So much for countdowns...

My apologies for "going black" the past few weeks.

Yes, we moved into our house on November 1st.  On that day we moved into the house, but did not settle in until literally today (and even at that, there are still a few loose ends to wrap up before the project is officially complete).  But yes, we are sleeping, eating, showering and enjoying our new home now.

Today was a very special day in that we had a "ribbon cutting" at our first (yes, there will be at least one more) Open House!  There were over 60 people who came through the house to see the incredible changes that our house has undergone.

This project has been amazing in so many ways...the generosity of people and businesses, the hundreds of volunteer hours, the unity and passion to transform "this old house" into a sanitary environment where Jaxon can continue to heal and go from strength to strength.

Here are a few pictures of the place as it stands today.  Let me say that it is NOT the same place as it once was!


Standing at the Toy Room door (Panorama pic of Living Room).

Standing at the front door entry looking at Living Room.

The place I will be spending some much needed time resting...

Toy Room.  Each boy has his own "Building Station."

 Kitchen.

Boys Bathroom.

School Room.

Boys Room.

Ribbon Cutting!

Ribbon Cut!

Countdown...Day 4

I was tired today.  Starting to feel the effects of little sleep and the inability to accomplish everything I had hoped to by this point.  Nonetheless, we will be able to move in and then pick away at the little things still left to do.

But first things first.  Tucker hung out with me for the first part of the day.  He was feeling a little under the weather and although I think he likes the new place, he's just not too sure about all the craziness going on right now.  I think he's feeling a little out of sorts as well.

Geoff the painter spent the day with me today.  He repainted the Master Bedroom and then did a whole bunch of fiddly stuff that consumes many hours of a professionals time!

I was able to plunk away at a few more electrical loose ends which was nice.  Finished the School Room, hung the back porch light and gfci plug, and a few ceiling lights (temporary) as we wait on back orders to come in.

This is the School Room wall.  Yes, those are all plugs.  And yes, the reason is because I can ;-)

Then the amazing plumber showed up...tonight.  He's committed to getting the job done for this weekend.  I'm really glad he's the one installing stuff as I know from personal experience that even installations which seem easy can take a turn for the worst and become very difficult or just a complete failure.  Well, it wasn't exactly smooth sailing tonight...and it was great to have a pro there to know how to deal with the issues that arose.  One of the issues is that the kitchen tap set didn't really fit well with the hole layout in the sink...plumber said this should have been picked up by the wholesaler, so I'll ask tomorrow morning when I'm in there picking up a few other loose ends.

Just a few more really long days and we'll be moved...at least partly moved anyways :-)

Countdown...Days 6 & 5

Monday Severin came up (again!) and helped with a bunch of little time consuming things.  Like, installing a bathroom fan, building a new trim piece for the ensuite bathroom where a heater used to be, adjusting the pocket door so it actually closes, installing new weather stripping on the exterior doors...just a bunch of really necessary yet fiddly jobs.  And who better to do these types of jobs than someone who has an attention to detail!

I completed the trim in the living room as it was necessary to scribe a few of the trim pieces because of large bumps or dips in either the floor or ceiling.  I was hoping someone with more experience would do those pieces but it's down to the wire so I went for it.  Very time consuming...measure way too many times and cut even more!  Can you still see the bump?  It was at least twice that or more!

There were some holes in the living room walls where the old light switches were...outside each bedroom.  So I put the switches inside the bedrooms and had to deal with the holes.  They're totally noticeable, but the wooden plugs at least take the edge off.

Tuesday I committed to tidy up the electrical in the attic and purchase the baseboard needed in the Toy Rm and Master Bedroom as we ran out of the original repurposed wood.  I stained them tonight and will hopefully get them cut and installed tomorrow so we can be ready for move in just a couple days from now!

I put away the big tools and did a general clean up.  I really am blown away at how well this has all come together...

The view from inside the kitchen...

The view from the front door by the main road/hwy.  This will not be our main entrance...in fact we usually know when a stranger is at the door because they are usually the only ones who knock on that door.

Countdown...Days 8 & 7

The last weekend of work before move in...

Got a bunch of little stuff done this weekend.

There was an obnoxious hump in the floor directly under where the chairs sit at the Breakfast Bar.  Turns out there is a beam directly underneath that was installed to help support the old wood stove.  I went into the crawlspace (shudder) and jacked up the beam and removed a 3/4" wedge between the post and beam and it really settled nicely.  Still a recognizable hump but nothing like it was.  My concern was that it was very close to the kitchen and I didn't want the cabinets and/or drywall to get messed up.  Everything was fine and I'm pleased with the result.  Sorry, no pics for this one.  You don't want to see down there anyways.

All the windows have been trimmed and caulked/sealed from the inside.  The outside will get a bead of silicone as well after we move in.

The laundry closet doors are hung and trimmed.

The Hot Water Tank is wired up and ready for the plumber to finish up this week!

Siliconed all the baseboard and edges in the main bathroom because let's get real, there will be three boys taking baths and showers in there for many years to come and I really don't want to deal with water finding its way behind the walls!

Finished the kitchen window trim, as the cabinet installer had to remove it because they were in the way.  It took some jigging and fanaggling, but I managed to custom cut the existing pieces to fit quite nicely.

The Breakfast Bar receptacles had to be removed last week because of a mistake of measurements on my part.  An alternative was successful but left me with a big gap under the granite piece.  Tonight I was able to find a leftover piece of trim just long enough to fill the gap!

We bought a used fridge...from a guy with dogs...who lived under the fridge...ok, maybe not, but I'm pretty sure he swept all the hair around the house under the fridge instead of a dustpan because it was pretty nasty.  A few hours of elbow grease and some ingenuity and it's sitting at its new home.  It's a Whirlpool Gold series.  We like it because the fridge portion is nice and high and very easy to see and access the day to day items...like leftovers which seem to have a way of disguising themselves as something that isn't there when it really is there but we don't find it until it's too late.  Anyways, this should help reduce that from happening :-)

Also picked up the used stove.  Much cleaner and the previous owner was delightful and patient for us to pick it up on our time.  I like that it's a glass (ceramic?) top because there's nowhere for spill overs to go and you just have to deal with it right away.  The coil tops have a way of making spills disappear into some mystery zone and then you're reminded the next day when you turn it on and the smoke alarm starts talking too ;-)  Also, this stove has self cleaning, convection oven and five burners.  One of the burners just might be large enough for our crepe pan...been waiting for that burner for 13 years!

Things are looking solid for a move in by end of this week...please keep us in your prayers as it will be a very busy week for everyone.

Countdown...Day 9

Well, the cabinets and countertops are done.  The installer was so great; talented, easy going and very efficient.

I've been plugging away on smaller items which need to be done before move in time next week.  Nothing big so I wont bore you with the details.

But alas...the kitchen, bathroom, laundry and mudroom cabinets/counters are complete... Harbour City Kitchens...you guys rock!

Boys Bathroom...

Laundry Closet...

Mudroom...

Countdown...Days 11 and 10

Tuesday Severin came back up and helped really tie up some loose ends.  Specifically, flooring in the Master Bedroom and a nice new attic hatch lid for our new location.

This morning the HVAC guy came back around.  Went in the crawlspace to lift and support all the flex pipes off the ground and run the drain for the air handling unit outside.  Thanks Aaron!


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand this is what the kitchen looked like this morning...

This is what it looked like about 1 hr into the job.  That is Adam...he's a magician...he makes unlevel parallelograms (that would be our kitchen walls) disappear!

By lunch time...

By 5pm...

And then this happened.  Those are my counter plugs which are supposed to be under the breakfast bar on the kitchen side.  Guess I overlooked the height of the backsplash on that one!  With some creativity and thankful the wall is made of wood panelling on the other side, we relocated one plug and deleted the other.  I will install a custom piece of trim underneath where the breakfast bar overhangs and it will not be noticeable!

Relocated the wire and cut in a new box in our pantry cabinet, facing the left side of the breakfast bar...so it's very close to where it was and will work just fine.

Voila!

Then I got a call from the granite guy...he was en route to install the breakfast bar.  So, we did that too!  Still some finishing trim pieces to install now that it's in place.

Countdown...Days 14, 13, 12!

Today I picked up our plumbing finishing fixtures from the wholesaler.  Sinks, taps, toilets.

 We cleared out the Master Bedroom and applied floor levelling compound so we can install the flooring in the LAST ROOM tomorrow!

 Here's a teaser of how the ceiling trim looks as a border around the living room.

And in case you needed a closer look at what the cabinet color is...they're white with a brownish "scraping" textured on them.  I think they're going to be really great!

Was able to get all the door trims completed as well.  A few tricky corners and tight spots so a great deal of back and forths to the chop saw were necessary.  I'm not a finishing carpenter so you'll have to excuse the imperfections.

This one door (the main door into the living area) took way too long to figure out...I wish I knew the tricks of finishing carpentry, but alas, it's up.

We picked up the floor transitions the other day so I thought I'd put those down today as well.  Each one needed to be custom cut and/or notched for a good fit.

The new floor registers (cheap plastic ones) actually worked out really great and look quite nice!  The two flooring color choices really seem to work well together too!

A few very generous friends of my Mom's purchased new mattresses for all the boys.  They were delivered by a staff members connection last week and I put them on the beds to air out before we move in.

Remember last week all the windows were replaced?  Well, each day I'm in the house working I have to consciously think about outside sounds now.  I didn't know it was raining tonight until I opened a window and could clearly hear it.  Also, I have one small 1500 watt heater running and it keeps the place quite warm...the house is a little tighter now than it was before that's for certain!