Lots of change....

So, for the past two and a half years I have been working a full time 12 hour day/night rotation in Emergency. To say it was a steep learning curve when I started would be an understatement. It has been a GREAT opportunity to learn and develop my skills as a nurse. The job has provided me with to say the least, entertaining stories; foreign objects, interesting explanations for these same foreign objects, intense codes, missing body parts..the list could go on.  My biggest hesitation of leaving probably has to do with the fantastic people and friends that I have had the opportunity of working with. BUT.... the flip side to this job has been for the past two and half years I have "been" the job. It has dictated so much of what I am able to do, so...... I'm making a change; just for a little while.

On a whim after a difficult shift one night, I applied for a home care job. I probably couldn't get more opposite- I know. But, I thought whats the harm in applying? Well, to my amaze I got the job, and am taking it. It is a temporary position for a year. I am petrified to start something new, new staff, new surroundings, new everything. Steve is thrilled for me as the job is a 8-4 gig, but has hesitations as if anyone knows me, my skills surrounding driving and directions are LESS than stellar, but that is why GPS was invented right???? Anyways the other perk to not working twelve hour shifts and nights is that I can pursue so many interests that I have either just been too tired to do or haven't had the time off for. One of those interests that I have wanted to for a while now... DECORATING!! I have found through our last few reno projects that I have throughly enjoyed designing and decorating our homes and projects we have taken on. I have already signed up for a course through Mount Royal, so we will see how it goes! Steve may want me to go back to Emergency as I will now have all this spare time for home decor and clothes shopping:)

Well a lot has changed since the last post, mainly where we live. We are now MOSTLY settled in our new house in Auburn Bay, after numerous painting parties, building a deck and a LONG day of laying sod ( I felt so bad for Steve) we are slowly feeling more and more like we are home. In typical Steve and Abby style we can't move in and be content with status quo, so here comes the change. Our first priorities were the deck, sod and painting the interior...check, check and check. Already has made a huge difference! We will wait until the spring to enlist our family for landscaping duties....(thats right Mom and Whits this has your name written all over it!!)



It was sooo awesome to have my family come and help, it made things go so much faster!



In the spring we will add a railing and pour a concrete pad as well



The sod and deck!!!!



Our new house with sod all installed:)



Next, will take a little more time and unfortunately money. First,  will be some upgrades to the kitchen, its great and totally functional now, but with just a couple changes I feel like we can really put our own flare into our new house.Then Steve has big plans for the bonus room. The goal is to make it into his "showroom" for his home theater buisness, so he has big plans to pimp it out.. haha it should be awesome to have:)  So we definately have been busy and made lots of changes, but we still have lots more to come... I'll keep ya posted!

Going, going....GONE!

Well I guess I am about as good at blogging as I was at keeping a journal when I was little. Actually, to be honest I've done better at blogging, as I used to write in my journal about every two and a half years...Anyways... lots has happened in the last few weeks. Our goal with the house was to have it on the market before we left for holidays down to echo lake the third week of August. Although it ALMOST drove both Steve and I to homicidal thoughts, we did it! We were able to list the house and go enjoy a great vacation. We consider ourselves so blessed, because after 22 showings and six days WE SOLD!

Here are some of the final pictures of the house all finished and staged! Here are some before and afters:)

We added stone to the exterior, new deck, and painted EVERYTHING! My mom came up and helped me plant up the flowerbeds wich look great:)

Before living room.... and AFTER!!!

We painted, put in new hardwood, baseboards, new ceiling texture and then of course my personal favorite.. DECORATING!!

The before Dining room/couch storage (gotta love bachelors eh?)

The After dining room! As you can tell we removed a couple walls. Again we continued the solid hand scraped acacia that we used in the living room, but bridged it with the tumbled travertine in the entrance and kitchen.

Its funny, I look at this kitchen and can't even believe we are in the same space anymore.

We were able to design the kitchen to our liking. Neither of us had ever done it, but after countless hours of rearranging painters tape on the floor we came out with something we were really happy with. I definately learned from this project you can buy "big box" but still create a custom looking product.

I know what you're thinking. How could we possibly make this room look any better than it did? For the record, this picture was taken in June....

We continued the hardwood, added some accents and retiled the fireplace. We found a really cool product called "split-faced" stone. They litterally cut the rock in half, we love it!

These are just two guest bedrooms upstaris. We replaced all the carpet, painted and changed all the baseboards out. Well after this HUGE undertaking, we have definately learned a few things about renovating. I think one is, you always spend more time and money then you initally anticipate. I don't know why, because I am fairly cost observant, but somehow it escapes you. So, I would recommend definately planning on ten to fifteen percent more than your inital budget.

 I now feel before anyone gets married they should have to do a renovation project together. Does it ever try your patience. You would never think you would dig your heels in over something as simple as a paint color, or baseboard profiles... but it happens. I think the combination of all your time and money going into a house that we were also living in and you top that with sleep deprevation....it was a little much. I would reccomend trying to complete major renovations prior to moving in. Another tip would be, shop around. If we would have purchased all materials and supplies at the first or second place we got quoted we would have been in the poor house for sure. Again, this is also to a certain point. I think everyone gets to the point in a renovation where you wouldn't care if it cost $20,000 for a window you would buy it just to have it done. By shopping around on just our flooring and kitchen we paid about a quarter of what was initally quoted. I think last would be, expect the unexpected because I guarentee it will happen:)

I have always loved decorating and desiging, and this was a great project for expanding those interests. I hope in the near future to further these interests and possibly persue them more...I'll keep ya posted:)

We are now excited to pack up and move to our new place in Auburn Bay!!!

Lucky finds...

I have been a huge blogging slacker over the last few weeks, due to a couple factors. One, I am working insane hours and the "blogging bug" miraciously hasnt bit Steve, two, we were down in Kalispell ( which I love!!) last weekend picking up some last minute supplies. But we are back at it again.

Our goal is to have the house on the market before we go down to Echo, thats in two weeks. I know, I know, the whole two week thing has been said before, but we really are going to push for it. When we were down in the States we had to return some pendant lights that we absolutely loved, but unfortunately were too big. I had looked EVERYWHERE in Calgary for pendants and did find some that were nice, but neither Steve or I are making enough cash to shell out $350 per pendant. I may start an online poll to see what professions people are in to be able to spend $1000 on three pendant lights. Anyways we lucked out! While down at Lowes, we saw the exact same pendants that we had returned in a smaller size!! My cousin Kellie was with me, she can vouch for how excited I was, one because I loved them, and two because they were a great deal ( I may have a little more Ady in me than I initially thought). They were the last three available, besides the floor model, I was stoked! I showed Steve and he was just as excited, but pointed out to me that they were plastic so we didnt have to package them up. I didn't believe him insisting they were glass, so he proceeded to bang them together saying "look they're plastic." By the shards of glass that remained after Steve's demonstration, it went to prove that I was right, but now down one pendant. Luckily Lowes returned the one Steve had demolished ( I think the guy wanted to spare Steve some grief) , and we were able to get the floor model.

We also got handles installed on our kitchen cupboards, which turned out great! I found a website online, and was worried the quality wasn't going to be there, but we are really happy with the end result!

After much discussion we decided not to rip out our old vanities in the washrooms, but instead just change the countertops out to granite, and paint the cabinets. They turned out WAY better then I had imagined! Thanks to some help from Rae!

So, now for my next couple of days off I get to start DECORATING! As soon as Steve uttered the words "I think we are done on the main floor", I hauled chairs, rugs, and tables in, I just miss feeling like I live in a home, rather than a 24-7 construction zone.  We just recently bought a couch and loveseat from Costco. I have always loved Costco, as someone once said " I'm big, I'm not fancy, and I dare you to not like me." Well two days ago I was in Costco and saw our couch and loveseat, but they just happened to be half off! Luckily, being Costco within fifteen minutes I was $450 richer!!! Here is some of the furniture we have hauled in so far...

More to come next week!!

Two weeks...and counting....

So it is crazy to me that we have only been at this renovation for a month a twenty four days...not that I am counting. At the same time I have never had a month and twenty four days be packed with so much change. The house as we knew it has been completely transformed, and everything has gone smoothly...until

now.

It first started with us connecting our new bathroom fixtures upstairs, which happened to leak, luckily not for too long before Steve caught it. But it still managed to leak onto our newly textured ceilings below, staining large patches a very lovely yellow color. Fortunately, we were able to repair the damage, and we didn't have to rip all the drywall down and start over. That was what I thought we would have to do, but at the same time I have been know to catastrophize from time to time.

Next was our beautiful travertine floor, some of the grount lines began to crack. That really wasn't the look we were going for, so now we have to have our tile guy back to try and brainstorm how to fix it. My guess is a lot of dirty work involving scraping, scraping and more scraping and re-grouting

EVERYTHING.

I then found some gorgeous pendant lights for above our island, they looked perfect online. It was even more perfect when my parents were already headed to the states and could pick them up. So when we did get them, I had told my mom only two rather than three, opps. Upon opening the box the picture and the actual size also varried a bit. Each pendant was about 6 inches too big...one more set back....

When we first started the reno I definately knew there would be some set backs; I was just hoping that I could of anticipated those set backs and avioded all of them:) Didn't exactly work, but we are still going at

 it.

When I asked Steve when he was hoping to have everything wrapped up he said "two weeks" which sounds great but then I realized everytime I ask him how long until we have things done he says "two weeks." So I really have no idea.... I actually feel like two weeks ago we were further ahead then now, but I think that is because we are knee deep in demolition up stairs....

So if you see me out and about and I am covered in drywall dust, don't judge me...

You have no idea how excited I am to paint over this blue!!!! The granite ( which Steve REALLY pushed for) looks great, we are still planning on painting out the bases and putting on new hardware...

Our new carpet goes in a week from today!! I think its going to look awesome. I had no idea how expensive carpet is, but after shopping around I think we ended up with a pretty good deal. Thanks to my Grandma blazing a trail there is now something known as the "Ady discount."

This is the main floor bathroom. Steve has started installing the wainscoting which is looking great.

After much debate, we decided to pain the banister out white, I am really happy with the results, and with the new carpet it should really look good...or so we hope:)

So I think these past couple weeks I have realized I can't control everything that happens, there are going to be bumps, and probably more to come (unless I can figure out a way to avoid them) but there is nothing you can do, just ride it out. So I guess I will ride it out for another "two weeks" and see how it goes...

Don't forget the schlueter and the nipples....

With these reno's we have experienced a HUGE learning curve. Well maybe a little bigger for me. Its not simply ripping some walls down, slapping on a coat of paint and calling 'er good. For instance, something I did not know prior to renovations is that you need something called "schlueter trim" to finish and protect corners of installed tile... who knew?!? At the same time, me even knowing that something called schlueter exists means that our tile is almost complete:) Nipples are also necessary in renovations which I was also not aware of. In order to attach the gas line to the actual gas range there is a rubber piece referred to as a "nipple." These are now purchased, which means I will soon after one month and ten days of no stove or oven, be able to boil water again. I love progress.

Steve has been working exceptionally hard here, while I keep plugging away at the hospital. I come home from work and feel exhausted after my twelve hour shifts, but atleast when I come home I can relax(kinda with the soothing hum of an air compressor in the background). Unfortunately, Steve is always "at work" here, which I can't imagine how tiring that would be. He installed our kitchen backsplash, which I LOVE! It should be getting grouted today:)

Steve continued his handy work with something he knows well, our sound system. He almost has all of our speakers and wiring installed throughout the house. They look great and will be awesome to have!

Our hardwood is also coming along, and looks incredible! I may be slightly biased because I picked it out, but judge for youself... Its solid Acacia and "hand scraped" so pre-distressed.

Find Joy in the Journey

            So I am truly fortunate for a few things in my life... a great PATIENT husband, family, friends, employment, Church, my list could go on and on. Within all these sectors of people I have the great opportunity of drawing on all of their experience and knowledge. All of these same people have contributed to our renovations thus far either from helping with packing, moving, encouragement, a place to escape the madness:) I read a talk the other day that made me stop for a second and really reflect; it focused on finding joy in the journey.

          I can say with certainty that I am a "Type A personality". Wikipedia states... "Type A individuals can be described as impatient, time-conscious, controlling..., highly competitive, ambitious, business-like, aggressive, having difficulty relaxing; and are sometimes disliked by individuals with Type B personalities for the way that they're always rushing. They are often high-achieving workaholics who multi-task, drive themselves with deadlines, and are unhappy about delays."  In contrast Steve is definately a "Type B personality" Wikipedia goes on to describe them... "Type B individuals, are described as patient, relaxed, and easy-going, generally lacking an overriding sense of urgency" When I read these definitions it was pretty much like Wikipedia came to our home and interviewed Steve and I and asked how we would describe ourselves. This kinda sums up our renovation thus far, which, if I really think about it is too bad. Steve and I have taken on a HUGE project, a project that to this point I have been wishing would hurry up and end, so we could move on to the next. We have both already had the opportunity of learning so much about not only renovations, but also about each other. Instead of me taking this opportunity to do so, I have been looking forward to the tomorrows instead of enjoying today.

                        I am still human and still a type A personality so I am not going to sit here and say that I am not going to still count on deadlines, and at times possibly nag for things to continue to get done.....(sorry hunny) and I am still SOOO excited for the day when we are done the renovations and can put the house on the market. I will say though that I am going to try and stop and enjoy what we are experiencing and creating today, and enjoy tomorrow when we get there.....

                                                                  The granite getting installed!!!

We started painting this week, as well as installing granite, travertine floors and our new kitchen cupboards!

We hope tomorrow to finish up with paint on the main floor and start on the hardwood:)