One Thing Leads to Another....

Back last October I tore up the stained old indoor/outdoor carpet in the sunroom, and it looked like this:

But as there's no heat in the sunroom in the winter, it stayed looking like that. Can't glue carpet down in the freezing cold. Finally, the weather is warm enough to get the carpet people in.

And here is the finished product. I'm very pleased with it. (Just in case you are wondering, the bottle is there to hold the glass door open.) But unfortunately the electric staple gun was a bit too powerful for my electrical wiring and it blew a breaker in the basement panel. I went to the panel to reset the switch but......

........ it turned out not to be the breaker, but something had come adrift in the wall as half of the circuit was working and half was dead as a doornail. So, next step.... call an electrician. And worry until he arrives. And this is the result.

He's located the problem... a home wiring job gone horribly wrong in the switch for the laundry room lights and he's been here most of the day fixing it. He even found a couple of loose wires in the panel that I wasn't aware of. Hooray! But I know it's going to cost me mega$$$$.

Later: The lights are working again and the financial damage wasn't too bad, but now I have a big hole in the wall to repair and paint! As I said before, one thing leads to another....

Now We're Cookin' with Gas!

My Kitchen is finished! Well, almost finished.
There's still some caulking to do, and a few last minute adjustments, and of course there's the painting of trim and walls, but that can wait for a week or two.

I've spent a whole day moving plates and cups and pots and pans from the dining room and the basement which has functioned as a sort of make-do kitchen for the past month. Thank goodness I don't have to survive using the microwave and the toaster oven and wash dishes in the tiny basement sink any more.

It went from this....

.... to this.....

.... to this.

And of course, nothing ever runs according to plan, even on the best of days there's always some kind of major hitch. The sinks, faucets and drains were connected and running smoothly, then the drain pipe clogged up SOLID! It took Dave and his buddy most of the next day to clear the clog using a scary combination of plumbers snakes, the shopvac, the garden hose and a generous helping of brute force. Just an accumulation of crud in the pipes, they said. Very nasty stinky black crud. Especially nasty when it spurted all over the basement floor.

The other end of the room started out like this.....

.... to this....

.... and the finished product. Still more to do... some sort of window treatment, not sure what yet, a new light fixture, and the old fridge is still there, the Hydro One people were coming to pick it up last week, but their truck broke down!

Thanks for all your hard work Dave.... the kitchen is awesome, I'm going to enjoy using it so much. YoungerSon says he's looking forward to some fabulous dinners now.... little does he know that I can burn food in a new oven just as easily as I could in the old one.

I'm away for a week.... off to The Rock.... pics when I get back.

Chim-chiminey, chim-chiminey....

Chim-chim-cheroo....
Canadian winter is pretty hard on chimney brickwork, with the constant freeze/thaw cycle. Each spring, larger and larger bits of brick hit the ground so I decided it was time for some repairs. The fancy brickwork around the top looked nice but didn't help matters. It held the moisture and encouraged mould and lichen.

The two metal chimney liners are vents for gas fireplaces. The third chimney isn't used, but has a cap on it to keep animals out. A few years ago, a raccoon family used that chimney for access to their nice cosy nest behind my basement wall, but that's another story.
The brickie put up his scaffolding and removed ten courses of brick, and the rotten flues on the inside.

He couldn't match the brick colour exactly, but that's OK. How often do you look up and admire the chimney? Not often, unless like me you've just spent megabucks on getting it repaired.
New flues were installed and the detailed top has been replaced with a poured concrete cap.

Not so fancy, but much more practical, and I'm looking forward to a whole lot fewer shards of brick and crumbling mortar blocking the eavestroughs each spring.

Out with the Old....

.... and In with the New!

At last, an update on my kitchen renovations. I know the blogger world has been waiting for this news with bated breath. The decision to tear the kitchen apart was made back at the start of the year and it's finally happening. You can see the original kitchen here and here. Yukky, eh? 1969 Special.

YoungerSon's FIL Daddy Dave is doing the work for me, and he's fantastic! He came to the house armed with paper and pencil and tape measure, and lots of great kitchen ideas. Next thing I know he's ordered new cabinets and then I was off to the cabinet maker's to approve the design and choose a stain colour.

BTW, Martin the cabinet maker is a dead ringer for Kramer in Seinfeld! I couldn't stop staring at his hair.



The next stop is to choose cabinet handles... so many to choose from! If I only had the choice between 4 or 5 designs it would be so much easier! This is only one of the designs that I'm considering.

And then it was off to the granite showroom to choose a slab of granite for the counter top. I chose Tan Brown... it's got shades of black and gingery browns and a few sparkly bits, but no pic yet, wait till it's installed.

Daddy Dave and his buddy arrived last week hauling his huge work trailer, and within an hour or so the old cabinets, sink, plumbing and draft hood were in a pile on the driveway and the stove and dishwasher were out on the street for big garbage pickup.

The fridge is still in use but will be replaced. Meanwhile it sits in the middle of the room in everyone's way.

Installation of the new cabinets got started the same day. The cabinet doors were delivered all wrapped in plastic and are sitting in my dining room, along with most of the contents of my kitchen. I'm surviving with the aid of an electric kettle, microwave, toaster oven and BBQ, and washing dishes in the sink in the basement. Thank goodness it's summertime.

Dave made a template for the granite counter top and it's currently being cut to size. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and knocking on wood that it'll fit! You can only cut those things once.


And of course, I've had a lot of help from a certain 16 month old, who has been taking great delight in sitting inside the cupboard where the sink will eventually be going. I had to tape up the drain pipe, I was worried about what he was going to poke down there.

Currently, there's a big hole being knocked in the kitchen wall to accommodate a larger vent for the new wall mounted microwave/ draft hood.... but that's a story for another day.

Time for a Change

My modern kitchen isn't so modern any more!

The kitchen was originally installed in the late 1960s, replacing cupboards that probably dated from the 1930s, and which now grace the walls in my workshop at the back of the garage. The kitchen must have been ultra stylish and trendy when it was new. It had all the modern appliances.... in Avocado Green! MMMm lovely. Thankfully, they've all been replaced with white since then.

And the backsplash tiles are a charming 60's avocado green and harvest gold.

Very retro.

Time for a replacement methinks.

So this week I've been measuring cupboards and checking out replacement counter tops. The current counter top is white... well, it used to be white, but it's looking very tired after 40 years... WOW, has it really lasted FORTY years? And to top it all off, this morning I put a hot pan on the counter and left a burn mark. Self sabotage.

I went to Home Depot with my kitchen plan and they are going to send someone to measure up next week, and give me an estimate.

Of course, once I get new facing and doors on the cupboards, and a new counter, I'll need a new sink, new taps, new window treatment, and don't forget all new appliances, and then I'll need to paint the ceiling, and the walls..... This could get expensive!
But I'll be able to claim a 15% tax credit on renovation costs up to a maximum $10,000 for any home improvements completed up to next February, thanks to the Government of Canada's latest budget.

So this is definitely the year to get it done!

House Repairs

The Space Cadet decided that today was the day he'd scrape the window frames and clean and recaulk the storm windows in the "orange room", so called because it has an eyecatching vivid orange carpet.

When the house was built in the 1890s, this was originally an open verandah and was enclosed sometime during the 1940s or 50s, so that's how long the windows have been there.

Plenty of time to go rotten without anyone noticing.

He got started but.... Uhoh.... he found a huge area of dry rot.

The Space Cadet would never allow his DIY talents to be outdone by a mere beam of crumbling rotten wood, so the battle began.

He pried out all the bad wood, and replaced it with 2'x6' cedar, but the whole window had to come out eventually.

"Shall I move all the stuff that's inside?" I asked.

"No need, I'm not going to make a mess", he said.

So I moved all the stuff anyway. Good thinking.

Once the beam was replaced and the vertical supports were strengthened, it was time for a coat of primer. Luckily I found a can of white primer stored in the basement with just enough left to do the job.

I'm so thankful he's not afraid of heights.

Repairs continue tomorrow....

R is for Renovate, Rebuild and Repair

The Space Cadet loves to mend things. He can't bear to see something that's broken, or almost broken. It's his mission in life to find innovative ways to Renovate, Rebuild and Repair everything that needs attention, while incurring the least possible cost.

In the past, he's turned the depressingly dark 1960's avocado green bathroom into a bright sunny place where you can actually enjoy your trip to the loo.

He's Ripped out the ancient red stair carpet and Refinished the bannisters and handrail.

He's double glazed the windows and insulated my office.

He's planned and installed a new gas furnace and hot air ductwork..... oh, and Rebuilt the laundry room, and the rec room... Repaired my car.... is there no end to this man's talents?

... and now he's at it again, repairing the double doors that separate the driveway from the back yard. The doors have been out there in all weather for more than 15 years, and some parts were completely Rotten. First step.... take them apart.

The doors were held together with wooden dowels which had almost disintegrated, so The Space Cadet Replaced the dowels with plastic gas service pipe .... and it worked! Told you he's innovative! And cheap! Never spend money on stuff when you can use whatever you have lying about in the workshop.


Once the glue had dried, it was time to put the door back in one piece.

Sanding, then a coat of paint, and the glass was Replaced. Sorry, I don't have a "Before" pic, but here's the "After".