11.27.2012

We have stairs!



This is exciting for many reasons but most importantly we no longer have to go outside, around the house, and unlock the door to go downstairs! 



They will stay wrapped up like that until we are done the upper floor so that they don't get ruined. My dad built the stairs for us and they turned out perfectly! 

Once we start working on the basement we will build a nice storage system under the  stairs. 

Here are some inspiration pictures of storage ideas that I really like:



We also really love the idea of the 2 tone steps and will probably gear toward this:


I couldn't help myself but insert a small tile update for our fireplace! 

I found some nice tile for the base of the fireplace for $2 sq ft! Much better then $4.49 or $5.49 on very similar tiles. 

So if you are in the market for tiles make sure you check our Tile & Stone Etc. @ http://tilesandstone.ca/ 

The service was great! The girls were really helpful and the prices are pretty nice too! The store is not as clean as regular tile store as it is more of a warehouse style store but for the price point I didn't mind at all! 




If you have under-stairs storage send me a link I would love to see other inspirations. 





11.22.2012

Old Home Update

If you have been following along (anybody out there????) you will know that we bought a new home without selling our old home first (http://www.countrychicrenovator.com/2012/07/our-first-home-renovation-journey.html.)


We did this because the new home needed some serious renovations and they are close to each other and we needed a place to live while we renovated. 



Our old home is tiny with a big garage and a beautiful piece of land but.....it's not selling. Granted we didn't put it up on the Market at the best time and it has only been 3 months. But all the feedback has been the same...."too small of home - if it just had one more bedroom"



Last night Branko and I had a long talk about all of the pro's and con's of what a small addition would do to help us make the home more appeal able. 



And so...it's looks as though our beloved new home will have to be put on hold once again to complete a small 500 sq. ft addition. This would be a master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, a smaller bedroom, dining area and relocate the laundry. 


In turn we would have a larger living room area in the existing space and a pantry for the kitchen. 



I'm sad...I don't really want to spend more time on this home as I dream everyday of our new home. 


But in reality I know this would be the best outcome for us. 





You still with me....

11.15.2012

Fireplace Part 2 - Stone Tile and Spray Paint


When we first bought the place we had initially thought we could install a regular wood burning fireplace in the wall and build a mantel around it. Unfortunately due to lack of space the only fireplace we could have was a sub-zero fireplace which would have cost around $6000. We both knew that was not in our budget and we also knew that we really wanted a real wood burning fireplace. 

We  Branko found this cute little wood stove on Kijiji for $200. It works well, all it needs is some TLC. 

Last night we stopped into Home Depot to take a look at tile for the fireplace and also pick up some supplies that we needed. 

Of course I made my way down the paint isle and found this:

When we initially bought the fireplace I knew that there was no way I was going to keep it looking in that rough shape, so I did some research and found out you can in fact paint the fireplace with High Heat Enamel Paint. 

Once I get the wood stove painted I will definitely update you on how it went! 

Our second purchase was a big one and unexpected! We were looking for tile for the floor part of the fireplace, something in large grey stones so that we could get the stove working and heat up the house. 

Well we started looking at the type of tile we want for the wall portion and then realized the price on it was 1/2 off compared to the regular price. 

So we purchased 14 boxes of tile that looks like this:
Note:Sorry for the lack of where this picture came from....I went search and save crazy this morning. 

Branko is ecstatic, I am having slight paranoia about the colour tones. 

Wish us luck!  



11.13.2012

Some before and after's update...

In the past 2 weeks we have been working to really get as much drywall up as possible. Even if it's 3 sheets a night every little bit counts and now we are really seeing the big changes that we have done take place. 

Here are some pictures of before and after's, sort of 3 stages. If you are wondering why we are using a spot light it is because we replaced all of the electrical in the house and are just waiting for the panel to be replaced. So currently we just have a few outlets working. 

Living Room and Dining Room Changes:

Stage 1: Things we needed to change - the wall between the living room and dining room needed to be removed, the sliding doors and windows needed to be replaced, and the carpet was all removed. 

Stage 2: Removed the wall between the living room and dining room and inserted a new support beam, removed all of the carpet, and changed the windows and door(they are now full length fixed windows and a new French door)  

Stage 3: removed the existing hardwood floor and installed a new sub-floor, changed the dining room window(before it was 2 small sliding windows) we inserted a new support beam and new large picture window, replaced the brown entrance door with a new white door, replaced all wood panelling with new drywall and insulation. 

Kitchen Changes:

Stage 1: Kitchen needed to be completed gutted and window replaced, remove wall on the left of the picture , and close up powder room to the right of the picture (the powder room was re-configured to exit into the new mudroom that we are going to build)

Stage 2: New window installed with a new support beam, wall removed and main bathroom gutted out with a new larger window installed for the corner(fridge and pantry will be in the far left corner by that window), carpet removed, also new support beam installed to match the middle beam. 

Stage 3: Drywall! Well not completely as we need to do a few things to that wall before we put up the drywall, old hardwood removed and new sub-floor installed. 

Different view of the kitchen standing in the living room:

Before:

After:


Other exciting things that are happening is the process of having our fireplace prepared to be used and hopefully getting our stairs this weekend! YAY for no more having to walk around outside to the basement! My dad was kind enough to offer to build our stairs. 

Hope everybody had a great weekend, let me know your thoughts on our changes :) 

11.05.2012

The Fireplace

My parents came up on Sunday to help us out at the new house. 

First thing up was the fireplace and what we needed to do to make sure we can properly install a TV above it and not burn the house down. We also need to get it working because currently we are not heating the house(ducts need to be cleaned) and in order to finish the drywall we need heat. 

The previous owners had the fireplace coming out at the top of the fireplace and the pipe running outside. We needed it to be lower so that we wouldn't have to encase the fireplace to make a mantel and put up a TV. 

As you can see in the photo below the red arrow points to where the previous owners had the opening and the new opening below that my dad and Branko created yesterday. 

This people is going to make life much better....you can also see our cute little fireplace in the corner of this picture. We plan to re-finish this probably next year with a nice black coat of fire resistant paint. 



Here are a few pictures of the look that we hope to achieve that I found on pinterest:


Haha I know each look is sort of different but you get he idea with the "type" if fireplace that we have. We want to make the fireplace wall covered in thin stone and the bottom where the fireplace will sit is going to be similar to picture #1.

Would you do a reclaimed wood mantel or a steal beam mantel or cement mantel??? We are not sure yet. 


We also managed to somehow put up some more drywall this weekend...




Hope you all had a great weekend and if you've ever installed your own wood burning fireplace please feel free to leave some advice below. 


11.01.2012

Halloween and Birthdays...

This post is so off topic from home renovating.....because we took a night off!!!

Branko's birthday falls on Halloween and his younger brother's birthday falls on Oct 21st. My in-laws host a joint birthday celebration dinner on Halloween this way I get to hand out candy(we don't have neighbours just country folk that are km away) 

Of course I had to share pictures and talk about it here because I must say it has been one of the best Halloween's so far. They had more kids then usual, we had some great laughs, oh and I got a birthday gift too! (my birthday is Dec.27th) (best in-laws ever!) 

Pictures of the birthday boys....

Take note in the picture the re-used birthday candles, we all had a good laugh about that. Nick was extremely excited to blow out candles...or maybe just get it over with so we could get to the gifts. 

Nick was a little disappointed that his bag was so much smaller! As you can see Branko and their dad thought this was pretty hilarious. 


I love this picture....Happy Birthday Boys. 


Thank you to Branko's parents for hosting another great dinner and to Caity for all the great laughs while giving out candy. Those little kids brats sure kept us on our toes! 


Tonight...it's back to home renovating.