It's been quite a while since I last made an entry but it has not been for a lack of things to write about. Mostly, I've just been too tired at the end of the day. Our basic routine for the last six months has been work on the West Hill house from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, back to Maison d'Être to shower, eat and sleep. Then get up and do it all over again the next day.
February and March were big months in the house renovating project.
Lots of holes in the walls as new installations were being done: all new plumbing, new baseboard heaters, new heat pump/air conditioner mini-splits, new pot lights (what I used to call can lights back in Texas), and even some new appliances. I thought - oh - let's order a new washing machine and just have it delivered. How hard could that be? The ordering part was easy enough, but then when they called to set the delivery date they reminded us that we needed to provide a path for them to get to the house. Suffice it to say - this was my first time digging a trench through the snow to have an appliance delivered. Note to self...when possible - avoid scheduling large deliveries between December and April.
I have to say that compared to building a house from the ground up and renovating the house in Texas, this has been the most challenging project to date. I really had no idea how much destruction had to take place to get the items mentioned above into place. I have completely lost track of how often I looked at David and said "This is absolutely the last house we are renovating together"! Promptly followed by "Sheesh! We certainly aren't 60 any more."
We are super lucky to have so many friends who have helped us along the way. Some friends tear out sheetrock, some do tape and float work, some paint walls and baseboards, many brought us food and offered moral support, some helped me pick out paint colors and one even gave me shoulder rubs!
In what seemed like forever, we finally finished scraping off all the popcorn ceiling in the primary bedroom. I was ready to give up and just live with the damn popcorn in the rest of the upstairs, but Dave persisted. He came up with the brilliant idea of blasting the popcorn with the power washer. It was a HUGE mess (exacerbated by the fact that the washer leaks and it had to sit in a big tub) but in the end, it was so much more effective than all that scraping with a razor blade. And now, of course, I am glad that it is all gone. Not that anyone else will likely appreciate it as much as we do, but each little improvement adds up to make the whole place feel less like it is stuck in a 1970's time warp.
April provided a much needed trip to Texas to see family and friends. This was a re-scheduled trip that we did not make in January, thank you COVID. On the plus side, it really does my heart a world of good to be with Maya and Danny, especially when we get to celebrate his birthday together. It doesn't matter how old he is!
May was a busy month - with some pleasant events and surprises! As the weather warmed up, one of my favorite things was to see what new thing was blooming in the yard. The previous owner was a hack of a carpenter - he obviously spent his efforts in the garden. I had no idea how many different plants there were. I have documented 21 different shrubs and flowers, some of which I had never heard of or seen before. Of course it is all overgrown and a hot mess, but the colors and variety have been breathtaking! I will spare you the whole gallery of flower pics but here is one of my favorite shots of my gorgeous clematis plant!
We also took time off to travel to New Jersey to see our nephew graduate from Seton Hall. It was a great visit and a chance to catch up with some family that we had not seen in over two years.. yeah, more thanks to COVID.
And yet another simcha in May was David's adult Bar Mitzvah. This was no small deal, as he had been taking a class for nine months to study and prepare for this big day. He did amazingly well and we were thrilled that family from afar were able to watch on Zoom.
In May I had a basal cell carcinoma skin cancer removed from my nose. It meant taking a whole week off from working on the house, which was actually super hard for me to do. At least it was successful and that is all behind me now. I can't say I am all that surprised when I consider how much time I used to spend, laying in the sun, slathered in baby oil (oy!) in the useless attempt to get this pale body a suntan. I am trying to be more diligent about using sunscreen and wearing hats these days. Oh, the wisdom of growing older.
June brought us an offer to purchase our condo on Brodeur. The cats were thrilled because every time we had to show the place, it meant loading them into their crates and schlepping them to the new house. Then they were locked in one room (together) because the rest of the house was too dusty and dirty for them to roam about freely. We were thrilled too, but for different reasons, obvs.
In June we also began getting a lot of rooms painted! It is amazing how dramatically that changes the feel of the place. As we were nearing a definitive move-in date, my goal was to get as much sanding done as possible.
We rented a sander from The Home Depot and spent an entire day sanding all the floors in three areas upstairs and five areas on the main level. After the sanding, multiple coats of clear polyurethane finish had to be applied, sometimes with more sanding in between the coats. It was a lot of tedious work but the floors now look awesome. I mean, they are far from perfect - this is a 72 year old house, after all, but they look beautiful to me. Especially compared to how they looked before.
In July we finally closed on our old place and moved the last of our belongings into the new house (whose name is still to be determined). Since then we have gotten the kitchen cabinet drawers and doors finished and installed and I was finally able to unpack real silverware, real plates and real glasses. I have even learned how to use a dishwasher again! See below for more pictures of the kitchen cabinets and countertops.
We still have A LOT of work left to do (tear out and re-build the mudroom, totally revamp the laundry room, spare bedroom and bathroom in the basement, just to name a few). Oh yeah - and get the garage to where we can park the car in it. But for now, I am enjoying a little bit slower construction pace and the chance to sip my morning coffee outside, actually visit with friends and even dine out on restaurant terraces and soak up this glorious summer weather that we are so lucky to have.
We also enjoyed two very brief visits from some Texas friends that happened to be passing through Montreal. It was great to catch up with them and show them our neighbourhood, that we are so enchanted with.
Last, but by no means least - we took our Canadian citizenship oath and are now officially dual citizens! This was a huge accomplishment for us. It was one of our main goals when we moved here and now it is hard to believe that we actually did it! So much has changed in my life over the past four and a half years.
And on a final note - here's a random fun thing in town! A local artist named Junko put up an outdoor art piece, a dragon actually, that overlooks the St. Lawrence River. We see it perched on the hilltop every time we go to The Home Depot, which is a lot lately!
And it is made entirely from repurposed materials - tree branches and leaves, large pieces of wood and plastic.
"The Earth Dragon wakes from its interrupted sleep. It peers over the busy highway, confused by all the fast-moving shiny objects. Its respiratory system is irritated by the exhaust fumes," Junko wrote on his Instagram page.
It is definitely an interesting structure that is hard to miss.
Here are "then" and "now" pictures of the kitchen /sunroom.
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| original view of kitchen from the sunroom |
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