'Ooooooo' Part 2...

So the foundation work is done, and we're very pleased. It has already made a tremendous difference in the interior atmosphere, ie. it's not so bloody damp and cold in here. We were washing our bath towels every couple of days cuz they simply wouldn't dry in the bathroom. We'd leave the exhaust fan running and the door open and nada. I think a lot of my complaining about the weather had to do with the dampness in here too. I had the heat on until they enclosed the foundation and then bam, it was waaaay too damn hot in here! So off it went, and I'm very glad.

Speaking of heat, we FINALLY got our new oil tank.
This has been a bit of an odyssey, let me tell you. We got the name of a guy (people always give you names of guys when you buy a house apparently) who could replace it for a supposedly decent price. He came to have a look and said he'd call back with an estimate, which of course never happened. So we called guy number two, a heating and plumbing guy we'd had out to the house originally to do some estimates on a bunch of work. He said no problem, he'd be here in a few days. That was over a month ago. We had to get this tank replaced as a condition of our insurance, and they gave us 30 days from the time we took posession. We were already over that by a bit. Finally we caved and called a big fuel company here to come and do it. Lets call the phone call day one...by day three we had a new oil tank. There's something to be said for big industry over the little guy sometimes. Lord knows we gave the little guy a chance. I know, the tank isn't much to look at. Not a very sexy improvement to the house, but it's kind of a big deal to us. Perhaps because it took so long to happen.

Along with all of this other excitement, the kitchen flooring showed up. Yea! This is one of those jobs that starts to make the places feel as though it's really coming together, and not a giant gaping pit that swallows time and money, leaving you dirty and exhausted and wondering if this was all just a humongous mistake. Not that I've had moments like that mind you. No, not at all.

For our flooring, we chose cork. We liked that it was a little different, not hardwood, not ceramic. There are all kinds of choices in terms of colour etc., or so we found out after a little research. Our finish is called champagne and never in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined being this excited about a) cork or b) flooring.


Here's my handyman making the first cut on the first tile. And here is the very first tile in place, around what will be the toilet in the downstairs bathroom/utility room.

So a little story about cork. It is harvested off of trees in central or south America, don't remember which. Nine years after harvesting a batch, you can go back to the same tree and get another batch, which makes cork eco-friendly, as it's very renewable. It's warm and easy on the feet and also provides a bit of sound buffering, if that's a consideration in the room you're thinking of installing it in. So far, I love how it feels when walking or standing on it. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and this can only be made that much more pleasent by a great floor. My other choice would have been ceramic, but as the kitchen gets a lot of natural light, I thought a hard stone would have been a little cold in both look and feel. I wanted something a little warmer, but not hardwood as we weren't going to carry that on through the rest of the house. In any event, I think we made a good choice. We're very happy with it at any rate.


Many tiles later. This is a click floor system, which makes installation pretty straightforward. The tiles just click together, although to get invisible seams, sometimes they need a little coaching (or tapping).


So easy in fact that I got in on the action. Like my overalls? If you were to stop by on just about an given day around here, this is what I would be wearing. So hot.


Here's a close up of the tile to give you an idea of the effect. And here is the finished floor! Ain't it nice?

Now the green countertop has got...to...go. It's ruining everything. The whole point was to tie the blue of the walls and the yellow of the cupboards into the hues in the floor. The counter is going to anchor it all and make it kind of pop. At least that's what I'm hoping. In my own little wayward design scheme, it's all going to work. Let's hope so anyway.

In any case, you're all caught up now. I've also been attempting to knit, but it's going rather slowly. It's all gift knitting anyway, so I can't show you until after the fact.

Gotta go get my overalls on...lots more to do.
Until later...

PS: A mighty big thank you to Chicken Betty for helping me figure out how to nicely format these picture heavy posts! Also a big shout out to the concrete dudes, who, even though they don't read my blog or know that I have one, did an excellent job in only one week. You guys rule, and I'm glad you liked the coffee.