Tag Archives: garage

Our paved driveway

Posted on by

2

Hello. Happy September. I hope you’ve had a great summer. Our summer has been wonderful and full. I have updates to share. First up is the final part of our garage/mudroom/patio makeover: the driveway. The last step of this project is finally complete. The driveway is paved.

When I started the garage renovation in 2021, I didn’t fully consider how one project leads to another. We had a great garage and mudroom inside the house, but what about the outside? The patio finished off one section and gave us steps to the living room’s sliding glass door and the mudroom entrance. But I really wanted to pave the driveway too.

A long driveway was on my initial wishlist for the farm and I love our gravel laneway with the grassy middle, so there was no way I was touching that. But a bit of asphalt closer to the house accomplished a couple of things for us.

It made plowing and shoveling easier in the winter. Gravel is not fun to shovel, and it’s even less fun to rake out of the grass once all the snow melts.

It gave Ellie a smooth place to play. Scootering, bike riding and chalk drawing all work much better on asphalt than gravel.

It lessens, somewhat, the dirt and detritus that is tracked into the house.

It stabilized the edge of the patio.

So this spring I hired some pavers (Alliance Paving for any locals). They cleaned up the gravel (so many weeds had invaded), mapped out a square driveway (the original had been dug on the fly by a skid steer with very little measurement), graded everything (more gravel on top of the 250 tonnes we added during the garage reno) and laid fresh asphalt.

I decided to pave from the spice garden to the edge of the garage. The corner where the driveway section meets the lane was a logical stopping point.

This gave us plenty of room to pull in and out of the garage. It also gives a long runway for Ellie to ride, run, roll or rain dance.

One lesson learned, we paved when the weather was very hot. We did not drive on the driveway for a full week (longer than our contractors recommended), but the asphalt still wasn’t fully set and we have some scuffs and divots in the surface already. Some are from turning the car wheels as I back out of the garage. A couple are from Ellie’s bikes. They’re minor and I’m not upset about them, but when we pave again, I’m going to wait until fall when the weather is cooler.

The surface of the driveway ended up several inches above the lawn, so our pavers recommended building up the dirt around the edge. Our farmer arranged for a truckload of topsoil (another dump truck, yay), and I spent a few days on the tractor spreading it around. Ellie followed behind with grass seed.

The grass has now sprouted. I added a doorbell (it used to be at the front door, but it kept falling off the stone). And this project–the whole garage/mudroom/patio/driveway renovation that we started 3 years ago–is complete.

(It’s also been the site of a major milestone when Ellie learned to ride her two-wheeler this summer.)

Have you had any big projects or milestones this summer? What kind of driveway do you have? Do you have any projects that continue longer than you expect?

Home Goals 2024 mid-year report

Posted on by

4

We are halfway through the year, and it’s time to check in on how I’m doing with this year’s home goals. At the start of the year, I said that I needed a reset, and I planned my projects with that in mind. As I review the list, I feel like I’m doing pretty good. I’ve made progress in most areas. It’s nice to feel like I’m more organized and getting through things.

I also feel like this update might be a bit premature as I have two reveal posts coming soon.

Read on to see how I’ve done so far.

Driveway

Woman on a small orange tractor dumping dirt alongside an asphalt driveway

Guess what? I can finally say that the garage and mudroom renovation (begun in 2021) is done. Yup. We have a paved driveway. All the details and photos coming soon.

Coop

A new wall being framed for the exterior of a barn

Slowly but surely the coop is moving forward. We’ve had a new foundation wall built and I’ve started framing the exterior wall. I’ve also been working on clearing some of the “yard” around the coop. This long-awaited project is happening.

Vegetable garden

The vegetable garden has been crossed off the list for 2024. I’m a bit disappointed, but I know it was the right decision. We are working off and on in the other gardens, and I’m seeing progress there which feels really good. And despite our neglect, we have had some good harvests. One and a half pounds of asparagus–our best ever–and raspberries, which are starting now.

Clean-up inside

Woman statue lamp and silver box sitting on a dresser in front of a framed photo and mirror

I made a few tweaks to my bedroom, added a craft shelf to Ellie’s soon-to-be playroom, cleaned out a few other spaces and finished off the final details for Ellie’s bedroom (another reveal that is coming soon). I still have a lot to work through, but we’ve made some progress and I can see the future.

Clean-up outside

Uhaul truck in front of a barn

I’ve chipped, I’ve mowed, I’ve pruned, trimmed, picked up rocks, tarped. Our new chipper has been a great addition. I’ve already started rebuilding brush piles, but they’re more contained, and I know I can clean them up again before they become gargantuan. I’ve run the rotary cutter over the septic bed and along the edge of the front field, and I’m confident I can continue to maintain these areas. I’ve “groomed” a few new sections of the property, and getting each of them cleaned up feels like a good accomplishment. I also had a milestone last week when the first big load of Matt’s stuff left the barn.

Personal goals

Earlier this year I also shared some personal goals. Here’s how I’m doing on them:

  • Walking: 290km (48km per month–ahead of my goal of 42km per month)
  • Monkey bars: I still do them every week and whenever Ellie and I visit a playground. I haven’t mastered a chin-up yet, but I’m working on it. I definitely feel that my grip strength has improved.
  • Reading: 19 books (not quite on track for my goal of 50 books this year)
  • 1,000 Hours Outside: 644 (in pretty good shape to hit our goal, I hope)
  • Family albums: I’ve completed 2020 and am hoping to finish 2021 as well. That would leave me with just 2022 to catch up on (and ’24, of course).
  • Rest: Still my hardest challenge. I’m more conscious of my need to rest and I feel like I’m doing a better job of listening to my body. Though I still need to go to bed earlier.

These personal goals are less about making big changes (aside from rest) and more about maintaining a balance for myself. They’re a good reminder of some of the other things that are important to me.

Overall, I feel like I’m making good progress, and that feels good. This mid-year review makes me proud of what we’ve accomplished so far and gives me motivation to keep going.

How have you been doing on your projects so far this year? Is anyone else doing a reset? What are your big goals for 2024 (home or otherwise)?

Farm flagstone patio and steps reveal

Posted on by

2

Our patio is done. We celebrated its completion with a party with a capital P. There was pizza, pop, party mix, and pie. (We also made a psalad with pecans and prusciutto.) Our landscapers are good sports and did a great job. They also enjoyed all of our homemade treats throughout the project, so it felt appropriate to treat them one more time.

We now have a beautiful flagstone patio, large boulders edging the front garden and herb spiral, and gorgeous stone steps for the living room patio door and mudroom entrance.

I knew from the start that I wanted real stone. As always, my goal is to make this house more “farmy,” so I wanted the patio to look like it could have come from the property. No pavers or tiles here. I’m grateful that our landscapers worked with me on the design, so that natural stone was possible within our budget. And that they were willing to take the machines across the fields to pull rocks from our own farm. (We worked with RS Landscape & Construction and they were awesome.)

The stairs, flagstone and boulders are all random. We bought the stairs and flagstone from a stone yard, and the boulders came from the fields. Our landscapers spent days laying everything out and fitting them together. I love the precision of all of the joints. They had amazing attention to detail.

For the mudroom step, they set out the three slabs and then spent a half an hour with me flipping and rotating them with the excavator until I was happy with the layout. They were super accommodating. Now when we go inside, there’s plenty of room for Cigo, Ellie and me to all stand on the step together–since no one in my family has heard of the concept of personal space.

The purpose of the patio is to give us proper stairs to access the mudroom and living room and to create a small landing area that’s separate from the driveway. The design gave us that, along with two pockets of space. One is just large enough for a small dining table and four chairs. The other fits a little lounge chair that’s the perfect size for Ellie and me to curl up together.

Starting our day out here with a book or breakfast has been a beautiful treat.

The patio is a major step in finishing off the garage renovation. I’d still like to pave the driveway, but I think I’m going to wait until my budget has recovered. In the meantime, we’re enjoying entering and exiting the house easily, our new herb garden, the improved view of the southside of the house, lounging in the chair, eating at the table, or simply perching on the steps.

I’m very grateful that we were able to build the patio and that it came together the way I envisioned.

Do you have a patio at your house? Who else likes outdoor lounging and dining? Are you a fan of natural stone? What outdoor projects are you tackling at your house this year?

Patio progress

Posted on by

3

Around June 1 every year I try to take a photo of the front of the house. Everything is out in leaf and beautifully green. The farm is looking its best. And it’s really fun to look back and see the progress we’ve made on transforming the property. This year, the picture is all about progress, though you might have to walk around the side of the house to find it.

Last week work on our new patio started (note the yellow excavator in the background on the left), and I am thrilled.

Since finishing the garage and mudroom, the exterior of the south side of the house has been unfinished. This meant no stairs to the living room patio door. No step into the mudroom (aside from a rock I dragged there). And gravel, just gravel, everywhere.

The patio project is about defining this side of the house. We will have steps and a delineated space that’s separate from the driveway.

I decided to shrink the garden around the well slightly. This will give us two small sections of patio alongside the two entrances. I’m thinking one will be for eating and the other will be for lounging. Both are small, but I think we’ll have just enough room. They could also work for a barbecue or a potting bench.

My goal has always been to make the patio look like it fits with the farm. When I first met our contractor (RS Landscape & Construction for any locals), he said, “Can we pull rocks from the fields?” Out loud I said, “Absolutely.” In my head I was fist pumping and happy dancing. He got my vision right away and worked with me on the budget to make it happen.

We chose beautiful natural stone–huge slabs for steps and random flagstone for the patio (selected from a stone yard during an ice storm in December). For the gardens we took the machines on a literal field trip and found large boulders for the edging.

I’ve taken advantage of having the machines here to tackle a few additional jobs. The crew removed the old chicken coop foundation and regraded that corner of the barn. They also trenched a new outflow for our sump pump. They have been super accommodating, friendly, helpful and conscientious. I’m so impressed with their work.

The extra work means that the patio itself got off to a slow start. We also had a miscommunication about the width of the steps leading up to the patio door. I want them wider, which means we need more stone slabs, which were a bit hard to find. A new shipment arrived at the stone yard on Friday afternoon, so we should be back on track soon.

We ended last week with the old coop finally completely gone, the sump trench backfilled, the start of steps into the living room and a beautiful row of boulders (aka new stepping stones) around the well garden and under the dining room window.

Looking at the front of the house, I am amazed at what a difference the boulders make. They give the front so much more presence (and even make me dislike the angel stone a little bit less). The patio project builds on 11 years of slow transformation. I’m excited to see it all come together.

Do you have a patio at your house? Are you into dining or lounging outside? Are you undertaking any big projects at your house this year? Who else loves seeing heavy equipment at work?

Looking back at Home Goals 2022

Posted on by

2

I ended last year on a high, project-wise. For the first time in a long time, I felt like we were building, not just fixing. There is still a lot of fixing, but it felt like we were working toward something more this year than before.

I have this vision of a beautiful, comfortable farmhouse, a thriving garden, a gorgeous old barn, perhaps with a few animals in it. Some days, that vision seems far away. But by the end of 2022, I felt like it was a bit closer.

Here’s a look back at some of what we did and last year’s home goals.

Mudroom

The mudroom has been an amazing addition (literally) to our house. Finishing it off last year (barring possible future built-ins) has been a beautiful, comfortable and functional addition to our house.

Garage landscaping

Hiring a contractor to pave the driveway and build a patio and some steps for the mudroom and living room was supposed to be our big project of last year. However, I never found the right contractor, so it did not happen. Ellie and I spread topsoil and grass seed all around the garage, so some progress was made. I think I have found the right contractor, so I am optimistic that 2023 is going to be the year for the patio.

Plan for the worst

I’ve made a bit of progress on preparing for the worst, but not as much as I want to. I updated our home insurance, closed extra bank accounts and made household inventory videos for a few rooms. Although these tasks aren’t fun, they are important, so I will be trying to continue to make progress on this this year.

History

Living here, it’s impossible not to be conscious that this property has a long history before us. Before it was a farm. Doing my own work toward truth and reconciliation for Indigenous peoples is important to me. I am still trying to learn and understand more, and honour this history in how I care for this land. Writing a land acknowledgement for the farm was one step I took this year.

I’ve also kept in touch with the woman whose family first owned this farm, spent some time with the owners who lived here from 1980-2000, met a woman who lived here from the 1950s-70s (whose dad built the house that we live in), and met a woman who’s lived on the property behind us since 1945.

Growing my understanding of this place is ongoing and deepens my relationship with the farm.

Pond shore

The pond shore has come so far. Having our fire pit set up, being able to get to the water, visiting the waterfall, building our little bridge has made it a lot easier to enjoy this spot–which I already enjoyed quite a lot. I still need decking for our new bridge and to build a better trail to it, but we’re in pretty good shape.

Source: Atlanta Trails

Vegetable garden

The vegetable garden was probably my biggest high at the end of the year. I was able to give it a lot of attention in the fall, and I feel like we’re in such good shape for the growing season ahead. We still have a ways to go–a lot of fixing to do–but we’re building too.

Barn

My plan to add eavestrough to the barn did not happen. I measured, but then I never called any contractors. This task will move to my 2023 list, along with a few other barn projects (which I’m very excited to share in my Home Goals 2023 list).

Living here on this farm is interesting. There’s the house, the barns, the land. I am always building on what’s here, trying to make it better and make it work for our family. My annual home goals help keep me on track and working toward our big vision. I’m really proud of what we accomplished in 2022 and excited to glimpse some of that vision getting closer.

How did 2022 go for you? What was your big home accomplishment last year?

Home Goals 2022 mid-year report

Posted on by

2

We are halfway through 2022, so today I’m looking at this year’s home goals and seeing how I’m doing.

Before writing this post, I felt like I was doing pretty well (spoiler alert: after writing the post I feel the same way). There was a moment in the spring when things felt doable. Then another moment when everything raced ahead–as always happens in spring–and I felt like I’d never catch up.

I’m still not caught up, but I’m comfortable with where we’re at. And in some ways I feel like we’re ahead of the last few years.

Here is some of what we’ve been up to so far in 2022.

Mudroom

The mudroom sees a lot of action everyday as we enter and exit the house. But it has not seen a lot of action on the finish-off-the-reno front. All of the niggly little details are why the One Room Challenge is such a good event. I had five tasks on my mudroom to-do list. I have crossed two of them off–refinishing and hanging a mirror and installing a nightlight cover plate. I have another six months to install the pulls on the dressers, finish the key cabinet and hang art.

Garage landscaping

As I wrote last month, our “big project of the year”–paving the driveway, adding a patio and some steps for the mudroom and living room–is not going to happen this year. Ellie and I have spread topsoil and grass seed all around the garage, so the DIY portion of this project is done. I’m still hunting for contractors with the goal to line up someone before the end of 2022 to finish the driveway and patio next year.

Plan for the worst

I’ve made a bit of progress on preparing for the worst, but not as much as I want to (as I noted at the start of the year, these are not fun tasks). I’ve updated our home insurance and closed extra bank accounts. Still on my to-do list: digitizing important documents, making a household inventory, packing a go bag, updating my will, and making some notes for my executor. The extreme weather we have now, especially the high winds, reinforce how important some of these tasks are.

History

Connecting with the history of this farm is very meaningful, so this goal is one that I really enjoy. I’ve kept in touch with the woman whose family first owned this farm. I’ve also spent some time with the owners who lived here from 1980-2000, and last month met a woman who lived here from the 1950s-70s. I found out the original farmhouse burned around 1974, and her father built the house that we live in.

I’m trying to learn more about the Indigenous people who lived in this area, and work to acknowledge them and honour them in how I care for this land. Growing my understanding of this place is ongoing and deepens my relationship with the farm.

Black and white picture of a two story farmhouse

Pond shore

I made some good progress in the spring clearing more area along the creek and even started a little bridge. The phragmites are doing their best to erase my work, but I’m battling back. I’m also on the hunt for used decking for the surface of our new bridge.

Source: Atlanta Trails

Vegetable garden

In January I wrote, “Hope springs eternal for the vegetable garden.” I still feel that way. Ellie and I planted zucchini, cucumbers, carrots and peas, and they’re all doing well. Ellie ate the first raspberries off our canes over the weekend. We have a loooooong way to go to return the garden to a productive, manageable vegetable garden, but we’re doing better than we’ve done the last few years. So hope continues.

Barn

I’ve not gotten a quote yet for eavestrough on the barn, though this is still my plan for this year. I’m also considering that I may try to start demolishing the old chicken coop (is that phrasing tentative enough?). I really, really want to have birds. If I do some prep this year, perhaps next year when I have machines here for the patio and driveway, they can clear away the last of the rubble. Then I’ll be ready to build the new coop next year. Home goals 2023, here I come?

I am feeling good about what we’ve accomplished so far. We of course have done many more things than are listed here and have more plans for the rest of the year, including some beyond these goals. I’ll be sharing more as we go through the rest of the year.

But for the rest of this month, I’m putting the blog on vacation. I will focusing on enjoying summer–playing with Ellie, spending time with family, and of course working around the farm.

How is 2022 going for you so far? Do you have any home goals? What is your big project for the year?

Garage landscaping update

Posted on by

5

A year ago the south side of the house looked like this.

Now, it looks like this. Not a huge improvement. But we do have doors, lights and a place to sit.

Last year, the garage and mudroom was our big renovation. As I mentioned in my Home Goals post at the start of this year, landscaping around the garage was to be this year’s big project. However, it is not going to happen.

I have had absolutely no luck finding a landscaper. Four different companies came to look at the project. Two companies were not a fit. They do much bigger jobs and their view was much more extravagant than mine. Two other companies took measurements, promised designs and then I never heard from them again.

The upside of all of these meetings is that I have refined my vision of what I want for the side of the house. I want no pergola, no wall, no gable over the mudroom entrance, no built-in seating (thank you companies #1 and #2). I want a natural stone patio from the mudroom door to the edge of the stone wall. The patio will be one step up from the driveway. I want big stone steps leading up to the patio door. I want a simple asphalt driveway.

Initially, I wasn’t sure what I wanted for this spot. I put the benches and coffee table in place as a test to see if we’d use them, and we have (and yes, they’re currently crowding the patio door). We sit here all the time for snacks and even lunch. This side of the house gets lots of sun and is a nice warm (sometimes hot) place to sit. A proper patio with a bit of furniture would be ideal for us.

The size of the patio should give us a comfortable area to go in and out of the house without landing right on the driveway. It should also give us just enough space to squeeze in a comfy lounge seat along with a small dining table. We don’t currently have another place for eating outside.

I’m hoping that knowing what I’m looking for will help me to manage expectations for the next companies that I consult. And I’m hoping that one of them will be willing to take on the project for 2023.

In the meantime, I have resigned myself to plowing a gravel driveway for another winter and made a few upgrades to tide us over.

To fulfill a bit of my wish for natural stone, I added a (relatively) flat rock outside the mudroom to the make the step a little more manageable. I dragged an old mounting block from the barn to the patio door, so that we can actually come out that way if we want to.

Ellie and I also spread the topsoil that Matt’s Dad got for me all around the garage and seeded. Getting the pile of dirt off the driveway felt like progress.

Not as much progress as I was hoping for but some.

What’s your big project for the year at your house? Have you had to put any projects on hold this year? Who else is working on landscaping (big of small)?

Home Goals 2022

Posted on by

2

Last year I returned to annual home goals with some pretty big projects (garage, mudroom, treehouse). It was motivating and fun, and I’m looking forward to more this year (though some lower budget projects, as I’m also rebuilding our savings).

Here is what’s on my list for 2022.

Mudroom

The mudroom ended 2021 as pretty much a blank slate. It had a fresh coat of paint, but no decor and storage was pretty makeshift. Built-ins are still the plan for this room (the ones below would be perfect, thanks), but they’re down the road a little ways. For now, I’m looking for some make-it-work-but-less-makeshift storage and some pretty finishing touches for the room. First up, painting some dressers.

Source: Crisp Architects

Garage landscaping

The garage landscaping will likely be our big project of the year. I’d like to pave the driveway and add a patio and some steps for the mudroom and living room (like the beautiful stone steps below). This project will require some professional help. The DIY portion will be spreading some topsoil and grass seed around the garage. Matt’s Dad bought me a load of topsoil for Christmas, so we’re ready to go as soon as the snow melts.

Source: Renaissance Landscape Group

Plan for the worst

Natural disasters and personal tragedies throw people’s lives into chaos every year. I want to protect Ellie and me and the farm, as much as possible. Some of the things on my list for this year include digitizing important documents, making a household inventory, packing a go bag, updating my will, and streamlining our finances. (This book has tips to address all of these and more.) These are not fun tasks, but I know they will give me peace of mind.

History

It’s been very special to connect with the woman whose family first owned this farm, and I’m looking forward to learning more from her. I’d also like to go farther back in the farm’s history and learn more about the Indigenous people who lived in this area and do more to acknowledge their history. This beautiful book that I received for Christmas has been very inspiring.

Pond shore

The pond shore returns for its annual appearance on this list. This year, I’m hoping to continue to clear the shore toward the creek and finally build a little bridge across.

Vegetable garden

Hope springs eternal for the vegetable garden. Ellie has picked some things she’d like to grow this year, and I’m hoping that interest translates into more time in the garden. I feel like I learned a good lesson last year: the garden–even if I achieve a low maintenance level–needs attention. Fingers are crossed that I give it more of that attention this year.

Source: Charles Dowding

Barn

Our beautiful big barn. I love this barn, and I want to preserve it. There are a few cracks in the foundation and a few leaky spots on back roof. I’ve had some people out to look at the foundation, and their assessment has been that the barn is in pretty good shape. Though they’ve also provided me quotes to restore the foundation, and the estimates are expen$$$$$ive in the extreme. One thing I can do is eavestrough. This will be a relatively inexpensive way help to ensure water runs away and protect the structure.

I am excited by what we have planned for this year, and I’m looking forward to sharing more with all of you.

What are you aiming to do at your house this year? Are you focused inside or out? What would your dream playground have? Any tips for low maintenance gardening? Is there such a thing?

What needs to be done to finish the mudroom and garage

Posted on by

2

As I mentioned in last week’s post, our missing door arrived for the mudroom, our contractor finished the trim and a bunch of other little tasks, we passed our final inspection and our contractors have left the building. Now, the garage and mudroom are my project. Which feels fun.

Mudroom

I always intended to be the one to finish off the mudroom, so I’m excited to get out my paint roller and complete this space. Here’s what’s on my list.

Sand ceiling. The cedar planked ceiling is going to be staying natural. I love the tone. The lumber mill said that as long as the boards don’t receive direct sunlight, they should hold their colour and not turn grey. But some of the boards were marked for their length with chalk. So I had to sand 7s off a couple of boards.

Finish stairs. The risers and nosing on the stairs are wood. It’s a beautiful maple, and it needs to be protected from dirt and footprints. I’d like them to have a similar tone to the cedar ceiling–I’d rather not introduce another colour to the mudroom. Though I am also going to test a grey that will blend with the floor tiles. I feel like the wood is so beautiful that it can be a bit of a feature.

Patch & caulk walls. The V-groove planks were not a true tongue and groove, so our contractors had to face nail the planks in a few (a lot of) places. I’m about halfway through patching all of the holes. I also have to caulk all of the corners and a few joints in the trim.

Paint. There is always so much prep to get to this point. The walls, trim and hookboards are all going to be painted the same colour as the rest of our main floor, Abalone from Benjamin Moore at 75%.

Paint the door. I’m going to make the door a pop of colour both in and out. I’ve chosen a grey-turquoise, and I’m excited to see how it looks.

What’s not happening yet. I am not planning on putting any built-in storage in the mudroom yet. I have an idea of what I want, but we’re going to live with the space for a little while and see what works best for us. I’ll be moving in some dressers, hooks, a bench, mirror and some art to decorate the space a bit and make it functional for now.

Garage

For the garage, there are a couple of things that I didn’t think about at the start of the project (like how much dirt would be dug up from the addition that then needed to be levelled and seeded). These are more the niggly little details that are a little less fun.

Spread top soil & seed. Ellie and I have spread a lot of grass seed already this year. However, we didn’t go right up to the edge of the garage, as work was still in progress. Now that the scaffolding and ladders have gone away, we have to finish it off.

Make a step. The step from the mudroom to the driveway is a bit high. It will eventually be corrected, but a simple step of some kind would be helpful in the meantime. It would also be easier to shovel snow off a patio slab than the gravel.

Restack firewood. Oh the woodpile. It took me two days to move the firewood out of the way for the addition. Now I need to restack it all.

What’s not happening yet. We will not be paving the driveway this year. I want to let the gravel settle for a while first. I also need to figure out a steps-patio-garden solution for the living room patio door, mudroom door and flowerbed around our well. I’ve placed a pair of benches and table there for now to see if I like a little seating area in this spot. I am going to be setting up a workbench and moving some tools from the driveshed to the garage. I’m enjoying thinking about a functional work space in the garage and what projects I’m going to tackle.

We’ve been using the mudroom and garage every day even though they’re not fully finished yet. We’re parking our car in the garage and going in and out through the mudroom. I’m loving having these two spaces, and I’m excited to finish them off.

How do you decide what you leave to professionals and what you take on yourself in a renovation? What finish would you choose for the mudroom stairs? What part of a home project is hardest for you to finish? What DIYs are fun or less fun for you?

We have door

Posted on by

4

I so wish I could say, “We have doors!” in this garage/mudroom update. But all I have to keep it singular. After waiting four months for the doors to arrive, we have to wait a bit more.

Our contractor came with the doors last week. But, the door between the mudroom and garage was wrong. Argh.

It swung the wrong way.

Going all the way back to my initial scribbles, I always had the door swinging into the garage and toward the back wall. Our official blueprints show this configuration. Our contractors and I also discussed the door swings a couple of times.

The door that showed up last week swung into the garage but toward the front. That meant that I’d have to walk around the door every time I wanted to go in or out of the garage.

I’m not willing to compromise, so our contractor scrambled to find a fix.

I’ve been told the right door should arrive this week. However, after a four-month wait for a 6-8 week order, I’m not entirely confident.

On the topic of doors we do have some things to celebrate though.

The garage doors are in (this happened a couple of weeks ago). I’m happy with the simple profile I chose, and best of all, I’m happy with how the colour looks with our board and batten siding. Phew. We are still waiting on the decorative handles and hinges to give them a carriage house look.

The person door that was correct is beautiful. This door leads from the mudroom directly outside. I chose to have a big window in this door, and I’m so glad that I did. The view through the glass and the light coming into the mudroom is better than I hoped.

I’m thinking it’s going to even more lovely once it’s a deep smokey blue-green.

The other high point of the week is that the contractor finished all of the trim in the mudroom (aside from the casing for the missing door).

I chose to use the same baseboard that we used in the basement. Ultimately, I’d like to change all of the baseboards upstairs to this trim.

Rather than going with the matching profile for the door casing, I decided to use a simple flat stock instead. With the panelled walls, I felt like trim would be too busy for me–even though the basement casing is very simple. I asked for a butt joint with a little overhang on the top piece, which appears a bit rustic to me.

Some more flatstock finished off the top of the walls where they meet the cedar plank ceiling.

The room is looking so much more finished. Just ignore the sheet of plywood over the one doorway.

What reno mix-ups have you experienced? Anyone else enjoy the power of trim? Who else is a fan of windows in doors?