Outdoor Living

We have friends who, when invited to our house for dinner, arrive with blankets and fleeces on the assumption we may be eating outdoors. It may be because we are from the Maritimes originally but whatever the reason we both feel almost an obligation to be outside the house whenever it is fit to be. One of the big stumbling blocks for us in looking for a townhouse was that we don't have traditional row houses in our housing repertoire. Our townhouses are all reasonably new developments with very limited private outdoor space in favour of common grounds that are looked after by the strata. So we had to get our heads wrapped around living on a balcony which just wasn't resonating favourably. We were very taken with one property that had only a 6x12 deck and thankfully someone put an offer on it before we got around to it or we would already be looking for a new house. In this complex we've moved into all the units have an entry courtyard of some description and a good sized balcony or even two. We have looked at about 10 of the units over the last few years knowing it is an attractive development but we were pretty fussy about what we wanted, a south facing end unit. We bought this one before the listing ink was dry because of the outdoor space, it is that important to us, and then spent a nominal fortune changing the house to suit us. 

the spruce tree and too small table space

nice enough but a bit tired

As with most things the strengths are also the weaknesses in this place: it is at the very end of the row adjacent to a busy street so we don't feel like we are in a development but we get traffic noise; it faces south and west so the light is wonderful but it gets hot so we had to install a wicked expensive motorized awning for the west windows. The courtyard patio here is one of the biggest we've seen and we were going to develop it next year but suddenly it's been done. The spruce tree was always dropping needles and the roots were heaving the bricks so it came down a week ago and then we heard of a young guy who was between jobs and would do the digging labour for a reasonable amount of money, we were able to find almost-matching bricks, and there we are.

you could not imagine how much dirt came out of this modest excavation

the space emerging

Lots of people would have preferred the old look of the courtyard but, for us, the ability to entertain in a not-too-crowded space trumped the messy spruce tree, overgrown shrubs, half-dead roses, and rampant mint.

coming out our front door

coming in from the street

And on the other side of the house we don't have the expanse of sky that we used to have but it's not bad...

the Energizer bunny looking a bit bedraggled as he comes in the back door

Nearing the end

...and you are probably as tired of this project as we are. No one is as tired of it as our new neighbours must be. They seem to be still friendly but it has been a steady barrage of vehicles and racket all summer long. Daily I still fight the battle of where to put too much stuff despite how much we got rid of and daily Jim does hard labour at whatever the flavour of the day is. I have a full carload of things retrieved from Barb's garage and no idea where it's all going to go, so am writing this to avoid dealing with it. But not much to say really so will have to face the music.

The fully functional master bathroom with the shower and tub combo that caused so much measuring angst; and a window that opens instead of glass blocks

And the skookum new kitchen which by the weekend, hopefully, will have bar stools too.

In Praise of Visitors

The Muse Bistro for lunch on a sunny but not very warm Sunday.

A hiatus in our constant effort to get ourselves relocated. Paul arrived on Saturday evening, which forced us to go downtown to pick him up, and also forced us to go out for lunch yesterday and generally take it easy. It's been a gift in two ways: we pushed a little harder to finish a few things so we all could be reasonably comfortable, and we get to relax a bit. Nice. Plus we like Paul.

Sitting virtually in the vineyard with eagles for entertainment.

But, this morning we are waiting for workmen again, who haven't yet appeared at 9:10am which is VERY DISAPPOINTING!

What a difference a week makes

Last Wednesday, 8 days ago, our "stuff" was delivered to our new digs. It's only across the street from where we used to live but it took a week to make the trip since we just weren't ready to set anything up. While we knew this was a pretty major reno, it's only now that we are realizing what miracles have been wrought in only 4 weeks: demolition, new floors, complete paint job, new kitchen (not finished), new laundry room, new master bath/closet configuration, and masses of electrical changes.

today the patchy walls have been painted and we look more finished

no art!

Yes we've been working hard at it but we've also been blessed with good people to work with. It's been a fairly social experience as we know most of the guys (yes, all guys) so we tend to have coffee and lunch together and chat a bit. There have been glitches with the plumbing that are being sorted out and we are waiting for the kitchen counters to be installed next week, so we don't have a functional sink on the main floor. There is a toilet and the laundry, and the outdoor hose, but other wise no running water.

last Wednesday

today

Downstairs we have a kitchenette (the microwave is upstairs) and a full bathroom, so we are getting along with only the inconvenience of the intervening stairs. Refrigerators we have in abundance: the spiffy new counter depth KitchenAid, the beverage sink, the one in the kitchenette, and a new freezer. Just no water. Details!
Bob, the painter is here today finishing up our various patches and suddenly everything looks more finished. THANK GOODNESS for Bob. At one point we thought we would do the painting ourselves. NUTS! First of all the ceilings are 9ft and secondly his edging/cutting is a work of art.
We are essentially unpacked and I even know where most things are. Everything needs to be refined and tweaked but it's not bad. We found a product called Easy Track that actually is easy for doing closets so instead of a week of fussing and fidgeting we put our closet together in an afternoon and the office in an hour.

our closet last Wednesday

our closet today

office closet

The techno rep from the plumbing supply company came by today to sort out the tub filler, so now the tub/shower people can install the walls and tub trim, which means the glass people can measure and eventually we will have a nice set up in our bathroom.

non functional sinks

non functional tub/shower

For a couple of reasons I ordered Hansgrohe plumbing things which are fabulous but are sort of like a Subaru (we own two), in that not everyone wants to be bothered figuring out how they work. Never mind that the quality is quite a cut above the options.
Paul is arriving on Saturday in between Alaska, Seattle, and San Antonio, and it is going to be great to see him as well as to be forced to stop obsessing about "things to be done".
I have created one dime sized bald patch which might be from fatigue or from one of the many times I hit my head on something. I am seriously hoping if it is an alopecia attack that it isn't just getting underway but is over and minor.
The weather has remained cool and dry which has been perfect for what we are doing. Some mornings are downright chilly but our last rainfall was July 16 and the evenings have been nice enough to eat outdoors even though we aren't getting around to food till about 8:00pm.

evening retreat

So, that's our world at the moment. Summer? What summer...?
And we are almost ready to retrieve some of our masses of art from Barb's garage. Almost.