This is what $1,535 (pre discount) of paint looks like in the bed of an F150:
Front Entry and Upstairs Hallway- HC-82: Bennington Gray
Spare Room- HC-80: Bleeker Beige
Master Bedroom- HC-172: Revere Pewter
Gym Level- CC-490: Smoky Taupe
Welcome to "Our Nest Egg" the blog featuring the transformation of our 1960's all original to our dream home. |
Back in June, Dulux had their annual Buy One, Get One sale on one gallon cans of paint. That included primer, ceiling paint and their super durable LifeMaster paint. I hadn't 100% decided on paint colours at that point and we were still over 2 months away from putting paint on any walls so I opted for taking the paint untinted and plan to bring the cans in as I needed them tinted and shaken. The store is on my way home from work so it doesn't cause any inconvenience. This is what $1,535 (pre discount) of paint looks like in the bed of an F150: Although it will still be a few weeks before we are ready for colour, I have finalized my paint choices for the main floor and part of the upstairs. Main Floor- CC-634: Herbes de Provence
Front Entry and Upstairs Hallway- HC-82: Bennington Gray Spare Room- HC-80: Bleeker Beige Master Bedroom- HC-172: Revere Pewter Gym Level- CC-490: Smoky Taupe
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I will preface this post by saying two things:
While Ty & I were in full agreement on creating an open concept main floor, we had a serious difference of opinion when it came to the look. He thought it would look fine to take the walls down and leave bulkheads for structural support and to salvage the cove ceiling molding. Ty's idea of leaving bulkheads: This was NOT what I was thinking of when I thought open concept, one space, seamless transition... I thought we should make any structural requirements recessed in order to make the ceiling flush. Since Ty was the one with the structural background and the muscle behind the job it looked like I was in the losing position on this one, until our home inspection (who overheard our opposing views) came up with the greatest idea, vaulted ceilings! Apparently something about "full construction attic" and "knee walls" made this a great option for us. Instantly I was sold on the idea, but this was so far out of my comfort zone. Every time Ty got talking about his plans and what needed to be done I felt sick to my stomach! As it turns out it wasn't quite as daunting of a task as I originally thought. In two days we had all the ceiling plaster and insulation torn down in the living room, dinning room, kitchen and front hall. It was a very messy job, but we got better at it as we went along. It's a good thing I'm not a neat freak! Here are the guys enjoying a much deserved cold one! While Danielle & I were on clean up crew. Once the ceiling joists were all exposed it was time to get started on the structural re-build. There are 3 main objectives with the re-build: 1- support the weight of the roof (including the snow load) once the ceiling is vaulted 2- prevent the walls from spreading once the joists & knee wall are removed 3- create enough depth to have the ceiling spray foamed to a high enough R value The ways to conquer those objectives are: 1- double up the existing rafters, called "sistering" 2- install collar ties every third rafter 3- sister the existing 2x4 rafters with 2x8s to create added depth We started the project by creating a template for the new rafter boards and the collar ties. This took a substantial amount of time to get right, but once that was done we could use the templates throughout the project. My father-in-law & I pre-cut all the boards while the guys worked inside to hang them. For the vaulted ceiling spanning over the living room, dining room, kitchen area we required 6 collar ties in total. We started by cutting out the knee wall in the location of the first collar tie. Then we removed the joist in the same location. Next was sistering the rafters with a 2x8. Then came installing a collar tie on each side of the rafter and finishing with 2 through bolts. This sounds like a quick process but each section took between 2-3 hours to complete. My cousin Ted, brother-in-law Ryan, and husband Ty are work horses and slaved away 12+ hrs/day to get these done by the end of the long weekend. The picture below shows the sistered rafters and doubled collar ties: It's hard to get a decent picture but the image below shows 4 of the 6 collar ties. The remaining 42 rafters still need to get sistered which will be a long, repetitive processed of gluing & screwing, but you can start to picture the end result. Dry wall will be installed to the peak of the ceiling and the 2x10 collar ties will be boxed in with a nice wood, stained to match the floor. Here are a couple more images from my super relaxing long weekend... Just kidding, every muscle in my body is sore today!!! Originally I wanted to preserve the original hardwood in the living and dining room and have it refinished a slightly darker shade since it was in such phenomenal condition. However, we are tearing down walls to create an open concept main floor, and flooring consistency is so key in creating this seamless look. Sourcing and replacing a small area where the walls once were was one thing, but since the entryway and kitchen both had old tile we decided it was best to install all new hardwood throughout. Luckily Ty & I had the same idea of what we were looking for. We preferred oak for the variety and contrast of the grain, and we liked 3 1/4 - 3 1/2 inch wide planks. In terms of colour, we were looking for something in between what was there now and what we have at our current house. We prefer the modern look of the very dark wood floors, but from experience we know this shows every spec of dust, paw print and imperfection. It drove me crazy how "smudgy" looking the dark hardwood got as soon as anyone (pets included) walked across it. It is a never ending battle. Apparently deciding on what we wanted was far easier than finding what we wanted. We spent days and day browsing through hardwood flooring stores in and out of town. I felt like Goldilocks and the 300 floors. Too wide, too thin, too light, too dark, too shiny, too dull, too red, too yellow, too gray... Finally we found a hardwood warehouse that had FOUR hardwood colours we really liked. After much deliberation we were able to narrow down the choices to the two middle samples, but we couldn't make a decision past that point. Since we were buying almost 1400 sq ft of this flooring, we wanted to be absolutely certain it was going to compliment our kitchen selections so we brought the two flooring samples over to Hampton Kitchens. Seeing the two hardwood samples up against our cabinet colours made our decision much easier. And the winning hardwood is Red Oak in "caramel". As I mentioned in my post Kitchen Design (Part 2), we decided on "Antique White" for the upper and lower cabinets in the kitchen and "Cocoa" for the island. You can see in the picture below the grain of the "Caramel" hardwood works perfectly with the "Cocoa" colour. I think the light cabinetry and medium dark hardwood will provide beautiful contrast. What do you think of our final flooring choice?
The original Kitchen Design post covered the design layout, but this post will cover the design elements. The picture below shows the door style we chose for the kitchen. They have the simple, clean look of the traditional "shaker" style door, but the inside step provides a little extra interest. In terms of colour we like the mix of light and dark woods that the picture below originally inspired. As I looked around at different portfolios I saw the mixed tones used quite frequently and really became sold on the contrasting look. In the end we decided on an "antique white" for the upper and lower cabinets and "cocoa" for the island. As for the granite selection, I was really torn. Our cabinet colour choices worked well with this granite and it seemed like a safe choice. But the granite below really grabbed my attention and seemed less common. To be honest, the picture really doesn't do it justice, it's gorgeous. So I ventured out of my comfort zone and we ordered this "Kashmire Cream" granite from Granite Plus in Hamilton for our counter tops and island. We even get to select our exact slabs. Here's a close up of a smaller section of the slab (please excuse my legs in the reflection). After perusing a few tile shops I really wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for in terms of a backsplash. I knew I didn't want anything too busy or modern. I really like the classic white subway tile, but I felt it might be too 'blah' with the antique white cabinets. As fate would have it, I came across the perfect backsplash while watching an episode of "Leave it To Bryan" the other night. I tracked down the tile and discovered it's 2x4 Botticino Honed Marble Mosaic and sold for $16.95/sq ft at a Saltillo tiles in Toronto. Not wanting to venture out to Toronto if we could avoid it, we decided to look around locally. Success! We found a very similar 2x4 Tumbled Marble in "Botticino" at Mario's Tile in Hamilton. They also carry it in honed (straight cut), but we prefer the tumbled edges. And as luck would have it, it compliments our granite quite nicely so we went ahead and placed our order. It's all coming together so nicely!
The Main Floor- The Plan The Main Floor- The Plan (Part 2) Now that we've established the overall concept and layout for the main floor we can start to decide on the finer details such as windows, doors, flooring and paint colours. DOORS & WINDOWS The front door and all windows on this level need replacing. Below is a picture of the existing front door. Overall the entryway is small and dark. Since we don't have enough space to add windows beside the front door, we will opt for a new door that is at least 1/2 window to let in more natural light. Rotating and making the front closet double wide should also help open up the entryway. I like the look of these doors: Currently there are 3 old windows on the main floor that need to be replaced; the front window, the kitchen window and the dinning room window. We decided this is the perfect time to convert the dinning room windows into double doors. Ty will then build a small landing deck and stairs down to a BBQ area. Not only is it way more functional to BBQ right off the kitchen, it will also make letting the dog out for potty breaks much more convenient. Unfortunately we require a permit to convert the window and build the deck so in an effort to be realistic of our timeline, new windows and doors will likely be installed a few months after the rest of the main floor renovation is complete. FLOORING: We are replacing the original hardwood with new 3 1/4" oak hardwood. We want to go for a shade that's not too light and not too dark. Here are a few stain options that we are looking at: COLOUR: And finally, here are some paint colours I've been considering for the interior. We have pretty much agreed on green for the main area and then either beige or taupe for the entry and upstairs hall area.
After getting quotes and designs from 5 custom kitchen companies, we have finally made a decision and decided to hire Hampton Kitchens. I found the kitchen below online and loved it! I thought the layout would work perfectly for our space, so it became the jumping off point. Here's a quick look back at the current space for comparison It became evident pretty quickly that the fridge wouldn't work to the right of the window since we only have 37" to the dinning room (French door fridges are 36" wide) and I thought it would look out of place just "floating" over there. This was about the point where we decided it would be best to fill in the doorway to the hall thereby gaining another 47" of wall space. Since the wall dividing the kitchen and living room was coming down, this doorway was no longer needed for access and filling it in would provide the perfect space for the fridge. Rob from Hampton Kitchens was amazing to work with. He understood my needs and shared my vision for how phenominal this kitchen could be. So, without further delay, here are the plans for the new kitchen: Amazing right?
Details regarding cabinet style & colour to follow in a later post. To better illustrate the plans for the main floor, I made up a quick rendering (not to scale) of the current layout and the future layout of the main floor. CURRENT: Right now the rooms on the main floor feel segregated and smaller than they really are. In order to create the open concept layout, we are taking down the walls that enclose the kitchen. This means filling in the doorway from the kitchen to the stairway down in order to gain valuable wall space for our fridge and roll out pantry. We are also removing the second closet (by the kitchen) to further open up the space, but in an effort not to lose precious storage space, we are rotating the front closet and making it double wide. FUTURE: And for a better visual, here's a rough idea of how the space will look furnished. The thing I am most excited about in this space is my massive island. The thing Ty is most excited about is the vaulted ceilings. More on that to come....
The Plan:
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