Weekly Check In

Visible progress happening daily! It's so exciting to see.




Driveway stones. As I was standing on the sidewalk admiring these, a gaggle of university students went by and one of the girls was talking, loudly, about our house. "Even their garage is awesome! This house is so dope! Why would anyone build a house like this in Sandy Hill? If you could live in a house like this, why wouldn't you live in Toronto or something?" Well, maybe because we'd never be able to afford to build a house like this in Toronto? I wonder if she's majoring in economics.



The kitchen is coming along. That black portion of the wall that is set back is the alcove for my desk. It is painted in chalkboard paint.

 

Dishwasher: awesome.

 

Kitchen faucet: also awesome.

 

 Powder room wallpaper

 

 Laundry room sink.

 

 Laundry room dog rinsing station (!)

 

 Sewing room with new wallpaper and bars for hanging quilts and fabric.

 

Basement bathroom sink.

 

 Basement bathroom.

 

 Basement shower. It looks so much nicer in person than it does in photos.

 

 Front door. We should have occupancy on Monday and hopefully we're in next week.

 J.

closer and closer

We went to check out the progress on the house yesterday. It was pouring rain when we arrived, so we ended up going to run errands (somehow we've gotten to our late thirties and early forties without owning an actual set of dishes or drinking glasses or flatware, so we went to buy that) and then came back when it was slightly less rainy.



We now have a front door. I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be white, but I'll have to check on that.



The first version of the front steps was pretty badly done, which bothered the architect to no end. So they were re-done and now they look much smoother and nicer.



My beautiful stove has been installed but was under wraps when we arrived.



Ta da! David pulled up the cardboard and I was suitably enraptured. It is really the best part of the entire house. Did I mention the stove in the old house was avocado green and only had one working burner?



The barnboard is now fully installed in the living room. I think it looks cosy. I can't wait to sit in there this winter with the fire going and a record playing.



Some sections of the concrete floor in the basement ended up being dramatically different colours, so the contractors painted those parts this nice grey to make them uniform. The paint was still wet, so this was as close as I could get but I think it looks great.



I can't remember if I posted this before but it is not a hot tub. It is one of the planters for my vegetable garden on the second floor balcony.



Stairs to the third floor. The cardboard has been taken off them and they look great.



Master shower. There will be railings and screens and plants on the deck outside so people can't see us while we're showering.



This is where the bed will go in the master bedroom.



One green roof above the entry way, and another on top of the garage. They probably liked that rain better than we did.



And here's the side of the house with the deck built and the frames for the wooden "screens" installed. There will be horizontal wooden bars across the frames (made from wood salvaged from under water, which means it won't warp) which will have vines growing up them.

As it stands, our move in date is Sept 21st. I'm still worried something annoying will happen to delay that, but at the same time I'm living in hope.

J.

faucets and fixtures

David had to be at the house to facilitate the internet/phone/security system hook up yesterday, so I stopped by before work and walked around to see the progress. And oh yes, there was some very heartening progress!

 
 Hey, we have a garage door!

 
 The polished concrete floor in the basement looks amazing.

 
The basement bedroom itself is looking great. The contractors added a door at our request (the room didn't have one, by some over site. But we figured guests might not want to hear all the noise from the TV room down the hall and/or have our five pets sleeping in their bed with them). The door now leads not only to the bedroom, but also to the entrance that will take guests/tenants to a kitchenette, storage room, and bathroom all of their own.

 
And, several floors above, here's the master bathroom, with its elusive tiles that were late arriving and then were the wrong size, hence holding everything up.

 
Master shower fixtures going in.


Our so-far-very-dangerous balcony off the third floor master bedroom. We'll just wait until the railings are on to go hang out there.

 
 Half of the master bedroom closet is done. You can see the dark grey "accent" wall of the bedroom, too.

 
 Bath tub faucet in the second floor bathroom. I love those tiles.

  
 Right beside that bathroom is the bedroom for our impending kid. From his bedroom window he will be able to hear the neighbourhood Hare Krishnas chanting and tambourining every weekend. As neighbourhood noise goes it's better than listening to drunken students scream.

 
The stairs have been stained (but are still covered up for protection, and now the great spindles and railings are installed. I love them.

 
And you know what else I love? The reclaimed barn board that is being installed in the living room and the stair well.

 
 Come on, house. I can hardly wait. And the baby is even less patient.

 J.

Progress!

We were able to poke around our lot yesterday and peek in the windows of the house to check on the progress. It is getting really exciting over there.



This is the front door.



Through the living room window you can see the best thing about the house. My stove. It's still in a box, but it's there.



See?



This is the back of the garage, the door gives quick access to the garage from the yard.



Looking through the back door, into the laundry room, through to the kitchen.



Not a great shot because of the reflection, but these are the stairs.



Another reflecty photo. This is the kitchen! The island is all framed out and ready to go.



Front window well. The basement of our new house is going to be brighter than the first floor of our old house.



Front of the garage.

We still don't have a move-in date, but it's getting closer and closer. At this point there's nothing we can do but wait. Impatiently.

J.

Dreamy

Have I mentioned that I am excited about my new kitchen? I AM EXCITED ABOUT MY NEW KITCHEN!!!!

J.

For the first time in months, our house is being transformed on the OUTSIDE. We'd seen everything coming along rapidly on the inside throughout the winter, but since the very dramatic "first floor is in!" "second floor is built!" "Wow, the basic structure is completed!" the outside of the house has remained the same.

This week I stopped by one morning when I was working in the neighbourhood and discovered that the cement stucco surface had been applied to a huge portion of the exterior. It's going to look amazing when it's finished.

As a reminder of the differences between city and suburban life, I was standing there for only a couple minutes before a very high gentlemen stopped to ask me if I knew were he could get "some ice cold H20". "You want water, like from a store?" I asked. "H2O, I want H2O!" he replied. I pointed him toward the nearest convenience store and crossed the street in the other direction.



The very neutral tone of the cement provides a background for the "screens" made from salvaged headed-for-the-chipper tree parts, which will in turn have vines growing up them eventually, making the house slowly go from a concrete structure in the trees to a building covered in plant life itself. The two green roof gardens will help this along, not to mention my vegetable garden (in the front yard and on the second balcony) and fruit trees.

The drywall is up inside the house, but I have no photos of that because the one time we went in to have a look was unplanned so I had no camera or phone on me to record the experience. But I can say that I loved how bright it looked with the drywall up and, like everyone told me, the drywall goes a long way to making it look like a "real house".

The estimated finishing date of the project is the end of July which is close, but not close enough! I'm really looking forward to being back downtown in our amazing new house.

J.