Grand Hotel Shaunavon

09/04/2026

This two-room suite at the Grand Hotel is nearly stripped down to where it can be refinished again. Any plaster and lath that was rotten has been removed and the room can be rebuilt from here. Yes, I mask up during this work.

In areas where the walls are stripped to the studs, I will drywall. Next spring I'll get to plastering everything to look uniform.

I only have three more rooms in the hotel that need to be stripped down to this point. It might look a little crazy right now but prefer to do the hotel restoration in broad phases. Phase one of stripping everything down is almost done! These floors, like almost all floors in the Grand, will be beautiful when redone!

09/03/2026

I've had many kind, generous people offer a variety of wonderful, unique and useful items for use in my hotel. I am so thankful for that generosity, and never expected it when I first started on this adventure a few years ago.

I met two lovely ladies today who had a bunch of cool antique treasures to donate, but this antique doctor's examination table is particularly striking.

The Grand Hotel had a retail space which was not the usual bar or restaurant but a doctor's office originally. The space will now be home to a continental breakfast area and afternoon tea. This beautiful table will be in the tea room to likely serve as a sideboard - a reminder of the past.

08/31/2026

And then there were four.

Four more rooms to drywall ceilings in, and the entire hotel except the two suites will be roughed in. I got another one done today. I'll get the last four rooms done and then I'll give the whole place a last good cleaning. Then, I'll paint my house before it gets too cold.

I'm back to normal after a bad head cold that took me out for a week. It felt good to get back to my bubble and away from the pure chaos I see in the state of the world currently. I prefer to be working with my hands, body and mind focused on what I CAN improve, than be reminded of the outside world. When I'm sick, I end up spending more time online than I, or anyone, should. Thankful to feel strong again.

I feel a bit like W***y Wonka as my lock myself away in this big old building. My dogs are my oompa loompas. And soon, once I've finished my thorough cleaning of the hotel, they can come hang out like oompa loompas while I work. I keep them at home for now because it's too dusty and dirty to be safe. I can wear a mask but they can't. 😀

Once all of the floors upstairs are washed and the trim is polished, it's going to really change the appearance of the building. Onwards and upwards!

08/27/2026

These are the original skeleton keys for the Grand Hotel which I like to imagine tied to the belt of the hotel manager, jingling as he walked down the hall all those years ago.

It's been a write-off of a week for me as I've been struggling with a head cold and mostly in bed. Today, I can tell my energy is better as I'm in a bad mood. I'm not one who enjoys laying around and especially when not by choice. I would much rather be making progress on the millions of projects I have my finger on.

I'm restlessly resting today, yet again, with hopes of being able to do a bit of work tomorrow. I'll have to wait and see. I listen to my body and generally it says "Let's do this", but this week no.

I get a bit antsy this time of year anyway, but moreso feeling sidelined with sickness. I've noticed the leaves already starting to turn and I know my time to get weather-dependant jobs done is now limited as Fall approaches.

Fall is complex to me. It's a beautiful, moody season that is generally enjoyable. It does give hints of what's to come though as winter will soon come knocking.

The seasons really mimick the cycle of life itself - starting with a burst of energy, burning brightly for awhile but then eventually the days grow shorter and things come to an end.

I get reminded of mortality when sick and of humanly limitations. It's why I prioritize my physicality now instead of sitting around. I'm in late summer of my life and I'm still generally so robust, but Fall is in sight. Live while the living's good.

08/25/2026

This is a hard-working and kind young man in our community. I see him often working at the gas station in Shaunavon, but he also is a volunteer firefighter.

He was seriously injured in a vehicle accident and remains in hospital.

If you are able to help him out in his time of need, I'm sure the family would appreciate it. I don't know him well, but he always seemed kind. I wish him the very best in his recovery.

Hi, my name is Rebecca Moffatt. This fundraiser is for my brother Evan Moffatt. He got into a seri… Rebecca Moffatt needs your support for Help Evan Moffatt

08/23/2026

The further along I get into the cleaning up of the second floor of the Grand Hotel, the more apparent it is that it's in generally much better shape than the main floor was.

This patch I cleaned up shows how resilient the old growth fir was to rot and how well it cleans up. The linoleum saved it from rot and thankfully the glue used can be removed easily with water. It's going to stunning when refinished.

The trim upstairs is also generally very nice. I polished this door to show the beautiful original finish.

I finished hanging drywall in another room too. Someone had laid lino and used plaster to level the floor. It scrapes up with little effort.

There are only 4 more rooms to hang ceiling in with the exception of the 2 suites. I have done it all myself with a crank-powered drywall lift. I've enjoyed doing it probably more than is normal. I enjoy most any task related to the restoration of this building.

08/19/2026

There's a bit of relief every time I get a room in the Grand Hotel to this point. The ceiling will no longer fall, the room is dry and clean and from here it can be rebuilt.

This was by far the grossest area in the second floor of the hotel and now it's floors are clean enough to eat off of... okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. 😁

I finished the insulation and drywall today and will move on the next room. My goal is get each room to this state of repair before I move onto plastering. I'm leaving the one wall open until I can have the plumbing done.

08/16/2026

The worst condition room upstairs at the Grand Hotel is no longer gross as I've got it basically stripped down to the studs. Thankfully, those studs are in good shape so after a bit more clean up I'll be ready to insulate and drywall. I'll leave the wall open to replace plumbing down the road.

As I've mentioned, the worst condition rooms, like this one and two below it downstairs, will be repurposed into additional bathrooms.

That lovely cot and mattress will be saved for use by guests who complain that there are no televisions in the rooms. 😉

08/15/2026

I've started working on easily the worst condition room upstairs, which has quite a bit of plaster water damage on one side of the room. I'm in the process of gutting the damaged areas. Once down to the studs, I'll drywall what I removed and plaster and tape everything when I get to finishing work. The lino, like everywhere in the hotel, really saved the floors from rot.

As bad as this room was when I started, it used to be even worse as the last picture shows.

This room will become two bathrooms - one with a walk in shower, toilet and vanity/sink and one the same but with a clawfoot tub instead.

I look at this clean up almost like how you would remove a cavity in a tooth - you need to remove any rot until you reach solid and then rebuild from there.

It's interesting to see how localized the water damage is, sometimes only affecting one side of a wall. I wear a respirator for this sort of nasty work. Thankfully we've had cooler weather and it's been as comfortable as it can be.

08/12/2026

It doesn't take much to guess that on an afternoon off work you'll find me at the Grand Hotel with today no different.

I drywalled the ceiling in yet another room and gave it a sweep. Having each room improve to this state feels so much more workable and my goal is to have pretty much the rest of the top floor cleaned up by the end of the month!

For the first time in decades, the hotel is bone dry with a new roof and soon falling plaster will be a distant memory.

A nice discovery is that the top floor ceiling is insulated and in good shape for the most part.