Babysitters Extraordinaire!

Andrew's partner, Dave, and his wife, Dominique (who have three of their own!) took Katie and Fifi for the WHOLE day while Andrew and I went shopping, and then we all had take-out Thai together. So fun! However, I left my camera over there, so no blog pictures tonight.

We seem to have accomplished very little, though we did manage to sort out a few details over lunch (which we actually had together, just the two of us! At Tacofino on Hastings, in case you're interested. Yummy!).

We think we did, however, decide on a dining table. We've been comparing a few, including one we had on hold at Antique Market, and one at Mint Interiors (thank you, lovely Craig, so knowledgeable and helpful!), but actually think we're going to get this one ....from Pottery Barn! Who knew? It's quite gorgeous -- a sturdy family table, plus it extends an extra 18 inches on each end -- a great dinner-party table!

Serendipity.

Looking down from the second floor windows, we spotted this metal bar stool in the garbage bin before the previous residents had it towed away. We had no compunction about diving into aforesaid dumpster to snatch felicitous find forthwith. (Oh dear. I'm tired!) Seriously cute stool, though, and just the kind of thing I've been looking for. 

Keeping me honest, Andrew clarifies that we showed no compunction about watching Fred dig out the stool.

with a very expressive bird.

four sinks.

Andrew just read my previous post where I said we've chosen two sinks in the last couple of weeks, and pointed out that it's actually been three sinks.
Four, if you count the kitchen sink. Four sinks we've agonized over. Four completely different sinks.

One of them is this little Ann sink from Ikea. I've been waiting for an excuse to buy this little darling.

Decisions, decisions.

OK, here's the deal we made with our builders: in order to stay on budget, they do all the building, we do the designing and sourcing.

And FAST! So the decisions you might normally linger over for weeks or months have to made in a snap -- and simultaneously! Our minds are reeling. Hard to believe the decisions we've already made in the last few weeks (has it really been only four!?) 

Here's what we're thinking about now: 

1. Lighting -- for every room! We finally took that first step and admitted we need help: scheduled a meeting with lighting consultant tomorrow (Allison at Norburn). We know what we want, but aren't confident we know how to achieve it. 

Up-lighting, down-lighting, ambient lighting, task lighting, chandeliers, wall-washers, pendants, sconces, blah blah blah. Then we have to go shopping (!) and choose lighting for every room! We can move in without all the lights in place, of course, but the rough-in electrical happens next week, so we've got to figure out what, where.

Look at this lovely thing.

2. Furniture -- our colour consultant (yes, we have one of those too: Amber Welton), rightly points out that we need to have rug, sofa and curtain colours chosen before paint. Gosh, really?! Here's our favourite sofa so far! (but in a different fabric.)

And ...ooooh .... I'm in love with these curtains! 

And an over-dyed carpet! (can't afford those I saw at ABC in New York, and haven't been able to find anything as nice in Vancouver. Anyone have suggestions?)

3. Bathroom fixtures: we've already chosen two sinks, two toilets, a bathtub, a shower (the mind reels!) but still need to work on medicine cabinets, mirrors, toilet roll thingies, soap insets, lighting (see #1), and so on. Sheesh!

4. Tile. Tile, tile, tile. I fall asleep thinking about it, jerk awake sweating about it, dream about it…. We have the white hex floor and white subway for the upstairs bathrooms (boorrring, I know after all that!) but are trying to figure out a floor border. The Pinterest pictures make it look so easy! Star Tile, where we're getting the white hex, doesn't have the right stuff for borders so we have to look elsewhere. Something similar to this, but in "antique white." 

I went to Creekside Tile today, fell in love, specifically, with their Original Style line, and am now rethinking the whole thing! 

Dreamy.

With so many decisions to make all at once, I just jump from one thing to the next. Thank heaven for the amazing Andrew: organized, focused, and calm. : )

Soliciting opinions: exterior colours.

I posted this question on Houzz: what colour would you paint the exterior of this house? The variety of responses has been amazing. People have even made changes in photoshop and posted them (below)! What do people who know this neighbourhood think?

http://www.houzz.com/discussions/337198

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.)