Let's Get Started!!

You know that feeling you have when you are super excited about something?  Like when you were a kid at Christmas and you could NOT wait until Christmas morning to open your gifts and play with your new toys?  Well that is how we have been feeling for about a week!  I contacted Chris (the same person who did up the plans for the basement) to see if he was going to have any availability in the future.  I was not expecting him to have much time as it is summer and tis the season for building and renovations.  To our luck and total excitement, he told me that he had just finished a few things and had a bit of time.  YES!!  Score one for us!!  Not only is Chris talented, he is a super nice person! We worked out a time that we could all get together (he was even able to come out to the church so we could really explain what we were thinking).  We then had to wait a whole week!  Seriously, I was so excited it was the longest week I've had to live through in ages!

Finally this past Friday was the day!  We got to work pretty much as soon as Chris got here as the place is so big and we had so much to discuss.

 

This second picture really shows just how daunting this project can feel at times.  Chris walked in and asked "So, what are you thinking?"  It was difficult know where to begin with what we have been thinking.  By the time we got to the back of the church, we had a good starting point as to what we were thinking, and what Chris thought could be done.

With any luck, this picture will someday be the spot where my kitchen will be.  Fingers crossed!

So once we had discussed a plan for each section of the church i.e. where bedrooms, bathroom, dining and kitchen (and perhaps a loft...), Chris needed to take some specific measurements.  This also meant some of the terrible faux wood paneling needed to come off the walls.  Back in the 1980's church attendees found the building drafty and cold.  To combat this some of the windows were insulated and covered up with the most hideous faux wood paneling.  It's just EVERYWHERE!  We can't tell if the tin ceiling is in good shape as it is covered in paneling.  It was truly like Christmas when it was decided we needed to know exactly where the covered windows are.

Here we go!

 

And the first piece of paneling is off!  This is the left side of the church as you walk in. Will then took paneling off on the opposite wall.

While Will was busy pulling paneling off, Chris was taking the measurements he needed. He had the coolest little gadget!  I had never seen a laser tape measure before.  So fast and easy to use for one person.

Chris was here for about two hours.  We discussed multiple ways things could look/go/be placed. Will and I differ on a few ideas, but in the end Chris joked "happy wife...happy life" ;)  We told him that he is our expert, so if he felt some of our ideas just wouldn't work, we would not be offended if he needed to scrap them.  By the end of the visit we all were overloaded mentally and felt like this...

 

Haha, ANY excuse to put in pictures of the kids!

So now we wait for Chris to work his magic.  The nice thing about this next phase of renovations is that we are not in a huge rush.  The last time we worked with Chris we were on a bit of a time line since we wanted to get done and moved in ASAP.  Now, if it takes some time, we pass the plans back and forth until we get to exactly where we want...PERFECT!  The basement was an excellent learning curve so now we know what we like, don't like, and what we would have done differently.

I want to say thank you again to Chris for coming out and making time for us!  If anyone out there ever needs blueprints done up for a build or renovation, I HIGHLY recommend contacting Chris. I've put a link to his website. CJ Evans Home Designs

Resurrection

WOW has it really been this long since I last opened my blog and wrote about all our renovation adventures?!  I think the last thing I said was something about life slowing down and I would have time to catch up.  Boy was I wrong!  So, where have we been?!

Well I spoke at a conference.

Been chipping away at my masters thesis and cuddling with the fur babies.

Oh yes and I was busy doing this...

WHAT?! Crazy.  All of a sudden we were becoming a family of five (because as everyone knows the fur children are indeed part of the family!).  We had just finished the demo of the bathroom at the house in Regina and the renovation needed to be put on hold.  For one, because whomever said morning sickness was in the morning OR that it only lasts a few weeks knows NOTHING!  I could barely eat anything I was so sick.  The thought of doing anything to do with renovations was just not going to happen.  And William was worried about me, so the last thing he wanted to do was worry about renovations.  This is where we stopped.

 

Here is the bathroom window with everything demoed down to nothing and the bathtub gone.

The window is where the shower was.  As this is where the most damage was when we began the demo, we were very happy that there was no rot to deal with.

This is how everything stayed for a few months.  Even though I was feeling terrible (for the whole pregnancy) I still made sure to take pictures every step of the way when the renovation started up again.  Once everything was finally done at the house I took a day to rest.  Then a day later I went into labour.  At least she gave me a day to rest. 

This past year has been all about being parents.  We just were not interested in renovations.  It wasn't until last month when I was at the bank next to the Home Depot I thought to myself "I haven't been in there to look around for AGES!".  I told William and he agreed.  This is when we knew we were ready to think about the renovations for the church.  

So as we prepare for the next phase of renovations at the church, I decided it was about time to update my blog/journal.  Welcome back to the adventure my friends!

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!