Some More Finishing Touches....Again

Remember that list that I said I wrote early one morning...well, it seems we are finding more things to do NOT written on it whenever we turn around to scratch something off the list! But I am very happy to say that I've gotten a vast majority of my 'gardening' done - at least enough to allow me to go the summer in a relative calm state (even though I found all the seeds I bought this spring with the full intention of having a glorious veggie bed & to start repairing my losses in herbs....)

The big news of the weekend is: THE STAIRS TO THE LOFT ARE NOW INSTALLED!!!!!

How to Raise a set of Heavy Stairs:

1) Call everyone in town on a Saturday afternoon & hope someone picks the phone up (offering beer is a good idea).

2) Wait for someone to show up.

3) Stand around while someone comes up with a good (& safe) way to start the show.

4) Figure out who is the tallest person (don't really know how this one fit into the picture as they were all the same height...)

5) Make sure the person standing on the next floor has a good & sturdy rope as they will be holding onto the stairs at some point while everyone switches positions.


6) Communicate, communicate, communicate (usually in loud curses & other garbled languages).

7) Lift with the knees, not the back.

8) Slide the 300 pound set of stairs gently into place & hope it's the right place.

9) Ask someone's opinion as to whether it's straight or not & then tap the stairs around for 15 minutes only to find that the original position was really the best after all.

10) Attach the stairs to the wall & floor BEFORE the guy up on the next floor decides to come stomping down (even if he wants to see if the stairs will remain in place without the screws....)

11) Drink the beer that was offered to the volunteers who didn't want it after all (celebrate!!!)




We would like to thank our stairs builder (the Dude) & our volunteers: Matt, Kevin, Bob, & Kurt.








We now view this work of art daily & we also know the work is not yet completed with them. We are putting down some fir hardwood on the landing & the step on either side - which will have to be varathaned - many, many coats. We also need to work on the cedar posts - the one at the bottom of the stairs & the central one that goes from the kitchen all the way up to the loft ceiling (not shown in picture). Again: many, many coats of varathane.....





The stairs are stunning even without the railing on them & who knows what THAT's going to look like or even how long.....I shudder....






Now that we have access to the WHOLE house again (remember that there were not even temporary stairs for us to use for over 4 weeks...), Phil has been busy, busy, busy (well, me too....). Phil installed the central vac system - made sure all the electrical connectors were working & we got suction!! For the first time, I was able to properly clean the suite floors....a broom really does not get all the dust that comes in. The central vac is nice & quiet inside the house (whooosh) & barely noticeable outside the house. Once the shelter is built around that little part of the deck, no one will know how often (or not) we use the thing!

With access to the loft, we have decided to work in a top-down fashion. The sooner we get the top part of the house done, the sooner we can start to move up....which we have to do in the next 2 1/2 weeks.....

These are the reading lights for our bed in the loft. Not exactly what I was going for, but there are only so many lighting stores we can go to & be disappointed...I hope these work out.

These little lights are also in the loft just about chest height on the slope of the ceiling. Underneath these light (3 on one side & 2 on the other) we will eventually build drawers into the wall. These puck lights tilt down or sit flush in their mounts (so they are facing out on the same angle as the ceiling). ~super cool~



Here's our ceiling fan for the loft. I'm so excited about the deal we got for 2 fans - both the same - in such a 'cool' & 'trendy' look. Very modern & slick. Not too much wobble either - not bad for Phil's first attempt at a ceiling fan. He was so excited to get this dimmer switch for the fan, so that we could control the speed from the wall switch - but the motor humms rather loudly when this function is used, so I think we will just keep it on low & turn it on or off with the wall switch. But, with Phil's research abilities on the internet, he just might find a fix for that too!

We are varathaning the pine ceiling - for protection of the wood against the summer sun. We could already see a bit of difference in the wood along the windows to the wood back in the loft. Phil set back up the scary scaffolding & has been up there most of the afternoon slapping on the varathane. I think I'm becoming sensitive to it - much to smelly. I have the feeling that by the time we are totally finished the house, most surfaces will have varathane on them......


We've also been working on some extra touches.

Like hanging baskets outside. This is my first time with these - only 3 this year & red geraniums, not really one of my favourite flowers....BUT, we shall see what else grows in the baskets & if I can remember to keep them watered. They are on the lower deck & are more for the guests who will be staying in the suite.


On the day the stairs were raised, I was outside bright & early with the 300 pound lawn mower trying to make a bit of definition to the yard. Or at least around my berry bushes (top center) & around some of the 'flower' beds.

Does anyone have an electric mower? What are your thoughts on those? I've heard that a gas mower puts out enough carbon emissions as a regular car does in 5 hours!

See, the yard is looking better - we will hopefully get the use of an extra garbage bin this weekend (was supposed to be today.....) so that we can get rid of the garbage pile which happens to be where I want to plant more berry bushes.....


Today I cleaned off the upper deck & hauled up 2 planter boxes. I managed to find some soil somewhere - although I'd like to get some manure in the next few weeks for them too.

I've got a few small plants for them: lavender & some sort of onion (I've read somewhere that the true test of a gardener is if they can successfully grow onions....), & some sort of ornamental grass that survived the winter in the green house. I planted these poor boxes with a multitude of seeds in the hopes that a few from each will sprout & grow (things like: calendula, viola, corn flower, nasturtium, sage, thyme, savory & parsley). I had thought to put in some bean seeds, but that might be pushing it just a little.... See those cute little white things in each box - Cousin Pauline sent me some cows on sticks & I've finally found a home for them!!

We also now have privacy in our suite!

The hemlock doors were varathaned & sanded & varathaned....you know the routine....& finally I said to Phil that they were ready for installation.

I'm glad that the door frames were hung up properly a few months ago & the door removed for staining. This allowed Phil an easy install job - took about 10 minutes!

First, he had to install the door knob....

Then he had to chisel out a little bit of wood for the hole plate to go in so that the door can close properly.









The doors hang nice & evenly!!

They give better definition to the suite (Phil says that they make the suite look smaller...)







Bathroom Door











Bedroom Door

Some More Finishing Touches....

OK! It's been a month since I've sat down to document our struggles & our truimphs & our 'what the....??!!', but I'm back on track now & we are moving forward at a good pace....ever since I got up at 4 a.m. to write out some lists of jobs that we need to do before the summer is upon us.

Firstly, we went down to Florida to help Gerry & Lorraine celebrate their wedding on the beach - absolutely stunning event & a grand time with family (Phil's side) & a bit of time to ourselves & a couple of good nights down on my Uncle Gerry's sailboat in Fort Lauderdale.

It took us over 36 hours of traveling to make it back to Bamfield - with yet another massive shopping spree at Home Depot & Costco. This finishing work is almost more planning & organizing than the whole of the initial construction phase!!

We brought some of that Florida sunshine & heat back with us - a whole 2 days of it!! But June is just around the corner, so I'm sure the weather will improve once again. We had hoped to see the stairs installed (as promised) but they needed a bit more work & planning - so I've got my fingers crossed for the next week or so......


Introducing our loft stairs!! Big & beautiful! Here, they have no varathane on them & I was surprized that the 2 different woods looked so similar, but some of the work that needed to be done on them was to apply the varathane....




Here's Phil working with his sponge brush. You can already see the colours of the yellow cedar (the stringers on the side in the light colour) & the fir (the darker colour on the treads) coming out. I think Phil had to put on about 4 coats of varathane.






Here's Michelle getting down & dirty - literally! The place upstairs is a disaster! When I find the time, I'll get back up there with the shop vac & blast it all away.


This is just a close up of the stairs. There is a lot of awesome wood grain on the treads & the stringers have some nice knots & veins running along it.








The house was designed to have a bit of a landing at the bottom of the stairs. The house isn't wide enough to have the stairs where we put them, but I really wasn't expecting a 2 step landing! I'm hoping the boys will work on this today & put in the step on either side of it....plus the post at the bottom of the stairs. It was somewhere upstairs when I went to take photos, but I couldn't find it....

We are putting fir hardwood on the landing (& the 2 steps?) & we were lucky enough that a friend in town has lots of extra - so we shall see what we will do with it once it's installed....

While we were away, the upper kitchen was being installed. This design is quite a bit different than the suite kitchen - more custom to how I want the whole living space to feel. As you can see, the cabinets are up to the ceiling - this is for the items that we don't use everyday. You'd be surprized at how much you don't use certain 'kitchen gadgets' that are meant to save time - I found a whole wack of things when we were packing up that I NEVER use!

We are only half way finished with the kitchen - under the cupboards will be 2 open shelves - & a custom microwave stand & we've yet to pick out our under-the-shelf lighting, but that'll come along...

This is the corner pantry unit that Mark custom built for us - the angles match the office wall & the entry door angle down the hallway. It also allows for moving around the top of the stairs area without fear of falling down the stairs. This is going to be an awesome storage unit!


While Mark was installing the upper cabinets, we all realized that when the electrical was put in, we forgot to account for the cupboard doors. Usually, the upper cabinets do not come up this high (normal height is like in the suite kitchen) so we now have to dig into the drywall & move the lights out & away from the cabinets. Ruining a perfectly good paint job on the ceiling....grrrr.

I leave the boys upstairs to install the island for half an hour & come back up to see it & realized that they put in the central vac in the wrong spot....the island needs to be ripped up! We have the toe-kick hole that you use when you just want to sweep up the kitchen & brush it down a low hole attached to the central vac....Phil had Mark put it under the front edge - 2 or 3 inches back so that he won't smash his toe on it. It's supposed to be installed on the side of the island so that the broom can actually get the dirt down into the hole. Oops!


Phil's been doing all the electrical finishing upstairs too. He's got almost all the lights installed - such as this wall sconce on the front wall. It looks awesome at night & I can't wait to see the effect when the windows are cased & trimmed in.




Phil also finished the bathroom light installation. Makes it much easier to use this room - not for what it was intended just yet (we need a new toilet - the old one broke because we left it in the yard over the winter - talk about white trash!!). I'm using the bathroom as my staining room - some place where I can control the heat - air flow & reduce the amount of dust flying by my face.

Phil moved in the cedar trim wood - now it will dry out & we can get to planing, sanding, cutting, installing & putting on some sort of oil product to protect it & bring out the colours. The laundry room smells great!





Phil went down into the scarey crawl space this morning to wire it up for lights. Somehow we neglected this & we actually have a lot of useable room down there. He also built proper covers for the 2 access holes that we have to the crawl space. Maybe the musty smell down there will stay down there - although Phil has the de-humidifyer running again & that should reduce the damp.



Last night I came home from spending a day over at Aguilar House they've been renovating for almost 2 years & I've been doing a bunch of odd jobs there for a few months. Anyway - I've learned so much about finishing work there it's been a lot of help for us in our projects. I spent the day staining the wood in their games room & we've been needing to stain our interior hemlock doors for a while. It's kind of silly living with blankets as doors....really removes the privacy come 'bathroom time'......

Anyway!! I got home & we hauled up the 2 doors we have access to (the doors for the upper bathroom & office are stuffed in the back of the office behind all our boxes....). I wasn't sure if I should put on a wood conditioner before applying the stain (have heard 6 different opinions as to how to do it...) so I just started putting 'er on! It was TERRIFYING! The stain is the same as what we used on the kitchen cupboards, but the kitchen is hickory - a hard wood & the door are hemlock a soft wood - the soak up rate is vastly different with the hemlock. I had to wipe it off almost as soon as I put it on!! But the effect is stunning! The doors look like they are old doors - without all the dings & dents & marks that come from finding an antique door.

This morning I put on a coat of varathane & it's brought out the colour even more. I'll have to wait for the varathane to dry to see if I need to sand it at all & maybe put on another coat.

I also did the door frames downstairs with the stain last night, so we had to sleep in a stinky room. But with the varathane, it looks really good. Can't wait to see what Phil wants to do for door trim....