Now You, Too, Can Stay in the Little Blue House!

Fall Colours at the LBH

We have some big news to share with you... you heard it here first!

We will be opening the Little Blue House (LBH) to guests starting in June. Our tiny Gold Rush home will be available to rent through Airbnb from June until September. We were hesitant to do this at first, but it is too lovely not to share.

Plus, we think that the revenue we generate through some seasonal rentals will help us to finish the restoration of the LBH. So, that is a good thing.

And, we are quite sure that guests will take care of our 122-year old cottage, and that they will love it as much as we do.

Please share this news far and wide, and we would appreciate it if you share a link to our listing on Airbnb with any of your friends and family who may be planning a getaway to beautiful Atlin, BC!

Here is a link to our listing:

Stay in the Little Blue House!

The LBH in September, 2019

New Blue!

We are getting close to being finished with painting. If you've ever painted a house, you will understand that the work is all in the preparation. It's especially so when you have 118 years of lead paint removal to deal with!

We have completed the north wall, minus a few pieces of new siding that will be installed (removed due to rot when the foundation was redone). We also completed the main front wall of the house. I will post more pics in the coming week. It was precarious work. 

The two walls in the corner "L" are primed and ready for the new blue. The south wall, which was the most weather damaged, has been sanded. We still haven't done any trim or soffits...

How does it look so far?

Sneaky Peeky

Here's a hint about what we've started... Oh, and we've such a long way to go!

Painting

Next project: a makeover for the old girl! We are starting with the addition at the rear of the LBH. We sanded, cleaned and primed the exterior. The addition is about 20-25 years old. The exterior paint isn't in bad shape. But we're changing the colours slightly. Don't worry, it'll still be the Little BLUE House! The north side is in the best condition, as the weather here comes predominantly from the south.

North Side, Addition

The east side wasn't too bad either. As the primer was drying, the wasps were already trying to gain access to the uncovered vents. They were denied access! I gently relocated many spiders as I was painting this wall. Our youngest child was relieved to see that no spiders were harmed during this project...

East Wall

Finally, we got the south side of the addition ready. This is going to be the toughest side once we get to the original part (age: 118 years) of the house. We plan to tackle that part in early July when the kids are with their grandparents! I've ordered a lead-testing kit from the hardware store, although we're quite sure that amongst the 4-5 layers of paint, lead will be present.

At least the addition seems fairly straightforward to paint. No ancient, flaking lead paint. I should get to it within the next 3-5 days. I'm hoping the rain will go away!

Side Entrance, South Side

Bay Window Panels are Done!

We chose colours for the exterior of the LBH a while back... We were going to paint last summer & then we kinda got lazy. So we didn't paint the house. We actually sat around and drank beer. 

However, we designed decorative panels to go under each leaded glass window in our "bay window room," facing First Street in Atlin. Then our trusty carpenter built them for us! He installed them last week, and they look amazing!

It gives you an idea of what the LBH will look like when the rest of the house is painted. At least then it'll be finished on the outside, right? That is our major project for this summer. It'd be great if we could build a small balcony for the front door, too...

We are very happy with how the panels look. Way to go, Rick! Thank you!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I have a good feeling about this year. 2016! The past several months have brought much change, for the good... I believe I'm going to have more time to spend at our LBH this year, working on the restoration, and blogging about it. 😊

I retired from my career as an airline pilot, which was taking over my life... Now I am enjoying more time with my family, living in the present (more than ever) and also reflecting on what will come next. Work of some kind, but I don't know yet... Certainly I will work on fixing up our tiny, former brothel - it needs more attention!

I wish you health & happiness in this new year!

A New Crapper!!

We finally have a new outhouse! It's a beauty, if one can say such a thing about a crapper... Our kids were fascinated when we explained the origin of that word.

It was built by Eldorado Log Builders in Whitehorse, a board and batten design. It replaces our ancient outhouse (aged 100 years??). My husband & my dad towed it to Atlin, with lots of passers by staring and pointing along the highway. 

They moved it into its new home with the assistance of a masterful Kubota operator in town.

They had to winch several trees apart to get the roof through. 

Old and new. Yay! We are so happy that we no longer have to fear falling in...

Parlour

As we pause with our interior renovations, we figure that we might as well make it comfortable. What do you think?

Drywall is Going Up!

Here's the parlour with its new plywood ceiling and interior insulation added between the strapping. Our contractor has been busy this week with these additions in the parlour and front bedroom. He's hanging drywall!

It makes me feel as if we are on the home stretch, at least for this phase. After the rest of the 2 rooms are drywalled, he will mud & prime the walls. It'll be warm & useable for us!

I'm going to get measurements for the ceiling in these rooms, and see what the tin ceiling panels will cost. I've got my heart set on them, the pre-painted cream coloured panels are gorgeous & period-perfect... But I'm afraid we won't be able to afford it, especially with the U.S. exchange rate the way it is now (weak Canadian loonie).

We'll see. Worst case, we hang some ceiling lights semi-temporarily and wait a while before we proceed any further. We were going to wait on the wallpaper & refinishing of the fir floor anyways. The coffers are running dry!

More Insulation

Now that the mouse nests have been removed, and wall cavities bleached and cleaned up, we are installing styrofoam insulation panels. They're in big sheets, 2" thick. My husband has a system for measuring & cutting the pieces. We explained to our kids that it's like Tetrus, and they didn't know what we were talking about.

It is satisfying though, when the parts fit together, especially in these irregularly shaped spaces in our ancient walls. We put two pieces in each space, so it's 4" of insulation. This is followed by spray foam in the wee gaps and corners that remain. We finished the gable end wall, on the front of the house. We've lots more to do!

We Have Some Cleaning to Do

Parlour, with Bedroom Trim Piled Up

We are going to attack this mess over the weekend. We will save the pile of trim that came from the bedroom, removing the numerous nails. It's all piled up in the parlour at the moment. I'm not sure how much of it we will be able to use, but we will save it just in case. Perhaps we can use it for something else in the future. The wood is nothing special, but it has this gorgeous patina that only comes with age. It'll be hard to replicate. 

The nasty job - my husband volunteered to do it - involves cleaning up the parts of the old mouse nest that fell through the floor gaps during the demolition of the bedroom wall... Disgusting. It's in our new (previously spotless) crawl space. 

I ordered a new window for the bedroom - the original was not salvageable, with both panes broken & a bent frame. Sad. We were especially sad to part with over $1500 for a new one. Ouch. It was expensive because it's all wood, & has triple panes. Plus, it opens due to the fact that it will be in a bedroom. Oh yeah, it must be shipped from Prince George to Whitehorse, too. Still, I do not wish to repeat this exercise - we plan to keep our original windows, installing storm windows in the future to keep out the draughts. 

Hope you have a great weekend. Happy Mother's Day to the mamas out there!

Kitchen - Ugh

Little Blue House, Spring 2014

Insulation!

Never before seen at the Little Blue House... insulation! We now have new wall joists and insulation in the bedroom. (Actually, the crawl space was insulated last summer when we replaced the home's foundation, so I lied.)

Furthermore, we plan to raise the ceiling about 6 inches. That's fantastic news for my 6'4" husband. It will give us a few more options when it comes to finding a ceiling fixture also. 

Our trusty contractor is going to insulate the ceiling, too. Room by room, this restoration is slowly moving along. Next step: finding a window to replace the one that's broken. We may end up buying a new one. We will of course stick to a period-perfect wood frame sash window. I shudder to imagine what that will cost. I'll let you know.