Holy merciful heaven above I've been busy....

okay well...I know I'm going to look back at that statement once our baby is born and think...HAHAHAH YOU FOOL ....YOU HAD IT MADE!  but...

Life is relative to the experiences you've had in the past and untouchable by those you'll have in the future!!

So not only are Elizabeth and I having a baby..but we also bought a house.... a nice 42 year old 4 bedroom bungalow here in Charlottetown, nice corner lot..big backyard..big frontyard...two big trees in the backyard perfect for future Swing Installation, a finished basement for the family room, nice hardwood floors in the upstairs living room and hallways...a garage...2 car driveway...it's awesome...we love it...we love it ...we love it...

but....the basement was tres 70's complete with Orange Shaggy carpet, newspaper wallpaper and darker than you can imagine...even with the fake window..I'm talking shutters that when you opened you saw concrete and a flouresent light....the subfloor in the basement was also like a mini trampoline...kinda like you were walking on cheese...

and the kitchen was useable but...it had an old wall oven and countertop range that was probably original with fake brick on some of the walls and cupboards...

and the bedrooms all had linoleum floors....

so....

RENOVATION TIME!!!!!!!

We had some money and thought..if we don't do it now...we'll not do it for a long time...

so ...we got the house on  noon of Friday Sept 16th.....admired it's original state all afternoon and saw and played with some of the cool things the owners...I mean...the FORMER owners...left us....did my show that night...returned to the house...and started ripping up the orange shag carpet...

the next morning...bought over $1000 in carpet and supplies from Schurman's..and went to town...put down a new subfloor with my brother's in law - Elizabeth Started painting our bedroom...the next day my brother in law Darren and I tore our kitchen apart to make room for the new dishwasher..the new stove..the new countertop...the new floor...and took all the doors off the cupboards to get the ready to paint....

and it's now Oct 3rd...and we're still not done....we started WAY too much...but...like I said...if we didn't do it now we probably wouldn't do it for a long time with the baby coming in 4 months ( WOW!! )! 

It's amazing..I used to watch my father fix things around the house and sometimes I'd help him...or try to...I think some part of me has been itching to get into handy work but in the last few weeks I've become obsessed with tools and fixing and doing...

I've taken out the fake window...put up wall studs...insulated it...moved and installed a new outlet...fitted drywall to the window...covered up the seams....saw it painted and now it looks like...A WALL...coool...

I've replaced lightswitches and other outlets and not electrocuted myself...

I've laid carpeting..including the padding underneath and tack strips and all....sore knees to prove it....

I've taken a sledgehammer to the fake brick in my kitchen which knocked a hole in the wall...and I've drywalled it and now again...magically it looks like a wall...smooth as a baby's arse!  I'm now making new facing and structures for our cupboards and I enclosed our dishwasher and soldered a stop valve for it...

I've been using more power tools than I've ever used and still have all my fingers...

I even bought new tools for the job...including a cool 6-in-1 spin saw kit from Canadian tire...mmmmmm...fuunnnnnnnnnnnnnn

In a word..

my Dad would be proud....

I just hope I'm not keeping him up during the day....

oh yeah...for those who don't know....I moved next to a graveyard where incidentily my father is buried....

quiet neighbours...

and btw...my father had that exact sense of humour and I'm sure loves the fact that Elizabeth always says "Yup we moved here because Deryl wanted to be close to both his parents"  ( my mother lives a block away )

wicked...

I'm pretty proud of myself for the work I've done here...and definately don't mind saying that I've done this work with a lot of help too! 

I also borrowed Home Renovation for Dummies from the library!  wicked!

Good times!!

Deryl

 

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