Window Coverings

We have been living without window coverings for most of the house since we moved in.  That wasn't so bad with the old windows as for some strange reason you couldn't see through them from outside.  It was almost as if the glass was wavy and it blurred us from the outside world.  This was good as I could get changed and not worry about becoming too close to my neighbours! 

Today I got the to-do list and it had mention of putting up our new simple Ikea curtains in the master bedroom and also to put up the old roman blind in the bathroom.  Simple task?  The name "Rookie" was a true statement as I haven't put up curtains before so here is the 1/3 done room and the finished one.

 You can see the shutters that we had to cover up the lower body parts while we dressed.

 Here is how it looks with privacy.

Now the upstairs washroom also has it so RC isn't waving at our neighbours while she takes a bath.  No wonder the guy next door is so nice to me.... grrr. *evil eye looking right at Reno Chick*  Maybe covering the window entirely will be my full solution to this issue.

Finally got the doors up.

We have been quite slow on getting anything done in this new year but that has to change.  Today I decided to put up the doors on the closet in the master bedroom.  Reno Chick was great yesterday at showing me how to put in the first door.

Now all I have to do is find something at Ikea to fit on top of these to extend them to the ceiling.  At least that is the thought right now.  I do have to find a way to build them in so it has a much better finished look.  This will start with the right side which requires new drywall and I will frame it to the ceiling.  Since I have never drywalled anything this is going to be a lot of fun.  Anyone with any helpful tips? Unhelpful tips?!

One other detail that we need to fix is to put some handles on this but I am sure that Reno Chick has something in mind.

I have a little one running around downstairs that is probably hungry so time to find some food and do grocery shopping.  The renovation doesn't stop because it is a PA day!

On to the next problem... fit wardrobe #2

Well I managed to get the wiring problem solved and cleaned up the area a bit so we should be able to get our 2nd wardrobe into place hopefully tonight.

As you can see in the top left of the picture there was a silly plug setup at the top of the old closet area.  I created those two holes in the drywall to figure out where the wire was going.  We have a junction box on the other side of the wall which has 5 sets of wires going into it, so I thought this wire ended there instead of at this plug.  Now the wire is out of the way so the wardrobe can move a bit closer to that wall but I bet I need 1-2 cm to make it fit. Instead of reinstalling a new longer wire I just removed the plug and troublesome wire.  Problem solved.

I didn't mention but I did get the rest of the baseboards and 1/4 round installed in the back rooms of the addition.  So now the dog and the kids will have rooms on the main level to play which should keep most of the brightly colored items in that area.

Also tonight we will get a tree for the living room area and we will have to get that decorated.  Can't wait to see what RenoChick will do to make us have the best tree setup in the neighborhood.  My little one is staying over tonight so I am sure she will want to help. 

On a sad note I didn't remember to buy my tickets to the NHL Alumni game in Pittsburgh at 10 am this morning so we probably won't be able to go which really sucks.  RC and me plan to spend a few days over New Year's celebrating in that other steel city.

Time to zap our electrical problem

Today I turn my attention to the closet in the master bedroom.  We are planning on installing two Ikea Pax wardrobes into the former closet area and then making them look built in.

The wiring issue arises because the wires for a wall outlet go through this closet area and are making it impossible to put the wardrobe where we want it.  This will require me changing out the length of wire and making it a longer one so it doesn't interfere with our plans anymore.  I know that RenoChick really wants to get some closet space before the holidays are upon us.  Hopefully I can make that wish come true.


Here are the before pictures.

Why did they take the silly wire out through this hole on the left instead of following the path of the other two wires?  Well time for me to go see if I can make that a reality.

What a weekend... what's next?

Worked hard all weekend and I am sure that RenoChick will post pics of the floor in the master bedroom from start to finish.  Here are my pics which aren't great because they were taken with my phone.

 This is with only half of the sub-floor installed when we were still looking for the hardwood on Kijiji.  Only 3 more sheets of plywood to cut and screw down.

How it looks this morning....  the few pieces on top is all the leftover wood that we have.  Talk about cutting it close!

Overall, I think the floor looks great and today I will attempt to move stuff into the room so we can start to use it properly.  Right now there is still tape all over the floor which should stay down for a few more hours.  In the meantime I still have 1/4 round to install in the kids play room.  Outside it is snowy so I will set up my mitre saw in the basement instead of in the backyard.  No excuse for no progress with our reno!

One note on using a coping saw that I think will help me would be to purchase baseboards made out of wood instead of mdf.  I found that the mdf really chipped easily and made using a coping saw almost impossible (well impossible for me at least!).  For the master bedroom I have a lot of corners and I would really like everything to look just perfect so wood baseboards it is.  The cost will be worth it when the end result will look so much more professional.

The next big task will be for me to learn how to put down tiles which is for the back hallway.  That way the whole addition will have the floors changed and hopefully that improves the stability of that area of the house.  Right now I have 6 sheets of 1/2" plywood to use to improve the floors but the hallway might need 2 sheets.  What to do with the rest?  Something will have to get figured out as the plywood can't sit in the kitchen forever.

One day this week I think I will drive to the DeWalt store in Mississauga as I would love to find a table saw and a better mitre saw.  Hopefully a refurbished one won't cost too much and I could add it to my tool collection.  On the blog "What's Up Whimsy" they are doing a bunch of blogger wish lists.  So here are pics of my two items.

I dream of...sleeping in our master bedroom

Our Actual Master Bedroom

We just found some floors for the master bedroom so I thought I would post a picture of what the space looks like right now with the sub floors installed.

I also wanted to post pictures of where we have been sleeping since we moved in...the upstairs family room. This is a true bachelor pad as within 5-10 steps are the tv, computer, Rock Band equipment, bathroom and beer fridge. The bed is on the floor and never gets made and my clothes can be found in laundry buckets strategically placed all around the foot of the bed. Our future bathroom vanity,which is to the right of the bed, serves as some extra storage for the fancy stuff like my work clothes. Things can only go up from here...

 

Just Bought the Flooring for the Master Bedroom

So I found some flooring available on Kijiji and I got it for only $350.  If timing works out I will pick it up in a couple hours and get the wood acclimated to our house so I can install it sooner.  There is a big flooring auction this weekend but this way we know exactly what we have to work with to cover the floor.  Also it is a bit of a concern that there isn't enough of this flooring available but we found the same colour easily online so we can purchase more if we need to.  The only problem with that is the price is typically around $9 sq. ft. which is quite expensive.  Let's hope I can install it with no errors or it will cost me twice!

Fixing Squeaky Sub-Floors

So one of the back rooms has baseboards and 1/4" round installed.  Just need to caulk it and it should all look pretty good.

Today I moved up to the master bedroom which needs hardwood installed which means I am going to put down 1/2" of hardwood first.  Well this room was one where the old carpet smelled so bad with cat urine that I had to remove it the day we moved into the house.  Unfortunately for me it appears that there was enough liquid that over time that area became super squeaky.  So I put in a ton of screws to try to reduce the squeaking as much as possible and now with the 1/2" of plywood on top it appears that the squeaks are gone.

I like it when all it takes is a bit more time to get something done to the professional level that we all expect in our homes.  Time for me to get back to putting in more baseboard screws.