Hired Help

Along this long and winding road to a completed renovation, we endeavored to do as much of the work (fun and backbreaking alike) as possible ourselves.

Well, I've had an epiphany. It's worth hiring skilled tradespeople who do a good job, fast and professionally. This may not be news to most of you, but it became abundantly clear to me when last weekend, we tried to paint our bathroom. It was frustrating, very difficult to do well and entirely unsatisfying work - it looked like crap - it looked like we did it ourselves.

I love our painters as only a woman who has cut her own ceilings unsuccessfully on a teetering, rickety ladder can love. They are a Godsend, and I would recommend them to anyone, anyday. Reasonable, professional, thoughtful, thorough, detailed and fast. What's not to love?

Here are some close-ups of the trim that they painted. Tye installed it with Leah and they did a lovely, very professional job - quite something given that there is not a square corner or plumb wall in the entire house. The trim came from a wonderful Canadian trim and moulding company called Brenlo. They were very helpful and gave us great service - as well as an account - and refunded us for all trim (over 3 ft long) that we didn't use.

This is an official shout out to all trades who we hired and did a superb job. We thank you for allowing us the privilege of paying you to do stuff we couldn't have done 1/2 well ourselves.

We were on the floor!

All of those days we spent wrecking our knees and scrubbing the floors during our Cinderella days finally paid off this past weekend.

We got the upstairs red oak floors fully prepared for coatings of polyurethane and applied 3 coats over 3 days with sanding and tack cloth cleaning in between. We used Minwax Fast Drying Clear and the floors look lovely. It was suprisingly easy and and didn't take very long at all. And what a sense of accomplishment we felt!

It was nice to finally do something that was fun to do and gave us a great feeling of achievement. We also felt good about our decision to keep the original flooring...while the floors are not perfect, the wood has lots of character and gives the rooms a nice warm glow. We even like that you can, if you know where to look, see the patch that the former owners put in the floor space that used to be occupied by a wood stove (pre-central heating).

Next, we are prepping for trim priming and painting and completion of painting the remaining rooms (bathroom and kitchen) and a few touch-ups. Oh, and it was my birthday on Sunday - so I got the day off! Thanks Jamie!

Northern Kitchen Exposure

Thanksgiving weekend we helped Jamie's parents set up their kitchen (see nearly finished kitchen with Robbie looking very satisfied) at the family cottage near Algonquin Park. Beaver Lodge is a beautiful cottage on a secluded lake nicely situated between crown land and the park. I've posted some pictures from the 2nd floor overlooking the lake at sunrise (left) and sunset (right).

The whole family came up to celebrate Thanksgiving and the weather cooperated nicely, so we had a productive and (later on) restful weekend.

It was great to see the Lodge and the product of all the hard work that has gone into its construction. It was a beautiful place to spend time and to enjoy the last beautiful days of Indian Summer which Mother Nature graced us with during this early Thanksgiving holiday.

ReStore Reduce Reuse and Recycling

Is it possible that as the end of this renovation approaches, that our progress loses momentum? We are getting down to the details - and it's not speeding things up. It's true that the devil's in the details.

Nonetheless, we did accomplish a few things over the weekend. We (mostly Jamie) installed the microwave/range. It looks fabulous - much better suspended over the stove than sitting on the counter, where it lived since the counter-tops were installed. We thought they could also install the microwave, but alas, we discovered that this would not be so easy.

We are proud to own a stainless steel microwave and stove which were purchased used from the ReStore run by Habitat for Humanity which benefits the charity. It's cool because we got some nice appliances at a great price, and they got our money which will go to help other people less fortunate than we are who also need a home to live in. It also felt nice not having to buy another new thing.

When we bought the microwave we assumed all the necessary parts came with. They did not. So we called LG the manufacturer and they kindly helped us out with a backordered bracket and a few other key pieces of hardware. Thankfully, it didn't even take the 6 - 8 weeks they suggested it would.

While Jamie wrestled with the microwave in the kitchen, my friend Andria and I worked on filling holes in the trim that had been over looked. She filled, I sanded. It took a long time, but I was thankful for her help - a lot more got done than would have if I were working alone.

I also painted a few sample strips on our stairs. We have stripped them and now are going to paint them - we are thinking white ballusters, newel post and risers and chocolate brown treads and banister. We need to find the right colour though. Would be an easy weekday project - paint every second stair one night and the others the next...ta-da...Done in two days.

I forgot my camera so no pics of the microwave in all it's glory - promise to add them later.