I'm not the one who needs the straight jacket!

I think it's all of the wonderful people I have been working with on this kitchen (now main floor, stairs and hallway) reno.   I'm sure I've been driving them all nuts with my indecision, plan changing, generally neurotic tendencies and they will be in need of the padded walls and straight jacket.  Here are my guys Todd, Dave, Josh and Scott - you may have also seen them on Leave it to Bryan. They are contractor superstars! 

Funny, it's SOOOO much harder to design your own space.  I think it might be a case of knowing too much about all of the amazing products out there and having a hard time choosing one?  Who knows...I just know I'm so much better with someone other than myself as a client!  But, you'll be relieved to know I have made a lot of final decisions and they are all getting installed as I write.

For example, I've picked my floor.   I went with Marmoleum Click in 1' x 3' sheets from E-Floor in a black and grey stripe pattern.  My husband installed it and we are thrilled with the results.  

 

It didn't start out well - after four sheets and about a thousand cuss words he smashed his thumb.  It ended up swelling so much he had to go to the hospital and have the nail pierced and the blood drained.  Important thing to remember from this: Nails don't feel pain, so it's not nearly as bad as it sounds!  I must add that I was a great supportive help through the whole thing - I kept reminding him that there were children on either side of our house, not to mention our own, and dropping the F-bomb as often as he did was TOTALLY inappropriate.  For those of you who know me, you are probably thinking I will be struck by lightening for saying this.  Might I remind you - I am very aware of the right time and place for swearing (mostly!).

We've also got a backsplash that's up, just not grouted.  It will be soon though - right Todd?  I'd also like to say a a special thank you to John at Beyond Tile & Stone who has been driven particularly nuts by me, but hasn't said a word about it (at least to me).  Such restraint!  And so helpful!

 

And hardware - done!  Went with two types from Lee Valley Tools and you couldn't beat the price.  I know it's great to splurge on hardware, but, I think this stuff just looks like I splurged.

And fabric for the roman blind - I received it today!  Here's a sneak peak before it's made:

 

And lights...I'll wait to show you those in the big reveal.  Some of them won't make sense until you see it all pulled together.  My electrician Paul from RK Electric is questioning my design ability after seeing one of my choices, but, that's okay.  I'm used to being second guessed, and he usually comes around after it's all installed. He also deserves a huge thank you after re-wiring almost my entire house unexpectedly.  Who knew knob and tube would be rampant throughout my house?  Well, I did, but was hoping for the best.  

That's it for now.  Can't wait to share the final reveal with you.  It won't be long now.  Floor, cabinets, some counter and backsplash installed, it's only a matter of days now.   So grateful for my new kitchen and all the people that helped make it happen.  But, the biggest thank you goes to my husband.   We couldn't have done it without all of your hard work, injury and swearing! 

We're getting there...

At least that's what I keep telling myself.  We've had a mild case of the "project creep" around here.  Actually, I haven't, but my husband sure has.  All of a sudden we "need" to take down all of the plaster and lathe so we can insulate the exterior walls.  Sure, it is economical in the long run, but, my countertop budget is getting smaller! We don't freeze in the Winter, it's just a little chilly.  And we are replacing the windows next year.  I didn't see the big deal - put on a sweater! Plus, all of this happened while I was keeping the kids away up North.  And how convenient that I couldn't get in touch with my husband until it had already happened.  That's what I get for leaving my husband and my electriciam alone - now they are in cahoots!

But, the good news...My stairs are supported!  The supporting wall is a little bigger than I had wanted, but, I removed an 18" base cabinet from the island and now it all works. 

See that...new drywall EVERYWHERE.

And look at how amazing the sun is coming through the kitchen window.  It will be so nice to have that spilling into the entire main floor with that wall removed. 

 And finally...my inspiration page.   If you check out my Pinterest page, you may have seen some of these images.  But, for those of you who don't (and I honestly think you should!) here you go:

Anyway, the end is getting so near and I'm so excited to share it with you.   In the meantime, I'm questioning my sanity.  For someone who loves colour as much as I do, I can't believe I have just decided to paint white.  It's the first time in my entire life and I'm feeling a little nervous.  White cabinets, white backsplash, white walls - maybe all that's left are padded walls and a straight jacket?  We'll know soon enough....

It ain't a reno if it ain't got that porn...

Wow! Living in the house while renovating really sucks.  Not just because of all of the hideous dust, but I can look at all of the frightening issues all of the time.   This post is just going to be highlighting the horrible things people do to houses.

Tying in knob and tube to ANYTHING is wrong:

 

Letting your stairs float from the second floor to the main floor.  As a general rule in houses: Most things, especially stairs, need structural support.  I'm not sure why this one seems to be forgotten so often.  The entire weight of my stairs is being supported by the stringer, and not tied into much else.  Take a look:

 

And most recently, someone (not us, I assure you!) installed potlights the WRONG way. I don't know all of the technical terminology for this, but there is supposed to be a plastic ring that protects the wire where it goes into the fixture (heaven knows I heard this spoken about enough, right Bryan?).  Here is what you shouldn't do:

And here is my favourite:

This is not a load-bearing wall.  However, it doesn't mean you should take any scrap of wood lying around and stick them together and call it a wall.  This is pure craziness.   This wall is why I need to apologize to my husband - Christopher, I am sorry for all of those times I nagged and criticized you for not being able to find a stud.  I take back any nasty comment about the number of holes you put in the wall trying to hang anything up.  Now I understand why and I am sorry I ever thought it was you (at least for most circumstances). 

And last but not least, it is great what you can find buried in old walls.  We found these stashed in the joist bay of the basement:

I'm hoping the birthday card from "Mom" that accompanied it came from a different present and just got caught up in the stash.  It would be kind of odd if this person's Mom was giving him porn for his birthday, wouldn't it?

All this to say, this is definitely not the worst house I've seen, which is slightly comforting.  Keep in mind the houses I have seen have had to be bad enough to make it onto television so they were pretty bad.  So really, maybe mine is horrible and I'm just de-sensitized?  I'm going to go with not that bad and trust what my wonderful contractors Todd and Scott are saying. 

Tune in next time to hear what Paul, my electrician, has to say.  And I promise to start posting some pretty pictures.  I'll make next post my "Inspiration" post.  Until then, take care!

My Kitchen is a Dump (But not for long!)

Hear ye! Hear ye!  The renovation of my very own kitchen has begun.  That may not be exciting news to you, but I've been waiting four years for this.   My kitchen has been an embarrassment to me as an Interior Designer. Not that I picked the hideous tiles circa 1978 or the peach-flecked wall tiles that don't even match (not that matching the floor would have made things better).  Here, have a look for yourself:                                              (Obviously a little messier than normal - hey! We're renovating...)                         

Anyway, we were all ready to start gutting it and discovered asbestos around the ductwork in the wall we are removing.  If it's going to stay in your wall, it's not such a big deal but exposing it to the house (and the kids) was the big concern.  Therefore, we did the job properly and called in the experts to test it, as well as the plaster.  We have a pretty old house, so anything is possible.  

Fortunately, we just had to have an abatement (proper removal of hazardous materials) .  I use the word "just" lightly because having a mold or asbestos abatement can be intrusive and very costly.   For example, I asked how much it would have cost if we had found asbestos in the plaster and I was told anywhere between $20,000-$30,000 to remove everything.                                                                                                                           (Where the duct was removed - take note of the craftmanship of the stud; not good foreshadowing for the rest of the renovation)

On that note, thanks a bunch Tara from Environmental Services Group and Mark from Kryztiuk Contracting Inc. for your help in managing our asbestos issue.  I will sleep easier knowing we did it properly. This may not be the exciting part, but, it is definitely a part I enjoy - knowing we are taking care of things and making our house safe again for ourselves and most importantly our children.   

The fun part is almost here.  I can't wait to show you the floors I have chosen (Marmoleum), the countertops (Butcher block AND Quartz), the cabinets (Ikea, Adel - yes, I really do love Ikea cabinets and you can't beat the price!) and the penny round backsplash.  

I will share all of my excitement, trials and tribulations.  I might even tell you about some of the arguments I have with my husband. Like the one today when I asked him not to demolish the floors just yet because it takes longer than the 2 hours we had to remove 4 layers of flooring and concrete.   Plus, who wants a two and a five-year old running around in that sort of mess?  He eventually relented and saw my point.  And if you are thinking "happy wife, happy life" please spare me and keep it to yourself.  I hate that expression (even if there is a slight possibility it is true!).                                                                                                                                           (Does this LOOK like an easy floor to remove?  I didn't think so.  I love you Christopher xo)

I could go on and on, and I probably will, so check back regularly to see how it goes.  Take care!

Build up to built-ins

My husband is insisting that he build our built-ins for our bedroom. He's not a cabinet maker or woodworker, but it is definitely an interest. However, he doesn't have a lot of experience (and quite honestly, he doesn't like to take advice from "someone" who has taken a few courses in furniture design!). Therefore, I'm not so keen on the idea. But we reached an agreement: he could try it out first with some side tables for our couch. It took a couple of attempts before I suggested we use the extra drawers from the piece we have (above photo). Then, he built a box around them, added a shelf, threw on some vintage legs and...

Voila! We have side tables...

All in all, he did a great job. There were a couple of heated discussions about it, but we are stronger because of it - I think? I picked a bright colour because I wanted to punch it up and who doesn't like yellow right now? When I'm tired of yellow, I'll just paint it again. This is partly why I didn't want to invest in something too expensive because I like to change things up a lot. So, this was re-using something we already had and enabling us to have it for a long time. Unless it falls apart...which it probably NEVER will because of the sheer amount of glue holding it together. And yes, he is allowed to do the built-ins - he promised less glue and better use of proper wood joints! I will keep you posted on the results....