Waterlude

Do you suppose Mother Nature knows we're from Ottawa?

Winterlude begins in 12 days and in true Ottawa fashion, the weather has warmed up and everything is melting, including Eric's glorious backyard rink. Today is foggy and wet and gross. I've even heard reports of people having bulbs poking up in their gardens. *boggle*

I'm very ready for spring to arrive though. Only four more months until we can get into the cottage.

Fridge and shopping

The Captain o'cheap picked up the free fridge last night with the help of our ever-helpful friend Drew. I think we're teetering on the brink of being labelled "soul-sucking moochers" by him and Nicole though.

Turns out the fridge is in better condition than I had feared. The lady who was getting rid of it got a newer fridge from her parents as they had just upgraded their own fridge. It's a darned-sight better than what we had. Don't believe me? Here, check this out:

Ya, ok.. I probably didn't need to make a little scrapbook page for ugly fridge comparisons, but it was an easy way to present the side by side photos, and the paper is just cute. SUE ME. (Shabby Princess paper). As always, click to view close up.

Seriously. It was FREE. Shop around, you can't beat that kinda price. Currently we're storing the fridge in the garage. The captain says to me, "I'd still like to plug it in to make sure that it works." To which I responded "It's -2 out. How will you know if it's working? When it warms up the air to +4?"

In addition to scoring us a sweeter, newer fridge (I guess we need to start thinking about acquiring a white range, too, hmmm) we went to Lowe's today and bought the place out.

We picked up:
-primer
-brushes
-rollers
-masking tape
-tiles
-tile edging
-mortar
-grout
-mortar trowel
-caulk
-tile spacers
-pressure tank
-work gloves
-utility knives
-deck screws
-shop towels
-smoke alarms
-floor scraper

Oh, and a jug of spit, but that's not for the cottage.

It looks a little something... like this:

 

Still to get:
-cement backerboard (it was too big/heavy to acquire this trip)
-tape for said board
-tile nippers (the ones at Lowe's were pricier than what I've seen at the Despot
-I guess more tiles for the shower floor since we opted not to get the moulded floor.
-paint

Dumpster diving

There's a fine line to be tread between "thrifty" and dumpster diving.

Yesterday a neighbour down the street put out a nice rectangular table (with leaves) and gorgeous press-back chairs. Clearly, they had taken leave of their senses. By the time I plucked up the courage to investigate further, the items were gone.

Last weekend I hit up Value Village and spotted kitchen dishes galore - even bed linens - but how icky is that?

Today I am contemplating a fridge offered up for free on Kijiji. It's at least white, but some of the drawers are broken and I have no idea what condition it's in or how old it is.

The question, however, becomes: "How much does free cost?" If we have to factor in replacing the busted drawers and/or the increased costs of powering the presumably-ancient-and-not-energy-star-compliant behemoth, am I really saving much money on a fridge?

*puzzle*

I'm also starting to wonder if a wee bar fridge wouldn't suffice for our weekend escapades. It would take up a lot less space in the already cramped kitchen, but am I just cheaping out? Caro sposo is the cheapest of the cheap, and wouldn't think twice about jumping at the "free" option.

There's definitely a fine line between thrifty and dumpster-diving, and I'm trying hard not to teeter to the creepy side.

Fabric update

I visited Fabricland yesterday. I had hoped to pick up all of the fabric I needed, buy-one-get-two-free. Alas, that deal was only available on select fabrics and of course the ones I wanted were not on sale.

I still had the "Save 50% off up to 10 m of regular priced fabrics" coupon from mom (thanks mom!) which, when combined with Drew's Premiere member card (thanks Drew!) managed to save me $136 before tax.

I decided to just buy the fabrics for the main room curtains, kitchen roman blind, kitchen chairs, and couch toss cushions. Since I'm leaning towards a neutral covering on the sofa, I'm confident I'll be able to find a suitable fabric later on. I was less sure that I'd be able to find these patterns later. I'm also planning to pick up the drapery lining, shirring tape, and rods/hooks etc. later on, since that stuff is always available (and 50% off with Drew's magic card. Really, I should just get my own.)

Any rate, without further a-do, here's what the fabrics look like (larger this time, so you get a better idea). I've also got the paint fan open to the colours I'm considering for the cupboards (Piedmont gray, top of the blue chit) and the walls (sandpiper beige - fourth from the top of the beige chit). I'm still waffling about possibly putting the Piedmont gray on the walls. I dunno. *waffle waffle*

Cast your vote about Piedmont Gray below.

If you like Piedmont Gray, pick "Yay!". If you don't like Piedmont Gray, but prefer Sandpiper Beige, pick "Boo!".

[as always, click on the photo for a close up]

Ha!

So, I said I was going to sleep on the colours last night. Funny thing about that. While lying down it bed and fretting about the colours I had chosen, I happened to glance over at my stack of unread magazines and spotted my latest edition of Style-At-Home. (I love this magazine - you should get it.)

Splashed across the cover it says, "What's hot now! Best Colour Combos" so I thought to myself: "Hmm, maybe this will set me in the right direction". So I flipped to page 41 and I saw this:

Well, damn! My colour instincts are good! The cuckoo stripey fabric is fresh, not dated. Now to figure out how many meters I need and make a trip back to Fabricland.

Oh, and now that I'm viewing the fabric samples in daylight, I'm amending the colours slightly. The solid brown is CC514 - hiking trail, the background of the patterned fabrics is CC-368 - sandpiper beige (candidate for wall colour), the dark turquoise is polar jade, the lighter blue-grey is piedmont grey, the dark green is 2145-10 - avocado, and the light green is very close to 2149-20 g.i. green, but it a titch lighter.

Ya see? I just needed to sleep on it.

Inching toward a decision

Boy. If all my shopping excursions are this productive, we ought to have the cottage finished in 2019, sharp.

*sigh*

I went to Fabricland with Mom (thanks Mom!) and trolled through their drapery and upholstery section. I had it in mind that I wanted a cornflower blue and butter yellow pattern, leaning a bit towards french country as an overall design style. Maybe more country than french, but without the roosters and stars.

I ended up with this:

Seriously? I don't even like green!!

For those of you playing along with a Benjamin Moore paint fan in your hands (because don't we all have paint fans in our hands while working on the computer? Yes!)... I'd say the cocoa coloured fabric is pretty close to CC-486 "tiramisu". I'm liking this colour to put on the sofa right now. Possibly with piping in the ivory barely visible below the stripes. OC-4 "brandy cream"). It's a heavy canvas-style fabric. 

The dotted pattern at the bottom is not very representative of the overall patterned fabric. The dots are actually large flowers, in a turquoise-y blue-green (CC-754 polar jade) and the same brown as the solid. I'm liking this one for toss cushions and drapes on the big picture window.

The striped fabric co-ordinates with the dotty flowery business. It doesn't look like they match, but they do; the dots match the lighter bluish stripe. The darkest (thin) stripe is a navy blue, the wide dark stripe is the polar jade, the light blue strip is a frustrating greeny bluey gray (CC-690 "piedmont gray")
the snarfy light green is 2148-20 (thyme) and the dark green is 2142-30 (mountain moss).

The problem with the stripe, arguably the loudest of the fabric patterns, is that I can't decide if the colours feel fresh or 70's-ish! They give you such a skimpy sample when you request it, it's hard to judge the fabric when you get home. BAH. The striped fabric would be used for roman shades, accent pillows. Small. Doses.

Here's a photoshopped fabric sample. What do you think? Fresh or retro?

The good thing about this colour scheme (if I go with it) is that the couch and walls would be very neutral colours, and the cuckoo patterns would be on small curtains and toss cushions. If I decided that I hated it 5 years down the road, it would be a small investment in time and money to change it up with something new.

Oh, and for the record, I haven't bought any of the fabric yet. I need to sleep on it.

Wish I had more

I wish I had more to report but with ice on the lake there's not a lot going on at/for the cottage. I can't even lurk on my ice-fishing BBS because it's down for maintenance. Boo.

I have a lengthy cottage to-do list, however, and much of it involves shopping. Best of all, I'm shopping to a deadline! (Whee!)

Note: this is not me. Duh.

First up, the Home Renovation Tax Credit Thinger Dinger runs out at the end of January. I need to stock up on as many of our building materials as I can before that date to ensure we maximize our tax credit. Primarily this will be: wood screws, shower fixin's (tile, grout, mastic, comb, concrete backer board, membrane, tile spacers, shower floor), primer, paint, ladder, paint tray, rollers, drop sheets, masking tape, latex caulk, smoke detectors, and a tank for the water pump. (phewph!) And maybe some ceiling tiles, if they're not that expensive. Must investigate.

After that whirlwind of money-blowing activity, I need to head to Fabricland. There's a sale on drapery fabric until the end of January: Buy one meter, get two free. I have a sneaking feeling this doesn't apply to the Oshawa or Whitby stores, so I need to research before I head out the door. I'm planning to buy fabric to reupholster the couch and chair that have been living in our garage these last 5 years, and to make curtains/roman shades for many of the cottage windows. I'm also going to see if I can wangle a deal on some 120" raw muslin (or at least see if I can order it through them) to use for photography backdrops. Yes yes.. that has nothing to do with the cottage. I'm multi-tasking!

I'm excited about the fabric shopping. Once I have my fabrics I'll be able to pick out paint colours for the walls, and then I'll be able to start trolling for decorating accessories to co-ordinate. Good times!

I think my credit card is starting to smoke already.

Dishwasher is a four-letter word

At least, at my house it is!

He spent two solid days pounding his head against the vent pipe problem before The Captain called in reinforcements.

After a few trips to the Despot (they must just love seeing us walk through the door) for supplies and some quality time with a reciprocating saw - really, all time with a reciprocating saw is quality time - we've got a dishwasher that now fits into its intended opening.

To effect this improvement, the following modifications were required:
- strip the latex caulk from the cabinet
- remove the cabinet side panel
- cut bigger hole into drywall
- start to cut into vent pipe only to discover it contains water. Scramble with dishcloths and small tubs to contain the mess.
- drain "dry" pipe
- cut vent pipe to remove it. (hooray for Drew's reciprocating saw)
- size, cut, file and glue new pipe/elbows and install
- shove dishwasher back in and clap gleefully when it fits properly
- tackle the kinked copper feed problem by replacing section with braided hose
- put teflon tape on compression fitting and tighten
- swear at leaky compression fitting that is dribbling everywhere
- remove teflon tape, re-cut copper feed and reinstall compression fitting sans tape
- clap hands gleefully when dribble disappears
- screw everything back in place and ready to wash dishes for the first time in over a week

(I've been doing handwashing in the meantime. I'm piggy, but I'm not that bad!)

I am so grateful for Drew's help, suggestions, and house-hacking courage, and the Captain's perseverance to get this confounded job done.

THANK YOU!

Happy New Year!

The first blog post of 2010. Oooooo.

It's been a frustrating day at the casa. The danged dishwasher still won't fit into the cabinet opening. The genius builder ran the vent stack for the kitchen sink behind the dishwasher (in the dishwasher enclosure). I don't know how the previous washer was able to fit, but we just can't seem to shove the new one back far enough. After managing to put a kink in the copper pipe today, I thought Eric was going to burst a vessel in his head, so the dishwasher installation has been put on hiatus and I'm continuing to sport my very attractive yellow latex gloves for the handwashing. Grandma was on to something with those gloves: you can jam your hands into wildly hot water with little-to-no ill effects. I'm a rubber-glove convert.

Anywho, cottage news.

We went to the Despot (a.k.a Home Depot) to order our floor yesterday, but when we got there, they had tonnes in stock, so we pretty well cleaned them out and brought it all home with us!

It's heavy. I'm surprised the CRV wasn't popping wheelies down the road from the weight in the back. With everyone's help (see last post) our price per square foot was a paltry $1.00. Cha. Ching.

Here's another view:

One step closer to making the cottage look lurvly. The flooring style is called "rustic oak" and I think it's got just the right character for the place. If not, we have a very expensive anchor for the non-existent boat?