Melrose Space

Wow qu'on aime!

2009-05-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

... and it's DONE!!

We had the painter and his coworkers do a thorough cleaning (after we had spent 2 days clearing the first layer of dust), and here is the spectacular result! We love it!

It's now ready for us to come back home...

Presque tout est fait, sauf le ménage...

2009-05-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

Getting closer...

Everything is almost in place except for the fact that there is dust EVERYWHERE! We started by washing our new set of plates; here's Jonathan very enthusiastic about the task...

The pantry now has all of the shelving installed. All that is missing now is the washer/dryer...

Here is a daytime shot of the bedroom, giving a bit of a better idea of the dark blue-grey colour of the wall.

So far we are very pleased!

Et la lumiere fut!

2009-05-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Cette fin de semaine l'électricien est venu installer une partie des lumières et c'est vraiment magnifique!

Le couloir:

cuisine:

Notre penderie dans notre chambre:

Almost the end!!!! But...

2009-04-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

Though we are approaching the end of this major project, there are still little snafus that come up along the way... usually these involve return trips to Rona/Ikea/Home Depot to return unnecessary items or exchange incorrect pieces, but some are more serious, like the latest discovery:

Yep, that's a big crack in our new sink. The contractor will try to exchange it next week. Not quite sure how the crack got there...

Now onto the other new additions:

New toilet in master bathroom (dual flush!):

Medicine cabinet, faucets and vanity installed:

Close-up of faucets...

Shower doors nearly installed and all shower plumbing installed:

Awesome kitchen faucet and tiled backsplash:

And finally a great picture of the main area. Things to notice:
- new radiator under window
- painted walls
- tiling of backsplash
- dropped-ceiling lighting above the island
- sanded floors (to be varnished this week)

Almost there!

Comptoir

2009-04-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

This part is really exciting... they installed the countertop in the kitchen! It's Staron (the Samsung version of Corning's Corian), which is a composite material. We chose this because we wanted an undermounted sink and we did not want a joint in the giant slab that is on top of the island (which would have been the case if we went with quartz).

I think it looks superb!

A creative close-up shot:

On approche de la fin

2009-04-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

Now it is the time when finishing touches are being done and the place is really taking shape!

Here are the new door handles installed on the (84") doors:

The kitchen is coming along - you can now see more cupboard doors, and the island taking shape in the center of the room. Also notice the hood over the spot where the oven/stove will go (and the hole through the wall, through the brick, leading to outside!):

It's getting close to being done!

On aime notre salle de bain!!!!!

2009-04-04T14:24:00.001-07:00

Ah, the "piece de resistance"...

The bathroom has turned out really well, we are so impressed!
The vanity and medicine cabinet should arrive next week.

In our master bedroom we decided to go the Ikea route for closets (Pax). Two challenges include leveling the bottom of the closets, because the floor is crooked, and deciding what to do with the sides (either beef up the wall, put melamine planks, or use painted MDF along the sides. We chose the last option). Now if only I could reach the top shelves...

Kitchen

2009-03-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

The apartment is really taking shape!

Here is the kitchen partially installed. The colour of the cabinet doors will be the dark brown-black that you see on one of the doors in the photo. There will be an island in the center with some space for about 2 stools. The stove/oven goes in the open space between the floor cabinets between the 2 windows.

The Ikea people came to take measurements for the counter, which should arrive in about 2 weeks!

Céramique dans la salle de bain

2009-03-15T05:01:00.000-07:00

The master bathroom continues to take shape. The wall is entirely tiled and it looks fantastic!

The two pipes below are for the wall-mounted sink faucets.

Can't wait to take a bath in there!

Quelle est belle notre salle de bain!

2009-03-12T04:52:00.000-07:00

More progress in the master bathroom...

Isn't it pretty??

The shower base is made up of the same tile as the floor, only cut into smaller 4"x4" pieces.

Here is a wide shot of the kitchen, with some of the base cabinets and pantry in place! (and you can see the lovely new wood floor)

Encore de la céramique et début de la cuisine

2009-03-11T04:51:00.000-07:00

As the apartment takes shape, we are starting to see the various rooms take form.

Here is the powder room, all tiled!

Here is the beginning of the assembling of the kitchen cabinets. We panicked when we saw the colour of the wood, thinking they had made a mistake (we ordered dark brown-black) - but then realized that all cabinets are like this and the coloured part only shows up on the doors and side panels. Phew!

In the master bathroom, work began on the shower floor. This was one of the 'surprises' after we learned that the shower base we had bought would have likely cracked in a few years. To be safe, we stuck with tile...

Finally - here is the master bathroom with its floor tiled and bathtub and faucets in place! Note that the bath is actually quite a bit deeper than what you see from the side; the base is actually dug down further below the floor.

Céramique dans la salle de lavage

2009-03-07T04:48:00.000-08:00

It took awhile (and a few visits to several ceramic stores) before we finally decided on a dark grey tile for our 2 bathrooms and laundry room (18"x18"). Here is the laundry room all tiled!

Début des plancher

2009-03-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Sorry for the long break. Let's just say that renovating can be tiring and stressful, and has been keeping us quite busy lately...

Things are moving along quite well!

Here is a photo of the new wood floor; we kept the old hardwood and had to fill in the spots that were left bare from the demolition. First photo is in the kitchen, where there used to be linoleum (on top of old linoleum, on top of older linoleum, etc etc...)

Day 56 - Office... / Céramique

2009-02-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

Isolation refait dans le bureau

Mais dans l'opération un fils réseau a été endommagé...

Notre couloir:

Début de la céramique par Stéphane:

Day 52 - Office.

2009-02-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

Voici le bureau avec sa nouvelle isolation. Il va maintenant faire chaud dans cette pièce! Nouveau plafond, nouveau mur... Maintenant la question, c'est comme il y a deux radiateurs, il risque de faire trop chaud!

C'est Stéphane, un des employés, qui a refait les murs le weekend dernier à un prix interessant! Merci!

Day 51 - Plâtre et bureau...

2009-02-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

Alors ce qui a vraiment avancé cette semaine c'est le plâtre. On commence à voir à quoi va ressembler le résultat final. Ça fait vraiment toute une différence:

Par exemple voici deux photos de l'entrée:

Ils ont aussi commencé à bâtir la base de la douche. Rebecca à la chance de prendre la première douche:

Sinon on pensait que c'était terminé avec le bureau, et bien non! On a finalement pris la décision de tout arracher les murs pour refaire l'isolation. Quel catastrophe cette extension! Alors quelques photos avant qu'ils reconstruisent les murs. On dirait un gros gâteau...

Qui à faim?

Day 47 - Mur de la cuisine

2009-02-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

Désolé ça fait longtemps qu'on n'a pas mis à jour notre Blog... Nous voilà de retour. Alors en ce 17 février, ce qui a de nouveau c'est que le mur de la cuisine est finalement posé. Voilà le résultat:

Camping...

2009-02-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

Some of you may wonder about our current living conditions during the renovations. As previously mentioned, we are living on the downstairs level of Jonathan's dad's condo in downtown Montreal. As you will see from these photos, we are really "roughing it"...!

Here is the living room and 'mini-bar' area, with our furniture temporarily installed (even my piano!):

This is the staircase that leads upstairs:

This is the bathroom. Note that some of our bathroom fixtures that we chose were inspired by this bathroom (notably the sink):

Bedroom:

Rebecca's walk-in closet (with some of Jonathan's clothes)

Our combination office / storage room for all of the boxes that are staying unopened during the renovations:

Jonathan's closet:

Laundry room

We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to stay here for several months!

Day 44

2009-02-11T15:19:00.000-08:00

Today we had some good and bad news.

Bad news - the sliding door we ordered for the powder room is too thick for the frame that was built. Unfortunately because doors are custom-ordered, there is pretty much no chance we can return it, so the likelihood is that the frame will have to be adjusted.

The good news is that we saw some new progress in the bathroom - check out the podium for the bath (with the tub temporarily installed) !

Note that the tub is actually deeper than it looks from the side; the floor is built higher and the tub is "sunken" in.

We finally decided to go ahead with the wall insulation in the back room; it would be a shame not to get that done once the rest of the work is happening. Here are some photos, displaying the walls and also the small amusements that our workers have during the day...

"I will get the flag on Friday"appears to be some reference to a team sport that was to be played later that evening...

Day 42 - New Windows

2009-02-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

En cette 42ième journée de travail, ils ont installé les trois nouvelles fenêtres. Beaucoup mieux que les anciennes...

Salle de bain:

Salle de lavage:

Et finalement notre petite toilette. Comme on veut voir sur la photo, la structure pour la portes coulissante est terminée. Il manque plus que la porte...

Day 39 - Encore 10 semaines...

2009-02-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

The title of this post is referring to the fact that we will have 10 more weeks of renovations, according to the contractor.

The problem is not necessarily that we want to move back quickly, since we are very comfortable downtown - but unfortunately we had budgeted for about 4 more weeks, not 10. So, it's Kraft Dinner for the next while, if I can convince Jonathan to let me eat some :-)

Anyway, here are some more photos - the walls and ceilings are almost all in place!

Standing in the dining room/kitchen:

Here I am lusting over our new bathtub (can't wait to actually be in it!):

Our new corridor:

Apparently the workers leave each other notes on various materials: sometimes a notepad, sometimes a piece of drywall...

Day 36 - Walls!!!

2009-01-29T17:53:00.001-08:00

En arrivant aujourd'hui au duplex on est en train de voir l'appartement prendre forme. Ils sont en train de fermer les murs! Voici quelques photos:
Salle de bain:

Entrée

Lundi il il faisait environ -25C à Montreal et nous la meilleure chose qu'on a trouver à faire, c'est de se faire faire installer l'AC... Voici le résult:

Unité intérieure:

Voici le 3ième et dernier container à déchet...

Le bureau avec un plafond. Le plafond est beau, mais nous avons des problèmes avec les mures... on doit décider si on veut les refaire car: ils sont croches et l'hiver ils sont très froid!

Ce weekend on va dejeuner avec le entrepreneur pour savoir ou on en est dans le projet... J'espère qu'il reste environ 1 mois!

Un premier weekend de repos

2009-01-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

Nous avons vraiment bien travaillé depuis la dernière semaine ce que nous donne le droit à un weekend au chalet. Enfin du temps pour relaxer sans courir!

Dans la dernière semaine nous avons:
-Commander l'AC qui devrait être installé
-Commander les portes
-Commander les poignées de portes
-Commander les meubles pour notre salle de bain
-Acheter les ventilateur
-Commander le robinet pour la cuisine
-Commander les fenêtres de la salle de bain
-Nous avons fait le choix de nos tuiles
-Commander la penderie pour notre chambre

Que le weekend arrive!

Day 31

2009-01-22T19:18:00.000-08:00

There continues to be progress though now it can be hard to see the difference day to day.

The ceiling structure in the back room is now up:

Here you can see just how lopsided the apartment is; the new lightly coloured wood beam below the thick beam is there to make the opening be the same height as the door frames. But looking from left to right you can see the gap between the light beam and heavy beem gets smaller and smaller... but we are assured that the house is sturdy!

Seeing as how this is a house of geeks, we must have internet in all rooms (except the bathroom and laundry room) :-) Here you can see the blue CAT6 (Ethernet) cables running through the future walls...

Day 27 - Electricité

2009-01-17T16:55:00.000-08:00

Aujourd'hui samedi quand on est arrivé à la maison, on a était surpris de voir 3 électriciens en train de travailler.

Here is the wall in the guest bedroom. So far this is just electrical and not ethernet... somehow ethernet was forgotten, but do not fear, it will appear soon in the future...

Here we are standing in the bathroom (and there's dad in the corner of the picture!)

In the office (back room), they finished insulating the ceiling - it's electric blue!

Here is the access for the wires to go to the basement (not too exciting but still very important!)