home is where the couch is

I'm supposed to be working on the last wall of insulation, but I'm stalling. It's a double wall, which means, there's the original wall and then there's a newer wall built in front of it. So both parts of it needs to get some insulation stuffed into it. I am so done with that picky, itchy crap. I'm doing anything to avoid it. Such as painting a blackboard wall.

Here's some inspiring photos of blackboard walls in kitchens:

I tell ya, I'm ADD with projects. A few months ago, April to be exact, I bought a can of blackboard paint. In July, I filled in a few holes. In August, I sanded it. And today I'm taping and priming.

The Man's philosophy with any of his purchases is 'Go Big or Go Home'. That's not really his philosophy in his own words, but one that I've decided is his after years of living with him and watching what he buys. Like his giant miter saw, his giant treadmill, his giant box of Canadian Tire tools that came in a big box and was pretty useless. We often influence our partners whether we like it or not and I've been purposefully attempting to influence him to do research on what he wants and what he actually needs to purchase, instead of randomly buying it cause it's big. He's getting better. He recently bought a normal sized super awesome drill and normal sized useful reciprocating saw. AND he decided NOT to buy a super ginormous router table because it was too big. He's a quick learner. *cough 18 years later cough*

His influence on me, for this project anyway, is that I'm goin' big. I'm not going to make a cute little framed blackboard project thingy, I'm doing a large portion of the kitchen wall. It's pretty big.


Inspirational Photos: 

Apartment 2024
Canadian House and Home
A Yellow House by the Sea
The Wicker House
House Obsession
Green Home Ideas
Courtney and Wise
BeeBeeGrace

The Man and I had such big plans. We were going to get the vapor barrier done on the ceiling and the walls. We were going to drywall at least one wall. We were going to finish alll the insulation and he was going to build a box for the fireplace that's coming next week. Ohhh, the plans we had.

But the Man is a perfectionist. It took us 4 freaking long hours to put up vapor barrier on only half the ceiling. When the clock chimed 11 at night, I quit. I want this back addition done as much as he does, but enough is enough already. Putting up massive sheets of plastic on the ceiling will create some wrinkles. Get over it.

THIS is like working with my husband. Cute little guy tho.

Enter a man named Lou.

Lou is a workhorse. If you need a workhorse to come and fix your house, give me a call and I'll hook you up. He works for $25/hour and he is fast. Look at what he did in 4 hours all by himself.


All you have to do is tell him what you want and he just does it. No chatting, no hemming and hawing about how to begin. He just starts working and Bam. It's done. It's amazing.

View of the loft/storage area

But now it's my turn to hold up the project. I need to get my act together. I'm having such a hard time deciding on what kind of shower faucet to choose. I want something with a rainshower and the Man wants a handheld.

This is what I've come up with.

This is what I really like:

Hansgrohe 27160 Raindance Double Handle Shower System with Handshower and Hose

This is what I can afford:

Uberhaus "Column" Shower Faucet

I don't mind the cheaper shower faucet too much - it's just that it's a Rona brand and I can't find any reviews about it. I'm all about reviews. If you've bought a Rona faucet, let me know what you think.

What I like:

Toto TL382SDL En Single Lever Bathroom Faucet

What I can afford:

Uberhaus Design "Mistral" Lavatory Faucet

I wanted a pot light in the shower with a separate fan in the ceiling and pendant lights over the sink. The separate fan/pot light got nixed and now I need to come up with another idea. I'm NOT picking a boob light. There is actually such a thing as a boob/fan light. If you don't know what a boob light is, this is a photo of one.



They're ugly.

So, I was thinking this instead:

Nutone Recessed Light with Fan

I think I'd need two of them. One just seems awkward and lonely.

I also need to find the cheapest pocket door frame, which I think I found at Home Hardware. That's why the doorway looks so large for the bathroom. It's waiting for me.

The Man is gone for a few day, which gives me a bit of time to do some research and decide on something. If you know me, you know that I love Google and researching the crap out of something. The following video was made for me - thanks Julian Smith.

The siding is ordered (and just got a call that it's in. It was supposed to take 3 weeks - it's been 3 days. We're not ready for it yet!!). The fireplace installation is booked. The 6 foot french door is coming and the little brother coming to install it has been booked. The ceiling insulation...not quite done yet.

Ceiling insulation ALMOSt done! Just a bit at the far end to finish.

We were hoping to get it done on the weekend. Didn't happen. But it will.


I'm sure that some people plan out everything they're going to do before they even start. Sometimes we're that people but sometimes we're not. We are going to be building a bathroom wall and are having a few issues. I'm hoping they get done this weekend, but you know how that goes.

The problem:

The bathroom is going to have a floor above it. We're in an older house which, as older houses go, there's not a ton of storage space. So the bathroom ceiling isn't going to go up to the top of the cathedral ceiling, it will go up to regular ceiling height -  about 8-9 feet. All the space above it will become storage.

The issue is how to build the wall, where to put the joists. The current side wall is taller than the supporting end wall. Which means that we have to run the joists from supporting end wall and rebuild the back wall. Does that make sense? Probably not. Here's a photo.



The plan is for there to be a built-in bookshelf/cupboards (more storage space) on the outside wall of the bathroom. Where the large gap of the storage space will be, there will be some sort of door bookshelf - so that you can just open the door and crawl in. Cool eh? Of course that's way in the future, but still.

Photo: bathfurnituremakers.co.uk

Photo: bathfurnituremakers.co.uk

Not as ugly as these bookcases, but you get the idea...imagine them going into a void with maybe a ladder to climb up...That's the plan. The Man has gotten a lot of tools for this reno and I plan on putting making him use them with my nefarious plans!! mwahahaha.

My favourite part of doing any house project is the painting. And obviously, we are no where near that part.

I'm pretty sure I'm ADD when it comes to projects - I'm great at starting and have tons of ideas, I bounce around from one project to another without quite finished them. Sooner or later the projects get finished. Might take a few years, but still. They do get done.

One that has been staring at me, waiting for me to start has been these little drawer-tables that were in my back room. Since most of the stuff that was back there is now in my hoarding dining room, I put them at the front entrance. And I really like them there. That's their new home.

Then I bought the crazy lamp and the girl and I chose a colour to paint the little drawer-tables. It's her favourite colour and it also matches the little hits of blue in the crazy lamp.  I love colour and have been trying to make my house look grown up and mature, but I have moments where I say, Screw it, and do something really colourful.



This week I picked up a chair on the side of the road. It was from my neighbour down the street, she's super clean and her house is sooo cute - so I wasn't concerned about bed bugs. It's on the porch and I'm still deciding if I'm going to let it in.


Another little diversion I had came in the form of my friend Niina coming over to distract me and use me for my computer knowledge. Somehow we ended up at Vinnie's and the ReStore. I've had urges to spend money lately - this always happens when I'm supposed to be saving money - so I've justified that urge by going to previously loved stores.

We had a ton of fun and I think she's my new thrift store going friend.


I picked up some cute little bowls made by Pfaltzgraff. I had never heard of them before, but once I got online and checked them out - wow. There are some crazy people out there. People collect hundreds of these pieces, and honestly, there's not very many nice looking patterns. I liked these ones because they were sturdy, I liked the colours and my family eats a lot of cereal so bowls are always nice to have for those lazy weeks when we haven't done dishes. Otherwise, a majority of their patterns are 1980 country. Yuck.


I also picked up two Pyrex measuring cups. Always handy and now I can give my plastic ones to The Village.


There was a nice green flower pot that I don't know what I would use it for since I murder plants - but it called my name and I was in big spender mode.

I'm in the middle of a reno, so don't go judging my dust bunnies.

And. I picked up a lamp. I hid it in the car so the Man wouldn't see it. I have no self control when I see a lamp that needs some lovin'. I could also see it in my future back room, so it's not like it's not going to get used. Unlike all the yarn and knitting crap and computer parts that were hidden in my drawer-table. Things that are NOT mine. Let's say they're not the kids either. So if someone gets upset at me about another lamp, I can just open my cute little drawer-table and remind him I'm not the only one with a hoarding issue.

We've started to get a bit of the insulation up in the ceiling.Well, not really me, the Man. I've been super cranky and not a whole lot of fun to work with. So if I'm honest, the Man has gotten a bit of insulation up in the ceiling.  We decided to put little strips of R14 along the edges of the styrofoam vents. Previously the insulation touched the ceiling and there was no sign of rot. So, yeah. The more insulation, the better.

Roxul rockin' the ceiling

Roxul is very different to work with than fiberglass. It's fragile and likes to be handled gently, otherwise it will tear and fall apart. It can't handle abuse like fiberglass can. But it's thicker looking and looks prettier in between the joists. I mean look at it - it's denser but it just stays up there all by itself!

Our addition is taking up so much of our time and energy and the rest of our house isn't getting quite the attention it's used to lately.

Look. Look at my poor backyard.

The Man usually goes over the yard on his hands and knees (actually he lays on his side) and picks out all the weeds. We don't do weed killer on the lawn. The Man is the weed killer. But, oh, the neglect.


And see our firepit hole to be - that I plan on enlarging - maybe next year. Weeds and neglect.


And my poor lavender. Hidden and beat up by the hillbilly garage. I hope you recover.


On a good note, I'm being forced to choose what kind of lighting is going in the bathroom, what type of shower system we'll be using and to pick fans out for the main area. Oh, my favourite kind of torture.