Foyer and staircase
We’re slowly making our way through the interior of the house and painting every room that is gold. The colour is in almost every room, and we can hardly stand it anymore. A few months ago we painted our family room and my goodness it felt good. We used Benjamin Moore’s Hazy Skies and Clarksville Grey. It looks pretty good, but Hazy Skies is much more grey in this room than downstairs in the suite, where we used it first and fell in love with it. I like it, but Ty’s not sold on the grey look just yet. We’re thinking the accent wall isn’t quite right, so we plan to paint it some other colour at a later date. For now, it’s fine.
Over the holidays we’ve been working on the foyer and the staircase. Painting the entrance area also meant painting beside the stairs and into the hallway upstairs, as the walls are all connected. We decided to go with a bold accent wall on the left, and four shades lighter on the right wall and ceiling. There is horizontal moulding on the walls beside the stairs, and we decided to paint the walls above that moulding a neutral shade, called Elephant Tusk. It looks fabulous so far.
Here’s what the foyer and stairs looked like before we painted.
There was no way we would be able to live with the new wall colour and the dilapidated brown and gold stairs. This is what they looked like before we began demolition.
We’re pretty sure they are the original stairs. They don’t appear to have been built well (many gaps, and a lot of nails, some in unusual spots), although it could also be that they weren’t maintained. And they are somewhere’s around a hundred years old, so it’s not surprising they are in such disrepair. Some of the treads were broken, and the landings are uneven and have breaking boards. We considered simply putting carpet over them, but after doing some research, we decided it wasn’t a very good option. So our Christmas present ended up being 15 engineered oak stair treads at the contractor’s rate of $35.95 each. And lots of sweat equity. (Hopefully.)
The newel posts are gouged and scratched and look terrible. They were painted brown, white, orange and then gold. The orange paint must have been oil-based, because over the past year the orange has “seeped” through the gold. You can see it at the top in this photo.
I stripped the paint from the bottom of the banister and started on the bottom newel post. I’m sanding the risers as they aren’t too bad and don’t have as many layers of paint. We’re also going to paint them the same colour as all the trim and moulding in the house (Swiss Coffee), so it’s not as prudent to strip them.
Our staircase design is to also paint the uprights with Swiss Coffee. The newel posts, handrail, and the bottom of the banister (the part I’m stripping) will be stained a dark brown. This is what they look like right now. Lots of work still to do, but oh boy they are gonna look fabulous when they’re done.
Tenant horrors
On the evening of the 11th, a Thursday, Tyler arrived home late and asked if our tenant had been by. He hadn’t. But Tyler had just seen his van parked up by the gas station (which was closed). A couple of hours later, he called, returning my call from Tuesday morning. Tyler told him that we delivered a 10-day notice and needed to pay his rent. He feigned surprise, and told us that he had put the cash underneath the concrete pad in front of his door on Monday at about 2 am when he came by to pick up some stuff. He said he left a voicemail message, so he must have dialed the wrong number! The money was indeed there, albeit still $50 short, and we’re quite positive that at the time Ty saw the van, he had walked down from the gas station and left the money.
I was become more and more distrustful of him, and I was very upset. I called him back and explained why I was angry and was not happy that he had been dishonest. Our conversation got a bit intense, and he asked if we wanted him to move out. I said yes. We agreed to prorate the amount for the month’s rent. He said he would move out the next night, Friday.
And so he did. At midnight, he knocked on our door and demanded that we do a walkthrough. He still had a few things in the suite and he wanted his money back right then and there! Tyler and him got into a slightly heated argument. Tyler gave him his rent money back, and told him to leave the key and a forwarding address in our mailbox. We would mail him a cheque. He became quite angry — he absolutely would not accept a cheque. Cash only! As he walked away, he said, “Well we’ll see about that”. To us, he suggested a threat.
He didn’t return the key. So the next day we replaced the deadbolt. The carpet was dirty and needed to be steamcleaned. There was also some minor cleaning in the bathroom and kitchen. We deducted all of that from his damage deposit. It wasn’t until Tuesday evening that he returned the keys. I gave him a cheque for the remaining damage, with a letter outlining the charges. He called me a few minutes later. “Are you kidding me?” Nope. And he said he would be calling the RTB the next day, and I said, “You do that.”
I don’t feel in the wrong at all. And I am so glad that he is gone, without too much trouble. We were so worried and stressed.
I put an ad up right away, and on Friday we rented to two young men, 21 and 18 years old, for Jan. 1. The older boy is in college and wanted a quiet place to study. The other, his friend, is finishing up school through correspondence. They both seem pretty responsible, and their references were great. This will be their first home away from their parents. I told them not to be brats.
In other news, we finally found someone to replace our gutters for a reasonable price. He may even be here tomorrow, so we’re quite pleased.
Happy holidays! We have a few in-house projects planned, including some painting.
Filed under suite | Comments OffHoa Boy
Our first tenants moved out at the end of November, and a new tenant moved in on December 1st. He seemed fairly normal and his previous landlord gave a good reference. I trusted him. On the 1st he said he wasn’t able to get to the bank that day, but would pay his rent the following day. We signed the tenancy agreement. It’s now Dec. 10 and he hasn’t paid his rent yet. We gave him a 10-day notice to pay rent but he hasn’t been home for three days, so it’s not until today does he have five days to pay rent — and Friday is likely his payday. While we need the money, I really just want him to move out. I don’t trust him, obviously, because he’s lied about a few things. Like smoking. We specifically asked in our ad for non-smokers, because even when someone smokes on the patio, we can smell it inside our house and outside as well. It severely inhibits our enjoyment of our yard. As well, there are all these red flags coming up, like the fact that he doesn’t use cheques and doesn’t have a bank card. Something about “fraud” with his bank account.
I am not happy. In fact, I’m quite stressed about the situation. We are good people and great landlords, and we certainly don’t deserve this. And there doesn’t seem to be an easy way out, apart from him not paying rent in the next five days. And even then, we will have to take action in order to recoup our monetary losses. Can you believe there is no legal way to evict a tenant for knowingly providing false information at time of rental? That’s absurd. Even if he pays his rent in five days, there isn’t a way for us to evict him legally. Argh! I’m furious!
In other news, our new roof isn’t leaking, yah! However, the roofers took down a broken gutter and we haven’t been able to find anyone to install a new one. So, there is too much water rolling down the lower roof when it rains, and we have to place tarps and plastic around our front stairs. Otherwise the water seeps into the suite bathroom and wall in the bedroom closet. Sigh. We’ve called every single company in the Yellow Pages, and not one will do our gutters, for a variety of reasons.
Owning an old home is stressful.
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