Not Renovation Related: Rockstar Jar

Have I mentioned how we have 5 children 10 and under running around this house?
(Plus a dog, but that's another can of worms entirely).


No?

2 adults working full time, 5 school aged children, one dog, one house in a constant state of renovations... I'm sure you get an idea of the chaos that is relatively normal here.

Last weekend we sat down to have a "family meeting", our first as a group I believe. It went very well. We talked about all kinds of rules (like not whining), expectations (like flushing the toilet) and what it all really came down to (showing respect). We also had a lot of great ideas come out of the meeting, my favorite was from my older twin daughter, Katy.

The RockStar Jar. 

Katy says they do this in their JK class. When one of the children does something awesome, is extra helpful, shows respect, etc. they get to put a rock in the "RockStar Jar". When it's full they party (like RockStars I assume. :)

Since we have 5 kids, and the classroom has 30, I decided we would make it a bit different- our jar has lines at various heights (it came like that from the dollar store), so I said when we reach the bottom one, we all go for a dollar store trip, the next level we will go for ice cream or something, the next will be something a bit better (lazer tag for the boys, indoor playground for the twins) and so on. When the whole jar is full we are going to book a trip to Canada's Wonderland and then empty the jar and start all over again. These are all things I would have liked to do with the kids anyways, it's really giving them an opportunity to be invested in earning these experiences.

The RockStar jar lives in our kitchen and the kids are very excited about it. I am already noticing much better behavior and it's working well as a communal incentive.

I'd love to hear your feedback or questions in the comments.

-Heather

Countdown to move in: Basement Reno

   Heather asked me to do the basement post since I spent the better part of 3 weeks in this dungeon turned living space.  What can I say...it was a horrific mess when we took possesion of the house.  Below are a few before pics to illustrate my point.

   This is a view from the bottom of the stairs looking towards the end of the basement.  To the left is the "laundry room" which was essentially a SMALL old gass dryer which had the vent going into the room itself and a SMALL washing machine.  They were basically in a small closet with bifold doors accross the front.  The wall along that side was unfinished and horrible to look at.  Beyond that is the bathroom and directly in front is the basement bedroom.  To the far right is the main family room where there was an old bar and directly to the right is the utility room.

The "laundry room"

The bar (keep in mind that that pegboard behind when removed is basically a window to the utility room)

This is the best before pic I have looking back towards the stairs.  There was originally a wooden closet in front of the stairs. (Which of course was actually wallpapered on the inside):

 You will notice that I had already ripped it out and the tile and carpet on the floor had also been removed at this point.

And just when you thought you had seen enough wood panelling...this is the main family room from the "bar" end of the room.  When we pulled back the stinky gross carpet, we found 1' tiles underneath and the concrete floor below that.

First things first...had to get that carpet and tile out.  This was the first thing I tackled when we took possession and I spent the first 2-3 days doing it.

Bar torn out and flooring cleared

I did not enjoy this part of the job at all!

Once the flooring was cleared out, we decided we needed to brighten up the room.  The outer walls in the basement are not actully framed but rather strap framed and not insulated.  The wood panelling is just nailed to the strapping.  Since we didn't have a huge budget and only 3 weeks until we were to move in, we decided to just paint the walls and leave them for another time.  Keep in mind this room had to be ready for a Princess birthday party for the twins 2 days after we were to move in.  Strict orders from the boss!

All the walls primed and ready to go.  We actually painted the ceiling tiles as well but ended up taking them down when we found out we had to do electrical throughout the main floor.

The walls were painted with Benjamin Moore "Yellow Squash" which really lightened up the room.

   Next we put down the flooring.  We decided to go with a laminate due to this being a main living area with lots of traffic.  Under the laminate we put down landscaping fabric (to keep down the noise), then Delta FL from Lowes.  It was a tossup between using this product and another (Dricore) for an underpadding.  Both are recommended options but this was easier to put down, seamless and less expensive.  One more layer on top of that was a layer of standard foam underpadding.  Together, these made the floor very sturdy and comfortable to walk on.

Black = landscape fabric

Grey = Delta FL

White = Foam Underpadding

   I took the laminate right up to the wall behind where the laundry room was.  I should take this opportunity to explain that we were planning an "open concept" laundry area so I ripped out the entire closet area that the washer and dryer were in. 

Ultimately, I will frame in the wall behind and have the electrcal and water come through it.  Around the laundry will be countertop and cupboards something like this (picture courtesy of Heather's Pinterest):

   Because we ended up re-wiring the main floor, we took advantage of the fact that the ceiling had been torn down for that and decided to put in new lighting in the basement family room after drywalling the ceiling.

Two rows of 4 recessed pot lights 1/2 installed at this point.  This made a huge improvement in the lighting situation in this room!

Because we were re-wiring, the wall shown above was completely ripped down (wood panelling) and re-done with drywall.  We moved the outlet down lower and installed light switches.  One controls the pot lights shown above (on a dimmer) and the other controls the lights in the laundry area.  You can also get a small look in the utility room which basially has a work bench and shelving.

   Since there are 7 people running around the house most of the time, we decided to replace the washer and dryer with an updated set.  It's a set of Maytag Maxima which we bought at Geomans here in London.  They were fantastic to deal with!  I was very excited about this purchase.

   Finally, here are a few completed pics of the basement once we got some furniture in and some decor done.  We picked up a new Oakdale sectional couch from The Brick which was a floor model so we saved some money there.  Heather also had a really nice area rug which finished off the room very nicely.  We've had lots of compliments on the final results.

Here are some comparison shots to get an idea on the transformation. We'll add pictures of the laundry/mud room area once we've completed it.

Living room

 

Other end of the room

   That about does it for the basement for now, we still have some trim to finish, but that should go up quickly once we have a chance to get it outside to paint it. 

 Once we get the bathroom and bedroom completed down there, we will have separate posts for them since they are currently torn down to the bare walls.

Second Floor Bathroom

 We have a couple of other completed projects to catch up on (watch for a post about the basement reno, as well as the other main floor bedroom), but I'm just so excited about this, that I couldn't wait to post!

This is our second floor bathroom. Our main floor bathroom is where we shower... so we pretty much ignored this bathroom. The shower can't be used as there is an old wooden framed window in it.

Here is the before picture I took when I was touring the house:

The window coverings, tile, trim and ceiling were all blue. The vanity was dated, with old ugly knobs and exposed sink and plumbing under the vanity.

Here's a better before picture of the Vanity, after we moved (excuse the mess!):

And the mirror and light fixture:

The light fixture is hard to see, but it's your typical 60's glass shade with a couple of bulbs and an outlet. Plus some gold trim.  The mirror was all grody in the corner and weighed a freaking ton.

When I took it off, an even bigger surprise, this room had been wallpapered (not surprising) the previous owners had REMOVED the wallpaper (WHAT?!):

Of course it was a green damask, but it really brought in the powder blue too. Can you imagine a room of this opening onto the olive green damask in the hallway. WOW.

The flooring was a cream vinyl with a gold fleck in it.

This room clearly needed help. I didn't have the budget to start replacing fixtures and taking on flooring projects, so I had to get creative.

First thing was first. After removing the mirror I took the wheelchair grab bar off.

Then I took out the blue TP holder and patched up that hole.

The next project was the vanity and tim. I painted out the trim and vanity in a nice fresh white and found some pretty glass knobs to replace the ugly tired plastic ones that were on the vanity.

This is where I toyed with the idea of putting a curtain in the gap to cover the sink and plumbing. I decided that taking the easy way out wasn't going to do it for me and I had Ben build some shelves and a front for the vanity instead (out of MDF) and painted them out:

Much better!

Now I had the task of priming and painting at hand. A few weeks prior we were at Benjamin Moore and while selecting a paint colour, I found a soft true grey on the 'mistint' rack. Misty Grey it was, and at 50% off, I was thrilled. I love the BEN line of paints, they go on SO nicely, I used the same paint in the girls' room.

I primed the room and painted out the (blue) ceiling, and then Ben took over and painted the walls the nice soft grey:

Another stroke of fate, my mom had found a mirror on clearance at RONA for $30 (marked down from $170 I think!). The mirror is beautiful and had a glossy natural wood frame.

I had picked the lighting fixture weeks ago, I fell in love with it when I saw it online, and then when I found it at home depot for less than I found it for online, I knew I would get it! It's a shiny chrome fixture with hand blown glass shades.

Even though the shower isn't functional, it still really needed a shower rod and curtain to make the room look more put together. I had picked up a curved curtain rod from Wal-Mart a few weeks back (unfortunately it's a brushed nickle, I didn't know I would be doing chrome accents when I got it). It still looks great. The shower curtains were 50% off at the grocery store. I really liked the look of two curtains to flank the window/tub. I saw it on Pinterest and knew that's the look I wanted.

I added a  white memory foam bathmat I scored for $9 in the clearance section of home-sense, a chrome towel rod from the same section for $13, and some blue and grey striped towels.

For the floor, we opted for grout-able Vinyl peel and stick tiles in a blue/grey ceramic look. Ben was really skeptical about the peel and stick idea, but I showed him the product in the store, and the reviews I had found online, and for the minimal investment it would require he agreed that we would give it a shot. Once they are grouted they really do look like ceramic.

They actually look really great and were easy to install and very affordable (1.30 a square foot). Cutting them is pretty simple, you just score the tile with a knife and snap.

We'll grout them in a few weeks when we have a kid-free weekend, but they still look great in the meantime.

I added some natural baskets to tie in the mirror frame's natural wood.

Finally, the art:

 My mom painted this watercolour of my three kiddos at the beach, and it just fits so perfectly in the space. I love it!

I'm thrilled with the end result. I still have my eyes open for a few more accessories (I want some hooks for towels, and some pretty accessories for the counter) but the renovation parts are done!

 Here is the side by side before/after :)


 

Countdown to Move: Main Floor Bedroom #1

Once the hardwood re-finisher took over the second floor we diverted our efforts to the areas where he wasn't working... the main floor bedrooms and the basement (post to follow on the basement).

The house had two generous sized bedrooms on the main floor, which we decided would work well for the 3 boys. Since moving we've had to do a bit of a shuffle and move one of the boys to a spare bedroom upstairs, and this room is still unfinished unfortunately.

Both of the bedrooms on the main floor were absolutely PLASTERED in wallpaper. The first one we started was the west bedroom.

There were 3 layers of wallpaper in this room :(

  Finally, we see the walls!

 Apparently 50 years of wallpaper means lots of nail holes to patch.

  We got the walls all primed, and then I let my son pick a paint colour. We opted for a grey on 3 walls and he picked a nice vibrant blue for the accent (window) wall. (I forget the actual colours, I will come back and update when I remember. I think the grey is steel wool by Benjamin Moore).

Finally we found some IKEA furniture on Kijiji for a steal, and I found these removable/re-positionable decals (BLIK) at www.homedepot.ca.

Done! He loves it and it's going to be easy enough to update if Mario isn't his thing down the road.