ATTENTION: BLOG RENO!

Please move your bookmarks to Renotastic! for our reno'd reno blog. Thank you.

MY DREAM KITCHEN

Heavy dark greasy oak cabinets... check

Wagon wheel too-low hanging chandelier... check

Sea food, fruit and wine accent tiles... check

Country picnic wallpaper... check

Tiny single window that does not allow sunshine in but allows lovely views into the neighboors house... check

Sorry... cabinets doors had to go. Anthony kindly removed them all so I didn't have to wash the grease and filth off of them. Open shelving is a big trend anyway.

Surprise leak. Just some corroding lead pipes that were patched up with concrete by previous owners. The usual.

Sorry wallpaper, it's over. 

How to install a toilet

We have to make due with the tiny blue tiled bathroom on the 2nd floor (see below). But I was not cleaning that toilet (everyone has a limit). Plus, you needed to pull a makeshift lever made of broken plastic and painters tape to make it flush. So, we went to buy the first item for the house. A nice cheap, clean toilet.

Step 1: Get a decent sized caffeinated coffee.
Step 2: Drive through McDonald's and get some nourishment (a job like this requires extra grease - opt for the sausage McMuffin)
Step 3: Have a joint meltdown over the stress of buying an old gutter of a house but blame the meltdown on your cold ham and egg mcMuffins... that's not sausage! who ever orders the ham? no one!!! well, it's too late now just eat it.
Step 4: Calm down and enter the hardware store – look like you know what you are doing
Step 5: Ponder over dual-flush, elongated bowls, display specials, canadian-made vs other place made, tanks, flushes, handles, wax rings, heights etc.
Step 6: Walk around for 30 minutes looking for a sales person
Step 7: Purchase the perfect little cheap toilet and throw it in your car
Step 8: Call your sisters boyfriend, ask him to install it with a bribe of beers and burgers (we could probably have figured out the rest – I watched the youtube video – but we also wanted to hang out and eat burgers and drink beer. Thanks Brian!

Did you see that classy tile work?

LATER CARPETS

To get rid of the bad smells in the house, we knew the carpets were the first things to go. None of the carpets were worth saving but we were both hoping the floors underneath were in good shape.

Success! The floors in this room were perfect and no glue was used

No problem

Gross

To me, this was the scariest room in the house. It smelled and was dark and dirty (but the colour was most offensive). I had little hope for floors underneath the industrial carpet.

Surprise! Nice walnutty looking floors.

Pretty good! A little water damage and only 1 million staples to remove.

The stairs: I figured it would be plywood underneath but I figured better than this carpet.

Solid wood painted brown. I'm into it, I think we can save these with some paint and a new railing.

Oh, and the wood panelling was easy to remove. Except there was a hole to the other house under that one on the left. We'll just leave it on for now.

CONDO INSIDE A HOUSE

How do you live in a house and renovate it at the same time? Create a mini condo in two rooms and seal yourself off from the rest of the house.

^ This room is bright and sunny and needs minimal work to make it livable. 

^ The other side of the room. Those look like nice doors but they are sealed shut.

^ Here is the other side in the dining room. Demo time!

Voila! and I love the weird pink, aqua doors. Maybe we can use them somewhere.

BAY WINDOW

^ This is the nicest window in the house but it still needs work

^ boxy valance gone

^ But we found weird stuff in the walls. What does Asbestos look like? Green tape sealed just incase. 

^ Removed the carpet and smelly blinds – ready for primer

THE INSPECTION

Adorable white painted century rowhouse:

Crackalackin

Built-in sounds system in the bathroom:

Fancy!!

Solid oak kitchen:

That's probably cool

DIY special electrical

Trophy display:

SOLD