I suppose the reason for this blog is because I have found other people's renovation stories to be quite informative. It's also fun to peek into the living spaces of strangers. This is why I like walking my dog at night - it allows me to peer into the lighted homes of the neighbourhood. Sometimes you see a really great wall colour. More often, I notice pictures hung too high on the walls.
Regardless, I wonder if anyone will ever read this...perhaps I'm just talking to myself...well, it wouldn't be the first time.

Anyway...the most unattractive feature of our cottage was the east wall - 20 feet of uninterrupted brown panelling, void of  a single window. Worse, was the fact that the cottage's only bathroom happened to be right beside the kitchen. Not only did this strike us as being inconvenient, as the bedrooms are upstairs, but decidedly lacking in privacy. In addition, it occupied the south-east corner of the cottage, thereby disallowing any of the natural light to enter. After drawing up a detailed 3-D floor plan, I announced to my husband that we needed to move the bathroom upstairs and install 5 big windows. He was not pleased. At all.  But look at the difference - the brilliant morning sunshine floods into the cottage, and now we can look out at our beautiful trees:



We did the same on the opposite side of the house - here is how it looked before:

And now look:

We have added nine windows already on the main floor, and replaced two. Prior to this, we discovered that the entire cottage was sinking on the south end, due to someone's brilliant idea of adding a wall with no header, after cutting into the king-beam. My husband had to jack up the main structural king beam, shimmy the king beam on to one of the structural saddles, toe-nail the king beam into the floor joists, add 4 laminted two by tens, etc.etc.
Listening to my husband explain this in excruciating detail nearly sent me into a coma...king beam! king beam!...but suffice it to say, the house has been straightened out. (According to him, the house actually groaned as it was being jacked up...then it sighed, and said "I feel better now!")

I am no longer worried that the entire structure will careen down the hill if it rains too hard. She's rock solid. Unless an earthquake strikes in which case we're toast.
In the meantime, the upstairs work began which involved some major plumbing, and borrowing a good chunk of space from what is to be our daughter's bedroom. Here are some bathroom pics:

As you can see, it is a long, narrow space with a deeply sloped ceiling. My husband wanted to install a shower only, but I insisted on a bathtub. If we ever sell the cottage, I believe it will be an asset. And sometimes you just need a good soak after walking the beach in the rain.

Then I suggested pebble tile and found some great tile at Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply for $7.99/square foot. It's $12.99 sf at Home Depot. (you can do it - we won't help!)
We just finished this a few days ago, and had the tile installed by our good friend Tony Dominelli who lives on Bowen Island:

Tony believes that pebble-tile is a lot more difficult to install than people often realize. The pebble on the ceiling needed a ton of mortar to stay in place as it is incredibly heavy, and there was a great deal of cutting and manipulating in order for the square outline of the tile mats to blend in seamlessly. I think it looks beachy-keen. Well done, Tony and Ajay!

The room has been re-insulated, and my husband has done a great job on the panelling. We are using birch plywood on the walls, spruce for the trim, and pine wainscoting on the ceiling. It will require a ton of primer. Should be fun! The room has no window, so we plan to install a Velux sun tunnel.
So far, he has found one dead mouse inbetween the studs. Let's hope it didn't have a large extended family.

Our budget is tight, so here is is the plan I came up with...this is the fun part. I found a great console table at the Sears Outlet. I'm going to apply 5 or 6 coats of wipe-on polyurethane to protect the wood, and then we'll drill a hole in the top and install a sink...

I found a great vessel sink at the Home Depot for 59 dollars. It's made by Glacier Bay...

The lighting I have chosen is also from Home Depot and fits in nicely with the cottagey look we're aiming for:

The existing toilet is in good shape, so that will stay. As far as flooring goes, we found some wide-plank, solid birch hardwood flooring on Craigslist...what great luck: It turned out the company is one of my husband's customers - Northern Building Supply in Burnaby. At $2.35 a square foot, you can't go wrong. What a steal of a deal! I think it's going to look smashing:

The bathroom is ready for paint, and I've decided to use zero-voc paint called Yolo. Luckily, I have sourced two retailers in Vancouver and I'm looking forward to painting and not ending up with a migraine. "Eco-friendly" paint is a label that is being bandied about somewhat irresponsibly. Many paints are only low-voc prior to tinting. Once the colour is added, so too are the toxins and carcinogens. I decided to go with a company that wasn't forced to change their recipe due to government legislation - it has always been zero-voc and has been well reviewed in the popular press. A little paint company started by two women that is now being sold in Home Depot in the US. Way to go, gals! Here is what they state on their website, yolocolorhouse.com:

Today we are proud to say what is NOT in our paint:

• No carcinogens
• No reproductive toxins
• No mutagens
• No hazardous air pollutants
• No ozone depleting compounds
• No formaldehyde
• No phthalates
• No VOCs
• AND NO BAD COLORS!  

Sounds good to me. Why are we still killing our planet and endangering our health? There are many other options, such as AFM Safecoat (often used in hospitals) Mythic, Broda, Homestead Milk Paint, etc. Other well-known paint companies are claiming to be offering a healthy option, but in many cases it has more to do with marketing propaganda than any genuine commitment to the environment. A company in Vancouver is going to be my next stop: Greenworks Building Supply. The environmental options have never been better, and at the end of the day, you don't want to have to vacate your own home in order to avoid off-gassing.


The other development has been our daughter's room. The panelling is finished and I think my husband has done a great job. Here is how it looked before:

And here it is now, ready for paint..

We cannot quite believe that it is already April. We still have so much work to do...but it's really coming along nicely, and once the plumbing is in place, things tend to move at a quicker pace. I was hoping to get over there this weekend, but then realized that it's Easter! The paint will have to wait.
I am looking forward to having my husband home...he has been truly burning the candle at both ends and needs a rest. We've missed him. Well...until next time!