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.

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!)

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…

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.

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.

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.

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!

Our yard is a mess. I can hardly wait for this to be over… The new shingles and chimney will look awesome!

In other Insane News, we had two privacy screens built. One is on the side yard by the hammock so we don’t have to look at our neighbour’s vehicles while relaxing. See those jasmine vines? I planted them and they’ve already started climbing the trellis.

The other trellis is at the back of the property to block the little bit of traffic we can see and hear.  This one is crazy. It’s 10 feet high and I think almost 30 feet long. Ty and I painted it black since it will take a while for the vines to fill up all that space. We love the new screens. We thought it would be hilarious to hang up some canvas on the trellis and play an old movie in our backyard. We’d invite all the neighbours and serve popcorn and punch. We’ll see if that actually happens, but it’s a fun idea.

The shed is just on the left side of the photo. (The new backyard swing? It’s just over on the right on the screen. Weee!) I’m going to paint the shed soon, so I’ll post a better photo of it all soon. There’s 13 feet between the neighbour’s fence and our screen. Once the vines are grown in a bit, we’ll use that space for a compost and storage. I also have plans to make a Secret Garden back there. Oh gilly!

I keep looking at the first set of before and after photos and I smile every time. The house looks amazing now! I know the difference between winter and summer makes everything look better, but still there is a lot of change to the house and the yard. We’re quite pleased, to say the least.

Below you’ll find a series of “before and after” photos. Enjoy!

So where did I leave off? I had seen our home on MLS a month or so earlier while doing cursory searches (probably around June). It wasn’t until we were SERIOUSLY looking to buy (late July) that I saw it the second time and decided we should have a look even though it was in Sooke, about a 45-minute drive from Victoria. And so we did. We were quite taken with the house and the property immediately. We loved the old character and appreciated the updates: kitchen and bathrooms. And really, the kitchen is quite beautiful. I loved all the space: a family room, formal living room and a separate dining room. Three bedrooms upstairs and a huge bathroom. The real estate agent selling the house showed us around and gave us the details. (We didn’t have an agent yet.)

- The house had been moved from Oak Bay in 1989 (the proved to be incorrect, the house was actually from the Gorge area, where a Tim Horton’s now resides). Because of new building codes, the electrical and plumbing was updated, the plaster walls were replaced with gyrock, and of course a new foundation was poured. The lower floor was added when the house was moved, and more recently renovated into a one-bedroom suite (we turned it into a two-bedroom suite).

- The property is about 0.28 of an acre. It was once two lots, when our road and the cross road leading to the highway was subdivided and a subdivision was planned. That fell through, and when the house was moved two lots were converted into one. The smaller lot to the west has an easement on it, meaning we can’t build anything there without permission from our neighbour, as their septic field actually sits at the top corner of our property. The neighbour’s lots is long and skinny – no room for a septic field. There’s talk that this side of Sooke should have municipal sewer in five years or so, but who knows.

We looked at another house, a new one, past the village of Sooke up Otter Point Road. It was very nice and we liked it quite a lot. One acre and it overlooks a lake. It was $425,000. However, we didn’t see a lot of potential there, and it didn’t have a suite. It was also another 15-minute drive.

We liked our house much more. And it didn’t take us long to decide to put in an offer, although we did have to talk a lot about it. Moving out to Sooke was a big decision, considering Tyler works in James Bay. That means he would have to commute every day. We asked around, and discovered that Tyler’s hours would just miss the heavy traffic rush hours. Bonus! I really wanted this house, and Ty’s commute could have been the deal-breaker. We figured the house had tons of potential:

- A good-sized suite for extra income. As well, it’s nice enough for us to live in if we ever need to, and rent out the top two floors instead.

- We could run a bed and breakfast here.

- If and when we hook up to municipal sewer, we can subdivide and sell the other lot. Or we could build a carriage house there and have it as a vacation rental.

- We love the idea of fixing up a house rather than paying for someone else to do the work. While the house certainly had some big and expensive updates, it still needed quite a lot of work. We felt that instead of buying a house that needed EVERYTHING renovated, maybe it would be good to “get our feet wet” and start out with something just slightly less than perfect.

- We could run a photography studio here. The master bedroom is big enough for a studio, and we could use the formal living room as a gallery and client meeting space.

- Because of the character of the house, it’s perfect for branding. We are in fact re-branding my photography to Three Stories. The name works for photography AND for the house. It’s so perfect if we ever open a gallery here.

- Sooke is an up-and-coming area. Lots of development going on, and we expect house prices to remain steady or increase in the next few years.

- The house is close to the Sooke Basin (it even has “ocean glimpses”), a pebble beach, the Galloping Goose trail and lots of recreation.

With all this potential, we felt this house was perfect for us. We wanted to be wise first-time home buyers, and I still feel we made an excellent decision. We decided to use the same real estate agent, and we put in an offer after our second viewing. Talk about scary when it’s your first time! But the agent was gentle with us and answered all our first-timer questions. We put in an offer of $438,000 that evening. (The asking price was $449,000.) We had until noon the next day to seal the deal. In the morning the seller countered at $448,000 and added a few things, like curtains and the fridge or something. We were blown away, and quite annoyed. She hadn’t come down much, and didn’t offer much either. We were in fits, back and forth discussing everything. Holy smokes this was stressful! She wasn’t coming down, and we didn’t want to go up much. I think we went up to $443,000 with all the appliances and she was at $447,000. Noon passed and things looked grim. We were babysitting Ty’s niece Sophie that afternoon, and we drove out to the Red Barn for ice cream. I was just sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to lose the house over a few thousand dollars. It seemed so silly. But Ty stood firm, and I’m glad he did. Our agent called in the afternoon with the news that she would forgo $1,000 of her commission and the seller’s buying agent would waive $4,000 so the deal could go through.

So the house was ours! Yah!

Oh, and then three stressful, horrible months of my life began…. I never want to go through that again.