Sunday, August 23, 2009

Reno-palooza!

As mentioned, this post is all about our recent renovations. L and I live in large-ish condo that last saw major changes around 1983, back when this grey-green was a trendy colour:
The paint is matte finish, so it shows every mark and reflects no light at all. We have the furniture all squished into the middle of the living room here to make room for us to paint around the outside.

Looking the other direction is our dining room (we don't have a dining room table, so this is normally a social area with the bar). The room beyond is the library, kitchen on the right and green hallway with huge storage closet running down it on the near right.
I loathed that green, but it was not too bad - I can't believe we lived with it for 10 years!

Prepping the walls for painting, the doors are all taped.
Othello is sneetching in the corner.

Entryway hallway all painted...but then we discovered that the crown moulding was not actually white, but a browny white with a pink undertone. It looked horrid with the yellowy-cream of the new paint...so we sighed and got out the tape again. All the doors, crown moulding and baseboards would have to be painted.
Othello observes. We put this tile flooring down about 7 years ago. This section of the hall was also carpeted and the bathroom (near right), laundry/storage room (far right) and kitchen (left) each had their own special ugly linoleum, which ran to designs like glitter pebbles. Ugh.

The yellow walls in the dining room (and the bar). All the baseboards had to be removed for the flooring.
The living room painted and and the trim all done. Inigo keeps watch from the stack of flooring.
Othello and Inigo. "What have you done to our house?" Enjoy that carpet, boys, it's going soon.
Next day: the carpet ripped up.
Inigo inspects. You can see the lines where a previous owner sloppily painted the baseboards or crown moulding.

L sits on the coffee table while the cats patrol.
We are really happy that the floor didn't have to be leveled - that would have been even more expensive!

The new flooring!
Closet doors removed, looking towards the living room. Othello goes for a sunbeam. He did well with the floor (he lived in our old apartment, which had hardwood floors), but Inigo really didn't like the feel of it for a few days.

In the living room, looking towards the deck:
Lots of dust everywhere still. We stored a lot of stuff out on the deck. Used a whole box of Swiffers to clean the floor.

The flooring in the library, baseboards all nicely replaced.
Couches still draped in plastic and the kitchen door plastic-ed off for dust.

Inigo's okay with the floor now:
Happy paws!

This last Friday night (you can see I'm watching my PVRed "What Not To Wear"):
Getting the CD cases back into place. Not much has changed this weekend, since we've been busy. We have to get a couple of large 8 x 10 area rugs and then slowly put everything back into place. Of course, everything has to be cleaned, so it's a labourious process. But ah! It's done!

Hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of my home.

13 comments:

  1. What a huge project! I love how cozy and comfortable your living room looks - perfect place to sit down with friends.

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  2. Wow, what an amazing transformation! I hate matte wall paint so much...I don't understand why anyone uses it!

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  3. Thanks for sharing! Congratulations on completing your renovations. It looks great.

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  4. Wow, fantastic job! You guys are going to love it once it's done and everything is back in its place. Congrats!

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  5. Thanks for sharing your home, looks lovely and cosy, very inviting. It was like peeking in through your windows :-)) Floor is great! We have polished floorboards in our dining room and kitchen, they are also in the lounge and hallway but the previous owner put carpet (gasp!) over the top! We haven't got round to lifting it yet!

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  6. wow! looks great! love your new wood floors and the yellowy paint color you've chosen (it's similar to the paint i have in my bedroom and does a wonderful job of spreading light around the room and it's just so peaceful!)

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  7. Thanks, Christy!

    Kari, yes, it's a very large area that we reno'd.

    Beth, me neither - it was so ugly!

    Kasmira, thanks! I will be so happy when all the stuff is put back.

    Kristen, thank you!

    Kiltsnquilts: you're very welcome. I know I like to see other people's homes, and all the incriminating detail is out of these pictures (haha). Wow, lucky you to have nice floors under the carpet!

    Thanks, eednic! I do love a nice sunny yellow. You are so right about the warmth.

    Kaylyn, thanks!

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  8. Wow, that seems like so much work !
    I loved how your floor turned out -
    Thanks for letting us in your home :)

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  9. Thanks, Lorena! Yes, it was a huge amount of work. Glad you enjoyed a peek.

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  10. Hi Sheila, I am going through something similar right now. My house is a chaos!!!! Heeeeelp! But seeing that you went through the same thing helps me a lot... It is possible! hahahaha
    Your blog rocks!

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  11. Thanks, Cinty! I last saw your place when you'd just moved in, so I can only imagine. Yes, you can make it through it!

    Thanks so much, hon. :)

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