Well it's been so long since I've posted and mostly it seems that the work day of constant barrage of emails, cell phone, retail customer demands along with a rise in food sensitivities has left me a little burnt out and I had no desire to turn on my computer when I get home but a week of staycation has given me the oomph to get back to focus and start blogging again about our home and the reno's.
I know it is an immediate world we live in where renovations happen overnight on tv shows or quick flip homes but not all will have quality of workmanship that you think they should and no matter what the project in our century home, top quality with historical sensitivity (not restoration) is our goal. That said, I will be the first to admit that I have dragged my heals on our bedroom renovation design choices (while my Hardrock has bugged and bugged me) but I am truly thrilled with what he has done with our space and our choices thus far!!!
The back wall was originally going to be wallpaper which I purchased quite inexpensively on sale but I just couldn't commit to a pattern and in the end went for the look I have always loved and had first chosen for this rooms design way before Chip and Joanna Gains caused it to be all the rage, a shiplap wall.
There is much work to be done in this room still before the final painting but we use this room while working on it and finding this super 8'x10' vintage looking grey and white carpet for $250.00 including taxes and shipping was such a steal that I couldn't help myself. It helps to soften the effect of the wood stained bed and creates a break visually between the golden oak floors and the darker bed.
Decisions to be made still are wall colour and tray ceiling colours, dresser colour and hardware choice.
Although we had two dressers that we use as night tables, they were not an exact match so I recently started my hunt for a second dresser and could not believe my luck. This gorgeous solid maple heavy dresser the exact same size as we needed was a steal at $80.00 and was nearby for us to pick up from a Kijiji seller. When we arrived he told us it came from his 90 year old grandmothers farm house and that she had recently passed away. I was sad sorry to hear of his loss and reassured him we are so appreciative of having such a beautiful piece of furniture in our home. I made sure he was ok with the idea that it would be painted too.
An 130 year old century home, does not have closets or has very small closets and so if you recall we removed a recessed linen cupboard in the hall just outside our bedroom to accommodate a 6' wide x 2' deep master bedroom closet (more to come on the inside of the closet design ). My honey then trimmed it the same as the door and window with the same gorgeous arts and crafts style trims as our lower level and hung budget friendly 4 panel shaker MDF doors. Once again, a wee bit of a challenge in that the original floors are not level but of course his new opening was plumb and level so making the doors look great once hung took some work but he nailed it! We have used solid wood for all the trims but choosing MDF for the doors was strictly a budget decision that we feel ok about since it is just closet doors standard size that someone else can replace with wood ones if they desire down the road but for us saved us enough money to do the ship lap wall.
Originally we were gong to do a sliding barn door but opted for a more classic instead of trendy look and I love these doors. They are also in keeping with the Arts and Crafts style of the home.
Painting and handles are still to be completed along with baseboards finished.
Soooooo, before our master bedroom is done, my Hardrock decided to tackle our main upstairs hall while it is not so hot yet . Sorry for such a terrible photo but here is the 2nd bedrooms wall opened up so that we could move the doorway down. The reason we chose to do that was so we could ensure there was good storage capacity in each room that we can which is good for resale value. Recently with home sales soaring, we saw a few homes listed in our immediate area for $1000,000 and they are not even Mcmansions!
Our hallway had the original old plaster that was quite terribly done in the 1920's renovation and although I love plaster, I could not even argue trying to save it. Trust me when I say that, as there have been many arguments about it where I tried to make a case how it is worth keeping (I have a real hard time removing anything original unless it is absolutely necessary but in the end, although historical, the workmanship was like a get in, get out flip show and would not have suited the workmanship of the rest of the house if we left it. If we lived in a farmhouse out in the country that we were not going to one day sell then I would still have left it.
As well, my Hardrock found that the joists in this wall didn't even touch the floor so of course he had to fix that.
So here is the doorway moved down just enough to allow our Ikea Pax wardrobes to now move into the corner and finally give us access to this bedroom's closet which we used to have the wardrobes sitting in front of during the master bedroom reno.
So now there is a fantastic amount of storage for a 12x12 bedroom. Either the closet can be outfitted with a computer and a TV or the wardrobe next to the closet removed from the room altogether and a computer desk/ TV in it's place. We will have to decide which is the best way to go so that the appropriate wiring can be added.
And if you really want to be impressed, my Hardrock not only removed the plaster walls that the bedrooms crown molding was on, he managed to keep it in place and even though the old wall waved in and out he managed to make the new studded wall work perfectly.
Bless him for having such patience!
The light switch will be moved down to the left , easy enough to cut a new opening in the drywall and patch the existing hole when we do that.
I love this recent new addition to the Ikea Hemnes collection and think it will be perfect on this wall with a gorgeous painting by my Mom. I love better quality pieces and Hemnes is mostly solid wood but the size of it with sliding glass doors and decent price point and will be perfect for my books and baskets and I love that it can be painted if I want to change the colour. It's 15" deep and since it's off the floor will be perfect sitting over and not on the floor grate.
This wall area will be a stunning focal point when you come up the stairs.
When a can of worms gets opened, be prepared!
Do you see the angled joist in this wall? Well that was the old 1878 roof line of our home when it was a 1 1/2 stories that was renovated in 1918 to a 2 1/2 storey home. The area where my Hardrock is standing is the 1918 addition on the back of the house and the old floor and the new floor were not level with one another as well there was a lot of bounce and squeaking which made my perfectionist husband crazy. I just kept saying, ah honey relax, that's what a century home is about!
About a year ago my honey opened up the floor at the end of the hall and reinforced it before adding new pine boards and that is how it stayed until now.
Much to my dismay the bulkhead you see at the end of the hall has to stay as it is the roof line of our upper back porch that you see the door to on the right side but we have plans to trim it out nicely so it is not such an eye sore. Our plans are to add shaker wainscotting and it's going to look amazing with the door trims all matching the lower level. He will carefully remove the original trims and store them so they remain for histories sake, with the house. I take all this very seriously and throwing them out is not an option. Even though our house is not a designated historical home, I cherish the hand created work of moldings that were made in a time that we cannot even fathom, no electricity or indoor plumbing. The door at the end of the hall is our main bathroom door.
When he opened the wall on the right he saw that the floor boards weren't supported in the area of the floor grate as well and so he had to repair that area as well with proper support in the floor. Taking up the oak strip piece by piece was not an easy task as it kept splitting and there was a lot of colourful language filling the air which was my que to leave him alone LOL!
And how the boards are not even level along with little support underneath.
Here is the dogs breakfast of what he was working with underneath a year ago. I would be so overwhelmed what to do but not him, he just gets at it.
And here it is almost finished! What a beautiful sight! He had to stop putting the oak down with only a few more strips to go on the right side as it started to rain and he had to run and put the tools away. He laid down salvaged oak strip that he previously removed from our living room and dining room since the boards removed from the hall were damaged to badly when he took them up in spite of him trying carefully. As you can see they are a natural oak and do not match the rest of the floor upstairs that is stained a golden oak. I will work some magic and stain them to match but overall I am thrilled he made this work out as replacing the oak everywhere would be ridiculous expense and far to much work that in my opinion is not necessary, especially in a time when people are opting for laminate without batting an eye!
Well I have only today and tomorrow left of my staycation but I hope that I can get a few more things done that was on my list before I do if the rain stops.
Coming up soon I can't wait to share with you soon, some of my Mom's paintings that she is now selling.
Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!
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