"You can never have enough storage," says every home owner in the Western world, regardless of their house size or number of belongings. As a society of collectors and hoarders, storage is a hot selling point on the house market and something that people renovating or building are advised to take into consideration. Kyle and I are mindful of this, especially in this redesign phase. We need a closet in the front foyer for coats and boots, but we are unsure of the size. With smaller square footage, we also need to keep in mind the fact that wherever we place a closet, we will lose walking room and potentially create an awkward space to navigate through. At first, I thought that less storage doesn't have to be a downfall. We are just two people and a cat and maybe this can be an opportunity to really minimize and simplify. Then Kyle and I started to plan out our kitchen, taking into consideration the necessary appliances and everything that would need to be included in said space, and storage suddenly made complete sense. A few of my friends are in the process of setting up their first homes and are also encountering this storage issue. The inventive and smart ways that they have come up with solutions for space has me taking many mental notes for 212. One friend is using open shelves with chic glass jars and woven baskets for storage in their kitchen. Another has a clothing rack set up in the spare bedroom. I have also seen many people with benches that have storage inside for shoes and boots. I know that I need to do a purge of my belongings in order to help alleviate the storage and space issue, but wherever possible, I am going to find ways to incorporate shelves, baskets, and compartments into the house! Any suggestions for easy storage in the kitchen and foyer/ mud room?
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At the end of a very grey and gloomy day of work last week, I received a text from Kyle that made me jump for joy: we got a jacuzzi tub for the upstairs bathroom! While I tend to be more of a quick shower and go kind of girl, I think that I could easily be converted to a tub user; after a long day of teaching or on a lazy weekend, those jets and bubbles would be lovely! This sounds especially appealing right now with this chilly, very un-spring-like weather we've been having (why is it snowing right now?!) But how did we acquire this jacuzzi tub, you ask? Again, this was a case of Kyle's family having connections. Kyle's uncle did work for a man who decided that he didn't want to use the tub after already ordering it. He gave it to Kyle's uncle, but not needing a tub himself, he offered it to us as a gift! Thinking that we would purchase a standard tub when the time came to outfit the bathroom, we gladly accepted his offer! Moral of the story: it pays to network, and the old-fashioned system of bartering and labour-exchange is still very much alive and well! I grew up in a home renovation. After my parents got married, they bought a "fixer upper," started a family, and embarked on years of home renovations. Some of the major changes they did to their house were: switching and updating the kitchen and living room spaces, putting down hardwood floor and tile throughout the house after tearing out old carpeting, re-doing the bathrooms, and building an addition on the back. My childhood memories include finger waving through the wood knots in the plywood floor upstairs, hearing my dad busy with power tools in the basement, and my mom constantly painting and making plans for the next house project. Play, supper-time, watching cartoons, doing school projects, along with all of the other everyday life activities took place amid renovations. It's funny, but I cannot ever remember thinking that the renovations were disruptive, because my parents made sure that we were always safe and happy. They were clearly experts at multi-tasking! Now, looking back, I admire my parents for all of the work that they did. They were young and ambitious and smart about how best to go about creating a home that was tailored to their tastes and needs. Having four children within three years and pulling up old carpet, tearing down walls, and tiling could not have been easy; I can imagine that many looked at them with pity and scepticism as they juggled babies and a deconstructed house, but they pulled it off successfully and now have a beautiful home to show for it. Surely, with a mere cat in place of kids, Kyle and I can pull off 212 too. What do you think about the familial passing down of the drive to renovate? Did you also grow up in renovations and take on your own home project as a result? Melissa, one of my oldest and dearest friends, was in town visiting family over the Easter weekend. She was excited to check out the progress at the house, so before our coffee date I gave her the grand tour. While I can see the transformation that 212 has undergone by looking back at the first few blog posts, it is cool to see the expressions of friends who witnessed the early stages of renovation and are just now re-visiting in person. Mel was last at the house in the late summer, when only a couple of the walls had been gutted. Needless to say, she was more than a little surprised by the house's current appearance. [Side Note: As one of my future interior designers, expect Mel to make a re-appearance on the blog this summer!]
Despite the dreariness of this week, I made sure to stick to my goal of cleaning up the backyard. Because of where we are in the renovations, I have not been able to help out as much inside the house, so it feels good to be able to contribute in other ways. I am going to keep looking for side projects to do over the next few weeks so that I can continue to feel like I am a part of the progress. Kyle, his dad, and my dad took on the kitchen floor yesterday while I filled four garbage bags and one massive tarp bag (seriously, it could probably fit four people in it comfortably), with leaf debris. While at first I thought that the leaf assignment would be a breeze, I soon realized that the soggy-cereal texture of the thawing leaves made for a heavy and arduous task. That said, I ended up leaving a few piles and need to go back and finish today. [Raking 101: It is best to wait for the weather to warm up before raking the lawn. This is because you can pull up the new grass if there is still frost in the ground... Hopefully this week wasn't too early for me... Lesson learned if I have a bald backyard this summer.] The silver lining of the leaf haul was discovering a cluster of crocus buds growing by the shed. They have not yet bloomed, but I will be sure to document when they do. I love those tiny signs of spring. My education on the home renovation front continues. This week's lesson was on ductwork and the cold air intake. [Side Note: These terms make me feel really knowledgeable when I use them in everyday conversations, but really, my understanding of them is very limited, :p].
While working on the first floor this week, we had a family friend come over and help us to plan out the ductwork. We will need to reinstall the ductwork before we get to the drywalling. We were advised to move it from its current location to one of the walls. This will keep it cleaner and allow for better air flow. The ductwork and cold air intake ensure that heat is properly distributed throughout a house. Apparently, without a cold air intake, a house will have cold floors, regardless of how warm the actual air is. As a girl who wears her moccasins year round, I can appreciate something that will promise warm floors for next fall and winter. With March Break next week, I am shifting gears from days of crayons and the alphabet, to old floor boards and dust. My goal for the beginning of the week is to do some yard work. I need to spend a day raking the backyard and would also like to sweep and scrub down the front porch in anticipation of spring. There is nothing more satisfying than freshening everything up after the winter months. For those of you who also have this week off, enjoy your little holiday :). It is crazy when a poem or song or video speaks perfectly to what you are feeling or experiencing at that moment in time. The easiest thing to do when this happens is to casually brush it aside as a mere coincidence or just an example of effective marketing. But what if we chose to make something of the words-- whether or not they are in fact meant solely for us? What can we harvest from these words and use to our advantage? The poem below spoke to what I am feeling right now with the house. I have decided to take it as a quiet message from the universe. Maybe, this poem will be a personal message for you too. "Life is unpredictable.
It changes with the seasons. Even your coldest winter, Happens for the best of reasons. And though it feels eternal, Like all you'll ever do is freeze, I promise spring is coming, And with it, brand new leaves." -e.h. In preparation for laying down plywood, Kyle spent this week ripping out the final layers of the kitchen and foyer floor (yes, we have been at this floor for a while now, and I too share in your shock that there are STILL more layers). Above are some samples of the flooring from the earlier owners of the home. The colours and patterns speak to the era in which they were installed. I cannot imagine having any in my kitchen, but I am sure that in a hundred years' time, when another brave/ naive young couple takes on the challenge of renovating the house again, they will laugh at our choices!
Speaking of the future, I have decided to make a time capsule to put in one of the walls before drywalling, but I am not quite sure what all to put in it. Thinking back over the last few months, the coolest things that we've discovered in the house's walls have been personal, everyday belongings, like the shoes and the postcard and newspapers. Our Modern idea of time capsules, where people store away objects with the intention of communicating with people of the future, began in the early 20th century. Politicians began stowing away letters to future leaders. Historians bundled crop seeds, old catalogues, and children's toys. During the Cold War Era, Americans created a time capsule with messages for a future Communist society. Andy Warhol spent years putting together his Time Capsules series, which were random collections of objects in cardboard boxes that were only found after his death. As one would expect, these objects were remnants of the pop culture Warhol so loved to represent in his art, and made for interesting capsules to open. Currently, there are four time capsules in Space. Today, we still hold this fascination with sending messages to the future. While I cannot speak for every individual or group who has ever created one, I feel strongly that the time capsule appeal has something to do with the need to just connect with other people and to be a part of a bigger story. Have you ever made a time capsule? If so, where did you put it and what all did you include in it? I am happy to report that after what has felt like a long hiatus, the house is back under hammer and crow bar. Kyle spent a couple of days this week removing the banister from the stairs and clearing out more wood and debris from the bathroom and bedrooms. Now, the upper storey feels very much like an airy loft. The upstairs floor has also been stripped down to its original boards. These are mismatched in length and thickness, making for a slightly sketchy looking floor. That said, we have decided that we will replace them, especially those that are to hold heavy fixtures, like the bath tub. I do not want to take a bubble bath and end up in the kitchen! While removing some copper piping from one of the kitchen walls, Kyle discovered that the whole wall was filled with saw dust. We have decided on two plausible reasons for this: either the people building the house were super lazy and dumped all of the debris into the wall to avoid lugging it out of the house. OR, it could have acted as makeshift insulation. Whatever the reason for the debris in the wall, we spent a good chunk of time shovelling, bagging, and removing all of it. After the saw dust was cleaned up, I swept out the ancient cobwebs draped through the roof rafters and removed a decomposing bee hive that was somehow created inside one of the library walls. One of the highlights of our work days at the house? Visits from our sweet, short-legged, partly blind neighbour cat, Gracie. Gracie was the first creature to welcome us to the street. On the night that we took ownership of the house, we left the front door open as we explored all of the rooms. Later, while having a pizza picnic in the front foyer, Gracie welcomed herself in, immediately making herself at home. She has been a constant at 212 ever since. Next up for 212? Laying plywood down in the foyer and kitchen and rebuilding the more precarious sections of the floor upstairs. Because it is a holiday weekend, this post is going to be ridiculously brief. As an extension of last week's post on 212 feeling more like "home" to me, I have decided to mention the most important ingredient of home, which is Kyle. Dorothy Gale once said so wisely, "There is no place like home." Black and white Kansas may not have been the beautiful technicolour paradise of Oz, but it was what Dorothy's heart yearned for, as a place filled with the people she loved most. Similarly, 212 is a dusty and cold eyesore at the moment, but it is a place belonging to Kyle and me. Kyle makes it my home. ...But enough cheesiness for one Valentine's Day! Hope that you take advantage of the long weekend and enjoy it with all of the people you love most! [SIDE NOTE: For those of you who are getting antsy about hearing more about the renovation progress, let me assure you that there will be some changes to report on in the next month-- lengthier, detailed posts are in the blog's near future!] |
About MeKyle and I just became new homeowners. The house we purchased is not what one would classify as "move in ready"; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Built at the turn of the 20th century, our Victorian style house is both beautiful and terrifying in its ancient status and will be a project in renovation. This is a documentation of our triumphs and lessons learned, as we deconstruct and reconstruct this house. The end result? A space that we can proudly say we created. Archives
December 2016
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