For those of you who read my blog post way back when about my pending basement reno, you already saw the befores of the former one-bedroom apartment that used to occupy the lower level of our Toronto home. We've decided to turn it into a functional office space instead.
Here's a quick recap of what it used to look like with its crammed corner kitchen, builder-basic bathroom, dark bedroom with rickety shelves and tired wall-to-wall carpet, tiny living room with too many drywalled vents that lowered the ceiling height, a dreary laundry room and the dated entryway.
The demolition process is always a stressful mess, but it's also liberating. There was dust everywhere and it crept up through the floorboards to the rest of our house. But it was exciting to see the whole space transform as the walls came down. We opened up the old kitchen and living area to reveal how big the main room would be (once the furnace was relocated).
I loved how open the area looked when the bathroom walls were out.
We had to break up all of the old 2" white ceramic tile, and here you can see the framing for the new shower.
Garbage bag after garbage bag was filled with the torn-up carpet and old linoleum tile underneath it.
We stored all of our basement stuff under one of the staircases with a bit of plastic on top. Needless to say, it got super dusty too and there were a few times when I needed to dig through the plastic to find something.
Here are the ceiling vents with the drywall removed, right before we shifted them over to the new furnace room. You can see how much headroom they took up right down the middle of the hall.
This was probably the messiest day — when the ceiling was taken down.
Here you can actually see the furnace in its new home next to the hot water tank by the front staircase — so much more efficient to keep all of the hard-working parts together.
The cats were totally confused when we ripped out the closet at the back staircase to open up the basement to the first floor and reveal the stairs hidden underneath.
The laundry room was even off limits so I had to take our laundry to my parent's place for a while.
Stay tuned June 21st for photos of the drywall progress and June 28th for the kitchen installation.
Photo credits:
1-9. Arriz Hassam
10-11. Suzanne Dimma
If you read my previous basement blog post, you've already seen the before shots of the basement that used to be an apartment. Now we're renovating it into a proper home office. Things are already underway with gutting the space, but I thought I would show you a few of our inspiration photos for the final look.
To help get you oriented, here is the existing layout:
And here is the new layout that Arriz has been working on:
The basement has pretty decent ceiling height already, but in order to maximize head room as much as possible and to save costs involved in digging down further, we've relocated the furnace and ductwork to the outside walls. You can see how moving the furnace opens up the space. We probably saved about $30,000 in choosing not to dig down — and avoided creating a massive mess in the already landscaped backyard. My plan is to play up the low ceilings and cosiness with plenty of texture.
The thing I am most excited about is our new back entry. This is the floor plan and the elevation of that area. We've mapped out a herringbone-style slate floor, inspired by one of the bathrooms at last year's Princess Margaret Hospital showhome, using some slate that we have leftover from when we built our shower at the cottage, (Browse photos of our cottage here.)
The herringbone will resemble this photo.
I've been inspired by a super simple and clean Scandinavian-modern style for the overall look — think white oak floors, crisp white walls punctuated by black accents and modern iconic furniture. In a basement where light can be scarce, I think it's smart to go for an open, light look. I saved this inspiration photo from the book Timeless Architecture & Interiors (2008 Beta-Plus Publishing).
This is another inspiration shot I pulled — for the white built-ins and freestanding furniture paired with a bit of white oak on the shutters.
To add texture and elevate the look of the basement, we're installing vertical panelling like this on almost every wall and customizing the doors in a similar fashion for a bit of character — so much nicer than basic drywall.
Thom Filicia's American Beauty (2012 Potter Style) was a terrific source of inspiration as he works with panelling quite extensively throughout the book.
When I saw this staircase online (right), I did a double take because it's so similar in layout to our staircase from the back door landing (left). I'm hoping that ours will have a similar feel — including the custom railing.
We've ordered Moncer wide-plank flooring in white oak for the entire basement. It was a bit of a splurge but, with everything else being white, the floor had to be amazing. Plus the space will be taking some wear and tear and we wanted a top quality floor choice that could handle it.
We still want a kitchen in our basement — it's great to have additional storage space. Plus, I think it will add to the value of our house should we ever sell, since the new homeowners would have the flexibility of using the basement as a nanny's suite, a kid's play area, or turning it back into a rental unit.
We've designed the kitchen to run along one wall so it takes up very little visual space and blends neatly into the background. We're going for all-white cabinetry from Ikea. After all, we are going for a Scandi look!
I like the look of Ikea's Akurum horizontal cabinets with the matte finish Applåd doors. The narrow profile is perfect for the basement's lower ceiling and the matte finish has a sophisticated, contemporary look. We aren't installing butcherblock counters like in this photo, but I like the cabinets and seamless cooktop here. For countertops, we chose Ikea's white Staron so everything will blend together. We're also using Staron for all the long desk surfaces. It's a perfect material for a working area as the surface is super smooth and easy to clean.
Because the second phase of the reno involves turning the upstairs den into our principal bedroom, I'm planning on moving the Nelson Saucer Lamp that's there now down to the new mudroom. And I'm going to move the chandelier that's in the kitchen up to the bedroom. I'm actually doing major lamp, hardware, furniture and carpet shifts throughout the house so there isn't any waste on things I've already purchased — so much better to repurpose than discard!
These BestLite BL6 Wall Lamps are moving from our current bedroom (soon to be a walk-in closet!) down to the basement. The general idea is chrome in the basement and gold and brass upstairs.
We copied H&H art director Mandy Milks's bathroom reno with this wall-mounted sink from Duravit and Kohler faucet (but ours will be chrome). Our sink won't be floating, but this is a great trick to open up floor space in a small bathroom. (Take a video tour of Mandy's bathroom here.)
We're going to sit our sink on a floating vanity similar to these.
We're also using the black hex ceramic tile on the bathroom floor as a continuum from our upstairs hall. You may have seen this hall when we shot our house for Christmas a few years back.
In keeping with the overall look, we're going for a Scandi-modern style with our furniture choices. With so many built-ins, we'll need to work in some freestanding character pieces. But again, we are going to try to repurpose things we have. This sofa and chair from our upstairs den (this room has had a few incarnations!) will be moved down to the basement.
This is another incarnation of the same den. The vintage desk and the patterned carpet will also be repurposed in the basement.
The Eames Aluminum Executive Chair in chocolate brown leather will pop against the white Staron surfaces, and the Wegner Easy Chair can help round out the seating area — low and understated.
I love the modern clock in Sally Armstrong's kitchen and have kept a wall blank to house the same one in our basement.
For the laundry area, we're upgrading to this state-of-the-art set of steam clean precision dispense front-loaders from Whirlpool. I love that they can stack, and then if we relocate or renovate again (god forbid), we have lots of flexibility with how they can be configured.
Stay tuned for my next blog about the demolition! It's hard to believe this space is going to look like the inspiration in this blog.
Don't miss Suzanne's basement before photos.
Photo credits:
1-3. Arriz Hassam
4. Pinterest, unknown original source
5. Timeless Architecture & Interiors, Yearbook 2009 (2008 Beta-Plus Publishing)
6. Desire to Inspire, photography by Bieke Claessens
7. Pinterest, unknown original source
8. Thom Filicia's American Beauty (2012 Potter Style)
9a. Suzanne Dimma
9b. Esquisse blog
10. Remodelista, photography by Macdonald Wright Architects
11a. From Scandinavia With Love blog
11b. Akurum cabinets, Ikea
12. Nelson Saucer Lamp, Y Living
13. BestLite BL6 Wall Lamps, Nest
14. House & Home March 2013 issue, photography by Michael Graydon
15a. Metropolitan Home via Plush Palate blog
15b. Timeless Architecture & Interiors, Yearbook 2009 (2008 Beta-Plus Publishing)
16. House & Home November 2010 issue, photography by Michael Graydon
17. House & Home August 2009 issue, photography by Angus Fergusson
18. Houseandhome.com, photography by Michael Alberstat
19a. Charles Eames Style Chair, Chair Outlet
19b. Wegner Easy Chair, Design Within Reach
20. House & Home February 2013 issue, photography by Virginia Macdonald
21. Duet Steam Front Load Washer, Whirlpool
22. Suzanne Dimma
This winter, my husband Arriz (Arriz+co.) and I are diving into our basement renovation. After six years of living with a tenant down there, we decided to take over the space and turn it into a working home office that will also house our laundry and storage rooms. There will still be a 3-piece bathroom and a kitchenette, so that if we ever decide to sell, the space can also work as a nanny suite.
Here is what we're working with:
The entrance to the basement from our backyard. It is so uninspired and the green tumbled slate tiles and pine treads are entirely dated. To the left there will be a new 3-step stair case leading into the home's upper level.
In doing this we'll have to get rid of the built-in cat litter boxes and closet by our back door to create flow between floors. I can't tell you how excited we are to be able to keep the cat litter on the lower level of the house! And we'll finally have a proper mudroom. No more tramping snow and ice onto the hardwood when we come home.
This is the second "secret" staircase that leads to our laundry room at the other end of the basement. It is super narrow so I think we'll only use it on the odd occasion once the reno is complete. Our plan is to open things up in here a bit and get rid of the builder-basic doors and railings.
And this is the old laundry room. Totally boring! Yellowed vinyl tiles, leftover kitchen cabinets and no work surfaces. Not a happy place to do laundry.
My former tenant used this space as a living room. As you can see, it's fairly small and there are some unfortunate vents that make the room low and awkward. A huge portion of our reno involves moving the vents to maximize the ceiling height. The furnace sits behind the futon here and by moving it to an outside wall, this room will double in size.
Here is a shot back into the living room. The wall on the right is the furnace room that will be torn out — along with that old wall to wall carpet!
This tiny corner kitchen will be ripped out and the space will be opened up to the old living room.
There is a long hall (with more vinyl tile) that connects the bedroom to the living room and kitchen. The door on the left is the bathroom but it will have to move locations in the new plan. And as you can see, the basement has low foundation bench walls around the periphery, as it was never fully dug down. But we've decided not to dig down any further. For our needs, the extra cost (about $40,000!) is not worth it. Instead our goal is to move the vents to the side, minimize the foundation benches by hiding them behind built-ins and panelling, and then play up the cosiness and layer in some character.
This is the current bedroom that will also be opened up and all of those bookshelves have to go, not to mention the bad basement window in here.
This is the totally awkward bedroom closet that will be torn out.
The bathroom is a decent size but nondescript — pretty much builder-basic, especially the tub. In the new scheme, there will be a walk-in shower in place of the tub.
Stay tuned for my roundup of inspiration shots for the basement reno, coming soon! Plus, learn tips from H&H editors for renovating basements.
Photo credits:
1, 3-11. Suzanne Dimma
2. Rob Fiocca
On October 2nd, I announced excitedly that there was only one month to go! Well, I was a little too optimistic. One thing I have learned about the reno process is that patience is a good quality to possess. We still have a bit more to do but a lot has been done in the last month. Without giving too much away, here is the progress made in October…
Exterior: She is dressed for winter. I love how the stucco colour turned out. It is simple and clean and maybe one day we will warm it up with some crawling vines.
I loved the colour so much I painted a wall in our bedroom the same colour, Benjamin Moore's Iron Mountain (2134-40).
Kitchen: One of the most complicated of projects is finally underway. The cabinets are getting installed! A few of them had to be sent back for corrections but fingers crossed they all go in this week so the counters can be installed and the plumber can hook up the faucet. For the last six months, we've only had running water in our basement. The tile is also set to come this week!
Doors and entryways: The archway that we saved was freshly painted and I'm loving it. All the interior doors are Shaker-style and we picked up some great brass oval knobs to complete the look. In the upstairs hallway, there were original corbels that were demolished during the demo. I missed them, so I found these vintage over-sized corbels to replace them with. Our contractor fixed the trim and I painted them out white. They add a nice detail to an otherwise standard hallway.
Bathrooms: We finished all the painting, including a green pocket door (in Farrow & Ball's Calke Green #34). It was looking a little builder basic to me but now I love it. Here is a sneak peek at the sink in the ensuite (so far it's my favourite room in the house).
Stairs: A bigger project than I had anticipated but I couldn't stand the metal railings in the house, so we replaced them with a traditional set of spindles and handrail. We did a lot of shopping around until I found the perfect chunky set that was within budget, and then we primed all 68 of them! We also found an antique newel post for the bottom of the stairs to complete the look. Here is a preview of how they are taking shape.
See the finished upstairs bathroom in our March 2013 issue, on newsstands February 11th, and our finished kitchen in the kitchens special issue, on newsstands March 25th.
See earlier stages of Mandy's renovation here.
Photo credits:
1-14. Mandy Milks
After all our renovations the past few months, I've been focusing on the entry to the house these days. After all, it's your first impression when you open the door. The most challenging thing for me — now that we've opened up the main level — is that the sightline from the entry goes all the way to the back of the house. So every decision I make in the living room, kitchen and back sitting room all have to be cohesive or decidedly contrasting.
Since we don't have furniture or kitchen cabinets yet, I've been obsessed with the lighting. Should it all match? What room should be the focal point? The other challenge is that we purposefully decided not to do a lot of recessed lights — we aren't huge fans of them — but it makes it even more challenging to find fixtures that work together and also provide adequate lighting. To make it more difficult, I like so many different styles of lighting. Here's a sample of what I've been coveting for the house but we're still not sure what works together...
Beautiful brass pendant from Oji & Design.
Cool sculptural Spica Light by Iacoli & McAllister.
I love the matte finish and the gold glow on the inside of these pendants from Oliver Yaphe.
A classic! I think the Nelson pendant through Design Within Reach will give off good light.
The Skygarden S1 pendant from Flos — also through Design Within Reach — has a gorgeous plaster garden on the inside.
These West Elm semi-flush mounts are a great price and will blend nicely into the white ceiling.
This Thomas O'Brien hanging lamp from Circa Lighting is very handsome.
I've always loved mercury glass and we're seeing a lot more of it lately. This one from West Elm has an industrial edge.
An ever-popular schoolhouse light from Rejuvenation. I think these look great in kitchens and are a nice alternative to the boring flush-mount.
So now what? I have all these styles that I like but what will work in our house? Being an art director, I did some test mock-ups so I could get a visual of what different options would look like. Like I said, I have that challenging sightline down the house. Here are three options I tried — looking through the kitchen (left) and looking from the entryway to the kitchen and back of the house (right).
1. White + black
2. White + brass
3. All white
I think we'll wait until the stairs are finished, the kitchen is in and maybe some furniture is in place before making a final decision. But I would love to know what you think works best! Comment below.
If you missed my previous posts on the reno, click here.
Photo credits:
1. Oji & Design
2. Iacoli & McAllister Spica Light, Goodsie.com
3. Warm Circus Pendants, Oliver Yaphe
4. Nelson Saucer Pendant Lamp, Design Within Reach
5. Skygarden S1 by Marcel Wanders for Flos, Design Within Reach
6. Contour Semi-Flush Fixture, West Elm
7. Thomas O'Brien Medium Goodman Hanging Lamp (TOB5091), Circa Lighting
8. Industrial Pendant in Mercury, West Elm
9. Jefferson Classic Flush Ceiling Fixture, Rejuvenation
10-12. Mandy Milks
We are finally in the home stretch of our rowhouse renovation. (Click here if you missed my previous posts.) The floors have been installed, tile picked out, appliances delivered, the primer is going up and the cabinets are being made. We are finally seeing it come together. I thought I would give you an overall tour of what the reno looks like with just 30 days left to go.
The exterior at the back is patiently waiting for its stucco finish — should be this week if the rain stays away.
This is where we were sleeping through the renovation, but we decided to open it up and it's now the holding room for all the materials and finishes. Now we're living upstairs in the office. It's cosy.
This is taken from the entrance to the kitchen and you can see through to the back of the house. We primed all the walls ourselves to help keeps costs down.
Here is the opposite direction looking towards the front door from the back of the house. I'm very eager for the cabinets to arrive!
This is the second floor looking down the hall to the bedroom. This room is the closest to being finished. Once we get our doors we can move our furniture in!
The construction was the easy part. Choosing all the finishes was a lot of work, but we got through it and we're still married. We had a bit of help: kitty helped us decide on the stucco colour.
The tile in the ensuite bathroom is finally going up. I'm so happy with how it's turning out. It's very satisfying to finally see your ideas on paper turn into reality. So far no regrets!
At the last minute, we decided to redo the entryway. We were going to put it off for a while, but after all the work we did, we didn't want the first impression to be that of the old dark house. It's getting the final drywall sanding and will be ready for priming and tile next week. My husband spent the weekend hand-scraping and sanding the popcorn lacquer off of the archway. I'm so happy he saved it.
Stay tuned for more blog posts about the progress!
Photo credits:
1-10. Mandy Milks
If you've missed my previous posts about the rowhouse my husband and I are renovating, click here. Let's move on to the second floor bathrooms.
If you can't remember, this is what the main bathroom looked like before. It was way too small, awkward and really blue!
Currently it looks like this. We made it much bigger and added a wider window.
We needed some inspiration. Last year, my husband and I stayed at the Ace Hotel in New York. We loved the bathrooms — lots of handsome black accents, brass hardware and ivory tile. I also love the bathroom of the very stylish Jenna Lyons, creative director of J.Crew.
We are renovating this existing second floor bathroom, but we are also adding a brand-new ensuite off our principal bedroom. This main bathroom will be more dramatic and vintage-y, and the ensuite will be a bit more masculine and utilitarian. But both complement each other nicely.
Here is the floor plan we're working with.
For the bathrooms, the jumping off point was the tile. It really dictates the look. If the tiles are sleek and modern versus pretty and glam, it would effect everything else that went into the place. So we looked at tile. A lot of tile! I knew I wanted dark floors and light walls. I looked at handmade, marble and bevelled subway tiles, and for the floors I contemplated a range of styles from tiny mosaics to big slabs of slate.
When I went into Beyond Tile & Stone, I found exactly what I wanted. Our designer, Mazen El-Abdallah, had shown me a small mosaic sample from the store and I knew I had to go check it out. It's a blue stone hex mosaic — stunning! And it will be complemented by a honed statuario marble subway tile on the wall behind the tub. It's very special and luxurious, but also very simple. I don't think it will go out of style anytime soon. I loved shopping at Beyond Tile & Stone because the store has such a well-curated selection of tiles and very knowledgeable staff.
I don't want to give everything away since you'll soon see the finished bathroom in a future issue of House & Home. But here is a general idea of what we're putting together now that we have decided on that tile.
Main bathroom:
Ensuite bathroom:
Stay tuned for more on our renovation!
See the finished upstairs bathroom in our March 2013 issue, on newsstands February 11th.
Photo credits:
1-2. Mandy Milks
3a. My Friend's House blog
3b. The Fat Hydrangea blog
4-5. Mandy Milks
6. Clockwise: Tub, Living X Design; sconce, Rejuvenation; faucet, Kohler; vanity, Restoration Harware
7. Clockwise: Fixtures, sconce and mirror, Restoration Hardware; sink, Duravit
With such a massive undertaking for our new (old) home's renovation, we needed a clear direction. Just like we would with any design project, we had to come up with a little creative brief to keep us focused. (If you missed the before photos of our home, click here.)
It wasn't about just picking a style or look. I like various elements of modern, traditional, country and eclectic, and plan on using a bit of each (hopefully in a balanced way). Don't get me wrong, my husband and I are both designers, and aesthetics are very important to us. Much to my husband's dismay, it seems every time we go shopping for finishes, I gravitate towards the most expensive options. I don't do it on purpose, it just happens!
But we tried to focus on how we're going to live in and enjoy the space day-to-day. It needs to be an escape from our busy work lives and function seamlessly for our lifestyle. We came up with three words to keep in mind every time we have to make a decision about the house:
- Simple: It doesn't have to be boring, but it can't be complicated, require a lot of maintenance or need for explanation. See the window example below and you'll see what I mean.
- Functional: Is it high maintenance, expensive or precious? What if the cat scratches it or someone spills something? Will the space be used to its full potential?
- Humble: We didn't buy the biggest house on the block and it's not very showy. This house was originally tenement housing and I wanted to keep that feeling throughout, and not mask it with expensive marble or fancy floors. That doesn't mean we're going to choose builder-standard finishes, but we are striving to achieve a good balance.
Okay, so we made a general plan and created a budget (that's the hardest part). Now we are putting it all into practice.
Hire An Expert
I may work at House & Home, but I'm a trained graphic designer, so I needed an expert on interiors. I contacted Mazen El-Abdallah, who's own rowhouse was featured on Online TV and in our September 2010 issue (see photos below). He maximized space without sacrificing style, so we knew he would get our design plan. It was the best decision we ever made and we would be lost without his help. He definitely followed through with the simple and functional criteria of our overall concept.
El-Abdallah's own home is narrow like ours, and he did a great job with it.
The Windows
Where to start!? When I first walked through the house, I knew I wanted huge windows everywhere. I wanted to bring natural light into the dark house. Well, you can't have huge windows everywhere according to some by-laws, but we could go big in the back.
I have always loved industrial-like steel windows with very thin black frames. My Pinterest account is full of them! This was my inspiration.
So I went and designed a window.
I had the windows quoted with wood frames because steel and aluminum were out of our budget range. Apparently, I am not an engineer or a window designer. With all the framing needed to support the doors in my configuration, we would need more frame than windows. Not simple or functional. It would end up looking like the diagram above.
So we decided on good old fashioned sliding doors. But we chose large-scale ones so they won't feel like typical builder-basic sliding doors. And in the bedroom upstairs we chose a big picture window flanked by casements. They're all black with wood on the inside and aluminum on the outside. Sort of modern, sort of traditional, but very functional.
House Exterior
The back of our house was a disaster! Layers of bad additions and a mix of different building materials. We needed to simplify the outside. I originally wanted a full brick exterior but it wasn't in the budget. Humble stucco is just as functional and half the price. It will have a simple finish, and will look great against the black-framed windows in a dark charcoal colour.
Here is the house currently. We're waiting for the windows to arrive any day now. Stucco and eaves will come after the windows are installed. Exciting!
And the interior is being drywalled this week! Time is flying by and I'm hoping to host Thanksgiving dinner as my contractor promised. I should be able to show you some interior progress in my next post — stay tuned!
If you missed phase #1 of our reno, see my earlier blog post.
Photo credits:
1-4. House & Home September 2010 issue, photography by Angus Fergusson
5. Design Heaven
6, 7, 8. Mandy Milks
The last two weeks of the reno have really amped up. All of the permits are finally in place and we are ready to tackle the biggest part of the reno, phase #2: completely rebuilding the back of the house! (If you missed phase #1, click here.)
Here are some photos of our progress:
The back of the house is well underway. The demo crew had to order in a special air drill to get through all the layers of concrete. Underneath that second floor balcony was another tar and shingle roof with nine layers of shingles!
The kitchen has been stripped away and that back wall has been opened up. There's so much more light filtering through now — especially when we put in the 9' by 9' windows and french doors.
The blue bathroom is gone! We've also taken the left wall down to make the space larger, and expanded the window.
Here are some other shots of the demo process for your enjoyment:
Well, it's quite overwhelming to say the least. A lot of decisions and planning took place before we even discussed demo. My husband and I certainly aren't interior designers or architects, but because we're both graphic designers, we decided to tackle this the way we would a print design job. Before we started the process, we came up with a creative brief and a visual mood board of inspiration. We also hired some expert help for the difficult stuff like the bathrooms and kitchen. Well worth it!
In my next blog post on July 17th, I'll share our design plan of attack so you can see where all this rubble is headed.
For another inspiring reno, read Catherine Sweeney's blog posts.
Photo credits:
1-7. Mandy Milks
When we bought this house, we knew we would be taking on a huge task with the basement. It was wet, moldy and outfitted head-to-toe in fake '70s wood panelling. I only want to dedicate one post to it because I don't want to discuss it ever again!
But, I must say, our contractor made it as painless as possible. He brought in an excellent team and within weeks, the water problem was gone and I had a beautiful new bathroom and laundry area. We started to see the promise of this house coming together. Having an excellent contractor can make or break your renovation experience.
There was a lot that happened in those couple of weeks. I'll break it down for you:
Step 1: Unfinish the finished basement.
Before: Dark, panelled and wet.
After: Personally I think it looks much better! But it was daunting to come home to this scene and imagine that it would turn out okay.
Step 2: Add weeping tile on the inside of the east wall.
Since it's a rowhouse, everything is done from the inside. This did solve a lot of the water problems and however tedious the task was, I'm happy that our home is so much healthier now.
Step 3: Dig out the basement entry, replace drain and keep water away from the house.
Again, boring but necessary! There's no point in spending a lot of time and money renovating your house if it isn't dry!
And now we have a bigger door, too!
Step 4: Replace the furnace.
Getting sexy with energy savings.
Step 5: Replace the dangerous stairs.
I didn't want to show anyone the basement for fear they would fall down the stairs. A new set of pine stairs for us means everyone can enjoy our lovely basement.
Before: They looked harmless but it was like going through a funhouse when you walked down — each step was a different height.
During: Hoisting, digging and filling. Don't worry, kitty oversaw the entire process.
The stairs were actually built off-site and delivered like this. And here is the team figuring out the install.
After: Much better!
Step 6: Demolish and rebuild the bathroom.
Okay, this was actually fun because we could finally choose some finishes. I'd had enough of furnaces and weeping tile... this helped me get through.
Before: Matching yellow.
Progress: Starting from scratch.
I like this photo because it looks like I did all the work... I can paint very carefully. It was my colleague Cameron MacNeil's idea to put in the marble inset shelf. I used some marble threshold tile — each piece was under $10!
For a bathroom with no windows, basic subway tile made everything bright. I love the level faucet set from Moen. We bought this sink from Addison's in Toronto — I wanted to add a bit of style to the otherwise clean and simple design, and I like the vintage style of this sink. Now I just need to find the perfect mirror.
After: Now I need to find some pretty hooks and baskets to pull it all together.
Step 7: Set up the laundry area.
I can put up with a lot of inconveniences but off-site laundry was not one of them.
Before: Not happening.
After: These machines make me very happy!
If you missed my first blog posts, click here, and stay tuned for my next post July 3rd!
Photo credits:
1-19. Mandy Milks
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