Thursday, April 9, 2009

The Big Reveal...


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Moving back in to the house and settling down took us from February 4th to almost the present. For those of you waiting for the final installment of the blog, I decided to go ahead with what we have now and I will update the kitchen photos later when the Range hood and tile are in.

Any house show worth it's salt keeps it's viewers through to the end by promising a big "reveal" at the end where they show how amazing it all looks (and throw in a few nasty old before pictures to make it look all that much better. I wish now I'd taken all my "before" photos from additional angles so that they would match up cleanly to the "after" photos, but it turned out good enough. The house has you can see turned out much better than good enough. Even sorting through this slide show I'm still amazed at the transformation. After all the grind of the two moves, expensive surprises, and delays, I am cured of the need to renovate. I am also delighted and content to stay here as long as I can. All in all, a great success.

Anyway, thank you for your kind patience while we slowly got our act together to finish this off. Not every home show episode lives up to the hype of the beginning. I hope ours worked for you.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Beige is for sissies!


P1050129.JPG, originally uploaded by davethetemp.

We knew the painters were in the last couple days but hadn't had the chance to come by the house. I went in and saw all the bold colours we chose up on the walls. It rocks. The colours look great and the combinations as you look down the hallways really work.

It was getting dark and I had to rely on my flash. Unfortunately many of the pictures have a lot of "specks" like this one and are so bad that I won't post them. With luck I'll get in on a sunny day soon and take better photos.

The floors will be started tomorrow and will take four days.

The Upstairs Hall


P1050130.JPG, originally uploaded by davethetemp.

This is all just so cool

Back to the Future in our Bedroom


P1050134.JPG, originally uploaded by davethetemp.

We looked through all the possible colours for our bedroom and went back the colour we've had for four years. Sweet Annie by Pittsburgh Paints. Looks greener though with the lighter trim.

Paint in the dining room (Check out the ceiling!)


P1050139.JPG, originally uploaded by davethetemp.

I took 20 or so pictures in the house but got those weird flash speckles that ruined the pictures. Literally, this is the best photo of the dining room that I've got. You can see trim along the walls and the strapping on the ceiling. The wall with the big unpainted spot will have a floor to ceiling sideboard.

Oh yeah, that purple is dark. Can't wait to see how it looks with the cabinetry.

The Other Dining Room Window is In


P1050094.JPG, originally uploaded by davethetemp.

Looks like it was there all along, doesn't it?

Again, isn't the trim amazing?

Happy New Year (With trim!)


P1050105.JPG, originally uploaded by davethetemp.

The holidays slowed progress on the house a fair bit. It was such a huge change to see the walls up that the relatively small work (patching and sanding) just seemed to drag on. Finally though, trim began to appear around the windows and doors and the look of our house was utterly changed.

It's ironic that this totally period looking trim is all MDF. Unlike wood, it won't move or crack over the years. It's also the opportunity for our contractor Mark to show his skills as a craftsman. The look of the trim is just right, not to big, but it makes all the rooms look special.