sunday times...

well first off,

happy father's day!!
how fortunate are we to have three of the best dads out there
all apart of this family?!

we had a great day here

with the return of gramma and papa!

so naturally, that means some progress on the house!

but also some relaxing

{involving the bbq}

here's the sunday highlights

{lots of fun in the sun jumping around with gramma}

{some gardening inside and out - but the outside pics are for another post!}

{delicious bbq and sweets for the proud dads}

let there be...

lights!!

finally, no more bulb sockets sticking out of the ceiling!

husband had to climb way up

to install these beauties!

now all we need are some big

edison-style bulbs

{like so}

via

it's starting to look somewhat finished upstairs -

we're very excited...

{clearly!}

catch up...

let's see...

everything we've done since we've been away...

* finished skimming + painting ugly stucco wall

* finished installing  + grouting backsplash

* installed, caulked + painted trim

* installed, caulked + painted baseboards

*installed door handles

{ahhh I forgot how nice it was to actually close a door!}

*had entire upstairs ceiling refinished which spawned a new list of work:

~remove all items from upstairs

~tarp off all cabinets, lights, doors + floors

~clean, dust, clean again...and again

{that drywall dust (and mud) gets everywhere!!}

~prime entire ceiling,

~paint entire ceiling x2

~repaint all upstairs walls

~move furniture back in

all this work,

and none of it is really exciting enough for photos!

 case in point:

our beautiful new flat ceiling,

looks great in person, but makes a boring photo!
{although the dinosaurs really add to it!}

have to admit, 

it still looks better than this one:

because that was our view before!

a little vitamin B...

that's all the house needs

{and us too}

to get back into gear!!

vitamin b in this case being

papa B coming down on two occasions

and working the heck out of husband!

let's see what the power of B + husband can do...

put up all the new doors upstairs...

patch up the ugly stuff...

{yes stucco wall - I'm talking about you!}

put up backsplash...

just to name a few things!

the end result of the power duo looks something like this:

sooooo much space!

you two are animals...

and we like it!!



one, two, three, four...

tell me that you love me more...

{you know the song!}

yay to wrapping up {some} loose ends!

corner cabinet finally arrived!!

hood fan!

what wall? hubby patched the evidence!

pendants {and pot lights} are up!

feels good!

next up - some bigger projects to tackle...



really...

really?!?

we've been M.I.A since November 24?!!

that's scary - 

that's how long we've been in the holiday haze for!

back to reality...

with lots of updates!

first up - counters finally went in...

{husband here cutting out the gable for the faucet}

{a side faucet because this guy was a bit of a fatty and wanted more room!}

 

the corner upper is still waiting for it's door

{what a nightmare these cupboards have been!}

but, we do have all the other, correct doors installed now...

so we're only complaining a little!

and this guy is finally here too...

so nice to have a backdoor again -

now the dog only sometimes runs out of the yard!

time to get out of our relaxing funk

and get back to work!

three months to go to get a functioning house

{well portion of a house anyways!}

here we go...

or not...

remember this guy...

well, keeping with the true nature of renovations...

he's still with us!

 turns out this guy, is backordered!

so while other people figure out how to get it to us

{worst case scenario is december 5, not that bad}

we keep chipping away at the new floors.

baby room done!

{notice that new window?! but ignore that old fan!}

husband hard at work finishing Gray's big boy room!

{guess our clothes need to find a new home!}

and finally the transition between the kitchen and the living room.

{now the "easy" part of the living room can begin!}

all in all,

can't complain, because we did get this beauty in...

{wait for it....}

tah-dah!!

so worth it!!

{don't worry, we're changing the handles and staining the wood!}

woah...

didn't expect that to be hiding under there!!

we're getting the bedrooms ready for hardwood {yay}

and and what do we find hiding under the laminate?

some lovely old lino!

 that's classy!

{who puts lino in the bedrooms?!}

won't be for long, 

soon it will join the ranks of our kitchen and dining room

{which are finished by the way!}

also...

get a last look at this puppy

{bye-bye window}

there are crews working on upgrading you to a patio door...

right now!

{or tomorrow perhaps...but soon none the less!}

glory...

oh stove!!! how you were missed!

oh to be able to cook on a stove top again!

oh to be able to make dinner all at once instead of multiple stages!

oh to be able to cook in a pan bigger than 8"x8"!

what a great day!!

here we are...

on the other end of the kitchen floor

tah-dah!! 

{as of saturday}

{uhhhhh...ignore the brackets on the island...not so pretty now but once covered by beautiful marble who will notice?!}

and then...

 {ok so you can't see all of it, but under that cardboard is some awesome hardwood!}

it's been a bit of a slow process...

working our "day" jobs means getting home late...

which means by the time husband gets all the tools ready,

it's dinner time and then bedtime for the babes...

which means no using those tools because hardwood install is loud!!

so weekends only it is!! 

it doesn't help that we started in the most difficult room,

having the most objects to cut around.

{don't worry island, we love you!!}

it only means that now that we're done the kitchen

{I say "we" like I myself did something...it's really all husband on the labour front}

its all open rooms from here!!

so hopefully next weekend we get the bedrooms and living room done!

until then...

we are all going to enjoy the new, proper placement of our fridge and dishwasher!

{don't they look so pretty and proud in their new cubbies?!}

step one...

to getting our kitchen floors in...

getting the hallway done!

our before - laminate out, tar paper down...

our after - beautiful hardwood!

ready to expand into the kitchen

{for now}

and then the dining room, living room and bedrooms!

so much more to go...

but this little teaser keeps us motivated!

at last...

a step in the right direction!

the guys came and installed today!!

{ahhh we can breathe! and put things back!} 

you probably can't notice the melt-down inducing complications we had...

so let me point them out!

* firstly, the waiting an extra week for them to show up... 

oh and scrambling to finish all that prep work the weekend before

{you definitely can't see that}

* secondly, the professional who insists it's not imperative to measure the depth of a fridge...

really?!? because the surrounding cabinets that are now 6" too shallow tell me otherwise!

thankfully, I have the handiest husband there is.

he built out the wall behind the offending cabinets to make up the difference

{that's where you may notice some framing peeking out around the fridge!

but fear not, hubby will make that go away!} 

* lastly, {let's hope, right?!} the small detail of door fronts...

not the ones we chose!

but that seems to be the easiest fix ~ wait 2-3 weeks for proper ones to come in,

guys come back, we have proper and complete kitchen!

this is what was shipped

{boooooo! boring and looks like it came off the shelf}

this is what we selected

{yaaaaay! selected because of the name, perhaps!}

up next, countertop templating...

bye bye wall...

it's time to fall!

{clearly too much Dr.Seuss lately...}

ahhh so nice and open!!
{verrrrrrrry messy - but open!!}

we made it, we survived...

it took a week of near torture and agony...

but we are ready for the kitchen!

{let's just hope our kitchen guys feel the same}

no good reno goes without it's roadblocks,

we should be used to it by now...

{is it really something one can get used to though?! shouldn't be!}

this kitchen has brought us several roadblocks!

the first irritation: one week later,

here we are still waiting to get our kitchen back.

{don't they know I'm "cooking" out of a toaster oven in gray's big boy room?!?}

tomorrow is supposed to be the day...

so keep your fingers crossed for us!

and at least someone has adapted nicely to the chaos!