Demolition

Today was demolition day (it involved disturbing asbestos, so we had to stay away).

Bye-bye floral wallpaper (we've already started researching new floral wallpaper to replace it for Katie, maybe just a feature wall).

Bye-bye wood panelling!

Bye-bye lino!

Bye-bye branch banister.

More "befores" - extension and 2nd storey

More of Andrew's photos.

former kitchen, will become den. Scullery in background will become bathroom with shower.

Extension: kitchen will be on one end....

craft area, desk, and storage on the other. French door and nice window to replace these.

closet hanging over stairs will come out, making a brighter, more open stairway.

It was cheaper to buy a new bigger claw foot, cast iron tub from vintagetub.com than it was to have this one refinished. Anyone want an old cast-iron tub?

Master bedroom with back door that will eventually lead to upper deck, with not-bad views of downtown, as Amy pointed out.

Fifi's room. The girls really, really wanted their own rooms. There was, thankfully, no debate: Fifi chose this one with a door leading to the front balcony, and....

 ...Katie chose this smaller one with a window leading to the same balcony and the floral wallpaper that she wants to keep. : )

First delivery.

Andrew's prized possession: a new Blue Star gas range. Extremely heavy! Steve and Keith had the help of these two delivery guys, quite the characters!

"Before" photos.

Andrew, a better photographer than I, took some lovely "before" shots of the main floor.

 Living room, complete with 70's panelling!

 And lovely faux brick.

 Pocket door onto hallway, and those registers like we had when I was a kid. The girls have already discovered you can talk to each other through them.

 Ta-dum! Dining room. Lovely wainscotting! (And look how tall that girl is getting!)

 Entranceway with hideous bathroom stuck in. It'll be nice to see what happens when that's torn out.

Lovely built-ins.

There really isn't that much sunlight streaming in.; there's a light on up there. But there will be a lot of light once we get rid of the upstairs closet that hangs over the stairway, put in a skylight and get rid of that nasty bathroom, which will really open things up!

 Hallway. That's a special pink biege!

Green-tiled fireplace -- apparently a popular choice in the neighbourhood at the time. Our friends, Trudy and Errol, who are doing up a similar house a few blocks away, have the same cast iron fireplace, and Trudy tells me that they've had several chimney repairers, two of whom took photos, tell her they'd never seen that design or that crest before! Perhaps our houses were built by the same guys. Or at least they shopped at the same places (I suppose they didn't have the endless choices we do). Trudy thinks they might have the same green tile too!

The charming branch handrail. : )

The 24-day plan.

FYI, the miracle schedule by the amazing Tercera. (If you go to "case studies," you'll see they also did Andrew's office.)

Possession is nine-tenths of the law.

Well, we're in! (We had to break in, mind you. The sellers didn't show up with the key, so Andrew and Fred, our lovely realtor, broke in.)

Andrew ran out to the hardware store for a new lock.

Thanks to all who showed up today to have a look. That was fun! Such a supportive and encouraging bunch! Yes, say you, this can be done in 24 days!

While we weren't paying attention, Katie got hold of the camera, and made this video tour ending with an invitation for you to "come to our house any day you want."

Shopping! The best part of renovating.

Nothing like a few new purchases to get the blood moving! Who knew you could get these Tolix knock-offs just around the corner at Antique Market?!

...a box full of glass knobs on e-bay, 

and this funky bathroom sink from Amazon!

Keys should be handed over tomorrow. Interested friends and neighbours, please pop by for a "before" inspection tomorrow afternoon.

What have we done?

We bought this beat-up old-timer, hired a builder, and have 24 days to make this house a home. 

With our girls now 5 and 7 and growing fast, we're suddenly feeling crowded in our little bungalow. Unwilling to sacrifice this lovely neighbourhood, we considered tearing down our little house and rebuilding, but when this monster came up for sale just a block away, we jumped on it. Or, rather, Andrew did. While a big old house with high ceilings, a proper entranceway, and upstairs bedrooms was what we both wanted, it was hard to see past the trade-offs (backyard, garage, sunlight!) to imagine the house of our dreams [see dreams here]. But somehow he talked me into it.

Despite a few "what-have-we-done?" moments [you can see why, here], things are moving along -- head-spinningly so -- and we've got 24 days to turn this thing around: the moving truck arrives February 27th. Wish us luck.