This week we have been trying to get as much of the basement done as possible so that it will be ready when our visitors come.
All the drywall has been done and primed. I have painted the sunroom in a nice sunny lemon, which looks really nice. We are going to put wood on the ceiling so that should really make he sunroom look nice.
Today I also bought some furniture to go in the sunroom, which can also be taken outside to the patio, so that room is near completion.
The fourth bedroom that we will be using as an office is also near completion. The walls have been painted; just the finishing touches to do and that room will be done.
The stairs were a nightmare to complete as the person who fitted the original stairs had offset them from the wall and they weren’t straight. We have had to completely redo the stairs and it has taken ages to get them to look decent. We are just about there now, so that is a relief.
The large room that you enter at the bottom of the stairs of which part will be a library (well a large bookcase anyway) just needs painting and finishing.
The huge family room will have to wait until after Christmas as we will not have time to complete before.
We had the carpet people out yesterday to quote for the stairs and the main room at the bottom and it will be fitted next week.
At the weekend we visited a fellow ex-pat who happens to live nearby. I won’t mention any names but we had a nice visit with him, his wife and two lovely children. The eldest little girl was a delight and wanted to show us the whole house, all her toys and read all her books to us. However, she soon got bored with us and went off to play on her computer. Thanks xxxx for your hospitality.
We had our septic tank pumped today – bet you wanted to know that! We had no idea when it was last done and were advised that it should be emptied about every 4-5 years. As the house was 4 years old, we figured if it hadn’t been done before it probably needed doing now. Better to be safe than sorry. It turned out it was pretty full, so a good job we called them out. It was rather stinky whilst they did it though!!!
Busy week this week, we had a big bin delivered to take away all the crap we had accumulated since we arrived. We had so many cardboard boxes from stuff we had bought we could have started our own factory. Although you can recycle them, you have to tie them into specific size bundles and quite frankly we couldn’t be bothered, so it all went in the bin. We also got rid of all the old decking that had been around the pool and lots of other rubbish. We think we will need another once the basement is complete.
We had our oil tank refilled (it was about half full) and it cost us $188, which we didn’t think was too bad. We will keep an eye on it to see how long it lasts and how much we pay over the winter.
I also decided that I would like to replace our laminate kitchen worktops for granite. We have such a lovely kitchen now – well I think so! So we thought it would do it justice to put granite in place.
This morning I drove to Kingston to see a guy I had been speaking to on the phone who gave me the best vibes after phoning several and getting really annoyed with Home Depot.
Home Depot advertises prices starting at $52 sq ft fully installed. The one I chose turned out to be nearly a $100 sq ft, not a problem – my choice. However it turns out that if I order it, they come out to measure up (at a cost of $100 which is refunded if you go ahead) and all existing countertops have to be removed first. Then you have to go to Toronto to choose your slab, then it takes them 8 weeks to fit. You once again have to remove the counter tops yourself. But that is not all. The edging you choose is also at an additional cost as is the sink cutout. They will not fit the sink, even if you buy it from them and will not plum. Total cost for my choice was nearly $7k. Goodbye home Depot.
The guy I went to see this morning quoted for fully installed, so I went over there to choose my granite – oh boy, what a choice. They had over 300 samples of colour alone. Eventually they let me take a few samples home so I could try them in situ. So I drove home with half a dozen granite samples.
When I got home, hubby and I laid them out in the kitchen and decided which to buy. Unfortunately, the one I really liked was the dearest – obviously, but it made it worse because that was the one hubby like best too.
When I looked at my email, the guy had sent me a message, saying that he could offer me a better rate on the one we liked as his stockist was closing down and needed to get rid of stock. So, in the end we are getting a much nicer granite than we thought we could afford for just over $5,300k, fully installed, with edging included and they fit the sink. Marvelous.
He is coming out in the next few days to measure up and will install in the next couple of weeks. Extra marvelous!
