If you’ve talked to us anytime in the last year, you know we’ve been tackling some bathroom renovations. Well, it started as one bathroom renovation, then it grew from there.

Bathroom #1 – En-Suite

When we bought the house, it came with a leaky shower. We knew this from the inspection and received a price concession on the house. So, for many months we didn’t use the shower. Eventually the demo happened, and very slowly Ianiv built it back up. New insulation, new drywall, waterproof membrane, and eventually tile (this we hired for).

Turned out pretty nice. But still not done. We have yet to:

• Patch the walls
• Add the trim
• Remove old baseboard heater & replace
• Paint
• Hem new shower curtain for window

Bathroom #2 – Guest Bathroom

Since we were already hiring someone to come tile bathroom #1, we figured we’d semi-refinish this bathroom. It was the only room in the house with the original flooring (linoleum) and it was in bad shape. If you’re going to do things right, then you should really do as much of the floor as possible. This meant tearing out the original toilet (blue) and vanity (shell motif).

In our search for a new vanity, we realized most commercial products were the wrong size for our bathroom or were just complete crap. So, we opted to get a custom job. We ended up-selling ourselves for a bamboo vanity. Well, with how nice that looked, you can’t just cheap out on the counter (Home Depot also had a minimum cost spend we couldn’t meet for any counter product). So, we ended up going to a local stone company and had them cut out this gorgeous crema marfil marble. It was installed a couple of days ago. 

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Ok. So I went a little crazy on the whole Christmas tree thing. Last year, I bought what was probably the largest tree I’ve ever owned, at something like 6 or 7 feet. This year, I headed to Rona while there were still lots of trees to choose from and fell in love with the first tree I had them unwrap (a huge feat for me). But, it’s about 9 feet or so tall.

Tamara pictured in 2nd pic to demonstrate scale

Ianiv was not there while I picked it out and the look on his face was priceless. Already thinking about how we’re going to get it out after Christmas. But, with some care, we got the tree home. It was going to go on the second level by our stairs… but, well, it was touching the ceiling and you couldn’t walk around it. Oops. But, it looks great where it is, and is beautiful. A gorgeous, big, symmetrical tree.

Thanks to Tamara for helping to decorate!!

Tags: christmas tree, christmas, decorations, holiday, christmas decorations

We have now been the proud owners of a home in North Vancouver for a year (and 2 days)!

This time last year, we made the crazy choice to buy a house and, if that were not enough, to move in right before Christmas!

We don’t regret it though. We love it here. We have made (some) changes, settled in, and developed a new routine. We have big dreams for this house! Hopefully in 2008 we’ll make a few of them happen.

Happy House-iversary!

Tags: houseiversary, vancouver, north vancouver, home owners