Relieving and Relaxing

When I think of a bathroom and its multi-functional use...........as in, its a place to relieve oneself but also a place for relaxation (shower, bath etc), its an interesting contrast.  Dont worry this post is not going to talk any further about the relieving part, only to say that it is more enjoyable to relieve oneself in an environment that you like.  Ok, like I said, no more about that.

So, we have two bathrooms in our part of the house (as in the part we live in other that the basement suite). Upon moving in we decided that at least one must be functional.............and thats the way it remained for a while.  Our master bedroom ensuite bathroom was finished before we moved in, complete with wonderfully deep soaker tub and shower, flushing toilet etc.  The main bathroom on the other hand had a useable toilet and sink but remained a bit of a construction zone for the past couple of months.  Therefore, guests were often offered the opportunity to traipse through our (not always) tidy bedroom for the opportunity to use the toilet in a more completed bathroom.  I am now happy to announce this will no longer be necessary, and yet I will still endeavour (at times) to keep my bedroom tidy!

So the history of the main bathroom goes like this.  When we first bought the house it looked like this.  Ugly in all its glory, including wallpaper, pink curtains, yellowing lino, and grey bath!

Its hard to see from the picture but this bathroom was really really long and had a lot of wasted space.  And so we downsized it and changed the layout.  It no longer has a window but there is now a spacious laundry room (accessed from the kitchen) at the end of it which does host the window.  The laundry room will be a whole other post sometime in the future!

So when we moved in, Phil had already tiled the floor and the toilet and sink were functional.

But as for the tub-surround.........well it looked like we were going for some interesting blue colour.  Infact, thats just a waterproof paint on membrane that needs to go on the walls before the tile!

And gradually the tile went on and Phil built a great area for shampoos etc

And now the bathroom looks like this

Or something like that.  The lighting in the picture is a bit off which makes the wall tile look darker than it is.  Of course I need to get some trendy wall art or shelves or something up in there and maybe a little pizazz of colour cause its quite neutral right now.

Oh and I particularly like the vanity we got from Ikea with the sizeable sink.  Here it is here

and here

Notice the Dora toothpaste and Sophia's Pooh Bear mini toothbrush peeking out of the toothbrush holder?  The ultimate in chic of course.

OK so now you know if you need a place to relieve oneself when visiting casa Knudsen, we can provide you with one!

Love Home Depot much???

How many times do you think one can frequent Home Depot in the space of around 2 and half months.  It turns out rather a lot.  In the process of trying to find a particular receipt a few days ago, Phil and I had all the receipts from the reno (so far) spread out on the bed.  Turns out there were more than 80 receipts for Home Depot!!!  And thats just one of several places we bought supplies!  Yup we have a lot of receipts.  Its crazy.

Anyway, more interesting posts to come soon.  Phil has had a lot of work lately so not much time to work on the house but a few things have been done lately and others are presently being worked on.

Back soon.

A little bit here and a little bit there.

Well Phil finished off the basement suite just in time for our renters to move in on the 15th but guess what, I forgot to take pictures of it.  So you'll just have to imagine, it looks great.  We are blessed to have great friends of ours living there and so we can just pop up or down for coffee so easily.  It really should help our monthly petrol/gas bill!  See how I provided both the British and the Canadian lingo there!!  Anyway, Phil finished the basement on the Saturday morning and promptly started work again in the afternoon, working for 3 days straight at a hair salon that had shut so he could do some renos for them.  He had one day off and now he's onto a 2 week job.  Needless to say, the final things that need done here at Casa Knudsen might take a little longer.  But thats ok because there's no money tree growing in the garden so its great that Phil has work.

So on his day off between 2 jobs last week, Phil spent a couple of hours up in the attic doing this

Yup, he's blowing in the insullation!  Apparently it was pretty sparse in places but its better now.  Hopefully this will make our home more energy efficient and reduce our electrical bill.  We just got our first one a few days ago - yowza!!!  Heating our fourth floor condo was dramatically cheaper.  Ah well, c'est la vie.  I am very happy we have a house now and will try to embrace the silly bills that come with it.

There's other little finishing touches going on here and there.  The proper pantry cupboard finally turned up and Phil was able to install it.  They had messed up the order and sent us the wrong size.  That was a month long saga and a half but the nice thing is we got our money back for it and now we have some random extra cupboards that we may put in the laundry room.

At this point child locks on the cupboard really help rice crispy insanity on the floor but as you can see they dont all have locks on them yet.

At this point I would just like to boast about my husband who has worked so hard to make such a beautiful home for us.  On his rare evenings off he's trying to catch up on sleep.

But equally, he can be found in the kitchen making pizza dough from scratch..........yup he is truly gifted in all sorts of ways.  The pizza was amazing.

I love him and I love her!

New Year, new house.

Some people have asked if I've fallen off the bandwagon but I assure you I havent!  I may have had a temporary fall off the blogging bandwagon but hey, I wasnt a regular blogger in the first place was I?  So yes it has been a busy time what with finishing off renos, packing up house, moving, Christmas, family in town for almost 4 weeks altogether, and oh did I mention the life growing in me that is wonderful and exciting but certainly leaves me feeling tired and sick (although I seem to be mostly passed this stage).

So yes we are in a NEW YEAR, full of new excitements.  We didnt move into our house until a couple of days after New Year and we are still working on settling in and getting organised.  As I write this I still here bang bang and buzzzzzzz of hammers and drills and saws from downstairs.  You see our tenants (who happen to be great friends of ours = bonus) are moving in to our downstairs suite on Saturday so its full speed ahead to get all that needs to be finished done downstairs.

So there are still some finishings that need to happen upstairs but for now let me give you a sneak peak at how its looking.

Here's my lovely kitchen with the huge island.  Seriously you could sleep on it it's so big.  We still need some barstools and Phil is going to build a book shelf on the end there for Sophia.  We also need a door on the laundry room back in the corner there.......all in good time though.

Next to the kitchen is the dining area with our mini table.  We knew it would look abnormally small now that we have lots of space.  Thats another change we'd like to make, preferably for cheap.  Maybe we'll find a table on Kijiji or UsedNanaimo someday soon.

And then the living room too is taking shape.  Window seat is still to be finished too.

Talking of the window seat.  Here is the view from it down the road to the ocean and Rocky mountains on the mainland on a beautiful snowy morning.

Until next time......

When oh when shall we move in

Well its getting down to crunch time.  We had originally hoped to have moved in by Christmas but I'm just not so sure anymore.  Progress is being made as we speak.  Hardwood is being layed, so is tile.  But there are just so many stages to everything and an order to do things in too.  But its getting there.  Phil has been working every day and every evening.  As he puts it, he is "perma-tired" and quite looking forward to January!  But he is still very much enjoying the process and seeing things come together.

So these posts have been pretty sporadic up until now but I am hoping they might be a bit more frequent in the next couple of weeks as all the visible completion happens.

Last week I had a wonderful night in Vancouver with my friend Anna (from Abbotsford).  She is one of my very best friends who I knew before I met Phil..........it just worked out pretty nicely that I ended up moving to her part of the world (we first met in South Africa!).  Anna treated me to a night in a swanky hotel in downtown Vancouver and in the hotel lobby there was the most amazing smelling Christmas tree ever!  Its not much to look at in the photo but if you could just smell it too you'd want to sniff it all the time too.

The next day, Phil and Sophia came over on the ferry and met us at IKEA.  Oh how I love IKEA.  Our aim was to buy our bathroom vanities, which we did.  We needed 3: one for the basement suite bathroom, one for the main bathroom upstairs and one for our master bedroom ensuite.  I dont have a photo but you'll see them later.  They're really cool and they were a lot cheaper (including the cost of taking the truck on the ferry) than buying anything here in Nanaimo.

On the way back to the ferry, Sophia decided that socks were over-rated and that she wanted to put her feet up - she found a convenient way to do it.  Oh and you cant really tell but there was a beautiful setting sun sky in the background which was gorgeous to watch as we drove through North Vancouver.

So times have been busy but we did manage a trip to the Christmas tree farm with Grandma and Grandad to pick their tree and seeing as they live just upstairs from us we havent bothered to put ours up.  I am considering putting one up in our new house in a couple of days once the hardwood is all layed.  Phil says it might get in the way and it will get dusty...............we'll just see about that.  We also made it out to the Bethlehem walk which was an amazing experience where you feel like you've gone back in time and you are walking in the streets of Bethlehem.

So Sophia's excitement for the week is the carpet that has been layed in what will be her new room.  We went for carpet in her room and the bedroom next to it (a future childs bedroom).  So soft!

Also this week we have Phil's cousin Matt over from Abbotsford.  Wow Abbotsford gets a second mention in one post!  Anyway, Matt is awesome and a skilled worker.  Phil and Matt have now installed the base cabinets in the kitchen.  Looks a bit strange right now but there's still a lot to do there.

And now Matt is laying hardwood and Phil is laying tile.

Pictures to come soon.

Over and out.

Getting there

So things are starting to look a little more like a home.  Upstairs, new drywall is up where it needed to be and things are starting to appear that are like a promise of things to come.  I arrived at the house this afternoon to see a framed in structure that will become what I am sure will be my beloved window seat in the living room.  This is something I've always wanted and was excited that this sort of bay window could allow for that.  We have some ocean view from there when you look down the road so it will be a wonderful place to put our feet up with a good book and watch the world.

Here it is!  And there is Sophia discovering the mandarin box and requesting her fourth one of the day.  Dont worry they're baby sized ones!

Drywall is back up and the mudder and taper is coming to start on the upstairs tomorrow.  So the wall and entry way over in the corner wasnt there before but it is now and its our entrance way to a laundry room/pantry.

The laundry room will host our lovely new frontloaders and goodness knows what else as its nice and deep. Ooops this pictures kind of blurry.

Next week the drywallers are coming back to do the basement - very exciting!!!  In the meantime, Phil will spend much of the weekend insulating..........fun stuff!!!  I on the other hand will spend it relaxing as much as possible - the semester just finished and I have 10 days till my one exam so I think I can afford to relax a bit.  Mmmm maybe a bath.

Talking of baths, this little munchkin loves hers.

A bunch of ugly images but you get the idea!

Its been a few days..........or a couple of weeks since my last post and I ask myself why?  Well maybe its because all the things going on at the house lately are all what I would call...........well..........frankly they're boring and ugly.  So much plumbing and electrical work is being done and I know that its all essential but the results are not so visible.  There has to be a life lesson on patience in there somewhere!!!

So if you were to walk in the house right now, particularly in the suite downstairs where everything is new, you might see such scenes as this

Watch out for those wires.............dont worry I dont think they're live!!

Or if you look up at the ceiling you might see this

To me its just a complicated missmash!  But I'm forever grateful I have a skilled husband that knows what he's doing.  This complicated missmash will probably ensure that right above this ceiling I will be able to relax in my soaker tub with candles lit all around me, not because the lights dont work but because I chose the ambiance of candle light!  Hmm maybe I need to request a dimmer switch for some mood lighting!  Good idea.  I think so.

The other thing I see as a visible sign of progress is some holes in the ceiling upstairs.  These holes are intensional of course, for pot lights.

Sometimes little bursts of colour appear out of nowhere in the shape and form of the lovely Sophia.  Glad to see those reflectors on her jacket work!

Yup that's Phil holding her up.  I'm taking the picture from the living room and he's standing on the stairs.  If you can tell behind all that junk, thats a half wall that separates the stairs from the living area.  It used to be a full wall but we broke it down to let some more light in.

Sophia with her famous grin helping Daddy out.

Oh and here's all the snow we've been having.  The rain is currently washing it all away.  Oh well it was nice while it lasted.