Drum Roll Please

I guess you might like to see the finished bathroom and hallway - but remember now three pieces are not put back yet. I have not moved the mirror, credenza and small wooden trunk back into the hallway. Not sure why but haven't. 

From the living room - looking down the hall to the spare room, I am glad now that we added the pot lights in the hall - regret - we should have put another in the middle of the hall. I love these old black and white photos - they were taken by the son of the people who owned the house before us and they left them. Lucky me.

Looking right the new front door. I previously posted it looking at it from the outside. I love the door. The window lets a quite a bit of light into the entry way. The door - I was so wanting a wooden door. The advice we were given was not to have one in this climate - heat loss, swelling etc. So this masonite door stained and finished to look like fit the bill. I stained it and did the faux finish but chickened out on the clear coat. I had it done professionally. They had a few problems with the finish and I was scared at one point that it was looking awful, the painter came through in the end and it is great.

 

 

Our travel wall of pictures went back up. You know when you travel you just have to bring back something to remember your wonderful vacation. I used to collect charms for a charm bracelet, then I collected spoons, then knick knacks. Now it is one very small picture - a painting, etching, print, photo, postcard - something that reminds me of that place. I have it framed and here they hang. At first it was just me searching but Mike has gotten into the hunt now.












Alright then - here it is - the new and improved main bathroom.  Can a person say they love a bathroom, can they say they love the toilet - now if I could demo this for you I would but I can't I can just tell you that the lid shuts itself slowly and quietly. Amazing - probably not to all the worldly people but to me in my small corner of the world it is amazing. We haven't turned on the heated floor yet except to make sure it works. Have enjoyed the tile in the heat of the summer - nice and cool on the feet.

 

 

 

Yup done, finished - WEEELLLL I may make some kind of window treatment but still enjoying all the light bouncing around the room.  Regret - Mike thinks he wants a light over the toilet.

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE!!!!!

I cannot believe that the summer is just about over and I have not made one single post. Life here at Willow Creek has been flying by. Our renovation is of course completed - but not without a few gasps of agony. Shortly after all the trim was up and the last touch up was completed and paint brushes cleaned and put away, we had problems BIG problems. We have had an "issue" with water draining from our small bathroom/laundry area for years and always set this aside to be fixed when we did that renovation - slated for early 2013, but circumstances pushed this into NOW. The gory details are a distance memory but let us just say - it was raining under our house AND the saying of the day was "no water is leaving this house". Mike, thankfully had just started his holiday - what a holiday this was going to be. We quickly went from a very lush front garden to this.  

All the small plants were quickly dug up and potted up and put into a holding bed. The larger ones, a rhodo, a kalmia and some other variegated one were move out to the meadow into permanent homes. The beautiful very large Japanese maple was cut down and gone.


Thank goodness for "Digger" as Dyllon calls Mike's excavator - in a few hours, Uncle Bob and Mike had dug up and exposed all the pipe and they were setup for the plumber to come and fix the pipes under and leaving the house.



By the end of the week and most of Mike's holiday and we were back in "business".

I Must Be MAD

I must be mad - MAD I tell you. We discussed this the other day and HE said, after the carpet layers left for the third time of trying to make it "RIGHT", HE said "this almost makes you want to rush right into the next renovation." I looked at him over my glasses and said I could easily sit the next one out. HE said " that is not an option." So I am back to collecting ideas for the NEXT reno AND the one after that.  I confess that I spend countless hours dreaming and planning. I look in magazines and browse the web.

I promise - pictures are coming - we have the trim up now but I am the hold up - I am filling and prepping for the final paint and touch up. Then the doors will go in. I also need to buy the "bits", the "jewelry" as I call it. You know the new soap dish, towels, trays for organizing the drawers - yes I have drawers. We never had drawers in this bathroom. There is an abundance of storage.

I have been holding up "the show" on our reno as I have been playing with Antic's Theatre on the spring production of Fawlty Towers: The Germans. The run ended last night. We had so much fun and so many laughs. The run was extended to 5 nights. Amazing to see such a following for this troupe.

Now what you have to know is this stage is only about 10 feet deep and with that we cheat and give the illusion that we have a kitchen and an upstairs with many rooms - after all this is a hotel - Fawlty Towers.

view of the lobby, entry to the kitchen and office

hospital room, dining room, and bar

Over the years Antic's Theatre has done many episodes of Fawlty Towers as well as a few of Norm Foster's plays and always the illusion of space wins comments from the audience. My granddaughter was amazed when she got a tour of the "backstage" and there were no rooms. She was convinced there was a bedroom complete with a bath. Clever lighting and good directing makes this all believable for the audience.
Eleven years ago, Anne, encouraged by Lorna started dinner theatre in our little town and it has grown from an audience of 40 to sold out houses of over 100.
Anne hand picks her plays and her actors and it seems to be a winning combination.

Anne gets the vision and her husband Don, creates the set and the magic begins.

Our patrons - Anne (the director/producer) Lorna (mentor/friend)

Sybil (Marg) and Basil (Dan)

cast of The Germans

School of Life

You never know when you will learn something new. My Grandmother once said "you have to learn one new thing every day". Great - some days I learn nothing new and other days, it is a flood gate of knowledge.

I was in the grocery store the other day in the cleaning aisle - abnormal place for me to be because I am not big on cleaning. My thoughts on housework are to keep it as clean as to be healthy and as tidy as to keep Mike happy. Anyway back to my story - the cleaning aisle, yes. Met up with a lady that I know - she asked me where the oven cleaning products were. ME? She asked ME. We were standing right in front of them. I pointed them out and I said I don't buy them anymore because I have a self cleaning oven. She said she did too but she buys the manual spray Easy Off to clean her oven racks. Oh now that is a hateful job - she gave me the best cleaning tip and I can say that because I tried it and it worked.

Put on rubber gloves. Put the oven racks into a large black garbage bag, go outside - spray them in the bag. Spray them liberally. Close the bag and lay it in the sunshine for a few hours. Then take them out - oh yah - wear rubber gloves. Lay them on the ground - not your grass. Hose them down and VOILA - they are clean - OH YES THEY WERE. No scrubbing, no soaking - how great was that.