Great News!! Our kitchen cabinets have been ordered. That means we have 8 weeks to:
1. Pass structural and electrical inspections
2. Finish the electrical for the lighting
3. Move some plumbing for the dishwasher and new island sink
4. Repair the ceiling (although, this could be done afterwards)
5. Put down subfloor
6. Install the hardwood
Brent and I sat down and made a schedule for ourselves, so hopefully we are ready.
Once the cabinets go in, it will be another 6-8 weeks before the countertops are installed. So we still won't be able to use our kitchen!! But, we'll at least have an oven to use and won't be walking on ship lapping every day. I can't wait.
My course got better towards the end of the week. I'm very glad to be home though (even with no kitchen and no tub)
We have been having car troubles. I am secretly happy about this because I have been wanting a new vehicle for a while. The intrepid is in the shop...so we'll see how much it will cost to fix. If it's alot, I think we'll just end up getting a new vehicle. Having one car between the two of us isn't as bad as I thought, but when it is unreliable, it really is a huge pain in the butt. Luckily, our new house is a 5 min walk to the train station!!!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
You know you are in Houston when....
1. You order a salad and there is more meat than lettuce in it
2. You ask for your salad dressing on the side, and it arrives both on top and extra on the side
3. Your hotel shuttle does not operate between the hours of 4-7 due to traffic
I had forgotten how much Texas accents urk me....for some reason, I have a hard time believing anything anyone with a Texas accent says to me.
My course is S..L..O..W . Perhaps it is because it is an engineering course. So far there are lots of formulas, and stories that I think are supposed to be funny, but they must be engineering jokes, because I don't get them at all! I am getting bitter at all of the people who puff themselves up by telling stores of their experiences. Not really to tell the story for educational value, but to impress everyone with the fact that they worked in __________ (insert exotic dangerous location here).
Ahhhh...I need to go shopping to relieve some frustration. And perhaps get an ice cream.
2. You ask for your salad dressing on the side, and it arrives both on top and extra on the side
3. Your hotel shuttle does not operate between the hours of 4-7 due to traffic
I had forgotten how much Texas accents urk me....for some reason, I have a hard time believing anything anyone with a Texas accent says to me.
My course is S..L..O..W . Perhaps it is because it is an engineering course. So far there are lots of formulas, and stories that I think are supposed to be funny, but they must be engineering jokes, because I don't get them at all! I am getting bitter at all of the people who puff themselves up by telling stores of their experiences. Not really to tell the story for educational value, but to impress everyone with the fact that they worked in __________ (insert exotic dangerous location here).
Ahhhh...I need to go shopping to relieve some frustration. And perhaps get an ice cream.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Goodbye Calgary, Hello Houston
I'm leaving for Houston today. I am taking a week long Well Completions course by PetroSkills. So, no blog posts for at least a week.
I am 99% finished painting (yay!) just a few touch ups left. Brent and Jim mapped out the electrical, and changed the garage and back door locks. Jim hung our new house number which is such an improvement over the old gold numbers.
I am hoping to come home from my trip to no more wires hanging from our ceiling. That would be so great. We'll see. Brent has scheduled a LAN* party for while I am away. Which usually means that the entire weekend is a write off due to the lan itself and Brent sleeping afterwards.
I'm looking forward to some nice hot weather in Houston, since Calgary's Spring is taking it's sweet time!
* I'm not sure what LAN stands for (perhaps Local Area Network?) but basically, a bunch of computer nerds come over and they all hook their computers together and play video games against eachother for at least 12 hours straight, in the dark, eating nothing but junk food.
I am 99% finished painting (yay!) just a few touch ups left. Brent and Jim mapped out the electrical, and changed the garage and back door locks. Jim hung our new house number which is such an improvement over the old gold numbers.
I am hoping to come home from my trip to no more wires hanging from our ceiling. That would be so great. We'll see. Brent has scheduled a LAN* party for while I am away. Which usually means that the entire weekend is a write off due to the lan itself and Brent sleeping afterwards.
I'm looking forward to some nice hot weather in Houston, since Calgary's Spring is taking it's sweet time!
* I'm not sure what LAN stands for (perhaps Local Area Network?) but basically, a bunch of computer nerds come over and they all hook their computers together and play video games against eachother for at least 12 hours straight, in the dark, eating nothing but junk food.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Slow week on the reno front
I've been painting away every night. I leave for Houston on Sunday, so my goal is to be finished the painting of all the bedrooms and interior doors before I go. I *think* we have finally decided on the tile for the fireplace. I'm going to order them tomorrow.
We chose our kitchen cabinets. That was so fun! The wood we picked is Clear Alder, and the color for the island is called Port. It is a darker wood color. The cabinets in the living room will also be this color. The cabinets along the wall are painted a color called Smokey Taupe. It's a grey/beige color. We chose Corian countertops. A darker one for the island and a ligher one for the wall cabinets. Corian has come a long way from what I remember it to be. I really liked it! Plus it is non-porous, so non staining and won't collect germs. (I'm a bit of a germ-o-phobe when it comes to the kitchen). The next step is for Doug to finalize the measurements to make sure they are all correct, and come back with the final price (yikes) and then we sign the offical contract, put down our deposit and the cabinets can get ordered. Hopefully, this happens before I leave.
Brent built a new lid for our garbage in the back alley. He made it from scratch. I'm pretty impressed at his handyman abilities!
We chose our kitchen cabinets. That was so fun! The wood we picked is Clear Alder, and the color for the island is called Port. It is a darker wood color. The cabinets in the living room will also be this color. The cabinets along the wall are painted a color called Smokey Taupe. It's a grey/beige color. We chose Corian countertops. A darker one for the island and a ligher one for the wall cabinets. Corian has come a long way from what I remember it to be. I really liked it! Plus it is non-porous, so non staining and won't collect germs. (I'm a bit of a germ-o-phobe when it comes to the kitchen). The next step is for Doug to finalize the measurements to make sure they are all correct, and come back with the final price (yikes) and then we sign the offical contract, put down our deposit and the cabinets can get ordered. Hopefully, this happens before I leave.
Brent built a new lid for our garbage in the back alley. He made it from scratch. I'm pretty impressed at his handyman abilities!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Chocolate and Key Lime Pie
Brent and I took a break from the renovations over the long weekend. We went to Donna and Ian's for Easter dinner in Water Valley on Sat night. It was a great meal! And then up to Edmonton for one night on Sunday. We hit the waterpark and had so much fun. It was a nice break from working on the house.
The french doors for the patio got ordered on Friday. We have an estimated installation date of June 1st. Everything seems to take 2 months.
I am almost finished the painting I need to get finished before the carpet goes in. Only the closets are left. Here is a photo of the master bedroom, which I realized is the color of our favorite deserts. (Brent loves Key Lime Pie, I love all things chocolate)
The hardwood for the main floor, and the tile I'm considering using to reface the fireplace. Thanks to Astrid for the tile store reccomendations. This one is from Julian tile. I did see a few at City tile that I also liked, so I am going to sign them out this week and make the final decision. I hope to work on the fireplace before I leave for Houston on April 22.
Door hanging continues this week, only 3 left to go (half way there):
Winston was VERY interested in what we were doing:
Paul was more interested in lounging:
The french doors for the patio got ordered on Friday. We have an estimated installation date of June 1st. Everything seems to take 2 months.
I am almost finished the painting I need to get finished before the carpet goes in. Only the closets are left. Here is a photo of the master bedroom, which I realized is the color of our favorite deserts. (Brent loves Key Lime Pie, I love all things chocolate)
The hardwood for the main floor, and the tile I'm considering using to reface the fireplace. Thanks to Astrid for the tile store reccomendations. This one is from Julian tile. I did see a few at City tile that I also liked, so I am going to sign them out this week and make the final decision. I hope to work on the fireplace before I leave for Houston on April 22.
Door hanging continues this week, only 3 left to go (half way there):
Winston was VERY interested in what we were doing:
Paul was more interested in lounging:
Monday, April 2, 2007
Dust and Disorganization
I have come to accept that my life will be very dusty and disorganized for the next few months. It seems like every day we spend 1/2 an hour looking through random boxes for something. Last night, it was Brent's football cleats. This morning, his razor. Tonight it was the salt shaker.
Here are a few random photo's of how we are living. I wanted to take more but my camera ran out of batteries...and I can't find the spare ones because they are packed away in a box. Welcome to my world.
Thank you to Jim and Margaret for helping to paint and work on the door frames last weekend. The pie was delicious and is long gone already!
Brent bought me flowers for our first night in the house. It was very sweet of him. He even thought of it on his own, without me even hinting at all. Now that's impressive!
Progress since last blog entry:
1. Door frames all out
2. One bathroom upstairs gutted
3. Painting started and doors almost done (thanks to Margaret)
5. One new door frame installed
4. 70% of all bathroom wallpaper removed
6. The french door installation man is coming on Friday to measure and show me all of my door options. I can't wait to get rid of that sliding door.
One couch is left upstairs for the dogs to lounge on while we are at work. The ship lapping just does not look very comfortable:
Our bedroom, basically a matteress on the floor:
Brent removing the old door frames:
He HATED that job:
And I am starting to get some paint on the walls. I have to be done the 3 rooms upstairs that are getting carpet in them by mid-next week. The carpet is ordered, so I want the painting and new door frames to be in before the carpet:
Here are a few random photo's of how we are living. I wanted to take more but my camera ran out of batteries...and I can't find the spare ones because they are packed away in a box. Welcome to my world.
Thank you to Jim and Margaret for helping to paint and work on the door frames last weekend. The pie was delicious and is long gone already!
Brent bought me flowers for our first night in the house. It was very sweet of him. He even thought of it on his own, without me even hinting at all. Now that's impressive!
Progress since last blog entry:
1. Door frames all out
2. One bathroom upstairs gutted
3. Painting started and doors almost done (thanks to Margaret)
5. One new door frame installed
4. 70% of all bathroom wallpaper removed
6. The french door installation man is coming on Friday to measure and show me all of my door options. I can't wait to get rid of that sliding door.
One couch is left upstairs for the dogs to lounge on while we are at work. The ship lapping just does not look very comfortable:
Our bedroom, basically a matteress on the floor:
Brent removing the old door frames:
He HATED that job:
And I am starting to get some paint on the walls. I have to be done the 3 rooms upstairs that are getting carpet in them by mid-next week. The carpet is ordered, so I want the painting and new door frames to be in before the carpet:
Preliminary Kitchen Drawings
Here are a couple of kitchen drawings. Doug the kitchen designer is coming over tomorrow to finalize the plans. Then we have to go into the show room and choose cabinet color and design. They are closed for the long weekend so it probably won't be until next week. There is also a wall of shelving, which I have yet to see the design for.
The photo's don't show up that well on the blog...but you get the general idea.
The Island, that thing on the far right is actually where the wine cooler will go:
The wall cabinets, I had him change it to a center sink instead of a corner sink due to Margaret's excellent advice. The door leads to the back landing and basement:
The photo's don't show up that well on the blog...but you get the general idea.
The Island, that thing on the far right is actually where the wine cooler will go:
The wall cabinets, I had him change it to a center sink instead of a corner sink due to Margaret's excellent advice. The door leads to the back landing and basement: