Slowly but surely

Gerber Daisy

It's Sunday morning and after a very busy Saturday of cleaning, rearranging, and beginning the process of putting the house back together, here are the results.

Rene was able to have the fridge and stove operational before he left on Friday. We do not have the sink hooked up (so we took the opportunity to change our minds about reusing the old faucet and bought a new one), and the dishwasher, microwave, and lighting fixtures need installation - still we made due and have moved in.

Esther is partially moved back into her room as well. She gave her floor and walls a good cleaning before bringing in the bed and her clothes. This week she hopes to bring in the rest of her funriture and hang up shelves and pictures.

Without focusing at the clutter and lack of railing along the landing, this gives you an idea of what you see as you enter the house.

Enter through the doorway, look to your left and you see the kitchen.

Stand at the sink and this is what you see. The dishwasher is waiting for it's turn to be installed.

They're here!

asiatic lily

With out any furthur ado, here is the results of day one - cabinet installation. Definitely open concept. I love it.

looking in from the hallway

looking in from near the sliding doors

the whole thing - with out doors obviously

The cabinets are next

mandevilla

By looking at this flower, you would think I've been very busy in my garden. I wish it was true. When we arrived home from the West, my garden was dried out and looking awful. Besides watering and later rain, the garden has been neglected and will remain so until October when I expect a layoff from work for a few weeks. This mandevilla, however, was babysat by my neighbour while we were away because I intend to bring it indoors and I didn't want to lose it. The rest of my planters had to fend for themselves.

The renovation moves along - fresh paint on the walls and brand new floor. The space has 'shrunk' with the dark colour scheme but I'm expecting it to 'open up' again when the cabinets get installed. That should begin tomorrow.

The living room's progress is slower because the kitchen prep was the priority. It is drywalled and quite cozy as a separate room. We've definitely changed the traffic flow of the house, which was our intent.

here's the kitchen side ready for cabinets

here's the dining side with the just delivered dishwasher

I'm back from the West

Calibrachioa - million bells

Well, I'm back. I had planned to post a few pictures before our family left for the West to deliver Julie and Christine to their perspective colleges/universities but time got away from me.

Anyway, we managed to squish everything and everyone into the van (much to my surprise and Fred's confidence) and drove straight to Iowa, settled Julie in, continued into South Dakota for a few more hours then crashed. We toured through South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana on the way to Alberta , spent the weekend in Calgary where we settled Christine in. Then we drove straight home with one overnight rest at Thunder Bay, and were home Wednesday night.

I may go into more detail in later postings, but let's get to the renovation details.

Before we left, we arranged as many salvagable kitchen cabinets into Esther's bedroom to create a temperary kitchen, along with the fridge and stove. Esther is bunking out in Julie's room and her room furniture is divided in Brad's and Christine's rooms.

we reduced the table to seat four

Rene later added another base cabinet from the portion of the kitchen we didn't attempt to remove

the microwave moved to the other base cabinet to give space for food prep

it's very manageable, but hot when the stove/oven is used

The next couple of pictures show what the kitchen looked like before we left

view of the kitchen

view of the dining room with the new window and door ready for installation

When we returned home, the back outside wall was completely redone, the inside was still at stud stage because the wiring, plumbing and heating duct work was in progress. Apparently, it was quite a sight with the whole back wall laid wide open right to the studs. It was also quite a job breaking out the cement steps at the back door.

backyard - before

backyard - after

cleaner look, eh?

So, the last pictures will show how things are today, Sunday. The drywall is up in the kitchen but not on the living room side because we have to figure out some wiring issues first.

looking in the front door straight through to the back yard

looking into the kitchen from hallway

looking out of kitchen into hallway

looking out of living room into hall/kitchen