Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Basement Finishing Begins


We can put it off no longer. The basement is now officially under construction. What you see in the picture is the future bedroom on the far left. Yes, it's full of junk. Next to that, featured in the centre of the photo,where the saw resides, in front of the ping-pong table, will be the bathroom and next is the storage room. Why have a workbench when you can have a ping-pong table? Judging from the amount of "stuff" we have acquired, the poor storage room is going to be taxed before it's even finished. On the right side of the picture (which you can barely see) is the mechanical room aka the furnace room, where the money spent on all the equipment to keep the house warm, dry and carbon monoxide free makes you long for the cold, damp, CO filled homes of old. Oh right...it's only money.

Are We Blind?



The poor blog isn't being neglected so much as we have moved to construction from savings to construction from earnings...much slower pace. After a vacation in Nova Scotia (thank you Ron and Carolyn) and Newfoundland (thank you Ron Jenkins), we came back with renewed resolve and some new ideas for finishing the house. We have to admit that the spirit is not always willing but it seems to keep pace with the earnings.

First, we ordered blinds for the sunroom to cool it down. Then, in a seemingly contradictory move, Jim built a duct, housing a fan, that draws the heat from the ceiling of the sunroom into the cold air return that will allow us to heat the house, more easily, from said room. Split personalities are not responsible for this...no, no... For the most part, we leave the blinds up to allow the sunroom to create as much heat as possible but, occasionally, we like to sit out there. The blinds drop the temperature down so that we can enjoy the space clothed and without personal fans. It should be noted that we have had an inordinately long period of cloudy days since their installation. I should probably question the amount of money spent but, as we learned long ago, it's only money.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I Love My Door!


My beautiful, new door...our much needed, beautiful, new door.

The heat in the sunroom can get so intense that we had resorted to hanging a black curtain from a tension rod in the doorway between the sunroom and the kitchen to try and keep the rest of the house livable. Although unsightly, this system worked, relatively, well even if the house was dark and dingy. The new door, however, is amazing in its ability to moderate the temperature transfer between the rooms AND it's pretty, too. Plus, we have light!

Why Is Parking Always Such An Issue?



Originally, we thought we had enough parking to suit our needs. We were wrong. After spending 2 years juggling our vehicles and trailers and visitors vehicles and old tractors and construction equipment, we finally saw the light and dug up more yard and are in the process of expanding the parking/driving area.

Jim acquired some fiberglass cloth which he is putting down before spreading the gravel. Hopefully, this will stop the weeds from growing through and also help retain the gravel keeping it from burying itself in the clay.

We have another triple load of gravel coming this week that should complete this job.

I Have Been Negligent




We have been quite busy with outside work and a little finish up inside work and I have not been keeping up with the blog.

First, "Thanks" to Jim and John Cormack for the August visit. We were at a bit of a lull in the construction...that bothersome "no money, no equipment or materials" thing...but my Jim had built the platform for the washer and drier and John helped muscle them into place. The job wouldn't have gone so smoothly without Jim's (Cormack, that is) supervision, I'm sure.

There is still a little sink to plumb in and the bottom of the platform to finish before the laundry room is complete.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Inside Out Day

On the inside, Jim has installed the transition strips between the vinyl flooring and the hardwood. On the outside, I went out mowing and he did some weed whacking with our new push type weed whacker. The poor lawnmower cannot handle all of the mowing chores as the land surface is too bumpy and rocky in spots so the whacker has come in very handy. It takes about 6 hours to mow and whack the front. Jim was so enamoured by my "mowing" attire that he insisted on a picture. I am afraid that it's not complete without my bottle of perfume...aka Deep Woods Off.

Because this is a "slow news" entry, I have also included a picture of our typical evening thunderheads.



Sunday, August 14, 2011

Okay, It's Nearly Done



The metal cladding project has three pieces at the top and back of each of the posts that need to be trimmed down and then siliconed. That really should only take a few minutes.

The week before last, Jim put the last bits of siding on the front of the deck. We can now say that the front of the house is finished. If you're keeping track, that means that three sides are finished with just the metal cladding on the deck posts and beam to be done at the back but first there's the issue of cement or brick patio to deal with. I believe this may be next summers project.

Famous Last Words...





Jim decided it was time to finish the front deck and managed to get a kit to do the metal cladding of the beam and posts. With those fateful words, "This shouldn't take too long", he set to work. By the end of the day he was almost finished.

Meanwhile, I went out to admire the roses that are in bloom. They were supposed to be pink wild roses but, obviously, we didn't get those. I'm just as happy.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Pretty Snappy Looking Garage

Jim has been working a little each day to get the garage mudded and ready for painting. Yesterday, he managed to get the priming done so all we need now is a paint sale for the finish coat. Nothing fancy…just white. After that, he’ll trim the windows and another thing is done.

In his spare time, Jim has been helping one of our new neighbours, across the street, crib his basement. The concrete will be poured next Tuesday (weather permitting) and then the concrete forms will be available to move over to Farrell’s so that the cribbing can begin on the shop. “Shop”, you say. “What is this about a shop?” Yes, we are going to add a back walk-out shop approximately where the shed is now and that also takes advantage of our hill to create a walk out for an under-the-shop garage.

This project just seems to grow and grow.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

There was this paint sale…

We decided to try and clean up the yard and make the property look a little less like a construction zone. Looks like we have a ways to go, yet but luckily, at least for the shed, Canadian Tire had a paint sale. Jim and I suited up in our best anti-mosquito wear and one lovely, calm morning (there aren’t that many) we painted the old shed. It looks pretty snappy.

For the present, it will stay where it is but we have designs on moving it into the back yard sometime this summer.

Friday, May 20, 2011

OK...I know it's time we got back to work

So we started by getting the parging done. Jim just didn't want to do it and there were a couple of homes in the neighbourhood taking advantage of a parging company's presence and we did too.

In addition, we bought a few lilacs and wild roses, create bedding plots for them that will, hopefully, hold some moisture and planted them. After roto-tilling, we covered the disturbed soil with the black anti-weed cloth and then covered that with washed rock. As you can see from the picture of the lilac twig, they are very small. Keep your fingers crossed that they are hardy and fast growing, as we are planting them along the driveway to try and keep the snow drifting to a minimum.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Blades On The Fan Go Round And Round

This afternoon, Jim installed the ceiling fan in the sunroom. It is a brushed steel fan from Monte Carlo Fans called the Discus. This week we will trot off to Timberland to see if we can find some trim to finish off the peak of the ceiling on either side of the fan.

Good Grief, Is This Ever Going To End?



The only difference between these pictures, taken two weeks ago, and now is that we have more snow and only half of the driveway is still showing as we are stuck in a winter storm that has been harassing us for over a week. Where has the promised "Big Melt" gone? Why are we still mired in winter? Will this ever leave? This time last year people were already on the golf courses.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Since it's Been a Couple of Months...

I decided it was time to share something, as we really haven't accomplished too much. Of course, we took a quick break and attended a wedding in Costa Rica which has helped us to deal with the brutal winter that Mother Nature has bestowed upon us. I haven't included weather updates this year as all I would be saying is more snow, more wind, more icy temperatures. Suffice it to say, I have been stuck in my own driveway twice and housebound three times as the drifts have been too challenging for the car. We are a little worried that we may have flooding issues in the spring as we have so much snow. This time last year we were all concerned about the ongoing drought but I have a strong feeling that we will be mosquito central this year.

This post I get to talk about my accomplishment and not Jims. I have managed to finish the livingroom drapes (lined, no less). I will confess that I am procrastinating with the diningroom ones but they will be the same as the livingroom and, honest, I'll get down to it next week.

The band of blue in the fabric "swatch" is actually more navy and matches the blue of the sofa while the green is very close to the colour of the walls. The fabric was only $5/meter at Fabricland which made them affordable. I will have enough left over fabric to make a couple of cushions for extra colour.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

It's 2011...Where Has The Time Gone?


Happy New Year Everyone!!

Yep, Jim managed to get the tile on the tub surround finished before Christmas...just...the night of Dec 23 to be exact. It looks great and it is so nice to have two fully functioning bathrooms.

Now it's time to clean up all the little, piddly, unfinished things like bits of trim and a couple of cold air returns before we tackle finishing the basement.