Our Reno: Pits and Pit Falls

 

I posted a Status Update on my Facebook page last night, it said “lots of true colours coming out now that the reno is in full swing. Sometimes makes me wish we just moved.” A friend replied “time to update the blog so we can live through it with you.” Which was good advice (thanks ATM).

So here’s what went down. The day day started off beautifully, everyone up and at it before 8 am, and we made amazing progress all day long. Finally we are seeing some major changes instead of the endless prep work that’s so necessary. We had our ‘pit’ dug out by my guys and their diggers in preparation for the foundation, supports made, inspectors called, the works. Hard hard work. I rewarded them with some great pasta and lots of encouragement.

But just when you think all is going well, the neighbours start poking around. Neighbours we’ve never had any problems with, neighbours we’ve always had problems with, and everyone in between.

Backing up, we are PERMITTED to the nines. Part of the endless prep was meetings upon meetings with our architect and city planning departments. Plus site visits and drawings to get it all perfect. We know the setbacks required by the city, we know the building areas allowable, we know everything and stayed well within the “rules” so that we wouldn’t bug any neighbours and could Fast Track the permit. To show for it,  we have our little square permit in our window so all can see that we aren’t trying to hide anything. It’s a room people.

I knew that I needed a permit not only because of city requirments,  because of this: Reno’s make people crazy!! Not just homeowners but neighbours. Friendships can be ruined by them, people move because of them, and on and on. I think it’s very weird only because I have a real fondness for home improvements. I believe they increase the value of not only ones property, but those around them too. It shows you care about your home and think it’s worth making a bit better. I have never ever faulted anyone for building onto their home, unless it’s totally infringing on someone elses property.

And so it goes that last night one of our neighbours got a bit too aggressive and called the old “friend who’s a contractor who told me blah blah blah” and tried to shut us down. But it didn’t work, and it was handled beautifully by my little team. But lets just say it’s going to put a strain on the neighbourly relations.

Because of what I do for a living, I am temped to move all the time. Just the other day I saw a great house with a fab pool in the background and not 1 but 2 sheds for my husband and I thought WOW, I would have totally bought this sucker. But no, I’m renoing!

Good fences make good neighbours. Our new fences are next on the list. -EN

Wordless Wednesday: summer sizzle

Food porn

I heart this bathroom vanity…any good conversion sites out there?

One of the things I am most excited about the reno is building the new powder room. I have been living with the smallest, ugliest and least-functional powder room for about 4 years now. The new one will remain small, but small is fine with me as long as there are pretty fixtures and a functional flow. I found reclaimed 8 foot tall french doors for the entryway into the powder room, and now I am working out the rest of the details. One idea I’ve been toying with is coverting a piece of furniture for the vanity. It’s not a new idea, but it’s new to me. I have a nice oak desk that will probably work, and I’ve sourced a great square sink (the Wading Pool) and tap (the Purist) from Kohler. Now I just need to find a good website on how to make it all fit together. Anyone out there have any ideas for me? -EN

Bathing Beauty: Noteworthy Canadian Company, WETSTYLE

I am currently working a big kitchen feature for International Architecture & Design magazine, and part of the fun of researching it is the new, beautiful things I happen upon along the way.

Such is the case for WETSTYLE — an absolutley knock-your-socks-off stunning bathroom fixture design company that’s also Canadian to boot. Love that.

I can’t say enough about their zen/organic/simple designs that are way above and beyond the average big-box selection, and will add a huge WOW factor in the bathroom, hands down. The OVE design (above) is inspired by Japanese bathing rituals and the Cube (below) comes in 10 different models, all based on parallelpiped shapes. They also have new shapes and designs coming out shortly that I was lucky enough to preview, but you’ll have to wait to see it online. It’s soon-to-be launched and worth the wait.

Check it out at www.wetstyle.ca

-EN

Get ready for the fall market!

The brief slow-down in the Toronto real estate market is over.  For the last few months the market has been very active, with many homes selling quickly, sometimes in competition.  Despite the fact that summer is typically a relatively slow time of year, the pace has kept up.  Now that we’re approaching September – and the ‘fall market’ – I thought that I’d take a minute to help you all get prepared.

August is often a time for vacations, last minute cottage get-aways, family outings and (of course) the Ex!  House-shopping gets pushed down the list, and house selling will often be put off ‘til after Labour Day.  That creates a bit of seasonal built-up demand, which tends to fuel a hectic fall season.  Given the way that things have gone this year – and the number of calls we’re getting for listing appointments – it looks like this fall is shaping up to be an extremely busy time.  There are going to be plenty of new listings hitting the market, and buyers are going to have to be ready for them.

It is once again very much a seller’s market.  We’re expecting to see lots of competition, which means that buyers are going to have their work cut out for them.  Things move very quickly in competitive situations.  It’s usually a week or less from the time a house hits the market ‘til it’s sold.  If you are a buyer, that means that you have to get out to see interesting listings ASAP; then, you have to be ready to make an offer – your mortgage pre-approval has to be in place, your deposit money should be readily accessible (in 24hrs or less), and you should be prepared to spend a few hours at a house doing a pre-home inspection – before offer day – so that you don’t have to make your offer conditional.  Basically, you have to get your ducks all lined up so that you can make a great offer and get that house!

Of course, it’s not a walk in the park for sellers, either.  It is very important that your home show the absolute best it can – cleaned, painted, repaired, whatever it needs – because that’s what other sellers are doing.  Team DeClute can help you get ready by providing you with a complimentary consultation with our stager.  Don’t forget to clean and prepare your yard, too.  There are a lot of people out there who appreciate a nice garden, and we want them to fall in love with your garden!  Once your house looks its best, we’ll put our marketing machine to work and get the word out to as many buyers as we can!

Interest rates are still extremely attractive, and with the economic recovery taking shape it looks like the shine is back on Toronto real estate as a fantastic investment.  Timing-wise, you can’t ask for a better time to buy – and that includes you ‘move-up’  buyers.  Call us today and let’s get started!  -SM

Dairy-free pumpkin loaf

My youngest son is allergic to a number of common foods, including milk (and milk products), eggs, tree nuts and bananas. As a result, we have had to modify many recipes, for example cakes, pancakes, and various breads/loafs. One of our favourites – and one of my son’s favourites – is pumpkin loaf. I’d been making it for a number of years before we learned about his allergy, and I was determined to make it work for him.

As it turned out, a couple of very slight adjustments were very easily made, and the resulting loaf is as good as the original. For a while we used an egg substitute (a combination of powder ingredients that came in a box), but found that it changed the flavour a bit. Then one day we discovered that simple corn starch (1 tbsp + 1 tbsp of liquid per egg) did the trick. Instead of cow’s milk we use rice milk or soy milk. You can probably use other alternative drinks just as easily.

Here’s the basic recipe; I’m sure that you could find many variations on the theme – we just happen to use this one.  By the way, for more great dairy-free recipes, check out FamilyNature.ca.

Dry (whisk together)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 tbsp corn starch

1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp ground cloves

Wet 1 (mix well)

6 tbsp canola/corn/vegetable oil

1 1/3 cups sugar (I like to use brown sugar, just for fun)

2 tbsp rice milk or alternative

1 cup pumpkin puree

Wet 2 (add to Wet 1, alternating with dry ingredients)

1/3 cup rice milk or alternative

½ tsp vanilla

Beat or stir combined ingredients on low speed until well mixed; pour into a 9in x 5in loaf pan and place in a pre-heated, 350F oven for about 1 hour; check with a toothpick, just to be sure! Cool in the pan, on a rack for a few minutes, then remove and allow it to cool on the rack completely. Enjoy! -SM

Here's my boy, eagerly awaiting the first piece!

Our Reno: The storm before the calm

Ahh. My backyard. Wasn’t it nice? Not fancy or anything, but nice, lush — some great plants, trees, grass and places to sit around and have a drink or two. Lots of fun for the kiddies to play in the sprinker or just run around. So now — wait for it — take a look:

Yuck! This is our stage of renovation, the UGLY stage. That crappy back sunroom is being stripped back and torn down, the lawn is littered with items that were in our shed, which was also torn down. There are nails and debris everywhere, and it’s just an unsightly mess. It’s the storm before the calm. It will probably get worse, and I’ll take snaps to show it all off. But if ever you think your backyard looks rough, just think back to these shots and maybe things will look up. -EN

Room of the Week: (and) A Design Lesson Too!

The truth is, sometimes I pull shots and I don’t even know why I pulled them except for the obvious: they are pretty.

This is one of those shots. The slouchy but sophisticated grey linen sofa is pretty dreamy, as is the painted wood floor, matching pair of lamps and overall set-up of what I guess to be a livingroom.

However, upon closer inspection, I noticed something else that is an important lesson to us all: See how the sofa is pulled forward to allow for a table behind, arranged with books, the lamps and some fresh flowers? This is both great furniture placement and effective layering.  It’s what makes a room have depth, added character and a richness that is lacking when tables, sofas, desks and chairs are pushed right up on the wall and a big space in the middle is left over for (often) no apparent reason. The other thing is that when you pull furniture forward it visually enlarges a space, not the opposite. Filling in the room will not make it look small, I promise!

So take a look around. Is everything up against the wall? Pull it in — but don’t forget to bend with your knees. -EN

The Wife Effect: Getting the job done

I am on vacation this week, but I can’t really get away from work. Clients are calling, appointments are being made and forwarded to my partner Simon to help out with, and people are always discussing real estate no matter where I go.

And of course I get sucked in because it’s always a great topic of conversation.

It happened again yesterday while lunching at the chichic ski club my sister belongs to with another couple and a huge hoard of chidren. My sister’s friend was telling me about her property up north and how lovely it is, and how it might make for a good scout for one of the magazines I occasionally write or style for. She was telling me about a pair of glass doors that were installed that day and some mishaps that went along while her husband was in charge, and then somehow the talk turned to what the husbands have been doing to *help* around the house lately. That’s when things went off the rails a little.

The husbands got defensive, the wives got defensive, the kids just ate their chicken fingers and pondered their next dip in the pool.

My husband was staying out of it for the most part, then decided to enlighten us with his findings on what works when helping out around the house. He called it The Wife Effect.

Perfect blog. So sit back and listen to this just like I did yesterday (in pure amazement).

J, my husband, told the gang about the many many things he’s done around the house. From big jobs such as drywalling and laying flooring, to smaller ones like scrubbing the sink or countertops. He’s done it all. But it came down to this finding:  The amount of effort you put into a job doesn’t necessarily get you the most points from your wife. Sometimes it’s the low-effort things that gleen the most rewards. For instance, he explained, a day of drywall vs. a few hours of trim work. The trim work is way less labour intensive and won’t take you a day but the finished look will get the best payback and praise from your wife. Same thing with scrubbing the whole floor or clearing a slightly messy countertop. Floor = labour intensive vs. counter =  not labour intensive. He feels that the tidy counter will get the most recognition and happiness from wives. He went on a bit more but finished with this statement, “The irony of the wife effect is not about getting the job done, it’s about making it look like progress has occured.”

Honestly the whole table was mesmorized. I think the men were really getting it and the women were loving it. I didn’t really know what to say. Should I feel dupped or proud?

The Wife Effect. I really didn’t know he had it in him. -EN

July sales up 28%, prices up 6%

As has been the case for several months now, the Toronto real estate market is extremely busy – or ‘hot’, as we like to say!  ;)  Summer is usually a relatively slow time, but not this year.  Toronto Real Estate Board has just reported record-breaking July sales of 9,967 units sold.  On a volume basis, that’s an increase of 28% over July 2008.  Also, the year-over-year price for the month of July was up 6% (to $395,414).  And it’s not just re-sales; building permit were also up, a good sign that the economy continues to improve.  For more details, here’s a good Toronto Star article that sums up the real estate market quite nicely.

I think that the key issue is that the market is struggling with a lack of supply, as it has been for some time now.  That’s why we’re seeing ‘bidding wars’ and corresponding price hikes in neighbourhoods across the city.  The supply issue will be addressed somewhat during the busy fall season, when we typically see a surge in the number of listings.  However, with more supply comes more buyers – that’s always the case in the spring and fall!  Also, the banks seem to be trying to push up mortgage rates, and that usually knocks buyers off the fence, so expect it to remain a seller’s market.  From the look and feel of it, we’re in for a blazing fall market.

If you are in the market, call us right away when you spot an interesting listing (we’ll do the same!) and we’ll book an appointment to show it to you ASAP.  Make sure that you have a mortgage pre-approval in place, and your deposit money ready to hand over with your offer.  As always, we recommend a home inspection prior to making a firm offer.  If we’re anticipating competition, you can do that before we present your offer.  It’s a very competitive market, so give it your best shot by hiring Team DeClute to represent you.    -SM