We are starting to bring over boxes from the condo every day
to unpack and organize. It’s starting to
feel like a year ago when we had some things at each house. Lots of back & forth, and it forever
seems like whatever I need is at the other place. Where we had to combine things last summer,
now we’re splitting them apart so that there is one at each place – for
example, toasters, cookie sheets & can openers.
The missing kitchen drawers finally arrived just this week. But unfortunately still missing one drawer
front only. This kitchen has been
plagued with problems, so we’ve (ahem) had to eat out a lot… At least I can organize the kitchen now. Stephen added in some extra shelves for us,
so now the uppers are much more efficient.
With any luck, we might even make strawberry jam again this year!
Woo Hoo! We have drawers and kitchen is ALMOST done!
Bathrooms and clothes closets are pretty well
organized. Shelves were installed in the
linen closet. Mirrors hung. A decorative shelf was built for the laundry
room. Shelf liner has been put in the
entire kitchen and bathrooms. Working on
washing the windows. Stephen built an
access door for the laundry ceiling storage area and installed the last closet
organizer. Seems he builds things as
fast as I can paint around him!
At the risk of this sounding like “The Stephen Show” – you
would swear he is a sponsor of this blog! – he truly has been a blessing to
help make our house a home. It’s just
all the little things that make it ours.
Customized spaces and added storage that are such a big help. All those little projects that people say
they will get to “someday” he is doing now.
Ibby has still been putting in a ton of overtime on weekends, so doesn’t
have time to do much extra.
Stephen had some time during the week from his “day job” so
he also spent a week at the condo. We
can only do work there during weekdays due to the noise. He teases me that I’m like the Queen,
dragging him from one estate to the other! He framed out a wall and installed closet
doors in our bedroom. When we moved in,
there were ugly sliding mirrored doors that were heavy & kept falling off
the track, so they went and we’ve basically had a wide open closet for the past
year. Now we have 2 sets of double doors
for a “his & hers” look, but it’s really one big closet behind there. Didn’t want bifolds or anything on a track, and
this way each door doesn’t swing out too much into the bedroom. I was busy painting inside & out, and we
had boxes of clothes in the living room for a week.
Then Stephen also took out some upper kitchen cabinets at
the condo and bashed out a little wall.
It really opened it up to the main room and looks great! We didn’t tell Ibby about it in advance, but
waited until he came home and surprised him with a big reveal like on the
decorating shows. I still have to sand
& paint the ceiling there where the cupboards came off and it was
patched. And in time I would like to
paint the cabinets – they’re currently a bleached light oak – but that’s a big
job that will likely wait until the fall.
I’ve painted oak bathroom vanity cabinets before in our old house, and
they turned out good.
before - don't mind the mess!
after - kitchen feels so much bigger even though there are fewer cabinets
Back at the cottage, little odds & ends are being
finished. Electricians finished off
their stuff. The propane tanks were
moved to their permanent location. Ordering
replacement shades for light fixtures broken in transit. Satellite was installed for the TV, which of
course wasn’t simple either as we had to have a post sunk into concrete and
braced onto the house. I’m convinced
that nothing will be simple, and if it is, well there must be something wrong.
I am now turning our attention to the outside. In process is a retaining wall for our
driveway. Paul who did our shoreline
restoration work 2 years ago will bring out his Skidsteer and equipment
soon. His recommendations have been very
valuable. So glad that we’ve known him
from the past and have a relationship there.
Also getting quotes on a little interlock patio for underneath our
deck. I think the rest of the yard will
be mostly grass for now, and plantings will evolve over time as all yards
do. We did plant a lilac bush and a
couple of little trees with our neighbour to give us some privacy between the
houses.
The big headache has been the darn deck rails. As you may recall, we had to make some
modifications due to the part of the deck over the garage being a flat
roof. Since there is a waterproof
membrane burned on, we can’t put nails through that. That deck portion is also very slightly
sloped for drainage. So we had to get
special brackets that bolt to the outside of the garage, then have each custom
welded with an extension for the different heights depending on the slope. We ordered what we thought would be the
perfect colour to match the windows and the rest of the house, but were
extremely disappointed when they arrived.
A definite gray instead of a brownish-bronze. Note to
self: Don’t ever order something
this big again from a tiny colour swatch.
We had splurged on
railings with clear glass panels – instead of pickets – but there are still
posts and a top and bottom horizontal rail.
We just don’t want to say “uck” every time we pull in the driveway, and
once it’s installed that’s it. So now we've researched an option to have the entire thing powder coated in a (hopefully!) matching colour. I spent Thursday on a loading dock stripping off the packaging on all the parts, after bringing it all down in 2 trips in the car. Apparently that's called the "homeowner participation segment". Never
dreamt in a million years that I would be dealing with welders, sand blasting
and powder-coating…
Load #2
I keep having to remind myself that this build is taking
longer than we hoped, but it’s because we’re taking the time to do things
right. Thank goodness there is no rush
to be out of the condo!
This is the long Victoria Day weekend here. Great weather and we have enjoyed watching
the fireworks across the lake. Congrats
to Stephen & Theresa’s son William who we saw on stage in “Les Mis” on Friday night! And a very Happy 21st Birthday to
our niece Angiee!
