Weekends in November

Slowly our list of things to do before December is diminishing. This month we made progress in small areas, mostly in the way of decorating. It has been a busy month with a few long Saturdays and even evenings of painting, nailing and gluing. The most recent additions to our house have been a rug, three counter stools and our brand new 100-year-old coat hook and key hook. We are looking forward to getting our very own washing machine delivered to us on Wednesday. It has been a long 4 months of doing our laundry at friend's homes and the local laundry mat.
As always, pictures will tell it all.

Finishing the bathroom. We repainted the bathroom leaving only one wall yellow. The colour was just too much, so we went with something a little more neutral. Steve was busy last week putting up the towel rods.

Creating a coat hook. After looking for a few weeks for just the perfect coat hook, it dawned on us that we should just make our own. On Saturday we tidied up the shed and retrieved two 100-year-old window frames that we had removed from our house last Spring. I cleaned them up, sanded them down and Steve drilled in the hooks.  We are pretty pleased with the results.

Our new stools are finally here. We are so excited to be using our peninsula to it's fullest potential. We also finished the trim around the bottom of the peninsula. It is looking so much better.

 Finally, our living room rug and shelf. We are beginning to collect items to furnish our house. It's slow, but coming along nicely. The next item on the agenda is to order some couches that actually match.

Stay tuned as the stair guy, Bryan, stops by this week to finish our stairs! We are both looking forward to that.

Behind Closed Doors

When you visit our home, you will now be able to exercise you regular bathroom rituals behind closed doors. Yes, that's right. We have a bathroom door. I am not sure I really need to same too much more. I could, of course, express to you what it's like to live in a house for 1.5 months without a bathroom door, but I am hoping your imagination will suffice.
As always, I will leave you with pictures to explain the stages of putting in 3 interior doors.
 Note: novice workers at work.


1. Inspecting the door. One may employ his/her father(-in-law) to inspect the door to approve it's structure.

2. Prep for the door. Cut out little blocks to secure door. This is especially important in the event that your opening is larger than the door casing.

3. Place the door. Ensure that it is level and above all else, make sure you can close and open the door before nailing it in. In the event that your wall was built out of level, this could prove to be tricky.

4. Admire. Stand back and admire your handy work. Put aside the rising feeling of disappointment when you realize you still have to paint it before you can add door knobs. That will come soon. For now, enjoy that fact that you can sleep, change and crap in private.

main floor bathroom

spare bedroom

master bedroom

master bedroom - inside view

Saturdays in September

Our focus in September has been on school rather than the house. Every once in a while we get out our tool belt and take a Saturday to work on our project. It still seems to be slow and steady...with many bumps along the way.

Here is a picture walk of our Saturdays in September. 

Counter Tops - For a month we lived without counter tops. It didn't seem to bother us too much. The only down fall was doing the dishes in the bath tub. 

The original dishwasher is me. The new one came right after the counter tops were installed! Then, Steve took an interest in washing the dishes. Hmm...

Our backyard apple tree produced so many apples. We are loving the apple pies from this tree. 

 My parents are amazing. I can't even thank them enough for the time they have spent helping us out. My mom worked on painting the house. My dad tore up the back yard.

One Saturday afternoon we got ambitious...too ambitious. We decided to take apart the brick flower bead. Half way through we discovered more rocks. Steve also disturbed a hornet's nest. I paid for it later on.

 The hornets attacked my eye, side of my head and neck. I stayed home from school because..well... I would have scared the children.

One Saturday we hung blinds. I mean, Steve hung blinds. After he did this, I immediately removed the disgusting curtains that were in our front entry.

Immediately after the curtains were removed, Steve took down the bars. Our house no longer looking like the Ogden Jail.

The NEW and improved backyard. My parents came back last weekend and worked on our house while we were gone. Who does that? Did I mention how awesome my mom and dad are? My dad took his skitster and had the best day ever. Our yard looks huge and ready for the winter.

We are finally feeling a little more settled. We still have a lot to do. The stairs need treads, the bathroom needs a door, our windows need trim and so much more.

There is always next Saturday. 

Stay tooned to see what happens on Saturdays in October. 

The Story of Moving In

Chapter One - Storage
Our challenge this month has been all about moving into an unfinished house. The process began July 15 when we moved all of our belongings into storage.

At the time the floors were not yet finished on the main floor, so moving into the house was not an option. The only solution was to camp in the backyard. But, before we could even bring out the trailer, my dear colleague, Corrine, offered her house to us for the next few weeks. It was truly a God-send. Every day, we worked on the house and then drove to a beautiful, clean and comfortable home just 10 minutes away. We even were able to watch the Olympics in a cool basement. Thank you Corrine and Dennis for your generosity. Words cannot express our gratitude. It was perfect timing.

Chapter Two - Moving into the House
On July 30, we moved all of our belongings into our house! By we, I mean Joel, Rachel, Jon, Ashley, Amy, Brad, Dave, Sarah, Ryan, Aaron, Steve and myself. What a great group of friends! It was a quick 45 minutes from storage into the moving truck and then another 30 minutes into the house. Fastest move ever!

By this time, the floor was finished and the toilet was operational...that was about it. I should add that we did have some light fixtures up and a few plug-ins working. We were still not ready to live in this mess, so we continued to live at our 'resort' in Mackenzie Town.

Chapter Three - Living in the House
On August 8th, 2012, Steve and I officially moved into our house! I have to say my feelings were a mixed bag of stress, fear, disappointment, excitement and joy. Let me elaborate. Stress, because we still have so much to accomplish and we are both ready for a break. Fear, because of the unknown! It is a 100 year old home. Disappointment, because we were leaving a house that was safe, clean, neat, tidy, well-kept....I just don't like living in dirt. Excitement, because we finally moved in after 27 weeks of working on this place. And joy, because our house is our own.

Chapter Four - Living in a Renovation Zone

It took a few days to get settled. Our task was to complete the floor upstairs so that our furniture could find a place to sit. After 3 days or working on the hardwood, among other things, we finally finished. 

After one day of cleaning and sorting, our home is finally livable. By livable I mean that we can walk around with no shoes, sit on the couch, get cold water from the fridge, and eat at the kitchen table. 

We are still far from being finished. As you can see from the photos, we need counter tops, a matching couch as this green one will eventually move upstairs, touch ups on the walls, trim and so much more. At the moment we are just going to take a deep breath and relax for the day. After all, my first day of school prep starts...you guessed it, TOMORROW! There are conferences for both of us, a few days of camping and then full into another year of teaching.