Reminder to Joe: You are banned from the blog this week. Move along buddy. Lots of other sites to look at.
Our house is sort of crappy. When we moved in The house was total crap. It had been empty for some time, partly because it was crap, partly because it was next door to a building that had burned down (or mostly down, it was a danger and an eyesore, inhabited entirely by several large and bold families of skunks and racoons) and partly because the longer it was empty, the crappier it got. When we moved in, there was a hole in the kitchen wall that went clear to the outside. It was big enough for animals to come and go through…which they did. Only one room had been refinished, and the rest of this 120 year old heap was falling down. I did not buy it then because I saw the potential ( though it has turned out to have a little) but because a house with a racoon door in the kitchen, crumbling plaster and lathe and a view of a burned out hulk turned out to be the only house in my price range.
Over the years, much of the house has been fixed up. The wood printed linoleum in the living room was replaced by real wood, the crumbling walls were knocked down and drywalled – we got fancy pants upgrades, like electricity in every room and some insulation. (When we tore down our first wall we were stunned to discover that the only insulation in the walls was old newspapers. Great reading, but a poor force against the cold.) Something (even if it was just a good paint job and a new floor) has been done in every room, and it’s not like now it’s anything out of House Beautiful, but it isn’t awful. I’m not ashamed of the house (much) anymore, and all the rooms are more or less ok. (When I clean them, which is a whole other issue.) Every room except ours. Once the racoon door was fixed, the master bedroom won the prize for the most craptastic room in the house.
I’m not sure when I stopped caring if that room was ok, but it might have been after the first time that I cleaned and organized it really well and realized that it was still crap. That nothing short of a major overhaul was going to fix it. Once I realized that it was a crap room, I started putting our crap there. It was a good match. Nobody saw the room except for Joe and I, so it didn’t matter that it was crap.
Until now. Now, while Joe is gone over the next 5 days…I am going to de-crap our room. Refinish the floor (I have had the good sense to hire someone to do this -if he ever shows up. He’s more than an hour late) repaint (that would be me) put up new drapes and fix things up (still me) so that we have a really nice room and it isn’t the door you rush to close when people show up at your house.
With this goal in mind, I give you: The before pictures. This is the bedroom in it’s natural resting state, except- you know. I cleaned up before I took the pictures. There’s usually some knitting and abandoned coffee cups in there, not to mention the laundry.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “Gee Steph, don’t be to hard on the room. It’s not that crappy.” You’re wrong. See the floor?
It’s the original pine, but it’s been painted (many times, in many different colours, not one of which matches the purple baseboards) and you can’t hardly keep it clean it’s so rough. That’s one of the good spots. Notice that there is no outlet cover on the outlet? We got electricity in this room, but no cover.
Here’s more of the craptastic floor (accented by the orange-yellow walls and the purple trim ) and demonstrating the extraordinarily gross foam insulation that we used to try and keep the wind from blowing in from the outside through that crack. (Turns out that old newspaper just wasn’t doing its job.) The room was crap, so we never trimmed it. (This is getting embarrassing.)
Here’s a view of how things are now.
I’ve pulled out all the furniture I can move and cleaned up the floor as best I can. (I have left the mismatched shades in place for now, but they will be on their way out as soon as the floor is done.)
This is the view from the opposite side, showing the closet (which has no door…it wasn’t there when we moved in and it’s a non-standard door size, so replacing it has always been too expensive) the crappy Ikea bookcase (which I’m going to try and replace with something less crappy, we’ll see how the money holds up) and the purple door with it’s cracked and peeling paint. (Please ignore the large green birth ball in the closet. Those things are hell to store.)
Step one? Floor, although really, absolutely anything I do in this room would be a huge improvement.
Good luck with your painting! I had to redo my entire home when I moved in (16 cats lived there before me. With NO LITTERBOX), so I totally feel your pain. Much like you, I still have yet to put outlet covers in some rooms. I’m sure the room will be gorgeous when you’re done, and Joe will love it.
For the bookcase, consider decoupaging it or doing something otherwise crafty to it. It’s a cheap way to make boring furniture look very, very nifty.
Good luck with the re-do! I’m sure Joe will love anything you can manage to accomplish in there! Why is it that the master bedroom is always the last to be fixed up? I guess since most people don’t see it, you end up making do.
Do not fret!! My boyfriend and I just refinished the hard wood floors in his house (built in 1922). We pulled up nasty carpet and the floors looked very similar to your photos. We rented a sander at a hardware store, it took a few hours to sand as you have to go over it over and over with different level sand paper, but was very easy to use and vacuumed up the dust so we didn’t have to cover everything in the house. Then we got a hand held belt sander for the edges and did the same thing. Staining and sealing was a cinch and only took about an hour for each coat for 450 square feet. Its a nice family weekend project and you can stay at a friends or hotel for one night and be proud of your house!
Ooooh, I love remodels! Good luck with the floors – I’ve never had to do them, but I hear they’re “fun.”
Please tell me the purple trim is also going…
Stephanie,
I was reading POP Candy (a shameless blog about pop culture) and saw this item that I thought you might like. Email me if you’d like the link to the site.
“SciFi.com has launched the ultimate site for Battlestar Galactica geeks: It’s a “videomaker toolkit” to help fans make their own BSG movies. Go there now, and you’ll find sound effects, video clips, music and more. (Even if you don’t plan on making a four-minute movie, it’s still pretty cool to have sounds of an airlock or video of a jump on hand. Right?)
The payoff, of course, is that one video will air during an upcoming Battlestar episode. You can see a couple clips there now, and let’s just say you don’t have much competition. Good luck, and let us know if you make it on TV.”
Do not fret!! My boyfriend and I just refinished the hard wood floors in his house (built in 1922). We pulled up nasty carpet and the floors looked very similar to your photos. We rented a sander at a hardware store, it took a few hours to sand as you have to go over it over and over with different level sand paper, but was very easy to use and vacuumed up the dust so we didn’t have to cover everything in the house. Then we got a hand held belt sander for the edges and did the same thing. Staining and sealing was a cinch and only took about an hour for each coat for 450 square feet. Its a nice family weekend project and you can stay at a friends or hotel for one night and be proud of your house!
You’re going to love that room when you’re done! You won’t want to leave…no matter what you do to it, it will be wonderful. I can’t wait to see the after photos. Its the sort of thing my husband does every time I go to SOAR–a major change. After I get over the heart attack of coming home to a changed house, I usually really love it. Lucky guy, that Joe. I imagine he knows how lucky he is.
Do not fret!! My boyfriend and I just refinished the hard wood floors in his house (built in 1922). We pulled up nasty carpet and the floors looked very similar to your photos. We rented a sander at a hardware store, it took a few hours to sand as you have to go over it over and over with different level sand paper, but was very easy to use and vacuumed up the dust so we didn’t have to cover everything in the house. Then we got a hand held belt sander for the edges and did the same thing. Staining and sealing was a cinch and only took about an hour for each coat for 450 square feet. Its a nice family weekend project and you can stay at a friends or hotel for one night and be proud of your house!
You go, girl!! That floor does look bad. You will both enjoy it lots when it is done. Keep the yarn away from the floor, and the power tools.
Damn…here I thought you might have a good idea WHAT to do with a birth ball…I’m having “storage issues” as well…
And craptastic? How about character? Can’t wait to see the after shots…what color are you going to use?
Wow, thats’ some serious work you got going on there Steph, you may need to call in some troops. I am sure it will look great when done. How many knitting hours are you going to be missing????????
K
I wait until my Hubby is out of town before I do things like this as well. Otherwise, he just gets in the way with all his “Why do we need to do this?” comments. Not to mention his penchant for pulling EVERYTHING out, then looking at EACH ITEM. Much easier to send him off fishing for a week.
Best of luck!
Good luck and have fun! I love these kind of projects. I can show you a similar one in Florida, except I’m not close to re-doing yet. Of course our daughter’s rooms are perfect and nice and well, you get it. Have fun and make it you!!!
Ooh, I can’t wait to see what colors you picked out for the walls! You are a good wife to do this while the hubby is gone! Cheers!
You go girl! I know how you love a deadline. As for the closet door, can’t your brother build one or something? As I recall, he is pretty handy (we will be seeing pictures of him this week, won’t we?).
Wow!
I think that you may have given me vague pangs of getting something done with the walls in our dining room. They are the equivalent of your pine floors, except this is one of the main rooms in the house and I usually end up with people giving me ‘Um… interesting…? paint job?’ type comments. There is corner of said walls in the photo linked below, but I took that photo a while back when someone was talking about messy houses. Heehee.
http://www.guinealynx.info/nurgle/photos/people/jade/messy.jpg
In the first house my husband and I lived in, the kitchen wall seperated from the foundation in such a way that there was a huge hole which allowed all sorts of fuzzy woodland creatures to move in with us. We were too poor to fix it and after a $300 heating bill for one month where the warmest it got was 58 degrees (about 15 celsius), we gave up and moved. Of course, the house has since been torn down. I think there are some condos there now…
I’ve been out of the loop for a week and just now read that you are coming to PETALUMA!!! We will give you a wonderful reception. The bookstore has a good amount of chairs and space. We’ll make sure they set it up right for you. There’s also a lovely yarn shop a block away called Knitterly.
Can’t wait to see in person. I’m a long-time stalker–I mean reader. Don’t often have time to comment, so I’m lurker too. But you a regular read.
And the house looks great. And your knitting, of course. The sweater is gorgeous.
Finally, someone else with an old house that admits that it is one hell of a lot of work! Ours has the same style moldings/mouldings that yours does and the previous owners usually did things half-assed in money-saving attempts that cost much more money (for us!) in the long run.
Good luck.
Ooohh, I love projects like this! For the bookcase, how about a fabric slipcover? And the closet could have curtains? It worked instead of the crappy bi-fold doors my toddlers room.
Are you changing the paint colors? The yellow and purple must seem warm and tropical during the winter.
In our old house that I lived in for the 1st 13 years of my life until we built our new house, termites had gotten to the foundation. By the time we were getting ready to move, there was a space between the wall and the floor between the two bedrooms that was at least a foot deep…opening to the ground underneath…Also, we had very few doors at all…
We just had our rooms painted and new carpet put in. All except the kitchen. Good luck! As you know, it is so worth it when it’s all done.
Your room is strangely reminiscent of my entire apartment.
While I’ve covered (most of) the blatant imperfections, it’s still far from perfect and it’s as drafty as a wind tunnel.
Good luck with your room improvement project! I can’t wait to see the “After” pictures!
Steph! That’s going to be a great room when you are done! It has sooo much character (I mean that in a good way! ;)). The floors are great and are going to look amazing once refinished! Then with some new paint on the walls and a few decorations … voila … it goes from “craptastic” to “fantastic”!! Can’t wait to see!!
Maybe a roller blind on the front of the wardrobe? You can get cheap ones that you can trim to size and it will visually close it off. Hope the floor man turned up in the end.
You can do it! I refinished a house that had 4000 square feet and stunk so bad I had to wear a mask when working. Floor refinishers can work wonders 🙂 I hope yours shows up. Hide the yarn though, there is so much DUST made when they sand wood floors!
Can’t wait for the after pictures 🙂
Wow, good luck, can’t wait to see what you do.
Okay I am sure you have thought of this, but seriously for the doorless closet but up one of those tension curtain rods and a shower curtain or drapes. It will help ton. The IKEA bookshelf – not so bad you could even turn it horizontal so you have a shelf that you could put a tele or something on as well. It may fit under the windows in that niche there. Paint it. The room will be grand. Set up a video to tape his reaction pretend it is While you were out!
I am in the midst of a remodel myself, I’m sending strong positive thoughts your way. My house is small, ~11oo square feet, and I now have the contents of both the bedrooms shoe-horned into my kitchen/living room. Bags of yarn and needles are everywhere. I’m doing a ruthless purge of my clothing…ha! you thought I’d say yarn, huh? One of the rooms is almost done, so I can appreciate it will get better. Good luck to you! (I’m envious of the 5-day plan, we’re going on 5 weeks now.)
Pattie
Hope the floor guy shows up. That would kind of ruin “the plan”…
I love home rennovations! An idea for your closet. Since you are going to be making curtains for your windows, you could get an extra amount of fabric and make a curtain for your closet. It’s not fancy, but it will do in a pinch since the space doesn’t allow for a standard door.
if you want to get really wild, you could widen the opening and install new trim. The kind you have is a relatively easy molding to purchase at major building supply stores. Or you can look through salvage companys for a door tht will work. Recycling!
Good luck with the house! I don’t think we’ve ever lived in a house that didn’t need major work – we always are overly optimistic about the amount of work and our level of expertise.
Seeing how your knitting turns out, that bedroom will be spectacular when it’s finished!
My hubby is away for a few days, too – but he’ll count himself lucky if I’ve done the ironing and filed away our bills and tax paperwork before he comes back! (too many knitting blogs to read, no time to do housework!) Looking forward to seeing the end result – hope your floor man turns up soon.
Good luck with your home renovations.
Oh my heart….I kills me to see what people have done to wood flooring. I hope you’re going to restore the floor to it’s former beauty, before some one decided to paint the floor. Hope you post some “after” pics of the room. Good luck and happy renovating.
I like to store those balls under my bum. In fact, I’m sitting on one right now. I like working at a place that doesn’t mind you sitting on balls while at your desk.
So when you say that all of the yarn acts as insulation, you’re not kidding, are you? See, I thought you were being funny, and using hyperbole to describe the size of your stash, but really, it insulates your house.
I hope your floor refinisher arrives, and I’m sure it will turn out great!
Good luck with the house! I don’t think we’ve ever lived in a house that didn’t need major work – we always are overly optimistic about the amount of work and our level of expertise.
Seeing how your knitting turns out, that bedroom will be spectacular when it’s finished!
Oh dear! Your blog today has served as a nudge…ever since I had the new and expensive hot water heater installed, I’ve been looking at my house with “fresh” eyes (like, what must the plumber think of my house!). An unwanted voice in the back of my mind keeps whispering, “you need to re-paint…every single room, not to mention the outside: new siding, replace all 14 windows, new gutters, new shutters…a garage, you really need a garage). Lord, I am nothing if not egocentric! Good luck with your do-over Stephanie. I have to build a wall to keep out the nudging voice…mwahhhahhh ;0
The thought of someone throwing out a bookcase makes me weep. If I had another “few” bookcases maybe some of my floor bound books could have a new home. I am in the process of having some built-in shelving installed but having looked at the pile of reading material I don’t think it will be enough.
However, that bookcase of yours looks like it would hold a mighty grand stash of wool – vertically or horizontally. Rethink the throwout idea.
Hey, how can you be in the Yukon on June 11th when we’re all expecting you to be at Book Expo in Toronto?
Wishing won’t make it better I guess.
Good luck with the reno.
Good Luck! I too bought a fixer because that was all I could get…don’t think I would ever buy another. With a little elbow-grease, I’m sure you’ll create an beautiful love nest;)
When Dave goes away….I just knit….and I have rooms much worse than that!!
How exciting! Good luck with your redesign. I’m also interested to find out what color you’re going to paint the walls 🙂
What a great project — keep the pictures coming! I can hardly wait to see more.
That looks like really wide-plank pine flooring — the good stuff. I’m already envious of the beauty you’ll see when it’s done.
Oh, man, I love these shows!
I’m shopping for my first home, and I’ve been in rentals since I was little. I dream of the day that I can undertake projects just like you are right now. I’m rootin’ for ya!
Ah, the *joys* or un-joys of living in Toronto! I moved out of the GTA so I could get a decent house that was within my price range. Coming from Edmonton, the house prices are just insane in TO if you want to live anywhere reasonably close to jobs. Of course I left Edmonton before the big boom hit there and now their house prices are just as crazy too.
Wow! I’m impressed. That room’s going to look great! My house has been a “work in progress” for longer than I like to think about. The stairs are just subfloor at the moment, and my project last weekend (and next) is to shovel out the office. Eventually there will be new flooring to replace the carpet that was once off white (it seemed like a good idea at the time…) and new paint everywhere. It’s all so bad that I’m too embarrassed to blog about it (describing it is one thing–pictures are an entirely different dimension of harsh reality), so I’m really looking forward to reading about your rennovations. Perhaps I’ll get inspired to get my tail in gear and get some stuff done. (Don’t laugh. It could happen.)
Oh, boy – I’m so glad I’m not the only one with the undone-but-at-least-no-one-sees-it master suite. Right now we’ve torn apart our master bath down to the studs and found the insulation that’s only slightly more effective than newspaper: brick. Totally wood 1870s house filled with broken and odd sizes of brick. Which only keeps the cold areas cold and the hot areas hot.
But I must say – like many other commenters here – you have inspired me to tackle things – one step at a time. I keep reminding my husband that not only was this an affordable house, but this house needed us to care for it. He just glares and gets back to pulling down plaster and brick.
Oh,my! I am in the process, or at the start, of doing the exact same thing in my master bedroom and bathroom. Except, I have to admit, it’s not quite as bad (sorry!) as the project you’re working on. Go forth and work hard! I know what you mean though about it being the LAST project in the house to work on. We always put it off for other “more important” things. But I’ve picked out the new paint for the bedroom and wallpaper for the bathroom and I’m determined to do it. I’ll bet you’ll be faster.
Rock on, girl friend!! We’re fixing up our house to sell and then hoping to move someplace that isn’t, uh, ugly? Devoid of culture and natural beauty? Has a yarn store which carries yarn I’d actually buy?
Thus far, I think my price range likewise includes homes with actual holes in them, views of the butt-side of industrial buildings, and/or rattlesnake infestations.
Snakes, I can handle. Industrial scenes, eh, not so much.
My renovation skills are limited, but I still find myself fixing rooms up now and again. The last one was my living room. I was going to pull up the old nasty broadloom, sweep up and live with a nice old hardwood floor like the rest of the house. No such luck for me–there was no hardwood floor under there. Hubby and I ended up exercising our reno-muscles and installing a laminate floor. It looks much better. And we’re still married, too!
I have used curtains to cover up closets and bookshelves on occasion, too. It works well.
Go, Stephanie! Can’t wait to see the end result.
I’m sure the floors will be beautiful when they’re done. Lots of potential in them floors. I love original wood floors. Good luck with all you’re doing! I’m sure it’s going to be great!
OOhhh! A makeover! Fantastic!
When I was 15 my parents bought from their landlady the the house we lived in, a side-by-side duplex, and we renovated the other half before renting it out. I scraped at least 8 layers of ancient paint off a similar floor BY HAND. After I had finished the front hall, taken one look at the living room, and threatened to run away from home, they took pity on me and rented a sander.
All of which is to say: hiring help was a wise decision, and, trust me, just getting the floor done will render the room unrecognizable.
Wow, that’s totally inspiring. No really! My house is full of stuff like that, only it was supposed to have tons of “potential”. I expect that circumstances will change, and I will be taking what I can get, so the fact that you made your home out of a sow’s ear makes me feel much better. And I’ve been in your home. It is too a silk purse!
Have fun with the remodel. I always love that stuff! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
If no one has mentioned it…. I also have a non-standard sized closet, and I added a curtain bar to the top and made a simple curtain for the opening. The curtain has changed with the seasons – right now there’s a lovely pale yellow fabric printed with monkeys and palm trees on the rod right now, in an effort to combat the grey Seattle skies. It also makes me think of Hawaii, which is where I’d like to be. Anyway – curtain. Simple, easy…hides the contents of the space. 🙂
Wow, you have newspaper for insulation? All we have are mouse nests … which explains the painful amount of money we’ve spent on heat this winter.
I’d bet your floor is going to look beautiful when it’s done.
Good luck with the renovation! I live in an old house (built in 1870), and it seems like i’m constantly making repairs and trying to get it up to snuff. Wait: it doesn’t just seem that way, it IS that way. I just accept the fact that my house will always be a work in progress, though sometimes it’s difficult to be zen about it (like when the gas bill comes, and it’s absurdly high because of the drafty windows, but we don’t have the money to replace the windows….). I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
In any event, good luck with it all! I’m sure it’ll be lovely when it’s done. I really like the color of your bedroom walls a lot.
If this ends up working out, you should think about producing a new DIY show … go from craptastic to fantastic in 5 days! It will look great I’m sure!
Clearly you are a woman with love in her heart, and way too much time before her next deadline…
When we tore apart our house, we found we had insulation: on every single wire (ummm)… We didn’t even have newspapers, just a single sheet of 50-year-old plastic hung between the frame and the siding.
Good lord, you’re living in my house! I absolutely feel your pain, and your patience, and your tenacity. Go girl! Good luck.
What a lovely room! I’m not kidding. It looks sunny (the windows? the color?) and comfortable. I should send you a picture of the farm’s master bedroom, the former parlor. Green shag carpet that no one remembers putting down. (The Farmer’s 69 and has lived there all his life. You’d think he’d know.) The foam under the carpet is stuck to the floor with either glue or mold. Built-in closet so narrow, the shoulders of garments stick out into the room, and of course no curtain or door to hide them. Bed in the middle of the room because he’s always had it there. Windows never got the oversprayed paint cleaned off, so dark. And the worst is the barn-wood storage cupboard with screen doors. A gruesome room. He loves it and hates change, so there you go. Enjoy yours. I’m sure it will be fabulous.
Good lord, you’re living in my house! I absolutely feel your pain, and your patience, and your tenacity. Go girl! Good luck.
While the floors are being sanded open those windows if you can and keep your bedroom door closed…even plastic over it if it doesn’t seal tightly. Believe me, that dust gets every where!
Joe will be so surprised!
So what colour are you going to paint the walls?
What a project! You’ll be very glad when it’s finished. My SO and I have been slowly changing things at the house I bought 5 years ago. It had been a rental house for quite a while and really needed some love. One of the places I like to check in with is the “Habitat for Humanity ReStore”. You must have some in the city – check their website. You might just find a door for that closet and it might even have hardware on it. HH is a pretty neat place as long as you don’t mind looking past all the stuff you don’t need – much like any thrift store it’s a treasure hunt. Best of luck and be sure to post after picture! Chris
Hi,
I just started reading your Blog.
Your floors are most likely finished now.
Im sure your pleased.
Your house will be very nice when its finished.
By the by We paid to have new red oak floors put into the kitchen .My husband ruined them,because he didnt want to finish them himself.He put dips in them with the drum sander.I couldnt believe it.
please post after photos.
I love my solution (saw it in a magazine) for my door-less closet just like yours: I bought a long, heavy green cotton velvet curtain (Target, I think, meant for windows) and hung it INSIDE the doorway (curtain hanger inside top) – you just see the pretty fabric top to bottom from the outside, and it’s easy in and out access. You could put a hook on one side to hold the curtain aside when you want it open. Cheap fix and I swear it looks beautiful! I’d send a pic but the rest of the room is a mess 🙂
Might I suggest turning that bookcase on its side (horizontal) and placing it under the windows for shoe/low storage and a window seat….
could be a great way to give it a new life.
Good luck!!
-Flo
Let me tell you, I feel your pain. When we moved in to our home, we thought our carpet was oyster & the kitchen backsplash was white with yellow speckles. Once cleaned & scrubbed, the carpet was actually BEIGE & the tiles were just plain old white (previously covered in grease) – gross & disgusting. The price of the house was our motivation. Eleven years later, alost every room has been spiffed-up & we still have the crappiest room in the house.
See!?!?!? There are others out there that still have their birthing ball in their closet! I KNEW I wasn’t the only one. My theory is that I can’t get rid of it because aside from some random cloth diapers I use to clean the house it’s the last of the “baby” things I have and the only thing keeping me from getting pregnant! Well that and the lack of sex……
Spray paint. You can get spray paint that will make that white IKEA thing a fun color. Unless, of course, you already have your eye on something from the antique store down the street. 😉
This is great –t he ultimate combination of a knitting blog and home improvement reality show.
Good luck!
I saw what you did with your office… I can’t wait to see “After”. Good luck!
My parents live in a similarly craptastic old farmhouse here in Maine. Not only did they have newspaper for insulation (Care to read about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake?), some of the rooms had birch bark! Remember the survival tip about what to use to start your fire when lost in the damp woods? That’s right. I don’t even want to think about what’s been used in our ca. 1650’s house.
Y’all have sent us some glorious weather today – not a cloud in the sky, and about -15C with a stiff wind. We have our kitchen cupboard doors open to keep the pipes from freezing.
With no where to go but up, how can you fail?! I love those sorts of projects.
what about a curtain for the closet door? maybe a neutral or white linen-looking kind of thing?
See? After you’re plum out of funny things to say about sticks and string and the ramifications involved in combining them, you can have your own show like that Candace woman. She’s Canadian. What is it about you people? The ability to handle cold ups your talent quotient? Anyway, your show: “While Joe Was Out.” I can’t wait to see it!
Wait. You cleaned up the knitting?!?! Um, knitting isn’t clutter, it’s an accent piece!
Protect the family grey matter from the fumes!
Best endeavours!
I can’t wait to watch this process unfold!
I wait until my Hubby is out of town before I do things like this as well. Otherwise, he just gets in the way with all his “Why do we need to do this?” comments. Not to mention his penchant for pulling EVERYTHING out, then looking at EACH ITEM. Much easier to send him off fishing for a week.
Best of luck!
Hmmm. I would be tempted to paint BEFORE I did the floor. Then I could be less careful about splatter. On the other hand if you run out of steam after the floor is done, I bet it will be LOADS better.
Get thee more beer in the fridge. I think you might need it.
thank you for revealing your room. I feel less, um… less… I don’t know what word I’m looking for. maybe shame. at any rate, I now feel it is ok for bits of my crap house to sneak thru in the blog photos.
I can’t wait to see how the room looks after it’s decrapification.
and I’ll agree with Tove – a curtain for the closet works wonders. I’ve seen evidence that some people even knit their own curtains.
in case no one has mentioned it, KEEP the bookshelf. can you imagine all the skeins of yarn or braids of roving you can put in those cool cubbyholes!? it would look like your own yarn store!
What was it that made people cover up beautiful wooden floors with nasty colors?? My mom’s house (built c 1890) has lovely knotty pine floors that had several layers of varnish in increasingly darker colors on it. I kid you not, we took nearly 1/4 inch of varnish off the floors.
I’ll second the suggestions to use the bookcase as a window seat/storage space and to use a curtain for a closet door. Mom’s house had plenty of non-standard closet doors and one non-standard bathroom door.
I can’t wait to see what the after shots look like.
I feel your pain, my whole house is in a similar state. I ripped up the carpet in the hallway and it is nice hardwood underneath but with horrible black spots all over it so I have to sand it and refinish it. It is too narrow for a sanding machine so it has to be done on bended knee, (mine)
I hear you. I live in (sigh) a trailer from the 1960s. The kitchen-area half is perched on a ledge, the “master bedroom” half is 15′ off the ground on posts. There is no insulation, so we don’t really bother with the heat — we keep it at 55F. We have mice, but only in the cooler months. We keep it tidy, but it’s still ugly. However, we do own 2 acres, with 180 degree views, 100 year old maples, and live on a dead-end dirt road. The land is gorgeous. Next Spring we plan to start building our house on site, but until then…
You describe your house with the same loving words I use to describe mine. I have a bedroom closet without a door as well. I made a curtain for it. It’s still crappy but not as crappy.
But the doorframes are gorgeous! In our house, even a crappy IKEA bookcase is stash-worthy. Perhaps it can be a new friend for Mr. Washie and help bring some of that evasive ORGANIZATION to your stash.
Housecleaning takes away from knitting or reading about knitting or shopping for knitting time. Once your frinished what will I do to justify that I am not alone in my HH chaos??
Yeah!!! I love fixing up older houses. I grew up in a house that was built in 1898. You are much nicer than my Mom(shhh) she would demo when my Dad went hunting and then make him help when he got back. I guess it didn’t help that she was always pregnant(9 of us). Good luck and I can’t wait to see the after pictures.
Hey-ya, good luck on the reno! I am itchin’ to paint something in my (rather newer ,but BEIGE) condo but the SO won’t play along.
I have two of those birth-balls (aka physio ball, stability ball) as I occasionally teach exercise classes. One is at work, where it is my team’s “stress ball” and regularly makes the rounds as alternate seating. That would be the larger one.
The other is at home and is also occasional alternate seating. There are chair-frames you can get for them that make the ball a viable full-time replacement for a desk chair, but still removable for whatever purposes you need. If I can ever scare one up, my desk chair ( a good chair but a bit worn, rescued from a dumpster during a corporate reno) will go.
I agree with other folks, paint THEN do the floor.
We’re redoing our floors in the upstairs this coming summer. My boys are allergic to dust so we have to pull the carpet out.
That floor is going to clean up SOOOOO beautifully. We sanded the 100 year old wooden floor at the cottage – and it is GORGEOUS. JUST GORGEOUS. I wish our new wooden floor here was as magnificent as the one up there. Can’t wait to see what happens next….
Is Joe far enough away he can’t return home unannounced, in case he doesn’t heed your warnings, and peeks at the blog?
Okay…it’s much cleaner than my house–this alone makes it less craptastic…but I must say that the purple and yellow is surprisingly pretty…you may choose totally different colors for your walls next time, but I’m sort of liking the purple/yellow combo…
Looks like a fun job! My apartment resembles this room, except it extends to all rooms in my place, and I can’t do much, since I rent. There are some advantages to owning a craptastic place – incentive to make it really nice.
Good luck with the remodel. I am thinking of repainting the kitchen, since it’s currently this cold putrid green color. Yeah, goes real well with dark, dreary winters.
I don’t know ANYTHING about renovations. So I’m going to ask a question: why do the floor first? Wouldn’t you want to start at the top with the wall painting and then move to the floor? Or maybe I’m just an extremely messy painter.
My hubby is also out of town and I’m armed with paint but my shoulder joints say, “nope.” Said hubby had knee surgery 2 weeks ago and thinks that in 2 weeks, he’ll be down, installing a new hardwood floor after ripping out disgusting carpet. Since we’ve moved every 3-5 years for the past 20, I know just the painting will take us until summer because it included the bathroom that has pink and seafoam green striped wall paper. And this is a 1997 house. We thought we’d not have to do a thing…and then those all white walls got to me. Say condo anyone?
Looks like a great adventure. I actually rather like the wall color, but it by no means matches the purple trim work. Nor is it terribly gender neutral.
If I lived in Toronto, I would stop by to help with the refinishing. I am with you in spirit.
Good luck.
question: What is a birthing ball?? Something to make you feel good during labor? Yikes. My kids are 22 & 25 – suddenly I am feeling a wee bit old. CAVEAT: you know the rule right? You get your house just right and . . . the curse of the homeowner/remodel – you must SELL your house. At least that is what keeps happenig to us.Just once i’d like to buy a “move-in-perfect” house. but no – we buy “project’ houses – ARRGGGG – pass the yarn please.
Oh cool….nice sunshine coming through the windows, yep the floor is very crappy but I’ve seen lots worse…..looking forward to seeing how it finishes out….what a sweetheart you are.
Steph! The floor goes last! Otherwise, you have to protect the floor through all the other steps. Refinish from the top, down! I redid a Victorian myself, so I know.
I thought we were the only ones with a raccoon door in our house! It was the only one we could afford in Bloor West, and I love the neighbourhood so much we had to buy it, even though it is the smallest house in Toronto, I think. We didn’t find the raccoon door until after we moved in. It was covered with a plastic bag and had junk piled against it and even the house inspectors didn’t find it (or else they were in cahoots with the realtor and/or owner).
Anyway, good luck with your reno!
I thought we were the only ones with a raccoon door in our house! It was the only one we could afford in Bloor West, and I love the neighbourhood so much we had to buy it, even though it is the smallest house in Toronto, I think. We didn’t find the raccoon door until after we moved in. It was covered with a plastic bag and had junk piled against it and even the house inspectors didn’t find it (or else they were in cahoots with the realtor and/or owner).
Anyway, good luck with your reno!
Jeez I’m such a spaz. My boyfriend was out while I was reading this post and towards the end he came home and I almost yelled at him. I some how got it into my mind that he’d tell Joe or something. LOL and the worst thing about this is he’s legally blind and wouldn’t be able to see this anyway
Doing a room in a week! Oh how I envy you. The drive, the effeciency, the man to do your sanding!!! I live in a house where part of it dates back to 1849. I don’t even have newspaper for insulation in that half of the house! Just lathe and plaster and some horsehair for stickum. Every room I tackle (with the help of Dear Dad and Dear Boyfriend) takes a great effort. I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that I am living in a semi-permanent renovation, but it gets better every year. After all, I’m still unpacking from my move 3 years ago (oh, god, it’s been that long). Might have something to do with the twins.
You’ll do a great job. Can’t wait to see the colours. Good luck.
That birthing ball is just begging for a knitted cozy to turn it into an art piece.
Install a second rod in the closet, for skirts and pants folded on hangers. You’ll feel so organized and efficient that the door won’t be missed.
What on earth is a birthing ball?
I live in a house that is also not finished. My hubby added an extension in 1993 (to help create adequate storage – still none) and knocked all the interior rooms out etc. None of the “new” rooms are finished and we’re starting to recarpet!!!! I hate it when hubbies think they can do it all themselves but never have time to actually get out the tools. There are slats of wood in the sitting room (????) and lots of stuff waiting to be made into something – it’s too scary to ask what they’re for. We still have to knock out part of a wall in our bedroom before we attack that room. I hate DIY; and never marry an architect. Foam core is part of the decor. I know we will finish this a week before we move out (not in the for seeable future)and then wonder why we are not going to be able to enjoy the results.
My solution for the closet – sliding mirror doors.
Good luck with the renos – my next house (whenever) will be finished before I move in.
Janet MF
there is this great swedish floor sealer that is non-toxic-try it!!
Good luck with the changes! I have two thoughts though (I didn’t read all the comments, so I apologize if these have been said before).
I’d say go ahead and remove the curtains before the floor guy comes. That way you’re not having to drag a chair/stool/something to stand on to try and get them down. I’d be all afraid of scratching the new floor. In response to the closet, have you thought about trying a shower curtain? People used to do that in college if they didn’t have doors for some reason. Or maybe you could just get a long curtain thing to stick up there. That way the contents of the closet could be hidden, but it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. Good luck! I can’t wait to see how it ends up!
Now see, I didn’t think the yellow walls were too bad – till you pointed out the purple trim and door.
Um. Well, the yellow still isn’t too bad, but the purple has to go, and as long as you’re painting… 🙂
And I totally agree with Rosemary: the birth ball needs a cozy! And then it can sit charmingly and decoratively (if a bit eccentrically) in a corner of the living room. “Oh,” you can say carelessly when a visitor asks, “that’s a birthing ball. With a Rowan Kid Classic cozy. More tea?”
Purple baseboard – oh that has got to take the prize! We live in an old house – 100 this year. Not so bad in itself, apart from the fact that 30 of those years it was the equivalent of the redheaded bastard child of a rental unit. You know, the this-room-needs-repainting, let’s just use these three different cans of paint. Rented out by my mother until I realized that living under her was the only way we could afford living in the city. Victorian flat, thy name is Cobbled Together. So we have spent much of the last three years slowly undoing some of the injustices in the name of “improvement.” Every time there is a foray, because we are the do-it-yourself kind of people, there is lasting trauma and I swear off the stuff for months. Be strong Stephanie and think of honeyed wood floors, matching drapes, and neutral colored wood trim.
You could turn the IKEA cabinet on its side, attach to the wall, way up high, paint it or decorate it or not, and use it as stash storage. The ceilings look high enough that it would be out of the way.
Good luck with the floor. I spent hours stripping a floor only to discover that it was crap underneath, painted the whole thing white and put a room sized rug down.
Oh man. Craptastic. I love it. Now I have the perfect adjective to describe MY bedroom. And it is crappy in the same way yours is, although I did refinish the floor when we moved in: baseboards that don’t fit right, outlet covers that don’t fit right, foam insulation, missing baseboard, missing window trim, no curtain/blind, no door on the closet, last painted (badly) when we moved in the house 13 years ago, and a large ceiling area with just plywood where we had the skylight removed and have not yet drywalled. It’s SUPERCRAPTASTIC. Perfect.
Good luck with your re-do. Can I imagine that the colorway of choice for your room will be avocado green harvest gold, and brown??
Wow! Big job. It’ll be great when it is done though. I wonder if one of those fancy pants shows would have come and done it all for you if you had applied. That’d be good publicity for the world of knitting (cause I know there has to be at least a herd’s worth of wool in every room of your home and the host would have been unable to resist asking about it and you would have educated the masses).
The Habitat for Humanity re-store idea is a great one, I went to the one in Calgary looking for cabinet doors (I’m in bathroom renovation hell), and walked out with a solid wood bedframe from 1947! There were doors galore, windows, stoves, bookshelves, and all for a really good cause! Good luck with your project, here’s hoping Joe doesn’t catch on!
Good for you for tackling this project. And for the closet door, you might want to look for architectural salvage places. There’s probably one the right size in some place like that. Failing that, there’s probably one the right size in my hubby’s workshop, since we save everything that we pull out of the place as we fix it up, but I think the transport to Canada cost would be a bit extreme.
We’ve done a few rooms properly in our 118 year old house and we’re working on a couple right now. But the master bedroom and living and dining rooms still need a permanent fix. When I couldn’t stand the mustard wall paper with the mauve carpet (that the living room had when we bought it) any more we ripped out the carpet and covered the wall in batting and $2/yrd poly fabric as a cheap temporary fix. It looked great for a while but it’s starting to look a bit worn now. The “temporary” fix has been in place for at least 10 years now I think. But it did/does help to keep the rooms a bit warmer than without it.
Good luck with your project.
ooooh, i LOVE a good before and after series on rooms/apartments. it’s so much fun to see where some elbow grease will take a plain ol’ room. can’t wait to see more!
I hope all goes well for you! Keep us updated!
Man. I started to say “sand the floor” then saw the total common sense post by MaryLynn. Paint the floor. You can even paint a floorcloth onto the floor – that would be gorgeous! You can mimic tiles or a mosaic or even knitting (that would be fun!) But a bare pine floor with light finish – that would be nice, too.
What about a roll-up matchstick shade for the closet? Or maybe a 2-panel louvre door (is that what the call the doors with the slots? Look kind of gardeny) And handknit lace for the windows – only like 18″ deep with blinds behind them. Living in Germany I saw lots of lace on the windows – came to about half way down. Beautiful.
Good luck and have fun – it’s alot of work, but it’ll be worth it!
i too, have never been rich enough to buy a finished, fixed up house… (and i too, am still fixing up my co-op apartment)
one solution for closet is something similar to vertical blinds.. hand a tension rod in closet doorway, and hand stripes of fabric (ribbon/alterating ribbon/fabric/knit strips)
they create a door–but are easy to reach through (and the tension rod comes down when it gets in the way!
good luck–it will look better when finished.
PS -have you though to taking scrap yarn and loosely knitting a carpet? scraps of yarn, knit in garter, in mutlicolors, then felt it into a thick warm mat (or two, one for each side of the bed)? a warm place to step out of bed –colorful and a handy way to use up those bits of yarn–you know the ball that are too big to throw away, and too small to make a hat with!
How exciting! I love it when stuff gets fixed up all nice looking.
Oh, good luck! I can not wait to see the redone floors (I’m full of adrenaline just anticipating how smooth and shiny they will look)!
I pulled a similar stunt on my husband a few years back (except we didn’t have as much damage as you – just some wall paper removal and painting), and if I can say one thing: friends. Call in all your favors and get ’em over there to help with painting, moving, assembling, etc. Throw out some pizza and beer around 6 or 7 and you’ll have ’em until 10 pm or later.
I’m also feeling the need to have a proper grown up bedroom. But I can’t stand matching furniture and I have no encouragement from himself.
Instead my next foray into reno hell will be the seventh level of the basement which finally needs to be “undecorated” from the previous owners (I know, ten years. I involes removing wallpaper which I believe is never shown in those chippy shows.
Pick colours that go good with your stash.
Oooh, exciting! Good luck!
Hi Steph, I feel your pain. We have been replacing the newspaper insulation with real stuff for the past five years- One wall at a time. Good for you for taking the initiative. My husband is a carpenter and it is funny how there is not one finished part of our house. Foam and untrimmed windows everywhere. At least it is warmer!! I will be thinking of you as we have our first 40 below in Vermont tonight!
The floor may be rough, the closet may be doorless, but those windows are spectacular. I would put up with much to have those windows in my room.
Beware the “Mushroom Effect”, where everything you do in an old house mushrooms into something more. In a different lifetime/different marriage, my husband was going to install a new heating system while I was out of town at a cousin’s wedding. I came home and he had gutted the house. Really. Plaster and lath was gone, we had studs. His answer? “It somehow just seemed easier that way.”
Beware the “Mushroom Effect”, where everything you do in an old house mushrooms into something more. In a different lifetime/different marriage, my husband was going to install a new heating system while I was out of town at a cousin’s wedding. I came home and he had gutted the house. Really. Plaster and lath was gone, we had studs. His answer? “It somehow just seemed easier that way.”
Beware the “Mushroom Effect”, where everything you do in an old house mushrooms into something more. In a different lifetime/different marriage, my husband was going to install a new heating system while I was out of town at a cousin’s wedding. I came home and he had gutted the house. Really. Plaster and lath was gone, we had studs. His answer? “It somehow just seemed easier that way.”
How reassuring to know I’m not the only one whose personal space renovation is wa-a-ay down the list. My bedroom got new windows TWO YEARS ago, relocated from the old window spaces, and the resulting holes and exposed insulation are STILL uncovered, unsheetrocked, unspackled, etc. I go to sleep to the rustle of my pillow nestling up to the insulation batts at the head of my bed. It should be a simple task, right? Just slap up the sheetrock — no, first I want to relocate those electric outlets; hmmm, why not add a couple while I’m at it, THEN slap up the sheetrock, the window trim, outlet covers, spackle/plaster it all and apply some sort of paint treatment and, oh yeah, the floor… the bare plywood with staples still imbedded from when I ripped out all the carpeting and just slapped down sealer paint as a quick fix…err, three years ago was it?
On the bright side, I LOVE my view from the “new” large window corner, where someday there will reside an armchair just right for knitting.
Thanks for reminding me where I left off. Gotta go find my wire stripper and some romex cable, drill …
Our first home looked very much like yours. We moved after 20 years of SLOWLY fixing it up (into a 1960’s “normal” (no character) house). There was still a lot not done – but it was greatly improved. Ten years later we miss it sooooo much. My guess is that our three children will find houses very similiar to that and we will have many years of helping them fix theirs. But, Steph, I have to say I loved the description of “the most craptastic room in the house”. I’m sure your home is much more beautiful than you realize. Best wishes to you.
Good luck with the redo! 🙂 I must say though, it does look like the room gets a good amount of sunlight which is always nice. It makes the room look very inviting, even with the foam insulation and rough pine floor.
Even if you just get the floor refinished and get rid of the purple door and trim, it will be a magnificent improvement. Of course, you don’t do things half-way, so I know Joe will be flabbergasted with delight when he sees the completed room.
Dear Steph,
A non-standard door on the closet—no problem! Forget expensive “new,” just check out a building recycler/reuser. In No. Michigan, we have Odem Re-use Co. (see http://www.odomreuse.com); unfortunately, they don’t ship. But Toronto is sure to have some great building reclaimation companies! Good luck and happy knitting and remodeling!
From one dump-house owner to another, you go girl. When we bought our house, it was either cram our two kids and kazillion pets into a tiny, but somewhat finished house or buy a giant disaster of a house noone else wanted. No matter how truely crappy we think this house is, it never ceases to amaze us with new, previously undiscovered crappy features. One of my favorites was this past summer when the upstairs bathtub started draining into the brand-spanking-new kitchen we’d just finished. I feel your pain, sister.
Steph. Do not fret. Those of us with ideas and not the cash to go with them dream of someday finishing all those little house projects. My husband and i have been installing crown molding for 4 years. We live in a 900 square foot condo. We just have to finish that pesky 45 degree wall over the fireplace. We started putting down hardwood floors in our bedroom about three years ago, ran out of money and have half the room done. Now we can’t find the same parquet we were using. Not sure what we will do. We don’t even own our place. We rent from his parents (they let us do whatever we want to). Trying to save for a house of our own where we will start all over again.
Joe is going to love whatever you do and I can envy you your finished floors. :0)
~Karen
I can’t wait to see the after photos. And I think you were smart in hiring someone to take care of the floors. When my house was done, we hired someone. And I saw how messy and dirty it was. Would a curtain on a tension rod work for a new closet door? At least it would be straight seams and cover things.
Reminds me of the house I lived when I was at U of T, living in Campus Co-op on Huron Street (near Bloor). Everything was over a hundred years old and coated with about that many layers of paint. The first year I lived there (with 9 other people), we painted the bathroom walls and ceiling bright blue; we spray painted the radiator silver. While I would never, NEVER do that in my house now… I really loved that bathroom. It definitely had lots of character. Good luck with the home improvements!
You do the floor first when you only have a week because then the furniture can go back, and the rest can wait if it has to.
And as far as door-less closets, we took two sets of sliding closet doors down because they were such a pain, and have never missed them. But I can see this might not be for everybody!
That room has character and potential. I can’t wait to see how beautiful the floor is going to be.
You spent all this time hiding this room and now you show it to the world!!! I would love to do the whole cleaning/organizing/decorating thing, but the daily upkeep keeps getting in the way. Oh, yeah, and knitting.
You could always fancy pants the closet up with a funky print canvas type door. Build a rectangular frame out of 1×2’s, staple some heavy duty canvas (you can get a print on it or paint it yourself) to the frame, add an x in 1×2 on the inside part of the “door” (the canvas should be between the rectangle frame and the x) for strength and stability, put a nice little kitchen cupboard handle on one long side and some hinges on the other, hang and enjoy having a custom built door for less than $50.00.
Best of luck with the reno. I get more home improvements done with my Mr. out of the way too.
You gotta love a room with purple baseboards!! I might have to keep those.
Why is it that its our bedrooms that are the last to get ‘finished’? And the last to be sorted through, the last to be cleaned? Because if it were a sanctuary from the chaos of being a mom in this crazy fast forward life – we never leave!
It will be a wonderful room – worth all the hard work and cussing that will enevitably spill out when time starts counting down!
Watch out Debbie Travis, there is a new girl on the block!!!
Can’t wait to see the ‘reveal’
Our house, built in 1863, looked even crappier when we moved in 9 years ago-a LARGE house-14 rooms on two floors, an attic and a basement. We had people working there for more or less 5 years, also doing plenty by ourselves,we lived there in the middle of the sawdust with four small children-it was a nightmare! And then, two days before the electrician came to finish our brand new tiled beautiful bathroom, the whole damned thing burned down! Disaster! We have rebuilt the house, and we didn’t move in until it was ready…Good luck on your upgrading- it has lots of potentials, and will be the lovely room you want!
Best wishes, Marit in Norway
Wow. You weren’t kidding about the paint colours.
A couple of years ago several family members joined together for a little work on my grandmother’s house. One thing led to another and before long the entire front of the house was torn off. The only insulation we found were sevral dozen pairs of mismatched kids baseball socks which popped out at us in their multicolored glory when we removed the window frames. My grandmother had somehow stuffed these in the cracks around her window during the years that my brothers and cousins played pee wee baseball. Hope your renovation is as much fun and as rewarding!
Fantastic idea. We finally got around to working on the bedroom just before the kiddo was born. It’s an important room, and it kinda drags you down when it looks like crap. Or it dragged us down, anyway.
I can’t wait to see the After photos.
(Birth ball. I’ll admit I can’t see them without shuddering anymore. Mild ptsd? Maybe.)
Vaya con Dios! I echo the curtain rod trick for the awkward door- it’s what we did in our old apartment. For a touch of class we installed a tieback hook, for gathering the drape to one side when we were putting away laundry or whatnot. My mom uses funky necklaces from 10,000 Villages for drapery ties in her house, which is a cool and megacheap solution.
I salute you: mu husband goes out of town in 2 days. Little does he know the wallpaper in the kitchen is getting stripped and the walls repainted, the blinds replaced, and the trim all patched.
While I would love to own a home, I think that’s one of the reasons why renting seems to be so much more appealing. Unless you get a brand spanking new house, there will always be something to fix. Good luck with your DIY in 5 day project! Can’t wait to see what it will look like when finished.
Bookcase: Don’t throw it out. I’ve seen so many bookcases just as plain as yours turned into really neat storage solutions. I can see it dressed up with wallpaper on the inside of the backing, and a new paint color. (They make paint that will stick to ANYTHING–including plastic.) Or, if painting really doesn’t appeal to you, wallpaper the whole thing. Use double-stick tape or Super 77 spray adhesive if you have to. (Be careful with the Super 77–once it’s bonded, it’s for life.)
Your closet needs to go undercover. Bamboo roll-up shades (you can get the trim-to-fit kind), pre-made curtains, or something. Even if you got plywood and put the same wallpaper on it as the bookcase, and then put braided trim (from the sewing shop) around the edge. Or you could make it a bulletin board with those peel & stick cork tiles. Or take the plywood and put quilt batting on it, cover the whole thing with fabric (stapling it to the back), “tuft” it with staples covered with nifty buttons, and then cover the back with coordinating fabric folded under at the edges which covers the raw stapled edge from the front cover fabric. Here’s the basic idea: http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/lu_bedroom/article/0,2041,DIY_14091_2272680,00.html
Once I start to think about covering things with fabric, the wheels really start turning, and I gets lots of good ideas. If all of this is no clearer than mud, hopefully it’ll at least spark a few ideas. lol
Okay, life is calling. I think I’ll go knit. ;o)
OK, I am not judging or *anything*, and maybe you do this already, but one trick I have used in the past on closets with no doors is to hang a nice, fairly substantial curtain across the front of it using some of those rod hooks that stick out from the way a smidge and a simple rod with snazzy end caps. I always went with about 2-3 times fabric (width) than the doorway. That way you get nice pleating action (or whatever you call it). Hem them to just brush the floor and you’re golden! Anyway, my 2 cents. 🙂
PS Who on earth thought orange-yellow and lilac purple were a good combo? 🙂
Hey, you own a house.I’ve only ever rented!
Good luck with the reno. Buy a good drop cloth for when you paint to protect what will then be the beautiful floor. What about a knit felted rug? Or a wall hanging? Not a knit electrical plate though — unless you like knitting in plactic??
That room is great already–pretty proportions, beautiful tall windows. Can’t wait to see the “after” shots. Two thoughts: 1) Who doesn’t love stained floors, but painted floors (all-new, of course) can rock, too. Good books on subject exist. You’d make them gorgeous. 2) Opportunity alert: Big armoires are flooding the market–antique and new–as our fellow citizens buy thin new flatscreen TV’s and toss away their old fat must-hide TV’s and the armoires used to “house” them. I just discovered this shopping for second-hand furniture. You could pick up a beatiful cupboard for pennies on the dollar to take the place of your IKEA shelves. Good luck painting!
After helping my parents flip houses I can empathize with your floor dilemma- but don’t worry it will look smashing when it is done. We had to convert the garage cum master bedroom back to a garage. It can be done.
I had a quick question about the tour: I plan to come and visit you at the oak brook borders in IL on April 3rd. However, the website at borders has you there at 6pm, whereas our stitch group and your tour dates place you there at 7:30pm. Which is it- I don’t want to miss it 🙂
The room has really beautiful light and lots of charm with the trim and the floor will be warm and lovely when it’s finished. It’s really not as bad as I would think from your discriptions without the photos. Just finishing the floor and a fresh coat of paint will make a world of difference…okay…and the face plate, too!
I like that yellow-orange paint. I’m looking for some just like that to redo the spare room. Also, I’m sure you can find something for that Ikea bookcase to do. You can never have too many bookcases.
I don’t feel so bad about my bedroom now. Of course, in 5 days I’ll feel worse. 🙂 Looking forward to seeing the finished bedroom!
And I complain about CLEANING my room (I’ll get to it once i don’t have 3 assignments due for tomorrow). Best of luck.
And whoahwhoahwhoahwhoah. You’re going to be in Victoria in June? Happy day! I will so be there!
I know you don’t want to hear it, but I would pay money for floors like that with character – just throw a cool wool rug on them. The rest of it is justifiable. Good luck and courage woman. Wish I was there to help – cuz I love DIY stuff.
You are, incredibly, more depressing than a Midwestern March. Listen, if your “before” picture were my “after” picture I would be a happy woman. And I LIKE the purple baseboards with the gold walls. Jeez.
Gonna go sulk…
Are there any salvage companies in your area? They may be able to help you find a door that will fit your closet. I also second the notion of making a curtain (you could do it at the same time as you make curtains for the window.
Another option: you might want to consider widening the closet opening so that it can use a standard door. The molding is a style that can be purchased from most large building supply stores and you would just need to replace the top. The sides should be fine, if you remove them carefully.
ah, we few, we happy few who live in crapy uninsulated (unless you count a healthy yarn stash as insulation) old houses with questionable plumbing (okay, I don’t know about your plumbing, maybe just my plumbing is craptacular). We band of sisters who live in crappy houses and knit! But, let’s face it. If I lived in a nicer, less crapy house, I wouldn’t be able to knit because the nicer house would require me to spend my yarn money on things to keep the house nice. At least a crapy house doesn’t force you to spend money keeping it looking nice.
You never cease to amaze and inspire. Now I gotta go clean my room!
Are there any salvage companies in your area? They may be able to help you find a door that will fit your closet. I also second the notion of making a curtain (you could do it at the same time as you make curtains for the windows).
Another option: you might want to consider widening the closet opening so that it can use a standard door. The molding is a style that can be purchased from most large building supply stores and you would just need to replace the top. The sides should be fine, if you remove them carefully.
I live on Craptastic Lane, too. Our house was built in the 1950’s, on a concrete slab. Our master bath and hallway are stripped back to the concrete floors, because the hot water pipe goes through that slab and has developed a leak – for the second time! That means the ikea closet is in the actual bedroom, with an Indian bedspread pinned over it, because – for whatever reason – I’m incapable of sleeping in a room with an open closet! And that’s just the master “suite,” I won’t go into what the rest of the house is like…
Oh yes, I know this feeling. This Old House meets Tiny Budget equals OOPS Paint from the Home Depot and crazzamatazz on the floor.
The first thing we (my Thom and I) did when we moved in was the floors. My workspace upstairs had the same crap brown paint further enhancing the “Sh*te” ambiance.” Let me tell you, two weeks and several pounds of fine dust later (plus having to rent THE MOTHER OF ALL SANDERS), my hair was finally free of the dust. Good on ya for getting some other shmuck to do the dirty work. I’m still tickled pink at the way the floors have come out. Everytime I look at the floors I am still in wonderment over their change from old shoe brown to sandy beach.
I did up our last house too. And I second the advice (well, twenty-second the advice, by the look of it) to paint before getting the floor finished. Also remove curtains and MEASURE FOR NEW ONES FIRST as you might be out of this room for a couple of days then you can be making curtains (if you are going to) while the varnish/floor paint dries.
A canvas door curtain would be good for that cupboard – you could also cut down the bookshelf, put it on its side and use it for shoes and low storage in the cupboard.
Another suggestion – it looks like the interior height of that cupboard might be the same as the room – which is pretty high. In which case, make a hammock (large square/rectangle of fabric, drawstrings at either end) for the birthing ball and put a hook in the ceiling of the cupboard. Then the ball is suspended up out of the way and you can use the wasted storage space above your head.
You’re going to have to give us more information about colours! I’m mentally redecorating for you over here! Are you going neutral? 70’s appliance colours?
Somehow I’m betting you’re not going for a ‘theme’ with animal skin stencils and faux fur cushions with bamboo furniture and beaded curtains on the walls. My friend did. It looked like Tarzan went nuts in Ikea.
Oh….how fun! Isn’t it great to do something for someone else (and yourself, too, I guess) knowing they will be so happy to see it all done (and they didn’t have to do a thing???) Joe will be delighted when he gets home and sees his (and your) newly refurbished room….and he didn’t lift a finger! YIPPEE! (that’s what I would say.)
Good luck with it all. When it’s done you will undoubtedly love it, too!
I vote that you keep the purple trim and if this makeover goes anything like your office, you’ll have a great, non-craptastic room in no time. I won’t look for any knitting pictures in the next week, but hope you show us more of the new room.
wow,it kind of looks like my house, at least the floors. it was built in the 1760’s, so the wood floors have been repainted many times, and all the layers of paint are visible in any given square inch. there are gaps in the floor boards that we can (and have)passed things through, and the house is drafty as anything, its very difficult to heat in the winter.
For a closet “door” consider an extendable shower rod and a solid (or gauze) curtain to hang there. They do the trick of hiding at least some of what’s back there and are easy to clean or move or change as the mood strikes.
I’ll be interested to see the “after” pictures.
Wow you have a house like our first one! It was and still is (as we still own it and our 2nd house) over 100 year old. It has odd doors, tape to hold some of the ligh stitches on. We have “hard wood” floors under shage green carpet. They never fished the floors under them, or they sanded them down and put carpet on them? Not sure. We find stuff that makes us wonder. They plastered OVER the vents in the upstairs, so there was no heat or A/C. It will look great, I rather like the orange and purple. 🙂
Just remember what my genius friend Leah (the professional home organizer) says: there is no solution so permanent as a temporary solution!
If you turn that bookcase on its side under the windows, which I HIGHLY recommend, also consider adding FEET to the thing – you’ll be able to vacuum underneath, and there’s a huge boost in being able to see floor for some reason!
That closet is begging for MORE YARN STORAGE!
Not reading the other comments:
Yo, craptastic is now my new word. (I know, I’m slow.)
Turn the bookcase on its side and make it a HEADBOARD for the bed. Store books, knitting, flashlights, etc., especially if some of the squares had baskets.
How about a screen for the closet? A stand-alone folding one (think Japanese). You can drape drying skeins of yarn on it.
Can’t wait to see what colors you picked. Will this be ready for the next issue of Martha Stewart Living? Or Old House Journal?
Good luck with the room.
I haven’t read all of the comments, but for the bookcase, attach some interesting feet to the bottom, a little molding around the face, and some paint that works with whatever color you’ve chosen for the room, and you have a new bookcase. Can you tell I’ve been watching the design-on-the-cheap TV shows?
Good luck with the room makeover – I too have a missing husband this week and I have cunning plans of making our house beautiful and tidy (and convincing him that the normal mess must be sports kit and not yarn) but as I’m working full time (and the rest as we approach year end) and I’m out three of the four nights he is away I may just have to try harder in my constant efforts to warp the space time continuum – I know it can be done!
Your room will look fantastic when you finish I’m sure and I hope your husband is suitably impressed!
Oooooh! Your floors are -the same- as mine, right down to size, colour(s), roughness … the whole bit! I can’t wait to see what mine will look like eventually 😉
On a slightly more practical-to-you note, the habitat for humanity ReStore, just off of Egglinton/DVP at:
29 Bermondsey Road
Toronto, ON M4B 1Z7
Phone: (416) 755-8023 Ext. 33
Hours of operation:
10 – 6 Mon.- Sat., Thurs. ’til 9, Closed Sunday
tends to have an excellent selection of doors of varying sizes and ages – and if you’re the sort that’s inclined to remove paint from things, this blog has a do-it-yourself IR paint remover (which works better than heat guns, chemicals, or really anything else that I’ve tried at all) – and Lee Valley’s now selling an amazingly reasonably priced (especially for them) IR heater that’s oddly in just the right form factor…
Your craptastic room doesn’t even hold a candle to the Hole I left a few years ago! 90+ years of occupation by one family = a LOT of junk and stupid “renovations”. Instead of raccoons, we had a colony of endangered bats living in the chimney (through which 95% of the heat generated by our boiler went…). Most of our original pine floors weren’t even painted, so my then-2-year-old became accustomed to the routine of splinter removal from his feet, hands, and knees after every bath. Add to that the lack of storm windows, no insulation, mortar missing from bricks creating holes to the inside all over, and a kitchen last renoveated in 1946 (appliances, too) and it was quite a step back into history! I could go on and on…
Even more similar: the house across the street burned down about 2 weeks after we moved in, and it took over a year for someone to come and tear down the half-collapsed building.
When we tried to get the mortgage, the assessor deemed the house “un-liveable”. We had been there for several months and made major improvements (like electricity and plumbing…) Gas lights went out of fashion a LONG time ago…
It was in our price range.
I can’t wait to see what you do to that bedroom. I kept a photo album of Before, During, and After the Work.
What THEY said about the IKEA bookcase. To me it screamed out, canvas baskets for each cubbyhole, and fill them with yarn!
One good thing I picked up from a previous marriage that I’m trying to use in this one is the makeover-during-partner’s-vacation. Backfired on me while hubby was in Daytona last spring, but usually it works. Plus, you don’t have to explain what you’re doing (and why you’re doing it in that order), and nobody’s arouns to trip over the inevitable worse-before-it-gets-better pile.
Now that we’re fixing it up to sell, though, it all has to be done together on the weekends. At least, until the tax check comes and I can hire somebody. Heh heh heh.
Maybe you can attach a curtain on the inside of the closet, instead of a door. This would keep the guts of the closet out of sight, but the doorway of the closet would be untouched (it looks nice the way it is).
I’m sure the room will look a lot better once the floor is done, even before there’s a new paint on the walls. Can’t wait to see the results!
About the birth ball….unless you are planning to add to your clan (which according to the past few posts about the joy of teenagers, I doubt) you might find a happy home for it at a farm. We give our calves and sheep these balls to play with and they are a great hit. This also gives the neighbors something to point at and laugh about. Cuts down on pushing and shoving battles, eases the leaning on fences until they sag or break problem, and much other animal related misbehavior. Actually, now that I reread this, maybe you should give it to the girls. We all know teenage girls have these same misbehavior tendencies. Just a thought….. back to my knitting.
What is it with old houses and no closet doors? I use folding screens in front of mine. Fabric screens with pockets to hold knitting accessories or handknit socks. Its Additional Storage.
My house, built in 1917, matches yours! Our bedroom floor is now plywood though, but the newspaper is still between the walls in some places. And here I thought I was the only person in the world with a house made of newspaper and mouse poop!
Sheri in GA (whose husband is a builder!!!!)
Ahh, the memories….I love the foam stuff. I love the way it comes squashing back out of the hole it’s supposed to stay in, expanding exponentially to fill the whole room.
We fixed our craptastic house and sold it for a big bundle, and bought one with closets, and more than one bathroom, and insulation in every wall. I wish you the same.
Ok, the floor’s crappy, but I actually like the walls and trim. You can’t go wrong with purple!
Perhaps the floor guy has started already, but if he hasn’t–you might want to cover your bedroom door with a curtain of plastic, floor-to-ceiling. I did when I was refinishing my son’s floor, and it really did a great job keeping all that fine dust in there. and OH! did the floor look pretty when I was done.
Now you’re making me want to refinish my (painted brown & also craptastic) floor, too. And fix my window. And touch up the paint. And and and.
My goodness, that is a true labor of love (no disrespect the the birth ball).
You go girl!
aw, i love the old floor. glad you’re just refinishing it and not replacing it. i would love a bit of beat up old wood peeking out around the edges of a big oriental rug. (i rent for now, so i can’t do anything to my crappy place!)
My husband and I and kids lived in a nice house in B.C. but we renovated because he was bored and needed a challenge. Real fun was the day he used the chain saw to cut a hole in a wall–inside the house. Blue stinky chainsaw smoke, a terrible racket, and screaming little girls with their heads under their pillows. But eventually I got a lovely dining room with hardwood floors. Good luck with your reno. Hopefully you can find a way to make the bedroom wall come down to the floor, or the floor come up to meet the wall. My husband would say, Rip out the old boards, put in a subfloor, and then new hardwood over top. That should close the gap. Can’t wait to see pics!
Don’t know if this has been suggested yet.. but why not get some heavy duty hinges and wheels for the bottom of the bookshelves and make it your closet door?
Oh, Steph this is what we do FOR A LIVING. The house I live in right now was built in 1888. We got it for a dollar and worked on it for 13 years. The place we are getting reading to move into was built in 1830 and used to be a whorehouse. The first time I saw it it looked like something from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion and had been empty (well, except for every pigeon in town) for about 50 years. Yesterday, we moved a 1910 Sears, Roebuck house down the road. It’s been empty for 20 years. Got it for free.
This is like having a baby. You can do it and probably have time to knit socks for Joe in your spare time.
It’s strange seeing pictures of your house. I found your blog by recently reading Yarn Harlot and throughout the story I guess I formed really vivid pictures of what the inside of your house would look like. I find myself almost saying in my head, that can’t be her house, the pictures must be mislabeled, lol.
Oh, just one more thing. I’m not too familiar with birthing balls, but might there not be a plug in it somewhere so you could let the air out and squash it? Just a thought…
Good luck with the refurb! Although I bet you’ll grow to miss the orangey walls and purple trim! We’re laying laminate down this weekend in our living room and dining room because (ugh) our one cat peed in the corners and ruined the carpet, so we sanded down the ares of the floor and resealed it to hopefully cover the smell – and the 50 year old, beat to hell hardwood (the people who lived here before us used DECKING nails to nail down loose hardwood boards, making it too terribly expensive to get it redone).
Oh, and I’d SO take the crappy IKEA bookcase! Wanna ship it to PA?
I couldn’t read all of the comments…don’t really know how you do – but I read your post this morning and but for the boss, would have posted then.
Why don’t you knit some beautiful lace curtains for your closet door?
Good luck with the redo. My room is this icky baby blue that was on the wall when I moved in. Blah! But, I only sleep there (and store crafting supplies).
You could hang a curtain in the closet doorway that coordinates with the window curtains.
My biggest fear is that someone would call the TLC program “Clean Sweep” and I’d have to reduce my stash! No take my kids instead please. I need the yarn, not the kids…
I just deflated my birth ball and shoved it in the closet. Mine had a white plastic pin you could pull out. Easy-peasy. I recommend it if the ball is no longer used (for birth or otherwise).
Thank you for appeasing my voyeur self. 😉
Hi Steph, I was just thinking this afternoon about how happy I am to be back to knitting everyday because you inspire me so much…my walls are really sad here, and you give me inspiration for painting them. Good luck with your surprise. I think that’s really cool. Your floors remind me of my childhood…my dad was always fixing up an old beauty…with no money…those were the good old days…when chips cost 25cents!
just when i thought i couldn’t love and/or admire you more! firstly, the word craptastic fills me with a giddy joy akin to a first grader saying POO! and secondly, because i did not know you, like “moi”, were a member of the sisterhood of old house dwellers!! when i saw your electrical outlet (behind the dresser) minus a faceplate, well! i knew a frisson of kinship! (and let me add that my hus. actually IS an electrician!). when i take stock of all we actually have done/improved in our ol’ house, it seems respectable. and yet, when i survey the patched kitchen ceiling (project started by the hus. last century), the leaky skylight and the patches of plywood showing through the ripped linoleum then it seems a little less than accomplished home renovating! may the power of mike holmes be with you on your DIY project!!
man oh man….that sunshine through the window! priceless!
btw; if you have a minute; Birth Ball? i’m dong a google but that’s a new one to me. my younger daughter is due the first week of april. i’m about to pick up the fon and ask her if she has heard of that?
Ambition!
That was a fake “floor cloth” painted on the floor; very stylish at times. Once the floor is sanded and refinished, you can remove and refinish the baseboards (or just buy new ones) and re/install them so they touch the new floor level. It’s probably done now, but generally the baseboards should be removed before the floor is refinished so the part under them can be done to match the rest. (As was not done in my house.)
I’m fairly sure my house was built around 1934, and nobody took care of it since then; I had some electrical work done but it needs everything, so I am at once sympathetic and jealous.
The joys of “reno”…are you also planning on gutting it out so that you can insulate it? Maybe you can have insulation blown in? Any way you go is going to add up to a wicked hard few days, but will be worth it…the light is just fabulous coming in through those windows.
Wow. You are so telling my story, but in such a more colorful way! I may have to send you the link to our home improvement blog. It’s a 150 year old house that no one would buy because of the bowed foundation wall (among many other reasons). We started with that and this summer started the big fix. I hope it takes less time than Boston’s big dig.
Gotta say, I love your before color scheme.
Looks like something I might have done. (Though I should point out that I am color-blind.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Next time I want a change I’ll wait for my h. to go out of town, he is so picky about all the details. Our house dates from 1898; how about old shoes for “insulation”? I think the pine floors were meant to be sub floors to support hardwood on top? One of the builders in the area told me that the 19th century didn’t have linoleum so they used hardwood for the rooms with hard wear. No need to caulk the pine since it would be covered, and it tends to have splinters if not finished. But finished pine looks beautiful and modern. Living in this house gave me a passion for clean, modern design. Go figure. Good luck!
As mentioned above- curtain the closet, match the curtain to the new window curtains. Deflate the birth ball, put the air plug back in so you know where it is. Free advice is yours, yours, yours. Always worth at least hat it cost.
Okay, I am British, I think that is important to point out, then you know I’m not completely barmy.
But, I left a house as lovely as yours, we sanded the floor, fixed the holes in the walls, put in new wiring, had heating put in, and a kitchen, and a bathroom. It took 17 years, and then we had to move. We are now in a 30 year old house, with wall to wall carpet, instead of sanded floor boards, double glazing, and few draughts.
But I miss my lovely quirky, draughty, bumpy, unique house.
Can I come and live with you?
Good luck to you in your endeavors. I am sure that the room is going to be lovely when you are done and then you and Joe can have a nice oasis from everything else. You certainly deserve it.
First of all, I want to meet Chloe. I’m both fascinated by & terrified by what she does.
Secondly, *please* don’t get rid of the purple door… Strip it if you need to, but original doors like that are diamonds.
What are the measurements of the closet door?
i understand odd doors. my husband and i both own older homes (his is a post WWII home, with slanted ceilings in the 2nd floor, and tiny rooms, and mine was built some time in the 20’s and 30’s) and my back door is not a standard entry door, while he has french doors that he has to literally bar, because the locks never held (he’s had that bar for 20 years, lol). maybe you could hang a curtain from a tension rod, to at least hide the closet? you could do it in the paint colors to kind of hide it, or in the trim colors to make it look nice. granted somebody’s already said this, lol
“Craptastic”? That floor is “crapilicious”!!!
Crapilicious: adj. the knowledge of what something is and what it will become in time. “The duckling was viewed as crapilicious to the other young birds.”
And Steph, are you not the Yarn Harlot? Couldn’t the closet be curtained with a beautiful knitted piece of art? I’m certain a new floor and fresh paint can inspire you to create something that would enhance the new room yet not overpower everything else; perhaps with matching delicate knitted curtains for the sunny windows.
May the “remodelling harlot” be with you! (Do flooring guys want to be called harlots?) See you in Illinois.
I bought a 1907 Victorian in San Francisco that was a disaster beyond words (there was a horse trough filling in for a bathtub, etc.). I have the identical doorframes as you and am happy to report that none are a standard size — they aren’t even the same size as each other. My contractor went to the dump, rescued some old doors, stripped them, and then sawed them down to their weird sizes. After a little paint, they look great and I’m happy to shut the door on all my messes (i.e., yarn).
I still wonder, though, who thought it was a good idea to get rid of the original doors to begin with??
Good luck on the remodel — you’ll be so happy when it is done!
I’ll trade you your bedroom for our crappy kitchen! I redid the floor by cleaning it and laying a $8 box of vinyl flooring and it looks infinitely better [black ‘granite’ instead of dirt grey no longer white]. for $8!! At first hubby was annoyed b/c I spent $8 (he’s weird) and now? Well, maybe it was bad b/c now we’re dragging our feet to do the rest b/c the room doesn’t look so bad. *sigh*
But my rambling point? A refinished floor does wonders for all!
Good luck with in and blessings for happiness and a wonderful good room. 🙂
For Joe (when he gets to read this). She really, really loves you man.
Good luck to your project and may I mention that stopping at reasonable intervals to rest and have a cuppa and maybe knit a little (or write to us, she said, selfishly) would be easier on you than powering through for hours or days without a rest?
Steph,
Good luck! I have been in that exact same spot. The master bedroom floor had 4 layers of lineoleum, all ugly. The walls had the 1960s wood paneling, and 3 layers of wallpaper (none of which matched any of the floors, so far as we could tell.) When we took up the floors, we found newspapers from May 1949. Under those, gorgeous pine. But I wasn’t having real wood floors and fake wood walls. So, down came the paneling. Which showed the huge hole in the plaster. Which didn’t show any insulation. Damn! That became a much more expensive, and time-consuming project. But we learned a lot, and finished the room a week before the wedding, so it was all good. This will be too!
Thank god you aren’t letting those horrible designers (and we all know who the horrible ones are) from the TLC Trading Spaces show in that room – it would only end up worse! I have faith that while you don’t have a whole crew of hunky carpenter helpers at your beck and call, you will end up with a gorgeous finished product. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. (For the closet, I liked the ideas of a curtain, or get funky and do a beaded curtain)
Good luck with your remodel! We promise not to judge you (or make fun of you tooooo much) if you choose to use 70’s appliance colors for your color pallete!
I am, however, slightly terrified to hear that you have nothing but reading material insulating you from the frigid Canadian winter. You should go buy more wool. It might help with that.
You go! But just a word about the closet. It looks like one of those old shallow ones. What is it with these old shallow closets anyway? Why are they like that? I have two of them. You can’t fit a clothes hanger in them properly. Were clothes hangers a different size a hundred years ago? Maybe people didn’t use clothes hangers? Did they just hang their few items of clothing on pegs? Has anyone looked into this? Inquiring minds want to know!
PS. Pad your knees before you get down on that floor…felt I had to suggest something….
I am living in an older home. 100 years to be exact. This might not be too old in some countries but in the U.S. it is rather old. Our refurberation is a lobour of love and I am beginning to fall out of love due to my age. I started to work on my home at age 21. I am now 48. I know every creek and odd variant of this old home . It’s as if I am it’s last friend….
Iknow I have never had a consilitory friend as my home…
Your craptastic house in original condition would fetch about 1.5million US dollars where I live. Enough said.
Good news, the bookshop in Petaluma, CA (where I reside-the town, not the bookshop) is DIRECTLY across the street (and a narrow oneway street at that) from Finnbar, a wonderful pub. Enough said, again.
Oh, Steph, how on earth did you get a New Orleans house in Toronto?
1. Do NOT believe the Legend of “The Dustless Self-Vaccuuming Sander” for one cotton-pickin’ minute. Tape visquine over the bedroom door while you sand, keep the windows open and vaccuum the whole room after you are done. Even with the self-vacuumming things, a talc-like layer of sawdust will be everywhere. Amongst the dishes. In your bra. Ask me how I know.
2. If you want, or need, to retain the old plaster walls, but they have cracks or smaller-than-raccoon-size holes, run (or skate) down to the auto parts store and get some Bondo. It does miracles on century-old plaster, and works better than drywall mud or spackle on large-ish flaws. Ask me how I know.
3. Does Habitat For Humanity have a Re-Store in your area? You can find all sorts of odd-sized doors there. Salvage yards often have weird-size ancient doors, cheap and ready to refinish. If those two options fail, look for old window shutters in the same places, which come in many sizes and work just fine as closet doors (keeps air flowing in the closet too, to prevent mildew).
Ask me how I know.
And, like everybody in New Orleans says, “You don’t own an old house. It owns you.”
Wish I could be there to help. I’m envisioning indigo walls, bright white trim and curtains, and a lovely smooth floor.
Dez
You can always hang a curtain from a spring-loaded rod in the closet door. I love spring-loaded rods! And you’ve got some beautiful woodwork around the doors and, I think, the windows. And the windows themselves are pretty. I see much potential – the raccoons will be jealous!
Stephanie,
Did you notice that your new book has a new cover? I just went to Amazon.com to see when it comes out and the book has a new cover. I wonder if that is the final one. It is very similar to the temp. one. Can’t wait to read the new book!
OH, good luck with the room. Make sure you stay on top of the construction guys cause they will walk all over you if they can!
Marly
http://www.knitthing.blogspot.com
Well, it’s probably too late now, but you really should paint before doing the floors. That way, if you do splatter or spill, it’s not on your newly refurbished floors. But, like I said, it’s probably a little too late! Either way, best of luck on your redecoration efforts. I’ve been there and done that more than any 27 year old should (that doesn’t actually work in that field).
Wow. That floor looks like *my* old floor…thank god we moved. It’s bringing back horrific memories of gigantic splinters lodging…in places.
Can I ask a question? I’m not sure if you will actually SEE this, but what exactly are you (besides a ravishing, albeit somewhat frantic, knit goddess, of course)? I see a birth ball, I know about Snowflake, I know about the lactation consultant…are you a doula or a midwife…or what?
I’m considering going in for my Doula course, so I’m just curious.
Anyways, thanks! and best of luck with the reno! I’ll be looking forward to the final result!
K
Oh, too much fun. I just love before and afters. First, I think your floor has lots of charm, as old wood does. But then, I don’t walk barefoot on it. I actually love the period painted border and would almost suggest you put one back down. Wonderful light coming in the symetrical windows, good old moldings. For the closet, check the salvage yards for old doors. It would not be unlikely to find almost the perfect fit, if not, get one a bit bigger and shave it down. Check unpainted furniture shops for great shelving. Not expensive and more character than Ikea.
Now, is that ceiling what I think it is? That would be my next attack. You probably have really high ceilings. Yeah! Can’t wait to see your new colors. Good luck and post lots of pictures, please.
Oh christ… my condolences. But honestly, what I think you should do, is get a really really freaking huge rug, put it in the middle of the floor, then fix the stuff around it. It saves a LOT of money AND you get more insulation! YAY!
About the papers in the wall, through the times, people have used all sorts of stuff to insulate walls. Papers, old letters, rags, wool, and worn-out knitwear. Maybe you have a treasure of old sock patterns hiding in your house?
“When we tore down our first wall we were stunned to discover that the only insulation in the walls was old newspapers. Great reading, but a poor force against the cold.)”
Actually paper is a great insulation material if used correctly – its basically pulped wood – its environmentally friendly – its reuseable – its non-toxic – they have this great stuff these days which is finely shredded paper that you get in huge blocks and blow into the wall cavity for insulation
Can’t wait to see the “new” floor. It will be beautiful.
Did Joe go away on purpose, so you can do this :-).
Good luck, have fun, can’t wait to see the after shots.
When I bought my first house it needed major rennovations. This guy sort of dated me but his real motive was to look under the crappy lineoium to see wood floors with a mahagony inlay. Afer begging to rip up the lineolium I let him have his way. By the way, the house had a traditional summer kitchen which means no workable kitchen. Several years later, with a new kitchen, semifinished floors and a marriage, we recently sold the house. The new house is an older house but everything is done. When closing on the house the closing person said, oh you can go out and buy curtains etc for your new house. I smiled and said no I don’t everything is done, all I have to do is move in. You should have seen the shocked look on her face.
Patty
As a navy wife I have lived in some truly horrid housing- anyone done Monterey California before they blew up the old quads?- Yep I lived in housing that they demolitioned after I left and that was no reflection on my rotten housekeeping- could have had something to do with the multilayers of lead paint that left the wall not quite flat or the asbestos public school tile flooring among many other things! Anyhow, one thing that I have done is to use fun outlet coverings- I went to one of those paint it yourself clay/ceramic studios and made a bunch and they help most rooms- paint, sponge, decorate to your new room colors/theme. Or you can get predecorated one’s at Lowes or Home Depot. Or get plain ones and paint them with the room’s new paint. It will help, I promise. Good Luck!
You sure are ambitious. 🙂 The room will look fantastic when its done. I can’t wait to see it!
Oh, and if you ever find a good way to store the birth ball, let me know. I’ve got a big grey one that floats around in my bedroom and frankly it gets in the way.
ok, down here at the last of the huge queue of comments…I think I would handle the walls first, then the floor. That way whatever you drop on the floor while repainting the walls won’t ruin your newly re-done floor. Just a thought. Geez, I hope you decide to get rid of the yellow walls…they’re headache yellow.
Oh, oh, oh. I love you even more. Your bedroom is in the same state as most of my house, the oozing insulation (I tried shaving it off with a knife, but it just looks worse), the crappy wood floors, the peeling paint… My walls are pumpkin, which I loathe, but have adjusted to.
We bought a “fixer upper” (read: affordable) house 7 years ago. When my ex left me, I was left with a half (maybe) fixed up house and no time or money to fix it. I’m trying to love it as it is, but it’s trying!
GOOD FOR YOU!!!!! I”M SURE JOE WILL BE THRILLED! (Especially if it’s completed – follow through is one of my problems…)
Unfortunately, I can top the crappyness. Our house is from 1925, and when we moved in everything including doorknobs and windowframes and the friggin’ outlet covers were painted over. All of the downstairs was dark green. Do not let me go on. There is so much crappiness, I do not dare show it.
Now, I just need to figure out how to move the husband off the couch…
Anyway, good for you for doing something. Carpe diem.
Good heavens, that looks like our bedroom… Our floor is OK, but there are big holes in the wall with wires sticking out. We painted it coral pink (???) when we moved in, which was, shouldn’t be surprised, a bad idea.
Good luck!
Okay… I’m apparantly in the minority. I like your yellow walls. *grin* Still, I can’t wait to see what the After looks like though. I love house makeovers. *grin*
Question: What’s the ceiling like? I can’t tell if it’s pressed tin, accoustic tile, drop ceiling or just a really funky pattern in yellow.
Good luck refurbishing!
Sue
PS What’s a birth ball? My first thought upon seeing it in the closet was “Cool! An exercise ball…” but then I read it… so yeah… confused…
I love all the natural light (it looks like) you get in there. Need any help?
Actually…I quite like the purple. And the yellow. And I love wood floors but the other half likes his carpets (despite the dust bunnies they are almost totally responsible for).
Maybe it’s because our 1967 house is hardly architecturally inspiring, and is almost completely BEIGE. I am on a campaign to de-beigeify it. Starting in the kitchen (which is currently the crappest room in the house) but it’ll take more than 5 days!
I so enjoy your blog! I’m just de-lurking to say we are presently rehabbing a house of about the same age as yours, and the insulation of choice of the previous owners had been plastic dry-cleaning bags. Every crevice is stuffed with a surprising number of them. As in, we thought the house might fall down if we removed them all. I’m so excited to see the after pictures! Good luck with your project!
For my non-standard closests, I just get a nice floor length curtain, or hanging blinds to cover the space. It provides the closet door effect without actually needing the door.
Also, I love the wall color as it is.
Dang, you’re a brave woman. I lived in a house with a hole in the bathroom floor for many moon ( I shoddily nailed a board over it – it worked) so I completely get the “don’t go in there!” mentality.
Hey, the paint – yellow with purple trim – is at LEAST cheerful!! Looking forward to what you do with it…
I actually like the yellow/orange color. I, on the other hand, have a blue cealing with clouds painted. We are putting our house up for sale and the realtor said, paint over the clouds. I’m resisting that idea, my daughter painted them. I like them. I think what is important is not what others think about your nest but how you feel when you are there.
Oh man. I have you beat by a longshot. My house (which we just sold) was a disaster, but like you, its all we could afford.
Along with animals as our previous owners, there were squaters living there.
Our floors looked the same as yours. Except there was a big black spot in the middle of every room. I guess they thought, hey why finish all of the floor if you are gonna cover it with an area rug? (If you wanna get really depressed, spend months refinishing the floor, and then let your rottie our of the kitchen only to destroy it with one quick gallop through the house. Too bad you cant declaw a dog)
We turned on the water for the first time, after fixing all of the burst copper pipes in the basment, only for the water to make it up to the kitchen and… well, have you ever stood under a waterfall? yeah. pretty much. Im going to stop now, before I get extremely depressed.
It could be worse harlot. It could always be worse.
I am sitting here waiting for a client who is WAY LATE for a meeting, so I thought I’d be helpful to the curious since Steph is so busy finishing floors.
Being a native of New Orleans and a lifetime Southerner who has probably invested as much time into researching and repairing old houses as I have spent on knitting and on my actual career, I do actually have a few answers for this stuff.
1. Why are closets so small and shallow in old houses? In many places (particularly those under French rule, like old New Orleans) houses were taxed based on the number of rooms they contained, and yes, a closet counted as a “room.” Even after rulership changed hands, the old taxation laws often remained in effect for generations. My mother has what the old tax laws call a “ten-room house.” Sounds huge! It is in fact 850 square feet, with a small living room, small dining room, kitchen, two large bedrooms, three wee closets and a small enclosed “sleeping porch” which is now a laundry room and storage.
If you go into old houses which are in original condition (or close to original), and if you inspect the closets, you often find plank shelving, or the rails/brackets which once held the shelves. People folded most of their clothes and put them on shelves within the closet. My mother’s house in New Orleans has three small closets, and the rails for the old shelves are still in place. The old plank shelves were typically not permanently secured, thus you could easily remove them once a year for spring cleaning, whitewash the inside of the closet, kill vermin, etc.
In some jurisdictions closets were not taxed if they were less than a certain width and depth and had no door; this was considered an “alcove” and therefore a continuation of the main room. Some small closets were also designed with a single rod mounted between the inside-top of the doorframe and the back of the wall (front-to-back), and upon this you would hang clothes one behind the other on hangers.
Gowns, coats, dresses and men’s suits were stored in “armoires” or wardrobes, which were freestanding pieces of furniture. Clothing was also hung on pegs. Remember that people of long ago didn’t have nearly as much surplus clothing as we have now — even among those of us who don’t think we have a lot of clothes. Most people of moderate income had one winter coat which they replaced when it became too worn. One good suit if you were a man. A Sunday dress, perhaps two, if you were a woman, and a small selection of weekday wear or work clothes.
As time went by, and hangers became popular, many people simply removed the shelves and installed a clothes bar for hanging clothes, only to find that the closet door (if any) woouldn’t quite close because the clothes are too wide. This has less to do with modern overweight-ness in first world countries, and more to do with the fact that most people were both physically smaller and clothing was designed cut close to the body, so when hangers were invented, they were narrower than modern style hangers.
2. People installed ghastly drop ceilings in lovely, high-ceilinged rooms at about the same time they stopped using woodstoves and fireplaces and started paying utility bills. Usually the ghastly things can be ripped out and reveal a glorious extra few feet above (and sometimes even a treasure of an antique light fisture or ceiling fan).
3. Those weird painted floors? In Victorian times and well into the 1930’s, people often painted a border around the rug on the floor to match the rug. When the rug was gone, it was common to paint the floor with dark brown enamel, as paint was believed to be easier to maintain than varnish, which needed frequent waxing (this was before polyurethane, remember).
Client called to confirm arrival in five minutes. Steph, we all can’t wait for the continued edition of “This Old Heap.” You’ll be thrilled when you are done.
P.S. Don’t try to get that foam stuff trimmed off with a knife. Get a razor. Then sand it, then skin over the surface with drywal mud or putty, then sand and paint. It will vanish. Alternative: razor it off and put a piece of toe molding over it, using liquid nails on both the edge meeting the wall and the edge meeting the floor, to prevent drafts, then tack in place with finishing nails. Paint the molding before you put it down — the edge will be pristine.
Dez
*
I love you.
Look at this smile on my face !
*
Ahhh, you are a good woman. Will Joe really listen and not read the blog. The suspense must be killing him. After all, Steph, he knows you and knows that no undertaking is too big for you. He may be sitting somewhere wondering if your house will be on the same lot when he gets home. 😉
Your place reminds me of the hosue we had in Kitchener… you remember Kitchener, don’t you? Streets that run North, South, East and West. You can’t get there from here.
Can’t wait to see the after photos.
I am sitting here waiting for a client who is WAY LATE for a meeting, so I thought I’d be helpful to the curious since Steph is so busy finishing floors.
Being a native of New Orleans and a lifetime Southerner who has probably invested as much time into researching and repairing old houses as I have spent on knitting and on my actual career, I do actually have a few answers for this stuff.
1. Why are closets so small and shallow in old houses? In many places (particularly those under French rule, like old New Orleans) houses were taxed based on the number of rooms they contained, and yes, a closet counted as a “room.” Even after rulership changed hands, the old taxation laws often remained in effect for generations. My mother has what the old tax laws call a “ten-room house.” Sounds huge! It is in fact 850 square feet, with a small living room, small dining room, kitchen, two large bedrooms, three wee closets and a small enclosed “sleeping porch” which is now a laundry room and storage.
If you go into old houses which are in original condition (or close to original), and if you inspect the closets, you often find plank shelving, or the rails/brackets which once held the shelves. People folded most of their clothes and put them on shelves within the closet. My mother’s house in New Orleans has three small closets, and the rails for the old shelves are still in place. The old plank shelves were typically not permanently secured, thus you could easily remove them once a year for spring cleaning, whitewash the inside of the closet, kill vermin, etc.
In some jurisdictions closets were not taxed if they were less than a certain width and depth and had no door; this was considered an “alcove” and therefore a continuation of the main room. Some small closets were also designed with a single rod mounted between the inside-top of the doorframe and the back of the wall (front-to-back), and upon this you would hang clothes one behind the other on hangers.
Gowns, coats, dresses and men’s suits were stored in “armoires” or wardrobes, which were freestanding pieces of furniture. Clothing was also hung on pegs. Remember that people of long ago didn’t have nearly as much surplus clothing as we have now — even among those of us who don’t think we have a lot of clothes. Most people of moderate income had one winter coat which they replaced when it became too worn. One good suit if you were a man. A Sunday dress, perhaps two, if you were a woman, and a small selection of weekday wear or work clothes.
As time went by, and hangers became popular, many people simply removed the shelves and installed a clothes bar for hanging clothes, only to find that the closet door (if any) woouldn’t quite close because the clothes are too wide. This has less to do with modern overweight-ness in first world countries, and more to do with the fact that most people were both physically smaller and clothing was designed cut close to the body, so when hangers were invented, they were narrower than modern style hangers.
2. People installed ghastly drop ceilings in lovely, high-ceilinged rooms at about the same time they stopped using woodstoves and fireplaces and started paying utility bills. Usually the ghastly things can be ripped out and reveal a glorious extra few feet above (and sometimes even a treasure of an antique light fisture or ceiling fan).
3. Those weird painted floors? In Victorian times and well into the 1930’s, people often painted a border around the rug on the floor to match the rug. When the rug was gone, it was common to paint the floor with dark brown enamel, as paint was believed to be easier to maintain than varnish, which needed frequent waxing (this was before polyurethane, remember).
Client called to confirm arrival in five minutes. Steph, we all can’t wait for the continued edition of “This Old Heap.” You’ll be thrilled when you are done.
P.S. Don’t try to get that foam stuff trimmed off with a knife. Get a razor. Then sand it, then skin over the surface with drywal mud or putty, then sand and paint. It will vanish. Alternative: razor it off and put a piece of toe molding over it, using liquid nails on both the edge meeting the wall and the edge meeting the floor, to prevent drafts, then tack in place with finishing nails. Paint the molding before you put it down — the edge will be pristine.
Dez
I am sitting here waiting for a client who is WAY LATE for a meeting, so I thought I’d be helpful to the curious since Steph is so busy finishing floors.
Being a native of New Orleans and a lifetime Southerner who has probably invested as much time into researching and repairing old houses as I have spent on knitting and on my actual career, I do actually have a few answers for this stuff.
1. Why are closets so small and shallow in old houses? In many places (particularly those under French rule, like old New Orleans) houses were taxed based on the number of rooms they contained, and yes, a closet counted as a “room.” Even after rulership changed hands, the old taxation laws often remained in effect for generations. My mother has what the old tax laws call a “ten-room house.” Sounds huge! It is in fact 850 square feet, with a small living room, small dining room, kitchen, two large bedrooms, three wee closets and a small enclosed “sleeping porch” which is now a laundry room and storage.
If you go into old houses which are in original condition (or close to original), and if you inspect the closets, you often find plank shelving, or the rails/brackets which once held the shelves. People folded most of their clothes and put them on shelves within the closet. My mother’s house in New Orleans has three small closets, and the rails for the old shelves are still in place. The old plank shelves were typically not permanently secured, thus you could easily remove them once a year for spring cleaning, whitewash the inside of the closet, kill vermin, etc.
In some jurisdictions closets were not taxed if they were less than a certain width and depth and had no door; this was considered an “alcove” and therefore a continuation of the main room. Some small closets were also designed with a single rod mounted between the inside-top of the doorframe and the back of the wall (front-to-back), and upon this you would hang clothes one behind the other on hangers.
Gowns, coats, dresses and men’s suits were stored in “armoires” or wardrobes, which were freestanding pieces of furniture. Clothing was also hung on pegs. Remember that people of long ago didn’t have nearly as much surplus clothing as we have now — even among those of us who don’t think we have a lot of clothes. Most people of moderate income had one winter coat which they replaced when it became too worn. One good suit if you were a man. A Sunday dress, perhaps two, if you were a woman, and a small selection of weekday wear or work clothes.
As time went by, and hangers became popular, many people simply removed the shelves and installed a clothes bar for hanging clothes, only to find that the closet door (if any) woouldn’t quite close because the clothes are too wide. This has less to do with modern overweight-ness in first world countries, and more to do with the fact that most people were both physically smaller and clothing was designed cut close to the body, so when hangers were invented, they were narrower than modern style hangers.
2. People installed ghastly drop ceilings in lovely, high-ceilinged rooms at about the same time they stopped using woodstoves and fireplaces and started paying utility bills. Usually the ghastly things can be ripped out and reveal a glorious extra few feet above (and sometimes even a treasure of an antique light fisture or ceiling fan).
3. Those weird painted floors? In Victorian times and well into the 1930’s, people often painted a border around the rug on the floor to match the rug. When the rug was gone, it was common to paint the floor with dark brown enamel, as paint was believed to be easier to maintain than varnish, which needed frequent waxing (this was before polyurethane, remember).
Client called to confirm arrival in five minutes. Steph, we all can’t wait for the continued edition of “This Old Heap.” You’ll be thrilled when you are done.
P.S. Don’t try to get that foam stuff trimmed off with a knife. Get a razor. Then sand it, then skin over the surface with drywal mud or putty, then sand and paint. It will vanish. Alternative: razor it off and put a piece of toe molding over it, using liquid nails on both the edge meeting the wall and the edge meeting the floor, to prevent drafts, then tack in place with finishing nails. Paint the molding before you put it down — the edge will be pristine.
Dez
Good heavens! Your baseboard and walls are the exact reverse of a bedroom color scheme that I had in a house I lived in 30 years ago! It was a horrible 70’s kitchen appliance green when we moved in and I hated it. My dh repainted it to surprise me one birthday and his purple walls and yellow trim kept me speechless, though not with joy. I could barely sleep in the room for the four years that we lived there. That was also the house where he painted the claw-footed bathtub orange and the bathroom ceiling black with purple dayglo swirls. Luckily, we had an outhouse. Your redo is gorgeous so far. Joe will be really pleased. Especially when he finds out that the house didn’t, in fact, burn down and that the fire was only a small one. Barely a fire at all. Your descriptions in your last two posts DID make me spew tea all over my monitor. How about a tarp alert so I can cover my monitor with one on future posts if they’re going to be that funny?
Lill
That sawdust is like those birthday candles that don’t go out… without the laughing and general hilarity that immediately follows. (Except after the fact. Okay, it’s just like those candles. Just time delayed.)
That sawdust is like those birthday candles that don’t go out… without the laughing and general hilarity that immediately follows. (Except after the fact. Okay, it’s just like those candles. Just time delayed.)
That is an insanely beautiful floor; which is appropriate, since your finishers are quite clearly insane.
Might I suggest an inquiry to your local hazmat dump regarding the safe disposal of said flammable sawdust? Instinct says that though it’s convenient to send it out with the trash, it’s probably a Bad Thing environmentally speaking.
I didn’t read any of the comments, so someone else may have beaten me to this. If a real door is too expensive, how about some other treatment? A curtain swagged to one side? Or how about strings of bead — I’ve always wanted to do that somewhere.
Ohhhh I can’t believe that is the same floor! It is going to be lovely! Be careful painting…I always try to be careful and cover things up and never, never am able to avoid spills and accidents…I don’t understand it because I REALLY try to be careful. Thank heavens the guys put the bags in the garden instead of the basement!
Oh, yeah Steph, the dust, I was so afraid of that.
I too have been there done that…you will find dust for months. It will even be in your tooth brushes.
These guys sound like real pros…NOT…and I am soooo glad they didn’t electrocute themselves (but stupidity can be its own best defense), at least they did not short out your entire electrical system or blow up your breaker panel in the process.
The floors will be beautiful. Maybe you do want to wait a day or two before painting though. At least wash the ceiling, walls and floors because the dust will show in the paint and poly floor sealer.
Whats with your blog? It hiccups the same posts sometimes 3-4 times in a row. Wow!
Oh my, what an endeavour! Good luck with that one. You know, the part about the newspaper stuffed walls really threw me. I really could not help thinking ‘How can anyone survive even one winter in a place like this?! What’s the energy cost?! And wouldn’t brick and mortar houses be much more useful in this kind of climate anyway’? But well, I live on a different continent and it’s probably only the reliable and efficient German in me talking ;o)
Good luck with remodeling your bedroom
Susan G.
Hey — it still looks better than my bedroom. We live in the old attic, and have similar old pine flooring, which has shrunk so much in places that you can seriously lose loose change width-wise in the floor. It’s a delightful shade of oxblood spattered with white paint from when the previous owners painted the trim, and we also have a 1″ gap between floor and wall.
Add to that the water damage from before we fixed the roof (thanks to Dad) and we’ve got ghetto paradise.
Congratulations on beginning the reno. I have some hope for one in our future. Especially if I show the husband your blog.
My gift to you:
http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/index.html
You are clever and crafty – you can make even the most craptastic IKEA anything in to a work of art.
I’m right there with you, girl – except that I planned to paint my living room (solo) on the weekend of January 13-14. So far (March 9) I have two coats of Kilz on the ceiling (to cover old nicotine residue) and one coat on the walls.
I have to paint the ceiling a THIRD time!
PS: It’s not any easier at 5’3.5″
I love your Ikea bookcase. That is exactly what I wanted for my yarn. I finally, after decades, got my own knitting and craft room. My boyfriend says he needs a room of his own now. I told him he could have the basement/garage until Spring and then the motorcycles come in. Prioritys you know.
I just thought that shelf would be great to display my not so good yarns. The wool yarns (which i just got into and love them ALL!) I have in those big Ziploc bags. Love them. I inherited the not so good yarns from my sister-in-law. God rest her sole. She left us in October Halloween day. She is greatly missed by most.
Terri
Hey
Takes special people to see beyond the crap in an old house. My hats off to you two for trying to tame the beast. hehe. I wish I could find a woman that was as hands on as you and didn’t mind the effort getting there. I will keep an eye on your progress if you post it. I find it interesting, i have reno’d a few houses like that, matter of fact I grew up in one, haha Good luck…
CK
ps. I have a renovation help site at myrenovation.ca. I would be more than happy to help anyone needing free renovation advice, …
CK