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This Weeks Hero

5/15/2015

My friend Damon came from Vancouver with his ‘Contractor Ambulance’ to give me a hand for the weekend. You should have seen the mobile workshop that appeared around my little house!

It soon became very apparent to me, had he not come, I would have been once again a ‘damsel in distress’ surely the job would have taken me 2 weeks. First thing he got me to do is take out a strip of my ceiling insulation! This corner didn’t have anything to grip a screw into whichc had to be remedied.

When Kai and I replaced the walls and roof at the far end, Kai reinstated the roof’s original arch. The door end has kept its arch and the middle is all wonky and flattened out, so all in all another challenge to deal with. The professional lined out our options to go with and of we went to Home Depot to buy OSB to line the entire ceiling with, this way we had a solid surface to nail into throughout. Day 1 we ended with pinning the first row of tongue and groove and for me a lot of excitement and a tired body.
Day 2 we launched right into the tongue and groove, Damon put me to the job of pinning while he chopped the boards into length. Once we got towards half way tension started building and the cedar planks needed Damon’s oomph to stay in place while I pinned them. I thought considering the wonkiness, we had to do not much adjusting. It just looks fantastic!

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Sneak Preview and Learning about Listening to the Flow

5/8/2015

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Oh I’ve got to share this! I was soo excited yesterday morning I was jumping up and down and in circles. OK, just inside, I was driving a good part of the morning, but it felt like being a kid at Christmas.

What was it all about? Hardwood flooring. You see I didn’t think I could afford hardwood flooring and settled for laminate early on in the project. I bought a secondhand lot from UsedVictoria in January. And a nuisance it has been ever since, not having had a place to store it I drove around with it in my car for several months and only just reclaimed my trunk. It is still advertised for reselling.

Kalina being situated in the rainforest and making her habitable starting with the removal of rot and mold, I didn’t feel good about putting in laminate any longer. The alternative seemed to be linoleum but that didn’t make my heart sing either. So after long internal debating and a busy universe creating (my brain twirling around endless thoughts) I asked myself ‘what do you really want?’ ‘Hardwood!’ was the answer.’ So then look for hardwood and trust’.

Within a couple of weeks plenty of affordable lots came up, most of them not quite enough square footage. But I took it as a sign the right post would come along. And then there was this post I just wasn’t sure about was there a pull or wasn’t there? The price was more than perfect $40! The colour was too red for my really liking it and would 90 square’ be enough? A week goes by I am waiting for a better pst to come along. Thehe add still being up as if waiting for me to get into gear. So I finally get onto my ‘to do’ list and approach a mathematically inclined friend to calculate the area of my wheel wells and floor tiles. Turns out with 90 sq’ I have way more than I need. Yesterday morning I went to pick it up and in real life the wood turned out to be brown not red. What a bonus and a left over from the building of a luxury apartment building downtown.

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Being with the flow, oh Benjamin

5/7/2015

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It isn’t always about getting things done. Be masterful, go where the flow takes you and be ok with changing your agenda.

As the ReStore was on my way today I felt a pull to see what’s there to tick a box on my wanted list. I was thinking of hardwood flooring though I had already determined, even at their pricing it still doesn’t fit my budget. You never know just maybe but no.

So I perused the paint section once again. My last paint job is a couple of years back and once again it was poor paint requiring 3 coats. I promised myself then, my next paint job would be with paint from Benjamin Moore. I didn’t see any cans of this brand on their shelves all year but today there was one solitary one gallon can. I reach for it to check the colour dot on the lid. I mean what are the odds that this can contains almost the shade of green I picked out months ago; it’s just a tad darker! Now if that isn’t the divine flow working in action.

Now I have finished painting 2 days ago, one coat of prime and one coat of paint! What a joy. After one last trip to the beach I’ll finish my pebbles, today. To finish the entire fireplace corner I will have to schedule time in the pottery studio to make my tiles. The weekend is booked for doing the ceiling with beautiful tongue and groove clear cedar that found me via UsedVictoria.

Excitement was peeping through every now and then throughout the early days of the build. Now excitement is a constant companion, I can’t wait to move in!

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This Weeks Hero

Sneak Preview and Learning about Listening to the Flow

Being with the flow, oh Benjamin

Linnaea Saleem

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