Renovation Report Week 16

As last Monday was a holiday, this week had only four days of renovation work done. Nothing really big took place this week but a lot of small things happened which are also important. This post could also be called "The One Where A Lot Of Things Were Installed"!

 When our old shower/bathtub was removed, it caused a few pieces of plaster to pop out in our bedroom closet and on one wall. Most of those got fixed this week, except for a few pieces hiding behind Rachel's old artwork, which was hanging in our closet. The contractors would colour match our paint but Rachel is going to be taking over our room when the reno is done, and she wants a completely different paint colour, so we told them just to fix the holes and leave them unpainted.

Dave and I emailed the contractors over the weekend because we had questions about the bathroom lights. So the electrician came back, cut holes, and did wiring for the bathroom light fixtures as they had not yet been done.

Exciting pieces to be installed arrived like the light for the main room downstairs, the mirrors for the bathrooms, and the stair treads for the basement stairs. None of this has been installed yet but it's ready to go!

One big thing which happened this week is doors! They arrived, door jams were built, and doors were installed in the basement.

The wiring was completed for the stove! We're all ready for new appliances to be installed.

The latch was installed on the sliding door in the powder room. Again, this is something little which needed to happen and is now done.

My glass cupboard doors arrived and were installed! I cannot wait to get my Fiestaware put away behind here. It's going to be sooooo pretty!!!

And in the last bit of reno news, the arch was squared off in the living room and a door was installed. Our current living room is turning into a guest room so we needed a door here.

 

Learnings from this week:

 

The major thing which happened this week was more mudding and sanding in preparation for painting. This part of the process is extremely dusty and takes a very long time. And is hard to get interesting photos of :)

 

All our trim will be painted. I thought it was good to go and then I noticed all the holes from the installation. And then the contractor told me it would all be painted, which makes sense if I think about it.

 

I don't know if I've shared this before but our front steps and porch have always been slate tile, which Dave and I have never been fans of. It's very delicate and breaks easily. Now that we've had an entire winter of walking on it, and major construction happening, a lot of it is coming off. We have a plan to take it all off and cover the porch with something else after the reno is done. This winter has confirmed that slate is not durable and not made for our Ontario weather. Like I said, we didn't just learn that this week but I don't think I've shared it here before.

 

The contractor told me that painting would (hopefully) be starting this coming week so here's hoping next week's update is a little more colourful! 

Friday Favourite Moments #7 2026

I'm starting this post on Wednesday night because I am determined to get this posted in a timely manner on Friday! Hahaha! Serious question, though, for those of you who write weekly Friday posts: Do you write it all on Thursday night or throughout the week? Tell me your ways, O Wise (and Timely) Ones :)

Here are my favourite moments from this past week.

1) A Shower In Our House!!!

After six long weeks, we have a shower in our house again!!! And realistically, we weren't using our shower at the end of December either because the tap was really leaking every time we used it. Our new shower is so pretty! So taking my first shower at home in almost two months was absolutely a favourite moment! A close runner up was the fact that Rachel was determined to clean it herself before we used it as it was covered in dust.

2) Chipping ice

I didn't feel well on Friday and for most of Saturday, too. However, once I started feeling better, I headed outside to chip ice. Sam came out and got in the spirit too. We cleared off our entire driveway, the walkway to our house, our porch, and the stairs. By Sunday, the kids were heading out on their own to work on the path between the dumpster and the house, and the area of the driveway behind the dumpster. 

Rachel liked grabbing big chunks of ice and tossing them onto our yard. I loved that it was warm enough we could be out without jackets, although I think Rachel's short sleeves were a little optimistic!

3) Baking cookies

 

We barely have a kitchen right now (it's in our dining room) but Rachel was determined to bake cookies this past weekend. She set up on the dining room table and got to work. She made chocolate chip cookies and they were really good. I'm so impressed with how she "made do" and baked, despite the inconvenience.

4) Clean bill of health

While having a scary spate of floaters in my eye over the weekend, and spending five hours in the emergency room, was not a favourite, I was really grateful for two things. One, it turns out my issue wasn't very serious and will resolve on its own. Two, we don't have to pay for healthcare in Canada. I know we pay for it through our taxes, and there are things which could be better, but since Dave and I walked to the hospital, the only cost of my whole eye issue was $3 for parking at the ophthalmologist appointment. That feels like a pretty good deal. (If you don't what I'm talking about, read the first two paragraphs of this post here.)

5) Time at home

Some of my favourite moments this week have just been being able to spend more time at home. I am so happy I could make some meals (including French Onion soup), read some books, do laundry, and chip ice with the kids. After an overly busy week last week, I enjoyed every moment at home. 

So those were some of my favourite moments from this past week. Tell me something about your week, or, as I said above, if you write a weekly Friday post, tell me your secrets to timely posting :) 

Renovation Report Week 15

Before I start my renovation report, I have a quick health update for you. I stayed home on Friday with a bad headache and some dizziness. That resolved by Saturday late afternoon. Then on Sunday night, as I was falling asleep, I started seeing bright flashes in my eye. On Monday morning shortly after I woke up, I thought I saw a spider out of the corner of my left eye. But there was no spider and it kept dancing across my eye (super freaky). Then after about half an hour of that, it felt like the spider exploded and it's legs rained down in my eye for about fifteen minutes. Monday was a stat holiday here in Canada so my optometrist office was closed. So Dave and I headed to the ER. As I had experienced a headache and dizziness in the past week, they asked a whole ton of questions to see if I'd experienced a stroke (which I hadn't). I left the ER five hours later completely exhausted and with an emergency ophthalmologist appointment set for yesterday.

At that appointment, they did some tests and determined that I'd experienced vitreous detachment but not a retinal tear. The vitreous is fluid in your eye and when it detaches you see more floaters and it can lead to retinal tears or detachment. Thankfully, I did not have that happen, but it was very disconcerting. I've never had such larger floaters or so many all at once. So as I'm typing this, my pupils have been dilated for a few hours and everything feels really bright! So that's the latest in "minor irritations February" as Dave and I are starting to call it. Again, not a huge deal (in the end) but slightly stressful.

Now, on with the renovation report... Also, if you read my post yesterday you may remember me saying that I was barely home between 7:30am and 8pm last week so some of my pictures are a little dark, as many of them were taken at night. 

I was so excited to get home on Monday and see that they had installed the back splash. I LOVE IT!!! It totally reminds me of some of the house exteriors we saw in Portugal, which was my goal!

Additionally, they finished installing the flooring in the basement.

On Tuesday, they grouted the back splash and it looks even better!!!

Wednesday was a big day -- they set up both vanities -- in the main bathroom and the downstairs bathroom.

They added trim in the living room.

They primed in the bathroom and our bedroom. It just looks a lot more finished now that you can't see all the taping.

On Thursday they installed the basement toilet.

And they added taps for the basement bathroom, upstairs bathroom, and the kitchen sink!!!

Friday was SHOWER DAY!!! Rachel cleaned the shower on Friday night and Sam enjoyed the first one. Our main bathroom is basically complete (!!!) except for paint and installing the fan, the light, and the mirror!!! Oh and all the electrical outlets. We used a portable construction light to shower all weekend. Hahahahaha!!!

This is a better view of our bedroom (which is waiting for paint) and the kitchen sink during the day. We are able to wash dishes in this sink now so it's exciting to not have to haul our dishes up and down stairs.

And in surprising reno news, they took the toilet out of the powder room so they could work on the drywall behind it. It's now living in the (current) office until they can put it back. Thankfully the ones upstairs and in the basement work. Phew! 

So yes, there was a lot going on last week. We are able to use more of our house (kitchen sink, upstairs bathroom) which feels HUGE, even if the conditions are a bit rustic (makeshift lighting).

Learnings from the week:

We did it!!! We survived six weeks without a shower in our house! Go us! (And major thanks to our neighbours for travelling for six weeks and letting my mom and dad rent their house and to Tim & Janice who let us take over their basement bathroom for a few weeks.)

It turns out our dining room electricity can't support our fridge, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, and the light. The breaker flipped a few times this week but I think we have figured out how to fix it and we won't usually have so much stuff plugged in in our dining room.

Mudding and trim take a long time and they don't look like a lot of progress is happening.

Even priming a room can make a HUGE difference in how it looks.

I'm so curious to see if any painting will happen this week. Fingers crossed... 

Friday Favourite Moments #6 2026 (On A Tuesday)

I am starting this post at 10:30 on Monday morning so that it might actually be ready for Friday morning this week. Hahaha! <-- And then I had a week where I was barely home between 7:30am and 8pm so I'm still behind on posting this. sigh.

We just had a long weekend here in Canada and mine was filled with minor, irritating health issues that took up almost the whole weekend. There's nothing serious going on -- just some stuff to get checked out -- so I didn't get this post finished this past weekend either. Some weeks (months) are like that. Without further ado, here are my favourite moments from last week.

1) Sam and the Olympics

While I've found the Olympics a little "blah" this time around, Sam is really into them. He's talked more about the Olympics than I've heard him talk in a long time so I've enjoyed hearing his perspective and seeing his enthusiasm.

2) Rachel and Peter & The Wolf

Rachel's dance studio performed Peter & The Wolf with the Chamber Orchestra. The Sr Youth came to watch her perform in one of the shows and I loved that they supported her in this way. Another favourite moment from the week was on Wednesday when I was volunteering during the show. I wasn't going to watch it again but the studio director told me and my friend (who I was volunteering with) to come in for free, so we got to sit in the front row. I enjoyed the up close view I got!

3) Delicious snacks

Our car wasn't working again last weekend so we borrowed our friends' car to do an errand out of town. While we were out, my friend asked if she could make us some snacks. I was so touched and the food she made (Tortilla Pinwheels) were so good!!!

Then on Monday, a co-worker brought in some extra Nacho Dip from a SuperBowl party she'd been to. I love starting off a Monday with Nacho Dip!!!

4) Walking Errands

As I said above, our car was in the shop again last week. Thankfully it was only for one day. I was super thankful that even though we had to go to the dentist, optometrist, credit union, and out for supper, we live close enough to all these things that we could walk. I was also thankful for nice weather as Rachel and I was outside for almost an hour and a half doing all these errands!

5) Clearing the sidewalk

Our sidewalk has been buried under layers of snow since early January. It was nice enough this past week that one afternoon I started chipping away at the snow/ice and it only took about fifteen-twenty minutes to clear our sidewalk. Yay! This is one of my favourite moments of the year when we see clear sidewalks again!!!

6) Clear street

People in our area were giddy last week because the snow clearing equipment finally got to our neighbourhood!!! Their timing wasn't great but from 6:20am until 10am, they cleared our road and scooped up all the snow to take it away. Sadly, they left a two foot mound in front of our driveway so Dave couldn't get to work until they'd cleared it away a few hours later but our street has been so much nicer to drive on. Friends were posting about their excitement on social media and everyone was just so happy!!!

See the snowplow in the middle of the street?!?

So those were my favourite moments from last week -- nothing too big -- just a break from some of the snow and ice and moments with my kids. Hopefully I will have some more time at home in the evenings this week and not feel quite so frazzled by this coming weekend. And if my health issues would get sorted out, that would be lovely too :)

10 On The 10th: February 2026

It took over a month for me to get my January "10 on the 10th" post up and two days to get February's written. That's the kind of winter it's been :) I think my photos from February 10th show fairly well what it's like to be living in our house while it's being renovated! 

We got home on Monday night and the power was out in the dining room and upstairs hallway, for some reason, and we couldn't get it back on. So Dave set up the coffee maker and the toaster outside the makeshift bathroom!

Coffeemaker, brushing teeth, construction supplies -- yep, this is our house these days.

I tried to enjoy my coffee-hot chocolate under my blanket with my lights on. Please notice the insane amounts of stuff in our living room. I can't wait until we can spread things out again! (Also known as "maybe we should have gotten rid of more stuff when we packed up.")

My walk to work, along my favourite path.

This is the "snow sucker" and a dump truck. This week they have been working on clearing the streets of significant amounts of snow. The plow goes by about ten times and then the "snow sucker" (my personal term for it) blows it all into dump trucks. You can't see the five dump trucks waiting their turn behind the "snow sucker."

A cup of tea and a midday snack at work. These MadeGood puffed stars are delicious! 

When I got home it was finally warm enough that I could chip major layers of snow off our sidewalk. Whoooo hoooo!!! Dave helped as the snow was coming off in huge chunks.

This is all our shower stuff on the shelf in Tim & Janice's bathroom! Sam, Dave, and I all went to shower while Rachel was at dance. I'm so thankful we're not dragging this, and all our towels, all over the place to various showers.

 

Dave and Sam made fixings for taco salad. This was a fairly easy meal to make in our makeshift kitchen.

I had book club so I set myself up in the actual kitchen. Everything in our house is a little rustic right now!

So that was our February 10th. Will our reno (possibly) be done by March 10th? Maybe?!?! At the very least we should have a shower in our house by then!