EXCELLENT PROGRESS

Chantale Boulé checking out wall colours

Nothing like panic to help one focus on finding really good professional help. “Team Cottage” has been expanded this week to include Chantale Boulé, a woman who has great ideas and contacts and is also terrific fun. She owns a fabulous shop and decorating business, La Vie de Campagne, and has helped others (including the McEntyres and the Hugh Blakelys) with planning and refurbishing. She is as keen as we are to recycle, reuse, restore and keep to a restricted budget. Best of all, she understands the difference between ‘cottage’ and ‘house’ and is herself a ‘cottage’ person. We are so grateful that she agreed to put herself in our corner along with Jean-Marc (and the Duvals), Michael Werleman and all of you out there.

Chantale and I arrived yesterday to find the porch floors being constructed and the inside walls being taped and plastered. With Chantale's and Jean-Marc's help, the primary wall colour was chosen - it's most appropriately called “birch bark”. We decided on the stain and finish for the wood flooring, and figured out (along with Helen Rutledge who came by) where to store a lot (though not all) of the things that will need a home. And, there was much stress-reducing discussion about the myriad of the other decisions looming. To cap it all off, I bought a salvaged bathtub on claws en route home, and was able to make arrangements to have it restored.

The happy result is that we’re actually beginning to believe that the cottage will be ready enough to host the first church service on July 12th, as planned!

Porch closest to the McEntyres

The to-be-screened-in porch

Helen had lots of great storage ideas

Taping and plastering the master bedroom

BACK FROM VANCOUVER

Edmond's personal basement elevator service

Nancy had a wonderfully busy sojourn in Vancouver where she got to hang out with her and Jim’s super great-niece Kaleigh for a week. She also got to visit briefly with Mo and Dave before they left for Mexico (news flash: they were engaged on Valentine’s Day!!!), as well as have great times with Jeremy, Mahina and adorable, almost 2 year-old Izzy.

When I got home, Dave and Tassy (and Edmond) put out their welcome mat once again and we had a very productive meeting with Jean-Marc and the plumber last Sunday.

The plumbing was all but finished and decisions needed to be made about all the plumbing fixtures – so Marc, the plumber, came equipped with some suggestions and estimates. The walls were mostly ready to tape and plaster, so we needed to choose paint colour right away. Also... what colour did we want to stain the wood floors and how did we want them finished? What did we want the fronts of the kitchen cabinets to look like? Et cetera….et cetera...

Panic set in.

The plumber, Marc Lussier, putting the last touches on the plumbing

There's a great view from the James G Wright memorial basement

The upstairs hall is going to be a wonderful space full of morning light

WALLS ARE THE NEXT STEP

David, Tassy and Edmond were at the cottage at 8:30am on Saturday morning to meet with Nancy and Jean-Marc about the next steps…which falls into the above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty category! It is amazing how warm two small heaters keep the house despite the frigid temperatures outside...Tassy was completely comfortable in a long-sleeved t-shirt!

With the plumbing finished and most of the electrical work done, the Duval team is now installing sound-insulation around the bathrooms and some of the bedrooms in preparation for putting up the walls. This is to start next week, as is building the frame for the fireplace.

coats back on only when it's time to go home

Jean-Marc seeing us out the elegant front door!

LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW!
Nancy is off on Tuesday to Vancouver for a fun week of taking care of Mo’s daughter Kaleigh (while Mo and Dave go on holiday) and visiting Jeremy, Mahina and Isabelle. It will also be a chance to visit with a couple of other close friends. Meanwhile, we thought that those of you who live far away might be interested to see how much snow has fallen at the Lake this winter…

PROGRESS

Nancy had her first cross-country ski since the accident (!!!) with the Rutledges, which included going down to the Lake to see the cottage from there. We then toured the house and found the cement base for the fireplace had been poured…hard to believe that there will be a bathroom tucked into the wooden superstructure that’s been built in the basement to hold it while it dries! The Rutledges had some great ideas – especially about storage in the basement.

cement base for the fireplace

superstructure holding the fireplace base while it's drying

sKate's Visit:

Despite Mel’s and Andrew’s departures, and thanks to a lot of help from son James/Dave, the purging of the Montreal house continues and more boxes have been packed for the Lake. sKate Bryant came to visit and helped take a load to the Ste-Adèle storage locker before going on to the Lake to check on the house.

The Duvals have framed in the other room in the basement – it’s larger than the original one so we think we’ll use the first room as our storage unit and actually furnish this new one.

sKate taking a breather in the storage locker

a larger than expected room in the basement