Flooring Installation

Though it appears nothing is happening from the outside the inside has been a flurry of activity as of late. We are pushing to have Phase I completed by the middle of July so we can take a slight break and visit with friends before we begin in earnest and complete the renovation.

One of the activities has been the installation of the flooring. Saturday saw the stairs from the top floor down to the main floor get carpeted as well as the hardwood flooring (HWF) in the two upstairs bedrooms. By the end of this week we hope to have the sheet vinyl down in the kids bathroom, the sheet vinyl in the kitchen installed and the HWF extended from the original house through tpo the kitchen and family room. We also picked up the ceramic tiles this week so hopefully that will be installed as well.

Below are a series of images of the work completed to date.

We have a kitchen... at least the start of one.

Grade A Millwork started the kitchen installation yesterday.  The base cabinets are almost all in they should have the balance of the installation completed by Monday.  Next will be the countertops and all other accessories but the big room is beginning to feel like a kitchen.  Last night we were mentally planning what goes in what cupboard and drawer. 

Below the Breakfast Bar Counter and wine rack can be seen.  The space to the right of the counter will be for a small wine fridge cooler.  The camera really picked up the red undertones of the wood - it is a maple veneer with a spiced walnut stain.

Here you can see the you of the kitchen a bit better.  We will easily be able to have 3-4 adults in the kitchen without everybody tripping on each other.  With how we have been living for the past year this will definitely be a luxury!

Attic Insulation

This is one of those posts that won't have any pictures but is probably one of the important ones.  Lockport Insulation Ltd. insulated the attic of the addition with R50 of loose blown fibreglass pick insulation.  The impact was immediate as the heat in the attic is now trapped in the attic and isn't transfering down into the house.

Exterior Details

This back elevation is still my favorite view of the house.  I love the way that the planes interact and the building volumes.  Once the exterior siding is up it will take on yet another look but the overall shape still appeals.  The soffits and fascia boards are up - eaves troughs by next week or so.

The remainder of the soffits and fascia has been installed and it really finishes off the building.  We can hardly wait for the siding and landscaping and everything to be completed but the house is pretty well enclosed and still moving forward.  There hasn't been many physical changes happening but bit by bit the house is coming together.  

Painting!!

The drywall was completed and walls were prepped.  Next step is to paint the walls out and get ready for the flooring and finishes.  This should be the easy part right??  Not so much.  It took a while but we eventually were able to come up with the full colour palette for the addition and the rest of the house (Phase II) and were ready to go.  Dino and Greg Kalaitzakis of Minverva Painting and Decorating were given the finishes schedule and scheduled us in.  Benjamin Moore Paints have a new product that offers zero VOC's (off gassing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound ) that they wanted the company to try so we were selected to be the guinea pigs.  So far so good the paint is apparently going on smoothly.

Image of the BJM paint cans.

This wall is in the bathroom.  the bottom 8'-0" of the room is a fresh green.  The bulkhead above and around the perimeter of the room is a lighter shade of the green series.  The window wall will be a rich blue - all three colours will be picked up in the glass tile accent that will in installed within the room.

The walls of the Family Room have been primed and will have colour in the coming week.  The far wall will be the same blue that will be found in the bathroom and the rest of the walls will be our off white field colour.  

The kitchen walls will just be painted out the field colour above - the backsplash and cabinets will be all of the colour and character.

All I can say is that Sarah picked here room colours.  There is a previous post that shows all of the finishes but here they are in all their glory!

Though this looks like a subtle colour shift, the one wall is definitely purple and the other a bubble gum pink.  It is bright an vibrant!

Joshua's room was a challenge.  When given the choice to "design their rooms" Joshua wanted Star Wars.  Though he is 7 - how long would the Star Wars theme be appropriate?  We tried talking him out of it and subsequently into other "ageless" rooms but he was insistent.  So with that we focused on Luke Skywalkers home world of Tatooine - the endless desert.  We are hoping to have life size tegos (www.mytego.com) of key Star Wars characters along the headboard wall and then a mural of the two suns and the surrounding landscape.  We shall see what it turns out to be!