May 25, 2010

Weekend Update

One weekend. One rec/guest/playroom painted, carpeted and ahhhh sigh, almost done.

Up to this point, the rec// room has been our place to store everything we don't know what to do with. Like piles of Es' clothes she's outgrown (dilemma: should we keep them in case we decide to have a 3rd? ay ay ay); extra furniture that doesn't quite fit in in the house, but yet won't really work with the rec room once completed (dilemma: to keep or donate antique furniture we've collected over the years); old sports equipment and trophies (dilemma: are trophies recyclable?) ha ha. Seriously, I'm just jealous I don't have any of my own, except of course for a second place ribbon in a Grade 10 cheerleeding competition...

According to our sweet neighbour, Fred, who has lived in his house since it was built in '55, the basements in these houses were unfinished. Likely the basement was finished soon after the new owners moved in as trim is similar to the original. Hence the wallpaper (AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!) that matches the wallpaper in the rest of the house.

Egyptian Themed wallpaper. Will be staying up for a l'il bit then the warriors will be photo-documented, conquered (updated) to more modern wallpaper.

The rec room was stylishly finished with vertical teak coloured boards and cream/burgundy patterned linoleum squares similar to the Armstrong ones pictured below:

Courtesy RetroRenovation.

The room is accented with a teak bar, complete with white with gold flecked Formica and a seriously mad, mad atomic style wall bracket light: identical to the Donald from Rejuvenation.




We're trying to be purists, we really are, but the room just felt like a teak cave with cold floors, so we decided to paint the walls a lighter colour and carpet the floor.


Our messy dark teak cave (BEFORE). Bar is located at the back near the highest concentration of crap.

We were sensitive to its original design, however, and left the door and window trim, baseboards and the entire bar in its original teak colour. We also did not carpet behind the bar.

For your viewing pleasure, a photo montage of our progress over the weekend.


Lily and Pops priming the teak. Good closeup of the linoleum pattern.


Hubs painting the ceiling with primer. Yellow from years of a smoker in the house. Reason # 951 never to smoke in your house. Nicotine stains are DISGUSTING and almost impossible to remove from say windows, walls, ceilings, blinds etc. etc.


Me moppin' after painting is finished. Note cute little shuffleboard'esque design of the linoleum. Still intact under the carpet.


After the carpet is installed. Deerfoot again. Of course. Extra padding was added underneath so it's like walking on a marshmallow.



The room complete. Jason polished up the baseboards and trim with our favourite wood preserver, Howard Feed-N-Wax. Made from Beeswax and Orange Oil, this stuff is magic on all things teak and is totally natural, non toxic and fairly inexpensive. I spent a good portion of this week Feed-N-Wax'in my living/dining room trim and teak furniture. Man has my life ever changed. New Swizzle Convertible Sofa Bed from Nood. On sale. Plus no sales tax. Rock on.

Next on the list is to [never] make some curtains with fabric (Kirby Black) from Fabricana in Richmond, BC and build Ikea shelves for toys. We will be adding a teak sideboard of my Gran's to be used as a tv stand.
Now - bring on the visitors! Seriously, we'll take just about anyone at this point.


LP

4 comments:

anne-Margaret said...

Laura,
It looks fantastic and cozy. I love the Nood convertible sofa bed. What a great idea!

Krista Dee said...

Okay. So I had typed out this long-winded, excited paragraph about how I was convinced Calgary had no original houses left because everyone updates everything before they sell, and how thrilled I was to find your blog, and then of course...it got erased in the vast interwebs whilst processing. Blah.

Anyway! Fabulous to find this blog, a fellow Calgarian and someone who is interested in MCM design -- didn't think you existed out there! I am going to spend my lunchour reading up on your home renos, so exciting!!

-Krista

kristadee.wordpress.com
cherrybombkustoms.com

Laura said...

Hi Krista,

Nice to meet another MCM'er in Calgary! Exactly the reason I started this blog - to raise some level of interest in re-using and enhancing original details and design of heritage houses. MCM dominates in a lot of neighbourhoods here but we were hard pressed to find an original house. Do you live in an MCM house as well?

Anonymous said...

Hey Laura,

I wish! We're currently living in a 1940's apartment building in Mission which, unfortunately, has been renovated. It retains some of the original charm, but a lot has been lost with the internal renos for sure. In the next few years I hope to FIND a place that isn't renovated and begin the journey then. Patience is a most annoying thing..

Until then, I suppose I will have to continue to live vicariously through your blog!

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