Life Gets in the Way

So here it is November and I only now have some time to update my blog with the little progress we have on the house in town.  If you have been reading past blog posts you know that all summer we have been busy with the renovations of the church.  It was easy since I was not taking official uni classes and just thesis hours so I could take time to work on the renos as needed.  Unfortunately, now that life has gotten back to "normal" I am constantly busy with not only my own school work, but also the teaching/grading that needs to be done for the classes I am TAing for.  Since both William and I are busy Monday to Friday the renos of the house in Regina have been VERY slow going.  Let's catch up shall we?

I think one of the last pictures I left you with was this one

Over all it is in good shape.  It needs some updates in a few places.  The only room that needs to be gutted and completely redone is the bathroom.  Since we like a challenge this is where we have begun.

Here it is before we began

You may be asking "what's with the tuck tape?"  Well as we were waiting for things to be finished at the church, Murphy's Law would have it that this bathroom went down hill and fast.  As we kept thinking "we will be in the church right away, let's wait" everything started to fall apart.  The tuck tape was great as it let us still use the shower but hold off on worrying about the renos here till we were ready.

FINALLY we had time to get started

 

We were lucky that that many moons ago someone had the foresight to use a crazy wax paper like vapor barrier between the insulation and the drywall.  This has made the work ahead of us easier since there is very little rot in the wood.

We had an extremely old cast iron bathtub.  There was no way we could carry it out so it needed to be broken and taken out in pieces.

We have done more demo since this but this is where I have pictures to

 

We have done more but as I said this is where I have pictures to.  The plan is to finish the demo in here, then the plumbing and electrical.

Some of the drama in my life has lifted so I hope to get back into blogging/journaling now.  For those that are interested, thanks for being patient!

First Anniversary with our Church!

One year ago today we received possession of our church.  Today when I should have been working on uni stuff but couldn't (I forgot the key to my office, my wallet and a text I needed...get organized Victoria!) I looked through some pictures and realized just how different the place looks in one year.

These are from one of the first pictures taken of the basement to a picture I took tonight.

It has been a bit of a transition from living in the city to a smaller town.  One being when you forget things at home.  Going to need to be much more organized.

So what does the next year look like for renos?  Well, we found out last week after the bank appraisal what the church is worth.  BUT the bank then told us that they will not let us take out some of the equity to continue with the reno.  The short reason... they still think of it as a church.  BUNK!!  I guess we are working with plan B...

This blog/journal is going to have to take a detour as we complete some minor renos at the house in Regina so we can rent it out.  The plan is the extra money coming in will help pay for the church reno. 

So another renovation from the beginning... just what the doctor ordered for stress. ;)

Kitchen Countertops are Installed!

When the countertops were ordered they told us it would be around two weeks until they would be ready.  The issue when they came in was how we would get them safely out to Indian Head since one piece was around 14feet long.  We couldn't just put it in our truck because if we hit a good size bump the piece could bounce and break.  The day my dad picked up the sand for the stucco, we also picked up the countertops.  It worked out perfectly as the sand almost worked as a cushion and my dad's trailer is much longer than our truck.

Now that they were actually in the church, we needed to install them.  William asked his brother David to help.  This is the long piece and the side by the stove.

This is by the pass-through.

Here it is installed.  As you can see there is no hole for the sink.  The guys had to cut the counter for the sink.  A little issue was that William's father had given us an extra sink he had but it did not have a template for cutting the countertop.  This made things a little more difficult but the guys got it done no problem.

And putting in the sink.

A few days later William's father came over and help attach the plumbing for the sink.  The last thing we need to connect is the dishwasher.  For now I am just happy to have my double sink.  Here is everything all done.

It's so nice to have the kitchen all put together.  Now to decide where everything is going to go.  With so much space I am having a hard time deciding.  A nice problem to have!  Thanks David for all the help!

Front Entrance Chandelier

Since we have 13foot high ceilings upstairs, we decided ages ago that we wanted proper chandeliers not just simple light fixtures. We have the space so why not?! One for the front entrance and one for the space by the bells.  My father-in-law came over to help William figure out how to wire them in.

It was more than just connecting the wires so it took some figuring out.  A difficult task on a very tall A-frame ladder but it was worked out.  Dad had to go, so the rest was up to William.

Once the main box/frame was up and connected, the outside panel needed to be put on.  This needed to be aligned with the spaces for the bulbs.

As William was getting that done, I opened the crystals to see how they were to be attached to the chandelier. 

 

Each one of the crystals had to be put on separately.  They came with little wires that had a triangle in the middle.  As with many things I over thought how they needed to be placed on the crystals then onto the chandelier.  We stopped for the evening so I could ask at the lighting place how to place the wires.  It was as simple as it looked to be.

So that night we could finish the job.  Me putting on the wires and William putting them onto the chandelier.

And here is the finished product.

When Allan and Rick were working on the upstairs hallway, they would tease me all the time saying "All this work for a F-ing chandelier...All this work for a F-ing chandelier!!"  Well guys well worth the work!! :)

We purchased a matching chandelier for the area with the bells.  After over an hour connecting/putting it together did we then realize that they had given us the wrong one.  It was TINY compared to the one we ordered.  Always something!  William returned it, and the new one won't be here till the end of September.  Other than the hiccup with the wrong chandelier we are so happy with how it looks!