Husband is heading back to the cottage tomorrow morning. One the hardest parts of this renovation is the amount of time we are spending apart. Not to mention what it does to your social life!
Tomorrow, my partner-in-renovation-crime will be sealing the tile in the bathroom, and getting started on the master bedroom.

I mentioned previously that I was determined to use zero-voc paint. I drove all the way to the west-end and spent sixty dollars on a gallon of Yolo paint, only to discover that it is incredibly frustrating to work with. I was painting some shelves and brackets for the kitchen and I am completely unhappy with the results. This paint dries so quickly that you can barely go over your brushstrokes. I usually enjoy painting, but not this time. I was cursing.
I'm going back to Benjamin Moore, and I'm going to buy a can of their Regal Select which is (supposedly) low-voc and self priming. What a costly mistake...maybe I'm just being too picky, but painted wood, especially doors and window trim, should be as close to perfect as possible. That is where your eyes go. And when you're using high-sheen latex, any mistake shows up like a giant thumb print. So, I'm going to start all over again...

But I did save some money. Found some very cottagey-looking furniture on Craigslist:

This is solid pine: 2 end tables, 1 sofa table, and a coffee table. The end tables are perfect for a narrow bedroom because their openness on the bottom allows your eye to see the hardwood floors straight to the wall; you don't want furniture that blocks your view in a small space...

You can always find a place for a sofa table: behind a sofa, at the end of a bed, in a kitchen, as a folding table in a laundry room, etc. They can also be used as desks or sideboards. I think sofa tables are the most versatile pieces of furniture you can have in your home. I think I'm going to use this piece as a dressing table in my bedroom...

This is well-priced furniture at $300, delivered to my door. Notice that each piece has custom glass on top to protect the surface. This alone would cost at least $300, so this is a very good deal...

 

My husband decided to stay on Mayne Island an extra day, so he won't be home until tomorrow morning. Luckily, my cousins were there to feed him and give him showering privileges. (thanks Liana & Marcus!) He managed to finish our sons' room. Here are some pictures...

 

 

 

  

  

I'm really happy with the trim work around the window.

Thank God I married a handyman...

  

 

Here is other end of the room before...

  

The closet had to be closed off as we needed the space for the new bathroom...it's really a shame that the wood used in the hallway was not continued into the bedrooms. It would have saved us so much work. I haven't decided yet if I'll paint it out; it depends on how dark the hallway feels when we're done...

Here is how it looks trimmed out...

This will require one coat of primer, and two coats of paint...this is going to be a very big and time consuming job...I wonder if there are any good painters on Mayne Island...Another thing my husband has done this weekend is trim out the openings for the bathroom's built-in medicine cabinets...

So, while he's been over there doing his carpentry work, I've been home with four teenagers. The noise can be ear-splitting at times, especially when my younger boy decides to thrash his drums, but overall it has been fine. My sons mowed the front & back lawns and did the weed-wacking  - they didn't want their father to come home to more work....they're good lads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been reading a giant encyclopedia of plants and shrubs, and more and more we are being told to plant native things in our gardens. The reason is because they are perfectly adapted to a particular location and require no human intervention - ie chemicals or special fertilizers. They have developed resistance to diseases, blights, and have stood the test of time.

The other important reason, is because they support bio-diversity. Native plants are crucial to the survival of birds, butterflies, bumble-bees, and other wildlife - they depend largely on native plants. Another reason is because they are becoming extinct. Everyone wants the ornamentals from Japan and China, and you see them everywhere. Anyway, I read about a shrub called a "Spicebush" or "Lindera Benzoin."  This is really interesting!
Here is what it looks like:

But here is the super exciting thing! It offers the favourite food of the Swallowtail Butterfly. Here is what the caterpillars look like:

Is this not the most adorable creature you've ever seen? Here's another look...

Isn't nature marvelous? This cute little guy becomes...a Swallowtail Butterfly!

 

I am really excited about planting native things on my property, and I want my cottage on Mayne Island to become a haven for wildlife. Look around at most yards - how many butterflies do you see? We should all have native plants, ponds, bird feeders, bat-boxes, owl nests, fruit trees, and vegetables gardens...or how about one little Spicebush? I think we could all manage at least that...

My husband leaves for Mayne tonight..he is going to start work on our sons' room. It's a rather hideous looking space without a single redeeming feature...unless you happen to have a penchant for 1970's faux-wood panelling, coral-coloured plush carpeting, flimsy ceiling panels, and badly-sized single-pane aluminum windows...

The more I ponder our cottage, the more bewildered I feel. I wonder how anyone could have picked this design out of all the possible configurations available. The slanted walls drive us crazy, the rooms are long but narrow (like bowling alleys) and they just look so uninviting. Maybe we're too picky. But...once we're done they will look a lot better. I have to keep imagining the space with new ceilings, walls, moudlings, and hardwood floors. My husband has already installed a new window. Over the next few days, he'll rip out the ceiling, & panelling, add insulation (because there isn't any!) and run new electrical. He'll only be gone until Saturday, so he may not even accomplish this much. Here is the new window...

The new windows not only provide improved energy efficiency, but also appear mathematically correct from the exterior. Previously, the windows looked like two menacing eyes staring out from the roof. Here is the difference proper window size can make. Good design is all about mathematical balance...

So, I'll be left holding down the fort until Saturday. I hope my kind-hearted cousins pop in to say hi to him. He gets lonely over there all by himself (sniff) and maybe a little snack (gulp) might cheer him up...(hint hint)...

If you're looking for something good to read, you might want to try "The Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball. If you've ever fantasized about leaving the city behind and living off the land, this may be the story for you. The author is a Harvard graduate who happened to fall in-love with an organic farmer she had been hired to interview. She relinquished the fast pace of New York to undertake a 100-acre farm with her husband. It is hard to read this and not conclude that farmers should be among the highest paid citizens on the planet. Reading this, I realized how little I know about the food I eat, where it comes from, how it is produced, and just how much physical and emotional energy is invested by those who choose this life. Very inspirational...

Back to the cottage... I have become, as my daughter suggests, a "Craigslist Junkie." But it's hard not to when you're looking for bargain furniture. For the price of particle-board rubbish made in China, you can pick up solid wood pieces for incredible prices. Here is a sample of what I have found...a solid, Canadian pine armoire for $50...

A solid pine side-board for $100...

Three vintage lamps made in England: $50...

A brand-new wood burning fireplace, made in the USA, still in the box - $150...

We have a fairly decent wood stove at the cottage...

but it juts out about 54-inches from the wall, which makes furniture arranging pretty difficult.
My husband hates the brick, and he's tired of stubbing his toe on the vicious corners.
Last summer, we visited our cousins who also have a cottage on Mayne Island. They have a big, glorious, wood-burning fireplace and after sitting in front of it all evening, we just felt that a wood stove did not offer the same experience. And a fireplace can be installed almost flush to the wall which completely opens up a living area. Here is my dream fireplace...ours won't look like this.  Ciao for now...

I've always loved English cottages. And I've noticed that often with their kitchens, they use over-size wooden knobs, which looks very charming and almost comical...

There's just something really happy looking about giant knobs...

I couldn't find any knobs big enough to get this look. I ended up going on-line and managed to source some two & a half inch knobs from Amerock For Less. They are solid maple, and cost $1 each...

I applied one coat of wood conditioner, (this makes the stain go on evenly) 2 coats of stain, and then 3 coats of polyurethane, sanding with ultra-fine steel wool between coats...

I have never done this before, but it was much easier than I thought...I didn't use a brush, just wiped on the stain and the clear coat with some old cotton dishcloths I had lying around. Here is how they now look...they kind of look like big cookies...

I'm really pleased with the colour - it is not reddish, which seems to be the stain colour so many furniture makers use. It is a rich, dark walnut. I went on some wood-working forums that advised as many as 8 coats of polyurethane. I did 3, and I think they're shiny enough. And you have to wait 24 hours between coats, and I didn't want this project to drag on forever...

Welcome back...
Here is how our cottage now looks...it's called "work ethic"...

I wish! Truth is, not a single thing was accomplished at the cottage because of Easter weekend, so I've been working on what I can at home. And today, I will share some of my little cottagey projects with my vast viewing audience who is no doubt waiting with breathless anticipation to find out what I've been up to...

As I mentioned, our bathroom is woefully narrow, with a slanted ceiling. Actually, the whole wall is slanted - it's rather odd. For this reason, we wanted to have as few protrusions as possible. I felt that even a medicine cabinet jutting out would interfere with the sight-line from the entrance to the end of the room. It would look like a giant nose on a tiny face. So, my husband has built recessed cabinets above the toilet and vanity...

He then built melamine shelving units to insert into the openings. The cupboard above the toilet will house toilet paper - it measures 24 x 39 inches. The one above the sink is 24 x 30.
They are only about 4 or 5 inches deep, but that's all the space you need, really...

 

I figured that the mirrored cabinet should match the vanity, but I didn't want to spend too much money. So, I opted for an Ikea cupboard (Adel Medium Brown)...

When I brought it home, I was disappointed. The frame was too smooth and perfect in contrast to the rustic look of my vanity console. So, I decided to distress it. I hammered some nails, of varying sizes, into the frame. I was very careful as I didn't want to crack anything. Then I touched up the nail holes with some walnut-coloured stain...

I took the door to Speedy Auto Glass and had a piece of mirror cut to place into the frame. It looks quite nice. Did I really save any money? I've decided not to dwell on the past.
Later on, I will add a knob, and this will open our soon-to-be medicine cabinet, that will be filled with all sorts of interesting things, like toothpaste and rolaids...

So, that's all I've done...what else can I talk about? How about quick and easy dinners? Sick of cooking? Don't know what to make? Here's a fast solution to the daily tyranny of meal preparation. This is especially handy if you're in a bad mood: 

Grab a cookie sheet. Throw down some fresh rosemary. Pop a few chicken breasts (with skin) onto the rosemary. Fling a few lemon slices on top. Splash some olive oil into a bowl. Stir in some potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts and whatever else your rotten kids will eat, and toss them onto the cookie sheet. Wing some salt over top. Fire the whole lot into the oven at about 425. Give the oven door a swift kick, pour yourself a glass of wine. In about 45 minutes, you'll have a delicious, healthy dinner. Your house will be filled with the heavenly aroma of  lemon, herbs, and  roasting animal carcass. If anyone comes over, they will marvel at how wonderful your house smells and assume you're a gourmet cook. In any event, it's a healthy, scrumptious meal that you can feel good about...

(I should have taken a picture once it was cooked...it looks much better than this. And yes, my oven needs cleaning...)

This is our house bunny, Marcello. He wishes everyone a very HAPPY EASTER!

I learned recently that the Arbutus is the only broadleaf evergreen that is native to Canada. I had no idea. I think we tend to forget that the majority of trees we take for granted as being indigenous were actually brought in from somewhere else. If memory serves me correct, we have one Arbutus on our property:

When we were having some cedars removed, we were told that removal of Arbutus trees is not permitted. Another thing I didn't know. In any case, taking out our one and only Arbutus was unthinkable. We love the way they look, with their mysterious intertwining limbs, and we marvel at their habit of  turning - almost painfully, it seems - toward the sun. Then there is the crimson bark that peels back in the summer to reveal the most silky, soft, pale wood underneath. These ancient trees flourish along the southern coast of BC and when you see one, you know there is ocean nearby.

For us, the Arbutus is the most welcoming sight when we arrive on Mayne Island. There is a fabulous specimen growing along Fernhill Road that we always say hello to when we pass by. My husband will say to the kids, "Say hi to our tree!"
Sadly, there is a defoliating fungus that is posing a real threat. Constant rain will do this. Here is a tree that seems to thrive in the rockiest, most desolate of places; twisted and craggy, suspended over cliffs, jutting out courageously from the ridge, able to endure the worst of conditions. But suddenly it is showing signs of failure...because of the rain. Climate change, folks. Humans aren't the only creatures who miss the sun...

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!