The Calm Before the Storm...

We're poised to storm into the renovation of the first-floor unit early Monday morning. It will be our first foray into the inner depths of the Special. Working on the fence was a practical first step for us: it was a small, controlled, and isolated project that we built from scratch. Getting into the actual residence leaves me feeling a bit nervous as it has many more unknown variables and a timeline/budget with real financial consequences.

The budget for the unit is $7000 and we are giving ourselves 3 weeks to complete the cosmetic upgrades. Wow, suddenly it feels quite real now. So you're probably wondering what exactly we're going to do? Well, check out these pictures and the directives are more than clear!

Yikes! The yellow countertops and back splash along with these dark faux-wood plastic cabinets make me cringe.

What's with the color yellow? Here it is again in the flooring. All the nasty brown doors will be painted out white and 4" trims added.

Bye, bye "harvest gold" toilet and tub!

This chandelier is actually salvageable. Imagine it painted out white... from totally grimy to totally shabby chic!

Here's the plan of attack:

1. Paint & Drywall Repairs- We will essentially be whiting out the entire apartment from top to bottom to give a crisp, clean impression. Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White CC-20 will play the staring role in this production. Apparently, the secret to this ultimate white of all white paints is the 1 drop of black and 2 drops of yellow in the recipe.

2. Kitchen - Revamping the kitchen will consist of painting the existing cabinetry, installing new appliances, and applying a new tile back splash.

3. Flooring - The choice was clear here, TrafficMaster vinyl plank flooring in "Rustic" looks and feels like a million bucks. Amazingly, all you need to install it is a pair of scissors! We were sold on this product even before we saw it in all the Chapters bookstores here in Vancouver, so we're confident it will hold up for a long time.

4. Bathroom - We're installing a new tub, toilet, mirror, and the biggy - tiling.

5. Lighting - We will replace most of the lighting fixtures and salvage what we can with a black paint makeover. We began to paint over some sconces earlier this week and here's how we went about it:

This is the layout from House & Home that gave us the idea.

Matt found these sconces at Rona in North Vancouver that were on sale for $21.

Here I am spraying 3 pairs of the lights with a Tremclad primer.

The finished product after 2 coats of flat black spray paint. What do you think?

Since the fence project, we have purchased most of the materials and researched installation methods for these proposed changes and (my favorite activity) collected additional inspiration for the upcoming makeover. Here are some photos illustrating the all-white look:

Here is that type of sconce again. Using outdoor lighting on the inside may be a new trend?

I love the white cabinets and subway tiles in the running bond. Modern and timeless.

The all white interior with black accent lighting looks clean and fresh.

Matt will begin work at 6am on Monday and I hope he leaves the house quietly. We will end this post on a positive note...we ran into the listing agent of our Special who praised the fence and estimated that we added $25 - $30k to the value of the house! Sounds outrageous to us, but nice to hear in any case.