Change Orders

Kane gives his approval to the new rug in the front hall.

When you are working with a contractor, it is no surprise that, if you ask for changes half-way through a project, you will incur a surcharge. It only makes sense: they've hired labour, bought supplies and booked time based on your agreed contract, and they've taken time to revise any plan drawings.

When you share a bed with your handyman, however, you get away with a lot of "change orders." Often, instead of costing you more, these changes actually save you money.

Renovation Update

Steve replacing the ceiling tile he had to remove in order to adjust ducts and wiring.
Mouldings and railings will be coming soon.

Although I haven't blogged about it, we have made big progress on the renovation of our Almonte house. And by "we", I mean Stephen who has been working an average of four hours a day (most days) on this project.

Let the demolition begin!

The current view of our kitchen, with a door and a staircase
chopping a huge chunk out of it.

Since we moved to the new house this past summer, we've been chipping away at relatively small projects, like installing cabinets in the dining room to supplement the lack of kitchen storage.

Because of all the walls in the way, the only way I can get
a picture of the dining room is through a slit of doorway.

We also had to remove a wall in the kitchen to make room for a larger fridge. And by "we" I mean Stephen.

Dreaming

The existing kitchen at the new house.

Getting our current house ready to sell is a seemingly endless task. As soon as we tidy/freshen one thing, we notice something else that isn't quite tip-top condition. It's easy to feel discouraged, so I've started fantasizing about our new house.

Next Stop: Almonte

The back of the house, viewed from the park.

In fall 2016, on our way back from a road-trip, Stephen and I decided to start looking for a rural property. We wanted waterfront. We wanted to build our own compact, energy-efficient home. And we wanted to be mortgage-free.

Well, I'll be.

I love this counter top even more now! 

Have you ever had something that you really liked a lot and then found out it was even better than you'd first realized? That's what has happened with our counter top.

The Big Reveal

Clematis and salvia from our garden.
I'm seriously contemplating having this picture printed to hang in the dining room.

Done. The kitchen is done. Done like dinner -- never was that phrase more appropriately used, I think. Let me show you the glory that is now my kitchen.

Tuesday Coffee Chat: DIY

This may be the least flattering picture of me in the whole entirety of my existence.
Booking liposuction on my neck right now. 

Many of you may justifiably be wondering why I haven't posted about our fabulous new backsplash, especially given that I posted some sneak previews on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.

Colour me happy.

We have, at long last, painted the kitchen!

The last time I wrote about our kitchen renovation, I prophetically wrote, "We have arrived at the stage in this project where it is easy to run out of steam. The space is functional and attractive. But there is still a long list of things to be done. Not least of them is the backsplash. Every time the water splashes onto the counter, I wince."

That was at the end of February, folks. Almost exactly two months ago.

Counter Revolution!

New countertops, installed.

I was actually a little nervous about installing a lighter-coloured granite when we have dark cabinets, but I needn't have been. They are in, and they are gorgeous.

Kitchen Update: It's what's on the inside that counts.

A pretty kitchen is a wonderful thing, but if it is poorly organized, then its beauty really only runs skin deep. With our renovation, we really put a lot of emphasis on the organization behind of all our stuff -- the insides, as it were. So today, let's take a peek behind the doors and inside the drawers, to see what's lurking.

Kitchen Update: Rude Awakening

It's coming together! 

Tonight, as I prepared dinner, I actually giggled, I am so incredibly happy with the workflow in the room, how much counter space I can spread out in, and how conveniently all the cooking tools are grouped. Oh, and how bright the room is, now that most of the lighting is installed.

Kitchen Update: Changes, Counters, Backsplash, Budget, and Timeline

Phase two, in progress. 

Every time I have started this update, I've been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of this project and what has been happening with it. Not a day goes by but we have to make changes, redo work that we'd thought was finished or reevaluate priorities and budget.

In other words, it's just like every other project on the planet: no matter how much you plan ahead (and we really thought we had it covered), there will be surprises.

Corners and Counters

Click the picture to enlarge it.

At first glance, it doesn't look like much has happened since last week, but it has.

Slow and Steady

Just a few of the boxes for our kitchen renovation.

Project managers love to trot out the "time-cost-quality" saying: You may choose to optimize only two in any project. If you want to improve the quality, you're going to have to increase time or cost or both. And if you want to reduce time, you're going to have to increase the cost.

Kitchen Renovation: Phase I

Phase I: Before
The yellow post-it marks the cabinet that will not be used in the new kitchen.
The white notes indicate what is in each drawer.

Because this corner of the kitchen contains neither appliances nor water hook-ups, it is the logical place to start our renovation, as it will (conceivably, we hope) cause the least disruption.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

The crowd of kitchen renovators at IKEA during the post-Christmas rush.

Today, after two false starts, we finally made it to Lee Valley Tools and IKEA to purchase some of the fixtures and all of the cabinets for kitchen renovation.

At Lee Valley, we picked up a fancy pull-out fixture that will make the best use of the one blind corner we will have in the kitchen.

Blind Corner Unit from Lee Valley

Fear of Commitment

Our kitchen, the day we bought it.

We're about to take on a big project, but I'm feeling really ambivalent about saying the word, "Go!"