Can it be?

Not a major update this past week as the calendar was quite full with social activities.

 

There seems to be a scent of spring in the air these last couple weeks. Oh, it gets the gardener within so full of anticipation.

And the basement project continues with the prepping and sanding of the floors. Here are a few shots of the fun. I may still get around to vacuuming and cleaning it before the weekend...but we will see how the day goes. I will be priming this weekend if all goes as planned.

The empty room...waiting to be prepped

Can you see all the nails still in the floor from where they nailed down the lino?

Wood putty over a big hole in the boards

The tools for prepping (minus the sandpaper and the spreader...is that the right word? I don't think so!)

Filling the gaps between the old and new boards.

And to make the weekend even more exciting, more linoleum was removed from the laundry room area too.  Wasn't it pretty

On a completely unrelated topic, I am totally coveting these items from Restoration Hardware. I don't think I can go into that store anytime soon. It is ridiculous how amazing so much of their product aligns with my style sensibilities (or insensibilities).

Source: Restoration Hardware

Source:Restoration Hardware

And drum roll please, my new baby. As you may be able to tell from my blog, photography is not my strong suit. My little point & shoot finally died a couple of weeks ago and I have been getting by with my iphone (see above for proof). I did take the tulip picture with the new camera but am still playing with it and it is fun.

Source: Panasonic

And finally, please meet my new living room carpet. The search for the right carpet has been taking some time but I finally found one I liked at Pier One...and it was on sale - BONUS!

floors, panels, cubbies oh my

Have I told you before that I think my brother is a rock star? Well, he is. A couple weeks ago, he came over and helped fixed the rotten part of my basement floor. He brought his saw and know-how and taught me a whole bunch about wood etc. Of course, I wasn't allowed to touch the saw or do the work. That got me to thinking...I need to learn how to use a saw. I looked into a few courses for Home Repairs/Power tools 101. There are a couple that I may just sign up for this spring. A girl needs to be always learning when she owns a century-old house. Thank you Jonathan for your skill, knowledge and patience. The patch looks fabulous. 

 Of course, all that hard work of pulling up floors resulted in the death of my hammer. I think I bought that hammer when I first moved out of my parents place some 12 years ago. Oh, the memories...oh, the pictures it helped me hang.

In other exciting news...ok, maybe not for everyone but definitely for me. I labelled my jars with Martha Stewart's Avery labels (Love. them.). The dream is to bring them out of the cupboard and display them in the open like here or here. For now, they remain hidden behind closed doors until I find the perfect shelf/display cabinet.

If you clicked on the links above, you would have discovered my new love affair with pinterest. Oh yes, I have fallen victim to its charms.

The adventure in the basement continues. I installed wall panels to close in the laundry/storage room so it isn't such an eyesore when you get to the bottom of the stairs. Ikea KVARTAL curtain system works like a charm and I am really impressed with how it looks. Here's a few shots of the process.

Before

The panels

The instructions?

It even has its own mitre saw...best quality ever (insert sarcasm)

Look ma, I cut through metal. Had to cut to proper length

Leftover pieces?!?

After - from the stairs

After - looking into the storage room

After - looking towards the stairs

I also bought and installed a simple pull down blind to cover the tool/paint cubby in the stairwell.

Blind open

Blind closed

Can I get a collective ooooh?

The next step is to start sanding the floors in the guest room/art studio. I think I am putting off the job even though I researched how to paint floors and found a great DIY site that seems straightforward. My shopping list is ready but I just need to summon the will to start. Good thing my week is busy so I can put it off until at least next weekend.

1912 to 2012

This year marks the centennial for my magic house. It also marks the 100th anniversary for other Calgary institutions such as the Grand Theatre, the Calgary Stampede and Calgary Parks & Recreation. 1912 marked the first really boom in this city.  At the turn of the century, there were just over 4,000 people who called Calgary home but by 1912, more than 44,000 lived here. That's a 1000% increase in just over a decade. The town became a city and needed housing, culture and activities. In many ways, Calgary is entering into another cultural shift as we move from the cowboy culture to an arts/engineering fusion. There are exciting things happening in my town.

In light of this major anniversary, I have been doing some research on my little place. I often say if there are ghosts in this house, they are happy ones because there is a sense of happiness within these walls. It is like the house smiles. Ok, that is a wee bit out there...maybe it's just part of the magic. I digress. My research has gone beyond finding various treasures (aka delivery slips) beneath the layers of linoleum.

Digging around the Glenbow Museum Archives online database, I stumbled across a picture of my house from 1912/13. It has changed quite a bit since the picture with an addition on the back but the roof line and windows on the side of the house are definitely indicators of the magic house. My house is the second one from the left.

I also looked into the 1916 Canadian census to see if I could the name of an early resident...if not the first people living here. I hope to eventually find every name of the owners to see what I can learn. You can't really see it in this size of the image but the second section from the bottom lists the residents at 1615 - William, Ethel & Arthur Gibbies(?) Not entirely sure of the last name.

My plan is also to have a neighbour BBQ sometime this summer. A number of houses on the block were also built in 1912 and it is a miracle that they haven't been bulldozed to build condos. And it may be good way to connect with my neighbours. Stay tuned for details.

Throughout the year, I want to take pictures of buildings that were built in 1912 as well so they will periodically show up on the blog too...like the Imperial Tobacco warehouse that was recently converted to condos.

 

I recently attended the 100th anniversary celebration of the Grand Theatre (mentioned above). Here are a few photos taken during the event.

Please excuse the image quality. My camera has decided to kick the bucket so these are all taken with my iphone.