Monday, May 17, 2010

It's getting close

Again, it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to blog about the house. It’s been a whirlwind.

I’ve had very busy weekends trying to gather everything needed for the reno. My kitchen and master bath tile arrived at Rona. I went out to pick it up. Being naïve I didn’t realize how much tile it really was. First my kitchen tile was packed into the car…pretty loaded down. The store manager came out to look and didn’t think we could get more in. I put all the seats down and they piled it into the front and middle of the car. They all watched me drive away. I’m sure they thought the tires were going to pop. Let’s just say the car didn’t have much oomph. Wouldn’t you know it there was road construction on a main intersection and I had to detour up a major hill. I floored it and it probably only went 30km. Every bump I went over I winced. I was glad to make it home in one piece. It was a long drive. All the way home I was thinking I’d have to unload the tile myself. As luck would have it my daughter’s boyfriend arrived at the house a few minutes after I got home and we unloaded it together.

I’ve been busy on Craigslist trying to find some deals on bar stools and patio furniture. I got the patio furniture (took two trips with a van) but I’ve had a hard time snagging bar stools. Not that they are not in supply but I think everyone and their dog are looking for bar stools. I’ve seen some pretty awesome ones (retro) but either the people don’t get back to me, someone else gets them first or they are the wrong height. I did pick up a terrific deal yesterday. I found the atomic sputnik light fixture I had already purchased for my stairwell (I paid $300 for it a few months back)…the light on Craigslist was $35. I ended up getting that deal. I will put it in my bedroom. All I’ll have to do is replace one bulb.

My main bath tile is now finished. Wow, it looks incredible! The only thing is I think the bathtub is cursed. It’s been replaced once and the plumbers broke the bottom of the second tub. The repair person said the tub would not look 100% because of where the piece was broken off. I was angry. He said it would cost a lot to take the bathtub out and replace it which I quickly told him was not my worry although it would probably take another two to three weeks for another bathtub to come in. The plumber would have to incur the cost of it. He said I should just put molding around the bottom of the tub to hide it. That made me even angrier. I called my contractor and he said he would take care of it on Monday. I’ll leave it in his hands.

The laminate is now completely finished downstairs and by tomorrow all the laminate will be finished upstairs. It looks wonderful. Josh will be tiling my master bath today, mostly the shower area. The house is coming together and should be completely finished by the end of the month. Then the fun begins, decorating.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Kitchen install

I have to put a plug in here for Creekside Construction. Best decision I made going forward with my reno. Josh and Jordan have been a breeze to work with. Why do I sing their praises? My kitchen and bathrooms! They’re almost finished. Josh retro-fitted some of the cabinets and they look awesome. I had purchased two refrigerator cabinets from IKEA to make a floating vanity in my bathroom. Unfortunately they are 24” wide which is not standard for a bathroom vanity and they looked a bit awkward. Josh is cutting them down today so they fit just perfectly and will be the size of a proper vanity. I’m leaving most of the blue plastic on the kitchen upper cabinets to protect them and I’ll wait till most of the work is done in the kitchen then take it off.

I received a call yesterday that the main bathroom tile has arrived and it ready to be picked up. Now I’m just waiting for my kitchen and my master bath tile to arrive at Rona. I’m crossing my fingers it’s in today as that’s when I was told it would be in. I’m going to think good thoughts.

I have decided to switch my daughter’s door out for a glass door. I had bought glass doors from Home Depot before the reno began but I didn’t think the size of doors I had got would fit where Heather’s door would go so I found one that looked exactly the same but that was solid. Now that it’s up I just don’t like the fact that it’s not glass like the rest of them. It should be ready shortly.

Adding some pictures here. It shows the kitchen unfinished but by the time I get home today the cabinets should be done.

Monday, May 3, 2010

The Reno God's have spoken

It was an eventful weekend. I am now going to put something new on my resume. Apparently I am capable of putting many IKEA kitchen cabinets together. I figure if something happens to my job I can be an IKEA cabinet assembler. I spent all of Saturday (from morning until night) putting my cabinets together. It really didn’t take a rocket scientist. I thought I would get a head start so that my family wouldn’t have to help for too long on Sunday. By Sunday morning I had all the base cabinets done and all but one upper cabinet done, oh, and the pantry cupboards needed assembly.
Everyone came around noon to help me. I needed muscles to help move the cabinets from the living room to the kitchen. One by one the cabinets exchanged rooms. We ordered pizza around 2pm and everyone was gone by about 3:30 or 4pm. I spent the rest of my day cleaning up, making sure I went through my IKEA list again to assure myself nothing was missing (miraculously, nothing was) and then put together my vanity cabinets. Josh is installing my base cabinets today and tomorrow the uppers go in. I did find a few things that need some attention after I rearranged the kitchen. The pot light over the fridge had to be moved because it was in the way of the fridge cabinet by one inch and the pantry drop down wall is a little lower than it should be but we will just make the cabinet shorter to the ground by a couple of inches. It’s all fixable things.

The door bell I ordered a little while back arrived on Friday but of course no one was here to accept it. They should be dropping it off today. I hope it looks great sitting inside my door knob back plate!

My windows were installed in my door on Friday morning. They look absolutely amazing, even if the door isn’t painted yet. There was unfortunately a glitch with them. When Josh took them out of the box three of the frames were split. He installed them anyway and we are waiting for the replacements. He said it’s an easy fix and would only take a couple of minutes to replace them.

The painting of the walls and my fireplace will definitely be done today and that will be the end of covering my furniture with plastic. I know that keeping furniture covered in plastic is a 50’s thing plastic but I am not that kind of 50’s nut.

Well the good luck seems to be back on track now. I’m a happy girl. Ah, the ups and down’s of renos.