Tree Insurance

At least, that's what we call it. 

In old neighborhoods with old homes come old trees.  Our property doesn't have any, but the neighbor to the North has three enormously old maple trees.  Two on city property and one -barely touching our lot line and hanging over our house- that isn't.  Can you guess which get pruned and which don't?  

Well, I can't say it doesn't.  Because we do.  And Friday was the third time we've paid to have it done.

So actually, it's more like, now-the-tree-shouldn't-fall-on-us-anymore insurance.  

It all started happening before I took pictures...so here is part of the first limb down (also described as "a celery stick holding a bible - it's gonna give sooner or later").

Stuck in the House

Then a lot more came down.  As in 1000 lbs total.

Better Down Here than Up There

So I ducked out to see how big the limb was.

Enormous

The tree company was in the neighborhood pruning the city trees.  When he came to our property, the crew supervisor noticed the 90 foot maple and the huge limb hanging over our house. 

Knowing the tree is beyond mature, we chatted about safety and management of its decline. 

April 2010, Last Pruning

When he offered to remove the celery stick (the longest and lowest limb over our house in the picture above) and part of the limb above it (also considerable weight), we knew it would solve a lot of our anxiety.  Then when he offered a cash deal, on his lunch hour, at 1/3 of the price we paid for a prune two years ago...we couldn't resist.

I admit, it's sad, because it's a big, beautiful tree full of character...but necessary, because every rainstorm/icestorm/big snowfall/windy day, i'm terrified we'll lose the front half of our house. 

Well, at least the porch and the car. 

With the first limb down, I scrambled to the street to take pictures.

Celery Gone

At this point, Steve and I breathed a big sigh of relief.  Just that one limb gone made us feel much safer.  It may be hard to see in this picture, but the tree is definitely more upright since the 1000 lbs of horizontal weight over our house is GONE.

Don't get me wrong.  I love the tree.  But I love my bedroom, porch and car, too.

Here are some action shots of the second limb being removed. 

Truck Nosed in for Crane to Avoid Wires

This is when George got excited.

Cutting

This is when Steve got excited.

Falling

This is when I got nervous.

Hanging

It was organized chaos.  The supervisor said he makes sure he has control of everything he can control.  The rest is up to gravity and chance.  Thankfully, we only needed gravity. 

So here is a before and after of the 2nd limb:

Before 2nd Limb

After 2nd Limb

This before and after is weak, but it's all I got:
(I need leaves in the before to add drama)

Before, April 2010

After, May 2012

All in all, we're happy.  And should we have another windstorm anytime soon, I'll be relaxed while the other neighbors can worry.

Now, wait....you're probably wondering a few things.

Yes, our tree-owner neighbor should be paying for this (partially, if not all).  But when the house changed hands two years ago, the new owner rents it out.  So it's rather hard to communicate and manage things on a dime.  We're hoping to sort things out next week.

No, we weren't expecting to prune a tree this week.  No, we don't have a money tree in our backyard.  And no, I don't have enough items to sell on Craigslist to recover the cost. 

Yes, the sense of relief we have now is absolutely worth the price we paid.  The less over our house, the better.  So we're just chalking it up to insurance. 

Excuse me while I go shop for summer clothes in my closet. 

Green Fence

When we bought our house, we had a love/not-in-love relationship with its location. 

Love the street.  Love the neighborhood. 
Not in love with being at the top, near a very VERY busy road. 

Enter our magical green (currently white) fence.

In Full Bloom

Since we bought in December, we had no idea how wonderful these two "Bridal Wreath" Spirea bushes would be.  Right now they are all white, in full spring bloom.  At about 8 feet tall, they are mature.  And they block everything out.

My favorite part: when you trim them after flowering (I hack them so they don't scratch the car - but never more than 1/3), they grow even fuller the next year.

Which is perfect, living on a key lot.

What Houses?

Since we're the last lot at the top of our street, the backyards of homes on the BUSY road back onto the North side of our property (hence, a key).  At first, I thought it would a privacy problem, but so far, we've been fine.  In fact, it's a big plus having sunlight through the windows on the non-shared wall. 

The bushes provide privacy for both us and our neighbors.  We don't have to see them hanging out in their backyard.  And they don't have to stare at our car when they do. 

View from the Porch

And as for the traffic?  You can see a truck whizzing by just above the bush.  But as soon as you walk down the front steps, it's gone.  You almost don't even hear it anymore.  There's just a big wall of green - well, now, white.

The fragile spirea flowers will be gone with the next rainfall.  They don't last long, but we enjoy them while they're here....


....and we're also enjoying the beautiful weather.  Here are pictures of Jake & Henry yesterday with their newly planted maple keys - or helicopters, as I called them growing up.

In There Somewhere

Waiting for it to Grow

Henry literally checked his 3 times last night "to see if it growed." 

Don't ask him to boil a pot of water.

Corner Wall Mounting a TV to Drywall Only

Just the title makes my palms sweaty again.

But that's exactly what I did.  And it turned out incredibly well. 

Back in this post, I talked about our living room TV dilemma/decision. 

Before

So after having the outlets moved & then old outlet holes patched, I got going on the next step: search for a wall mount.

My first visit was to Best Buy.  Where I found a mount with full motion and at least 20" extension (minimum criteria for my TV in our corner) for $379.99.  Plus tax. 

Yeah....no.

My second visit was online to monoprice.com, where I found a better mount for 1/10th of the price.  It specifically outlined why this mount is great for a corner - all steel construction (no sagging like plastic), single arm (vs limited motion of dual arm), etc.  Not to mention hundreds of positive customer reviews filled with suggestions on mounting, adjusting and corner specifics.

Yes.

I was ready to pull the trigger until I came to the shipping fees.  Oh Canada. 

Lucky for me, (the very limited) Amazon Canada carried the same mount.  The increase in price was less than the other website's shipping fee, so I bought it.  Begin the sweaty palms.

The mount arrived immediately, and was heavier than the TV.  !!!  So I avoided the corner wall mounting idea completely.  What box in the hallway? 

Then my parents came to visit last weekend.  Thank God for dads.

Where's the Studs?

We read the box and my palms got sweaty again.  Must be drilled into wood studs.  Yes, we have wood studs behind the drywall.  But when I removed the baseboard to find them, they're 4" away. 

(Backstory: courtesy of a very old semi-detached house, we have problems with our outside wall -not the shared wall- shifting and settling into the room.  So when we removed our living room mantle 2 years ago, the lath & plaster wall was replaced with drywall hung on metal studs.  To make the wall true, the metal studs are 4" into the room at the baseboard but less at the top.)

So off to the hardware store we went, thinking we needed 7" bolts to reach and grab into the wood studs and a drill bit to match. 

Thank God for The Home Depot.

"Each Holds Up To 238 lbs"

And the Toggler.  "Superior holding in hollow walls, ceilings & floors."  I don't know who invented these, but I am over-the-moon thankful to them. 

The TV and the mount together weigh less than 238 lbs.  That's how much one Toggler holds.  Using simple math, 4 would more than do it.  But I used 6.... 

Step One: drill a hole with 1/2" bit.

Step Two: insert the Toggler by sliding the anchor down the zip-like ties.

Step Three:  pull ties until the anchor is flush behind wall, then slide plastic cap along ties until the flange of the cap is flush with wall.

Step Four:  snap ties at wall by pushing them side to side until they snap off level with the flange.

Do this 6 times.  Done. 
Now attach the wall mount. 
The sweat turned into a serious stomachache.

But my dad pressed on...

And I used the drill.  By the time I tightened the second screw, I knew these Togglers were heaven sent.  The stomachache was gone.  This was going to WORK!

Added Touch

Before we hung the TV, we decided to put holes in the drywall from the TV to the console to hide the wires.

Threaded!

Then the moment of truth.  I hung the TV.

Adjusting Safety Screws

I didn't have to do any leveling.  The wall plate of the mount has a built-in level, so since I was able to hang it dead on, it meant the screen was level, too.

HDMI? Check.

The bottom of the mount arm has a clip to hold all the TV wires in place, so you don't see them at all.

98% Complete

This is where I stood back and admired my handiwork.  Inside, I was jumping up and down while staring at myself in amazement that I actually did it.  With help, of course, from my dad. 

Today

And here it is today, crap baseboard back in place (another project to tackle) just waiting for a floating console to be installed (yet another project). 

Single Arm & Wires

Outlets & Wires to be Covered

Here's my fave, the before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER

You could say it's not an enormous difference, but I'm telling you, even Celebrity Apprentice is better when you watch it on this TV.

Construction Finale

This was our parking pad at the end of March.

When we returned home from our Easter trip, ours was the first pad to be repaired.  Today, it looks like this.

You can see two blue circles - those are water connections for each house - and one white circle - that's the shared sewer cleanout.  The light colored bricks only show light in this picture.  There's no noticeable difference when you're outside. 

And the lines on the street!?  Those are from the industrial street sweeper that's been running up and down Albany Avenue all morning long.  Love it. 

There are rumblings of the water main being replaced soon.
But then rumblings of a new street and sidewalks being installed.

I'd prefer a construction-free summer, but the former is really, actually, truly being planned...I hope the latter doesn't happen first.

And just for kicks, I took a picture of the front garden.  It's coming in nicely.

The Burning Bush is getting a little unruly, so I think i have to trim it back.  And that Dogwood on the right grows like crazy...so I have to keep it from getting too big.

It's hard to see now, before the leaves fill in, but the Dogwood camouflages the walkway and garbage bins nicely.  So even though it can get out of control fast, it's a keeper.

So far, this Spring is a keeper, too.

Company's Coming

Still purging the 3rd floor.

But deadlines always help - like mom and dad visiting this weekend.  The boys couldn't be happier to see them.  And I'm happy to make room.

Oversized Pax Wardrobe

Perfectly sized Hemnes dresser

We bought Pax when we first moved to Toronto, living in an apartment that had no closets.  He served his purpose then.  But just didn't fit in with us anymore.

I wasn't terribly sad to see him go.  But Steve was jumping up and down.

We'll see what the guest reviews say...

Home is Where the Settee Is

We have a piece of furniture that doesn't fit our house.  It's too big, too formal and nobody ever uses it.  But it's never leaving.

When Steve and I lived in New York City, we walked past this every day on our way to and from work.

Gorgeousness

After months of seeing this settee morning and night in the front window of a neighborhood antiques store, Steve said, "I think we should buy it."  Nothing more random had ever left his mouth.  The next day it was ours. 

But it was in bad shape.

And after three moves with us, it got worse.

The worst you can see here.  The bum leg was now completely sheared off the frame, hanging on by a fabric staple.  Yes, that is a garden planter supporting the weight of the settee. 

The cracks in the arms and back frame were getting bigger. 

And there were knicks and scuffs everywhere.  A bit of character, but verging on in-really-poor-shape. 

Even though these pictures show the worst, it was still a beautiful piece.

Still in Love

So we decided to have it fixed.  After searching high and low for the right place, we took it to Carrocel Restorations just North of the city, in Markham, ON. 

If I had any hesitation about the care they might take with a piece of furniture I adored, it was gone the instant I visited their showroom & workspace.  John, the office manager, was amazing - and the pictures he sent me as they worked were icing on the settee cake. 

Actually, they were magic. 

Removing the Fabric and Staples

I was amazed at the level and amount of work that had to be done.  Hundreds and hundreds of staples removed by hand.

 Painstakingly taken apart to repair and rebuild.

I was floored by the detail.  And the number of staple holes.

Then came the finish.  I chose to stay with the deep, dark, rich wood color. 

Multiple layers of sanding between multiple layers of finishing.

My intent was to fix the settee but not change anything about it.  At all.  Thus my choice in wood color.  But the fabric was another story. 

The settee is stunning because of its fabric.  The stripes.  The sheen.  The deep red against the crisp (but yellowing) white.  It stops you in your tracks.  But I couldn't fix the settee without sacrificing the fabric. 

Surely I could find more of it somewhere.  Anywhere.  Carrocel's fabric books.  The overflowing fabric stores on Queen.  The internet.  Nothing.

Soon I found myself completely out of place at Designer's Walk showing the manager of every high end fabric store an iphone picture of my beloved settee, willing them to match it.  At any cost.  Nothing.  No Regency Stripes anywhere. 

I wanted to cry.

I ran out of time.  John needed the fabric.  So I settled for this.

I was warned that trying to match the fabric wasn't the way to go.  I should choose something else all together.  But my heart wasn't in it.  So I went with my gut.

Carrocel ordered the fabric, upholstered it and delivered the settee to my door.  We put it outside the Master bedroom last fall, and there it stayed. 

Every time I looked at it, I still loved it.  But it wasn't the same.  I missed the crispness of the white.  The gold felt too muted.  In the pit of my stomach, I wished I had picked a different fabric. 

Until last weekend's project.

BEFORE (Settee was on left in front of window)

AFTER

I didn't need to change the fabric.  I needed to change the background. 

The deepness of the red and richness of the gold look amazing with the exposed brick.  And the dark wood separates the background from the settee perfectly.

I see this every morning and every night.  Just like I did in New York City. 

And I'm still in love.

*Thank you Carrocel!*