Archives for the month of: May, 2008

Relationship Advice

May 24, 08 //
10

There are many “firsts” in relationships.

There is the first date, which is sometimes followed by a first kiss. There is a first fight. There is the first dinner with the other’s parents. There is the first anniversary. There is the first time you move in together.

However, I have always maintained that a relationship isn’t really solidified until you’ve reached that one special “first”: the first time that–together–you stay up until 2:00am chasing a bat out of your house using brooms, Rubbermaid containers, and an air compressor.

Now that’s true love.

Home is Where You Hang Your Oven Mitts

May 22, 08 //
3

I’d like to share with you a secret; 90% of our house looks like this:
Messy hall

In general, we have been coping very well with the chaos. Having running water helps, and sleeping in the car is a nice escape.

However, our newest bringer of joy is the kitchen. It is by no means finished, but it is now a place to BE, to SIT, to COOK, and to LIVE.
Kitchen - getting there!

If you look closely in Where’s Waldo fashion, you can locate honey and a bagel (READ: FOOD NOW LOCATED IN A DUST-FREE AREA), and a laptop on the clean floor (READ: A FUNCTIONAL PLACE TO PLUG IN A COMPUTER). In fact, I am sitting in this exact spot right now as I type this (and eat the aforementioned honey-raisin bagel). Glory, glory, thank you for this clean spot in the house.

In fact, I can barely even correlate the abovementioned photograph of this seemingly normal kitchen to the memory of what once was.

Let me remind us all of the kitchen when we moved in.
Whimfield kitchen - beforeWhimfield kitchen - before

Lots of potential, but lots of decay, too.

Whimfield kitchen - before (walls)

Whimfield kitchen - before (wall)

And the floors had been eaten away by beetles and had to be replaced from the ground up.

img_5916.JPGimg_5919.JPG

Lots and lots and lots of work later…
img_5934.JPG img_6468.JPG

…and now we have this pristine corner in which I am currently sitting.

Kitchen - getting there!

There’s still quite a lot of finishing work left to do in the kitchen (including mountains of original trim to sand-sand-sand-sand-sand and prime-prime-prime-prime and paint-paint-paint), but when I look at these photographs I am amazed at what we have done. (I know that I always write that, but, still, I can’t help but feel it!). We still don’t have a sink or cabinets or a counter or anything, but still, this room makes me grin.
From now on this room will be my destination when I need to huddle into a clean corner and whisper, “Serenity Now” when the chaos deems it necessary.

Indoor Plumbing is Luxurious

May 20, 08 //
3

We are pleased to share the transformation of our bathroom!

When we bought this house, it was basically a summer cabin. The bathroom looked like this when we took possession. Note the carpeted floor(!).

Bathroom - "before"

Dismantled.

Dismantled

Stripped down to the studs.

Stripped

Making the room warm and air-tight with insulation and vapour barrier.
Insulation and vapour barrier

Putting Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
Getting better

Now, white and simple and boring, but insulated, clean, and fully functional!!!!!!!!!!!! (Every exclamation point denotes an “Oooh” and an “Aaah” which could be heard when water sprang from the tap and the toilet flushed and the washing machine drained and the shower rained like a tropical spa. Believe me, if you’d been living with no running water for months this little white room would make you use twelve exclamation points, too.)
Clean

Clean

Clean

Because we are in a race with Winter, we have been trying to renovate as efficiently as possible. Thus, we are painting every wall, ceiling, and piece of trim with the same white paint for the sake of speediness. I dream of a vibrant house with voracious colours, but for now white is just fine, thank you very much.

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

May 19, 08 //
3

This entry has been co-writen by your hosts, Cameron and Laura-Jane. This entry was written from the inside of our car, which, on occassion, doubles as our sleeping cabana.

It being near midnight, the view outside our station wagon’s windshield is pitch black, but during the day we know it to be our glorious field and property, which gets greener day by day.

You see, we have left our motel behind and are living in our house full-time, although we sleep in our car outside our house to avoid the dust mites and particulates that pervade all nooks and crannies inside our construction-zone-of-a-house.

The days–no, months–have flown by, and in some respects we are amazed at how much we have accomplished, although, on not so magical days, we shudder at the enormity of what remains to be done.Spring is definitely here now, and we’ve been amazed as we watch the trees and plants grow buds and start to come alive.

Spring at Whimfield

We arrived on the Island in January, when all foliage and almost all the trees looked like sticks, and a thick 500-thread-count layer of snow covered all; so we’ve been finding great novelty in seeing the beginning of what our yard and property will look like at the height of Summer–and Fall.
We haven’t made much time for relaxation or exploration, but we try to eat all meals outside when the weather cooperates, and I like to make pointed inspections of certain trees and bushes to see their progress–especially the old fruit trees. I have great plans for a vegetable garden, but that will have to wait for next year as we concentrate on the bones of our house.

As our mailman astutely advised us, “Don’t start another project ’til the doors are shut.” And with this, we agree.