Moving Right Along

L-R: 3 of the 7 doors - Basement door, hall and into the den. And now there are 2!

We tried to save the trim but it was just too solidly built, cut from at least a 2" thick piece of wood, they don't make trim like that anymore. Thankfully the other doors still have the same trim.

L-R: the Pantry cupboard used to be back stairs going up to the "Maid's room". The stairs are gone but apparently the hatch in the floor in the bedroom is still there. The window will be half the size and the stove moves to the right so there will be a range hood over it.

Some of the old charming wallpaper - 1940's maybe?

This seems to be the bottom layer of wallpaper, I peeled it off, it is very brittle. I have no idea how old it is.

Another sample of old paper, perhaps 60's, that wonderful avocado green and orange that my Mom was so fond of! The plaster is full of horsehair! I must look that up on Google!

So, the kitchen renovations are moving right along after one day they have made great progress. The last of the old flooring is gone, the old cupboards and tile are gone. We have moved everyting out, spread through the diningroom and livingroom. We'll be 2 weeks without the stove but I have my slow cooker, electric frying pan and the bbq - and the Pub is in walking distance!

We have a good schedule, we have till the 20th to do all the repairs, get the walls ready, the new window in then the floor gets sanded and varnished starting on the 20th. The new cabinets (fingers crossed) will be installed on the 26th. 

Once the cupboards were gone we discovered several layers of old wallpaper and wide planks on the walls plus some of that lovely 60's "wood" panelling. I forgot to take a picture of that, I wonder why? Maybe I should for posterity! 

We have been thrilled so far with the guys who are doing the work. Wonderful to live in a small community where you can call the plumber and he is here in 10 minutes! Same with the electrician and the building supply store is 5 minutes away. 

There are more pictures in my Flickr Photostream here.

Let The Renos Begin!

The joy of buying a 150 year old house is that there is always something to do, something needs fixing, something needs changing/updating. We have been lucky, we have been quite comfortable and feeling settled in our "new" house here in Mahone Bay. Given the amount of snow we have had this year we are very glad not to have to shovel the long driveway we had in Fox Point! Here we don't even have a sidewalk to shovel, just the back parking for the cars!

Another Wednesday, another snowstorm with up to 30cm expected. This is the view from the mudroom window looking out to the side garden past the deck and grape arbour. It had just begun to snow.

We decided to start with the kitchen. Our kitchen in the Fox Point house was small and narrow, like a galley kitchen. We got used to it, this one has 7 doors and a window! Another challenge. We can get rid of two doors, the one jut to Peter's left and one in the right corner which was a second staircase and is no a pantry cupboard. We have a great design (we hope!) we didn't have a whole lot of choice about where things would go. One thing is for sure it will be better than it is now. The final measurements have been done, the main demolition of the cabinets will happen next week, then the floors will be sanded and varnished. Peter has cut away and torn up 6 layers of old floor coverings. We had no idea what was underneath...

So far so good! The boards are all different widths from 6" - 14". We aren't sure yet what wood they are, perhaps hemlock or spruce. We shall see, can't wait!

A New Year

The Christmas trees are down (yes, we had 2 "real" ones this year, we just had to put a smaller one upstairs in the "bump"), the pine needles are mostly gone, though I find they tend to appear in odd places for a few months. A new year is upon us and for us it is going to be exciting. Lots of decisions to make, a new kitchen to design and install and to somehow work around 7 doors and a window (we can eliminate 2 doors and will make the window a bit smaller). I have been having fun dreaming through hundreds of pictures on Pinterest. Our goal is to start the demo mid February. Wish us luck!

As I have written before, I am thrilled with my new sewing room and now that I have had both cataracts surgery, which were a huge success, I am busy at work. It works really well and Peter just installed my new sewing machine lift (Lee Valley) like I had in my old sewing room. It really is worth it to be able to have the bed of my sewing machine level with the table top. So there is no excuse now, I am all set up and ready to go. I am so thrilled to have a high table for cutting, it is the perfect height and I can walk around it. The challenge will be to keep it organized and clutter free!

I finished my "Fireside Log Cabin" that I started in Heather Stewart's workshop last November. It was machine quilted by Lynn Jones who has a wonderful quilt studio outside of Bridgewater. She did a super job quilting it. Now I need to take some pictures. At our old house I had the weathered old barn out back to pin my quilts on to take pictures. Time to get creative and see where I can take pictures.

A new project in the works, a "disppearing nine patch" which will be soon on its way to Tasmania.

A wonderful housewarming gift from a wonderful old friend. Patty hooked this from a Christine Little pattern, Christine's delightful rug hooking shop Encompassing Designs is right at the end of our street. I am so tempted to take a rug hooking course - do I dare? Not only does Mahone Bay have a rug hooking shop (there are 2 - Spruce Top Rug Hooking is the other one) but we have one of the best yarn stores Have a Yarn and of course there is Suttles and Seawinds - I think we moved to a fibre lover's town!

Tomorrow the Quilt Mafia is gathering at Linda's house in Bear Cove, just outside Halifax at the mouth of the harbour. I can't wait to see her house on the edge of the ocean and to see everyone. It has been awhile since we last got together and with the weather forecast (which is good) we are hoping many will be able to get there.