous Staturietto (totally spelled incorrectly). It has beautiful veining and I can't wait to have it installed. Caprice Countertops is fabricating and they will come next week for final measurements.

Monday is the big day!! The cabinets arrive and will be installed over Monday and Tuesday.

We're getting closer...

Finally Floors

Today the flooring went in! Ernie started the flooring and it looks fabulous! The tiles are from Olympia Tile in Burnaby. We really wanted to go for a concrete look and so we selected 2 x 1 foot grey tiles. They will hide the dirt and since we put in the in floor heating, they'll keep us toasty warm. Plus they look fantastic already!

The drywall has almost all been mudded now. We had pot lights put in the ceiling and all the electrical outlets were moved horizontal and some into new locations. We also had to install the pendant lights and a transformer for the lights in the cabinets. The drywall needed to be replaced where the old cabinets were and where the half walls were needed to be replaced as well. Also, because we moved the window over 3 inches, some drywalling and corner beading was needed. Same with the pass through. Because we purchased a wider fridge, the pass through needed to be brought in 2' inches. All of these small things will make such a big difference!! I hope we can start painting soon, as we've got lots of ground to cover before the cabinets are installed on the 22nd. I CAN"T WAIT!!

In other news... we selected our pendant lights last weekend and they should be here in two weeks. We purchased from The Light Store on Broadway. After checking out literally a thousand different styles, colours and shades we decided to go with a gorgeous glass from Italy. We had to make the decision from a photo so here's hoping the colour looks as good in real life as it does in the photo!

This weekend was a big weekend for the yard. We trimmed back everything. Simon did the hedges in the front. I did the tree on the side and all the greenery on the side of the house. We also spent some time with our little tomatoes, urging them to grow, grow, grow!!

The heat is on

The heating coils for the flextherm heated floors were installed over the weekend and Ernie laid the leveling compound yesterday. Things are actually moving along! The only downside is that we can't use the laundry tub for a few days, and that's where we were doing the dishes! Looks like everything goes to the bathroom sink upstairs...

In other news, Simon found a "communal raccoon latrine" along the side of the house. After cleaning it up and blocking it off with fence posts, he went to Rona and purchased chicken wire and some galvanized metal stakes so he can strategically cover parts of the flower beds and garden. If this doesn't work he is moving to phase 2 of 'Operation: Garden Storm'...razor wire. Stay tuned...

Tiles and Windows and Lights oh my!

This weekend we crossed A LOT off our list!

Ernie, our carpenter extraordinaire installed the new kitchen window. While we didn’t initially plan for a new window, we replaced it for a number of reasons. One, if we didn’t do it now, we’d be stuck with a 25 year old brown metal window in our gleaming new white kitchen. I didn’t want to look at it for years to come and say ‘why the heck didn’t we just replace it?’. Two by moving the window over a whopping three inches, we gained enough room to get a bigger lazy susan. How glorious! (Said a bit cheeky.) Seriously, it made a lot of sense. So, now we’ve got a new window. Just need to finish the siding, give it a quick paint (which we’re doing ourselves to try and keep costs down) and Viola! A gorgeous new window!

Next off the list were door handles. Again, new doors were not something we planned, but it makes sense to replace them now, when we’re redoing the trim around every door. Also, we’re replacing from the four panel old school, more traditional look – to a plain door. This obviously necessitated new door handles. Out with the brass and porcelain old ones! We found exactly what we wanted at Windsor Plywood on Marine Drive in North Van. We were in and out in less than 10 minutes.

Next was to Full House http://www.fullhouseconsign.com/index.php  where we purchased 8 dining room chairs. I had my name down for the next shipment of original Arne Jacobsen Series 7 chairs with arms from Denmark. Two – Three times a year Full House sends a buyer over the Denmark and they come back with a container or two. This time they came back with 8 gorgeous chairs!

After loading up the car it was off to the Light Store http://www.lightthestore.com/ on West 41^st to look at pot and pendant lights. Our cabinets are coming with puck lights already, so we are just on the hunt for ceiling lights. We started off looking at pot lights and quickly learned that the least expensive ones were $30 and the mid-range go for $60 a piece. Considering that we needed sixteen of them (enough for the kitchen, TV Room, laundry room and bathroom) we had a small heart attack and then moved on to the pendant lights. We narrowed it down to three choices. We still have some digging to do, but it was a great first start. On the way home we decided to stop at RONA to see about the cost of their pot lights. We ended up purchasing 8 for $65!! We got all 16 we needed for $130!! And they look fabulous!! It just goes to show that you can get good stuff at your local DIY – you just have to do the research and know what you are looking for.

This week the rough in for the gas and some plumbing goes in. Then the re-dry walling with happen. By the end of next week we should have heated tile floors!!

 

Well, since this is the only place that isn't covered with dishes, pots, pans, laundry stuff and drywall dust, I decided to have my dinner on the steps tonight. Yes, that's right, you are seeing me eat Ben & Jerry's newest flavour, 'If I had a Million Flavours' for dinner. Beside me is my iphone and my cheque book (which I am spending a lot of time with these days with the reno and all that). 

Later Simon joined for a Romantic dinner of... more ice cream. I could get used to this reno thing!! 

Seriously though, today saw a little movement on the organization side of things. Kitchen and Bath Classics called and all of our stuff is ready to be picked up. We also spoke with Midland Appliances and they will be sending out someone to look at our dishdrawer as we've having a hard time shutting the top drawer and want thm to take a peek at it. No other news really. Oh, except, tomorrow night will be Cherry Garcia...

Ah the Sweet Sounds of the Burbs...

So after our exhausting day of ripping apart 1/2 of our main floor of the house, we fell into bed ready for a good nights' sleep. At about midnight we both woke up to the sounds of something horrible. It literally sounded like someone was being mauled to death my a lion. I actually thought it was videogame sound design taken way over the top! When I realized it wasn't i threw on my shoes and ran out the back. I couldn't see what it was over our fence but realized it was coming from the neighbour's backyard. At this point I though maybe they had got a pit bull or some kind of crazy dog. I grabbed a kitchen stool and took it outside. At this point the neighbour also came out of her house. She didn't know what it was either and it was so dark that neither of us could see anything. 

Once I got up on the stool I could see that it was two racoons! 

They were having an insane fight right there in her backyard. We quickly dispersed the buggers and went back to bed. Wildlife in the suburbs!!

The Demolition Begins!

We ripped out all of our cabinets, sink, countertop, baseboards and lino. We also pulled out the cabinet, sink, mirror and flooring out of the main floor bathroom. The laundry room also lost its lino today!!

To the left was the original kitchen. 

We started the day off with Simon going to Fontile to

 pick up our order of in-floor heating. After much research, we went with flextherm wire. While the nuheat matts are generally easier to install, they are about 1/3 more expensive. We were able to get everything that we needed to cover approx

 420 square feet (kitchen, bathroom & laundry room) for about $1625. For those of you that don't know costs for in-floor heating, that's a really good deal. Simon worked his magic on the

 salesperson and was able to get a 20% discount on the whole order!! Hurrah Simon!!

We had a plumber come to quote on the work that needs to be done. While he was here he cut the pipes in the kitchen so that we could knock the sink and garberator out later that morning. We watched him saw through the copper pipes and take everything apart. He placed all of his tools and towels under the sink while he was working. When he went to take some of the pipes outside, Simon decided it was the perfect time to clean the kitchen and dumpe

d his coffee into a sink without any pipes! All the plumber's stuff was covered with a latte! It was a great way to start the day (and the relationship with our new tradesperson!!) Needless to say,

 we mopped up all the coffee and it was groovy.

After then the reald fun began!!

Tommy showed up with his expertise and was instrumental in helping us. We started by pulling off all the doors and cutting all the electrical wires (to the garberator and the hood fan) to ensure we would be okay once we broke out the sledge hammer. 

Once this was done we started hammering away. It only took about three hours to pull all the cabinets down and lug everything up to the back

 gate. Ernie (our handyman extrordinaire) is going to take it all to the dump for us once he starts next week). Then we had to start pulling up the lino and getting rid of the wood veneer floor tiles in the bathroom. This was a BIG job. But necessary as we attempt to make the kitchen floor closer in level to the dining room. We ripped off the two layers of lino and we are now down to the plywood floorboards.

Right now our entire launrdry room, tv room, kitchen and bathroom are sitting in our dining room and living room. The dining room is filled with all our appliances. We've got a fisher&paykel french door fridge, their 36" inch 5 burner range and the rockin' dish drawer. It's going to look great!!

We can pick up all of our taps and sinks sometime next week, but I'm not keen to do so, as we don't have any more room. Ernie will start ripping out walls next week and the plumber will come back (without coffee this time!) and rough in the plumbing. We're moving the kitchen sink over three inches, along with the window to allow enough space for a lazy susan to be installed. The house is chock a block full, but it's never been more exciting!