Blurry "Before" and thoughts about "mess"

I had taken some "before" photos way back at the beginning of March. They're blurry, but they give you an idea of what the kitchen looked like before all this began:

Looking into the kitchen from the door that no longer exists.

Note the extent of my counter space (and remember: both corners were unusable!)

Looking towards the dining room from the far window end of the room.

We're looking at the wall that got removed and the door that got walled over!

The fridge side of the room (which used to have only the fridge)

It's absolutely incredible to me that my new kitchen is that same space! Even with out-of-focus photos, you can see that what we had "before" was not all that nice. Now scroll down to the last blog and just LOOK at how the room was transformed! God bless Zane and Denis (the kitchen designer -- what a vision!). All I asked was that they make the best possible use of my space; they far surpassed my hopes.

Now, here's my latest discovery about renovating, now that we've moved our things back into the kitchen and are starting to reassemble the living and dining rooms:

We have lots of "stuff." I guess that's true of many people, but it is certainly true of us. While the renovation was going on, much of that "stuff" was put in various places just to keep it safe because we had to empty the entire first floor.

Now things are done, and it's time to move the stuff back in. Trouble is, we are in a "no mess" frame of mind, inspired by the clean lines and lovely finish on our cabinets and floors. That's a great frame of mind for many things; for example, we have places for all our kitchen things in those new drawers and cabinets and have even been able to put into the kitchen cabinets and drawers the food from our makeshift "pantry" in the back hall.

However, it turns out that there are some things which are by definition messy. Where, for example, to put my school backpack when I come home from teaching? It used to get flung on a dining room chair (since our workspace was in the dining room). Now that my workspace is in the living room, there will be no "flinging" of the school bag. Where do all my books and papers go so that they're not all over the place? How about all the dog training gear that used to be piled on top of a bin in a corner by the stairs?

This is my new challenge: how to store "stuff" that, while useful, is just not attractive. That's going to take some careful planning . . . .

Hmmm . . . this makes me think that perhaps I need another room on the ground floor . . . an office, perhaps. Not too open concept, so I can hide stuff in it . . . .

Since that is not likely to be happening any time soon, I will just have to be resourceful and rise to the "where to hide stuff I need but don't want to SEE" challenge. Suggestions?

Day 23: Only two small jobs left to do

Well, our journey is pretty much complete. Today Zane and Mike came to finish up little jobs like installing a new bifold door in the entryway and touching up some paint -- AND Zane also built a better mousetrap, changing my exterior dryer vent cover and caulking it so that the rodents couldn't get in to the house by that particular entrance anymore (wonder how many are in there now?).

Derek finished the electrical, installing the second pot light over the window and our ceiling fixtures.

So here's a look at the kitchen, waiting for us to move in:

The window side of the room.

The view from the back door.

Rugby invites you to visit his new kitchen.

I did NOT ask him to pose like that. Clearly the lad enjoys having his picture taken!

A closer look at the "peninsula."

I love how they took the stone right up along the window.

The ceiling fixture in the dining area.

The one in the kitchen matches but sits closer to the ceiling.

The jobs that remain to be done are sealing the stone and venting the range hood. Apart from that, we're finished! And over the weekend, we'll begin figuring out what goes where, a fun but rather awesome task. We're going to start with the cutlery . . . it has a specific drawer. So do the spices. After that, well, it's up in the air so far.

They finished right on schedule, and I love the way it all came together. Can't ask much more than that, can you? Another post or two next week to show you how it looks once we're actually "in," and then the journey will be complete. It's been fun sharing it!

Day 22: Stone and Tile with grout

The month of March has been so beautiful -- that's helped keep us smiling as we continue living in two rooms upstairs (though Ray has SO had it; he's been feeling a little claustrophobic in here, where we work, eat, feed the dogs, etc.).

Yesterday the tile men returned. John and Tony finished the fine cuts on the stone, and then John did the grout. I had actually kind of forgotten what colour the travertine was; when it's in the box, dry (not sealed), it looks much whiter than it actually is. Here it is after it was grouted and washed yesterday:

A pretty good look at the colour with the grout.

A closer look, but a little off in colour.

This one's better; I love how the grout fills the natural pits

in the stone but doesn't eliminate them.

Here's the front entry. The tile is porcelain, but it's slate-coloured. Zane would have liked me to get something really light in colour, but I love this (the tile I spotted on the showroom floor at the tile place):

Lovely narrow grout lines.

Thursday Zane and Mike will be here to do final touchups, Derek will come to finish the electrical work, and Tony will return to seal the stone. And then -- dare I say it? -- we'll be done.

Oh, except for paying for it, of course . . . .