November 2012

The windows are removed. That pesky heating duct in the middle of the room remains. The old stove is gas and still hooked up.

The construction crew built a wall and boxed in the staircase to the second floor, enabling us to live dust free. Relatively. The front window is removed and boarded up.

Dining room window is boarded up and framing has begun. Since there is no view and little light from this window, it is being made smaller to accomodate a dining room buffet. Instead of bricking up the bottom, our architect has designed a painted panel element. This way, we don't have to match the old brick and move the sill.
Framing has begun.

Aha - the heating duct has been removed. Here is the replacement sneaking under the floorboards to the outside wall, to snug up to the sewage stack.

A new hall wall has been framed. This is the only wall that will be built in the space. We need it to make our new kitchen. The heating duct for the front bedroom is a nice skinny one to fit inside this wall. Eventually the fridge will go in this corner.

Looking more open. The fridge is moving about daily. The crew has strung up lights to work by.

A close up of the new heating duct. And my foot.

Gut has begun! This is the old front room (sitting room) As you can see, there is no insulation is this old beauty. There is double brick though, and some plaster/lathing. It looks dark and dingy.

The wall in the front hall has been removed. The shared wall will remain. Ceiling is exposed.

Front room and front door:

The back door:

We get to keep the fridge until the new floor goes in. This is a welcome surprise. The workmen will move it so they can work around it till then.

Front:

The stuff between the front and back! This is the old kitchen and a heating vent that went up to the second floor inside that wall. Some creative heating solutions will ensue.

The old floor was removed. And this is a close up of what remained - 1000s of tiny nails sticking up. I wondered if a quick trip to Canadian Tire for steel boots was in order. But they were all removed painstakingly the next day. I removed the ones that were in our path from the 2nd floor to the basement, where we had a makeshift kitchen. Oh yes, you heard me, we are living in the house through all this.

If you look closely you can see my husband is holding a bottle of wine. We have found that wine will get you through the most difficult of renovations.

October 2012 - Renovation Begins.

This is the front room (old sitting room) showing the house's original wood framing and plate rail. I am standing in the dining room. What a tired old carpet and that wallpaper - ugh! I can't believe at one time I liked that old fussy granny wallpaper. It's Laura Ashley.

The original front door. Drafty old mail slot. The door on the right of the picture goes into the above sitting room. Small, cramped and dark.

This is the original dining room.

View of the door in the sitting room and the window. This is the front of the house and the window overlooks the porch.

The dining room window, which used to have a view until the house next door was torn down and a higher house was built, with white aluminum siding, very nice view.

This is the exposed brick wall (shared with our neighbour semi) in the old kitchen. There were free standing cupboards against it for storage.

The back (south) wall in the old kitchen. The door leads to the back porch. You can see a bit of the old kitchen counter here.

The old kitchen with its mahogany cupboards. They served us well for over 20 years. A pretty cramped set up, not the best designed kitchen.

A selection of graffiti in Montreal

Maple syrup graffiti:

Charlie Sheen graffiti:

A guest at my birthday party, posing with the stone lion in our yard.

Birthday Cake

It was my birthday yesterday! 

This was the cake I made myself. White chocolate cake with white chocolate icing.

I thought this was an interesting "catch." I was walking along Bloor at Ossington when I noticed this man standing with his arms folded waiting for a green light. The car across the road, and the bleached out sun look add to its vintage feel. I also like how the person in the car has their arm hanging out the window.