115) Frenzied Finishing

D blitzed through this weekend, and we managed to get everything crossed off our lists (except emptying moving boxes, but the weekend isn’t quite over!)

We built a window seat, faced with flooring pieces that weren’t suitable for the floor. The foam (and temporary cover) is from a foamie I found in a Vancouver alley. The cushions are from our flooded-out IKEA condo couch before the restoration company had to take away the particle-board couch (For those of you who have never been flooded-out, it had to be discarded because, like most IKEA furniture, it’s made of particle-board, which immediately absorbs water and swells – who knew?) I have made a vow to not have IKEA furniture in our home, in the interests of longevity.

I finished the second-growth fir baseboards. They were milled in Powell River, which is technically close-by on the Sunshine Coast, although a ferry-ride away. Originally, I thought we would use the fir 2x4s from an 100-year-old warehouse-turned-film-studio in Vancouver, but the material simply wasn’t wide enough. (Our daughter has used some of it and some flooring strips to make herself a desk.)

Much of what we accomplished, by way of sawing, planing, edging, filling, sanding, staining, and finishing, is not particularly visible. The windy, snowy weather has been challenging, to say the least, blowing the sawdust into our faces, making an ordeal of the trip down to the crawl-space for some piece of lumber/equipment, and generally keeping us inside by the fire as much as possible.

We have finished the built-in nooks/shelves, using old flooring (again!) for the trim. We have painted the stairwell and added handrails.

Another development is that we have met a couple of our new neighbours, who have moved from Vancouver, like us. Until now, we have mostly met tradespeople and closer neighbours. I’m hoping this is a harbinger of our new social world. People come to the Sunshine Coast for a reason – we like the slower pace, the affordability, the landscape, little traffic, and maybe even the artistic demeanor of many who live here. The building project will, inevitably, end. Our new Sunshine Coast life will begin.

Tagged as: baseboards, buying locally, finishing, IKEA furniture, new neighbours, new social life, paricle-board furniture, re-using fir floor, window seat