See you next year ...hopefully new and improved!

With so much work to do inside the house, it is difficult to find both the motivation and the finances to work on the outside. During the spring we pulled some weeds and removed some ferns/bushes and tried to grow some grass. 

Below is a picture of the backyard.  It is a decent size, especially for Toronto. We have grass for the dog, a slab of cement closer to the house for the bbq, and little gardens with flowers and trees. We also have a nice wood fence on the left hand side to create separation between us and the neighbors, a chain link fence at the back which slopes downward into a hill before meeting up with the next yard, and  another chain link fence on the right side which fortunately we share with really great neighbors.  It's been fun making use of the back yard for bbq's and the occasional party but now that the season is coming to a close, I can't help but dream about the work we could do back there.  I would love to finish the fence, add a deck, buy a new bbq, pull some more weeds and grow some more grass.  Hopefully this is a project I can blog about in the spring or even late summer but for now, I will just keep dreaming!

Baseboards

Before

Once removed

New Plaster

Complete

I have been delaying this post because I think that baseboards are really boring.  That said, they were a lot of work and actually made a big difference in each of the rooms that we have completed.  Here is a simplified, step-by-step summary of the project (in my terms).

Step 1: Chris removed the old baseboards before we ripped up the floors.  It was a painful job because they were the old thick wooden baseboards and were nailed in very tight with really long nails.  He was also trying to be careful not to remove too much of the plaster from the walls and originally we thought we may want to reclaim them (in the end it was too difficult to save them). 

Step 2: The second and third picture depicts my responsibility in the baseboard project.  My job was to plaster and re-plaster all of the removed areas.  In some cases, I slabbed on so much plaster and it likely would have been easier to cut a piece of drywall instead. Once the plaster was dry I had to sand and re-sand the surface area to make them as flat as possible for step 4.

Step 3: Cutting the baseboards.  This was Chris' job and it was quite tedious. Because the walls are all different lengths, the boards will all need to be cut accordingly.  Also, the ends need to be cut on an angle in order for the corners to match up.  

Step 4: Applying the baseboards.  We went with the tall boards since we have nine foot ceilings and the old wood ones that we had just removed were also the tall ones. We used MDF (medium density fiberboard) rather that pine or other wood.  The main reason is beause it was more affordable. I think it looks clean and nice. The caption on the last picture says "complete" but I am pretty sure we are adding a strip of quarter rounds which I will post at a later date.

 

Step 5: Caulking the baseboards. In order to hide the gap between the wall and the baseboards, we used caulking.  Most home renovators would know about this magical white filler but it was news to me. Once the baseboards were caulked, they looked great and very professional.

Because the baseboard removal project was such a pain, we decide to remove only the quarter rounds on the second floor, in order to prep for the new floors.  That is, everywhere except for in the master bedroom. We will be putting new baseboards in the master bedroom soon (which still remains empty by the way).  The "before" picture is from the second floor with only the quarter round removed.

New kid in town...

I couldn't resist! My sister got a puppy!!! It's a Bernese Mountain Dog.  In this picture he is 7 weeks.  They live in Ottawa.  I can't wait to meet the little guy.  His name is Guinness.

Peeping Tom

It has been 9 months (almost 10) since we moved into our lovely home.  We have not purchased a single window treatment.  In the master bedroom (which still remains empty) we have a large sheet draped from the windows and in the guest room, we usually hang a couple of towels.  The previous owner left us some venetian blinds on the third floor (our current bedroom).  The only room that really effects us at the moment is the living room.  The top is a picture of our living room window and below are a couple of options I pulled online.  Any suggestions?

Option 1

Option 2

Office

Originally, we wanted to turn one of the rooms up on the 3rd floor (the one that currently acts as our bedroom) into an office.  Our plan was to carpet both sets of stairs and have the room on the 3rd floor carpeted at the same time, and turn it into the office.  Chris was starting a new job in mid summer where most of his work would be done from a home office. Since we still had not (and have not) gotten around to the carpet project, nor have we competed our bedroom project, we set up the office in our small spare room on the 2nd floor.  The desk and area rug are from Ikea (mix and match).  The rest is from Staples.  That was easy! (kidding -of course).

Dining Room Nook

There is a nook in our dining room that we have been contemplating on how to fill. Since we ended up making our own dining room table it only made sense to complete the set. Chris measured the space and drew up the plans and we set out to the nearest Home Depot to build our new buffet. We picked up more planks of pine and started the glueing and sanding. Once the hutch is built we will stain it in the same colour as the table.



In the interim, we filled the space with a bookshelf and a couple of bar stools (for a lack of a better plan for both the nook and the furniture).

Here is a picture of the hutch as it stands now. We plan to build a shelf in the middle of each section and doors on the outsides. I can't wait until it is finished but since we (by we I mostly mean Chris because he prefers to work alone) haven't worked on it in a while, I figured I would blog about it instead. Please stay tuned for the end results!!

Dining Room Table

My husband Chris, and I were really eager to get a dining room table and chairs so that we could start inviting our friends over for formal dining. We started to price out tables and realized that we had expensive taste (when it came to dining room tables). We really liked the rustic look, as well as harvest tables. Chris decided that it would be both fun and cost-effective to build his own table. He did some research until he was confident to make his own plan. He has promised to write step-by-step instructions on how to build a table so I can post it for those of you who are interested in giving it a try **stay tuned!**

The table was made to seat 8 comfortably and designed a little taller than your average table because Chris' family is really tall -another benefit to making your own. We purchased the chairs from a great warehouse store in Mississauga, called ARTeFAC. They have an assortment of affordable chairs and really great service.

I absolutely love the table and wish I had taken pictures throughout the process.