New Hardwood Floors

While we were able to save the original hardwood floors on the second storey, we decided to install new hardwood on the main floor.  With the amount of demolition we did, we knew that the floors would be too difficult to save.

Originally, we thought we wanted oak flooring.  But, after looking around and doing some research, we decided to try something a bit different.

We chose Sucupira (Brazilian Walnut).  It’s a medium brown exotic wood that is supposed to be quite durable and stands up well to lots of traffic.  Since it’s on our main floor – including the foyer and kitchen – durability is important to us. 

The hardwood floor installation was one of the final projects we completed before we moved in. 

We’re really happy with how the floors turned out.  The Sucupira is a really warm colour and it’s a great match for the colour of stain we used on the stairs and upstairs floors. 

We’re In!

We’ve been absentee bloggers this past week as we’ve scrambled to get ready for the move.  After almost seven months of work, yesterday was the big day.

We need to do some organizing before we share all our updates, but here are a few of things we managed to get done (or mostly done) before we moved in:

• We selected and installed all the remaining light fixtures.
• We installed our upstairs bathroom vanity and mirror.
• We laid hardwood floor throughout the main floor.
• Our kitchen cabinets arrived and were installed!

We’ll post some photos as soon as we’re settled.  In the meantime, here’s a shot of our moving crew relaxing after setting the record for the fastest move ever.  Thanks guys!

Crunch Time

With just over a week until we move into the house, we’re busy trying to finish as much as we can.  We had some help this week from a bunch of people, including Handyman Superstar Challenge winner Jason Best!  Jason and Chris came by to help with doors and trim:

Here are a few of the things we’ve been working on this week:

We’ve installed all the baseboards, door trim and window trim on the second floor.

We’ve hung most of the doors.

We’ve finished painting the stair risers and railing spindles white.

We ordered California shutters for the master bedroom and living room windows. 

We’ve moved everything off of the main floor and into the basement so that we can lay the hardwood floor this week.

There is still lots to do, so we’ll be busy scrambling to finish up this week.  We did get some good news about our kitchen though.  It arrived in Prince Rupert, B.C. and is about to enjoy a train ride across the country.  We expect it to arrive the same week we move in, so hopefully we won’t have to live without a kitchen for very long!

Getting Rid of the Green – Step Three

We lucked out with some good weather this past weekend!  With temperatures above 10°C and lots of sun, we decided to take the opportunity to prime and paint the area around our front door before the winter.

Our neighbours lent us a sample of the paint they used on the exterior of their house, so we took to it to Benjamin Moore to be colour matched.  We ended up with Seaspray, which was a pretty close match.

After one coat of primer, two coats of paint and some caulking, we were all done.  It looks so much better. 

Here’s the before:

And here’s how it looks now:

Goodbye green!

Getting Rid of the Green – Step Two

As mentioned in a previous post, we’ve been working on removing the ugly green colour from the front of our house.  After replacing the shingles and flashing, we got out the heat gun and started tackling the thick layers of paint around the front door.

 

We’ve had some complaints from our friends and family, who will now have to learn our address to be able to find our house.  But, all the neighbours seem to be pretty happy with the transformation.  Next step: paint it to match our next door neighbours.

Old Hardwood Floors

The original hardwood floors were in pretty good shape on the second storey.  We decided to get them refinished so we protected the floors with paper before we started the demolition.

Once the drywall was finished, we hired Tip Top Flooring to refinish the floors, stairs and railing.  (Thanks to Maggie and Rob at Okay, Now What? for the referral!)

We knew that we wanted to go darker than what was originally there, but selecting the stain colour was a lot harder than we had anticipated.  After hours of staring at samples and changing our minds a couple of times, we settled on Early American.

  Given that the floors, stairs and railing are three different types of wood, we weren’t sure how they would turn out.  Fortunately, the colour was a good choice and we’re really happy with the results.

Basement Bathroom Tiling

Our new basement bathroom is really coming along.  Since the main bathroom upstairs is pretty tiny, we decided to include a nice large shower in our basement bathroom.

Like upstairs, we used Schluter Kerdi waterproofing on the shower walls.  We used Schluter Ditra on the floor.

The tiling was finished last week and it looks great.  We’re really happy with our choice of travertine tiles.

Next , we’ll install glass walls and a glass door on the front of the shower. 

Upstairs Bathroom Tiling

Tiling is complete in the upstairs bathroom and we’re really happy with the results.

We chose to use the Schluter Kerdi waterproofing system on the shower walls.

Once the waterproof membrane was in place, it was time to start tiling.  We were really excited to see how our tile selections would turn out.  The tile installer we hired worked very quickly and did a great job.  Here’s how it looks now:

The next step is to give it a good clean and then we’ll seal the marble floor. 

Warming Up

We have heat!  Our new high-efficiency gas furnace was connected today.  Since it’s starting to get pretty chilly outside, we are happy to finally have some warmth.

As you may remember, we removed the old boiler and oil tank.  We decided to change over to a forced air system, so we removed all the rads.

 

The new furnace is from KeepRite.  It has a 95% efficiency rating, which will qualify us for the highest grant amount through the government energy programs. 

The Countdown is On

It’s official.  In one month, we’ll be moving into the house.  Of course, it’s not going to be an easy month.  As we’re learning, the closer we get to the end of the renovation (or at least the end of the major work) the tougher it gets.

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve experienced a few setbacks and frustrating situations.  For example:

• our kitchen cabinets are going to be two weeks late
• the fridge that we ordered back in June has been discontinued (and our custom kitchen was designed to fit that specific fridge)
• the weather has been crappy, so we haven’t been able to paint the front of our house
• the newly refinished tub (which we protected very carefully before tiling the bathroom) got some chips in it.

On the positive side, the bathroom tiling is going really well, we’ve selected a paint colour for our main floor and our couch is getting picked up to be reupholstered next week. 

We chose Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White for the living room, dining room, kitchen and hall:

And we bought this fabric from Designer Fabrics for our living room couch:

The problems we’ve experienced may not have seemed so frustrating earlier in the renovation, but after more than five months, we’re starting to get pretty tired.  So, despite the challenges, we’ll continue to push forward and hope for the best.  And, in a month we’ll finally be living in our new house!

Basement Bathroom Plans

With tiling almost finished upstairs, we’ve made our final selections for the basement bathroom finishes.

The house only had one bathroom when we bought it, so we decided to add a second bathroom in the basement.  The basement bathroom will have a toilet, sink and shower.

In terms of finishes, we selected travertine tiles for the floor and shower walls.  We’ll use 2” square tiles on the floor (both in and out of the shower) and 4” squares on the shower walls.

We haven’t chosen the vanity yet, but we plan to get a 36” dark wood vanity with a beige granite top.  The toilet, as you may remember, was Dave’s selection: The Champion.

All Powered Up!

After more than five months, we finally have power. 

When we bought our house, the majority of the wiring was knob and tube.  Removing the old wiring was one of our first priorities.

We hired electricians to completely rewire the house. During the rough-in phase, we were left with only two electrical outlets (and no lights!)  We got by with extension cords, floodlights and flashlights. But, this got more and more difficult to handle as the days started to get shorter.

So, as you can imagine, it was pretty exciting when we reached the point where we were ready for the electrical work to be completed. 

Now we have electrical outlets and lights in every room, including:

• pot lights in the living room, dining room, main floor hallway, kitchen and basement
• an exterior pot light above the front door
• a sensor light in near the rear of the house
• bare bulbs everywhere else (until we get a chance to select the rest of our light fixtures).

We used DSK Electric Inc. dskelectric@rogers.com.  They did a great job and we are really happy with the work.