A New Window, A Whole New Look!

The front bedroom has been a dark and dreary space as long as I've had the house.  One single window, up underneath the carport overhang, and no overhead lighting.  the overhead lighting will be fixed with a MAJOR renovation to the bedroom side of the house - but not for a very long time as I am not planning to have anything major done to the house now for a few more years... well, except for the lottery win.  When I win the lottery, all bets are off LOL.

In any case, like the kitchen, I thought the addition of another window might make a massive difference.  So I called my friends at Got Gutters and they came out and gave me a quote.  Done!

In May, when the weather cleared up for a while, they came out and installed the window - and thus transformed a room that was dark and dreary into a very bright space!  And since it is the larger of the two bedrooms, once I had the window in, I decided a coat of primer to get rid of the yellow, and a light creamy paint tone (this colour is called Pita Bread) would make all the difference in the world.

No longer a storage space come computer room, this is now my bedroom!

Here are some "before" shots - just so you can get a feel for the yellow...

Yup.  Dark and Yellow.

Notes to the contrator

The wall where the new window will go.

When I came home for lunch that day, this is where things were...

Already in!

Trim needed next

 And when I got home after work we have trim!

With trim... now to paint!

And that weekend I primer coated everything

Ready, Set,  Go!

Brighter already

Holy cats - what a difference!

Even the door got a coat!

And finally the paint and moving my stuff into that room!

Such a different feeling space

Light and airy - and did you notice?
More closet space!

It really is a lot bigger than it felt!

I still have multiple indoors projects - never fear - but these ones are more related to space-intelligent design for a small house.  Planning and posts around those will follow soon, I promise.  For now, I leave you with much...

With love across the waters...

Springtime Catch-up

Spring is here in full force - flowers are blooming, fruit and vegetables are growing, home renovations will be starting again...

With the start of spring, I also came across a new opportunity for work - and decided that it really was time for a change.  The change in employers (yes, I left my last employer after 25 years) has me working a whole 2 blocks from home.  I walk to work.  I walk home at lunch.  My total commute is about 3 minutes - and that is if I stop to smell the actual flowers on the way.  With this change I have regained 10 hours a week.  

10 hours!

The work week is two and a half hours shorter, but the biggest change is that I am not in my car for an hour and a half each day.  I get up a little later - yes - but I am still out walking my dog in the early morning hours. I feel more rested and less stressed.  There is the "stress" of learning - oh, and there is some stress in that, for the first time in 25 years I am actually on "probation" for three months and there is the risk that I don't make it through - but the feed-back thus far has been really positive.

Spring has hit in full force, though, and this weekend I finally got to the serious gardening that I needed to complete.  I dug out the other two vegetable beds (pernicious weed removal) and ground layered some heavy-duty landscape cloth.  It is woven cloth covered in plastic and I sure hope that it finally stops the nasty weed that I have been battling for the last few years!

Once dug out, weed-barriered, and then back filled with cleared soil and potting mix, in went the vegetables.  Last weekend I planted the Principe Borghese (cherry) tomatoes - four plants this year - into the same bed I had the two plants in last year.  I generally harvest and dehydrate these ones as they store brilliantly and a handful or two makes a wonderful addition to my soups, stews, rice dishes and so on.  Slightly reconstituted, they make wonderful pesto sauce.

I also potted some Genovese Basil - admittedly, it may be too early to have it out, but I also have some seed that I can start in the house and grow in my garden window in the kitchen.  

This weekend was the lion's share of planting efforts. Two kinds of lettuce.

Pole Beans:

Health Kick tomatoes, Red Onions and Purple Haze Carrots (This will be the colour-filled harvest bed)

And two kinds of corn:

I have also put up some pet-deterrent screening to ensure there is no jaunting through the beds (or digging in them) until everything is well established.

I also have two kinds of squashes planted in the little bed out front.

All in all, a very productive day.

Tomorrow will also need to be a productive day  I will need to get the car in for emergency brake repairs, call repair people about my vacuum (something has disconnected somewhere and while the hose has suction, the chassis does not,) call other repair people about my awning (the metal loop that the pole connects to and then turns to open and close the awning has broken off and I need to get that dealt with ASAP,) Do the requisite laundry and weekly cleaning, and also clean out the front bedroom in advance of the next stage of renovations - the new window.

Yes, more renovations are on my table for this summer - but nothing as big as last year's job!  Additional window installation into the front bedroom (for more natural light) and then a full painting refresh in here.

Other summer projects include finishing the pantry shelving and then tricking it all out (paint and flooring) and MAYBE building a Murphy bed with a floating desk for the front  bedroom. Or it may go into the bedroom I'm currently using and I may move myself into the front bedroom - something I will have to decide after the room has the new window and been painted.  It has more closet space, and I think it is also bigger. I'm still on the fence about that, though.

With love across the waters...

Pantry Project the (not quite) Final Chapter

Following the installation of the insulation and vapour barrier, the pantry required some sort of actual wall covering.  This first required that I do a little bit of investigation into actual wall coverings possible for the space.

Drywall was totally out.  It would be heavy and cumbersome and require more professional installation than I am capable of.  Plus there's that whole mud and sanding thing and no WAY am I going through that in such a small space.

I spoke with my Dad and then I also spoke with the guys at Slegg Lumber over in Cumberland and what I ended up landing on was a very thin wall board material that would be somewhat durable and easily painted over, should the need arise.  

FYI - once the room is totally finished, including corner bead and seams, it WILL be painted before I put in the flooring.  That will be a stay-cation project for some time in 2016.  Colour not yet determined, but will need to be very light to ensure the space stays bright.

Anyhow, the hardest part of this stage was the measurements and cutting - and God bless my Daddy for his patience here because the room has some weird angles and no actual square walls!

I didn't take any during pictured because the stuff went up really fast (once the cutting was done) but I got a couple of after pictures for reference.

Look at all that shelf space available!

And here too - so much SPACE!!!

Once this was done and installed I needed to look into actual shelving options. I again sought advice from my Dad and we spent some time looking on Lee Valley' website for ideas and information,  I settled on a couple of options.  For the wall behind the freezer I elected to go with a single shelving unit (and in retrospect, I can get another set of brackets and put another set above the freezer) and for the regular walls - those seen in the second picture, I elected to install some heavy duty lumber shelving straps and brackets.

Yesterday I bought lag screws and washers and went to work. Hm.  I also needed a drill bit large enough to drill pilot holes... so the wall straps and full shelving didn't go up until today, but I was able to install the shelf over the freezer.

Definitely more space for another shelf here

Today I went and bought the needed drill bit. After a nice (but cold) walk with Jasmine, I got to work on putting up the straps, brackets and shelves. I could really put in a couple more shelves (I bought a third strap and 4 more shelf brackets, thinking I would need more bracing, but the wall space really didn't need the extra support. No matter - I will just need to purchase 2 final straps and more shelf brackets for the wall directly opposite the entry door.

I then went to work, moving all of my canning out onto the shelves and voilà - a pantry is born!

Old Mother Hubbard indeed!

As I said, no more major projects until 2016.  I will finish out the shelving for the pantry, maybe even before the end of this year, but for now, I am VERY pleased with the (not quite) completion of the project!

With love across the waters...

More Progress in the Kitchen

Some recent posts about my Kitchen updates along with the introduction of my Red Wall show the point from where where I started my kitchen updates and also discuss some of my future plans (including peeling up the vinyl tile - which is my next big kitchen-related project) and the steps I am taking to get there.  These last few days I have been working on getting the rest of my kitchen painted.  This needed to include (imperfectly) taping and filling in the former doorway into the laundry room.  A couple of days ago I got started and today I finished the painting... for now.

A former doorway

Ready to tape off in preparation for
RED PAINT!

After being painted in "Pita Bread" I decided to change it up - the
red is called Apple A Day... Definite food theme for the kitchen!

Ugh - I needed to move all of this stuff away from
the wall in order to primer and paint...

Stuff moved, floor washed (it was gross back there)
and primer coat on and drying

I should note here that the primer/sealant I used is one that also has a stain and mildew blocker.  It costs more to purchase, but when dealing with an old house it is always better to be safe than sorry.  I do not know what kind of paint I was covering - oil based quite possibly - and with that in mind, I would always recommend paying a little more to purchase THE RIGHT product for the needs of the job at hand.

Look at all that red!

Look - no more doorway!

Wow - does that ever look CLEAN!

Now... I also hinted at a new acquisition for my kitchen... I was using a table in my kitchen that was utterly impractical for my needs - it was a round, drop-leaf table that took up too much room to be useful... so yesterday when I was out and about, I stopped in at one of my favourite local furniture places - Anmarcos... and lucky me, they not only had something perfect for my space and needs, but also made of solid wood AND I was able to buy it without the matching chairs.  Oh - and a small added bonus, they are having a tax-free event!  The stars were totally with me on this one!  Check out my new table!

Ooh - isn't it pretty!

But wait!  You mean it has an inset leaf?

Yup - it folds right down INTO the table's underside!

And when in the smaller size it is PERFECT for my kitchen needs 

It tucks in perfectly to where I need to have it (until I build cabinets on this wall!)

So... 2014 vacation time has drawn to an end - that means that my next projects will need to be completed on weekends and on into the 2015 calendar year for the bigger ones.  I'm hopeful I can remove the vinyl tile squares before the new year, I will also be having the rest of the windows in my house replaced with vinyl windows. In the spring, the mud room (you can see the doorway into it tucked into the corner between the red walls) will be converted into a proper pantry - thus adding yet more storage (of a totally practical nature) to my kitchen area.

Additionally, I'll be looking for quotes for contractors to build in a stairwell up into my attic in order to allow me to build upward - I'm thinking a bedroom (or two) as well as more storage.  I'll be looking to have dormer windows installed as well - so that will be a much longer duration project - but there will be, no doubt in my mind, all sorts of learnings of what to (and not to) do when completing renovations.

With love across the waters...

Kitchen

Let us just take a moment to appreciate what I started with for a kitchen.  Pre-wallpaper removal.

Ah, glorious wallpaper

Yes, it really was EVERYWHERE

Yes.  Two different kinds of wall paper - both black and white. The image is pretty small, so here's a refresher for the wall paper: The one running along the back splash is a black and white checker-board pattern.  The one on the main wall is a black and white floral pattern.  Yes, even in the kitchen there were two different kinds of wall paper.

Once the wall paper was off I had this to work with.  I decided I could live with this up until recently.

A multitude of colour

Ugh

Under the wallpaper there were a few different colours (Pepto-Bismal pink, black, greyge, and a sort of dirty cream colour. The walls are not in great shape.  the kitchen should really just be gutted and re-built from the studs out - but I don't have 30 grand to spend on a kitchen renovation, so I'll make do with what I can manage myself.

You may recall I am trying to find ways to make my home more storage friendly.  Including wanting to build shelving between the studs on the wall in the second picture above.  Though once an exterior wall, it is now an interior wall, and although it *is* a retaining wall, pulling off drywall would not cause any structural issues.

So... the other  day I decided to have a go at building shelving between studs.  I ran my stud-finder along the wall and when I thought I had a spot I could target  to cut a safe hole through I poked my drywall saw in and...

Wait... what?

Yep - drywall nailed right to ship lap.  On to plan "B"

 So, this concept firmly put to bed, I slept on it and determined that my next best plan to get some more simple storage in my kitchen would be to basically build a frame ONTO that wall, put some hinged cupboard-like doors into some of it and make the rest open shelving for simples.

Fine.  If I'm going to make it a feature wall, I may as well do this right.  Some sort of colour for behind the shelving.  The shelving itself with be a very simply Varathaned cedar and then the doors for the cupboards will be white and have a slight wainscoting-type of look to them.

Colour.  This is where I step WAY outside of my personal comfort zone.  I am an earth-tones loving woman, and maybe my house is boring, but my house feels warm and clean with nice light colours.  Go big or go home, right? OK - I went for it... first things first? Patch, sand and primer-coat what i am initially working on.

So much cleaner looking!

So different already!

Right.  The next step was hard.  It was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done in my own home. I had made the choice, I had bought the paint... I even poured it into the painting tray...

Holy crap - that is just... so...

I went for it.  I put on the first coat last night... thinking that two coats might be about right. 

Still wet

Dried overnight.  Needs another coat or maybe 2?

Turns out if needed 3 coats of paint to really make it a solid wall.

I spoke with my Mum on Face Time this morning - showed her the current state and talked over ideas... I opted to go with her suggestion for under the cupboards... and I have now painted the feature wall and put a single coat of the second colour I am using in my kitchen on the walls and bulkhead over the cupboards.  The wall behind the fridge and stove will require a day all their own - maybe next weekend - because of the efforts they will require.  But for now, without the benefit of the feature wall's shelving unit I will be putting in, here is the current state of my kitchen:

Starting to put the kitchen back to rights

And yes, the yellow counter HAS to go!

The overall effect is kind of cool actually.  The colours I used are called "Apple a Day" and "Pita Bread" - apropos names for colours in a kitchen, don't you think? The cupboards will be re-painted at some point as well - October or maybe November, but at this stage, my next project needs to be getting the shelving unit all framed in and, while the weather co-operates, getting the external door into my mud-room closed in so that I can get started on my new pantry!

With love across the waters,