Day 172 - fully completely

That's it, we're completely out of the apartment. At last. The last 5% is the hardest part. 

On a fun side note, we used our washing machine for the first time last week to discover it now leaks. Quick service call discovered a tear in the lining, a smooth $400 fix. Welcome home. 

Day 171 - Carpet in the basement

Finally we can put our crap where it belongs!

Day 170 - Moving back home!!

Not everything is done but it's time to move home. 
First we start to pack up the apartment. Farewell apartment. Farewall loud neighbours upstairs!

And back into the house. With the help of many. 

Our awesome neighbour Norm for example, who I asked to help us move the couch and a few other heavy things but who ended up staying the entire day!!!! Jodi was particularly grateful. 

My mom also lent a hand (and brought lunch!) and of course Glenda has been awesome too. We are very very lucky.

Now the joyous task of unpacking begins. This I really wish I could snap my fingers and make happen. Soon enough. And soon the list of remaining work items will be done also. The cable is in (that's top priority obviously), the carpet is being installed as I type (so we can move things downstairs and out of our living room), shower glass guy is coming tomorrow, siding begins next week, etc. Plus 6 or 7 more dump runs to get stuff off our porch and we'll be all set.

It's really nice to be home (when I can think of it as a home and not a work site).

Day 168 - plumbing is done

The plumbing for the kitchen, laundry, and all bathrooms are finally done. Well except the shower in the ensuite but close enough.

Here is the powder room.

The ensuite vanity and mirrors (with the blue film still on them)

And the basement vanity

Just in time to move in...

Day 167 - keeps coming together

Crossing a couple more things off the list today as the weekend approaches - our ensuite closet and the closet inside the front door were both installed today. Both look good and went in without any issue.

Meanwhile, an item that was long overdue, the installation of the new basement windows, finally happened today as well. Wish that had happened a month ago but better late than never! Now we just have to finish them on the inside... not sure when that is going to happen...

Day 165 - The clean up begins

In preparation for moving back home this weekend - yikes - the clean up has begun. Here is the progress we made on the main floor today, nice to see the floors again!

Day 158 - BIG blog post

Oh boy did we have a lot of activity at the house today, very exciting. At one point in the day we had 3 electricians, 2 painters, 4 counter guys and a tiler on site. The place was buzzing. 

The painters are painting, more on that to come, so let's start with the counters, both kitchen and upstairs bathroom. Looks very good!

Took 4 guys to carry the island

Ensuite counter

Next let's talk lighting. Electricians were on site installing our fixtures. This required some running around last night and again this morning to get said fixtures (they were supposed to come Thursday and we were supposed to purchase ages ago). To my surprise I also needed to buy LED compatible dimmer switches since they didn't have any with them. Nor did they have a USB plug for the kitchen. Was not expecting that $300 outlay but OK. 

And unfortunately our marquee lighting fixture for the new family room, the Slamp, has not arrived yet so we will have to get someone else in to install that in the coming days. 

The house really looks like a house now that it has lights. Go figure. 

Basement play room

Basement hallway

Basement spare room

Powder room

Closets

Ensuite scones, mirror cabinets still to be installed

Dominic the tiler was back to start on the ensuite shower, the wall is a continuation of the floor tile, with a yet to be installed strip of other tiles running vertically down on the right hand side. It'll be a few more days before he's back to finish this off. 

Three piece of bad news recently just so you don't everything is going perfectly. 

1. We mistakenly failed to order the cover plate for the ensuite shower, that is going to take 2 weeks to come so the completion of that is delayed. Oops.

2. The carpet for the basement is on back order and isn't available until after we move back in on the 20th. So that means we have to keep stuff out of the basement or at least out of the main area until that comes in. 

3. Our siding installation, set for this coming Monday, is delayed. It turns out we need to do a 2 part order rather than everything together. Like cabinets that we measured and ordered only after the drywall was installed, the siding folks suggest we install the corner pieces of siding first and take exact measurements of the long pieces rather than order longer ones and trim on site. I'm sure that is the correct thing to do, just wish we had determined it earlier in the conversations with the manufacturer and installer so we didn't end up losing 2-3 weeks. I'm tired of looking at the Typar. 

Finally, we have a move back date of Sept 19th, a week Saturday, excited but not looking forward to the actual process of moving...

Day 157 - more flooring

Randy came this evening and put down new carpet on the stairs and laid the vinyl in the laundry room. Looks good. 

Day 154 - it pays to have good neighbours

This statement has been true for a few reasons over the course of this project - noise, mess, taking up parking spaces on the streets, carrying couches, carrying kitchen cabinets - and a neighbour has come through again for us by helping us secure a tiler for our bathroom. Dominic started Thursday afternoon and was there again today working on the bathrooms. Looking good so far and very grateful to have that part of the project moving again. Thanks to Chris Little for making that happen for us!!

Powder room floor

Basement floor

Basement walls

Day 153 - the painters arrive

Painters showed up Thursday and got started, the main floor has been primed and first coat door, really starting to look like a real house again. 

We decided to paint out the wood trim around the windows, which was a tough decision given their old charm but we ultimately decided it just didn't go with the overall design. No turning back now!

Oh and we have doors in the basement, trim guys came back for another day to complete that work, unfortunately they didn't get completely finished so we'll have to find another day for them to return

Day 150 - more trim

Trim work continues, should be done tomorrow