The Basement { Part II : Closets and Contractors }
I’m kind of a hypocrite. I have a very strong dislike of wood paneling. But if I call it bead board and plan to paint it white…suddenly it’s chic to me. I can’t explain my thought process. At any rate, the stairs and laundry center are lined with bead board. And I like it.
For me, one of the hardest parts of a project is outsourcing the stuff we can’t do ourselves. It’s not a control thing. I like skills…but really, I don’t have a desire to be a master plumber or a wiring guru. It’s definitely not that I think I could do better. Some things I would gladly leave to the pros. Maybe it’s the money. Maybe it’s that I don’t know enough about construction to know what is fair or what is necessary–so I get flustered. It’s just hard.
But, there comes a time on every major project that a contractor is needed. So, after the studs were up and the walls were framed in…it was time for me to make some calls. I guess that’s the other hard part about contracting jobs out: the calls. I don’t know who to call. Half the time I don’t even know where to start. And after a terrible experience with an electrician during the bedroom remodel…I’ve been a little wary that I’d get another dud.
When I look for a contractor here’s my basic process. Step 1. Ask for referrals. From real people. That I really {at least kind of} know in real life. The Internet is good for reviews, but I trust a face to face review over five stars on Google. I ask around at church, the gym, the coffee shop…basically anywhere I can get a small-talk conversation going about my latest project.
Step 2. Internet. I like to cross check word of mouth referrals with the what people are saying online. If asking around didn’t yield any results I go to Angie’s List. It’s a bonus if they are registered with the BBB.
Step 3. Call at least three. Get them to come out and give you a quote. See what they think would be best for your project. I give preference to contractors that don’t look at me like I’m an idiot when I explain that we’d like to do part of the work ourselves…and who don’t seem judgy that a girl is lining up the project.
We got three quotes on electric and three quotes on plumbing. And as luck would have it, they were able to come during the same week. That was really nice because once the studs were up there really wasn’t much we could do ourselves until the fancy stuff was taken care of.
During their estimate visits, the electricians brought a slight code violation to my attention. Turns out you can’t put a circuit panel in the back of a closet…awkward. Really, it makes perfect sense…but we hadn’t thought about it. As to prevent a fire hazard…we changed the layout of our closet.
You can see the closet in the photo below. The panel is that open boxy thing right under the joists to the right of the window. Originally the closet would have gone all the way to the ceiling and been flush with the side of the circuit housing. To leave it exposed we created a shelf/cubby closet next to the full height closet. Make sense? I don’t look at it as losing closet width, but gaining a cubby and a shelf. {Lemonade, am I right?}
The electricians came and did their preliminary work and told us to call them back to the job once we had the drywall and ceiling in place.
The plumbers came and did something similar. They roughed in the basic set up then came back to finish. This meant we got to go shopping for the fixtures we wanted. After weeks of 2×4’s and toe nailing getting to even think about shower stalls and sinks made it feel like we were getting places.
The plumbers were kind enough to let us fix the concrete that they had to jack hammer up in their process. It took an afternoon for Derek to get it done…but in the end we saved about $300 by doing it ourselves! {And it was pretty easy with the help of that darling baby cement mixer we rented for $20! Notice the girl with the bad back…who was unable to lift or help in the concrete process at all was calling it “easy”…}
Next time I write about the basement I’ll show off the bathroom {it’s nearly done now!} and I’ll tell you a very embarrassing story. But right now, I’m off to sort some more senior photos and cut some door casing.
Amy
Ghosts of North Dakota | Balfour, ND Senior Session
Once upon a time when I was new to Practically Canada I was strolling through our local bookstore. For the first time ever, I laid eyes on one of the Ghosts of North Dakota photo books. Instantly, I was captured. Naturally I gravitate toward desolate, creepy things–it’s a quirk that leads me to long walks in cemeteries and a love of all things fall. {But now I’m getting off topic.}
Ever since that first peek at Ghosts of North Dakota, I’ve thought a session in one of the Practically Canadian ghost towns would be simply the best. I also knew it would take a very special senior to pull off such a sweet spot…it would also take a special senior to want to trek out to a ghost town with me for their senior portraits.
Maddie is that special senior. While eating Easter dinner with her family {they were kind enough to take Derek and me in for the holiday} we started chatting about photos. She told me she wanted something really different. She likes vintage, she’s got timeless beauty, and for some reason enjoys my company enough that she and her mom didn’t mind spending an hour in the car with me en route to our location. She was perfect for this location. I’m so glad she was game for a ghost town and I’m so excited to share this preview with all of you tonight.
My Favorite Sidewalk Chalk Supplies
I’ve been so flattered by the very kind and positive comments about ChalkFest. A few people have asked what I used to make the mural and get such nice crisp lines. Instead of tell you…I thought I’d show you. I used a combination of tools. I bought everything at my local Wal-Mart. Everything was cheap. In the $3-6 range. I was super pleased with everything I bought, but here’s the skinny on every product I used.
{I forgot to mention in these graphics that the chalk I used was Crayola and the paint supplies are all from RoseArt.}
With the chalk markers be super sure you get all the paint mixed up really good…otherwise it’ll clog. Also, this is really better for older artists because the paint comes out really fast.
I really loved the chalk paint mixes and if you want to skip all the products you could easily just use it with brushes instead.
Happy drawing!
The Basement {Part 1}
Things fell off the blogging cliff for a while here. It’s amazing the things you’ll cut out of your life when you are under a mountain of stress and deadlines. Showering and leg-shaving are always among the first time suckers I cut out when I need a little extra work time. {Don’t judge me.} But at a certain point other things get cut too…and unfortunately over the last few months, blogging about our basement project has been one of those things.
Today that changes.
Partly because some of you have asked. Partly because some of my family probably will never see this amazing redo in person {due to an impending move}. Partly because I’m crazy impressed with the skills Derek and I have shown. It’s been like living inside HGTV. {That’s still a thing, right? It’s been years since we’ve had cable.} Maybe I should say it’s been like living inside This Old House Magazine. {My current fave reading material.}
As to avoid sensory overload, let’s all refresh our memories on where we started. When we moved in, we loved our house. There isn’t an abundance of square footage, but that’s okay–it’s just two people and a cat–so we don’t need too much space. But from the get-go we knew we planned to finish the basement to add a little more living space and a second bathroom.
We got settled and for the first 18 months of life in Practically Canada used the basement for storage and laundry only. A lot of storage. Storage of all the things I just couldn’t part with–even though they wouldn’t fit into our 1200 square foot abode…because “Someday we’ll have more space and I know we’ll be happy we saved __________.” Storage of my vast collection of seasonal decor and craft supplies. Vast. It looked like this.
It’s embarrassing to show this to you. But we did the best with what we had–and I’m pleased to admit that I’ve parted with/used up quite a bit of what you see in the photo above.
There were a few weird walls up, some wood paneling, crazy wiring and two “work benches.”
We didn’t get lots of water in our basement…but on occasion {after heavy rains or when all the snow finally melts in spring} we did get a little flooding around the edges. So. We cleared everything out and took down all the walls to expose the foundation. Then we hired Innovative Basements to do some waterproofing for us. We have been so happy with the results–pricy but worth it. Totally worth it.
Innovative basements puts a drain around the edge of the foundation {jack hammered and placed into the floor}. Then they cover the walls with vinyl-plasticy sheeting. If water comes in, it drips down the plastic, into the drain and is pumped out.
This all happened last summer. {Yes, a full year ago.} Really we wanted to be working on this sooner. But there was that whole back surgery thing. Followed by the need for a new roof. Having a finished basement will be nice–but we refuse to go broke over home improvement. So we put this project on hold until we saved up a little more money and gave me some time to heal.
Flash forward. While I was still struggling with a back that just refused to feel better–we started in on the basement. I helped plan. Derek did the heavy work. I pulled out nails and staples. Derek and manly friends started framing walls. Sometimes I held a stud in place. Sometimes I got really cranky because I wanted to help–but couldn’t.
Through medical and spiritual intervention, my back has {finally} started to improve over the last month and a half. {God is good!} So I’ve finally been able to help a little more…not with heavy lifting. But I can do a lot more than before and I’ll take it. I’m so excited to be feeling better that I can hardly keep myself away from the project. I’m currently writing this post from the coffee shop–where I’ve been working all day–because if I were home, I’d be itching to do something in the basement.
I’ve been learning so much through the process of working on this space. I’m collecting skills like 90’s kids collected Beany Babies. Love it.
So there. That’s part one. And I know it’s not the pretty reveal you might have been hoping for. But I’ll post more. Promise. I’m also getting a wide angle lens for my camera so I can get nicer photos of the space. So far they’ve all been snapped with my phone {like that isn’t obvious…} Stay tuned and check back. I’ll relive the stories and awkward moments for your enjoyment.
Have a beautiful Thursday.
Amy
My Three Sons { a sneak peek }
When Denise first emailed me to inquire about a photo session for her three sons, she used the words “fun” and “playful” to describe the feeling she wanted to communicate. I am so glad those are the adjectives she chose, because had she said, “posed” and “traditional,” I don’t think I could have delivered on that promise.
I’ve found that the best photos are those that match the personality of the subjects. Serious people take really nice serious photos. Zany people can pull off wacky poses. It’s all about knowing yourself, and as a photographer, knowing your audience. Denise knows her audience very well. Her sons are very sweet and very handsome–but two out of the three have a hard time sitting still. {I’ll give you one guess as to who’s who.} So instead of sitting and posing, we played and ran around and laughed…and the younger two did a little whomping on their {dazzlingly patient} older brother. All in all, I think we had fun {at least I did} and hopefully the two little ones were worn out by the end of it all.
I’m pretty much in love with this series of images. It’s all fun and games to the middle child–meanwhile the well meaning youngest just giggles.
While the boys were laying on the blanket the little ones were pretending to sneeze–then laughing wildly. I still don’t quite understand why it was so funny. To me the funniest part was that one would go, “Ahh, Ahhh, ahh…” then roll over toward toward Jordan {big brother} and let out a spit-shooting “CHOO!” Then they’d laugh again and roll around, occasionally giving Jordan a solid hit on the head…or kick to the belly.
The moral of the story is, I love people with personality–and I love parents that are eager to let that personality show in photos. That’s the Art of the Moment. I’m sure as time goes on, they’ll learn to sit still–and stop hitting–and smile on command–and stop pretending that they just “fell asleep” with closed eyes and gaping mouth when Mom requests that they look at the camera {yes, that was happening}–but I think these things are precious and worth remembering. Unabashed childhood and confidence to be a full fledged goof ball on picture day are fleeting. I think it’s a stage of life worth freezing and keeping forever.
ChalkFest {Minot Sidewalk Chalk Mural }
Hemingway once wrote, “The earth laughs in flowers.” That might be true…but a few weeks ago the earth was laughing with flowers, butterflies, rainbows, ice cream cones and a few basketballs…or at least that’s what our community chalk mural was filled with.
A few weeks ago I was the featured artist at Minot’s Arts in the Park series–from the arts council. And…in an effort to draw a bigger {maybe younger} crowd I decided to create an interactive sidewalk chalk mural. 1.) Because I love side walk chalk–and all chalk, really. 2.) Because I really like to think up ways to get the community involved in art. And…3.) Because I get nervous being “featured” at anything–I’d rather make up some activity and trick others into hanging out with me. Yes, I’m really that awkward and creepy.
I put this flyer out on the web just a few days before the event {it was a last minute decision.} And I was so impressed at how kind people in town were to share it. Minot really is hungry for fun things to do…so folks are eager to share and spread the word.
And I think it paid off. We did have a bigger and younger crowd. I started with this blank canvas…and if I did it all over again, I’d bring a broom to sweep up the goose poop and dirt before I started drawing. {I touched a lot of goose poop with my bare hands that night…} Before the concert I drew in the quote and outlined a few flowers. When folks arrived, I encouraged them to color in an outline or draw flowers–since that was the theme–but I don’t like to be bossy, so really there were no rules.
I was hoping we’d get more people who stopped in and contributed a flower or two–and some did–but I was just as content with the solid stream of kiddos and teens who stayed and colored with me the whole night. Some even stayed after the band had packed up and gone home.
In the end, I think it came out pretty well. Colorful, joyful, summery. If the earth laughs in flowers, I honestly believe sidewalks smile in chalk.
Amy
The Winningham Family {Sneak Peek}
Hey everybody–it’s time for you to meet the Winningham family. This is a very special session for me to be showing off to you…because it’s the first session I shot with my beautiful, brand new camera. Yes, that’s right–it was time for an {early} upgrade. My other camera took a dive at the very end of Ethan’s session and it turned out to be super expensive to fix. Bummer. But–the upside is that I LOVE my new camera.
This sweet family was kind enough to move their session date while we waited for my new model to arrive. {I’m telling you, they are a great bunch!} And after the waiting and schedule shifting we ended up with a gorgeous day. Even the wind and mosquitoes behaved {very unusual} while we shot these fresh family photos.
I’m super stoked about how these images are turning out–and this is only a small sampling of a few of my favorites. I’ll be busy the next few days finishing up and getting the whole shabang loaded onto a flash drive. So–if you are a Winningham, be on the lookout for your photos to arrive in about a week.
If you aren’t a Winningham–keep watching the blog here. I’ve got two awesome seniors, a wedding, and a quirky group of brothers soon to appear–AND–I’ll finally get around to showing off the progress we are making in the basement. I know, I know…it’s been far too long since we’ve done a project together. I’ll show you how our dungeon is shaping up next week.
Amy
Ethan Class of 2016 { Golden Hour Senior Portraits }
This is Ethan. You might see a family resemblance between him and his brother Andrew–class of 2015. Ethan is officially the first senior of the season. I am simply in disbelief that we are looking at 2016 seniors! I’m mean, that’s crazy–right?!
He is smart and kind and extremely wise for a soon-to-be-senior in high school. As you might have guessed, I know Ethan outside of portrait sessions. Getting to know him over the last three years has been such an honor…and getting to capture his senior portraits was the icing on the cake. We had a great time and awesome weather for shooting these golden hour senior portraits–with creamy light that was just right.
One of my very favorite parts of Ethan’s session was shooting some musical images in Minot State’s Anne Nicole Nelson Hall. He is a very talented musician, and it was amazing to hear him play some classical jams on such a beautiful instrument in such a beautiful space.
As usual, I’m so flattered that Ethan trusted me to capture this important milestone! {Seniors portraits are my absolute favorite!!…sorry babies and brides!}
PS–Come over to the Amy Allender Facebook page to vote for one of Ethan’s images. If at least 40 people chime in with an opinion, he’ll get a free 8×10″ print of the favorite!
Reunion {extended family sneak peek}
On Memorial Day I popped in my latest audio book and headed to Kenmare–a small community about an hour away from Minot to shoot some very special family portraits. Okay, in my opinion, all family portraits are very special. But this was a particularly special morning because it was a family reunion of sorts. Not the kind with T-shirts and organized activities…something more casual. A gathering of extended family, together in one place, photos included. But, since our language doesn’t have a good word for that kind of gathering, I’ll just call it a “reunion.”
I love shooting extended families. There is so much variety packed in to a short amount of time. It’s like shooting back to back micro sessions. Each individual family got a few photos, a photo with Grandma and Grandpa, then–of course–we tackled a photo of all the kids and the whole, big group. What fun! And we couldn’t have asked for a prettier morning, or a prettier property so shoot on! I simply adore the North Dakota countryside.
Now, as you look through these images you might notice something. Out of 13 cousins there is one one female. That means I was photographing lots of boys. Young boys. Now, I don’t think it takes a professional photographer to guess which gender is more willing to sit still in front of the camera. You guessed it: not boys. So with 12 of them running every direction and asking {once or twice} “When are we gonna be done?” “Are we doing more pictures?” It goes without saying that we had our hands full.
However, I’m nothing if not tenacious. So we wrangled, I told a few terrible jokes, and everyone looked lovely. I’d even go so far as to say a couple of them might have actually had fun…or at very least, they discovered that picture day isn’t as bad as they originally thought it might be.
It’s wacky. And I like it.
Then, at the very end I did a few individual shots of the kiddos belonging to the family who arranged for me to come. What handsome guys! {Don’t you just love the photo with the rooster?!}
Thank you to all of these lovely families who trusted me to capture this fun get together! Your images are nearly done. Feel free to share, post and tag yourselves!
Amy
The Anderson Family {Sneak Peek}
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the Anderson Family farm. The country setting, hot sun and cool morning breeze made this session feel idyllic. I loved capturing this family just as they are, in a place that they feel comfortable and playful. It was a morning filled with fences, lilacs, grass, and the promise of Popsicles for children who smile for “just a couple more.” I am so blessed and flattered that they chose me to freeze these special moments in time.
