1 month in 10 song titles

Many loyal blog fans have asked me lately when I'm going to write my next post. After all, it's been more than a month and lots is happening in renovation-world. Well, "less is more" when it comes to blogging, that's what I always say. It's never good to overwhelm your readers with too much information. However, it's been so long since my last post that "less" has become more like "The Sounds of Silence".

So, I'd better get back to "Taking Care of Business". I am now back on the job and I face the problem that so much has happened in the last 5 weeks I have to find a fast way to catch up!

First I thought I could summarize it all in Haiku. But that seemed a little too brief. So, instead, here are the highlights of the last month told in well-known song titles (bonus points for readers who can identify the singer(s) or band for each one)...

"Hot, hot, hot..." At the beginning of April, the framing, electrical, heating, and plumbing were all finished and we were ready for the spray foam insulation. Like magic, the basement was transformed from cold to cozy literally overnight. And that's before we even have any flooring. I am already thrilled with the results. As well, our new "heat on demand" water tank is now up and running and the results are also "hot, hot, hot". 

Spray foaming, April 5. I was at work so missed the event.
Lyle took a few photos before the fumes got too overwhelming. 

"Slip Sliding Away..." Also thanks to the spray foam, we got to enjoy an impromptu stay-cation at the Sheraton waterslide park and hotel. (We needed to let the house air out for 24 hours after spraying.) The kids were thrilled to spend a whole evening and the next morning "slip sliding away" at the waterslides of the Sheraton near the Calgary airport. Being such a great sport of a mom, I joined them on the slides. However, I confess my enthusiasm waned long before the kids'. I was pretty thrilled to leave the waterslides and the hotel at the end of that!

"We Will Rock You..." Lyle calls our new kitchen our 'rock collection' -- because when it's done, it will include 6 separate pieces of solid granite rock (did I mention, the work we're doing upstairs has expanded a bit?) We were bedazzled by a particularly dramatic piece of dark quartz-encrusted granite shown to us by Remodelers' designer, Diana. Up til then, we had been envisioning a fairly basic black approach to the counters, but we were swept away by this exotic beauty...

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For..." Realizing that when you install granite, it's pretty much permanent and non-reversable, we woke up the next morning to that "what were we thinking???" sort of feeling over the dramatic sparkly granite countertop. No denying it was beautiful in its own right, but we're just not the dramatic and sparkly types! Hoping the order had not yet been placed, we raced back for a second countertop meeting with Diana and chose a very dark and non-descript brown option...

"We Can Work it Out..." It takes a lot more drywall to build a basement than you might think. And since it wouldn't fit down the stairs... it had to be shimmied through a window. The crew built a clever contraption out of some spare lumber to slide it into the basement intact. I wonder how we're going to get the furniture down there?

"Walking on Sunshine..." Once the drywalling began it didn't take long for the rooms to start appearing. The potlights already look fantastic in the new ceiling, though neither are finished yet. I was especially "walking on sunshine" when I got my first peek into my new office space.

Through this door lies my new home office/ peaceful sanctuary.
It is lit by a nice sized South facing window, which I will kindly share with some of Lyle's cacti.

"Celebration..." Why does Lyle have that great big smile? He has, at last, come to the end of his 3-year project of painting our entire house -- here he is putting the finishing touches on the pantry, not a moment too soon...

"Dancing on the Ceiling..." Dust everywhere and kids literally "dancing on the ceiling" following the complete removal of our main floor ceiling in order to install lighting and repair water damage. The kids thought it was hilarious looking (and yelling, and dropping stuff) through the heating vents from the second floor.

"How Sweet It Is..." A couple of weeks after choosing countertop #2, I began to wish we hadn't been so dull in our selection. We went down to the Pacific Stone granite yard. Seeing a giant piece of that brown stuff next to so many more interesting colours and patterns, I knew I had to look at a few more options! If you've ever bought carpet, or changed the paint, or bought an 8-foot slab of granite, you'll know what I mean when I say it all looks totally different in 'actual size' than it does on the small sample square. Long story short... Thanks to Lori, we found a beautiful piece of creamy 'French Vanilla' that's neither too dramatic or too dull, but just right. And, thanks to Diana who found the perfect backsplash to go with. :)

Here's Lyle with our French Vanilla granite, thinking "How sweet it is" that he doesn't
have to look at any more countertop options.  

So there you have it -- the last month in 10 + 1 bonus song titles. We have been thrilled with the rapid progress and high quality of workmanship. We're at about the halfway point, and I'm excited to start seeing some of the finishing work. Miroslav (project manager) says he may start tiling the bathroom next week!