Show Time!

After a late night and early morning by both myself and Tasha the house was ready to show. Following are pictures of the finished product, both inside and out. Soon I will have a slide show to include the "before" pics, for the benefit of those that have forgotten the stained carpets, dirty panelling and overgrown weeds. For now enjoy...it has been a long time coming, three years to be exact.

The grand entrance...




It's official...the sign has been planted firmly in the soil




The first lookers...time for me to go!




Let's head out back






















Basement entrance...




Looking into the rec room...







Games room (would be kitchen if suite finished)...




Office (or master bedroom if suite installed)...




Looking from office to laundry through walk-in closet...




Heading upstairs




Spare bedroom...




Master bedroom...




Bathroom...




And on to the kitchen and living room...















Well, that's the show...there was positive response from the open house but it remains to be seen if the interest translates to a favourable sale. This is definitely a bitter-sweet time but I keep reminding myself that this house was meant to dissolve debt and put both Tasha and myself on a firm financial footing as we head to the next stage of career and life.

Special thanks goes out to Connor Blakesley for all his fine work on the house. Poor guy is still trying to teach me a thing or two and is still getting that famous blank stare!

Thanks also goes out to Josh for being the original "Demolition Man" and for giving me positive feedback when I needed it the most. And of course thank-you to all the friends and family that have contributed along the way (both financially and physically)...immense gratitude to you all, especially my brother Matt who came to my aid when I needed it the most and put up with me when I was too exhausted to be upbeat.

Tasha definitely deserves recognition for putting up with dry-wall dust for going on 3 years and for assisting greatly at the 11th hour...

The biggest challenges are now over and it is time to recharge the batteries...and of course plan for the big garden party in July! Exact date TBA but will likely be on or around July 8th. Stay tuned...

Finishing Touches

It was time to put the finishing touches on the landscaping. I had Keith over one last time to help with moving the 9 yards of gravel for the driveway and paths. Unfortunately the extra help wasn't enough, I was up until midnight the night before the open house moving gravel to the back yard...

The first job was to trim the lawn and put in borders...










Some last minute plantings on the side of the house...







Ahhh, gravel...




When the driveway was done it was time for 5 yards of the smaller stuff...




But it all looked good at the end of the day...

Part V - The Final Push

Last weekend I had all the guys out for the final big push...at that point it was only one week to go until the open house and I was feeling the crunch. So much to do and the math wasn't adding up to successful completion by the pending deadline. No matter, we had to push on regardless.

Keith got started by finishing the landscape tie retaining wall under the deck stairs...




Then moved on the the sump pump installation




The outlet pipe had to run beneath the driveway to the front boulevard




All roads lead to one li'l bucket...luckily I had purchased a sump pump that could clear the bilge of a freighter...




It was time to finish the front and pour the big corner block...




Connor inhaled a little too much concrete dust...







It was a "manual pour" which translates to a crazy amount of wheel-barrowing and shovelling




Ran out of landscape ties but a rock retaining was was assembled quickly and turned out to be the best choice in the end...




Time to install the new kitchen counter and sink...out with the old and in with the new...













Somehow at the end of a long night Connor and I found some time to jam, he is an awesome guitarist and I do OK on the keyboard. It was late at night when we finally called it quits...

Part IV - Turf Time

Some of the turf was starting to decompose because it had sat a day too long...we really had to get it down. Matt put it into overdrive and somehow we managed to get the whole job done.

While he got started I had to take down the chimney so the roofers could come and torch on a patch...






The roof provided a great vantage point for the turf laying...I got down to help but jumped up every couple of hours to document the progress...














Matt passed out on the lawn...said it was the nicest lawn he has ever passed out on...!




The brothers get it done again...