Ups and Downs - Feb. 9, 2016

This week (and it's only Tuesday) has been a roller coaster. Maybe it's because of the never-ending delays that each set-back seems that much more disheartening. Whatever the reason - it seems that we're destined to continue going two feet ahead and one back with this project.  Here are just a few of the "ahead" and "back" moments we've encountered lately.

This is what's left of the giant puddle of water that resulted from the snow melting off the Range Rover Friday night (this picture was taken Monday morning so a lot of the water had evaporated). There is a floor drain in the garage (directly under the truck) but we've discovered that the cement wasn't poured properly and the floor actually tilts away from the drain instead of toward it. We've contacted the contractor to see what can be done. I suspect the only answer will be to install another drain in this area of the floor. It just happened that we noticed it in time to move a china cabinet (still in it's cardboard crate) out of harm's way before it was water damaged.

We love our new outdoor lights that were destined for the pergola. Our electricians have informed us that there are actually two types of "outdoor" lights. One is this type that is designed to be outdoors but under a roof (say on a porch or veranda) - the type we bought. Then there is the other type that is capable of being directly exposed to rain (the type we need for under our pergola) - the type we should have bought. We had no idea there was a difference - we foolishly assumed "outdoor" light meant a light that could be installed outdoors. How silly. And, of course, we purchased them from Direct Buy so there is no returning them (we have two) since there's nothing wrong with them. There is some talk of perhaps fashioning a small little roof to go over each one. We'll have to see how creative the contractor can be or what the electricians will allow.

This is our new, shiny brass, kitchen faucet. Looks great...until you look a little closer (see below).

This is the left side of the faucet. That little crescent of space you see on the left shouldn't be there.

Likewise, on the right side of the faucet, this little crescent shouldn't be here either. Typically, these faucet holes would be drilled in a stone counter top at about 8 inches apart. However, our faucets were imported from England where the typical distance is actually 7 7/8 inches apart. We were very diligent and made sure the stone cutters were aware of this difference and watched them put the 7 7/8 inch measurement into the template. However, the holes were drilled on-site, after the counter top was installed and, for whatever reason, was drilled with the holes too far apart. They're close - dare I say 1/8 of an inch - but far enough apart that if we forced the faucets they would leak or if we left it as it is, there would be a place for water to leak around the base of the faucets. Plus you would still be able to see the mistake. We should also point out that these imported brass faucets cost almost as much as the counter top. I think our friends at Jade Stone Halifax were aware of that and have offered to replace the entire counter top. So, whatever they lacked in hole-cutting they made up for in customer service. It's great that we'll have the properly drilled counter top but frustrating that we have to wait another week for the new one to be fabricated and then they'll be here another day removing the old one and installing the new one.

On a brighter note - the area where the stove will eventually live is beginning to really come together. The addition of the counter tops and the corbels and the valance really have made a amazing looking custom feature of the kitchen. The outlined centers of those corbels are actually cupboards that you simply push and they slide out to reveal spices or oils or whatever we decide to store in there. You can also note the difference in the back splash now that the marble tiles have been grouted.

From a bit further back you can see the exposed ventilation pipe at the top of the valance. Once all the electrical is completed the valance will be closed in right up to the ceiling. The pot filler will be installed in the next couple of days and then we should be just about ready to finally bring the stove in from the garage and put it in it's final resting place. It's seen sitting in that garage for six months so it'll be fantastic to (a) finally have a stove in the kitchen and (b) finally have that section of the garage back so I'll be able to park my car in there.

February 7 Update

Yesterday, Saturday, was a big day. The counter tops arrived and our odd looking room has finally begun to look like a kitchen. The delays have been unbelievable so the fact that it's finally beginning to shape up has us really excited and we're daring to hope that this might all be over soon. Here are some pictures to explain the latest developments.

Here's a view of the kitchen with the counters in place. No cupboards yet in this picture.

The island without cupboards or drawers or butcher block but, again, starting to look like a kitchen finally.

The custom made butcher block. Some things are worth the wait. Not all. But some.

The marble back splash in place. This isn't grouted yet. It looks very different now with the grout in place. The hole in the center is where the pot-filler fixture will go.

Showing some of the great detail of the counters and the farm house sink sitting in place (no plumbed in yet).

The cupboards are in place. They protrude out beyond the dining room door and make it inset which is really neat look.

With so much attention on the kitchen we forget about the other parts of the house. Here is where the 100 year old radiator finally gave out. I had to refinish the floor where the old rad had been and tried to match the finish as closely as possible. Hopefully it will not be too noticeable once the new radiator is in place. We removed it and our heating guy found one to replace it. We had it painted to match the trim and he'll hopefully get around to installing it soon. It's February and we miss that part of the house being heated.

The new counter tops arrived.

Andrew and Gordon - our counter top guys - skillfully put them in place and start cementing things together.

Meanwhile in the laundry room - it was a big day for counter tops in the laundry room too on Saturday. Mike DeLuca came over to be on hand in case the stone counter top guys needed some direction. They were pretty good on their own so Mike went to work putting the counter tops on the laundry room counter and island.

The second counter top goes into place.

The counter tops on the island and counter in the laundry room. The rooms are actually beginning to look like what they are supposed to look like finally. Still lots of clutter that will eventually find it's way to the empty cupboards and drawers. Mike and Rio are heading into the kitchen to check things out there.

The island counter top finally installed. They're made of a quartz composite - 97% stone aggregate and 3% resin. They won't stain and never need to be sealed or treated. Maintenance free. The hole in the center is where an electrical outlet will go. It's a little pop-up box that sits flush until you need it. Then you just give it a push and the receptacle pops up. Very cool.

The other counter top. We put the faucets in for effect but they're not hooked up yet. Someone asked Mike if the cupboard door on the right was going to hit the counter when it was opened. All the cupboard doors only open to about 90 degrees. It was the same in the old kitchen. I'm assuming that's the same with all hidden hinges. You can also see that the solid walnut floating shelves have been installed. They'll be the home to some cookbooks (the ones that don't fit on the main cookbook shelf) and some nice pottery and other objets d'art.

January 13 - It's a Snow Day!!

It's been a couple weeks since my last update and we've had people here everyday but much of the progress would only be noticeable to someone who's here every day to see it. We got a new toilet installed in the downstairs bathroom. We still don't have a door on that bathroom but it's a start. But today we had a great leap forward. Today, for the first time in months, that big empty room started to finally begin to look like a kitchen. Even though it was a miserable snow storm this morning, the guys arrived with the first of our cabinets.

Even 15 cms of snow couldn't stop the guys from arriving with the first of our cabinets this morning. They were here before I even had a chance to get the snow cleared out of the courtyard.

Just for reference I took a "before" picture of what everything looked like before the cabinets were put in place.

Mike (Delucca - one of the cabinet builders) and Jonathan carry the cabinets in and gently put them in place. You can see the laser level on the wall behind Mike. They'll use that to make sure they go in level.

The tall broom closet is in place. The one on the floor is one of the ones that will go above the fridge in that space (you'll have to use your imagination - it's on back order).

Here are the first set all in place. The farmhouse sink goes on the top of that center cabinet. The two gaps you see are where the dishwashers will go.

Here is where the stove will go. You'd think we'd have a name for that appliance by now since it's the focal point of the whole renovation (and cost more than most of it) but we actually auctioned off the naming rights with our French dinner at the last Physicians' Philanthropic Gala Dinner. The night of the dinner the winners of the dinner will decide on a name for the star of this show. The stove will nestle between these two short counters and then scroll shaped corbels will go up to the range hood above the stove. The square hole in the wall is where the pot filler was installed. That hole will be patched and then the entire square that you can see drawn out on the wall will be tiled. 

Good Bye 2015

I am determined to post at least one more blog post before the end of this year. I will admit I've been remiss in keeping this blog up to date but I will try to bring everyone up to speed before 2016 starts.

Progress on the project has slowed considerably. Our initial end date of November 15 came and went. Then Matt suggested we'd be in by Christmas - didn't happen. And now, even though there is lots going on here almost every day, we are not realistically looking at completion until February. The progress is slow because we are into the details phase of the project and there are many things that are dependent on many other things. The tiler can't do his job until the dry waller is finished and the drywaller can't do his job until the plumber is done and the plumber can't do his job until the electricians are done...and so on.  This is a complicated dance to choreograph when everything goes right but as soon as there is a mistake...that mistake can have repercussions that can set us back for weeks. And we've had more than one mistake.

But, I'm not going to complain because, as soon as I do, I realize that I sound exactly like every other person I've ever talked to who went through a renovation. So, onward and upward. Here are some images that should help bring you up to date to where we are now.

Here are some shots of the new driveway being installed.

In this image you get a real sense of just how much of a grade there is in the back yard.

Here's a before picture of the kitchen (as posted earlier)

And this is where we are now. It doesn't look that different except the floor tiling has been completed and all of the electrical is done. Now we're just waiting for cabinets and the island. Then the electricians will be back to finish up and the plumbers will come back to do their thing.

This photo represents two and a half hours of my life that I'll never get back. You wouldn't think that 7 pieces of ceramic logs would be so difficult to assemble - it was. There were no instructions with it - only a stern warning to make sure the logs were assembled properly or else the fireplace could malfunction. Great. Luckily I found a video on YouTube of this model of fireplace and between printing screen shots and running back and for to the computer was eventually able to assemble them properly.

This is looking a lot better. Matt installed new trim and Jonathan reshingled along the bottom. Harry will be along when the weather allows and will paint the top of the window and have this section looking good again.

This isn't part of the renovation but it represents a whole Saturday shared by me and Angus and Mitchel (Jill's boys) who helped me stack the two cords of firewood that we'd bought.

This is just a shot of the completed barn and carriage house in the snow. As soon as the shingles start to turn grey (it'll take a year or two) this section will really start to come together.

This is our new bathroom vanity and our Turkish style tiles. We wanted to a pseudo Mediterranean theme so we went for the Greek keys on the vanity and some tiles that reminded us of a Turkish Hamam. If you look closely you can see the light fixture electrical boxes that will go on either side of the mirror. The faucet fixtures are in but we're still waiting for the faucets. They arrived once but in the wrong colour so had to be returned.

Here are all the pieces of our mantel uncrated. They arrived from Tararuga Designs in Toronto. Matt hired a brick layer/stone mason  (Wayne) to help with the installation.

Matt applying some of the adhesive to the first column.

Making sure everything is level - first with a laser and then, old school, with a level.

The second column going in.

Wayne applying some grout after the large top piece of the mantel has been installed.

The finished installation (please note the expertly assembled ceramic logs in the fireplace). Unfortunately the grout became mixed with the mortar and dried darker than we wanted. We're going to have the grout removed and reapplied to achieve a better colour match. Given the scale of this particular part of the renovation - that is a relatively small snafu.

November 7 post

We're a week away from our projected completion date. I don't think we're going to make it. |A more realistic "move in" date might be December 15. There has been huge progress made but, again, we're reminded daily of the scope of what we've undertaken. Even when we don't see things happening at the house, we know that we have a crew of people in a workshop working on cupboards and an island for the new kitchen. The heavy equipment arrived yesterday and started carving out a new driveway for us. Again, I'll let the pictures tell the story of what's been happening around here lately:

Bentley supervising the construction of the new pergola. He approves.

We finally have drywall. It's actually starting to look like a room again. You can see the recessed part of the ceiling. That will have tin tiles in it and the kitchen island is positioned directly underneath.

Behind all that cardboard is a fireplace. We're waiting for the stone facade to arrive. The patio doors like nice but they're the wrong ones. They only open on one side and we ordered ones that open on both sides. Unfortunately we never noticed this shortcoming until they were in. So, they have to stay there until the correct door arrives.

This sisters are installed and working away. They look very different than the giant boiler that was their predecessor.

Before the renovation we had two heating zones in the house - the kitchen area and everything else. Now, you can see from the zone valves on the wall, we have ten zones (there's one more to the right that you can't see in this picture).

The tile arrived for the bathroom vanity wall and top. We can't wait to see what that's going to look like when it's in place.

The new driveway is taking shape. You can see the laser leveler to the right of the photo. We didn't realize how much slope there was on the land until they had to level it for the driveway. Aaron (our landscaper) and I are getting all kinds of great ideas with this new perspective.