Springing

I'm in love with this record-breaking weather.

But I'm more in love with what I found in the garden...

Front garden - Crocuses

It's a lovely surprise...as I thought everything in the front garden was dead, given the beating it took from our basement dig last year. 

More in the back

Hellebore!

Not to mention the complete neglect I gave our back garden...which was mostly known as a dump zone for all things renovation-related.  All.  Summer.  Long. 

But with the basement done, I have plenty of time to get back to the garden.  Our dig produced some beautiful & enormous rocks - they used to be under Lake Ontario (a zillion years ago) and have great texture.  I must find space for them in the garden this summer. 

Neglect no more.  I'm so excited to pick up where I left off...!!!

A Little George

Shiny Happy Thursday.

Crusty Nose

Craigslisting Everything

I go in waves. 

There are times when I can't bear to get rid of anything.  But lately, I'm on a purging streak.  It's the weather.  It's Spring around the corner.  It's the crazy amount of stuff we've accumulated over the last 9 years in this house!

So instead of highlighting something I've done, how about something I've undone.

Here's the room last weekend post-paint:

And now:

Wicker Chairs Gone

The wicker chairs weren't so bad when the wall was sage green.  Or maybe I just didn't see how bad they were when everything else was bad.  But once the white wall went up, those chairs had to go. 

The other things have to go too.

Serving a Purpose

This little guy is blocking my little guy from the outlet and cable connection.  Function stays for now.

Bye

But the stool goes (in a pair - there's one on the other side - buyer coming this week), so does the sad lamp, as well as that shiny mismatched pillow.

So picture this with only the couch and window covering in place:

Getting There...

Coffee table going to my sister-in-law, rug is too small and bench is just temporary.

I have a vision and I'm on a mission. 

I may have to craigslist my kids.

Patch + Paint....Plus...

This week was soooo busy.  Weather was nice, boys were crazy and I went out with friends. 

And...we got the kitchen patching and painting done.

Before

After

See the lines where the patches are?  Me neither.  It's perfect.  I'm in awe.

That's the Patch + Paint.

So here's the Plus: When we called our plumber's guy to do the kitchen ceiling, we thought about having him quote painting the rest of the rooms.  Our grand master plan for the house includes painting everything BM Cloud White, just like the basement.  Why not get the whole first floor done in one shot?

Surprisingly enough, the quote was great.  And he fit us in this past week.  Ready for a hundred amazing before and afters?

Hallway:

Coming In Before

After

Going Out

After

And a shot from the staircase:

I'm telling you, the narrowest spot in the house -between the living room doorway and staircase post- is actually wider now.

Walk in that living room doorway, here's the view:

Before

After

The wicker chairs are going.  ASAP.  As is that lamp.

Here's a look from the same spot but to the left into the dining room.

Before

After

Yes, we need something here.  The TV needs to be downsized and the stand has to go.  (Don't talk about that purple toy tub) Work in progress.

Now, walk to that opening between the living and dining room and turn around to face the living room. 

Before

After - I love you

Right!?  Stunning.  I'm telling you, sitting here on that couch is amazing.  The room feels 10 times bigger. 

Not to mention new curtains.  The old heavy red canvas ones had to go.  It didn't help that they had a thick layer of renovation dust still sitting on top.  Whoops.  Perfect timing, since I've been dreaming of these babies from West Elm.  I got our designer-by-night's approval and picked them up the same day. 

Now look to the right, toward the front door.

Before

After - love you too

After living with Sage Green on the walls for 9 years, it feels so liberating to have clean, fresh white walls.  I can't believe it took us that long to do it.  Must have been the six year blur of children.

And yes, we fixed that hallway patch behind the mudroom door.

Original moulding & crazy wallpaper

Gone!

Our painter did an amazing patch job.  You can't see or feel where the hole was. 
At all.

He also painted the trim in the kitchen and in the mudroom.  I only got as far as the walls.  He painted the mudroom door, too.  Notice the knob.

Antique-y White

Cloud White - Black Hardware

I told him not to bother priming and painting the knob & plate.  My plan was to strip the paint back to the metal.  I had half done it on the front - then ran out of naptime...last summer.

Kinda not finished stripping

Beautiful Black

But he offered to paint it black.  It was a quick decision.  I almost regretted saying yes.  Steve hated the knob immediately upon walking in the house.  But funny enough, we both love it now.  The black knob plays off the black rotary phone on the wall and the black wrought iron frame of the hurricane hallway light.

Oh and I was ready to strip again...

Back in the house, through the living room and into the dining room.

Before - with diaper box

After - too many chairs

This room needs the most help now.  But no worries, we'll get there. 

Go left, here's the view from the hallway.

Let there be light

The bay window looks North - little light, mostly shadows.  But lucky for us, we are a key lot and see backyards instead of a brick wall of house.  With the white walls, the little natural light is so much brighter now. 

Lastly, the view from the kitchen:

Before

After - my fave

I love this view, looking all the way into the living room.  It's just so much brighter overall now. 

Broken brighter record?

Here's another favorite of mine.  That bad light switch situation.  The switch on the left is a knob & tube kitchen light.  The double plate on the right are the new downstairs lights.  The patch in between is the we-thought-we-could-put-them-together-but-nope-it's-knob-and-tube situation left over from the basement reno. 

Before

After

Much better. 

So, now it's off to craigslist.  To post almost all the furniture in these photos.  West Elm's not cheap. 

Ok, not everything.  Just the sideboard, tv stand, wicker chairs, stools, coffee table (unless you want it, sister-in-law), and lamp.  Well, not the lamp - the metal pull is broken.  Maybe we'll just post that one for free...

Construction Continues

Not the fun inside type.  The outside.

There is major construction happening on our street.  The city of Toronto is replacing the original water & sewer lines that were laid in 1885.

To get a sense of what that means, I tried to find a photo of our area from back then.  The closest I could find is a picture of the neighborhood 40 years AFTER those pipes went in.

Picture found here

[If you look close, Albany is the first cross street in the background of this picture (turn right -south- and that's us).  The streetscape here on the right still remains pretty intact today.  But the left side looks very different...and those tracks are long gone.]

Old.  Clay.  Pipes.

Now concrete.  And big.  So big, they take up multiple car lengths of space on our street.  Not to mention the enormous equipment.  Enough description - see for yourself (all taken from my porch).

Looking North

Looking East

Looking South

Imagine all those pipes, machines and piles of dirt replaced with cars.  That's the normal. 

On our street, very few (lucky) homeowners have front parking.  Most only have access to street parking, making it very difficult to score a spot.  Make that impossible right now during construction.

As the pictures show, the main line is almost finished being laid.  Then comes the connection from our house to the main line.  I am really nervous about them ripping up our front parking pad...

But I'm ready for them to be done.  So rip off the band-aid already and dig a trench where my car should be.  I won't miss the sound of dump trucks backing down my street every morning at 7:00am.

Beep...beep...beep...beep....

D-Day Done

Friday was my D-Day.  We scheduled the plumber to fix the continuing toilet pipe leak and install a cheater vent in the bathtub drain. 

Two separate issues.  Both big, awful, gross problems.

I was totally prepared for a big hole in the bathroom wall behind the toilet.  (I took a million "before" pictures)

Paper towel + Garbage bag = Prepared

But guess what?  Demolition averted!

He was able to address both issues from the kitchen ceiling. 

Way Before

Before

After

Hallelujah.  Seriously.

Given the work that needed to be done, I'm over the moon with two 1 foot by 1 foot holes in my kitchen ceiling. 

Let me break it down for ya:

New hole

He cut a new hole just in front of the cabinet.  It's where we thought the cheater vent would go.  But no. 

A) not enough space in the 2nd floor wall cavity to run a pipe upward

and B) that big piece of plywood (which the bathroom tiles are affixed to) runs right against the outside wall. 

There was no way to macgyver something up in there without affecting the bathroom floor or wall. 

Next!

Bigger 1st hole

Instead, he opened the first hole a bit bigger and added the cheater vent about a foot back from the trap.  You can see it here...where the yellow glue connects the black vertical pipe going upward. 

I love her.

Although not ideally located...she'd be better at 2+ feet from the trap...we agreed to put it here since the bulkhead at the front of our bathtub/shower gave us the space to do it.  Meaning this was the best (only) place to put it. 

The pipe goes waaaaay up, far past the overflow of the tub.  That part...is perfect.

Also needing to be addressed:  the leak.

First fix

Better fix

A little clay/play dough/putty secret weapon.  Otherwise known as "plumber's epoxy."

It's not a forever fix.  But it's enough to hold us over until we are forced (or choose) to do a kitchen/upstairs bathroom reno. 

Yes, the two go hand-in-hand now because of the steel drain.  If it leaks again, it need to be replaced.  Entirely.  Starting point being kitchen floor (it's brand spanking new below that from our basement reno) all the way up behind the bathroom wall where it turns into the vent through the 2nd floor roof.

Thus, kitchen -and bathroom- reno.

For now, we are back to enjoying our main bathroom again.  The best part?  There are three.

No leaking.
No hearing gurgling in the bathtub when you flush the toilet.
NO SMELL.

Normal!
We're enjoying normal.