Roncesvalles Victorian Reno Diary

Wanna be on HGTV Canada?

2012-01-16T16:06:00.000-08:00

May The Best House Win is the ultimate lifestyle game show that sees the owners of some of Canada's most interesting and unusual homes compete against each other in a bid to win a cash prize.

In every episode, four homeowners go head-to-head preparing their properties to impress their fellow competitors in the categories of creativity, ingenuity, hospitality and comfort. After snooping around one another's homes, they candidly review and secretly rate the overall experience out of 10.

The competitor with the greatest score takes home best house bragging rights along with the $1000 prize. It's the ultimate house-proud homeowner showcase showdown where owning the most impressive house wins!

Interested? Email besthouse@propertelevision.com for details!

Toronto Real Estate Predictions

2012-01-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

Over on the right there is a tag cloud. One of those tags is Real Estate. And frankly if you click on it, there isn't much to see there. I haven't really talked much about real estate on this blog, but one of my hobbies obsessions is following the Toronto real estate market. So today i thought i'd take a break from talking about renovations to talk about Toronto real estate. And since it is the beginning of the year, i'll go ahead and make some predictions, so that i can either face palm or pat myself on the back at the end of the year. Let me just say i more than welcome comments from anyone who agrees, disagrees, or has predictions of their own. So here goes:

Prediction 1:

Lots of people think there's a RE bubble in this city and that there is a large price correction coming our way. I personally disagree, i think the market in Toronto is pretty healthy (see stats below) and demand for housing is being fuelled by a growing population of high income earners looking to live closer to the core. It's been noted in many studies that Toronto is becoming a city divided, with a large and growing population of low income earners and a large and growing population of high income earners. The middle income earners are leaving the city for the 905's. When one looks at the average income over time, there isn't much movement, because the increase in low income earners and increase in high income earners tend to wash each other out. When it comes to real estate prices however, there isn't any washing effect, because low income earners tend to rent and have little to no impact on real estate values. Whereas high earners tend to buy, so an increase in this segment of the population drives house price increases.

As income disparity widens, real estate prices rise, even as average income remains static. Over time real estate which was once affordable to the middle class eventually becomes out of reach for average income earners, which makes many of them believe there is a bubble. Rather than a bubble, in my opinion it more closely resembles the evolution most large cities go through. In fact compared to most large cities, Toronto real estate is still relatively inexpensive. Seriously, take a look at how much a 3 storey townhouse in New York cost. Over the course of 2012 i think prices in the core will continue to rise, albeit at a slower pace. And over the next decade i think we'll start to see a Manhattanization of Toronto's core.

Some stats to consider:
- Canadians with mortgages have significant equity in their home, averaging about 50 percent of the home's value - Canadian Banker's Association

- Canadian mortgage delinquencies stand at 0.47%, about the same level as when the rising prices started in 2000. This stands in stark contrast to US mortgage delinquencies which peaked at 6.89% in 2009

- Stats from a large mortgage broker (CanEquity), show that in Toronto: Average age of applicant = 37, Average household income = 125K, Average Home Loan = 262K. Certainly not red flag territory by any means.

Prediction 2:

Anyone who cruises the MLS listings enough will learn to recognize flipper houses right away. They are often unfurnished in their photos, and typically feature brand new, (but mediocre) everything. They usually have dark hardwood floors, beige painted walls, hollow-core doors, and reek of Home Depot sales items. And if those things weren't obvious enough, the exteriors usually sport, some combination of stucco, brick and mock stone. These days i see fewer and fewer of them on the market. I think the combination of the Toronto Land Transfer Tax and the increase cost to purchase the "original" homes has really put a damper on flippers' ability to find their next profitable project. Also i think that buyers are becoming increasingly design savvy and more and more are looking for higher end finishes, not just new. While other buyers are now more willing then ever before to buy unrenovated homes and make them their own. So my prediction in 2012, is that flipping in Toronto is dead.

Prediction 3:

Each year Toronto Life publishes it's "Where to Buy Now" list. I figured i'd come up with my own, focusing more on the core. I base my prediction on the housing stock, changing demographics, proximity to shopping, downtown and transportation. So here are 2 neighbourhoods that i think will see the next wave of gentrification.

1. The triangle formed by Dundas Street West , College Street and Ossington Ave: I believe this area has all the classic pre-gentrification ingredients. Many of the homes are occupied by older first generation immigrants who have raised their families in solid brick character homes over the last few decades and are now looking to downsize. The area is well served by public transportation, and is a short commute to downtown or to the Gardiner Expressway. Houses tend to be Victorian and Edwardian in style and date from the 1880's to 1940's. The homes tend to be well cared for, but not updated. Streets also tend to have mature trees and the retail strips along Dundas Street West and College Street, are being touted as the "Next Frontier". New low rise boutique condos and minimalist townhouses are starting to infiltrate this area. Along streets like Coolmine Rd, Lakeview Ave, and Churchill Ave, enormous three storey Victorians can still be purchased for under $800K, similar houses one block south in Beaconsfield Village or one block north in Dufferin Grove, would command prices over $1 million.

A row of large Victorians on Coolmine Ave, just begging for a make-over:

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A row of large Victorians on Churchill Ave, if these were in Roncy there would be permits in the window and a dumpster in front of every second house:

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A row of Victorians on Lakeview Ave, can't you just imagine the potential?:

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2. Chinatown/Baldwin Village: Many of the homes in this neighbourhood were converted to apartments decades ago, to take advantage of the rents that one can charge when you're walking distance to everything downtown has to offer. The homes are typically older Victorian row houses and unfortunately have not always been well maintained giving the neighbourhood a gritty feel. I think this is a big reason why this neighbourhood has resisted gentrification thus far, in spite of it's incredible location. But with the condofication and yuppification steadily moving north along Spadina, i think Chinatown's gritty days are numbered.

Houses along Baldwin Ave, mere spitting distance from the AGO and University of Toronto. If you squint hard and imagine the chain link fences and weedy gardens are gone, you can see how beautiful this street scape could be:
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I'm Semi-Retiring

2012-01-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

It was fun moonlighting as a designer, but my project has ended so it's time for me to retire my paint swatches and go back to designing just for myself. As promised i wanted to show the finish photos and do a round up of products and costs.

Here's a breakdown of costs (amounts include HST) and sources:
4 x 16 ceramic shower tiles $260 from Downtown Lumber (Ossington location)
Shower floor 1 x 1 carrara marble mosaic tiles $163 from Downtown Lumber (Ossington location)
12 x 24 carrara marble floor tiles $289 from Downtown Lumber (Ossington location)
Vanity/Counter/Sink $720 from Downtown Lumber (Ossington location)
Rubi Rondo Tub/Shower System $509 from Downtown Lumber (Ossington location)
Rubi Lavatory Faucet $170 from Downtown Lumber (Ossington location)
2 - Chrome Tile Edges $20 from Downtown Lumber (Ossington location)
3 - 6' Marble jambs $170 from Downtown Lumber (Ossington location)
2 - Albion Sconces $305 from Restoration Hardware
Benjamin Moore Aura Kitchen and Bathroom paint in "Shaker Grey" $90 from High Park Wallpaper & Paint
Mirror/medicine cabinet can't remember the cost (originally purchased for my own bathroom, but never used) from Roman Bath Center

Total for the items i purchased: $2,696

The contractor included in his quote all other materials including:
Potlights
Fan
All wiring, boxes and switches
All building materials (mortar, grout, thin-set, membrane, lumber, screws, insulation, dry wall, cement board, vapour barrier, etc)
New window
Glass Wall
Baseboard
New Door

And now for the reveal pics:

DIY Christmas Gifts

2011-12-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Between all the meals, visits, parties and gifts, our holiday just flew by. I mentioned in a previous blog post that this year i was going to make Christmas gifts. If you'll recall i started with some dirty old slabs of rough cut wood that i bought off of some guys on Kijiji:

After sanding, sanding and more sanding with 60 grit sandpaper on my half sheet sander, i eventually got rid of the saw marks. I then cut the slabs into nice sized cheese/bread/salumi platters and continued sanding by hand with 100 grit sandpaper. Making sure to round over the sharp edges and corners:

I then moved onto 150 grit sandpaper, then 220 grit sandpaper. The platters were starting to feel really smooth, and with each progressively finer sanding the grain and figuring in the wood, began to emerge:

I applied one coat of chopping board oil, using a clean cotton cloth. Then rubbed off any excess.

After allowing the oil to penetrate and dry for several hours, i sanded one last time using 400 grit sandpaper. Then cleaned off the dust, and applied a final coat of oil. Now you can really see the beauty of the walnut's grain:

So there you have it. I ended up making 10 platters using $20 worth of lumber, $20 for a can of oil and about 60 hours worth of sanding. Hope they get years and years of use.

Covet Of The Week: Wine Cellars

2011-12-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

Now that the Holiday season is here, there is one thing i really covet - a wine cellar. Every year around this time, it feels like a never-ending LCBO run. If i'm not drinking it, i'm serving it. If i'm not serving it, i'm giving it. It would be nice to just have a big stash in the basement. I'm by no means a connoisseur, but i do enjoy a good bottle of wine. If i had a wine cellar, you probably wouldn't find many Opus One's, Cheval Blanc's, or Chateau LaFite Rothschild's. Instead you may find a lot of interesting wines from Vintage One's Barrel Futures program. In the new year, i plan on checking this place out, as i've heard a lot of good things about it. In the meantime, can you just imagine having one of these bad boys in your basement?

images via Premier Cru Wine Cellars

Almost Done!

2011-12-06T16:29:00.000-08:00

Last week i talked about how i was moonlighting as a designer on my brother's bathroom. Well, the bathroom is almost complete, all that remains are some minor touch ups, the baseboards, the glass shower wall (that shower curtain rod is only temporary) and accessories like towel bars and toilet paper holders (which i still need to choose). Anyhow, i thought i'd share a few more progress photos:

Tough to show the whole bathroom, because it is rather small, but you can see the soap niche in the mirror reflection.

DIY Christmas Planter

2011-12-04T15:34:00.001-08:00

I spent today getting my Christmas on. We started by strolling over to Roncesvalles Ave for a coffee from Cherry Bomb (Mmmm...Cherry Bomb) and to pick up some cuttings from Roncesvalles Fruit Market, to try making a Christmas planter. I've never tried making a Christmas planter before, but i figured if i didn't like the way it looked, i could just pull everything out and try again. So here is what you need:

- An urn (unfortunately mine has seen better days)

- A container that fits inside the urn

- A plastic bag that fits inside the container

- Sand

- Cuttings of your choosing. I chose: 1 bunch of magnolia leaves, 1 bunch of red berries, 2 bunches of cedar and 1 bunch of red dogwood twigs.

Line the container with the plastic bag. This keeps the sand from falling out of the drainage holes at the bottom of the container. Fill the bag with sand. My sand was slightly damp, which made it about the consistency of brown sugar. I actually think this helped, because the sand was heavy and seemed to really hold the cuttings in well.

Place the sand filled container into the urn and start sticking cuttings in. Trim the cuttings if they are too long. I started in the center with some of my taller material (magnolias and berries)...

...then i filled in, all around the perimeter of the pot with cedar...

...then i added some dogwood to give it extra height, et voila!

I also put out the Christmas lights, and changed the wreath. Now i just need some fresh white snow.

Christmas Arrangements

2011-12-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

In years past, Christmas for us was a time of spending. We would buy gifts (sometimes even pay for wrapping), order prepared foods and order floral arrangements. While fighting the shopping crowds and dialing up orders may have seemed like a lot of work, the truth is in a City like Toronto, it really doesn't take that much thought or effort. This year, we're trying to get more in touch with the true spirit of Christmas: A Christmas about good times with family and friends. A Christmas where giving is about "the thought" and not just the size of your credit card limit. So we're doing a couple of things differently this year. First we're making gifts for all our siblings, i'll share how that turns out on Boxing day (don't want to ruin the surprise) and second we're making our own floral arrangements. Some we'll give away as host/hostess gifts. Here's what we did:

We took a stroll over to Roncesvalles and picked up some...

- Amaryllis bulbs from Sweetpea's

- Potting soil from Pollock's Home Hardware

- Red dogwood twigs from KC Fruit Market

We then recycled many of the pots and containers we had from arrangements and orchids past:

I put a bit of gravel in the bottom of the pots and then planted the bulbs with the top 3rd exposed above the potting soil. Then i decorated with the dogwood twigs, et voila:

I'm Moonlighting As A Designer

2011-11-27T17:25:00.000-08:00

My brother who lives a few doors down, is having his ensuite bathroom renovated. He's a "sure, whatever" kind of guy, if he were any more laid-back he'd be laying on the ground. When it comes to anything home-related i'm a little bit more opinionated. So he tasked me with being his bathroom designer and project manager, while he was away scuba-diving in Thailand for 2 weeks. Because he's my brother and because i am not a real designer, i've been working for the modest fee of a beer for everytime i need to get off my butt. His only wish was that it ends up "looking good" and be more or less functional when he returns from vacation.

I sourced and purchased all the materials for him, and the contractor started demo on the day his flight left. Due to some unforeseen discoveries (a certainty when renovating old houses), the bathroom was not quite useable for his return, but it is starting to look pretty good.

Unfortunately i didn't take before pics, but here are some progress pic:

Covet Of The Week: Butlers Pantries

2011-11-17T10:48:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted a butler's pantry. Of course in reality i don't have a butler, nor does my kitchen have enough space to have a little room devoted to storing the table linens, good silver and china. Come to think of it, i don't even own china, but that doesn't stop me from wanting one.

Gotta love the door that looks like drawers on the bottom and the sliding glass fronted doors above:

image from House Beautiful

Serious bonus covet points for the secret door to this pantry:

image from here

The mother of all butler's pantries:

image from here

Backyard Makeover

2011-11-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

This past summer we had our backyard re-done. Keep in mind when i say backyard i am talking about a tiny downtown Victorian backyard. So maybe i should call it a backinch, since you could easily measure it in inches as opposed to yards.

Anyhow the old yard consisted of a really small deck, a really small patio and some planting beds. Our old deck, barely fit our table for 6 , we had a wire that hung across the deck that i would often walk into and the rotten railroad tie planting bed and pink Unilock patio were just plain ugly.

Here are the befores:

The new yard now consists of a slightly larger deck, a path and some planting beds. Not a big change on paper. But in terms of usability it is like night and day. I wish i could take credit for building the new deck, because it turned out so well, but the truth is it was built by William Turna (416) 457-8121 manorhouse@rogers.com. We had him extend it the full width of the lot and add a few feet to the length. We also had him build a gate and do some finishing work on the covered porch structure. He took care of many of the little details, like making sure the deck was the same height as the stone threshold, so that when we walked out our patio door, it would be a nice flat landing area and he buried the wire to the garage in plastic conduit. After he built the deck, i installed a square cut flagstone pathway and re-planted some of the plants.

And here are the afters:

Yes i know the sconce on the left is crooked. I accidentally knocked it when pulling the BBQ cover off. I've since straightened it back out.

We couldn't be happier with how everything turned out. Next year i plan on staining the deck and prettying up the garage, so stay tuned for Backyard Makeover part 2.

Power Tool Thoughts

2011-11-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

I have been a pretty serious DIY-er for well over a decade now. In that time, i've owned or gotten to use a lot of power tools. Seeing as the gift-giving season is around the corner, i thought i'd share some of my thoughts on Power Tools.

So, what tools do you really need? Over the years i've amassed a pretty large collection of tools, but the reality is i don't use them all regularly. In fact some i've used only once or twice. Obviously power tools are expensive and can take up a lot of room, so i am hoping to offer some unbiased insight on which i could or couldn't live without.

My top-3 go-to tools:

1. I find a decent cordless drill/driver indespensible, whether you're building, renovating or just repairing stuff. It's not cookware, so don't get upsold on more pieces. You will most certainly use the drill if you do any kind of DIY-ing. The cordless radio, flashlight, trim saw and recipricating saw...probably not so much.

2. I use the miter saw a lot for casing, baseboards, flooring, decks, mouldings and framing. I'm actually on to my second miter saw now. My first was a basic compound miter saw, which did and probably will still do 98% of the cuts i ever need to make. I've since splurged on a more pro model, which allows bevels on both sides (so you don't have to flip your material to cut an angle in the opposite direction) and which slides, allowing me to cut much larger material. The one thing the new saw excels at is crown moulding.

3. I use my circular saw a lot for doors, decks, fences, framing and ripping sheet material. To me a good circular saw, would have accurate depth and angle adjustments, would be durable and would be light and comfortable. Notice i didn't say powerful. Frankly i think any circular saw on the market is going to be powerful enough for a DIY-er. Whether a saw has 13 amps or 15 amps, is not going to make or break a project. But a saw that is too heavy to hold steady and safely when cutting the tops off of posts or plunging into sheathing, is not worth the money, no matter how powerful it is.

Tools that i own, but don't use much:

1. I've used my reciprocating saw maybe 6 times in the 8 years since i've owned it. When you watch those home improvement shows, this is the tool that they let newbies use to make them feel really macho and empowered. Probably because it is kind of shaped like a rifle, has a trigger and makes your biceps jiggle. The truth is it really isn't a precision tool at all. It's really only good at taking things apart and not so good at putting them back together again. I will say it is very handy for large scale demolition, like when gutting an entire house, or taking down a fence or garage.

2. I actually have two hammer drills (...long story). I haven't used either of them much. And unless you're a cable guy, i suspect you probably won't find much need to drill through brick and concrete either. I will say when you need one, you really do NEED one, because they're really the only tools designed to drill into brick, stone or concrete. I bought my first one for a very specific project, stored it for years, then lent it out, since i wasn't really using it. But of course once it was on loan, i discovered i needed it again ASAP. So off i went to buy another one. Now i have two in storage. Maybe i should start a hammer drill library.

3. I personally don't like rotary tools at all. I find them to be scary as all hell. I've had discs break and had shards fly off while cutting through things. And I also don't like that they get insanely hot. If you decide to give one of these as a gift, please include a pair of goggles or better yet a gift receipt.

What Brand to Get:

There is a HUGE price difference between the various brands. Is it worth it? I obviously haven't tested and compared all the options out there, but i have tried enough tools to make a general assessment. So in a rather unscientific manner i will split the most common brands into 4 categories priced lowest to highest:

1. If you really only need to use it once
- Jobmate
- Pro-Pulse
- Black & Decker

2. DIY-er (occasional user)
- Mastercraft
- Ryobi
- Skil
- Craftsmen

3. Frequent DIY-er or Professional
- DeWalt
- Ridgid
- Makita
- Porter Cable
- Delta
- Bosch
- Hitachi

4. Are you sure it's just about the tool and not about your self-esteem?
- Festool
- Freud
- Milwaukee
- Hilti

From my experience, tools from the category 1 are generally to be avoided, unless like i said you really only plan on using it once, and any additional use is bonus. Tools from category 2 are usually fine from a durability stand-point. However i would avoid the versions of these tools that try to pack a whole bunch of higher end features into lower end price points. I've found in my experience that accuracy and usability suffer when they try to do that. As a guy who uses my tools on a monthly basis, category 3 is where i spend my money. I've never used a tool from category 4, because frankly i can't afford to.

So that's my two cents. Hope this was useful.

Thinking About Christmas...Already

2011-10-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

I know it's only Halloween, but instead of buying presents for our siblings, this year we're making them. So i've got to get cracking. Some people may look at the three dirty wooden boards below and see junk. Me, i see Christmas presents in the making.

...To be continued...

Join the Sorauren Park Pumpkin Parade on Nov 1

2011-10-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

The pumpkins will unite

Along the paths of Sorauren Park

The glow from their lights

Will light up the dark

So bring your pumpkins

On November One

And bring your munchkins

To join in the fun

The Sorauren Park Pumpkin Parade has become a very popular annual event. People bring their pumpkins for one last glowing hurrah. Last year it was estimated that there were over 2000 glowing pumpkins in the park. Each year it seems to get a bit bigger, so who knows how many there will be this year. It's fun, it's free and it saves you from having to hang on to your used squash until garbage day. On Nov 2nd, the city comes to take away all the pumpkins for composting. Have a safe Halloween, hope to see you all there.

This will be my contribution to the parade this year:

I Won, I Won, I Won!

2011-10-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

Shannon over at 8foot6, one of the blogs that i really enjoy following has awarded me with a Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks Shannon!

The way it works is i write 7 things about myself and then pass on the award to 15 other bloggers. So here goes:

1. My daughter just turned 1 today and we have a new baby on the way!

2. My real name is Kyle and I'm 36.

3. This month I celebrated my wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving, my wife's birthday and my daughter's first birthday. All events that reminded me of what an incredible life I have.

4. I grew up really poor, and consequently didn't have much throughout my school years. As i got older, i kept a mental wish list of things i wanted, some practical (e.g. nice house in the city), some absurd (e.g. really cool espresso machine). Much of what i blog about are things that have sat on that wish list for a VERY long time, and are now actually being fulfilled. So never under-estimate the power of dreaming.

5. I've been working in some form or another since i was 11 years old.

6. I work as a Derivatives Analyst. While it's interesting, challenging and satisfying work, I'm counting the days until I have the freedom to retire and do something i love.

7. I often find that i have Stars songs stuck my head.

Over to you:

1) The Interiorist

2) The Marion House Book

3) CReed

4) High Park Haven

5) Apropos of Nothing

6) Our Castle

7) Rookie Renovators in Canada

8) 3 Acres & 3000 Square Feet

9) Rambling Renovators

10) Aubrey & Lindsay's Little House Blog

11) Modern Jane

12) Wallpaper

13) Daisy Express

14) Hella Stella

15) Houseography

Covet Of The Week: 2-Storey Libraries

2011-10-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

The first time i ever saw an image of a 2-storey library was well over 10 years ago. It was Brian Gluckstein's very own personal library from his Forest Hill home (see below and drool). And since then i have been covetting them.

Even after more than a decade, Brian Gluckstein's 2-storey library still looks just as fresh today:

image by Gluckstein Design

Here are 3 reasons i need to have my own 2-storey library one day:

1. Sure, most of the books pictured below can now easily fit onto an i-pod, but libraries are more than just a place to hold books. To me a library represents a peaceful, quiet place. A respite fom logins, passwords, ringtones, lcd screens, vibrations and other "modern advancements".

2. As a fan of wood working, i also think libraries are a temple to fine craftsmanship and architecture. Oh how i'd love to one day have enough space, time and skill to build-in beautiful bookcases and paneling. A 2-storey library would be my Everest.

3. I think a house with a 2-storey library speaks volumes about the owner. And as someone prone to geek-outs (not the comic-con type of geek-out, more like, WAY too much useless knowledge type of geek-out), i think a library is kind of my style.

Now when i eventually realize my dream of building a 2-storey library, in true Bruce Wayne fashion, i will probably design a secret door in one of the bookcases to lead to a secret room. However, instead of hiding bat costumes, i'd probably hide all my earthly geeky treasures. You know stuff like Guarnerius violins, original Tom Thomson paintings, hickory golf clubs and maybe some tumblers and scotch.

The only thing i would dislike about my 2-storey library is changing the light bulbs:

image by Matthew Millman

Covet Of The Week: Conservatories and Orangeries

2011-10-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

So what are conservatories and orangeries? They're basically glass structures similar to greenhouses, however they are attached to the main house. Conservatories typically have peaked glazed roofs while orangeries typically had flat roofs with a central portion of the roof glazed. So you may be thinking that's just like an enclosed porch. And to that i would emphatically say, No! Often enclosed porches poke their thumb in the eye of the main building's architecture for the sake of having a place to keep your shovel and sidewalk salt in the winter and your bike in the summer. Little known fact: during much of the 70's and 80's enclosed porches single handedly kept the manufacture and sale of that tacky green astro turf carpet stuff going.

Long before people had family rooms, rec rooms or great rooms, they had conservatories and orangeries. These where the rooms where well-heeled families would gather, not to watch TV or listen to the radio, because those things weren't around back then. Instead they would gather around a piano and play music, or they would pursue their hobbies and interests, like collecting exotic plants. So what if i don't know how to play the piano and can't keep house plants alive? I still want one.

In my last house i seriously considered adding a conservatory to use as a family room, but two things made it non-ideal. First, most conservatories available in Canada these days are framed in white PVC (vinyl), which i find a little bit cheesy for a structure that is suppose to look historic. Second the conservatory would have had a Western exposure, meaning late day sun would have turned it into a sauna inside. Unfortunately the house we have now is a semi detached and too narrow to add a conservatory or orangery to. So alas i am left to covet them from afar.

Here are some fine examples of conservatories. You wont find any PVC in these structures:

image from Amdega

image from Vale Garden House

Here are some fine examples of orangeries. Shovels and bikes not allowed:

image from Amdega

image from Vale Garden House

Cheap and Cheerful Garage Makeover - 2011

2011-10-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

We are lucky enough to have a 1.5 car garage, which is a bit of a luxury for downtown Toronto. We had toyed with the idea of rebuilding it, because it was so crooked and ugly, but it actually functions and serves our needs quite well. And frankly who wants to pour a bunch of money into something that just stores your car and other junk. So instead i came up with a cheap and cheerful makeover. This makeover is going to extend into next summer, simply because i have lots else to do on the inside of the house and wont be getting around to finishing it before winter comes.

First lets take a look at a before pic. Prepare to be horrified...

Here's how the garage looked when we first moved in. Kind of looks like where someone might hide dead bodies:

Pretty scary looking, eh? So first i found a new home for the garbage can. And this past summer i scoured Kijiji for old windows. I was lucky enough to find a pair for $60. These windows actually came from an old mansion in Rosedale. There's a complete makeover happening in the rest of the back yard, which took care of burying that wire on the top left of the before picture. I also pulled all the pink Unilock paving out and found a happy person on Kijiji to take it all away. I put in planting beds on either side of the garage door, and i laid a square cut flagstone pathway from the garage to the new deck. Total cost of the stone was $180 from Rock Valley Natural Stone. I then bought 4 dwarf Burning Bushes from Sheridan Nurseries fall sale. Total cost for the four shrubs was $90. Small changes but dramatic results. I'd say it was a pretty good use of $330.

Here is the after:

Lots more still to go for next year:

- Buy more plantings to fill in the beds

- Replace that door with a cool antique one

- Add casings around the door and windows

- Install cedar shingles on the wall

- Paint and stain everything

- Build some window boxes, and fill them with perennials

- Add some landscape lighting.

All in, i want to keep the makeover under $1000. While it won't straighten out the structure, it will make it far nicer to look at, and will be much cheaper than a garage rebuild.

So that's it for the garage makeover for now. I'll show some of the other work going on in the rest of the backyard in future posts.

Covet Of The Week: Port Cocheres

2011-10-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

It's fun to dream about what i'd do, if i were ridiculously wealthy. Some people collect exotic cars, others collect ex-spouses. Me if i were rich beyond belief, i think i'd collect properties. Old ones, with lots of character. I'm a little bit addicted to all things home. I recall when growing up, i would watch This Old House, Hometime, and Home Again. My poor brothers who wanted to watch cartoons would instead be subjected to countless hours of Norm Abrams, Dean Johnson (with his fake-wife du jour) and Bob Vila whenever it was "my channel". To this day i'm a sucker for old houses, especially when they have some of those architectural elements i covet (and oh how there are so many architectural elelments that i covet), which is what i'll be blogging about in this regular (hopefully) feature.

My first Covet of The Week* is dedicated to Port Cocheres. So what is a port cochere? It's basically a structure attached to the main house, that one can drive a car under, so that people can get in and out without getting wet from the elements. Cynics may be asking, but isn't that like an attached garage without the benefits of a garage door? And to this i would emphatically say: No, that would be a car port! Car ports and garages are purely functional, they are where you park your car, and store your lawn mower and your garbage cans. Port cocheres on the other hand, are covered passageways were people get in and out of their cars. They remind us of the days, when men would retrieve the car and then open the door to allow ladies to enter the vehicle, all under the dry shelter of a port cochere. Unlike garages and car ports, where function trumps form, port cocheres are meant to compliment the beauty of a home.

I'm fortunate enough to live close to some incredible homes that still have original port cocheres. So here are some pics from the net and some from the 'hood. In all cases i love how the port cocheres blend in with the architecture of the homes. Enjoy!

You wont find any lawn mowers or garbage cans under here:

image from flickr

Some nice Craftsman-style bungalow examples, bonus covet points for the full width verandas:

images from flickr

A few examples from around the 'hood:

bonus covet points for the turret and round porch!

* May not actually be weekly in reality.

Bathroom Reveal

2011-10-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is the final reveal of my bathroom. It's a small bathroom, so i took pics to give you a a 360 degree view of the bathroom.

Here are the vanity drawers in action:

The vanity with statuario countertop, American Standard Studio sink, and American Standard Town Square faucets:

The paneled vanity wall, pivoting mirror and sconces:

Azzura Adora tub with American Standard Town Square faucets:

The frosted window and shampoo shelf:

American Standard Town Square toilet tucked away in the toilet nook. I really like how this toilet has easy to clean flat sides, instead of the hard to clean trap:

The paneled doorway. Oh darn, before taking the picture i should have folded the toilet paper into a point like they do in the fancy hotels:

And that's it. Although it took a while to finally complete the last few finishing touches. It's served our family well and stood up well over the year. I really liked designing and building this bathroom. In the next few posts i have an idea for a regular feature and i'll be sharing another project going on here in the Roncy Vic household.

Vanity Insanity - Finale. Bathroom Reveal Next!

2011-10-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

Here is the last post in my cabinet-making adventures. Hopefully all the technical stuff hasn't bored everyone away. I promise next week will be the full bathroom reveal.

To complete the bathroom vanity, i built Shaker style doors. 1. Because they're easy to build, 2. Because i like they're classic good looks. For stiles and rails i used 1 x 3 poplar, and for the panels i used 1/4" mdf.

My first job was to cut a 1/2" deep dado in all my 1 x 3's. I did this on the table saw with a dado blade. If you're trying this, be sure to run each piece through twice from both directions. This ensures that the dado bottom is flat and centered:

Then i cut the 1 x 3's to the right lengths on my miter saw. I then create tenons on the ends of the rails, using the table saw and dado blade:

After all my stiles and rails are cut:

I then cut out the mdf panels and assemble using glue:

Clamp it all up while the glue dries. Then you can sand, prime, paint, install knobs and install the doors to the cabinet. I used butt hinges from Home Despot about $4 per pair to install mine. To line up the hinges i found a good use for all my old Metropasses and Starbucks cards:

I finished off the bottom of the cabinet with a simple toe kick made of 1 x 4 poplar and a small piece of moulding. I just need to finish priming and painting this last bit:

So that's it! A years worth of starting, stopping, restarting and re-stopping. And there you have it, my first home made vanity. Now, next week i promise to have less tech talk and more pretty stuff. In the meantime, check out Janice's bathroom and vanity if you want to see some really pretty stuff.

Vanity Insanity - Part 2

2011-10-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

My last post was about building the vanity cabinet. This post will cover how i built the drawers. This post is a bit on the technical side, but not to worry the pretty stuff comes soon.

I installed the cabinet, counter, sink and faucet before building the drawers, so that i knew how much space the plumbing would take up. The drawers are U-shaped to maximize storage while staying clear of the plumbing.

The drawer bottoms are built of the same 3/4" good on 2 sides plywood, leftover from the 4' x 8' foot sheet, that the cabinet was made of. And i used 1/2' mdf to build the drawer sides, fronts and backs. The key here is making sure you have accurate measurements and precise cuts:

Then i simply glued and brad nailed the pieces together:

Prime and paint the drawer and voila. This is the first of two drawers:

Next the drawers are installed into the cabinets using drawer glides that you can buy from any big box.

NOTE: For the Richelieu drawer glides that i used, the drawers should be 1" narrower then the face frame opening, as the glides require 1/2" of clearance on either side. I also had to build out where the glides where attached until it was flush with the face frame.

Vanity Insanity - Part 1

2011-10-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

Those that follow this blog will recall i started a bathroom renovation, oh about 15 months ago. I can finally say it is done (almost). So next week there will be a big reveal, but in the meantime i wanted to share how i built my vanity.

It's difficult to say whether building it myself was cheaper than buying a vanity or having one built, because from the start i knew i wanted to try my hand at building cabinetry, so frankly i didn't shop around. I was hoping to use this as an opportunity to practice and learn some cabinet making skills, so i could one day build my own kitchen cabinets. The materials and hardware cost me about $150, the paint i already had on hand and the counter (my splurge) was $550. Unfortunately the time it took me to start, stop, restart and finally complete the vanity, has convinced my wife never to let me try building cabinets myself again, so who knows if i'll ever get a chance to build my dream kitchen. Ah well, designing it and seeing the end result is most of the fun anyway.

Here' s how i did it:

All cabinets are a variation of a basic box, which is often called a "carcass". I built my carcass out of 3/4" good on 2-sides birch plywood. I had Home Despot cut the 4' x 8' sheet into the dimensions i needed. Then on the inside carcass sides i routed out a dado (groove or channel) so that the floor of the cabinet can rest in the groove. Once you glue and brad nail the cabinet floor into this groove it creates a very strong carcass and forms an "H" shape as seen in the picture below. I then cut a piece of plywood and glued and brad nailed it to the top backs of the side. This piece will eventually be what i use to attach the cabinet to the wall. The diagonal piece of wood is just a temporary brace to hold the cabinet square while the glue dries.

I then built a face frame out of 1 x 3 poplar. The face frame does 2 things, it hides the ugly plywood cuts and it makes the whole cabinet super-strong. I could dance on top of this cabinet (not that i would...often). Having cut the 1 x 3's to the right lengths, i tried out my new pocket screw kit. Honestly i don't recommend this version of the kit, it was very hard to keep the guide stable while i drilled the pocket holes, and the bit would often jam full of shavings making drilling quite tough. I'm guessing one of the higher end kits that includes clamps to hold the guide stationary might be easier to use. That said, pocket screws and glue definitely make for a strong butt joint.

Here is a glued joint using two pocket screws:

Face frame fully assembled and ready to attach to the carcass with glue and brad nails:

And voila the finished cabinet, next comes painting and installation:

Next post building the drawers

Guess Who's Back?

2011-07-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

As a blogger who hasn't posted anything in 3 months, you might have guessed from the title, that i was referring to myself. Alas, i am not. I still have not put the final touches on some of the long standing projects i have on the go, but i promise there will be some before and afters posted here eventually. So then, who am i referring to? The super-popular, sorely missed, beloved EcoEnergy Program. Don't miss out the new deadline is March 31, 2012.

Dining Room Chair Upholstery

2011-04-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

We've been meaning to recover our dining room chairs for a long time. We bought our vintage dining chairs 3 years ago from Studio Pazo in Leslieville. Fortunately for us, it was the week that the store was moving one block further West, so we were able to negotiate a pretty good deal.

We had originally wanted mid-century teak dining chairs as we thought the colour would work better with our table, but we really liked the lines of these chairs, and decided on them ,even though they were rosewood instead of teak. To me they look like the love child of a Chippendale and a Finn Juhl. Anyhow, they came with the original seat fabric, a lovely but worn out looking tweed. So on Friday my wife picked up some fabric samples from Designer Fabrics.

We settled on the fabric on the top left. I spent the rest of the weekend reupholstering. Taking the seats off was easy as the manufacturer used allen bolts to hold the seats to the frame.

Once i removed the seat i noticed the frame had a stamp on it that said Danish Overseas Furniture Co, which i thought was pretty neat. Not sure how old these chairs are, but they were in really great condition.

I added a bit of extra dacron batting and the new fabric right over the original (who knows maybe the chairs if left original will be worth something one day - doubtful but who knows). Anyhow, we really like the chairs with the new fabric. We bought enough extra fabric, that if we ever have spills we can always recover 4 more chairs. Here's an after:

Hang It All

2011-04-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

Like many of the narrow Victorian houses in Toronto, our house does not have a coat closet. Which means that through the winter; shoes, boots, coats, hats, scarves, umbrellas, our baby carrier and carrier cover clutter our front entryway. To provide a place for all these items, we bought a coat tree a while back. We thought this would help but once festooned with all of our winter paraphernalia it actually ended it up looking far more cluttered and messy.

Witness our entryway of shame:

Day-in and day-out of staring at that pile of coats simply made us crazy. So finally i did something about it. I hung a couple of Hang-it-all hooks on the wall, which at least means the clutter is up against the wall instead of standing in the middle of the hall like a giant coat sequoia and i picked up an umbrella stand from ChairTableLamp.

Pair of "Hang It All" hooks by Charles and Ray Eames:

Before:

After:

Little Things That Make Me Smile

2011-02-24T20:15:00.000-08:00

Many local merchants, like Mitzi’s, use their walls to showcase the work of local artists. We love this as we get to see all kinds of photography, sculpture, oils and the like that we would otherwise not have known about. In a recent trip to Cherry Bomb, one of our favourite go-to coffee merchants, we were greeted with posters with simple sayings like “Happy Day”, “I Love You”, “Wake Up” and "Drink More Coffee". None of them were fancy, but all of them made my wife and I smile.

To my surprise, my wife ordered two for Valentine’s Day, one for me, and one for our daughter. Turns out the artist is Annie Morrison who works at another local merchant, Frock. Annie's prints are silk screened by hand using coffee as ink.Now every morning, while I’m making our coffee, I’m lucky to have “I Love You” prominently displayed on our kitchen wall, while my daughter wakes up to “Happy Day". They say it's the little things......

Been A While

2011-02-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

Time sure has flown by since i last posted anything. Not surprisingly my last reno-related posting was right around the time this little lady walked into our lives.

It's hard getting anything done around the house when those chubby cheeks are calling to be squeezed, but i haven't actually become a total slacker dad. I actually have a few projects that i hope to share soon. Let's start with the DIY shelf that my brother and i put together a few weeks ago.

My brother wanted to make a shelf to go under his window, so he went back to Deer Brian Inc (where he found some old pieces of barn beams to use as end tables) and picked up some 2 inch thick re-sawn beams. He ended up with more than enough wood to make a large table top and the shelves for $120.

We cut them to length, sanded and urethaned them. Then we went over to Home Depot to pick up 4 pieces of black pipe, 8 flanges and some black paint. Total cost was about $70. Here are the pipes and flanges before painting:

And after a coat of Behr Satin Enamel:

A few wood screws to fasten everything together and Voila:

Bargain-Hunting

2010-12-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

Regular readers will recall that my brother lives 8 doors down from us, in a 120 year old gothic Victorian cottage. He bought the house and moved in about a year and a half ago, but until this past November his main floor remained largely empty and unfurnished, partly because he has been doing some renovations on this floor, but also partly because he just isn’t much for shopping. But with the holiday season arriving and friends coming over, he needed to finally bite the bullet and get some furniture. So that’s where I came in. While I’m far more adept with power tools than I am with fabric swatches (i.e. at pulling a design together), I think I was able to find him good-looking and unique furnishings that suited his tastes, lifestyle and all for under $3500. Some of the items we found required a little elbow grease but I think the end results look pretty stylish.

Dining Room with seating for 10

Hair-pin style bentwood chairs, $175 from Captain’s Treasures - I blogged a while back about these bentwood chairs that we found at Captain’s Treasures, he spent a bit of time refinishing them and man do they look good. You can read about them HERE.

9-foot-long custom dining table, $1,100 from Smash - You can see a smaller version of this table in this Style at Home High-Low studio. The table base is made of black pipe, the kind that pipe fitters use to run natural gas and the top is a 2” thick slab made form 3 wide planks of reclaimed douglas fir, finished in a low sheen urethane. A lot of the character has been left in the table top, including some of the original saw blade marks from the milling process, as well as a live edge on one side of the table top. I really love the modern rustic warmth of this table, and I think it’s very well-suited to the open farmhouse style of his house.

9-foot-long Shaker bench, $450 from Smash – This was an absolute steal. The bench is about the same age as the house. And even though it has had a few patches over the years, it is still solid as a rock. When we got it from Smash, it had a grungy, tired white finish, so my brother used some more of the black milk paint that he bought for the bent wood chairs and gave it the same treatment.

Living Room

Gus Trudeau Sofa, $850 from Style Garage – When these guys have a sale they don’t mess around. This sofa is usually over $2000, but every now and then Style Garage has amazing sales. Sign up to their mailing list to stay informed.

Stumps of old wood (end tables), $80 from some guy on Kijiji – I sent my brother to contact this guy in Vaughn. His company is called Deer Brian Inc, and he sells reclaimed timber from old dismantled barns. I told my brother to ask for the biggest, oldest, roughest looking beams that they had and to get 2 two foot sections cut from it. He did, and after a bit of cleaning, sanding and urethaning he had these 2 gorgeous end tables.

Knock off Arco lamp $350 from another guy on Kijiji – I then sent my brother to go pick up one of these knock-off Arco lamps from an ad on Kijiji. While I am usually staunchly anti-knock off, I think knock offs made sense in this case. Here’s what I mean, I don’t understand paying $200 for a cheap, low-quality knock off Eames Eiffel chair, when a real one is $250 - $500. Sure when you’re talking about 6 chairs it starts to add up, but a chair is something that you sit on. It needs to support your weight and will receive constant stress. I truly believe spending the extra $50 - $300 on the real one will pay back in terms of durability. A lamp on the other hand, is not subject to the same stresses, so durability isn’t really a factor. Not to mention the real Arco lamp is about $2,700.

Foundry cart coffee table $250 from Smash – This cart is an authentic relic from our industrial past, it even came with a thick coat of authentic industrial dust. So my brother and I spent an evening cleaning all the metal with WD40 and sanding down the wood. He then wiped it all clean and applied three coats of satin urethane.

So that’s it for now, a living and dining room furnished with various finds for under $3500. There’s still some work to be done, his walls are bare and screaming for some large canvases, and he could use a couple of occasional chairs in his living room to make a nice seating arrangement, but it is starting to shape up.

Support Your Neighbourhood!

2010-12-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

I have always been a firm believer and supporter of our neighbourhood and all things local. Eating and drinking local is after all good for the environment. Well it doesn't get any easier to put your money where your mouth is then this:

According to BLOGTO, this new brew will be available at some point. And when it is, i plan to spend a lot of time saving the planet.

Honey I Blew Up the Furniture!

2010-11-12T10:51:00.001-08:00

Has anyone been to Restoration Hardware (RH) lately? I went there to pick up some shower curtain rings, and when i got there i barely recoginized the place. So i thought i'd give a Roncy Vic review of the new RH.

First impressions:

As i walked in i had this weird feeling...kind of like how Jack must have felt when he got to the top of the bean stalk. The doorways are high, the ceilings are high, the furniture is HUGE. I felt like at any moment, some giant would come out and turn me into a sandwich.

Stores:

RH has really shifted gears, the place once known for its understated timeless classics has gone through a major make-over, their stores are now painted a dark, moody brooding gray colour. And their new cardboard tags have a black background and small negative font. I actually love the look of the stores, but frankly the low light and dark tags, make checking out the items and their prices more difficult. Perhaps this was by design because once you see the price tags, you also realize that Restoration Hardware has moved up a couple of snack brackets.

Stock:

OK, so what about the funiture? Well, the only way i can describe it is "Amazonian". And just like the mythical Amazon Woman. The furniture is enormous, but also very gorgeous. At first, I suspected the manufacturer mistakenly used inches, when the design must have been spec'ed in centimeters. There was a 10 foot high armoire. Most of their mirrors were 6-8 feet tall. The style is definitely trendier than the old RH. They now incorporate a lot of Scandinavian influence (grainsack upholstery, rustic matte finished light coloured woods, etc), as well as the trend towards reclaimed wood, upcycled industrial metal and weathered wood. I also noticed, the intentional treatment of furniture as "object" and "object" as furniture - what the hell do i mean by that? I'm not even sure myself, other than to say, if you buy something from there and bring it home, it is definitely meant to make a BIG statement. Nothing there is meant to be mundane, which actually brings me to my first beef with the new RH. Used to be i could count on them for mundane...classic, timeless, luxurious elegance. Not anymore, if you're looking for a perfectly proportioned elegant coffee table, too bad you're out of luck. Instead you will find a 300 pound platform made of reclaimed wood, that can double as a stage if you and three garage band friends want to have an impromptu concert. So what's my second beef? No shower curtain rings! Again the new store is not about mundane everyday items that people need, it's about trophy furniture that people dream about. They have a tiny smattering of taps and hardware, a mere fraction of what they used to stock. Is it too much to ask a place called Restoration Hardware to actually stock...hardware? It looks like you can still get the hooks, curtain rings, house numbers, knobs and pulls on line, but they should mention that if you're looking for hardware, a Restoration Hardware store is not the place to go.

6 foot by 4 foot Balustrade Coffee table

I Started a New Blog

2010-11-05T06:06:00.001-07:00

We recently purchased an older cottage in Parry Sound, and while it is in very good shape, the reno-addict in me has already started planning a few projects on the new place. So i'm starting a new blog to share those projects.

Some of the more ambitious reno projects i want to tackle are exterior painting, interior painting, flooring in the bedrooms, new french doors, replacing the wood-burning stove with a freplace, a new bathroom, and a new kitchen. However since it is a cottage blog i also plan on sharing more fun little DIY projects. Some ideas i have are: building Muskoka chairs, building a bird apartment for a purple martin colony, building a bat house, building a vermicomposter and various art projects.

We've closed down the cottage for the winter, so there won't be much action until the Spring, that gives me all winter to dream up new ideas, so hopefully come Spring i'll have lots of projects to blog about. You can follow along HERE

Pumpkin Pandemonium!

2010-11-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Had a great time dropping off our pumpkin and checking out the other 1000's of pumpkins on display at this year's Sorauren Park Pumpkin Parade. This annual Nov 1st event has really taken off. There were lines of pumpkins surrounding the park, and 100's of people, pets and kids admiring the carving talent, dropping off new pumpkins and taking photos. The atmosphere was like a fall fair. If only there was some live music. Hmmmm...Maybe an enterprising band looking for some exposure, will set up an impromptu concert in the park next year. A good time was had by all. The crowds were so thick this year, we didn't have time to navigate all the way around the park in the 40 minutes that we were there (we had a chicken pot pie in the oven), but i still managed to take some photos of some spectacular pumpkins. Enjoy!

Pumpkins as far as the eye could see:

A little Halloween humour...Pumpkin Pi:

Being the proud Papa of a 7 day old, these ones spoke to me:

And here is a medley of super awesome carving talent:

2010 Sorauren Park Pumpkin Parade Happens Tonight

2010-11-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

Last night was a lot of fun. We had all sorts of famous visitors, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga stopped by the house. So too did Mayor Rob Ford. Funny, they're all shorter in real life than i thought they'd be. We also had an assortment of scary looking visitors and a hand full of super heroes. All in all Halloween 2010 was a great success. Hopefully everyone else had a safe and wonderful Halloween too. Now that it's over what do we all do with our pumpkins?

Last year our pumpkin joined the over 2000 other pumpkins at the annual Sorauren Park Pumpkin Parade. Tonight, we'll do the same. Hopefully there will be even more pumpkins there. And even if you don't plan on bringing yours with you, come out tonight to check out the glow from 1000's of lit pumpkins. I'll post some of the photos i take this year. Hope to see you all there!

Update: Here is the link to the 2010 photos

Nurse-cessories

2010-10-11T14:49:00.001-07:00

What was once our guest bedroom has now been renovated with a fresh coat of Benjamin Moore's Titanium, some built-in Pax closets, a Schonbek crystal chandelier, new floors and crown moulding; to become our new nursery. I also took the opportunity to replace some mismatching baseboard, because staring at this kind of thing makes me crazy:

We resisted the temptation to make it super girlie and cutesy, figuring she may be changing rooms in a couple of years, and this would once again become a guest bedroom:

To bring the "baby" into the "baby room", we added the requisite items - a crib, a dresser/change table from Captain's Treasures, lamp and comfy chair, and of course the all important nurse-cessories. In our case we added a rug that my wife had in her room when she was a baby:

An original oil painting from talented Canadian artist - Amanda Hill:

A lamp from Homesense:

And here are the afters:

IKEA Love/Hate

2010-10-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

The back bedroom, which will become our nursery is rather small and didn’t have a closet. So we thought about how we could incorporate some storage without eating up too much valuable floor space. The easiest thing to do would have been to frame up a small closet with bi-fold doors and install a rod to hang clothes from, but if you’re going through the trouble to build something from scratch, why not try to take it to the next level? While a framed closet with bi-fold doors and a single hanging rod is fine, it could be so much more functional with proper organizers and if it were built-in, it could become part of the architectural detail of the room. So we decided to do a semi-custom built-in (if that makes any sense). As our base we used IKEA’s Pax line of closets. It’s a bit strange (and maybe it’s just me), but anytime I think of IKEA I automatically start experiencing these mixed love/hate feelings. Love the prices, but hate the purchasing and eventual assembling experience, as well as the fact that no matter what you get 2 million other people will also have the exact same item.

As far as closets go, there's definitely more to love about the Pax system than hate. I love the price, the infinite combinations of organizers and the quality of the cabinets, drawers and hardware. What I hate is that no matter how many door styles IKEA comes up with everyone instantly recognizes them as being from IKEA. So we decided to customize ours. Many top designers take IKEA kitchen cabinets and customize them until they look like something that came from a high-end carpentry shop. One of my all-time favourite kitchen blog posts, by one of my all-time favourite design heros, talks about how to do this. So we figured why not apply that same creative thinking to the Pax.

Here’s what we did to disguise the ugly melamine side and make it look more like a custom built-in.

I started by building a solid level platform out of 2x6's and plywood:

Then I lifted the Pax units on to the platform and anchored them solidly to the back wall using toggle bolts. This is pretty key for safety reasons, cause if the units ever tipped forward, their weight could cause serious injury:

I then cut a piece of mdf to cover the melamine sides (these pieces are often referred to as gable walls), the space at the bottom (often referred to as the toe kick) and the space at the top (to extend the unit to the crown moulding, often referred to as a frieze). Mdf paints up really nicely, but the cut edges need to be sealed before painting in order to get a good finish. To seal the edges I just smear drywall compound on the edge and then sand it smooth once it dries:

We painted the IKEA doors that we got. The doors that we chose were actually really low quality basically it's a wood grained sticker over top of pressed mdf. The sticker surface of the doors doesn’t hold paint very well. Eventually we may order new custom doors should the paint start to get beat up. Anyhow to finish it all up, I installed baseboard, quarter round and crown moulding around the room to give the unit a built-in look:

TIPS:

These suckers are heavy so bring some friends to IKEA to help you wrestle them onto your cart and through the checkout. I would recommend the IKEA delivery. Same day delivery is $10 cheaper.

Again these suckers are big, heavy and awkward, so have friends help you when you assemble them or move them.

The units have height adjustable feet at the front. These stupid things either fall out or come loose if you try to move the unit or even if you try to adjust the height. I built a level base so that i could just throw these stupid things away.

I'd recommend cutting, sealing and painting the mdf before attaching it to the Pax units. Less mess and cutting-in with a paint brush.

If one of your Pax units butts up against a wall, be sure to leave a bit of space between the wall and the unit, otherwise the doors won’t open wide enough to allow the KOMPLEMENT drawers to work. This space can be filled with a trim piece (i.e more painted mdf).

Who Does This?

2010-09-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

So a while back i mentioned we had a boarded up window in the back of the house. That window would have looked onto our bath tub. But i guess for privacy sake, the previous owners decided to put a sheet of plywood over it on the outside and tile over it on the inside as if it were never there.

They must have been in some kind of hurry for privacy, because they didn't even remove the curtains before they closed up the window and tiled over it. Here's what i found during the demo. Okay seriously, who does this?

After replacing the window with a new frosted double hung one from Home Depot, i framed up a little shelf which will hold all of my wife's lotions and potions, i re-insulated, installed new vapour barrier, cement board and a marble shelf, then i tiled the heck out of everything. Et voila!