Meanwhile in winter wonderland…

Montreal’s been buried under a record amount of snow over the last week, and while we would have loved to head down south for a little R&R, this turned out to be the perfect week for a staycation. We’ve made some headway in the bathroom – the walls have been sanded, primed, and painted.

Bathroom Walls, painted

Only the exposed walls were painted. The ones left as-is will be entirely covered by tiles.

Bathroom Wall, Painted 2

The photos don’t really give the paint color justice, but the walls are a soft minty green color. Dewdrop by Benjamin Moore. The ceiling is Mountain Peak White by Benjamin Moore.

We’ve also installed the light fixtures, and now need to start tiling the floor, shower and bathtub areas. We’ve decided to preserve our energy and outsource the tiling job to a pro. We found a guy who’s not only affordable but also does excellent work. The downside is that…ermmmm…. he didn’t show up 2 days in a row as planned (supposedly due to the snowstorm). I had been warned in advance that he’s not 100% reliable, but given that he’s good at what he does, we’ve agreed to give him the benefit of the doubt and keep busy by starting the dining room renovation.

Dining Room, Before 1

Goodbye two-toned dining room with useless half walls!

Yesterday and this morning, I removed all of the original moldings, while Adam knocked down the ceiling and outdated half-walls separating the dining room from the living room. The plan is to leave some sort of separation between the two rooms, to allow for a different paint color in each room. I think I’m gonna go for dark and dramatic in the dining room, while keeping the living room light and airy.  The reason for removing the ceiling is a) to get rid of the 70s popcorn look, and b) to add strapping so that electrical wires can be easily fished through the ceiling to install potlights.

Dining Room, Moldings removed

Dining Room, sealed off

We completely sealed the entry to the kitchen to minimize dust in other rooms. The big NO sign is for Adam.

Adam, removing ceiling drywall

Clean up time

The carnage

Sadly, I must return to work tomorrow, but Adam’s still off for the rest of the week. His goal: add wood strapping to ceiling, prep electrical for pot-lights and hopefully also install new drywall. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to get started with plastering by the time the weekend rolls around.

So that’s where we’re at. Oh, and I’ve been working on the nursery layout too – stay tuned for updates!

Ciao for now.

Anthropologie: Here, At Last

My life is now complete.  Anthropologie has finally made its way to Montreal.  Rumors of a store opening in my hometown began over a year ago, but nothing materialized until this past Friday.

Mel: Adam, do you realize how much money we’re going to save now?

Adam, admittedly confused: How do you figure?

Mel: Well, now that Anthropologie has opened here, we won’t have to travel to Toronto or New York to shop!  Think of all the money you’re going to save on gas, hotels, and food!

Twisted logic?  Who cares!  ANTHROPOLOGIE IS HEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!!

Have any of you visited the store yet??

New and notable finds:

Large White Oak Cutting Board

Large White Oak Cutting Board

Tufted Gingko Rug

Tufted Gingko Rug

Sliced Teak Mirror

Sliced Teak Mirror

Crank Span Dining Table

Crank Span Dining Table

Drawing Study Chair

Drawing Study Chair

Kilim Rose Bench

Kilim Rose Bench

Split-A-Wish Jewelry Holder

Split-A-Wish Jewelry Holder

Prime Time

Hellooo there,
Lots of things brewing at velvet toolbox these days. Shopping for the bathroom fixtures and accessories, painting the family room and entrance, AND working on the bathroom. Adam and I decided to divide and conquer to speed things up – he’s handling the entire bathroom reno, while I take care of the finishing work downstairs and ALL the shopping (can you tell who got the better end of the deal? :) )

The 2 rooms are primed, baby! I’ll be starting to paint today – yeehaw!

Family Room, Primed Walls

Front Entrance, Primed Walls

Front Entrance, Primed Walls 2

Coming up: bathroom and shopping updates!

Busy worker bees

This is what we’ve been up to for the last few weekends:

Front Entrance popcorn ceiling removal

GOODBYE 70s popcorn ceiling. You will NOT be missed. Yes, the ceiling was perfectly fine, but I couldn’t look at stuccoed walls any longer.

Front Entrance popcorn ceiling removal 2

Front Entrance popcorn ceiling removal 3

With all the walls demoed, it was time to rebuild. We used 1″ X 3″ strapping and shims, in part to level the ceiling (which was wayyyy off) but also to allow enough room to fish wires for lighting after putting up the gyprock.

Leveling the strapping

Family Room ceiling strapping

Family Room ceiling strapping, view 2

Family Room ceiling strapping, view 3

Next up, gyprock:
First piece of gyprock going up in the family room

Family Room ceiling, gyprock piece #2!

Family Room Gyprock install 3

Family Room Gyprock install 2

Family Room Gyprock install

We’ll be finishing up the entrance ceiling tomorrow, if all goes according to plan. This time around, we’ve learned from our mistakes and decided that we’ll hire someone to take care of the plastering once the gyprock is up. Plastering was just way too time consuming (because, well, we sucked at it) so we decided to leave it to the pros.

While the plastering will be in progress, we’ll also be starting our bathroom reno project. Adam’s mom will be visiting at the end of August and we’re hoping to make our house somewhat livable by the time she arrives. More pics coming soon…!!!

The Kitchen Reveal: Before and After

Here it is…the moment you’ve all been waiting for.  Only 7 months of waiting, right?  I know you’re all skipping straight to the photos, so I may as well get right to it.

Here’s the before:

Kitchen

Kitchen, Before

And now (drum roll please…..):

Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, full view

Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, full view 2
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, full view 3
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, full view 4
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, view of Fridge
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, pantry and fridge section
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, glass cabinet opened 2
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, glass cabinet opened
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, Island
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, View of the Sink
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, View of the Sink
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, Sink
Velvet Toolbox Kitchen, View of the stove

So? What’s the verdict? I should add that I’m going to also add a roman shade to the window above the sink, and curtains for the patio door. The fabric has been ordered but will only arrive in July (gulp…) and I didn’t want to prolong the reveal any further.

I’m really really pleased with the end result. It’s everything I envisioned and more. The 6 months of intense and exhausting work has most definitely paid off.

I’ve only showed photos of the kitchen from one angle. That’s because the view from the other direction looks like this:

The "Other" view

View From Kitchen Patio
THIS, my friends, is our next project. More to come in the next few posts….!

Crate & Barrel officially opens in Laval

If you live in Montreal, you already know that we are often the last province to get any of the great American stores (we can probably thank the language police for that).  Remember how long it took for Forever XI and Sephora to make its way over to us?  I’m still waiting for an Anthropologie or West Elm to pop up, but I’m equally happy about the Crate & Barrel that opened in Carrefour Laval this week.  If there’s time, I may pop by this weekend or sometime during the week.  Have any of you been there yet?

Vienne Green 24" Barstool

Vienna Green 24″ Barstool, $230

Marimekko Albatrossi Beach Towel, at Crate & Barrel

Marimekko Albatrossi Beach Towel, at Crate & Barrel – $48

Ventana Natural Picnic Basket, $58

Ventana Natural Picnic Basket, $58

Starburst Mirror, $257

Starburst Mirror, $257Hector Bowl, $257

Hector Bowl, $257

Backsplash, countertops and couch, oh MY!

A couple of weeks ago, you all voted on your favorite tile pattern for the kitchen backsplash.  While your selections ended up confusing me even more (thanks!), I decided to go with the ultra classic pattern, option #2:

Subway Tile, option 2

Main reason?  I am an amateur tiler, simple as that.  As much as I loved option 1, my newbie tiling skills would have most likely botched it.

Here’s what it looks like in our kitchen now (pre-grout):

Kitchen Backsplash, part 1

That is not all, folks.  We’ve been busy and striking a bunch of items off our to do list.

Our Cambria Quartz countertops got installed:

Newly installed Cambria Quartz countertop for kitchen hutch

For those of you who are wondering, the color is called Torquay. It’s a white-ish creamy-ish color with soft marble-like veins.

Torquay Cambria Quartz

All of the lighting has been installed; recessed cans, pendants and under cabinet LEDs.

pot lights installed

Hicks pendant, installed

How cute is this mat? Perfect for in front of the kitchen sink.  11$ at Homesense!!!  purrrrr.

Small rug in front of kitchen sink

AND!!!!!!!!!!  We bought a new sofa and coffee table for the adjoining family room (which is still under construction, ahem)

 New Sofa and Coffee Table

I took this pic at the Mobilia store, and it’s since been delivered to our home.  I really liked the look (and price) of this sofa but felt it was still a little too modern for my taste. Cue next DIY.  See those boxy black legs on the sofa? Gone!  I ordered some turned wooden legs on eBay to give the sofa a more classic look like this:

Oscar sofa by Matthew Hilton

  I also ordered nailhead trim (meowWWWW) to add along the bottom of the sofa.  Something like this, maybe?

Grey upholstered sofa with nailhead trim

Such a tease

Oh hello.

You’ve been waiting for me, haven’t you?  You want to see our new kitchen, right?  Well, the torturer in me will only let you sneak a peek.  You see, the kitchen is not completely done yet.  The floors and cabinets are in, but we’re still putting the final touches in preparation for the big reveal.  Lighting, backsplash, paint touch ups, countertops, sink and faucet are still on our to do list for the coming weeks.

The kitchen cabinet installation took 4 full days.  Having zero experience in kitchen cabinetry, we left this job to the experts.  Quite glad that we planned it this way, because every muscle in our bodies hurt from last weekend’s mad rush to install the floors and paint – I doubt we would have had the patience or energy for more work.

This weekend was the most exciting of all.  I was actually able to get rid of boxes, people!  The dishes are actually in real cabinets!!!  We have a functioning dishwasher, fridge and stove!  I can now showcase my fancy dishes!!!  I was doing the chicken dance all weekend, btw.  That’s how happy I was.

So…without further adue (I’m sure you’ve already scrolled down to see the pics because you’re too excited, but an intro is in order nonetheless), voila – a taste of the Davises’ kitchen!

Kitchen Island
Kitchen Island drawers
Brass handles
Paneled Fridge with brass handles
Glass cabinet hutch
Kitchen cabinet shelving
Paper straw collection

Moving Day

Packing

So, I’ve been a little MIA from the blog lately, but with good reason.  We’ve been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, in preparation for Sunday’s big move. Yes folks – the offer on the house was accepted!!  But there’s a catch – we can only move in towards the end of September, so mom and pop graciously offered to provide food, shelter and (lotsa) love for us temporarily-homeless kids.

It’s unbelievable how much stuff we’ve accumulated over the years (Adam would correct me here and say that it’s all my stuff).  70 boxes done and another 15-20 to go.  Thank goodness we’re moving to something bigger!

Have I also mentioned that Adam and I have hardly been sleeping for the last couple of weeks?  We’re SOOO excited about the new house that we’ve already started planning the list of renos and which rooms to tackle first.  So…very very soon, Velvet Toolbox is gonna be reno-land – are you ready for it??? Huh? Huh?

Peace out  - and wish us luck for Sunday!!