Renovation Report Week 14

Settle in people! Lots of exciting things happened in our renovation last week and I'm going to tell you all about it, with lots of pictures as well.

The window frames in the basement were built out...

..living room flooring was started, and our new cupboards were all covered in plastic to protect them.

 

Living room flooring was completed, and the hallway was too!

 

The supports came off the downstairs shower...

...and in more exciting news, the main bathroom flooring was completed.

 

The kitchen flooring is finished!!!

 

And skimming happened in the kitchen as well. "Skimming" is filling in the cracks and holes from where the wood panelling was in the kitchen. The area where the back splash is being installed was also primed.

 

The vanities for the two bathrooms arrived as did all the wood for trim! Whoo hoo!!! 

 

Flooring was started in the basement.

 

And in the most unexpected happening, our counter tops (and kitchen sink) were installed!!! YAY!!! (And then they were immediately covered with cardboard to protect them. Hahaha!!!)

I will have more exciting pictures once the protective cardboard is removed.

The flooring is almost finished in the basement.

 

Mudding has been continuing all week as well although that is not as exciting to show in pictures :)

Learnings from this week:

We didn't have a dumpster for a couple of days and we realized, we are going to miss that thing!!! Hahaha!!! It's so convenient to just throw our garbage in a huge metal bin.

Mudding takes a very long time and it doesn't look like much progress is happening. This is why I have very few pictures of it.

Things can be more inconvenient. Exhibit A: Our water tap is now under the cardboard, hanging on a hook in the cupboard. (And as of Monday, it is completely out of commission for some reason. On the plus side, our water softener has been unplugged for about a month so all of our water is currently drinking water.)

 

If you only have one toilet, and it clogs really badly, watch out... We learned that lesson the hard way this past week. Ugh.

When my mom and dad aren't here cooking for us, we eat out a lot more. Hahaha!

I really think there aren't many weeks left of our renovation which is both exciting and strange. Whatever will we do when we don't have to manage living among all this construction?!?!?!

Friday Favourite Moments #5 2026 (On A Monday)

This past weekend was a full one with a dance show for Rachel and all the rehearsals that entailed, including one on Thursday night. That meant instead of having time to write a Friday post, I was volunteering at a dance rehearsal. So you get my favourite moments from last week on a Monday.

I'm doing a bit of a different "favourite moments" post because really, my favourite moments this past week all boil down to "our community rocks"! This was a week that decided to throw a lot of inconveniences at Dave and I, and we would not have managed them so smoothly if it weren't for our amazing friends and neighbours.

We still don't have a shower, and our neighbours returned to their house, but Tim and Janice offered us the use of one of their bathrooms for as long as we need it. I didn't realize what a relief this would be. We are not a family who showers every day (thank goodness!) but this means that I don't have to figure out where we can shower a few times a week. We know where we're going, we can leave all our shower supplies there, and we just have to get there.

Our car had some issues last week and needed to spend time in the shop. Thankfully, people kindly offered rides, or their cars. Our neighbours let us use their car to get groceries, friends gave Rachel rides home from dance, and other friends let us use their car for other errands.

Late Thursday night, the only toilet in our house clogged really badly. We needed a different kind of plunger to fix it but it turns out places to buy a plunger aren't open at 2am. So on Friday morning, I went out as my neighbour was getting ready to leave for work, and asked if we could use their washroom for a few hours. They were so kind and gracious to say "yes" and I was very thankful (and relieved). 

I'm really just so thankful for our community. We would not be getting through this winter, or this reno, without them, and I want to acknowledge that. Never underestimate the power of providing, without hesitation, what someone needs in that moment -- whether it be a place to pee, a car to get groceries, or somewhere to shower. This past week we needed all those things.

Here's hoping this week goes a little more smoothly...

Currently: February 2026

It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for "Currently" with Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa. You can find Amy here. Honestly, this has been a bit of a hard week. Our car had some sort of "electronic system malfunction" and it took Dave eight hours, and four tow trucks, to even get it out of our driveway. I was up for about three and a half hours in the middle of the night on Sunday into Monday, and we still don't have a shower in our house. With our car being out of commission, we're making do with washing our hair in the laundry sink and wearing extra deodorant. <-- This is renovation life people. (Thankfully, the car dealership said our car should be ready by Friday and yesterday at 4pm, offered us a loaner car to use until then. Phew.)

The thing that was hardest about this week though is that on Monday I found out that a young kid in our extended neighbourhood community was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. My heart dropped when I heard the news, and I am aching for their family. That news put everything else into perspective for me -- our car not working is an inconvenience, having no access to a shower right now is an inconvenience, not sleeping well is an inconvenience. We're all relatively healthy and trying to laugh through the inconveniences. I can only imagine that having a child diagnosed with brain cancer is devastating. So that is where I am at "currently."

 

[loving]

I am "loving" my most recent bouquet of tulips. I really am partial to the orange-yellow ones.

I am "loving" that Tim and Janice offered to let us completely take over their basement bathroom to shower. We can keep our towels, soap, and shampoo there. They have an extra space for us all to hang out in while others of us shower, and we can come and go as we need. I'm so thankful for our friends who are supporting us in this way.

And I am "loving" coming home every day and seeing more progress on our renovation. More flooring has been happening this week and it's exciting! 

[baking/cooking]

 We are not "baking" anything these days and our "cooking" is everything easy. We've had grilled cheese, frozen lasagne, and takeout this week. Frozen pizza (with bagged salads) is on the menu for tonight and then we'll be eating out for a few nights. However, we now have an date for appliances to be delivered so this is going to be a very temporary situation.

Our current "kitchen"/dining room setup is on the left. Our current dishes (and hair washing) setup in the laundry room is on the right.

[watching/reading]

The other day I was "watching" the sunrise, and stopping every minute or so to take pictures. The trees were covered in frost (which you can't really see here) and the sun was reflecting on them. It was incredible!

 

As for "reading" I've been reading about everything cozy/resilience! I read The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness Through the Power of Sisu by Katja Pantzar and Christmas Island: A Very Hygge Holiday by Natalie Normann. I've decided to try and enjoy winter by embracing cozy and my inner perseverance. It might be (kind of) working. Maybe.

[planning]

I'm not "planning" much of anything right now. Getting through this renovation, and the other minor challenges life is throwing at us this week, is taking all of my energy right now. I have nothing left over for "planning."

[savouring]

I've been "savouring" my quiet mornings, with a cup of coffee-hot chocolate, wrapped up in my blanket, and with my twinkle lights turned on. I'm warm, it's quiet, and I have some peace before the intensity of the day hits.

So that's where we're at this first week of February -- making it through despite some inconveniences and remembering that our frustrations are just temporary blips in the grand scheme of things. Here's hoping I can keep my perspective as winter, our car, and our renovation, keep throwing challenges at us...!

Renovation Report Week 13

Well we've just finished Week 13 of our renovation and we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We've received a very tentative completion date and it's much sooner than we anticipated. But we also know it could change.

There were a lot of exciting happenings this week, some of them very unexpected!

Most of the drywall is now up! There are a few small spaces which need to be completed but the bulk of the work is done.

They started the siding on the addition this week which we weren't expecting! We picked brown to match the darker colours in our brick. When we picked siding we realized how many colours are actually in our brick so we had a lot of options to choose from.

They built a wall to close in our basement stairwell. This makes the stairwell darker but gives us more usable space in this room in the basement. 

They started mudding in our bedroom. And by the end of the week they had started in our upstairs bathroom and the new living room as well.

The siding got finished! Whooo hooo!!! 

When they poured the new concrete in the basement, to fill in the holes from plumbing, I was sad that we never signed it. However, there was a small bit of concrete put in upstairs so I asked if we could leave our mark. The workers were fine with it so now we're a small, permanent, part of the work.

Part of the shower was installed in the basement bathroom, and the rest was moved, so we have our laundry room back again! This is exciting because we needed to start doing laundry, and dishes, here this past weekend.

Sam's shower base, and walls, were installed. We may have a usable shower in the near future.

More drywall was added to the powder room -- on the outside wall and above the sink.

 

They started laying flooring in our bedroom. By the end of the week, they were finished with this!

And in the most unexpected happening of the week, our new kitchen cupboards were installed!!! My mom was sad that she wouldn't see our kitchen finished before she left but she did get to see the cupboards. As you can see, we went for a blue/grey on the bottom and white on the top. I love it so much!!!

I'm glad I got pictures because these will all be covered in plastic this week so they can work on the walls and floor in the kitchen. The empty shelves in the picture on the right are where my two glass doors are going to be!!!

A small main bathroom update -- mudding was started and flooring will be going in.

 

Learnings from this week:

 

We picked paint colours on Wednesday and I discovered I really like blues and greens! Also, it is extremely hard to pick a paint colour for an entire room from a one inch swatch. We may be doing some repainting in the next year. Oh well.

 

I love that the workers are protecting our floors as they lay them but I haven't gotten to experience, and enjoy, the full effect of them yet. They're all covered in cardboard as there is still painting to be done. Again, I understand and appreciate why they're being covered, but I'm eager to see them too! Dave mentioned that flooring is more exciting than he realized!!!

 

Our back splash tiles are sitting in boxes in our new living room waiting to be installed and I am so excited to see what they look like on the wall!!! Eeeeks! Can't wait!

 

The kitchen cabinet installation went extremely quickly. I think it took about four hours from start to finish.

We're going to be fully living in our half-renovated house this month as my parents have left and our neighbours are returning. Wish us luck and immense amounts of patience as we adjust to our smaller, space (without a shower or kitchen sink) again.