Moving day.

 Nightmare on Lakewood.

It was one of those days when if something could go wrong, it did!

First, the movers turned out to be the Double Rainbow crew, if you know what I mean. Painfully slow; the place was so upside-down at 3 o'clock when the cleaners arrived, that they took one look and left; they returned at 6 and abandoned us for good.

I gently spoke to the movers about maybe going a bit faster, but that didn't go over well. The guy I spoke to (apparently, the team lead who'd been packing the kitchen for 6 hours at that point?) told me I'd hurt his feelings and I ended up apologizing....?

The owner of the company called me at some point and, after I said hello, started yelling at me, really off the rails; I'm not even sure what he was saying -- something about it being our fault that the packers -- who just then had their heads together, fondly reminiscing over Andrew's CD collection -- were slow (too much stuff was the gist) so I just hung up. Twice. Andrew talked him down when he threatened to abandon our stuff on the street. We needed to agree to pay more money, I think was the long and short of it.

So at 8 pm they finally called in a second crew, who had to go in search of boxes at 9 pm, and they were still packing and loading at midnight. 

Get this. I finally got the girls to the hotel with the car packed with everything not going into storage, everything, that is, except my purse.... The hotel folks wouldn't let me check in without ID or a credit card. (Jane, you almost ended up paying for it!) I won't go into more detail, but, at that point, with two exhausted kids hovering between giggles and sobs (and their mother too), it was not pretty. 

(room service!)

I got the girls to bed by 12:30, while Andrew and his buddy Dave cleaned until 2 am. If you're still reading, you may find it amusing to hear that, to top things off, we wore sweaters and scarves to bed it was so cold in here but were too tired to call the desk, only to discover today that it wasn't just us! The heating system in our room actually did need repair. …What a day!

All of which served to underscore what amazing neighbours we have and why we'd be unwilling to move any farther than a block away.

As well as numerous hugs of support -- virtual and real -- we had so much help from our neighbours. Biyun had the girls over to play. Then Jacqueline had them to her place for another round of playing. Jacqueline invited them to stay for Josh's quinoa mushroom soup (mmm) but Biyun had already invited them over for homemade pizza! Biyun even brought some over for us! When Jane heard we still hadn't booked a hotel, she got on the phone and found us one (in English Bay!). Jacqueline and Josh are storing some of the fragile things we didn't trust the movers with. Jane and Lorraine are storing some large canvasses, which Clara helped us carry over. Thank you for all the help and support!

Tercera, our construction team, also remembered the date and offered bodies and trucks! (which in retrospect, we should have taken them up on. The job would have been done by noon!)

Meanwhile, back at the new ranch, the kitchen was being installed. See next post!

The Last Supper.

After almost 13 years here, we're about to sit down for our last dinner in our darling little house, the only house Katie's ever known, and, of course, F's first family home. Kind of sad, but many happy memories. Bye-bye Lakewood.

We found a temporary home!

A lovely condo duplex close to home at Venables and Victoria! Thank you to all who offered help and suggestions!

Ikea kitchen arrived!

218 boxes!

OK, the 34-day reno.

Looks like it's going to be another week or 10 days, but these guys are doing such a top-notch job, why cut corners to make a deadline? Thirty-four days is still pretty fast.

However, sigh, we still have to move out February 27th (Wednesday!), so if anyone knows of something available that will keep us in the neighbourhood and near the school, let us know.

In the meantime, check out some of the progress. The old world plastering is truly a thing of beauty, and not something we were expecting -- beyond our wildest dreams, as Andrew said tonight. Preserving the character of the old lathe and plaster.

The special stuff, brought in by request from Bellingham.

Look at that curve!

No sanding, folks. No sanding!

Artist at work

 The talented Dennis.

Speaking of multitasking....

Andrew seems to have a bright new career ahead in plumbing and lighting. For anyone interested in the gory reno details, scroll through this email he sent off this morning when the plumber had questions about which toilet goes where. All of these fixtures have been sourced and bought by us, mostly Andrew, truth be told.

Also, last night Keith asked for a detailed lighting plan for the kitchen and Andrew sent him this and these this morning.

....He also designed the kitchen.... and the whole main floor reconfiguration. With just a suggestion or two from me. ; )

We're juggling many details right now, and Andrew is keeping it all straight. He might just need a new career soon (thanks for your patience, Dave).https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_Ez8Vkt7D59MkRkYjZ3VzRJN1E/edit?usp=sharing

24 people.

How is it possible to get all this done in 24 days? By multi-tasking. Steve just emailed to say there are TWENTY-FOUR people in the house right now! Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters, Plasterer, Labour. What a feat of management!


It seemed crowded and noisy when we went by last night and there were only 7or 8 guys there then! 

one here

couple here.

couple more up there.

couple here (Andrew and Keith, discussing)

I don't know how there's room for 24 today. They must be tripping over each other!

The girls are finding all the nooks and crannies (under the basement stairs)

....and being very patient!

As are the neighbours: it was noisy there at 8 o'clock last night!

....and amidst all the clamour, a little Mary Poppins. Thank you, iPad! 

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!