It's been a looooong time since anyone has moved into this house, and hoped they never have to move out. Folks have lived here for a week or two, a month or two or eight, or a year ... but most of those have been temporary situations. We are trusting that the blessing of living in this home will continue as long as Paul remains employed here. We plan to retire here. And then maybe stay on as volunteers. We know God has ways of surprising us with how his plan might not match up with ours, but we're embracing the gift while it's ours to behold.
This place has got some quirks, with its fair share of less than desirable features. I won't get into all of that, and just start with the exciting news that we made a major change to our living space last weekend!
This house used to be the office of Hillcrest Lumber, which used to occupy the land where our camp is now situated. Read more about the history here. We've been told by previous occupants (camp employees) that our boys' bedroom used to be Mr. Stone's office.
Our house (one half of a duplex) consists of a large main open area with 4 rooms directly off from it. These rooms used to be offices and have since been transformed into bedrooms. We have a large mudroom/entry, a teeny tiny kitchen, a teeny tiny bathroom, plus an ensuite in our room. We have a wood burning heater that we LOVE! We use the entrance at the back of the house, and there is a front entrance as well. Because this used to be an office space, all of the interior doors have windows, there are large interior windows in two of the rooms (the schoolroom/computer room, and the mudroom) and a glass topped "pony wall" at the front entrance door. This wall has always made furniture arrangement tricky and limited in the living room area. We would love to find out how this place was laid out while in full sawmill operation!
We did a super duper clean of the house a few weeks ago so I took a picture. :) The pony wall is by the back door, with the cream coloured couch backed up against it.
I made the space into a cozy little book nook for the boys, but it still put a cramp in the style options for the living room.
We've been talking about taking the wall down, eventually, for a while. Paul finally got the wheels in motion and talked to all the folks who needed to be a part of this decision. We got the go-ahead and wasted no time! We were not surprised to see how incredibly well and solidly built the wall was. The wood used inside was beautiful, clean, clear ... not one single knot.
He took it all apart, piece by piece. We're thinking of projects we can do to use the wood. We anticipated that some floor repair would be necessary, and a few thin pieces of plywood did the trick. The tiles you see there are in several places of the house. They are fully exposed in the school room, and we suspect they are under all the other flooring as well. The main part of the house and one bedroom has a layer of light coloured carpet, underlay, nasty old thin flowered carpet glued onto these tiles. There's a good chance that the original wood floor is under those tiles. When the time comes to re-do the flooring in our home, we'll likely just put laminate on top of the thin 70s carpet and not bother with all the scraping and removing of all the other layers.
And here we have the new look! A friend, who has lived here before, commented on the photo I shared on FB and said "Hooray! The end of a long and useless era!" Agreed!
New book nook in the far corner, I've got it all organized and will take a picture soon. The boys love the new, wide open space. We've had to curb a surge of couch jumping, flipping, pouncing ... particularly by Jaxon.
Heat from the wood stove can flow into the living room a little better now that it's not blocked by the black couch. High on or list of dreams is to move the heater into another awkward corner, and opening up a window in that wall behind it into the kitchen.
Paul took this panoramic shot of the main living area. It's a bit dark, but you get the idea. Pot lights are also on the renovation wish list.
This picture is from a sign I saw at Fort Rodd Hill in Victoria, a former military post. EXCEPT for the part about the two children being born there, it reminds me of camp life. That is a baby bundled up on the ground in the photo.
fun!!!!
ReplyDeleteFantastic! It really does open up the whole room. Enjoy the new accommodations:)
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