Living and Dining Room: Before and After

The one thing that kept our main floor from feeling complete for the last few months was the lack of a dining room table.  Once we found our table, the space was pretty much done.

The main design changes to the living and dining rooms include:

• removing the archway
• installing pot lights
• adding the sliding door walkout to the backyard
• installing new hardwood floor throughout the main floor
• adding shutters to the living room windows.

Before:

 Looking towards the front hall from the living room:

 Looking at the living room from the dining room:

Looking into the dining room from the living room: 
After:

We spent a lot of time looking for a dining room table that would be narrow enough to fit our space, but extendable so that we could seat a larger number of people.  The table search was harder than we expected.  After a couple of months of searching, a neighbour suggested we try Decorium, where we found a table that we were able to customize to fit our space and our style.

In the living room, we chose to get our old couch reupholstered and we were able to use most of our other living room furniture.  We painted the entire main floor, including the living room and dining room, Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White.  We’re still looking for some art for above the couch, which we hope will bring some colour into the space.

One of the biggest changes to the dining room was the fact that we removed the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, opening up the space.  We’ll share the final kitchen photos in a separate post.

Master Bedroom: Before and After

The bedrooms didn’t require many changes.  In the master bedroom, we increased the size of the closet by taking some space from the second bedroom closet.  We installed shutters in the windows, purchased a new light fixture and painted the walls Benjamin Moore’s Athabaska.

Before:

After:

 

Upstairs Bathroom: Before and After

The upstairs bathroom (which was the only bathroom) was in pretty good shape for being fully original.  While we chose to redo the bathroom, we ended up going with a similar look and colour scheme. 

Before:

After:

 

We tiled the walls in the shower area with white ceramic subway tiles with a 3” insert of grey glass mosaic tiles.  On the floor, we used 2” hexagon white carrara marble.

We kept the original cast iron tub and had it refinished.  We replaced the toilet with a Toto Aquia dual flush toilet, painted the walls with Benjamin Moore’s Sweet Innocence, and added a new vanity and mirror.

Stairs: Before and After

To update the look of the stairs, we decided to re-stain the stair treads and banister in the same colour we stained the upstairs hardwood floors.  We chose to paint to the risers and spindles white.

Before:

After:

The original walls in the hallway and stairwell were stucco.  We replaced them with new drywall, which really helped make the space look more modern.  We hung some coat hooks at the bottom of the stairs and added a small bench where we can store some shoes.

The Exterior: Before and After

First up for the final reveal is the front of the house. 

While we loved the style of the house and the colour of the brick, we did not love the green paint around the front door.  We dealt with it for a few months while we focused on more important things, but it was definitely a happy day when the green was gone!

Other work on the front of the house included changing the house numbers, adding a mailbox, replacing the porch light with a pot light and installing a new storm door.

Before:

After:

 

Revealing the Rooms

Although it’s been a year since we started renovating our house – and five months since we moved in – we’ve only recently started to feel like some rooms are complete.

We’ve learned that, once the major work is done, it’s easy to move on with your life without completing the smaller projects.  It’s some of these little projects that have kept us from revealing our completed rooms to everyone.

As any homeowner knows, a house is never 100% complete.  But now, as we shift our focus to dealing with the backyard, it’s time to consider most of our house complete. 

And, with that, we’ll begin to share the before and after shots with you.

Stumped

Before we got started on the backyard, there were some old, prickly bushes growing through the fence behind the garage.  Since we will be building a new fence along this side of the yard, we needed to clear the area.  We cut down the bushes and removed the old fence before demolishing the garage.  This left us with a bunch of stumps to deal with. 

 
The stump removal job called for a serious piece of machinery! 

 

With a rented stump grinder and a couple of hours of work, the stumps were shredded and the back of the yard was nice and flat…

No More Eyesore!

This week, we tackled the garage demolition.   Like last year when we gutted the inside of our house, Dave gathered a group of friends to help.

We lucked out with a nice, sunny day.  A little bit of muscle, two dumpsters and several beers later, the garage was gone!

  

For now, we’re left with the concrete pads that were beneath the garage. It certainly opens up the space and allows us to get a good feel for how we want to layout our yard.  Thanks to Jim, Rob, Dave, Chris, Guy, Becca and Ron for all your help!

Here’s the transformation:

 

Next up: breaking up the concrete and installing the fence posts.

The Great Outdoors

When we got started on our home renovation this time last year, we knew that most of the yard work would have to wait.  Since we weren’t living here, a nice backyard just wasn’t a priority.

You may remember that our backyard is narrow and deep.  Last summer we put in some cedars along the back fence line and removed the old wire fence along one side of the yard.  Other than that, we pretty much left things as is back there.

Now that we’re heading into our first summer in the house, we’re ready to start focusing on the backyard.  Deciding what to do, however, was a bit of challenge.

The garage (which is a double garage that we share with our neighbour) is in pretty rough shape.  Since the garage is at the end of a very narrow mutual driveway, we don’t use it for parking.  After discussions with our neighbour, we decided that we’d rather tear down the garage and replace the storage space with garden sheds at the back of our properties. 

We did some research and discovered that the municipal bylaw requires that we each maintain one parking space behind our house.  Currently, the garage meets that requirement.  So, to allow us to remove the garage but still meet the requirements, here’s the backyard plan we came up with:

• Remove the existing wire fence, bushes and stumps behind the garage.
• Tear down the garage.
• Create two parking spaces with interlock in the place of the existing garage (which we will actually use as patios).
• Put up a fence between the parking spaces and all along that side of the yard for privacy.
• Replace the asphalt on the mutual driveway.
• Build a garden shed in the back corner of the yard.
• Build a deck that will step down onto the interlock patio area, increasing our outdoor living space.

It’s a bit of an ambitious plan that will not get fully completed this summer, but will definitely make our backyard a lot more attractive and functional. 

We started the work last week, ripping down the old fence and ordering a storage container to hold our lawnmower, etc. while the garage gets demolished. 

 

This week, the garage comes down!

Kind of a Big Deal

One of big reasons why we were so ready to move from a condo to a house was the fact that we had never owned a BBQ! Our condo building didn’t allow BBQs on the balconies, nor did they have a communal BBQ area.

Exactly one year ago this weekend, we found and purchased our first home…a house with a backyard that would be perfect for BBQing! Marty (Jen’s Dad) said that, when we were ready, he would buy us one as our housewarming gift.

Once spring arrived and most of the interior renovation was complete, we were ready. With or without a deck, it was time for the BBQ.

We hooked it up to our natural gas line, seasoned the grills and prepared our first meal. What a great way to celebrate Earth Hour!

We’re looking forward to getting a lot of use out of our new BBQ this summer. Thanks Marty!

Shower Glass

We were finally able to check another thing off our to-do list today, with the installation of the shower glass in our basement bathroom. 

As you may remember, we tiled the basement shower with travertine tiles and installed a matching beige marble threshold.  We decided to go with full glass walls and door, to keep the bathroom looking open and bright.  We selected a simple chrome handle and hinges to match the chrome faucets.

 

Next, we’ll finish up the baseboards and trim.  Then we’ll be ready for the final reveal.  The best part will be having a fully functioning second bathroom in the house!

Clean Start

After dealing with the fiasco that was our first dishwasher, we’ve finally had a chance to test out our replacement dishwasher.

The new dishwasher we chose is the Bosch Integra.  Some of the key features include:

• stainless steel exterior and interior
• tall tub
• delay start
• concealed control panel.

The most important thing about this dishwasher is that the steam vents properly during the dry cycle, so we no longer have to deal with the condensation issues that we had with the Frigidaire. 

A big treat with the Bosch is how quiet it is.  We’ve always used the “delay start” feature on dishwashers because we couldn’t hear the TV over the sound of the dishwasher.  No need anymore!  The Bosch is extremely quiet.  We can hardly tell that it’s running.

The Bosch is also very sleek looking, with no controls showing on the front.  And, there’s a cool little LED light that shines onto the floor to let you know that the dishwasher is running.

Finally, the dishes come out clean and dry, so no issues there.

All in all, we’re really happy with the Bosch.  If we had known about the Frigidaire problem months ago, we would have saved ourselves some trouble and spent the extra money to get this better dishwasher right from the start.  We would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good, stainless steel dishwasher.