Intermission: Winter II 2014

Intermission: Winter II 2014

Pictures: year-end randoms & glimpses of reno's in-the-works.

Maybe we'll explain more later about the clusterf*cks delays, but certainly not feeling the need atm. Everything is pretty darned awesome in spite of the renovation rigamaroll and even including the pace/otherwise not-timely occurrence of those things. We're too busy being alive. Too occupied with breathing & feeling electric to blog/take pictures/worry/be accountable/give any f*cks.

We'll be back... eventually. But for now: peace out.

#sorrywe'renotsorry

Update: Autumn 2014

In the throws of some sweet renos.
This round is currently delightful, as it is still constructing the Basement Suite (like a mini-house inside our house! META), and fixing the sh*t we didn't totally do right the first time refining previously in-progress, "90% complete", or "final" rooms (Main floor Bath, Family Bath, Kitchen, Library, Dining Room, Living Room). Wouldn't it be a different world if we all didn't make mistakes & everything was perfectly formed the first time? Haha... how are we possibly supposed to know everything there is to know before forging forth & getting messy? We forge ahead & do it anyway... failing, making mistakes... shameless... all in the trust of that divine mistress Process to infuse her gifts of inspiration, innovation, and courage. It's a sweet spot. We are not afraid. Besides, you don't get to judge us. Viewing home, nay, life, as a work-in-progress is not only freeing but it is good. This is just part of our awesome.
So we're messing about with tweaking these spaces, and wondering still about where we will end up next while painting, furniture tetris, co-ordinating trades, and appreciating the day to day grind with a relaxed attitude. Winter is coming... feelin' the chill... getting a little tired of workin' so dang hard... so we're warming this home with more mature tones (Library, Kitchen, and Main Bath), and "finishing" projects (Living Room, Dining Room) to soothe our souls. Hunkerin' down! Stay in tune near 2014 year-end (if all goes to plan) to catch our next update... she'll be a doozy.

Intermission: Summer 2014.b.

'Sup:

We spent most of our "project" time @ City Hall/co-ordinating with our trades to slam out this Basement Suite asap (with reconstruction starting Sept 2014), and the rest was pell mell shows, events, walks along the riverbank falling in love with this Cityscape, tomfoolery and general rolling with summertime's bliss as the garden grew (notes: pools w tomatoes not a design meant for this climate of rain & mosquitos). Also, the Foyer project aired on the AT website, which was a lesson in needing a second editor as well as re-establishing that internet trolls are depressing excuses of human life: as enlightened & sensitive human beings, when confronted with the pain of others (in the usual forms of personal attacks/attachment, superiority/inferiority complexities, and blame/not having accountability for your own actions) it is cause for; a.humour, b.restraint to not poke the bear, and c.getting more serious about our life's work making a path for compassionate expression we can all access aka re-dedication to finding another way to interact as human beings to each other on this planet. In other words "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" is how we are approaching personally resolving that experience (not uncommon, as it is basic psychology that a person needs 5 positive instances to counter-act 1 negative). Synchronicity that we officially closed the other job down after tour this year to now just accommodate custom/bespoke items, as the accumulation of STUFF and need to concentrate more upon our passions for reclaiming/sustainability in this new urban way take centre-stage. It's a hell of a lot of work to promote & push forth a new bridge-philosophy of living... send us & our peeps the strength to continue our peaceful revolution, love for all people & the planet, and send us hope that it will catch on.

So... a loaded summers worth for us! We love our life.

Phase Z: Basement Suite.a. (Update)

Last time it looked like this.
Now she looks like this ta-da!

Progress:
Beam & Ducting (and subsequent re-routing of Plumbing) complete!
Sure, it doesn't look like much... but this was a diehard task on our nearly-100-year-old home. Many nights of panic-sweating wondering if the whole damn thing was going to *collapse* dramatically a la every Sci-Fi rip in the space-time continuum scene ever into the vortex, the tag-team trades-folk who needed to dance the "work-stop-return-work-stop-return" jig for over a year to complete this phase (re-support/removal of beam, ducting, plumbing, concrete repairs), and the handful of cautionary tales we now have a collection of (i see authoring a future children's book featuring talking pony-walls and the enthralling details of materials resiliency while the man mixes by hand 27 bags of concrete). So YAY FRICKIN' US.

Also, SK Housing Corp. reinstated it's Secondary Suite Program just in time for us (now the delay in our efforts is starting to make more sense in stars aligning/Universe/mysterious ways/hippie jazz kind of way). Stalling was beneficial to the application & acceptance into the program, which will provide a much-needed forgivable loan in exchange for providing housing to the masses in our rapid-growth City. Huzzah!

Unfortunately, we had to change the layout again to meet bureaucratic hopscotching tag. So... smaller suite (way smaller) with rent control it is! At first we considered this a setback, but looking at it with an open mind we are seeing the possibilities & versatility is actually better for us all-round. Hoorah for tolerating accepting embracing change!

The suite is now only ~1/2 of the Basement, leaving us a Rec & Bedroom (teenager claimed) as well as full access to the Mechanical & Wine Cellar. This potentially cuts costs as well as time.

Next Up:
Framing, electrical, soundproofing, and remaining Plumbing for the Bath & Kitchenette.
But, we're also just enjoying life in the dwelling. I dare thee to find drywall dust gathering to plot against us... for at least a few months, anyway.

Phase III: Foyer.d. (FINAL)

Foyer:

Features:

The easiest room yet... dare we say it. No plumbing, no hair-raising (quite literally) overhaul of electrical, no trades to co-ordinate... working our butts off was never so sweet. With this completion of the Foyer, our house actually looks like a really nice House now, just walking in the door. We could get away with selling it for a nice profit (as long as you don't open the door to the basement & don't mind getting your hands a tiny bit dirty with the remaining lipstick fixes & disaster that are our yards), or live in it comfortably for a while (if we were other people who could actually sit still & "settle down"). After 2.5 years of the ole renovation grind... we're pretty happy about this.

Entering the welcome home honey room (Foyer sounds kinda snobby, don't cha think?) is nice and bright, fresh, crisp, and clear. The spaces are divided into "landing pad" where you enter & take off your shoes/coat, and then the hardwood defines where the living spaces begin: doorway to Living Room, Kitchen, and staircase. Thank you Sarah Richardson for that gold nugget! We love that woman, in a totally stalker creepy kinda way.

Deconstruction:

We ripped out flooring & subfloor, the buit-in bench, and scraped the stippling off the ceiling (arms still throbbing-ache), but kept all but the last 2 steps, the walls, and the doors. Whew! 

Reconstruction:

Added a Coat closet! Personal fav. When winter hits (Winter on the SK prairies isn't one thing like the music; when it hits you feel lots and lots and lots of pain), this lil gem will be an organizational life-saver. We get it that thee-who-doth-not-live-in-the-Arctic-doth-not-understand-what-it-is-to-live-here and that we need a place to stow away our harpoons, snowshoes, and layers of outerwear made from the skin of ferocious animals in an upper-buy home.

Also: new subfloor & all flooring (hardwood, marble), reconfigured the last 2 steps, made the existing staircase rock fuckn' solid while still using all the original materials, & appliqued some wainscoting. Purdy little room, ain't she?

Elements of Design:

Focussing on the architecture; we chose to tediously repair and then paint out the dark-cavernous wood (it simply must be re-iterated that was unsalvageable in piss poor condition... look at it the wrong way & it would shoot hot splinters at your eyeballs), added the wainscot details (all the way to the 2nd floor) to boost any remaining character, and then pulled the hardwood through from the Kitchen until it meets the new marble landing-pad. Read more about all the other intricacies & doodads (in a cuss-free, polite environment) at Apartment Therapy.

Decor sits ontop the fixed elements... as we are still changing everything about so much still (this damn house is too big), which is nice because we believe good innovative design takes time.

Celebration/Next Up:
Still searching for an acceptable runner to line the stairs (hopefully before the big beast of Winter rolls into town). A runner would be not only sweet on the feet, but dampen the cavernous echo all the way through the 2nd floor that bounces off that beautiful beautiful marble.

Concocting something more *fun* to do in here now that we've completed the base-palette is also on the menu. All in all it's a crisp, clean look... we re-used as much original material as possible, repaired down to the bones to keep her healthy for many more years to come, and then added as fine of finishings as possible for our budget. Not too shabby.

Yes. It's funny cuz we keep saying we'll celebrate with a nice bottle of champagne (like... a nice one) when that fat lady (and no, I'm not talking about YOU when I say that, Justine, you vain toxic cow) sings... and that started when we decided to sell 223. It looked something like this:
"When we put the FOR SALE sign on the lawn"
"When we get an offer"
"When we close the deal"
"When we close the deal on 619"
"When we move in"
"When we get the Kitchen done"
"When we stop drywalling"
"When we're done...."
...you get the picture.
It's always been a not yet kinda thing... rationalized in fear of loss? in frustration of possible postponement & re-scheduling? Of anticipating future catastrophic events that may or not yet happen? Anyway... it's humbling to acknowledge the folly of this false philosophy (a moving the goalposts carrot-stick bullshit oh-so-common in our repressed automaton cum hedonist culture). So, listen up: no matter what the state of affairs is currently in WE HAVE ARRIVED. And we're getting that fucking bottle of Dom, like, now, bitches. So join us & bubble-up!