säɡə noun
a dramatic and often complicated story or series of events
This is Stoneleigh.
And this is our Stoneleigh saga. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a stone home in Guelph, and bring it back to life came our way out of the blue — as most great adventures do — and we jumped in two feet first. There’s no looking back now…
This site is a place for us to share our restoration journey and photos with our family and friends, but also a place we can visualize the progress over the next year.
Painting above by S. Clarke. 2018
Getting Started
It's Day One. By the time we finalized the paperwork and picked up the key to our new castle, it was late afternoon. That didn't stop Arni from swinging a sledgehammer. Within the first hour, the front hall closet was gone.
By the end of Day one, Arni and his trusty sidekicks (an Estwing hammer and whammy bar) had opened up the entire front hallway through to the kitchen. This section had been filled in with a coat closet, so the only way to get to the kitchen was through the dining or living room. Once the hall closet was opened up, the light came flooding through the house. The flooring was already there underneath to carry through the hall. This photo below is looking towards the front of the house from the kitchen.
It just got messier and dustier after that. Thankfully, on our first full demo day, we had lots of help. Thanks David, Sue, Kristin! Alison, Ieva, Brad, Lyndsay, Claudia and Bryan came by to laugh (and brought cards, treats and flowers)! Lloyd and Todd took up the hammer too. Thanks guys!
Kristin, Sue and I spent the first full day stripping wallpaper in the living room. That was only the first layer (there were several, more on that later). I wish I could Photoshop my face here. That's a bad case of poison ivy -- a long story -- but all for the cause.
The First Month
It was late October, and with a long winter ahead, we knew we didn't have much time to get the roof done. It was on the list of high priority items from the home inspection. Thankfully, roofer-extraordinaire and great friend Mike was booked and ready to join the party.
Mikey’s here! Roofer and all-around-great-guy Mike is installing a new roof.
A few hiccups on day one (shingles couldn’t be delivered to the roof due to hydro lines) but the job has started. Saturday was a write-off due to rain, but being a great guy, Mike gave us some valuable help using a shingle-remover shovel to remove flooring in the master bedroom.
The plan for upstairs flooring was originally to install new hardwood over whatever we found under the 40 year old carpeting. But wait! Under the carpet was linoleum, and under the linoleum was fibreboard, and under the fibreboard was the original pine flooring! Change of plans! New plan: refinish the original floors and bring them back to life.
Mike, handy with a deshingling shovel.
Why would anyone cover up such beautiful original flooring?
The Kitchen
They say the kitchen is the heart of a home. Well we've certainly put our heart into this space. From October 20 through December 24, we made do with one extension cord and a two-burner electric burner on loan (thanks Cathy and Bob).
Tearing out the old cupboards was very satisfying. There was a drop ceiling, carpeting, pantry closet, and a blocked in window behind the west wall. It was dark and claustrophobic, not a space you would want to spend a lot of time. Once the cupboards and ceiling were gone...we discovered the beauty of the stone wall underneath.
Getting ready to take down the kitchen. The ceiling was so low that Arni could touch it. And the poison ivy is getting better...
Inside the dropped ceiling after we moved the light fixture up and out of the way. The hole in the back wall - that's a full-size boarded up original window.
Our friend and local MP, Lloyd Longfield, came by for a swing of the sledgehammer. I wonder what political opponent he had in mind when hitting the wall?
Revealing the layers. I love finding treasures like this — it’s a reminder that we are merely stewards of the heritage of this home.
Thankful for Todd and his mighty hammer.
End of Day Three. Hardly recognizable and soooo much more height with the dropped ceiling gone.
Once we got the the kitchen back to the bare walls, the plans changed. The stone on the back wall and the hand hewn beam above the back door have so much character so we had to keep them exposed. A quick call to our stonemason Doug Burpee...and within a few days we had two apprentices on the job. Cleaning out the old mortar and repointing with fresh took four days, two masons, and a whole lot of dust.
The kitchen at the end of Week One. The window is open! A replacement traditional wood sash window to match the rest of the house is on order with Taylor Giberson, a local traditional heritage window specialist.
The back stone wall and timber beam lintel above the door are going to stay exposed. So much character.
The goal for December was to be able to cook Christmas dinner. The definition of “cook” was open to interpretation. Take-out. Microwave. Wings at the Wooly. As Moving Day fast approached, the race was on to have, at the very least, a place to cook. We were still living off an extension cord running from the back room on move-in day December 13.
The wall is gone, drywall is up, radiant heat flooring is going in, and cupboards are being assembled.
Our makeshift temporary kitchen.
It’s hard to tell, but this future island is actually quite brilliant. The stove, dishwasher and loads of cupboard and counter space is all part of the design.
Skillfully joining the masonry edge with drywall.
Drywall dust everywhere.
The island lights were a splurge (Union Lighting) but they fit the space so perfectly.
The Bathroom
With the ceilings and floors wide open, and the plumbing and stack being replaced entirely, we've turned our focus to the bathroom now. In 1880, there was no bathroom. An outhouse was accessed by a staircase from the second floor. The modern bathroom was created by carving up a 4th bedroom. The layout was just plain strange -- bathtub on a narrow wall, and a vanity behind a wall near the window. We had to rethink a new layout. We both realized that, at the end of a long day, a nice bath is essential. The ceiling was removed, walls, insulation added, new tub, new everything. The radiator was in the way of a logical plan, so we opted for radiant heat flooring to replace the need for a rad.
Prior to demolition, a long narrow passage led to the toilet and sink. The tub is on the right.
Behind the bathroom door there was a closet built inside the former door frame to the outside stair access to the outhouse.
This chaos is the tub removal process. It was harder than it looks!
As we have come to expect, no task is as easy as we thought. Bathroom prep consisted of removing all flooring, taking down walls, ceiling and removing old pipes. We took a day off of having plaster dust in our hair and headed out to shop – lights, sink, vanity, bathtub, floor tile, wall tile and more! We ended up in Toronto – Dunlop Plumbing, Gingers, Union Lighting — and finished the day at Mustafas for Mediterranian food. Yes, a good day’s work deserves a good meal.
This pic is only funny because the two toilets are the “Bradley” and the “Cooper” (my son and my dog). We chose the “Cooper” pooper.
I love, love, LOVE our new concrete sink for the bathroom! And it was on clearance sale!!
Floor tile (hex on right) and wall tile for the bathroom.
The bathroom is a blank canvas now. Ready for new sub-floor, new walls, and plumbing. Baby steps!
The tub has arrived and it's a perfit fit!
Radiant heat floors, and laying out the tile. Beau and Chris from Anchorstone did an amazing job of arranging the tile to take advantage of the colours and patterns.
Bathroom is almost finished! The tile is so much better than either of us anticipated! Thanks Beau and Chris at Anchorstone for the installation – an amazing job!
As we got closer and closer to Moving Day, our biggest priority was to get the wall down between the kitchen and dining room. A few delays along the way have halted progress — engineering drawings, building permit application, waiting, waiting, waiting.
Our go-to reno guy is Mark Rayner (http://www.raynerrenos.com) – and he’s was amazing. The installation of the structural beam involved hand digging a new footing in the basemet.
Hole for new footing for support beam in basement. The not-so-glamourous side of renovations. Hole courtesy of Mark Rayner, Rayner Renos.
Still no building permit from the City! Waiting is driving us crazy and as we need to get this effing wall down soon. Trying to follow all the rules.
Windows Part 1
It's hard to find a home with original windows these days. Due in part to great marketing, there’s a tendency to believe that a new modern double-glazed vinyl or aluminum window is better. But a good old-fashioned wood sash window is just as efficient (or more) and can last well over 200 years if cared for properly.
Enter Taylor Giberson.
Taylor is our go-to guy for restoring the original windows. It’s a specialized skill (art, really) and requires a belief that the original builders knew what they were doing. Long painted (or caulked or plastered) shut, our windows are opening again.
The north kitchen window was framed in, but the original millwork was intact underneath. After removing 1970s capping, Taylor worked his magic.
Still life. Tools of the trade.
Windows Part 2
It's 2024 and we finally saved up enough to replace the originals. Energy efficiency was the primary goal, as the original windows were single pane and many of them had cracked glass and rotting frames. We also felt strongly about respecting the original design and heritage authenicity (central muntin, wood construction). Aaron Webb (Webwood Windows) a Mennonite company built us 8 new windows, all custom sizes, due to the variability in stone construction openings, and wood frame screens to match. Installation by Surewood Contracting (Mark Rayner, Robin Breshnahan, Connor and Bill) in August 2024.
Upstairs
Opening up the main floor – stairs, dining room, ceilings. Dusty.
A typical day at Stoneleigh – a parking lot of contractors.
Removing damaged flooring from master bedroom meant we could see through the floors from the kitchen to the master. Peek-a-boo. Notice the old knob and tube wiring between the joists.
Same location, from above. Looking from master bedroom through to kitchen.
One of the best decisions we made at Stoneleigh was to leave the back stone wall of the kitchen exposed. Burpee Stonemasonry cleaned up the mortar to bring it back to life. The hue of local Guelph limestone is a warm amber tone, and makes the room unique.
The finished kitchen stone wall.
Removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room was another big decision. Tacoma Engineering did the drawings, building permit received, and the new footings and structural beam in place (Mark Rayner, Rayner Renos) …now it’s time to bring the wall down. Guess who took the first swing?
This is just a cool view through the floor of the master bedroom down into the kitchen below.
Down to the original stone, now it’s time to reconstruct, add electrical and build a new kitchen!
A view from the kitchen into the dining room.
There’s something quite beautiful about the patina of the old radiators.
Refreshing the old radiators. Three coats – Tremclad metal primer, followed by two coats of melamine.
How many different shades of blue-grey are there? Turns out the answer is infinite. We settle on “Moonlit Snow.” Can you tell which one that is?
A view of the kitchen
Master bedroom walls are primed and ready!
The floors are sanded – what a difference! Harri Palm is the best! Four passes with the sander and the results are amazing. This is the back bedroom. We have to remove the rads first, paint them, and then finish the walls behind the rads…
Remember the damaged floor in the master bedroom. Harri replaced with aged pine and sanded the area so that it is seamless. Wow, so impressed with his work…
The Garden and Patio
This is Leanne's favourite part. We were gifted a blank slate in the backyard, and all that goes with it. Since we moved in December and needed basic indoor services first, the garden waited until the summer of 2018.
Patio brickwork credit goes to Beau Eden and crew - Chris and Robin.
The thought of using the sledgehammer was too tempting to pass up so Arni said "let's dig out the whole thing ourselves." The patio is about 950 sq ft. Once the sledgehammer started flying, we found the old cistern, made of concrete (pictured above). The only reason it hadn't caved in was because the old walkway was reinforced with rebar.
Patio complete! The swirl in the centre uses old bricks, merging with new. Beau Eden and crew really outdid themselves! This is 2019.