Here are some pictures of the house progress. We move in on Thursday and its looking like we will have it close enough to finished by then. I won't be updating again until we are moved in, so check back in a week to see some finished house!

Here is the kitchen:



Liam's bedroom:


Master Bedroom:


And the railing!

Liam's Chair

Typically when I go to a second hand store I already have a picture of exactly what I am looking for. This doesn't just happen when I go to second hand stores, it also happens when I go clothes shopping or any other form of shopping. I'm not one to sift through stuff hoping to be inspired, because if I don't need it, chances are I don't want it, and I am really not a fan of clutter. Needless to say, I don't often find exactly what I am looking for, but maybe something similar that I can adapt.

Well, on two occasions now I have had the pleasure of walking into a thrift store and finding exactly what I was looking for. Here is one of them:



Besides the obvious flaws (its pink, and the wood is a light birch) it was near perfect! I was looking for this style of child's chair, with something that I could reupholster without too much difficulty. Liam seems to really like sitting in it too. And climbing on it. And using it to get to things he shouldn't be getting to.


With a little white spray paint and some new fabric I think it looks pretty cute! I have yet to recover the foot stool. I was using my left over fabric from Liam's quilt, and didn't quite have enough to do the stool. That will come later. The re-upholstering was a little more challenging that I initially thought, I salvaged the zippers for the back from the old fabric, and learned the easy way of sewing in zippers! But overall it was only about an hours worth of work for something that I am pretty happy with.

Backyard!

We got a fair amount done at the house today! It is getting to the point where every time I come something new is being done and it is starting to look so good! Jake has been working very hard, and well into the evenings, to get lots of this done. He's doing such an amazing job. Again, a huge thank you to all our family and friends that come out to help us out too, it makes such a difference.

Today, my sister was able to take Liam so that I could help out with raking and seeding the backyard. It looks so much bigger now that the jungle is gone. Here is a before picture:



And the after:


A huge thank you to my niece Larissa and my nephew Alex for helping out with it today! They helped a lot with all the raking, rolling and seeding that went on.


Here is a picture of my two favorite renovators! Don't let the serious photo trick you, they are really quite friendly.



Liam came after his nap in the afternoon and he was in his glory! I have never seen the boy so dirty, and yet so happy.

Moving pep talk and a poop face

In an effort to put off packing for a few minutes, I have decided to compile a list of fun aspects involved in moving. (Note: this is to convince myself that I am having fun more than anything else, kind of like a pep talk).

1. I have already taken two trips to the thrift store to donate some stuff that we just don't use. We aren't going to have a big storage room in the new house, and I really don't like clutter, so this is a good way to sort and organize EVERYTHING.

2. It's fun to come across random boxes that Liam has decided to pack for me. I will list the contents of one such box: my hair brush, a toy car, a wooden block, a picture book, one sandal and a box of band aids. The kid's a quick learner.

3. If there is something that has been missing for a while you're bound to come across it sooner or later!

4. There is nothing more exciting than packing something you don't think you will need in the next little while, only to discover that you really could use it right about now.

5. I get a bit of a break from cooking meals that are up to my usual gourmet standards. Four courses just is a little too much when you spend your free time packing (or stalling like I am doing right now).

I will leave you with a picture of Liam's poop face. It's usually quite the ordeal when he has to poop, the face goes red, he grunts, clings onto something to give him support and goes at it. The other day he did it while we were at the bank, attracting a fair amount of attention. He did what I think any little boy would do in his situation, he hammed it up even more.

progress...

Things are coming along at our place, the painting has started, the hardwood floor is going in soon, and the new railing is being installed as I type. The excavator started today too! We are digging an entrance to the basement for the suite, as well as fixing up the yard. Although it looks worse right now, I promise it will look better at some point (it really can only get better looking from here):



You can hardly see the excavator in this jungle!


Other than that we are up to our elbows (or for some of us over our heads) in boxes! I'm trying to pack up and clean our current house so that on moving day we are extremely organized and can move without a hitch (here is to hoping). Liam is still sharpening his packing skills, he is remarkably good at re-arranging my already packed boxes. Boy, if I thought moving was busy enough, trying to do it with a very active 14 month old just adds a whole new level of excitement!


That's all for now, I need to keep packing. But I will upload some more pictures as I take them! Oh I should note, instead of buying moving boxes we just get them from the liquor store, so no these boxes are not representative of our weekend habits :)

Liam's bedroom

The house is coming along nicely! So far we are on schedule, which is always really nice, especially when you are moving in on a set date regardless of how much is finished.

Here is a picture of the kitchen so far, the drywall went up yesterday:



The bathroom also has drywall, but I couldn't get a good picture of it because it was a little dark in there.

In the mean time I will post a few pictures of what I have been up to in the past months. I actually made this clock when I was pregnant with Liam, but recently updated the colours on it so that it will work in his new bedroom. Its inspiration comes from this Eames clock that was a little too expensive, and not exactly the colours I wanted (but oh so beautiful):
Here is the one I made (with some drilling help from Jake). Not exactly the same, but as close as I could get to it:


Chances are if you have been over recently I would have showed you these pictures I have for Liam's new bedroom. I found a book at the thrift store with great pictures, and painted some IKEA frames orange to go with them. There are eight of them in total, and will go on his wall in his new room.


And then in the weeks before we got possession of our house I made this quilt to go on Liam's bed.


So that's a good portion of what will be in his new bedroom! I love children rooms, and figured this would be a fun way to update his nursery with the move.

I will be adding more pictures of the house in a few days, we had some trees removed in the front and back of the house, and ripped out the basement for the suite so there is going to be lots more progress in the next little while. And later next week we get to start on the flooring and the finishing!

it has only just begun

We got possession of our new house yesterday! Jake and I are very excited, and couldn't wait to get to work on it. Its only been 29 hours and already so much has happened. We have had so many family and friends out to help, and we are incredibly thankful for them having given up a few hours of their weekend to help us out.

I'll share a few pictures of what we have been up to, and since I took these already so much more has changed. It is a little sad that it takes only two days to gut a house, but its going to take a month to put it all back again!

Here is a picture of the kitchen yesterday afternoon:


And one from this afternoon: (Since taking this picture the drywall has all been removed)


Here is the bathroom yesterday:


And the bathroom this afternoon:



I also took a picture of the yard, because I didn't have one last time I posted pictures of the house. This just gives you an idea of how big it is. I stood at the back of the yard and took this picture:


And finally, one of my favorite finds in the house so far, the many different layers of laminate. If only we could have salvaged that beautiful green and orange one. (sigh)