It’s been a looooong time since our last post.  And you know what - we haven’t done much during that time.  Small things here and there…but all in all…very little done.

The next big project is to paint the porch, but we’ve been putting that off constantly.  I think we hit the wall on renos and have yet to recover.  We’ll get back to it soon.

Thanks for sticking with us during this very slow period.  We promise to post soon once we’re motivated again.

Have a good rest of the summer.

The basement is now 99% done.  We’re thrilled to have a second full washroom, playroom, storage, tool room and a small home office for all of our paperwork etc…

The last remaining element is the stairs going down.  They were not well built (didn’t have proper risers) and therefore weren’t going to look good even after we put carpet on them.

Ben came up with a great way to solve the problem.  He envisioned re-cladding them with MDF wood and therefore being able to attach risers to the new treads.  This will then give the carpet a proper backing on every step.

Here’s how they look now pre-carpet.

An update on the front of the house.  We’ve made good progress improving the curb appeal.  Probably the biggest change was when we replaced all of the windows and the front steps.

This spring we ripped out all of the bushes (including the stumps - that was fun!) and have planted the gardens with a japanese maple, hostas and lots of other plants that were kindly donated to us by family and friends.

Next week Ben Ware (bpware@gmail.com) will paint the front door, porch, steps and the third floor decorative shingles.  We’ll update with new photos once that is complete.

Here’s a reminder of how the house looked when we purchased it 1 1/2 years ago:

Here’s how the porch and gardens are looking now:

The vanity is now completely installed.  Baseboards are done and painted.  Mirror is hung and the two wall sconces are set and working.  Here’s how it looks:

They’re done, trimmed, painted and beginning to get filled.  We couldn’t be happier with this addition to the media room.