Ty’s Study

Okay, our “formal” living room has officially sucked since we moved in two years ago. It was a room we really never used, so we didn’t put any energy into making it pretty. (The family room is our main living area.) Throughout other renovations, it became the room for storage, supplies, extra furniture, etc.

Once we got most other rooms in the house under control, we decided to turn the living room into a study/office for Tyler. I think this room has been the most fun project so far in this house. It’s all come together pretty nicely. A few things to still come: new armchairs (I’m thinking leather, off-white), built-in bookcases in the corners on either side of the bay window, desk and floor lamps, and curtains or blinds. But it’s looking much better now, wouldn’t you say?

- Paint: Benjamin Moore Ulti-Matte in Trout Grey (gorgeous colour and finish, which is impossible to tell from the photos) on walls and mantle; Thundercloud Grey on ceiling; Swiss Coffee on trim.

- Wallpaper by Graham & Brown. (I love it, but it doesn’t line up very well. One section lines up, and then it doesn’t anymore, and then a foot later it does. Arg! Also, it’s eco-friendly so it’s not pre-pasted.)

- Wool rug from Home Sense

- “Missing Connections” prints by Sophie Blackall.

Staircase Update #3

We started renovations on the staircase in late December and finished in May. If we knew at the beginning what we were getting ourselves into, we’d probably have hired someone to do the job. With work and life and laziness getting in the way, we spent weeks with the treads not even secured down. The dog, frightened at the sound they made when she stepped on them, had to be carried up and down the stairs during this time. One morning I was coming down the stairs and stepped too close to the front of a tread. My body went horizontal and I landed on my tailbone. It was like a cartoon, but so not funny. The whole experience was such a typical DIYer renovation experience. We did the best we could, but really, it was a job someone else should have done, someone who knew what they were doing.

I did lots of things out of proper order, and this made for a lot of frustration. I LOATHED to work on the stairs. Looking back, I can hardly believe they turned out as well as they did.

After incorrectly sanding and staining the bottom eight steps, I had to resand and restain them. Horrible. They ended up being slightly lighter than the rest, but no one will ever notice but me.

As I reported in the last update, I wet stripped the paint off the side baseboards, and at the time I thought THAT was difficult. Then I wet stripped the bottom newel post. Eeesh, that sucked. Thankfully, someone asked me if I was using a heat gun, and out I went to Canadian Tire and bought one on sale for $50. I think that saved my sanity. Why didn’t I know about this amazing tool? Ahhh… stripping the risers and the three smaller newel posts was A LOT easier.

Two steps and the top landing were up to 3/4ths of an inch unlevel, and Ty shimmed these to be level. This, however, left the two risers with a large gap at the top. I suppose we should have put new risers on these two, but we didn’t. I used that crazy wood epoxy to fill in the gaps. It worked, but I imagine that wasn’t the best way to solve this problem. And the rise from the eighth stair to the first landing is a lot more than the rest. You get used to it, but I have had someone comment on this after walking down the stairs. The only way to have fixed this would have been to redone the entire staircase.

After all the stripping, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding, priming, and painting the risers, I finally got to the three newel posts. I fell madly in love with the old fir wood underneath those many layers of paint, and I was reluctant to paint them. But, they were really in rough shape, many dings and cuts and old wood filler.

Before:

After:

Last of the photos on the stairs to come shortly… (I promise!)

Staircase Update #2

Since December 30th our work on the staircase has slowed down considerably. Andy came to visit for a couple of days, so we cleaned up and left everything as is in order to relax in our pjs and celebrate the new year. Then suddenly it was back to the real world.

I’ve been dawdling along this week, between work assignments, trying to patch up holes in the wood and such. We decided against staining anything except for the new treads. It’ll be easier that way, and still look good.

We ran into a major problem. It appears that underneath all the paint is a layer or two of dark red stain. I primed the baseboard around the first landing and it seeped through, making the white paint, pink. So I tried a water-based stain blocker, and that didn’t work either. So I either had to sand down to bare wood (no way), or try an oil-based stain blocker. I did the latter, and it worked. I wish it hadn’t come to that, the stuff is so toxic. Ick. I used it to prime the banister and posts as well, since I imagine the orange paint that is seeping through is likely due to that oil stain. That’s why people just keep painting over it, because after a few months the paint colour underneath begins to weep. I don’t know…speculation.

See how red the newel post is? That’s stripped. There’s no way I can sand in all those recesses, so if that stain blocker doesn’t work for that post I’ll have to get a new post turned. Here’s a part of me wishing I hadn’t stripped that post…

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.

On and on…

It’s week four and they are still working on our roof. On and on it goes, but finally there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Hopefully they will be finished for the weekend, although I am not sure that will happen. We’re getting pretty frustrated, but happy that they’ve been finally working hard this week. The other weeks? Not so much. One week it rained three days and they didn’t work at all. They don’t work weekends. One guy went on a walkabout and didn’t show up until Thursday. So now we know why they were the cheapest, and this is a solid case of “you get what you pay for.”

But the roof is looking good and I’m happy it’s almost done. No worrying about the roof this winter. And we’re having the chimney chase repaired too, so we can use the wood stove when we need it. Yah!

Finally Fini

We finally finished the renovations in the suite early Saturday evening, mere hours before our new tenants moved in. What a week, holy schmoly. The Friday before, Sharon called and asked if they could move in March 1. I figured I could get everything done in time. Which I did, of course, but I worked almost nonstop all day and evening all week, and on Friday night we worked until 3 am. I slept five hours that night. We had an enormous amount of work still to do, and it all took a lot longer than I anticipated. I worked so hard that at times I didn’t know how I kept on. I hardly ate. The only breaks I took were my numerous trips to Home Hardware and Rona for supplies. I think we spent a small fortune just on tools.

But it was worth it. We tested our mettle, and found it to be resolute. Sure, we didn’t plan it out all that well at first — “Oh, we can just take down that wall, no problem!” — but we persevered. We went way over our budget, but I guess that’s to be expected. Still, we had an enormous storage room and a useless hallway, and now we have a beautiful two-bedroom suite with a lovely, warm living room.

We took out the wall behind the wood stove and made this whole area the living room. We added a wall on the right side of the old room to make a small storage area. Some electrical had to be moved, and a baseboard heater installed. We cut out two long strips of drywall on the ceiling and put in insulation.

Oddly, the shared laundry room at the back was open to the suite. We put in a wall and a door there, by the kitchen, so we don’t have to walk into the suite to get to our laundry.

The floor obviously became an issue. We weren’t prepared to replace the whole floor, but the living room definitely needed new flooring because half of it was just concrete, and the other half was simply a very thin vinyl. VERY cold on the feet. After much debate, we opted for carpet. We tried to go on the cheap and bought from the Carpet Dollar Store. You can’t get much for less than $1.50 a square foot. But I didn’t skimp on the underlay (hopefully). The carpet guy I found on Used Victoria ended up telling us that he had to charge more AS HE WAS CUTTING THE CARPET. Apparently it’s a very difficult carpet to install, and the seams are a nightmare. Sure. He didn’t do a great job, and with delivery cost near $400. All told, less than 300 square feet of carpet was $1,100. I didn’t even measure for enough carpet, and so the carpet doesn’t go to all the other rooms. We were pretty bummed, but it turned out to look just fine. I got these lovely wood transition strips too, and this little touch really makes the floor look great.

Unfortunately, we had to have the carpet installed before I sanded the drywall and painted, so we had to put thick plastic down to protect the new carpet. What a mess. The sanding part? The hardest thing I’ve ever done. And so gross. I absolutely LOATHE the feeling of sanded drywall on my skin. And my hands? Trashed. I did, however, get a kick out of wearing my sexy mask.

My radial sander broke as I was sanding the ceiling. Either because I dropped it, or it doesn’t like sanding upside down. I didn’t have time to get to Rona for a replacement, so I used a crappy old regular sander and my own brute strength. Rawr! Any idea how hard it is to sand above you? It makes a person want to die. And so I’m terribly embarrassed, because the ceiling looks freaking horrible. But I got over it after a while. Once I primed it, there was no turning back. And cleaning up that sanded mess was a pleasure like no other. I didn’t get any photos because I didn’t want to take my camera in there.

The “hard part” over, I set about priming and painting. This should have been a lot easier. But no, not in my world. Because despite my best efforts, I like to do things the hard way. Oh well, maybe it wasn’t so bad. I bought this beautiful paint called “Hazy Skies” from Benjamin Moore. After I bought it, I put a swatch on the wall in the second room, and after much deliberation decided it was a tad too grey.

Listen, I spent a couple of hours going over colours in the living room: putting the paint chips on white paper, looking at them in different light at different times of the day and on all the walls. So for me to go and put the real paint in a different room was just silly. What was I thinking? I know better. Obviously, after spending all that time in the living room to make sure I got the right colour.

The suite isn’t super bright. We have a bank of large trees to the south that block the sun. The living room has but one small window. So it was very important to me that I choose a light tone to reflect light, but I also wanted a warm colour tone. I really love blues and greys, and they suite the “west coast” feel of the property. But they are cool colours. As well, I wanted to steer away from beige and taupe because they are so BORING. Besides, I heard grey was the new beige. But not too grey. This is tricky stuff! Perhaps you’re thinking, “It’s just rental suite, why are you going through so much trouble?” Well, my integrity is at stake. I just cannot rent this suite to anyone unless it’s good enough for me to live in. This is a good thing in the end. Because if our tenants see that I CARE about their living space, then hopefully they will respect it as much as I do. Give them crap, they will treat it like crap. To me, it’s a no-brainer.

But back to the paint. I went up to Home Hardware to see if they could make my Hazy Skies just a tad green. Sure! That’s what the special computers are for! I picked out a lovely sagey green called “Beach Glass.” Well, I took a risk, and she added to one gallon the wrong tints and it ended up being much MORE grey. So she mixed up a fresh gallon of Beach Glass. Looked green in the store.

On the wall, wet, it looked very green. Like medical gown green. Hrm. No turning back now. It was rush time. I didn’t put on a swatch, I just went for it, hoping it would turn out okay. After the first coat on one wall, I grabbed the paint chip and compared it to the paint. NOT THE SAME. NOT EVEN CLOSE. The paint on the wall after dry? BLUE. No doubt about it. It’s robin egg blue. I was worried. It looks a bit baby nursery. But after two coats, it looked really good, and the colour grew on me. Now I love it, but of course since it was a mistint, it can never be recreated. BOO!

I originally bought my paint from the Benjamin Moore store in Langford, and the girl there said the folks at HH mistint their paint quite frequently. Urgh.

So I still had a gallon of Hazy Skies. Since the blue is so dominant, we decided to use this in the “hallway” area. It looks just fabulous. What a gorgeous colour. Calm, sophisticated, light. It changes with the light, and often looks a tad green, perhaps reflections from the blue. I think it looks sort of like putty, or plaster. We love it so much, we’re going to use it upstairs.

A note on Benjamin Moore paint: I love it. It is superb paint and I feel it’s worth the few extra bucks. It goes on so smooth and easily (with the right roller brush). We also used a telescopic handle for the first time and love it. I broke the one I bought within 20 minutes, and then Tyler broke three of our broom handles. Someone needs to invent one that can’t break. Still, it’s a way better way to paint.

With the painting of the walls done, I set about paint all the trim and Tyler worked on everything else: framing in the window and building a sill (which involved making a hole for a bolt that was sticking up – tricky!), cutting and installing the door trim and baseboards, securing and moving some baseboard heaters, spray painting the wood stove pipe cap, installing the transition strips, putting in bathroom hardware, replacing light bulbs, and cleaning up.

And so this is the result of all our hard work. We think it looks awesome.

Doesn’t Hazy Skies look fabulous?

Even Piper loves it!

For a complete set of photos, visit my flickr photoset.

What’s next? Well last week we also had our driveway cleaned up and leveled, and then crushed rock put down. It looks really good, even though it’s not my ideal driveway, and there’s no more mud when you step out of the car. We’re going to build a patio for the suite: a simple pergola and lattice to block the view of the cars and driveway a bit, and space to hang flower baskets and such. I’m excited about this, as spring seems on its way and getting outside more lifts my spirits. Next week we’ll have top soil brought in for the front yard too, and we can start making some bedding area and planting for the summer. Yah!

Eureka!

There’s this little joke that I like to tease Tyler about. I am certain that one day we will be refinishing the floors or stairs and I’ll tear up a loose board and find an old dusty canvas bag filled with lots and lots of money. Enough  money for us to run away and live like kings in Fiji for the rest of our lives. There are many uneven, loose floor boards in the house and whenever I step on one I lose myself in this fantasy of flipping up that board and discovering some kind of treasure from years past. I know it’s a bit silly, but I also think it’s hilarious.

Well I didn’t find a casket of jewels or come across a small fortune, but I did manage to find a tenant last week. And let me tell you, I am so relieved. It’s a major stress and a delicate balance. I’m a rather nice person, and so having to tell someone who wants to rent your suite that YOU don’t want them to is difficult for me. We’re picky and we want nice, quiet, normal people to rent a part of our house. We want someone who will respect the space. We have put a lot of energy and time (and money) into the suite to make sure we would attract those types of people. And we did, but not all were perfect for us.

The first lady to look was very nice and had lots of good energy. I was a little leery about her 20-something son who was living with her “only for six months”. Because you know how that story goes. But really the clincher was the fact that she has three cats AND a dog. She said they don’t make a mess, but if my experience is any indication, animals most certainly DO make a mess. And I’m having beige carpet installed. I want it to stay clean for at least a little while. Besides, Tyler and I are not so sure having three cats in the house is a good idea, what with his insane allergies and all. Our ad said “small pets considered,” and so we considered them and decided NO. She didn’t seem none too pleased with me. “Oh, I understand.”

Second was a very sweet young woman and her nine-year-old son. I liked them both, so I offered her the suite. The same day, she found another place to rent that suited her better. Boo! I was kind of bummed. Because the other potential tenants were an older couple who seemed really nice and I thought they would be perfect, but the husband was a bit loud and sometimes cheeky and I just knew in a few months it would start to get on my nerves. Hey, I’m sensitive! Thankfully, they never called back when they said they would.

I answered lots of e-mails and sent photos. The only other person who came to look at the suite was the person we’ve rented to. Her and her husband are relocating from northern BC back to the Island. The husband is still there, packing up and getting everything ready for the move. So Sharon has been staying with her parents and looking for accommodations. I liked her immediately when I met her: soft-spoken, sweet, well-mannered. Her mom came too, and I just wanted to hug her she’s so nice! And Piper LOVED both of them. (That was a good sign. Piper barked at the brash old man.) They have two Pomeranians, and they hardly go outside or bark too much (hopefully!). Thing is, Piper goes crazy for a minute or so when someone comes to the door or when we torture her by making her jump and dance for her treats, so it’s just a part of life with a dog. So not long after they left, Tyler and I talked, and I sent Sharon an e-mail to tell her that we would be happy to offer them the suite. She came yesterday to sign the rental agreement and give us a security deposit.

The relief and tension has melted away. I have a good feeling about Sharon and I just know they will be great tenants. I’ve been feeling my intuition is a lot stronger lately, and this instance is no exception.

Now I just have to finish the renos! Their move-in date was set to be March 15, which was lots of time for me. But now there’s a possibility of it being earlier, and I still have a ton of work to do. Thing is, I’m working on articles this week and next, and I’m already behind on those. I can’t even describe to you how happy I felt when I flipped the calendar over from January to February, but February is turning out to be a super busy month. Sigh, that’s okay, it’ll just make spring come that much faster. I’m already noticing some bushes and trees with new shoots coming forth, and with that I feel the deep clouds of winter lifting slowly away.

‘Tis But a Flesh Wound

Yesterday I felt very tired, after not sleeping so well the night before. I’m stressed about finishing the suite, finding a tenant, what it will be like to have a stranger living in my house (even though the suite is private), etc. and it’s actually keeping me from sleeping well. I thought we had found a great tenant, but yesterday she told me that she had rented something else. Bum-mer.

So I arrive home after babysitting a cranky little girl all afternoon and decide to do a few things in the suite. It’s one of those projects where you can’t do everything in a few days. It takes a while and I have to be patient, but I also have to keep positive and plugging away at it. Perhaps it wasn’t the best day to be cutting drywall and hammering.

Things I Learned (or Re-Learned)

• measure twice, cut once.
• don’t try to divide a thin piece of drywall into two even thinner ones. It doesn’t work.

  

   

• hammering nails directly upwards is REALLY hard.
• don’t put your face right in front of where you are hammering a nail, keep it to the side.
• ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GEAR. Drywall crumbles in eyes = ouch.
• try not to get the finger of your disposable glove caught in the screw while using the electric drill.
• screws should go in straight.
• 1 1/4-inch screws are better than those really long ones that you are unable to screw in with that powerful electric drill.
• don’t fall off the ladder.

While hammering awkwardly upwards (to secure the metal edging on a corner), I somehow smacked my finger in between the hammer and the railing of the ladder. It hurt, but I kept hammering because I was getting frustrated. A few moments later I looked down at my hand and saw that the finger glove was all bloody! Aw, ’tis but a flesh wound, but I sure could be more careful.

Today is a day off from renos, weeee! Happy about that…

Renovation Update

Renos in the suite are moving forward, albeit slowly. We didn’t want to wait until we were completely finished before putting an ad out, because then we would likely have to wait until April 1st to rent the suite. So we cleaned up as much as possible and put an ad out. The suite shows really well even with the living room unfinished. We’ve had five inquiries so far: a 50-year-old landscaper with her 26-year-old son living with her for six months (she also has a dog and three cats); a young couple with a four-month-old baby; a single mother and her six-year-old son; and a retired man and his still-working wife whose house they rent is being sold. An interesting cross-section of people, and three out of four have pets. I’m slightly reluctant about dogs, knowing how dirty they make this house after being outside. I bought carpet yesterday, and it’s light beige! I wanted something neutral, and now I’m thinking damn that’s going to look dirty fast.

I have to tell you, it’s emotionally taxing on me, all these renovations. I want to learn and I want to do as much as possible myself, but I don’t have any experience at all with homes. I’m finding myself trying very hard to plan ahead, but I keep making mistakes, or miscalculations. And then I feel stupid and inadequate and why did I think I could ever do this? It’s almost a DIY disaster around here some days.

We took down a wall, and now of course getting heat to that room properly is near impossible without cutting dozens of holes in the TEXTURED ceiling. There is an electrician here this morning, trying to solve this problem. We’ve managed to figure something out, but I will have to fix a few holes in the wall, and the baseboard heater isn’t in the best spot. Hopefully it heats up the room enough. I’m sure carpet was the best flooring solution now, as laminate would have been too cold on the feets.

Am I worried too much about the comfort of my tenants? We’re spending $900 to put carpet into 300 square feet. And I even bought pretty cheap carpet at $1.50 a square foot. Then there’s underlay, installation, tax. It all adds up to much more than we wanted to spend, but we didn’t really budget or prepare very well before taking the wall down. Should we have left the room as storage? Should we have put in laminate? Should we have tried to match up the very thin flooring (which sits right on top of concrete!) and thrown a rug over the tiles leftover from the wood stove we took out?

Sure, I’m concerned about how much $ we are spending on our rental suite, but I also feel good about it. It’s just in my nature to do things as right as possible. The room needed heat and it needed to be a long-term solution. The rooms needs flooring and it must be comfortable. I learned an important lesson once, from the landlady at my Metchosin home. It was such a lovely house. She told me that she designed and built it thinking how she would feel if she was living there herself. I always appreciated her sentiments — afford others the same respect you would give yourself. It’s simply a good way to be.

Renovations in the Suite

I write this on a sunny but cold Sunday afternoon. Miraculously, it seems, it’s not rainy here in Sooke. Before we moved here, we lived in Oak Bay near Willows Beach. It was awesomely windy there and sure it rained, but I never noticed the weather to be much different than the other eight areas of town I’ve lived in. Forty-five minutes west we moved, and it rains like the devil. The weather here just seems so different. And so I am thankful for sunny, dry days. (My toes, however, feel like they were dipped in the Bering Sea.)

We aren’t doing much work outside in the yard yet. We’re working on renovating the rental suite on the lower level in hopes of finding a tenant for March 1. Our previous tenant left in December, and we’re feeling the pinch from the lost income. The suite had quite a large unfinished room (drywalled, but not mudded and taped) that was being used as storage. A middle area between all the rooms seemed too small to be useful, and we’ve decommissioned and taken out the wood stove that was housed there. It made sense for us to take down the wall behind the wood stove and open up that entire space. That way there can be a more defined living room, and two bedrooms instead of one. (Also, more square footage = more rental income.)

After much consultation with friends and family as to whether the angled wall could be bearing or not, Tyler started taking the wall down. After a twinge of uncertainty and a little Internet research, I was instructed to call the builder who moved the house and ask him. We needed to know for sure. He told me it was a partition wall and okay to knock out. Yahh! And so the demolition continued.

For the past week I’ve been mudding and taping and mudding and mudding the drywall, while Tyler works on other jobs in the room. He’s framed in an area at the back of the room for storage, and we’ve realized that a baseboard heater should be installed now on that wall before the drywall goes up, so we’re on the hunt for an electrician in the area. Ty also cut out a length of drywall in the ceiling last night so that we could stuff insulation in there. Not sure why there wasn’t any in there already… but we need to do something to help with the noise transfer between our living room floor and the ceiling in the suite. It’s a bit ridiculous, actually. Tyler has also taken out the stove pipe and capped it at the ceiling. Today he bought the tools to drill into concrete so the storage space wall can be secured to the floor and he can install the door.

It seemed like it would be such a simple job, finishing that room, but now sometimes it seems it will never end! My goal is to have the room ready for primer and paint by next Friday. I’ll be so happy when this is all done! Then I have the fun job of finding a tenant…

More to come on my adventures as a mudder, as well as the other wall and door we’re installing by the shared laundry room.