Cusp of new season brings new list of chores, checks
With just a few days to go, it’s time to prepare yourself for the inevitable: fall fixes.
These should only take a week to accomplish. And now could be a great time for them if they’ll mean keeping windows open (while the weather is still decent). Move it outside: It’s time to clean out the gardens, cut back plants and plant bulbs for spring glory. This is likely one solid weekend day — or a call to a garden or landscaping company that can come and take care of your cleanup if your schedule doesn’t allow you time. While you’re filling up yard waste bags, get those eavestroughs and downspouts cleaned out. The honey-do list: These items include repairs to paint scratches, squeaky hinges, door seals that don’t quite seal and lock sets that require jiggling and finessing. Most of the products required to make those repairs suggest that you use them in a well-ventilated area, so take advantage of open windows. Heating and cooling: Now’s the time to make sure your furnace is in good working shape. Right now you might be able to survive without it, but not so true in a month or two. Call in a service technician to clean and service the furnace; you can take care of the filter changes. Consider a programmable Wi-Fi thermostat. I love my Nest system, and look forward to checking out Onelink by First Alert when it arrives in Canada this fall.
For safety, check your carbon monoxide alarm — and consider installing one on every floor of your home. As of October 15, it’s the law in Ontario for homes (single family or multi-unit) to have a carbon monoxide alarm installed adjacent to all sleeping areas.
The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs recommends you “check all smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to make sure they work, and change the batteries.”
In homes that have big temperature fluctuations from floor to floor, consider a product like AeroSeal, which plugs every small leak in the duct system to get the heat and cooler air where you want it. When I used it at my home, it eliminated the equivalent of a 36-inch square hole over the entire system. Paint and paper: This is a project that can take anywhere from a day to weeks. You have to first decide what areas are going to be painted. Anything that requires a paint brush — as opposed to a roller — will take longer and be more expensive. For instance, trim work, baseboards, crown mouldings and railings take more time while walls take less.
Deciding what colours you want may require the help of a designer or several trips to the paint store. If you’re hiring a professional painter, you’ll need to confirm exactly what you’re painting in what colours. Preparing for a paint job is the most consuming part of the process and the most important. Be prepared for some mess, like drywall dust.
While painting can have a dramatic effect on your space and give you that change you’re seeking, wallpaper can also have a big impact. With so many extraordinary designs now on the market, wallpaper is making a huge comeback. Goodquality wallpapers should not give you any difficulty if you choose to remove it, so don’t let that thought crash in on your dreams. Furniture overhaul: It may be that some of your decor pieces have made their way to a university dorm and you need to replace them. Or maybe it’s just time to start again on a room. If you’re thinking custommade, it’s reasonable for a piece to take eight to 10 weeks. And though the holiday season seems a long way off, having your home ready in time for the big gathering of family and/ or friends means you need to select and order furniture items very soon if you really want to have them in time. Consider some professional advice and assistance in pulling it all together, especially if you’re overhauling an entire room at once. Planning is the key to success here. Full-on renovations: If your reno is fairly small — like adding pot lights, replacing fixtures in the bathroom, re-doing your backsplash and countertops, or changing the flooring in a room — you’ve got time to get it done before company arrives.
If it’s a medium-sized job — renovating a bathroom — you’ll need at least a month to plan the space before you place the orders for the elements you’ll need. A custommade vanity may take as long as six weeks, and spaces like bathrooms require several different tradesmen.
Larger renos like additions, finished basements, new kitchen layouts and removing walls to open up rooms are projects that — unless they’re already underway — will likely not get finished in time for the holidays. Your best bet would be to start planning now so that you can begin after all of the festivities are complete. Glen Peloso appears every two weeks in New in Homes & Condos. He is principal designer of Peloso Alexander Interiors, national design editor of Canadian Home Trends magazine and a design expert on The Marilyn Denis Show on CTV. Contact him at pelosoalexander.com, follow on Twitter at @peloso1 or @glenandjamie, and on Facebook.