wrap it up...

basement finale!!

*warning - pictures taken with husband's camera phone!!*

{so please excuse the quality - we figured it was better to see something than nothing at all!}

{ignore that laundry folks!}

best surprise of the basement:

cedar posts!!

they were buried in the walls, so when we completely

gutted the basement, we moved the wall back to expose them.

worst surprise of the basement:

the build-out for the tv wasn't exactly planned!

in the very beginning phase of the project,

we decided this place was in major need of new concrete walkways and steps.

well, when the concrete guys were demolishing the old steps,

they rammed their bobcat into the front of the house!!

needless to say, this caused some damage to the support by the front door

- which translated to chaos in the basement

{not to mention husband just missing a giant block of concrete falling on his head}.

so, the build out was really the solution to that mess,

and not where does the tv go?!

although, it was the perfect spot for that build-out to happen!

well, that's all for that chapter folks!!

next up -

we're taking you with us, step by step,

through our next project,

good ol' 87!

wrap it up...

guest suite!!

this was really grandma & grandpa's room,

but they were gracious enough to lend it out to a few others!

before we even had the luxury of having a guest suite,

this room was our bedroom.

{well, actually, our only room!!}

ahhhh the days before baby,

when living in 200sqft, surrounded by boxes, 

and cooking with only a toaster oven was all we knew!

wrap it up...

guest bath!

{really just the basement bath, but we liked to pretend that the basement had the "guest suite"!!}

{hiiiii!!!!}

definitely not the biggest guest bath!!

{quite awkward to photograph actually - clearly need to hone those skills!!}

if only you could have seen where it started out -

not pretty!!

in fact...the old clawfoot tub we took out is still sitting in the backyard!!

{oopsies! sorry new owners, husband will be by to take that away at some point...}

and I know some of you are thinking 

"why would you remove a clawfoot tub?!"

well...

a} it wasn't the best looking tub...it needed help...and two new feet!

b} I think they're awkward to shower in...and when you have a smaller house, you need all the good shower space you can get!

c} if you cut out the awkward showering and just use it for bathing...well, who wants to have a luxurious, relaxing bath in a basement??! not the ideal locale!

so that's that...

and that's the guest bath!

wrap it up...

the luxury of a laundry room!

ahhhhh how I will miss you!!

it was so nice to have a clean, contained room just for laundry - 

no sharing with husband's work room...

or creepy mechanical room...

all mine!

back to dirty {not really but they look that way} concrete floors in the new place...

but not for long!!! {right husband?!?}

ideas already swirling in the ol' noggin!

wrap it up...

sorry to leave you for so long,

you'd think being off work to visit the family back home 

would have given me all the time I needed to finish up the 419 posts...

but nooooo!!

we are now on the other side of the move!

phew!!

lots of issues there!

{thank you to the babysitting services in Canmore for helping us with the little one, we owe you big}

here's a glimpse of how our move day started out...

excellent!!

more on that later...

right now, take a look at the 419 office

{sorry, no before pictures of the basement, so silly we were!!}

yay to husband for spraying the {potentially creepy?} horse head, much better in matte black!

{he never questions when I bring home these outrageous items - complete faith! that's love!!}

{if you look closely, you can see my obsession with the J.Crew catalogue!!

not sure what I'm intrigued by more,

the styling of the shoots or the clothes themselves...

inspiration none the less!}

before & after...

baby room!

{well in the beginning it was our only room...then baby came and things needed to change!}

before:

{these people loved their dark colours!}

aaaaaaaaand after:

Husband refinished this dresser for baby G

{what a keeper}, 

and now that I know his skills, I'm sure many more projects will appear!!

Half price giant chair from as-is room in Ikea,

whooooooooot!

This room came together pretty easily,

almost like it always wanted to be for a baby??

Or maybe because we didn't need to tear into any of the walls...

hard to say!

how do you like me now...

ta-dah!!

Soooooo

much more room now!!

{it only took half of a bedroom to get it!}

We had so much space in fact, 

that we used kitchen cabinets for the vanity.

{really just adds depth!}

And the lady at Home Depot said we couldn't do two sinks!!

ha!!

We showed you woman!

If only we finished sooner and could find that lady...

she clearly didn't know the super powers 

of husband!!

remember when...

the bathroom was this small?

{and gross!}

Pretty irresistible huh?!

That shiny brass,

those tiles {again with the countertop?!?},

oh and that black mold hiding behind the window trim!!

There was barely enough room to turn around in there,

let alone enough to be the only bathroom on the first floor.

So....we had to make room.

Which meant taking out a bedroom.

{which was ok because they were so tiny anyways we needed to make a normal sized bedroom!}

Stay tuned!

how do you like me now...

new kitchen!!

{new view towards dining room}

{close up of new breakfast bar}

{new view from hallway into kitchen}

{new view towards back door/stairs}

{husband's idea to frame some Ikea fabric - genius!!}

{new view towards hallway}

Ahhh, that's better!

There's so much more light and space in this kitchen now

{plus more storage which is always helpful!!}.

It is an Ikea kitchen, so it didn't come without it's headaches!

We ordered the cabinets right when we moved in,

which probably shouldn't be done until you're at least ready to install...

but it was a good thing we did 

 because they discontinued the cabinets by the time we were ready, 

so at least we got the ones we wanted!

 However, the bad thing is....

you have the cabinets sitting in boxes for months in the garage,

and one day when you decide to move them inside, you realize -

no Ikea, you did not deliver my order!!!

So months later we have to go back and deal with the wonderful hassle that is Ikea.

We also needed to change a size of one upper cabinet, 

which is heartbreaking when the doors no longer exist...

thankfully, we needed a smaller sized door, so we {husband}

cut the bigger one we had to fit.

In the end, it all worked out and that's all that matters!

We are now Ikea kitchen masters!! 

{or so we think, until the next one throws us new surprises!}

remember when...

419 had this kitchen?!

{view towards dining room}

{view from hallway into kitchen}

{view towards backdoor/stairs to downstairs}

{view from dining room into kitchen}

{view towards hallway}

Yeah....I don't like to think of that either!!

This one was gross, and bad...

and gross.

Tiled counter tops = creepy! 

Can you really clean the past owners out of those grout lines?!

I think not!!

The layout was clearly bad, bad, bad!

The paint colours had to go,

the lino had to go,

the cupboards had to go,

the appliances had to go,

some of the walls needed to go...

all to make 419 beautiful again!

how do you like me now...

419 dining room facelift

{new view towards back deck}

{new view towards living room}

{new view from kitchen}

{new view towards kitchen}

This room didn't need too much work...

once we got rid of the doors and added a new, bigger patio door

the room really opened up.

Can't say that the light is something I would have ordinarily chosen...

but when you're already over due with a giant baby in your belly 

and family is coming to stay with you,

and you have to get the house in a functioning state...

it does the trick!

Oh babe, the lights not THAT bad!  and its even better when controlled by a dimmer (every light is better that way)


Green Alert; every light controlled by a dimmer is automatically more efficient by around 10%
hahaha.... seriously.


and we used low voc paint, and a lot of the materials were recycled too that we used so...  just wanted to say that if you can, try to make that a criteria for your reno's too


ok, thats enough from this dork.
ciao