05.26.09
Renos, Part 1 of, oh, probably 80
It turns out a highly effective cure for a fairly serious case of The Sads over having to move is to get yanked out of your malaise by a rip tide of DIY renovations on your new home. We took possession of our new place on the 15th (the same day, naturally, that we had house guests arriving from out of town, because isn’t that always the way?). And since roughly the moment our guests left until, well, just now, I/we have been scraping, spackling, repairing, priming, or painting something…with the exception of hauling things in and out, of course.
While this would seem the perfect place for some “Before and After” shots, what I can offer you are some “Before and What Things Look Like Right Now” shots. There were certain things that needed to be done before we could move in and, so long as all goes well, they should all be done sometime today. The rest, namely the bathroom renovations, but also a small number of fussy little things like, say, installing doorknobs or putting up baseboards have all been put on ice so that we can pack and, you know, MOVE IN. On Sunday. (Glack.) But first, indulge me in a brief word on the new digs?
The good:
- We’re moving across False Creek, from Yaletown to Mount Pleasant. Another way of putting this is: We lead a charmed life and we’re moving from one awesome neighbourhood to another.
- My 15 minute walking commute will be replaced by a 15 minute cycle commute that takes me along the sea wall. Ditto Kieran (see above re: charmed life).
- We live right on the bike route.
- We’re on the top floor and we have a stunning view of the Lions and the North Shore mountains. I would attach a photo, but unfortunately that’s not possible right now (see below).
- We’ll have a nice roomy balcony again to enjoy said view.
- There’s a sky light in the dining room that lets in an unbelievable amount of natural light.
- We will have two (2) bedrooms. [Ed note: I am not pregnant. Please stop surreptitiously trying to eye my belly when I announce that. Thank you.] [You wouldn't believe how often I get that.] And two (2) bathrooms. Well, 1.5 bathrooms, if we’re going to be technical. This is the most space we’ll have had, like, ever.
- The kitchen has already been nicely renovated and some rather lovely flooring was put in the kitchen, dining room, living room and hall. Which, in addition to making it a lovely space, might I add THANK GOD I DON’T HAVE TO DO IT. (So over renos.)
The bad(ish):
- The balconies are under repair and the entire place is enshrouded in scaffolding, suffocating our stunning view. This situation will persist for a few months yet. It’s a bummer, but it’s actually a really good thing in terms of rain screening and other important, grown-up details one has to care about when one is getting a mortgage. And, also, the seller had to pay for the totally expensive repairs. Heh.
- That’s pretty much it, actually.
The ugly: Picture time! I will stick to the areas we’ve tackled so far, namely the two bedrooms. First, and most contentious, is the spare bedroom. The drab, dreary, and grimy spare bedroom.
Grimy beige carpet, grimy beige wallpaper, and a grimy beige curtain. Beeeeeeige. I hate beige. Pardon the poor lighting, by the way—I’m not sure what happened with the flash. Anyhoo, Our plan was to tear down the wallpaper (Hahahahaha. HA. HA.), paint with a pretty colour, rip out the carpet, and put in flooring that matches the rest of the place.
Is the phrase “tear down the wallpaper” echoing in your head, perhaps hissed by a menacing voice that sounds suspiciously like a scary clown? Yes? Then I would say you have an accurate grasp of what tearing down wallpaper is like. In short, three days (or 40 hours) of three of us doing this:
And this:
I literally had nightmares (or at least weird, Sisyphean dreams) about it wherein I was ripping down wallpaper in a never ending room—wait, OR WAS THAT REALITY?—with recurring images such as this:
Annnnnd, I’m out of time. To be continued…