1st year behind us...

Here we are, sometime in the late winter 2006 timeframe, and I finally got around to taking some pics of the finished main floor in daylight. As you can see, there's plenty of room to manoeuvre in the kitchen now, and with the drop cedar ceiling gone, I was able to extend the upper cabinets right to the ceiling. We love the antique British pub table and two chairs that serve as our breakfast sitting area... we picked it up out of the Buy and Sell.


I went with appliances that were clean and crisp looking - the range is a "slide-in" with a smooth black ceramic surface that doesn't disrupt the granite line. The Fisher-Paykel fridge is "counter-depth" - it's not as big as an Amana, but we don't need the space, and it doesn't overpower the kitchen. Since we watch TV in the adjoining room, I chose a mid-range Bosch dishwasher. Sometimes, when we're watching TV, I'll be like, "hey, what is that noise? Is there something going on outside?" Then we'll realize that it's just that the dishwasher is on. A microwave/hood fan combo and a 40-bottle wine fridge round out the kitchen appliances.

I'm glad I built the "Island" (more like a peninsula, really) the way I did. It is where we do most of our day-to-day stuff, and the orientation of the drawers didn't allow for the bar stools to face the other way. When we are entertaining, it is the focal point of the room. On the other side, the "not-so-great-room", as I call it (since the likes of the Rudds, Pulvers and Petters have "great rooms" in their houses, it wasn't fair to call mine equal), we've created a sitting area where we do most of our daily TV viewing etc.

The design concept I had for the bathroom was a hotel-style, a-la Westin, or W Hotel. High contrast, brown on stark white, while retaining a period-look with the Sottini brushed finish faucet and the 1920s train-style towel bars. We found a great mirror at Costco that fit the space above the vanity perfectly, and virtually matched the cabinet colour/finish.

The dining room is actually the only room that was left pretty much untouched, except paint, of course. Christine got me an awesome Art Deco sideboard since these pics, and we've recovered the 1980s print on the dining chairs too.

I finished the mouldings and the fireplace just in time for our open house/Christmas party. I wanted again to retain the 30s look, so I scoured the web for Art Deco fireplace mantles, and came up with something that I could modify to meet my tastes. Since I was going with the white against "Currant Jam" look, it was easy to make the mantle out MDF and create the chevron detail (hard to see from the pic). I went for a gas fireplace insert, as I know from past experience, that I don't use a fireplace if I have to go out into the cold to cut kindling!

What's next? Not sure... I'm catching up now on the maintenance things that the previous owner never did. I replaced the furnace and water heater over the winter, the roof is next, and of course, more painting. I also spent the winter battling the garage leak issue, but manage to work out an interim solution that should keep me dry until I re-surface it and put in proper flashings and gutters.