moving day

The second move went as well as the first move went badly!

When we got up, things looked bad for a moving day, with black skies and heavy rain, but shortly before the trucks arrived, the clouds miraculously parted and the sun came out for an absolutely glorious t-shirt day (until after the move, about 5, when we had a freak storm with icy, driving rain). It was the first day of spring, as Trudy reminded me! ...And then snow today!? Crazy March weather.

We had little faith when the movers said they'd arrive by noon after packing up the storage containers, but they were actually an hour early (!) and had the two trucks unloaded by 2 pm! Same moving company, different day.

Meanwhile, the building crew hustled to finish some last-minute jobs and clean up the site (I guess I can stop referring it to a "site" now).

and cleaners did their thing.

Temporary countertop ready to go!

Lots of light coming in!

Skylight surrounded by F&B "Sky Light" (chosen for the colour, not the name).

Steve Moore, Tercera partner, worked up a sweat! Way beyond the call of duty.

Even I did my bit.

Moving truck arrived at 11.

From double-rainbow crew to dream team. They were awesome!

This photo is too perfect not to be a promotional picture!

Hamming it up!

Tercera crew busily cleaning up all the construction debris.

 Weeks of debris cleaned up in half a day!

The girls arrive with their suitcases....

A bit heavy; a bit dramatic.

Tercera crew on a lunch break. (You guys actually stop to eat?)

It's going to take some work to get beds set up.

When I came home from cleaning the duplex, I cold smell these though the girls had hidden them upstairs in order to surprise me. These arrived from Jeannie, David, Kai, and Nikko! Delightful!

Our new next door neighbours, Lara and Ashton, who has apparently been asking over and over when we were going to move in! He's between the two girls' ages, and they were off and running!

Darius (I know you're reading this ; ), I swear I took a photo of all three of you, but it wasn't on my camera for some reason. We'll have to try again!

Anyway, welcoming new neighbours gave us the kind of move-in gift everybody can use: a 4-pack of toilet paper! 

Fridge - check!

Stove - check!

Shower - check!

Bathtub - check!

Ice-maker - check!

Range hood - check!

Organizing the cheese.

Organizing the freezer.

Dancing on boxes!

Cheers!!! A little Veuve Clicquot! (Thank you, Auntie Jean!)

Goes well with pizza! (BTW, Panago makes a decent gluten-free crust ...with goat cheese instead of mozzarella.)

Behind the piles of stuff, that lovely spring bouquet!

Mom's flower painting would look nice right here!

Katie. Must. Climb.

Hello! Biyun and LongXi popped by for a visit.

It was bedtime, so, of course, pandemonium ensued.

The girls love their new two-faucet sink.

...some things never change.

We managed to dig out a couple of little nests, and we really appreciated our beds that night!

We're in!

Well, the move yesterday went very smoothly! Now we're navigating boxes and tradespeople, but we have heat, water, and lights (some anyway), and it feels really wonderful to be in our new house!! 

I've fallen behind on blogging, so these photos are from the night before the move (anticlimactic, I know). Will download the move-in pics from my camera tomorrow!

Very happy with the colour, F&B Green Blue (very changeable colour, looks very green here).

Temporary countertops (they even smoothed out the edges as our new neighbour Lara pointed out). Andrew cooked our first meal on this baby tonight! (a bit tricky trying to find everything, but we've been getting a bit tired of take-outs).

We were a bit worried the night before about everything that still had to be done by noon the next day when the movers were scheduled to arrive (they were an hour early!).

Still lots to do.

That night, it looked impossible....

Meanwhile, here's the Green Blue looking more blue. 

And look at the custom job Keith did on the newel posts!

Here's the staircase from the second floor.

Complete with half-newel going into the wall to give it a finished look. We're so lucky to have Keith, who knew that a half-newel would create a sense of proportion. 

 

Close-up of one of the half-newels.

The bathtub in place. Now that it's here, we can fully recommend Vintage Tub. It was such a deal (cheaper than getting the old one refinished), that we were a bit concerned about quality, but it's a beautiful tub. Top-notch quality. They even custom-painted the bottom black for us before shipping. 

We all LOVE the sink! A bit too low, but maybe leave it like that for a couple of years: it's perfect for the girls right now, ....but then we don't get to use the adorable stool we bought at Antique Market.

Upstairs WC done! (still have to paint. Taking suggestions)

Downstairs bathroom more or less done (just waiting for shower doors).

The girls will now demonstrate the running water! Click on the arrow.

coming to life

The most gratifying feeling has been seeing our abstract ideas (in our heads or on paper) suddenly come to life!

For me, the tile has been the most amazing since I spent so much time on it! It's wonderful to see it in reality. I think it evokes the vintage look we were going for, while looking fresh.

the bathroom fixtures and hardware look great too (many of them bought on line so we didn't really know until we saw them in real life).

D'oh. That black plastic pipe is going to be replaced with chrome!

So happy about the penny round feature behind the shower hardware! The tile setter was very impressed with the design! LOL!

inset looks great!

I am so pleased with both the floor border and the wall border! Both our own design!

And look at the fine work these tile setters are doing. Tiny pieces in the corners!

He used spacers for the border

But not for the "field" tiles: but he used a level for EVERY row! That's three bathrooms, in one of which the tile runs all the way up to the ceiling. Slow and steady tile guy!

Love the results!!!

Love it!

Love it! (and grout colour is perfect, btw. Well worth being picky over. Mapei "Frost."

The man responsible for most of it. Hard worker!

Stove put in, gas turned on, Andrew happy!

                                           
Ceiling paint on main floor. Jackie happy!

Girls happy! Cleaning and organizing some of their work-site treasures (tiles and cement chunks). They're planning to build a farmhouse.

Another beautiful day, and yet another beautiful view of the mountains from upper deck.