Monthly Archives: October 2013

We had a great time yesterday during the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Laneway House Tour.  We had about 275 people come through, and got to speak with quite a few of them.

Thanks if you came by!

Novell had really put a lot of effort into getting the place ready.  Friday the place was crowded with hard-working trades:

Click to embiggen

The day of the show, the outside was painted so you could see what our home will look like when it’s finished. They had tidied up the front with river rock and gravel, so it looked nice.  Very nice!

Don’t be fooled by comparing the garage door opening to the height of the gentleman standing inside.  He is very tall.

Inside, it was hard to believe the chaos of the day before had created such calm and terrific-ness.  (Remember, the electricity had been hooked up the day before). All the pot lights were in, and looked great.

In the kitchen most of the cabinets were up (Good work, John from Pacific Rim Cabinets!) and they look fantastic.  They are finished in walnut and the grain matches exactly across the span of doors.  They look just like fine furniture — just the look we are going for in our combined kitchen/dining/sitting space.

The Blomberg fridge and stove from Colony looked super, and we were able to check out the new appliances for how much they can hold (DD will want some help with Christmas dinner, but we’ll have to see if the new oven can hold a big turkey).

Even our kitchen sink was in place, though the counters won’t be installed for another couple of weeks.  We wanted, needed, insisted on a double sink, and though it does take up valuable counter space, we are glad to have it.

The floor was finished upstairs, but the installers were not able to put it in the lower floor as the levelling concrete they had poured was not solid enough.  Novell put down some carpets to keep our shoeless visitors comfortable.

The beautiful tiling was in place in our teensy wash room.  The sink and toilet were there just to indicate where they’ll be installed when the room is finished.

Novell had a plan of the home pinned up in our “closet” area, with numbers corresponding to special features.  Design build efficiencies like the wall thickness, radiant heat, and the mechanical room placement.  Tight space fixes like the shoe storage in the staircase and the garage storage placed up high.  And healthy home solutions like the sundeck and the living roof.

LanewayFeatures20131019 (click to see the pdf)

Grant was there from Live Roof to explain all the advantages of having a living roof.  Everyone wanted to see it, we were happy to oblige, and it looked terrific.

Many thanks to the Vancouver Heritage Foundation and to the volunteers who helped with the crowds.  Cheers, Kim, Maureen, Deb and Sandra.

And thanks to the fantastic blog readers who came up to say hello.  You made my day!

We cannot keep away now — we drop by the house every day.  And every day we see more developments.

Today we couldn’t enter the house because we could hear the whine of the paint sprayers inside.  We admired the siding appearing on the exterior and the forms all ready for the concrete walkway and deck.

The rush is on, not just for us, but also for the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Laneway House Tour on Saturday.  We’re chuffed to be part of the tour, and want to put our best face forward.

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation is happy to have us, and have even put our picture in the invitation:

That’s our crew.  Cute, yes?

Local media are writing up the tour, as in this story in the Vancouver Courier. The house and laneway featured in this story are up in Marpole.

“It originally sat here on a larger piece of property and was one of the original south Granville farmhouses built in 1912. It would be one of the very few surviving houses in the neighbourhood,” said Roberts, who’s owned it for about five years.

Laneway homes are being celebrated for helping retain the charm and character in older neighbourhoods while still supporting densification.

Will we see you on Saturday?  We’ll be there, and the house will be about 90% finished.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that BC Hydro will have us hooked up by the time of the tour, but that is completely beyond our control.  Except for the finger crossing of course.

Novell has promised to have something special for people who come to our house.  And N.A.T.S. Nursery might be there, too to talk about living roofs.

Hope to see you!  Be sure to say hello.