R is currently working on building two slide-out shelving units for the big white closet (cave) in the upper bathroom. The room is coming along nicely with the new shower installed and all the walls fixed and painted bright white. It's clean and bright in there finally! The wall-mount toilet was replaced last year due to a crack R found in the old one when he was preparing it to be reinstalled after the bracing was fixed. The new one sounds like it has a jet engine in it when it flushes and it's funny to see how guests react the first time they use it. The baseboards still need to go in and the sink, counter, and cabinets still need to be done, so there's a makeshift counter with the nasty old sink in there for now.

The shelving units will pull out from inside the closet for easy access and will have mirrors on the outside when they're finished. R has created a fantastic design that is going to be beautiful and functional.

Video one of the woodshed:



And the finished woodshed:




Tomorrow we get our fireplace inspected. Hopefully we can burn the wood from our new wood shed!!! lol

This is the downstairs bathroom as it was when we purchased the house:
My wife is very brave.

It's done.

This is the bedroom before:

This is the bedroom after. No baseboards, electical covers, blinds, or closet and entry door yet.

This is the bedroom before:



This is the bedroom after. No baseboards, electical covers, blinds, or closet and entry door yet.

The downstairs hallway.


We still have baseboards and electrical face plates to replace. But the patching, painting, and carpet are done!!



Before:



After:

I know, I know, it's been AGES since we updated this!
But not to worry, we have been getting quite a bit done on the basement renos. And we will be posting pictures and videos very soon!

We're getting carpet installed in the bedrooms and hallway this coming weekend, and once that's done we'll have some great pictures to post. We're also trying to put together some "before" video clips so you can see how much better it looks.

People lived here?

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Our house in the winter! We've been getting tons of snow already in mid-December.
And we got some lights to put on our very own (hole-of-a) house! We actually found the last three sets of large blue LED's in town, which was very exciting. But then R discovered one was broken (even though they say they're unbreakable). And you can't replace any if they break or burn out. So back to the store they went. We ended up getting some regular old blue lights for the roof. I also found a whole bunch of green and blue strands on Freecycle that will go great with these ones. But those won't be going up until next year (assuming we still live here!).

Not a good day!

A short video clip from home renos in the summer...

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Normally we get lots of birds in the trees around our balcony. But now and then we see some other kinds of critters. A few weeks ago we found a young raccoon in one of the trees. And every now and then this little critter stops by to hang out for a while. Last night he was up high on a branch and barely noticeable. When we opened the patio door to get a closer look, Luigi came running out. Well that got the owl's attention! He flew over to a much closer tree and sat on a low branch hanging very close to the balcony. He must have been thinking Luigi would make a nice tasty evening snack. Even with us there, lights on, and camera flashing at him he wasn't budging. Eventually we got Lui back inside. We're not sure if the owl is quite big enough to drag him off the deck. But he sure could have done some damage.

The downstairs bathroom is finally starting to look a little bit like a bathroom. The many, many hours of plumbing are finally complete and the shower stall is fully installed. We've also got some drywall up and the vanity is sitting in place, though not attached quiet yet. Looking so much better already!!