Lenten goals

I don't fast (I should).  I don't give up some nasty vice (I should).  Instead, I felt challenged by a song I sang twice on Ash Wednesday.

I'm taking it literally instead of the way it was probably intended, but maybe that's the way God is speaking to me.

One line in the song mentioned "clearing the chaos and confusion".  In my mind, presumably, to make way for the peace of God.  

I'm not necessarily going to blog about all of this, but every day in Lent I am going to try to organize something in the house.  My massage therapist asked innocently, "What happens when you run out of things to organize?"  Yeah.  She doesn't really know me.

I actually started on the project last week.

I need to update my basement progress posts, but let's just say that the two older girls are happily in their bedrooms now.  I can reclaim my sewing room/office.

I didn't way to just move everything back in the way it was.  This is a change to make changes.

I started with a good steamcleaning of the carpet. And then I moved on to the furniture.

For years this door was the top of my sewing table.

Perched on top of a filing cabinet and with two table legs at the other end, it provided a smooth, big surface for my sewing machines.  I loved it.  

Yvon has taken on a role at the church that has added two boxes of files to our lives, so I thought I would use another filing cabinet as the other leg this time.  It's a different size, but the same height.  Could work.

But every piece of furniture was a different color.  That wasn't going to work for me. 

Before the whole basement project started, I purchased a small spray painting tool.  I love the work that it does, but it takes space to do.  I did a few pieces in the summer on the lawn.  Grass grows and the painted tops get cut off in time.  I love not having to protect stuff.  But this is the wrong season for that.    This is the part of the basement that is not yet finished and doesn't mind getting a coating of spray paint.  It's nice to have this open, destructible area.   (That centre item is an actual sewing table, and the topic of a separate post. Ignore it for now).

Painting complete.  This is what I ended up with.  On the first day of Lent we moved the furniture into it's space and I refiled and threw out old paperwork. 

 I know it's weird that the larger cabinet sticks out like that, but I wanted to use what we had.  We've spent far too much money on furnishing this year and this was never going to be a perfect solution.  The paint does help to unify the pieces though.   

Then I added this IKEA shelf horizontally.  Hmmm, now it's not unified anymore.  I don't want to paint it though because it's in perfect condition and the type of furniture that can be moved around to other uses.  I left it as is.

Once I fill in the cubbies with all white SKUBBs (that means another trip to IKEA), a white strip of wood to cover the door hinge areas and a quick swipe of white paint for the end of the door (I missed it with the sprayer), and I think it will do.

Lent Day 1:  No more filing cabinet in Alice's bedroom, no more filing boxes in the living room, no more printer on the floor, and a whole bag of paper to recycle.  The chaos has retreated one step.

Notice that my sewing table has no sewing machines?  Although the paint is a week old, I'd like it to cure longer before I start scratching it up with the machines.  They remain in Alice's closet for now.  That is an area on the Lenten list too.

Almost there!

Spurred on by Laura's birthday and our promise to get her into her own bedroom by then, we worked very hard tonight and are so close!

Come on a tour with me.

This is Laura's bedroom door. 

Open the door to see Laura's paintwork.

I love it!  And in a rectangular room with little in the way of architectural detail, we did a little something on the ceiling for a bit of interest. 

And the bare lightbulb?  There is a small chandelier waiting to be installed.  And a lovely closet all to herself.  Ignore the wood filler and primer-colored doors.  I'll take pictures again when the details are all there.

Laura is working on a small dresser to go in there, and we have all of the fixings for the interior, but not until we paint the baseboards and trim.

I wish I had this light in my closet.

Utilitarian and sort of funky.  I found it at a garage sale and wish they had two for sale.

All the painting and trimwork will be done before the weekend.  Yay!  The primer on the doors is particularly distracting and ugly.

Beth's room is a bit behind because of some built-ins, but it won't be long either.

And we're still loving the bathroom.  It seems like such a luxury to have TWO working bathrooms in the house.

There's still trim and small things to be done here as well (like a mirror), but it's functioning so we're trying to move the girls in before we finish up.

It had felt so small as we were working on it and measuring things out, but it feels quite spacious now that it's almost done.

And it has so much storage in this built-in IKEA cabinet.  Built between the studs, it's deep enough to store towels in it, and the myriad of things teenage girls need.

If this is a sign of what the entire finished basement will look like, I'm getting even more anxious to finish things up. 

Bathroom update

It's crazy how much work this whole basement project is.  And it's crazy how much brain space it takes up.  I'm checking out the quality and installation of baseboards wherever I go, looking for good/bad drywall installation, noticing tile patterns and flooring.  I'd like to turn it off, but I can't.

And everything is harder than it seems.  I know how to install light fixtures, have done them before.  But these ones came with really long screws so they don't fit flush.  And the screws kept falling while I was trying to line them up with the holes.  I usually keep my language pretty clean, but I had to make loud sounds in order to get Yvon down to help.  And although I usually do the fix-its around here, he often has practical advice that keeps my language family-friendly.  In this case, we put tape on the backs of the screws and they stayed put.  Tape.  Who knew?

A friend came over and pulled one of the fixtures off the wall to see what I'd done and now he is willing to come by and help.  But when?  Everyone is so busy that I hesitate to ask for any favours that involve time.  I may take another stab at it.  I have another idea that just might work.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that laying lino was easy.  A bit awkward in the cramped space, but I was done in about an hour and it looks great.

One day last week Laura had to wait 20 minutes to get into the bathroom in the morning and then had to make it an up-do hair day as a result.  If the school would allow it, a hat would have been a great option.  I vowed that we would shower downstairs on the weekend.

That was my big push.  Now that the floor and shower are sealed, I just need to get the shower fixture installed.  I didn't think it would be hard (I've had it talked through), but it seems that one of the brass holes on the inside of the wall isn't threaded properly and I can't get it on.  AAARRGH! Foiled again. By a tiny hole and a screw.

AND I tried the shower anyway and can't get any hot water.  None at all.  The plan now is to get the sink in place and call the plumber to finish the job.  If there is no hot water, it's their fault, and if that screw hole really isn't threaded properly, it's also their fault.  They bought and install the internal parts for me.  It's so frustrating.  Nothing should have been this hard.  I paid people to get the hard stuff done.  Or so I thought.

With the success of the lino, I had to try one more light fixture before going to bed one night.  After all the swearing over the bathroom lights, this one went up with no problem.  I wish I was using these fixtures everywhere.  So easy.  I can't find my picture, but it's just a simple, small fixture.  Nothing fancy.

Next up...laminate flooring and ceiling trim.  It looks like a lot of flooring, but it's just enough to do the 2 bedrooms and the hallway (when we get there).

And learning to use this awesome big power tool borrowed from a friend.

Independant living

Not totally.  They're not that grown up, but they are looking forward to having their own rooms.  Their owns spaces to personalize. 

Beth and Laura have been sharing a room for years.  Before that, Laura and Alice shared, and before that Beth and Laura again.

Until moving out of their shared room in order for demolition to happen, Laura had never had her own space.  Now she shares a cramped space with all of the contents of the cold storage, a bedroom and a bath, a hallway closet and understairs storage.  It's full and a total mess, but she's alone for the first time.  By choice.

I think they miss each other though.  Beth is all the way upstairs while Laura remained in the basement.  

They borrow each other's clothes all the time, so it makes sense that they remain close.  And I do hope that they continue to visit with each other for nightime chats.  The new layout of their end of the basement looks like this:

And the current state?  So exciting!

This will be Laura's room.

Perhaps it's just a rectangle, but it will be HER rectangle.  And she has design plans that I won't reveal here.  Not yet.

Oh, and it's not just a rectangle.  It's a rectangle with a window she will be able to crawl through if she needed to (not to escape us - let's be clear about that!) and one with insulation in the walls for warmth, and in the floor for warmth and water barrier, and in the ceiling for sound.  It's cozy.

And it's also a rectangle with a closet.  Something she's never really had before either.  Not one of her own and not one without pipes running through it.

It's upside down right now, but this is an outlet that kind of excites me.  

Did you notice?  Two USB charging outlets.  Nice.  It is just above where her dropleaf desk will be installed.

Beth's room is not much bigger, but she has two things that I can't wait to see finished. 

The area above that stool will be a 7 foot desk surface.  With shelves spanning the wall above it.  She also has the USB outlets and will have under-shelf lighting for her desk.

Do you know why that is all exciting?  Because one day she will move out of the house and I will move my sewing machines there!  I'm not allowed to dream out loud about that too often because I don't want her to feel like I'm pushing her out of the house quite yet.  I'd really like her to stay home during her university years.

But still.  What a nice sewing room it will be.  I'm just saying.

But I didn't say that again.  I'm keeping my excitement hidden.

And this wall is going to be really quite awesome too.  

In the past we just shoved boxes under the stairs from the opposite side.  We had to stoop and climb between the furnace and hot water heater to get anything out of there.  Now it is a closet and drawers will be built between the studs.  No dresser required.

And the fabric you could stash there....No, I didn't say that out loud either.

And their room are only divided by the shared bathroom, so the sharing of clothes, accessories and late night sisterly chats can still go on.  It's all pretty cool.

The new bathroom

Okay, so it's been a bit of a journey.  And now I know why no one blogs about bathroom renos.  They are not pretty.  It's not like taking pictures of an ugly light fixture and then replacing it with a beautiful chandelier.

This involves mud.  And concrete.  And dark, damp places.

Lovely as it was, we had to tear out this:

 To reveal some of this:

That beautiful copper pipe was sitting smack dab in the middle of the space that was to become the new bathroom.  It's had to design around a centre pipe.  It had to go.

And that standing water?  Not a good sign.

After days of breaking up old, thick concrete, the big plumber with the sore back told us that the copper had rusted away in places and the water had been draining directly into the soil under our floor instead of being whisked away through the pipe.  If we hadn't moved the water main, we wouldn't have known that and our basement would have flooded in time.  Good timing then.

And why did that big plumber have such a sore back?  Because the 2 days job was actually 5 days of jackhammering and carrying lumps of concrete and clay up the stairs (or out the window).  And then mixing heavy concrete and filling it back in. 

Now we have a sump pump (which has not once to our knowledge turned on because the water IS draining away through our new pipe) and a backflow preventer.  Both good things.  Ugly things, non-photogenic things but things that will keep our floors dry.

And the big pipe is now about 6 feet over, allowing us to have a bathroom and 2 bedrooms!  Yay! 

It's still not pretty, but 5 months later, this is where we are.

That's the corner where the toilet will go, and that's the shower that I can't wait to put into use.  There will be a light above the shower, and I sure hope the vanity lights will light up that toilet corner.  I have been assured that it will be fine.

The drywaller ran out of time today to finish the vanity area and the concrete-board areas above the shower.  We're still trying to think of creative ways to hide the water meter (which couldn't be moved) and the cleanout drain without blocking in the toilet.  

How do you search for that on Pinterest?  I'm getting nothing. We'll figure something out though.  It will likely be something custom built by our builder.  He seemed to have some ideas.

And the non-drywalled portion of this wall is going to be a built-in storage unit from IKEA. 

Two of these beside each other fill the space between two studs perfectly. 

Lots and lots of mudding and taping and then it'll be our turn to paint, tile and lay some flooring.  I can't wait!

The Big Project

I've made reference to our basement renovation a few times.

It's been going on forever, but the more I read about other renovation projects, this isn't actually that bad.  However, we're nowhere near done.

I thought I took a bunch of before pictures, but apparently the basement was so ugly I never took the camera down there.  I do want to document the process a little bit though.

After months of cleaning the garage, and getting rid of things from every room upstairs and down, we finally took some steps towards getting rid of our semi-finished basement.

This is the moldy bathroom that we lived with for years.  The raised floor was mostly rotten away and there were areas I couldn't step for fear of breaking through.  We kept it because the alternative was to live with one bathroom.

We had actually started tearing it apart years ago by ripping down the ceiling panels and a huge unusable jacuzzi tub.  The plan at the time was to create storage where the tub was and fix the bathroom in the same basic layout without the mold.

Then the upstairs bathroom had an emergency and our money had to go towards fixing that one first.  The basement stayed moldy and now half torn apart for about 3 years.

It started to become a storage space.  Mostly for junk and excess building supplies and tools from the upstairs bathroom.

And this was the girls' bedroom.  I loved it when we first painted it.  And it did work for a few years, but they started to want their own rooms.  And the windows weren't to legal code, being too small to crawl through.

This is what it looked like when we last decorated it.


It was a pretty big space and the girls crammed a lot of furniture and stuff in there.  And it looks cozy in that picture, but it never looked that tidy ever again. 

After a bit of demolition, it looked like this.

And a bit more demo...

Under the yellow-painted paneling was another layer of paneling with cute horsies on it.  It looks like this room may have been original to the house.  We took the opportunity to write on the walls.  Just because we could.

And those weird block of colour on the walls?  They had glued blocks to the foundation in order to attach thin strapping to the walling so that the paneling could be nailed to something.  Glue.  Hmm.  And notice the total lack of insulation.  I think we can do better than that.   

More on The Big Project later.  It's an ongoing thing, but it's most definitely progressing to an exciting stage.

Putzing Day

The days of putzing around the house are what I miss most now that I'm gainfully employed.  This is the kind of day I used to love as a stay-at-home mom, especially once all the girls were in school.  Admittedly I didn't have a lot of them because I did contract work and then part-time work, and the days with no volunteer activity, field trips, or sick children weren't all that high.

However, it's how I'll remember those years.

Wandering around the garden, pulling a few weeds, harvesting and storing a few vegetables, coffee with a friend... whatever the day happened to bring.  It was always different.

Saturday was sort of like that.  So much going on, yet not much really planned.

It started with an early drop-off at a fundraising activity for Beth.  While on the south side and having an hour or so to kill before dropping Alice off at her Engineering for Girls class (I know - how cool is that!), I thought it was time to introduce Laura and Alice to the Sugarbowl Cafe, an old Edmonton institution.  They don't look happy, but they really were.

Oh my!  Their cinnamon buns are so great and the smell wafts through the door as you walk in.

Luckily we were there early, as the lineup went out the door by the time we left just before 9:00.

Going to the south side feels like leaving town for me.  I rarely cross the river, so Laura and wandered through some shops we never visit.  The antique mall and Home Reusables.  We've got the basement renovation and decorating on our minds lately.

By the time we got home, the house smelled like crabapple jelly that Yvon decided to try.  Yummy!  And pretty as a picture, although I didn't take one!

I went back to get Alice and came home to a slightly tidied yard and a fire going in the pit.

They burn fast, but we had a small mountain of 2x4 ends to burn off and are now starting on the old framing strips that were torn off the foundation walls.  It's still beautiful fall weather, but we know the snow can come any day now and I don't want that wood pile buried for months on end.  I'd like it burned out of sight.

All afternoon I fed that fire, and had a lovely visit from my blogger friend.  She is the administrator behind the "Chicken Retirement Home in the Country" and had come to pick up some new residents.

Alice is the best chicken whisperer in the house.  She snuck up on them and caught them one-by-one for their final goodbyes.

Goodbye, Velvet!  You were always my favourite.  And your green eggs were the most abundant and consistent of all your sisters.  I already miss the life in the yard.
 

That night Yvon and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary by attending a play in the old theatre in Fort Edmonton.   I will never tire of Fort Edmonton and it's so beautiful at night when abandoned by the tourists.

All in all, a beautiful and busy day.