New Club Launch Party

Karen organized a typical "little" club-warming party last night... just her and her closest 100 or so friends from the Baby Point Community!  TPM Custom Homes and J Catering provided food and staff for the evening and Chef Josh delivered his customary great food paired with his usual jovial personality.

I see Josh as an extension of what I look for in my trades: fair, high quality, good communicator, always delivers on time and on budget and is a great guy to boot!

We were happy to welcome everyone to the "new" club... and we were really happy that all of the feedback (that we heard!) was very positive!

Thanks again to the great organizing and management team throughout the project - Karen, Gail and Erik as well as outgoing President Chris.

Thank you!

For Josh's contact info....
Josh Okorofsky
647-292-3953
http://www.jcatering.ca/

Wrapping Up

Well, things are looking good.  There are a small number of odds and ends to do... mostly cleaning up and throwing out stuff that should have been thrown out before :-).  However, the club looks fantastic and they're getting ready to host their first event soon.

Functionally, the bathroom was one of the biggest improvements - with two brand now toilets, we can now better accommodate guests.  It doesn't hurt that the bathroom looks way nicer than it used to!

While we took out some space on the kitchen layout, by eliminating the old hallway to the closet/storage area, we gained a ton of usable space.  The plentiful counter space and opening to the main room really makes the function of the kitchen a lot better.

The big improvement in the main area is the perceived size of the space.  The brightness of the wall treatment and trim combined with more modern lighting really has made for a warmer feeling space.

Finally, the new placement of the piano and trophies accentuates the space, rather than making it more cluttered.  I'm looking forward to the next party!

Cleaning up

While Mick still has a list of things to do (including some last minute colour changes... :-)), some of wall hangings are now in place that's starting to bring a more "lived in" feel to the club.  Looking good!

Finishing Touches

Things are looking up today as we applied a bunch of finishing items to the club.  The bathroom looks dramatically different now...

As does the view from the bathroom out to the "sun room"...

Perhaps the biggest functional change is the kitchen - more open,  better use of space and much better looking than the vintage kitchen that was there for many years leading up to this reno.

Time for the plumber!

Tony's team was in this morning to start the plumbing finish.

Meanwhile, we have the other part of the team doing the finishing aspects of the kitchen...

While Mick starts the final preparations for the last finish on the walls and trim.  Still busy, but looking a little cleaner in the club!

Finishing stage progressing well

It's really coming along at the club.... the backsplash is complete and looks sharp.

The fixtures are mostly in (though missing some lightbulbs!)

And some of the added touches are starting to be finalized, like the welcome cork board in the front foyer.

Backsplash Begins

The Starbucks-esque backsplash is going up today.  With all the mess in the club, it must be closing time.  The final push to the end of the project always involves a fair bit of mess, and less time to clean as we go.  If you look carefully under the sawdust, you can see the beginning of the end!

Counters In

The team from Cornerstone arrived as scheduled mid-day and began their installation.  The grey is working well with the rest of the selections in the club.

Meanwhile, Mick has locked himself in the bathroom in an effort to keep ahead of the job and avoid the dust.

Dealing with all of the irregularities of an old building has been a challenge - one more reason I'm happy we went with Cornerstone, who are so diligent with both the templating and installation processes.

Flooring on a busy day

"Closing time..."  The back end of the project is always a little more frustrating for the trades.  Given unlimited time, you wouldn't have people working on top of each other, but sometimes it's a necessary evil for pushing to the end.

The painter continues to do the final wall treatment on the pine boards.  The "sunroom" is looking great!

Unique Hardwood Flooring is in, trying to install the entire floor in a day so they're out of the way tomorrow.  The Owl Grey engineered floor we've chosen looks great with the other finishes in the club.

Of course there are more people here... the carpenter is here doing some odds and ends, and the countertop guys are in the kitchen reconfirming one of the measurements in advance of the install that takes place tomorrow afternoon.  One more week and we'll be (mostly) done! :-)

The chosen one

We have a stain colour!  Turns out, they've decided to go very light.  Mick has now become a Goudey mixologist :-)

In other news, we got the attic insulation topped up to R50 today.  The building envelope had now drastically changed from the pre-reno state.... nice and comfy!

The value of a great painter

I once had to evaluate a bunch of paint quotes for a new, 3,500 square foot home.  They ranged from $15k to $18k including paint and materials... then I got referred a paint crew from a "friend".  They came over and gave me a quote on the house for $4000 including materials.  They said they had 5 guys and it would take 4 days.  Crazy.  Turns out, my friend hadn't used them yet and when they did, they regretted it and had to get the whole house done again.  Obviously I did not choose the low-ball quote...crazy.

I do get the question a lot on why painting is so expensive for a new home.  The simple answer is, it takes a lot of time and effort to get the trim and doors from their bare, rough, newly installed state to the beautiful, smooth finish that you see here.

My painter spends perhaps 70% of his job on doing the trim and doors.  The effort you need to Dap (caulk) small cracks, fill any holes the carpenter may have missed, sand, prime, sand, paint and paint again is tremendous.  Not to mention that if you use good paint that will last a while, the materials can end up costing 25 to 30% of the job.

Watching the progress of a newly renovated room, addition or house during the painting process can be a little like... well... watching paint dry.  Oh well, it's worth the time and expense when you have a great painter!

What to do with those walls!

The decision on what colour to stain the walls is proving to be quite difficult.  The members want to get it right, which is fair enough... as long as my painter doesn't have a heart attack :-).  Not too big an issue yet, as there are plenty of other painting tasks to do and we've switched the order of things.  Hopefully the warmer weather predicted later this week will remind everyone that Spring is coming!

Kitchen progressing, trim carpentry starts

The kitchen has been installed, for the most point, up to the level we needed to get the counter top templated.  We're going with a Caesarstone quartz - a great product for aesthetics and durability.

Meanwhile, we've been asked to provide some more stain options.  With the look of the club as is, it feels very bright.  My recommendation is leaning towards just clear coating the pine - a nice mix of the traditional club but brought up to a more contemporary look.  The whitewash would also work well.  We'll hear back on that after Tuesday's board meeting...

The window casings, doors and some other trim details were installed today, so we can finally get a clearer picture of how everything will work together.  Looking good!

Walls nearly done as kitchen begins

With the pine cladding almost done, it's starting to raise questions on what colour to stain the walls.  Some like it as is - nice and bright, tying in the new with the old, and some are convinced a darker stain on the walls will work.  In reality, they will probably both work well, but I'll have to wait for that decision to happen.

The work area is filling up - more deliveries from Ikea as well as the trim and door package... what better incentive for the guys to get things installed quickly!

We started the lower kitchen cabinetry install today, so we can get the counter templating done early to give us some breathing room.

Wall cladding

The carpenter was in bright and early... yes bright - it's a typical, sunny, warm day in February (what the?).  We began installing the pine tongue and groove on the walls, and it's looking great.  In a couple of days, the place will be totally transformed.

Kitchen Arrives

The kitchen and all that accompanies the kitchen arrived today from Ikea.  I know, Ikea, the horror!  But wait a second, depending on the application and the desired finish (and more importantly the countertop and backsplash you put around the cabinets!), Ikea can be a decent option.  It will work well here and it keeps the project on budget, which keeps the members happy :-).

Speaking of members, we had a volunteer crew that loves using allen keys, tapping in wooden dowels and following Swedish pictorial instructions come in and put all of the boxes together.  Nice work team!

Meanwhile, the committee has been busy selecting the final finishes and paint colours.  I promise we won't paint the walls this blurry... :-)

Changes onsite

The club is coming along.  We received the tongue and groove pine wall cladding for the main room, right after we got the pot lights installed - good timing.  Mick finished off the tile today, with grout scheduled for tomorrow.  If all goes well, the wall cladding installation will start next Monday and the kitchen installation at the end of next week.

Tile Continues

We've used our time wisely... before we have a place full of wood paneling (tomorrow), Ikea kitchen boxes (Friday) and our trim and doors (Monday), we've been working on tile, paint and getting some lights in the place.  While the weather outside is Spring-like, the afternoons are pretty dark, so Mick was happy to have the potlights completed today... he can now "see the light"!

Window Installed

We got the new, double awning kitchen window installed today - what a difference in there!