Week #22 - A few things left before the basement is completely finished.

Saturday morning, the rain had quit. Both Ray and I are sore from cleaning up downstairs from all the dust.  The predicted cold weather started, with use at 0C this morning and snow in the forecast for tomorrow. We headed into Duncan to pick up a few things in case it does snow tomorrow. Ray needed a little outing as he has been home all week. I had two days out earlier to Nanaimo and Duncan for appointments so he was feeling a "little stuck". We thought that we might have a campfire this afternoon but the clouds moved in and the breeze is quite cool. At 3pm the sun came out so we decided to have a "campfire" on the sundeck instead. It was nice to just be outside for awhile.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet and we were in bed by 8:30 and lights out at 9pm. What a lively Saturday night. lol

Sunday morning we woke up to light snow flurries. It was not sticking yet, as the temp outside was just above freezing, but that is supposed to change through the day. Today is Super Bowl Sunday. I will be making Ray a bunch of appetizers for the game. A party for two! lol

Both Ray and I spent the better part of the morning working on cleaning up areas and sorting stuff out downstairs. The kitchen is outfitted with all of the dishes and Ray has the storage room vacuumed and put to rights, with extra building materials stored under the stairs. It lightly snowed off and on all day with very little accumulation. I also emptied out all of the boxes for the dresser and drawers in piles onto the floor.  So that when Coulson's come back to do the "dump run", all of the extra cardboard and packing materials go too. Kind of a mess outside under the sundeck.

I ended up inviting Pat and Darryl over for the game and most especially for all of the food. lol Her mom and partner were supposed to drive up from Victoria but with the snow today, it was not a great idea. We had a good time watching all of the commercials... the game was pretty boring with no score until the very end.

Picture is a little blurry. lol must have been the margarita!

A great day although we are sore and tired.

Monday morning we managed to sleep in until 6am. Still have snow flurries outside and -4C. Not much accumulating though, just blowing around. The 2 guys from Exchange Energy arrived at 8:45 am to start on the duct work. They could not believe that someone wouldn't have mentioned the duct work while they were insulating and putting in the T-bar ceiling. Neither could I...... well maybe not with all our problems.

The guys were finished in about an hour and a half. Turns out there were only 2 vents in the main area and one in the bedroom that had to be fixed. They could not center the ducts though with the tile, as there were joists in the way of the pipe. Oh well, most people don't spend time staring at the ceiling. lol

I spent about 4 hours cleaning my kitchen, fan hood and stove today. Yesterday's fry oil made the decision easy to get to it all cleaned up. lol While cleaning I put a bunch of leftover chicken and stuff into the InstantPot and now have a great chicken soup for a cold day.

We received a bunch of stuff from Wayfair today for the basement, so I put the dining chairs together. Ray spent a couple of hours in his workshop putting together the dresser. Again, getting all of the packing material in the garbage pile for pickup. Still lots to do but we have time now. Don't want to get too many things in the way for the painters next week.

After messing around for several hours it was hot tub time. So nice there is no one here so we can use it when we want. The sun is actually out but it is chilly outside, especially with the wind.


Tuesday, the coldest morning yet at -8C. Fortunately, we are all snug in the house. A beautiful day but chilly with mist on the water.

Ray is still spending time finishing assembling the dresser for the bedroom and organizing his equipment in the shop. I just puttered around. The kitchen table should arrive sometime this week. I can't do any more in the basement until the painters are done.  Then I will do a last clean of the floors and put the runner and carpets down and get the bed put together.

One dresser assembled. Two night tables to go, and the bed.

Headed over to Pat's for tea early this morning. What a view she has out her kitchen window too.

Around 10:30, Ray and I headed to Duncan to do a little shopping for bits and pieces for his shop. It was such a beautiful sunny day. Although only 0C it felt much warmer in the sunshine. He took me out for lunch at White Spot for the Tuesday special, the Legendary Burger. Back home for 2 pm as we had a meeting with Linda Gary regarding cellular blinds for the basement. (The same kind we have in the rest of the house.) They should be ready for install in 3-4 weeks. This was one last bit of stuff needed for the basement to be ready for guests.

The backsplash for the kitchen will be installed by Jason, our son-in-law at Easter. We found left over 12" square pebble tiles used in the upstairs bathrooms that will work nicely so no cost to us other than feeding Jason. lol

Received a call from Revy RV. Our window should be back ready for install Friday. We made an appointment for next Wednesday to bring the coach to Duncan. Finally it will be fixed.

Cooked Roast Beast for dinner, yumm. They had prime rib on sale at our little Country Grocer in town for $9 per pound. What a deal with today's beef prices.

My Dino Bone!

Wednesday, another sunny cold day. (-6C) Love the sun though. A good morning to enjoy the fireplace. So glad it has been fixed. I am using it every morning to help heat up the house faster with these cold temps.

Ray took a picture of the lake this morning.

We never get tired of looking at the "moods" of the lake. Love the pastel colours.

Roger from Coulson's called last night and he will be here in the morning to pick up all of the garbage.  Ray is taking off the last two damaged aluminum panels from the gazebo this morning so they can go too.

Bernie and Roger arrived about 8:30 and now all the garbage is gone except for the deck tile guys stuff. I had forgotten how big the concrete patio actually is. lol I gave it a quick sweeping to get rid of the sawdust, but will have to wait until it warms up outside to pressure wash it all and get rid of some rust stains. Plenty of room for our kayaks. Still no word from David Coulson as to when our window trim damaged/cracked from demo will be fixed. (The window behind the kayaks.) He says he is "working on it", his usual comment.

Ray puttered in his workshop putting together the night tables for the bedroom and we called it quits for the afternoon. It is beautiful outside but too cold to stay out there. The ground is hard as a rock.

I was bored so I made Valentine Brownie Cookies with white chocolate icing. Ray is enjoying them. :) I actually made them so I could give Pat's grandson's some as Ashton stayed home sick today. Ray will have to share. lol

That was pretty much our day.

Thursday morning cold again at -4C. Not much going on here today. Ray headed into Duncan to pick up some bits and pieces before the predicted snow starts tonight. I just puttered around the house. It seems almost weird that there is no one working here on a daily basis after 8 months of people here.

Ray spent part of the day puttering in his workshop and I decided to drive to Nanaimo to go to La-Z-Boy at their new showroom. When we ordered our chairs last year, the main factor was that the chair was comfortable for Ray's back. Of course I wanted one that matched, never thinking how it fit me. Since I hurt my neck last June, my chair has been not working for me, hurting my neck worse it seems. After going to multiple massage sessions, doing prescribed neck exercises, changing sleeping pillows as suggested, changing how I sit with my computer to keep my head straight etc. I have finally come to the conclusion that the chair is 90% of the problem as I am shorter than Ray and it pushes my head forward.  Sitting in it every day for several hours is not helping, so a new chair that fits me is in order. Mine will go downstairs in our new basement suite. It did not take me long to pick out a chair and I sat in it for an hour to make sure it "fits me" and does not hurt my neck. I briefly sat in the chair we already have to compare and instantly my neck hurt more. Half an hour later, with my wallet lighter I was going to meet Kristi for lunch.

However, Kristi is on call today and cannot leave the hospital at the moment, as she has a mommy ready to pop, so it we decided that I pick up take-out from Dairy Queen and take it back to the maternity ward. We shared some of it with the nurses as it was way too much food for us.

Kristi asked if I could pick up my grandpuppies on the way out of town and keep them for the weekend. lol Of course. Jason is heading tomorrow with a bunch of guys for Big White in Kelowna for a friends bachelor party (in the middle of the predicted snow storm) and Kristi is heading to Vancouver on Saturday for the day to help pick out a wedding dress. With the forecasted weather of snow and wind on Saturday she was worried she might not make it back from Vancouver and the dogs would be stuck in the house. Easier for me to just bring them now before there is a problem and we have to drive in the snow. Freya is very happy to see her pack mates.

Waiting for the leftovers from our dinner. (Athena, Zeus and Freya)

Friday morning at 6 am, still no snow here as predicted. Looks like we might have missed the first barrage. Now we will see regarding the winds. They are calling for possible power outages along the coast tonight.

The snow finally started about 7am, but it's not really accumulating too much. The dogs sure are loving it especially when Ray and I had a hot tub and they were just running around chasing each other in the yard. A good day to stay home with the fireplace on and relax. Here is the drivecam for the start of Highway 19 to Lake Cowichan. Apparently very slippery by Tansor Road with a car in the ditch.



The picture below is of the Coquihalla. This section of highway is not too bad for Jason's trip to Kelowna today.



Definitely worse on the connector to Kelowna though. Hopefully it will be in better shape by the time the guys get to this part later this afternoon.



The dogs are enjoying our "snow event"! Freya has her stick ... chase me.

And that was our week.

Week #21. Could it be? The last week anyone from Coulson's will be here?

Saturday, still foggy/cloudy. Where are you Mr. Sunshine?? Just realized that although this is the start of Week #21, we actually started last June with the backyard hardscape renovation ... so we have been at this 8 months, no wonder we are "so done" with this. We still have the front yard to do this spring as well as plant the backyard gardens with deer proof perennials, not to mention that the whole house's exterior needs painting.  The soffits haven't been painted since construction 8 years ago.

It was nice not to have contractors at our house this morning. A rarity lately. All in all, a much needed quiet day. Ray enjoyed spending time in the basement putting his "man cave" in order, while I did laundry ... how exciting. lol

Sunday we were both up early again. It seems lights out at 9:30 pm at night and we are both up between 5 and 5:30 am every day.  Foggy out again ... so I decided to make some Beignets (french donuts) for Ray. I have not made these before but they turned out great. The hardest part was waiting 1 1/2 hours for the dough to rise before I could fry them.

There are so many things on "my to do list" that I cannot do until the basement is finished. I need to go through my boxes of dishes etc. to set up the kitchen. The storage room needs to be emptied of furniture that had been stuffed in out of the way of the construction.  It all needs to be cleaned from dust and reorganized. We also need to assemble and set up the new furniture.

The motorhome needs a huge clean and all the linen washed, as the would be thieves emptied out all of the rubbermaid tubs and threw everything on the floor. But again, I have to wait until it comes back from getting the window fixed before we set it up more permanently and I can open the slides. It is too unlevel at the moment and I am afraid if I put the slide out it may not come back in. I guess I will cook. lol Barbecued spareribs, homemade baked beans and a warm cabbage slaw with bacon on the menu for tonight. Where are you Steve and Dianne?

Ray managed to clear out the "car garage" and the car is finally inside, not in the driveway. It will take some practice going in and out with the angle due to the motorhome being in the driveway. Our neighbour, Pat, texted me Friday morning and asked if we "flew the coop" as she did not see our car!

She fits! Just in time for frosty windows next week in the forecast. The garage walls will be painted next month.

Monday the skies were finally clear with the stars out. Hopefully, this should be the last week that Chris will be here, with all of the finishing work downstairs completed.  Next week should do it, with the deck tiles finally replaced and the last load of construction debris taken to the dump. After that, Ray and I will be able to "wash our hands" of the Coulson Design Group. Ray managed to get a great picture of the sunrise this morning when out with Freya.

View from our dock.

After Chris is done we still need the HVAC guys in to extend the ducting to come through the T-Bar ceiling, painters in to stain all of the new doors and frames as well as touch-ups. They will also be painting a coat of primer in the car garage to cover all of the mudding and taping. All of this, though, will not impede us setting up the furniture in the basement for the most part. I will organize these trades myself so I don't have to pay Coulson an added 20%!

Chris arrived early this morning, about 7:45 am. Nathan came at 10:00 to finish up the plumbing. He also brought all of the dura-vent pipe for the gas fireplace so he can piece it together and then I will paint it with the black heat paint ready for Gerry to come back and hook it up. With Nathan's help, Chris was able to lift the microwave in place and screw it in. It is the required 30" above the gas stove ... now I will need a stool to take food in and out of it if I needed to. lol It won't be used much anyways.

Chris cut the hole for the sink and Nathan hooked it up with the faucet from upstairs, as well as the water line to the fridge. So now the kitchen is complete. I spent an hour or so polishing all the fingerprints off of the stainless cabinets and fridge as well as oiling the counter top. Awesome kitchen. We may at some point put in a tile backsplash and Jason said he would install it, but for now it is fully functional and ready to be filled with dishes etc.

Nathan finished hooking up the toilet and putting in the shower system in the tub. He finished hooking up the tap on the sundeck so we have water up there. Plumbing is officially done, only the last bit of gaswork with hooking up the propane fireplace.

Chris installed the bathroom hardware today, the door lock, towel bars and toilet paper dispenser. We now have a fully functional bathroom downstairs! Yeah. I did a quick "tidy up" wiping everything down from the dust. Chris also managed to finish installing the closet doors in the bedroom. Ray has the door knobs on order and should be here on Thursday. Tomorrow, I suspect Chris will start putting in the baseboards in the bathroom and the mirror before moving onto the other rooms.

Ray worked on and off with rest times playing in his man cave organizing his tools and how he wants everything to "flow" in there.

His wrenches have not seen the "light of day" for years!

Today was a good day. I booked the HVAC guys for next Monday and the painters are coming on Tuesday.

Tuesday, cold and clear. -2C but "feels like" -4C. Burrrr. Today is a Nanaimo day for me as I have a doctor's appointment and will do a Costco run as well. Jason will be stopping by later today to drop off a drill press for Ray. Jason's step dad received a new one from Jason and Kristi for Christmas so Ray gets his old one. Bonus.  Ray went out for lunch with Jason at Jake's at the Lake and did some more straightening out in the basement. I now have stacked boxes in the kitchen to open, wash and put away. lol

While I was in Nanaimo I managed to catch up with Kristi and she joined me for my Costco run and later we met for lunch at the White Spot after she saw a patient at the hospital. She is on call today, but was not very busy, just had to stay near the hospital. A lovely unexpected visit.

Today Chris hung up the bathroom mirror and shower curtain rack. He tackled the baseboards in the bedroom and started in the main area. The concrete is very uneven so each piece of baseboard has to be scribed, then ground, to fit.  A much longer process than he budgeted time for.

My new shower curtain rod. Love that you can hang towels too.

 The bathroom only needs it's baseboards put on and it will be officially finished other than the doors stained.

Bedroom baseboards in other than in the closet.

Chris has to install the closet bar and shelves first. Then this room will be completely done other than the closet doors stained and the baseboard painted it's final coat.

Wednesday, clear and cold. -2C at 6:30 am. it was already starting to cloud up for the expected rain event tomorrow by 8am this morning. Dishwasher going to wash all of the dishes for downstairs before I put them away. They are all covered in dust even though they were in boxes from all of the construction dust downstairs.

Off to Duncan for an appointment with my massage therapist at 8:30 am.  Boy did Jaz work me over for an hour, but my neck feels better. Having scoliosis of my spine he tells me my muscles in my back are at war with each other! I told him I hope one side wins soon, so they can learn to get along. lol He put some athletes tape on me to wear for 5 days to give my muscles a break so hopefully it will help.

Back at home, Ray did some more cleaning in his man cave and Chris installed more of the baseboard trim. He is also fabricating a cover for the electrical panel in the hall to "pretty it up". I had the bathroom all clean yesterday, but you certainly can't tell today with all of the dust. By the end of the day, he had all of the baseboards on in all rooms other than the bedroom closet that will be finished tomorrow with the shelves and clothes rack. That should be it for most of the dust, I hope.

Heard from David Coulson via email today, that our deck tiles should be here on the island early next week for completion. They came off the ship last Friday and should be delivered to the Richmond yard by the end of this week and then trucked over to Duncan. He is still trying to get the piece to fix the window trim that was damaged during demolition of the sundeck ... which was last September! Talk about procrastination.

Thursday morning, it is quite a bit warmer out at 3C. Chris arrived at 12:30 pm as he was putting together the closet and electrical panel door at their shop in Duncan then came back here to install. He finished the closet today except for the front facing of the shelves as he forgot the tool to drill the holes for the screws on an angle.  He put on all of the door hardware that Ray picked up this morning for the bedroom. Chris ended up staying late to move the upper kitchen cabinets to make space for the third cabinet that was not put in at the beginning. Also he replaced the shock that we had replaced as it was low on air. It fits beautifully. He only has tomorrow to finish everything, as he is working in Nanoose on Monday.

It certainly was a gloomy day. The rain predicted hadn't started yet by 4:30, so hopefully it rains overnight enough for Chris to source out the small leak we still have by the upstairs patio door tomorrow.

Chris will do any cutting of materials outside today to prevent any more dust. JS Plumbing called and will come tomorrow to finish the install of the propane fireplace. We should be pretty much done with the work from Coulson's tomorrow.

Friday morning and the rain started sometime overnight. No wind though which we need to find the leak, I believe. I checked the spot that has been getting wet and it is dry until the rain picked up later in the day and then it was damp again.

Chris managed to get all of his "to do" list done today as well as taking care of the "leak". It appears to have been stopped, but only time will tell.

Chris caulked all of the baseboards, finished the bedroom closet, caulked the kitchen counter, put on the last of the door hardware and took out all of the old rugs we were using to protect the floor. He finally sat down to have a beer with us at 4pm. A great job, with attention to detail, thanks a bunch Chris.

While Chris did his thing, I emptied out all of the furniture boxes ready to be put together. Bernie from Coulson's should be here at some point next week to do the last garbage run and I wanted all the cardboard to go as well. I made sure everything was out of the way for the painters doing the baseboards starting on February 11th.

Gerry was here from JS Plumbing to hook up the propane fireplace, it looks great.

The guys rescued our furniture out of the storage room. It is starting to look like a suite.

The kitchen is complete, I will load it with the dishes etc. this weekend. That was our 21st week of reno. Whewwww!

Can almost see the finish line! Week #20 of the never ending Reno.

Saturday morning, woke up to rain and gusting winds. The forecast "damaging winds" did not seem to reach us being inland and we still had power so all is good. I headed to Duncan Farmer's Market to get my neck massage and then did our weekly shopping. Needed to get a dog ramp for Freya as she is having difficulty at times even reaching her front feet up to the back of the car to get boosted in.  We tested her out on it when I got back and she had no problem.

Rained on and off all day with a little dash of thunder and lightning thrown in. After the first thunderclap, I immediately put Freya's Thunder jacket on and cuddled her up on the couch with me. She never shook and was ok for the second boom. The jacket seemed to work. Maybe because she was allowed up on the couch with me which usually is a no no! lol The top of the mountains received a light dusting of snow with this small intensive storm cell however brief.

At 3:30 pm this afternoon there was a wondrous double rainbow across the lake from us with the reflection of the rainbow on the water that headed straight back towards out beach. Wow!

Across the lake from us.

 Too bad Ray was not home to use his "big camera". These were taken with my phone and of course they are not as good as actually seeing it with your eyes. lol

Double rainbow with the reflection on the water.

The other end pointing at the marina around the corner.

Kristi arranged for Kat and Garrett as well as herself to stay overnight on Saturday at my Uncle Ken and Aunt Norma's in Coquitlam. Norma and Ken were "over the moon" that they all came to see them. 

Garrett, Ken Kristi, cousin Jackson and Norma

This time with Kat in the picture beside Garrett.

Sunday morning, Garrett and Kristi had the task of making the "Kyle Family" waffles for everyone, silly kids.

I suspect a great time was had by all.

Sunday morning cold and clear, at least at 6 am. There is hope for tonight to be clear so we can see the "Super Blood Wolf Moon lunar eclipse". Usually we are under cloud for these events. Jackie, our housekeeper and her friend did manage to come for 2 hours and do a good clean for the bathrooms and wash the floors and do the dusting, a never ending battle with construction. I usually dust every 2 to three days on the main floor. Ray received a text from Matt, who is supposed to come today and start on redoing the tile installation. He did not receive a call to say to come ... Mr. Coulson .... did not confirm with him even though Ray received a text from David on Friday that Matt would be here this weekend. Now he will be here tomorrow.

Ray and I managed to have an afternoon campfire outside. Chilly but nice to get outside for a couple of hours. Tonight is the Super Blood Wolf Moon. Ray managed to get a couple of pictures before the fog formed off the lake. Pretty cool.

And that ends our Sunday.

Monday 2C but feels like -1C which is correct as there is ice on the sundeck. Too bad for those deck guys ... they should have come yesterday.

Chris arrived about 8:30 and his plan today is to install doors downstairs. Apparently Bernie will be here with the closet doors tomorrow and to help Chris move all of the cabinets from the garage down to the basement so the install can begin. He managed to get four new doors installed and put the hardware on the barndoor for Ray's workshop so it is ready to hang tomorrow. Having the doors hung sure warms up the spaces. They will look amazing once they are stained.

Door to sump closet in bathroom.

Bathroom door that was my upstairs pantry door.

Door to storage room.

Bedroom door that was an extra one from old owners that was never installed.

The deck guys arrived at 9:30 am but after talking with Ray regarding all of the chipped tile, they believed that we did not have enough to fix this ... now 12 more tiles have been ordered and will be here in a week. (Remember at the beginning we could only order by pallet!) So they are to come back when the tiles have been received. More drama. (Received email from David ... Matt and crew will be back tomorrow to get as much done as they can before the extra tiles come).

Tuesday, the rain did indeed begin overnight. A very drizzly morning. Chris arrived at 8:30 or so and started putting trim around the doors he installed yesterday and attached the barn door to the workshop after trimming out the "hole". Apparently Bernie will be here tomorrow instead, probably due to the rain and they don't want our new closet doors to get wet as they are unfinished at this point.

By the end of the day, Chris had the bedroom, bathroom 2 doors, storage room and barn door frames all trimmed out. Looks fabulous.

All the trim wood grain is different and he managed to match up trim boards to be as similar as possible for the window and door trim.

Storage room

Barn door to Ray's workshop

The last piece of window trim that had been scribed around the stone and then stained at their shop.

Deck guys arrived shortly after 9am to work on the deck. Both Ray and I are staying "out of their hair" and hope they get the job done this time properly. Normally I make them coffee on cold wet days but now "NO SOUP FOR YOU", especially the guy that threatened Ray. They seem to be moving fairly quickly changing out the supports for the proper ones and replacing the chipped tiles where they can. The final ones will have to be replaced next week. By the end of the day they had replaced all of the tile supports and chipped tiles on the whole deck except for the 10 tiles they need. We had 23 extra tiles leftover from the installation, so that will tell you how many had been damaged with their zipcutter! And that their original quote of taking 2 days to do the deck would have been correct with the right supports ...

We went out and "jumped" on the tiles after they left and everything is solid as it should be. No movement. Too bad they did not do this the first time for all the hassle this has been. They will be back to finish completely when the extra tiles arrive next week sometime.

Wednesday was extremely foggy. It certainly rained hard all night but seems to have quit now. Hopefully this is the start of the sunshine for the next few days. Chris and Bernie arrived at 7:45 am this morning to start moving all of the boxes from the garage down to the basement to install the kitchen today. Apparently they are on a time crunch as the plumber has been booked for Friday. Hallelujah. It's like Christmas watching all of the boxes get opened that have been here since mid-October. I was happy to see that there was no damage to the cabinets. The insulation guys were standing on the crates while doing their work in the garage a couple of months ago.

Boxes moved from garage to basement.

Bernie and I spent a bunch of time peeling off all the protective cover on all the stainless.

Bernie also painted up all the baseboards in preparation for their install.

The hole in the stone wall, Bernie fixed himself ... deck guys never did fill the hole with a rock!

I took a break helping after lunch and walked down to the dock, quite cool with the wind but stunning. These pictures were not doctored and I took them with my cell phone.

Roger showed up briefly around noon to drop off the new closet doors and take a load of garbage to the dump that Bernie loaded him up with.

Yahooie Louie ... most of the kitchen is in. Plumber coming Friday to hook up plumbing and install kitchen sink as well as the bathroom etc. Chris worked really hard to finish installing the lower cabinets with the countertop so it is ready for Friday and he can move onto other finishing. The countertops I purchased on sale 2 months ago did indeed turn out to be the perfect lengths. No trimming needed other than 1 1/2 inches ripped off the width. We still need the microwave/hood fan installed and two upper cabinets. The garage and Ray's workshop now have some floor space. lol The fridge was taken out of the workshop and placed in it's home. (This was my old kitchen fridge.) The plumber will have to hook up the water to it when hooking up the sink.

A fabulous day of progress.

It's Thursday ... wow this week is flying by. Chris showed up a bit later this morning, probably because he was here an hour later yesterday and had to pick up stuff at the shop on his way here.

Today he managed to hang my upper cabinets and he drilled the hole through the wall for the microwave/hood fan. Quite the project, as the hole had to go through one of the shear walls so it was pretty thick. Chris also had to figure out how to secure the microwave to the wall. Usually it is mounted under a cabinet on the top for support so he will have to build something. The patio door also was trimmed out other than the very bottom. He will wait until the plumbers are finished in case it gets damaged with using the dolly to move stuff into the basement for installation, like the toilet and propane stove.

The sink will be installed into the cabinet closest to the fridge.

Ray spent part of the day organizing his workshop now that all the doors and baseboard material were removed from "his mancave"! He is thrilled with how much space he actually has now in that room.

It stayed cloudy all day but at least no rain. I managed to sit outside for an hour under the gazebo with the fire table on until the wind came up while Ray laid down for an hour or so.

Friday, the plumbers come today. Chris arrived later after picking up supplies to build the box above the microwave and venting pieces. He finished drilling out the hole and insulated around the box and installed the vent on the outside of the house. He will put the microwave into place on Monday after his built venting box dries. With Nathan's help he partially installed the double closet doors in the bedroom which he will finish on Monday.

Microwave vent box out of fir to match trim.

Ready for the microwave vent hood installation.

New vent all insulated and sealed with caulking.

Nathan and Gerry did not arrive until 10:30 am. I was beginning to wonder if they were coming. Nathan forgot about the shower parts that he was supposed to bring, as it has been 6 weeks or so since he was last here. He will be back on Monday to install the shower and tap in the tub. Nathan worked on the other plumbing items, new master ensuite toilet which is taller, and new kitchen tap set upstairs. Downstairs he installed the recycled toilet for the basement and shut-off valves for bathroom sink and kitchen sink. I will be awesome to have the bathroom functioning in the basement when we are outside in the yard or dock and won't have to come all the way upstairs to use the toilet. lol Unfortunately the granite kitchen sink I purchased will not fit on the countertop so they brought me a single bowl stainless sink to fit the dimensions. My old kitchen tap set will be used downstairs.

Nathan installing my touchless kitchen faucet. I made sure that under the sink was totally cleaned out of any "garbage misses". lol

Faucet for bathroom sink, check

Ray's new throne! ha ha. Nathan needs to bring a longer hose for the toilet as the shutoff is further away than usual as it is located in the shower wall instead of behind the toilet which is solid concrete.

Gerry worked on installing our little gas range, converted it to propane, and hooked it up to the gas line they plumbed during construction. He also tested out the second line and hooked it up to our outside propane tank. Our barbecue box was installed on the deck and the water tap fitting will be installed on Monday. 

No more running out of propane while barbecuing.

It's all coming together. Looking back on the week lots got done. I don't think Chris will be finished until the end of next week ... not Tuesday like they thought as there is still all the baseboards to go on, door hardware, and bathroom hardware before they can call it finished with the final dump run lol.

And that was our 20th week of renovation! Hopefully week 21 is the end of working with the David Coulson Group, thank god, other than the deck guys have to come back for the last push once the new tiles are here, probably next week .

After they have cleared out we still need the painters to come back for touch ups, our heating and ventilation guys to feed the heating ducts in the basement through the T-bar ceiling tiles as they are all covered at present. (This is all through us not David Coulson.)

Chris left a little early today ... He's cooking Haggis as his family is celebrating Robbie Burns Day.