You gotta scramble a few eggs to make an omelette ....

We're busily tearing apart the house across the street .... There are currently four rooms on the main floor - we'll be creating one big kitchen/dining/family room - and adding a powder room. We're also creating an old fashioned "coat room" off the front entrance. (Remember those from school?) We are big believers in the importance of transition spaces. 

SO many clients tell us a mudroom - a spacious, organized space for coming and going ... is high on their wish lists. Who wants to live like this?

Unfortunately for present day families who love older homes .... they weren't so big on transition spaces in the good old days. We always have to move things around to make it happen.

Here's a glimpse of the main floor now as it is with some demo underway. We've had to peel back the lathe and plaster (and layers of pink paint) to reveal the stare of the structure beneath. We'll need to be able to show our engineer what's holding up the few walls we are leaving in place. (With the help of a beam or two)

We also made a bit of a discovery- this fireplace, hidden behind a closet on the main floor. Surprise!  We're going to try to tweak the kitchen design to see if we can do a bit of a work around. (I am not so sure ..)

And this is the third floor. Formerly a one bedroom apartment, soon to be a lovely luxury master suite, complete with huge closet, giant bathroom with soaker tub, shower ... and an office/study/yoga space/sitting room/nursery attached to the main space. 

It's got such lovely high ceilings. Once we've doubled the window sizes and put in our skylights - the master suite will be flooded with light. I am thrilled with our plans for this area. You can see a bit of the light coming through the existing window here....

A diamond in the rough, for sure. But just wait - a few months = transformation! 

Those Finishing Touches

One of the questions we are asked all the time .... "How long does a typical renovation take?" Our answer is always "it depends".

It depends on what you are doing, where you are going (always best if you move out ...but if you can't just understand it will take longer), how much you are spending etc. etc.

But another answer is "depends when you feel comfortable moving back in". There's done and there's done, you know?

Our most recently completed project (wait til you see the real photos .. it turned out SO well) was really quite complete when our clients moved in. They have twin cutie-pie little toddler boys, so wanted to avoid moving into any more chaos than necessary. So, we made sure to do all the little things in advance - the towel racks, the laundry room shelving, the mirrors, the door stoppers, the coatroom hooks. We wanted to make it as move in ready as possible.

But no matter how complete the renovation, there are always some little things that need to be done at the tail end of a project. Those finishing touches can actually sometimes drag on, even for the most well planned and executed projects.

For example, house numbers (aren't these great?): You can get them here: www.numbermyhouse.com - a Canadian company (two brothers from Calgary started it). We ordered these for our clients - they are 16" high. They come with a template and hanging gear. They are lightweight and weather resistant. We think they are fabulous.

And new decks (we had to wait for snow to melt ..  which we were still doing well into April in Ottawa):

And there's always something that goes wrong. In this case, a stair runner was installed the wrong colour (supposed to be a grey-ish blue and if you can believe it the installers tried to convince the homeowner the colour was "kind of grey". Ugh. Our client is anti-brown and never agreed to the colour.) The new one should be in soon.

Some clients (and some home renovation company owners ... ahem...) are so anxious to move into their new space, they move in very early in the "ready" process (some would say too early). For example, when we moved into our current home, I'd say we were only about 85% done. Like, we didn't have a toilet until 5:30 the day we moved in (and we have four bathrooms!).  And while we had a kitchen, we certainly did not have counter tops (we templated for the quartz). We didn't have trim, closets or railings. The first few nights, we all camped out on mattresses in one bedroom.
It felt kinda like this ...

To be fair, by the end of the month, we were done. By Christmas (the next month) we hosted Christmas dinner.

But it was dusty, disruptive and challenging. It's a good thing we know and enjoy our partners in the various trades so much - we spent a LOT of time together. They saw us in our PJ's a lot.  This worked for us (and the temporary rental budget had dried up) but it likely won't for most.

Understanding that there is often still much work after the project is "done" is a critical part of setting expectations around the completion process.

Another ReNew Homes Overhaul

After a long time... we are back to blogging again. (The blogger half of our team - that's me - was on a bit of a hiatus doing some consulting work, which didn't allow for much blogging!)

It's been a busy time. We completed four projects in the past year - including refreshing a charming older home in Rockliffe, a first and third-floor addition and renovation in Westboro and a complete "stud gut" and addition in the Glebe, which we have just finished. More on our Glebe reno in another post, along with some awesome photos.

For now, I am pleased to announce we are back with another overhaul project.

We couldn't get much closer to home with this one.  The long-time owner of the house across the street from ours passed away, which was a sad event for all on our street. Our lovely neighbour, Daisy, was a real treasure to all of us and was always ready with a smile and a wave.  We miss Daisy and her warm family, who we got to know well over the past year. Daisy proudly owned her own home for many, many years, and we can't wait to restore it to its former glory and create a wonderful space for a new family.

The house is not without its' challenges. It still has knob and tube wiring, and because it's an older home, the layout needs to be  refreshed to better suit the needs of a modern family.

Here's the house now ....  with tons of junk sitting outside.

We are currently emptying the house ... (Ok, not "we" but it's getting emptied thanks to Warren, Steve and the goods folks who respond to Kijiji ads).

Bin #1 has already been carried away.

We've found some cool old stuff like this old bottle of "Bay Rum" Mentholated ... good for" insect bites, headaches, face wash and shampoo".

We have some wonderful plans for this home - I think it's going to be beautiful!

Ta Da!! |Our (Almost) Final Cottage Fireplace ....

We (ok, primarily Warren .. but I helped!) put up the stone on the new fireplace this weekend. A short post to show you the final (almost) result. Our order was a few stones shy of corner pieces, so we have to get 2-3 more of those and finish the top portion. We also still have to put up more porcelain tile on the hearth and fire box.  We're pretty proud of it. Can you see the weathered elm mantle? Looks like it's always been there! I think it makes our whole cottage look cozy! What do you think?

The stone product is a manufactured stone product made by Cultured Stone - the river rock series .. you can find out more about it here: http://www.culturedstone.ca/Products/colors-dressed-fieldstone.aspx

Aside from some (ok, many) body aches and pains, and some basic tiling experience, it's something you can do yourself ... Let us know if you're inspired!

ReNew Field Trip - A Visit to the WoodSource

Aside from two current client projects, our Delmar house project and the water damage repair work to our own home ... we are also in the middle of finishing a significant renovation on our cottage (never a dull moment)!

While our home in the city is contemporary, our little cottage is quite the opposite. It's small and cozy with lovely views of the Ottawa River, where it literally sits in the sand. I like to think of it as a beach house, because that's how it feels. Here it is last Thanksgiving ...




We bought the two bedroom cottage in a very forlorn and unloved state two years ago. But with a few walls knocked down, a cute Ikea kitchen installed and gallons and gallons of white paint, we brought back the charm. Last Fall, we completed a small addition, adding a third bedroom and a new bathroom (with laundry ... squee!) - as a bonus, we even have a few closets! We also replaced the doors and windows, did some electrical work, levelled the cottage's crookedness and winterized with insulation and heating.

With the worst of the interior changes complete, we're now at the "fun stuff" stage - closet shelving, door handles, decorative details like blinds .... and a bit of new furniture. Perhaps our favourite new feature is a working fireplace. This weekend, Warren will be installing the stone on the fireplace wall, as well as a new mantle. Because this will be such a focal point, we wanted something special for the mantle.

So ... we went to The WoodSource in Manotick to find a weathered wood mantle - the perfect accent to the new river rock cladding. We decided on a hand-hewn timber product. According to the WoodSource website - this timber is "salvaged from barns and other structures dating back to the 1800’s, and would have been harvested from the land adjacent to the building site. The timbers are usually square, hand hewn on four sides and commonly include some mortise pockets." You can choose from a wide selection.

After wandering through the stacks of timbers we selected a 62" x 11" x 4" greyish elm - that has all these weathered looking cracks and chips. I think it looks quite beachy!

We could have wandered endlessly, but while we were there I managed to check out their exotic wood and "live edge" selection. Lots of "live edge" products ... you can make counters, mantles and tables from this product....

They also have planks of barnboard,  (think headboards, tables, shelving) We made sliding doors in our city home from the re-claimed wood we found behind our lathe and plaster. Its' age gives it a lovely patina. These are similar. 

To find out more, drop by the WoodSource (  Mitch Owens Drive ) or visit their website: 
http://www.wood-source.com/reclaimed-vintage-wood-products/

Sneak Peek

We've been working away at our 1960's house on Delmar .... bringing our graceful friend up to the modern standard she deserves. Things are looking wonderful. With the snow melted away we are almost tempted to move in there ourselves! The yard is looking simply glorious. The original owner was quite a gardener and there are trees, trees, trees.  It's huge and private and a bike path runs right behind it.

With each day, this house seems to bring with it a number of pleasant surprises. (quite the opposite of the kinds of surprises we usually encounter with many renovations!)

Here is a sneak peek of the kitchen. All will be revealed shortly, but that's a marble mosaic back splash and some lovely honed granite accenting a contemporary look. The new windows bring in the sunshine (now that we finally have some).

The tile has turned out well, too. As always, our expert tiler, Tony, from TB  Tile did  a bang up job. Here's the master bath (check out the soon to be gone robin's egg blue toilet!) Yep, more marble.

The main/kids bath looks great, too. We kept the same cabinet - it was in good shape and was nice and large. But changed the sink, counter and back splash. I like how it's coming together so far.

My favourite tile of all, however is this brown, grey and black polka dot tile. It's a pattern we've used in our kids bathroom, and also in our own home's basement shower. We can't get this style any more. We had JUST enough to do this cool accent ... (I just find polka dots so happy ...) 

Stay tuned. We'll be posting all photos soon. By next week, we'll be getting ready for an Open House to showcase the whole project. Right now, we are run off our feet with last minute details. This is truly my favourite part, though, given how much shopping it involves.

ReNew in Washington

The entire staff of ReNew Homes (yes, that would be just the two of us ....) traveled to Washington DC over the Easter weekend. While there, as always, we poked around the city a bit, getting ideas wandering around neighborhoods  checking out how and where people live.  Sadly, we missed the cherry blossoms :( but the city was lovely all the same. Hope to do a deeper dive next time.

Here, in no particular order, is some good stuff we saw.

We headed to the well-known Georgetown area, where many of the homes date back to  1750's- here's the oldest house in Washington -  smack dab in the middle of the Georgetown shopping and restaurant district. It's been preserved and is worth a peek. Surprising to see the same type of stone foundation in many homes in the Glebe.

Georgetown University itself is quite beautiful - Gothic and huge. Near the school are houses like this .. .a virtual rainbow of what I imagine might even be student housing ....

A little fancier and equally bright homes - very "federal" in style. And further afoot some downright regal looking. Georgetown is an elegant area.

We also saw this upscale bathroom showcase called Waterworks in Georgetown (there are several locations across the US). The showroom experience is spectacular  I could have spent hours at the tile wall alone. The light in there was magnificent, and so were the samples. Check it out:

Here's a closer look at some of the marble selections.

We saw this cool shower, which would work in a traditional style bathroom, with a seamless tile shower floor. So unique.

We also spent some time wandering around Baker furniture - a company whose ads I have always admired. It was a wonderful store - although I quickly found all that neutral "greige" a bit tiresome. The furniture itself is lovely, and so well made. I can see how you would invest in a classic piece or two and want it neutral so you could keep it forever.

We loved Washington. With a good friend living there, I hope to return and do a deeper dive into some of the neighborhoods and architecture. I haven't even covered the cool buildings, monuments and museums we came across - many in my favorite mid-century era .... We'll be back, Washington!