May 2025- Part 1

 It has been several months since I have posted anything about the house. My mother has come through her heart attack but continues to have bouts of illness. My sister, as mum's primary caregiver, has been an absolute rock throughout. During this time Christopher and Peter have been doing most of the renovations  themselves. I have been home for almost two months, since mid April.

So what's been happening?

After much discussion and gnashing of teeth on my part, I have agreed with Peter and Christopher that our beautiful soft Pine Floors covered with lead stain cannot be refinished at this time because a) we want to live in the house and b) lead dust is not good for anyone, particularly our grandchildren. So, I now have lovely cork floors in the dining room. Chris put a subfloor in over top of the pine that will allow either ourselves or a future owner to just lift them and sand the floors later. Why cork? We used cork in our last home in the walkout basement area. We noticed how durable they were (10 years, no damage!) and how warm the floor was in comparison to any other laminate in the basement. In a house where we still need to redo all the ducts and  the floors get cold in winter, warmth is important. 

Now what has happened with the walls in the dining room? I had discussed with Christopher stripping the wallpaper and then painting the walls a golden colour. But like many of my plans in 2025, if I am not here this type of work does not done. No one likes stripping old wallpaper, even with the strippers that we have. It's a huge mess, it sticks to the floor, it smells bad, and frankly, takes a long time and shows all of the wall damage. After over a year and a half of living here, we want to be able to actually have dinner in the dining room.

So, I loved the look of the walls in our kitchen. Chris and I have always loved the look of wood in a house. It's warm, it's rich, everything goes with it so I concurred when Chris suggested let's just put up wood walls. We didn't even take the wallpaper down. So instead of putting up wallboard, then having to sand and paint, we just put up sanded plywood. It is more expensive than putting up drywall when you add up the cost of the drywall, the mud, tape and the paint vs good quality plywood. But in terms of effort and time plywood is amazing. I can put on a stain, or paint, or just seal it so it doesn't yellow. Now do I have to do the moulding in the room? Yes I do but I was going to have to do that anyway.

The cork floor. I love it!

The walls and my temporary coffee / water station. 

The chandelier will be making an exit and I am still pondering what to do for the ceiling. Crown moulding will be installed later this summer. 

The dining room feels brighter, lighter, bigger. We have bought a new light fixture for the room that still has to be installed. We realized that we probably have to add another light switch and another electrical outlet to this room in the future. We have had family over and had a meal.

It doesn't have to be done today. And in the changed world we are living through, that is not a bad thing.

I am working in a fully functional kitchen now. Is it finished finished? No. We still need to put up the back splash, or should I say Chris needs to build it for me. But I have some shelves, all the countertop is installed, my sink is beautiful and after a month and a half of being here everyday and using it, it's a really nice kitchen to work in. It is unconventional, and people will think I'm crazy when I finally reveal my kitchen but it suits me very well!

Once Christopher has installed the backsplash and we've done all our little tweaks and organized it I will take a lot of photos and share the finished product with you.