Back in … finally

We’ve been back in our Galiano house since Aug. 3 with the inside mostly finished, though the outside is not. It is an amazing feeling after 9 months of demolition and rebuilding to be able to live in it again. It feels palatial even though the footprint is the same, largely due to the removal of a couple walls, relocation of a stairwell, and changing of one roofline along with new windows and a sanded floor that is now much lighter in color. New kitchen with vaulted ceiling and cable lighting below. The dark grey cabinetry is the Benjamin Moore color “Raccoon Fur,” which is funny since the dark brown we’ve also used on some walls is Benjamin Moore “Mink,” so many animal references.

The style has gone from a bit dated to thoroughly modern. Kelsey suggested I do a before and after photo comparison in my blog, a great idea, but I think it’s beyond me. She said my “readership” would go way up! Haha!

Photo of living room below with new wood burning stove by Stuv of Belgium. The wood structure out on the deck was a piece of our builder’s workbench and he left this portion which we’ve been using as a breakfast bar. It gave us the idea that we should build in a bar when new railings are installed during the next phase of work (outdoor siding and deck improvements) this fall.

As important as the change in spaciousness and design is the improvement in energy efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint. We had the airtightness test yesterday that should confirm that the house is now twice as energy efficient as it used to be (will use less than half the energy) due to our new fiberglass windows and doors, better insulated walls and ceilings and floors, and trading hydronic baseboard heating for a heat pump and ducting.

The new wood stove is in lieu of the old chimney with insert that was ripped down to make room for our new staircase. People on the islands retain wood stoves because there are frequent power outages in the winter so wood is still popular for heating when the electricity goes out, and even when it doesn’t. The stove sits on a bench that spans the living room and was made with a steel I-beam, giving the living room a touch of industrial chic. I will get cushions made for it on either side of the stove including backrests so it will become part of the living room seating. We’ll fill the area under the bench with wood for the fireplace, which I think will look fab.

My children and their partners are visiting this week and tomorrow is my birthday. It’s so fun to have them and their dogs here but we’ve had one of those “what can go wrong, will go wrong” kind of situations with the pump giving out the day they arrived so no water for the first 24 hours and then the septic field overflowing after we’d had 6 people in the house for a couple days, confirming we need a new septic system, which we’d suspected. After putting so much effort into the house itself, it was a bit of a come down to be realize that despite the gorgeous modern house that looks like it could be in a city, we are still on an island with all our own island infrastructure – a good reminder!

Photos below of Garet and Kelsey and their dog Teddy on the top of the bluffs above our house and of Fraser and Julia and their dog Freya at the “Top of the World” lookout on another hike.

I brought a bit of Berkeley into our Northern retreat by using a few items from my childhood home, sold last year, such as the orange painting in the living room which hung in the same location in my parents’ living room. I also used paint colors from my own Berkeley home and a couple of antique pieces also from my childhood/parents’ home and we bought some gorgeous lights fixtures from Metro Lighting on San Pablo in Berkeley for the powder room.

John has all his family historical items here including all his old photo albums, parents’ documents, beautiful carpets that his parents bought over the years and items from Africa. So it is a melding of each of our histories plus quite a few new items for the space. Dining room, below, sports our amazing view and the same light fixture that John had installed in his Vernon house, sold last year, so we are copying many of our past decisions as our taste is fairly stable.

One of the goals of the remodel was to create a comfortable guest suite on the downstairs level so we could welcome friends and family in style and we achieved that but no photo right now as it’s being lived in and I want to get this blog published. We also got a gorgeous en suite master bathroom with a curb-less shower which we are enjoying greatly. And John got an office on the lower level, which is funny since he is retiring at the end of October, but I’m sure he’ll use it anyway for all those things we end up doing on the computer in this day and age (like write blogs).

I have suffered from decision fatigue and decision insecurity since we arrived in early June. There have been so many choices to make even though we had an architect who made the bulk of them. Still, there have been many small details requiring my input. Usually I’ve been happy with the decision but sometimes there are mistakes, not all of which are easy or possible to remedy, or things I have missed.

Also, this summer has made me realize that staying on the island more or less continuously for several months with trips off only to complete grueling errand days in Victoria is not a sustainable model for my own mental health. It was somewhat necessary since we wanted to be around for the final month or two of finish work but next summer I plan to be more intentional about getting off the island with a friend for a week each month or to visit Kelsey in Portland or head back to Berkeley. Though John feels that he’s found his milieu and has no need for breaks, I am a city girl who, while I very much appreciate and love the beauty of these gulf islands and the community we have found here, also need more off-island time. I suffer from what I’ll call “Island brain” which is an excess of relaxation or might be low-grade depression. I can tell it’s happening when I stop doing my exercises and don’t write my blog; the term “she ground to a halt” comes to mind.

So I am now ready for a break from the life of remodeling and rebuilding and being on an island so it’s good that I am returning to Berkeley on Sept. 10th. There are still what feels like an infinite number of projects to complete here but I look forward to plugging back into my Bay Area activities and reconnecting with friends. All those other projects will just have to wait until next summer if they depend on me.