Crown Moulding

We took Grant's advice on the crown moulding so we had to repaint some of the wall, decide on the moulding, measure, mark, level, cut...
What was difficult was getting the angles cut just right since the ceiling wasn't at a 45 degree angle.


But once that was finally done, we were able to nail up the moulding. The detail really makes a difference along with lowering the high 12' ceiling.

Before:

After:Before:

After:

Interior Design Consult

While Jay and I do have some good ideas about design (we like to think so anyway), we decided to call on an expert who just happens to be a good friend of ours. If you'd like a peek into what the design planning process has been like, watch our discussion on where to place the crown moulding:

'The Reading Nook'

The favourite place to be is near what we call "The Reading Nook" which has a nice area to sit and look out the window near the heater (nice on a cold snowy day). It wasn't much before:

So we decided to panel the back and cut shelves to fit. We got some basic cottage country (read: cheap) panels, primed them and cut them. Without a proper table saw, this presented a challenge:



With some fancy custom cuts by Jay for the outlets, we glued and nailed them up, painted, got the shelves up and started filling them out (we're currently accepting donations of old, classic hardcovers - we won't read them; it's all about appearances).

Before:After:

Before:

After:

Why the Home Depot Paint Department Hates Me

While jay was busy sanding the ceiling, I wanted to paint over the pink walls in the bedroom. We really liked our friend, Grant's colours so he gave me the names - Classic Ivory and Traditional Tan - and I went to Home Depot.

Now, the only problem with the brand new Home Depot in Huntsville is that it's employed with brand new people who know less about what they're selling than we do. Our detailed questions didn't help. And now I'm sure the paint department has a picture of me behind the desk saying "Avoid this #$@% Torontonian".

The new paint woman looked a little scared when I handed her the paint names I wanted and told her that she should be able to retrieve them from the master palette in her computer. She looked at me as if to say, "We have a computer?". I'm sure she sighed with relief when I suggested the colours might be Benjamin Moore. More than happy to get rid of me, she gave me directions and I go to Benjamin Moore. Although, by this time, it was nearly whiteout conditions so I was a little tense. The Benny Moore woman looked in their computer and tells me the colours are Home Depot. So back to Home Depot I went.

The paint woman, delighted to see me again, called for some assistance and the colours were eventually found in their computer. But without samples or paint chips, I didn't want to order anything without seeing it first. So they generously mixed up 2 gallons of paint and said if I didn't like them, I wouldn't have to pay for them. The traditional tan looked like mint green and the classic ivory looked beige. They said they were from an older collection. So then I grab a hundred paint chips from the display, go home and Jay and I pick new colours for the bedroom and main living area. What should have taken 15 minutes took 3 hours, but I finally got around to painting that day and I think it turned out well. Camel back for the bedroom:

And Mushroom Cap for the rest:
Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:
It's amazing what just a little paint can do. Of course, after a consult with Grant, our designer friend, we ended up having to repaint some of it, but that's another story...

And, regardless of not knowing everything about their store, I really can't say enough good things about the Home Depot people. So friendly, so courteous - I think more Huntsville employees shook my hand than Toronto employees have even bothered to make eye contact with me.

Removing stipple off the ceiling

The goal is to get the place on the rental program asap, so we'll probably leave some work until later on. We may flip it in the high season if we can get a good enough price.

The first thing we needed to do was get the popcorn stipple ceiling off. It was only after we did this project that we saw one of those reno shows where they suggested to only use a professional to do this. Now I know why.

It's actually not that bad once you get the hang of it. The biggest problem is the mess - it's basically raining mud. But there are several steps to this so if anyone reading this is going to tackle this on your own, be prepared for a major time investment.

Step 1: Wet and scrape the ceiling


Step 2: Sand with a vacuum sander

Step 3: Patch and re-sand

Step 4: Clean ceiling

Step 5: Prime

Step 6: Paint
Step 7: This step is only done if you didn't do a good enough job of removing the stipple in the first place, in which case, after you paint, you'll notice spots bubbling up as the remaining stipple gets wet so you have to re-sand, re-patch, and re-paint. Re-diculous!

And did I mention the mess?

1st viewing

Here's our 750 sq ft vacation condo. It's the first day we went up after taking possession so we wanted to do a walkthrough before we started tearing the place apart. We spent the first few days just wondering what we were going to do. If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment.



And here's a pic from the outside. The top floor is ours and that window is the bedroom:

This is the view from the living room.

Here's a summer and autumn view from a friend's who has a similar place in another section of the resort.