The view.

We're trading in the view we get now of the north-shore mountains for a view of downtown and the setting sun. (Mind you, this requires creeping to the edge of the roof and zooming in.)

Though if we could get our new neighbours to cut down their trees, we'd have a good view of the mountains from the small balcony being built on the back of the second storey. (Michelle, note mountains are snow capped!)

Here's one of five skylights (this one over the stairwell, one in the bathroom and three in the kitchen extension) that will bring in the light the house badly needs.

 

Speaking of sunshine, what happened to that summer-like weather we had on Friday? (Not only are the crocuses out, but I saw the first cherry blossoms this weekend, FYI at Nanaimo and Kitchener for you locals.) Katie took a "Mama day" off school Friday and requested Kits beach in bare legs and feet. Brrrr.

A welcome break!

9 more sleeps.

Hard to believe it's all got to come together in nine days. Everything is on schedule so far, though it's at a bare-bone stage right now where that doesn't seem possible! 

Actually, the kitchen installation is being moved ahead to the Monday (two days before move-in) instead of this Friday, which is the supplier's fault (i.e., us!), not Tercera's. Hahaha [hysterical laughter].

Here's the new kitchen window put in. (Re-using the original kitchen window from before extension was added).

In the next couple of days, the wiring will be done and the rough-in plumbing.

Then the walls will be done: our wonderful crew will be doing traditional plastering (hence, the cross-border shopping to find a particular plaster our guy wanted). I think it's called "veneer plastering," in which they do a skim coat of plaster over drywall so that it matches the original lathe and plaster. And -- here's the thing -- does not require sanding!

We are so lucky to have Keith McGill of Tercera on our team: from his days of restoring heritage houses in Dublin (where the laws about conserving heritage are much stricter), he brings a wealth of knowledge about how to modernize our house while preserving its character. Excuse the blurry photo.

Why I didn't post all weekend.

Our weekend to-do list.

 Thanks to Kate for helping out with the kids. : )

And to Angelo and Esther for feeding us on Saturday night. Lovely evening! 

Gotta maintain a social life!

Unexpected Loveliness!

They say to expect surprises with any renovation, but this isn't usually what they mean. Part of the reason for getting this done in 24 days is that Steve, one of the partners in Tercera, and our on-site manager, was expecting his wife to give birth on March 3rd, but then the unexpected happened! Isn't she beautiful?!

About a month early and tiny: 5 lbs, 7 ounces, and not much bigger than an iPhone, the new baby-measuring app.

Congratulations again, Steve! She's just lovely, and we can't wait to meet her in real life.

What a difference a day makes!

I can't believe we're ten days in! Fourteen to go. The moving truck arrives two weeks today. Oy!

Here are some photos we took last night of the downstairs demolition -- looking VERY different with some of the walls knocked out!

    looking into back extension from dining room. Wall gone.

 Looking into extension from living room.

 Inside extension. Skylights in place above! Aluminum window and door will be replaced by nicer ones.

A couple of the skylights from above .



View from extension toward living room and front door. (Girls were making a video. Not sure whether it will end up on blog or not...)



Dining room back to original size!

 Living room, looking toward front door. There's that darn range that arrived too early.

Living room. Fireplace gone! Faux brick too.

Former kitchen, will become den. Door on right will be closed off and that space will be a small bathroom.

Smuggling run: 2,000 pounds of plaster

Our builder, Steve Moore, just emailed me these pics from the U.S. border crossing:

"2,000 pounds of fine imported plaster from Bellingham, Washington." 

"Hopefully, they let me in," he adds. 

Here's hoping!

For Dad.

This one's for you, Dad. You see, I am assuming your favourite position here, and there is lots of room and it is very comfy! (If you look closely, you can see through my glass lenses that I'm squeezing in a little nap.)

Unrecognizable!

Popped by last night -- the demo has made the place almost unrecognizable!

The downstairs is still a haz mat zone until air test (today, I believe).

This photo is looking left toward living room):

this is looking straight ahead down hallway:

 

Bathroom is gone from front entranceway! (Floors are thrashed, but there's enough hardwood down the basement -- in room that will be demolished -- to replace it.):

Note shower head hanging on left and rotted floor: 

Opening to stairway has been restored:

Looking up stairway where overhanging closet has been removed (skylight will be going in):

On left, hole where Katie's closet used to be (now there will be a railing overlooking the stair well):

Entire ceiling gone in upstairs hallway, revealing quite a tall attic (and no insulation whatsoever):

Bathroom. Pretty much gutted:

WC:

Fifi's room:

Katie's room. They were running around screaming with excitement (as is their wont): "Fifi! My closet's gone!" "Demo, Demo, Demo!" Etc.

Parents' bedroom at the back: closets (one from neighbouring room) torn out to be replaced by full wall of closets with sliding doors.

Pics of downstairs demo later.
....I almost forgot that other part of my life: I teach today!

Buh-bye playhouse.

When Andrew dropped by the house this morning, he discovered that the playhouse -- which would have looked like a pile of rubble -- had been thrown into the dumpster. It's at the bottom, mixed in with all the other demo junk and not worth trying to retrieve. We still have the slide (it had travelled home in the car), so we'll start with that and build our own (Grandpa Bocking has offered to help!). 

It took me all day to work up the courage to post this on the blog. The girls don't know yet! (They were out on a play date at the time, and we didn't have the heart to tell them tonight. Family Day and all.)

Play House.

Well, we don't have enough to do right now, so we spent the day taking apart a playhouse Andrew bought (not to cast blame or anything) on Craigslist. 

We thought it would be a matter of a few screws and a couple of hours, so we rented a truck...

drove out to North Van, had some fun...

and began unscrewing...

About four hours and thousands of screws later...

We finally got it loaded up, and then unloaded the pile of rubble at the new place. Andrew told the girls it probably won't look the same when he puts it back together. (!)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, things are still under wraps.

But all that scaffolding in the back suggests something must be going on. Yes, that's me trying to peek, but those tarps are strapped down so tight, I couldn't see a thing. We'll find out tomorrow.