Bathroom Renovation: Framing, Plumbing and Electrical
Once all the demolition was done, it was time to move on to rebuilding the bathroom. Despite being excited that the worst was behind me, the thought of all the…
electrical
Backyard Renovation: Walkway and Pavers (Phase 5)
Our backyard was not going according to plan and all of my original timelines were thrown out the window thanks to delays from our contractor. We expected the garage to…
Backyard Renovation: New Garage (Phase 2)
Our existing garage has been in bad shape for many years now. Wood rot and a collapsing roof has made the garage completely unusable. And with some property line issues…
Basement Bathroom Renovation: Final Touches
Once the tile work was completely done, it was time to do all the finicky finishing touches. Painting Every wall in our house is Chantilly Lace white and I’ve rarely…
Basement Family Room: TV Wall
With the drywall up and the walls painted, we knew that we had to do something interesting for our TV wall because it was just one giant white wall. I…
Basement Family Room Renovation: Framing, Drywalling and Painting – Part 2
Last winter we finished the first half of the basement family room because I was returning to work after my maternity leave and I needed a relatively clean space to…
Basement Family Room Renovation: Built-In Sektion Cabinets
We absolutely love the built-in storage under our basement stairs. But we filled it quickly and knew we needed more! As part of our family room design, we decided to…
Basement Bathroom Renovation: Backerboard and Drywall
After months and months of delay, I was finally at a place where I was ready to install walls in the bathroom. I cannot even explain how excited I was…
Basement Bedroom Renovation: Framing, Drywall and Painting
Once the back of the basement was clear of our crap, it was time to start framing the back half of the basement. The hardest part of the basic framing…
Kitchen Renovation: Part 11 – Finishing Touches
Given how massive this project was, many of the tasks that are usually major milestones in a project seemed small in comparison. Painting One of the first finishing touches was…
Kitchen Renovation: Part 8 – Framing and Drywall
Once the window and doors were installed, it was time to frame the interior and install the subfloor. This was probably one of the most exciting steps in the process…
Kitchen Renovation: Part 7 – Plumbing and Electrical
When we were looking for a contractor, we wanted someone who would let us do some of the work ourselves. Not only does it save on costs, but there are…
Kitchen Renovation: Part 4 – Setting up a Temporary Kitchen
Despite what our contractor thinks, we know that this kitchen renovation is going to take longer than just a few weeks. And after living through our messy dining room wall…
Load-Bearing Wall: Part 5 – Removing the Wall!
I’ve had a hate-hate relationship with the wall in our dining room since we moved in. Even though we managed to make it slightly less ugly, my issue was with…
Renovating the Second Floor: Let the Fun Begin!
It’s been almost a year since we completed our living room/dining room renovation. We finally have a social life again, we can relax in the evenings and on weekends and…
First Floor Reveal
It’s been a year since we bought our house and a lot has changed. We’ve replaced our electrical wiring, fixed our fireplace, replaced our hardwood floor, painted the walls, installed…
Load-Bearing Wall: Part 4 – Drywalling and Pot Lights
This wall has made me both hope for a beautiful future together and wish harm upon it. These days, it’s the latter. Actually, if the stupid thing wasn’t holding up…
How to build a wall: Part 2
We’re getting there. It’s not pretty, but we’re getting there… We’ve been working for about a week straight, and we’re getting cranky about it. We let dad take Friday night…
How to fit 27″ appliances down 25″ stairs
There’s lots going on right now and we’re all working on different things. Dad and Alex are going strong on the electrical and I’m picking up other random projects that…
Rewiring a House: Part 2
The real work began this weekend. Service Upgrade We had our electrician show up and do the service upgrade this week. This was a small job that is separate from…
Rewiring a House: Part 1
Before the weekend we started the first step in the electrical work: tearing down the basement ceiling. I use the term ‘ceiling’ lightly here. Our ceiling was comprised mostly of…