Hannotte

A couple of things:

1- I ‘tore up’ the vinyl floor in the kitchen (the quotes b/c it wasn’t even attached. Just laying there all gross). It was put down in 1985. I know this because that was the date on the newspaper they used to level the floor. Lame.

2- Under that was the expected orange/brown vinyl from the 60s/70s.

3- Under THAT is the original black/white with red border Lino. And it’s in really good shape.

No, I’m not keeping it. By good shape, I mean not terribly shitty, but not something I’d use. What it does tell me, is that the original pine subfloor is probably in great shape if the plywood the original Lino is on held up - it should be good as new. I looked in the basement and I see no gaps or cracks or anything, so the floor decision has been made:

TEAR IT ALL UP. SAND. SEAL. I’m not painting because it’s a really high-traffic area and I just don’t want to deal with that.the end. no waste. no money. I’m still afraid of it being cold. But on the plus side it’ll be cool in the summer, right?

In bathroom business, a new mirror was hung (too high. too late?), painting is almost done, and the shower curtain arrived. my god it’s almost done. three months later.

not that the bathroom is finished or anything, but we’re going to start a cheap kitchen reno in a couple of weeks. you know the kind that will get us through 5 years or so until we can do it right. but i’m kind of excited, because it means i can try new things and no be worried that THIS IS IT. so, it going to involve a lot of this:

(http://hindsvik.com/?p=1809).

Plywood will cover the walls, and now i’m debating the floors as well. Initially, I was going to do some kind of vinyl composite tile (mostly because we have a bunch). But now that I am seeing plywood floors everywhere, it’s looking like a good idea.

But I also really like Marmoelum sheet flooring. I know it’s not as cheap as plywood, but I think it would wear a lot better and I can inject a little colour since I’m afraid all that plywood might be a little…much.

I love this:

or maybe this:

(forbo)

All the appliances are staying in the same place and we’re just adding a dishwasher. Also, ‘all the appliances’ refers to the two appliances that we have that we will not be replacing any time soon. It’ll be ikea cabinets (lowers only) with two open shelves above. Those decisions are made. It’s just the flooring I can’t make my mind up about….

now, i’m no real estate expert, but i do work for one and i do check out every house that comes on the market and i have a good idea of how you should market a house and how to photograph a house and how to stage a house. okay, i totally am an expert. ha.

this one came in my daily round-up of new listings. these are amongst the worst photos of a a house i have ever seen.

ENJOY (the pictures will only be here so long as the listing is up, i’m too lazy to actually save them):

1. horribly stretched exterior shot. poor resolution. bad angle.

2.

Doesn’t this look like a wonderful place to unwind? Come on - at least move the friggen compost containers! (I would like to buy that beautiful teak day bed, tho!)

3.

This home features windows.

4.

If you are intersted in this home, they will leave the compost poster up for you. This is not a picture of a kitchen. This is three cupboards.

5.

I don’t totally hate this picture only because these are beautiful floors

6.

This one kills me

All that and more available now at 106 Russet Ave. for $459 000. MLS#: W1952354

Finally got around to taking some pictures of Beatrix and Willa’s rooms:

Willa’s room:

vintage chalkboard from Arcadia Antiques for 25 bones - significantly less than you’d pay across the street if you know what I’m sayin…

Vintage butterfly chair with leather sling - CL

Antique Dresser- CL

Beatrix’s Room:

i took it upon myself to remove the stipple/popcorn ceiling in the soon-to-be living room. it didn’t take long, but it’s a gross and messy ordeal.

imagine sitting around like 20 years ago and thinking, “you know what would look sharp? popcorn ceilings! everywhere!” blam.

also my husband is working on a show right now called Canadian Pickers and he’s traveling the country going to abandoned barns and convents and other awesome places finding awesome things like this poster from Edmonton that looks damned good in the bedroom.

well not “after-after”. after-for-now. master. complete with shitty iphone pictures. Behr “Gallery White” and “Poppyseed”. Floors refinished.

Today was supposed to be super exciting. We were supposed to FINALLY have the toilet and sink installed. We waited over a month for them to arrive, see. But, there’s a peice or two missing or something so the sink couldn’t be hung, but by God we have a toilet! The wallpaper was hung the other day by Megan from HandeeGalz and I’m pretty happy with the result, I just wish I had bought two rolls so it goes all the way around. I’ll have to make it work - that stuff was $140 a roll and guess what? That’s nuts.

So here are some shots to give an idea of how it’s turning out:

Look how beautiful those faucets are.

i’m a lunatic. browsing here i see this and think two things:

1- thank god they didn’t paint that out. there was that article in NYT a couple weeks ago about how real estate has ruined design - we design for re-sale rather than for ourselves. Not these folks.

2- I’ve seen that pink ceiling before. Oh yeah, here!

I don’t know if the rest of the photos from that installment of “Hello! Neighbour” have vanished from The Marion House book or if I just can’t see them or what, but if you look at the listing here you can see how cute the entire home is.

When you’ve got a whole house in front of you to re-do and a whole lot of inspiration to go around, it’s hard to remember what the hell you like anymore.

After the floors are sanded and before we start painting, I have to decide about the two main rooms on the first floor. One is supposed to be a dining, the other living. A lot of people switch these rooms around because the dining is usually a little bigger than the living and the fireplace, while beautiful, IS IN THE WAY. So I think that’s what I’ll do - make the back room the living room, and the front room the dining room. This makes sense for us, especially since I’ve sold the island in the kitchen and made it eat-in which works a whole lot better for feeding babies and kids.

So, with that in mind, I’ve got some thinking to do. The dining room table that I’ve wanted for years and years is the Chunk bench and table from Style Garage. I’d put my two eames arm chairs at either end, and the two eames side chairs along one side. But can I put my teak wall unit in there with the oak? I don’t know. Do I even like that teak wall unit anymore? Can I put it somewhere else? In the kitchen?

And then for the living room, which will have the beamed ceiling and plate rail - how can I make that livingroomish? This is one of my favorite living rooms of all time:

and I have a big sloppy gray couch, so I could paint the rest of the walls and trim gray to tone down the dining room details and go from there. Just have to find the right gray. Help? Any other perfect living rooms out there?

the bathroom inspiration is this:

to get there, i will do this:

1- as you can already see - classic subway tile 3/4 up the wall with classic rail cap or whatever it’s called.

2- clawfoot tub/faucet/shower from craigslist for $150.

3-this sink and toilet from Kohler

4- this wallpaper above the tile from Ferm which looks a lot like the shower curtain from the Royal Tenenbaums:

5 - a couple of these towels from Anthropolgie

6 - a ruffly shower curtain

7- a vintage fan, obviously

8- a cool light from Rejuvination that will have to be a surprise

I think that’s a decent interpretation of the inspiration room. Time will tell.

i will blame it on the rain heat. that, and the fact that NOTHING is happening. we’re still waiting for the toilet and sink, which has meant a month of going all the way to the basement to use either. however, we did get an amazing samsung washer/dryer that i swear to god doesn’t make a peep. at the old house, we had a bosch pair that almost shook the back addition off the house, but with the vibration reduction technology of this set…nothing. which is important on the second floor.

in other news we are having the floors sanded starting at the end of this week. once that is done, i can start painting. and once the painting starts, that’s when there should be some real, worthwile changes happening.

i’ve also come up with a cheapo kitchen reno idea that should cost no more than $1000 in materials (including a dishwasher). I just need to find someone to do the labour for free. It’s weird that no one is into doing that.