Heat? Heat! Maybe! Yes!

Oh and the stairs are finally complete.

I finished all the touch ups and am rather pleased as to how they look.

The landing will be covered with linoleum, we have quite a bit left over from doing the bathroom and I couldn't see wasting it.
Right now it is rough plywood with some paint on it ... with a nice fuzzy soft bath rug on it.

It is amazing the amount of 'dirt' that collects on the stairs. I am pleased to have it painted and done. A quick swipe of a damp cloth cleans it quickly and I don't have to drag an old vacuum up and down the stairs any longer.

Morris posed for me.

View from top

View from the landing

The brown railing and side 'bars' will be replaced with naked pine that I finished and sealed.

Out with the old yucky stuff and eventually in with the new. I don't dare nag my husband about it as he is still working on the heater installation.

Dearest hubby loves to draw some things out. I think he likes to see how long we can wait each year before we turn the heat on anyway.

Friday night it is supposed to be 38 degrees. Today he turns the heat on!

This is what is called a direct vent heater. For our small house we don't need a large furnace. For 20 years we've only had one small propane heater or another.

With the added insulation, new windows, new roof and doors, we ought to be able to heat this house with a match if need be!

Of course I am kidding. Those nights it gets to -20 in mid winter? Yeah, it is nice to have a nice warm cozy house.

Our contractor promised to come back and finish the trim on the windows as soon as we got the walls done. I guess I shouldn't have paid him as I've left a message and he has not responded in 3 weeks.

He has 6 windows left to trim out and trim the dining area in the house. 

Oh yes! I finished painting the ceiling in the living room. If anyone ever tells you that they like painting ceilings call them on it. No fun! But I did get it done and when the trim is in, we can start to rearrange the house!

Goodbye bathroom and entryway...

Morris assists as I take the last items out of the nearly empty backroom/utility room/mudroom/entryway.

Yes, it has served all of those purposes over 20 some years. Monday morning the water heater and the ancient washer will bid adieu also.

I have mixed feelings about this, I think I am happy but then I am a bit nervous about the whole thing.

The old outer wall of the house is coming apart as well as this little room.

Tonight we take our last showers in the old bathroom.  It too will be torn out tomorrow.

Goodness knows we really needed an updated bathroom.  But it was functional and we were used to it.

Now we are faced with going to pick out a new vanity and perhaps a linen tower.

It seems that after the remodel I will actually be able to keep spare towels inside the bathroom and not in the coat closet!
That will be interesting!

Last but not least.  The kitchen.  I leave for a midnight shift in a bit and will get back after the workers arrive in the morning.  I wasn't sure how much destruction they were going to wreak on our little place so I cleaned out the cabinets also.

I can't say that I will miss the ugly z-brick on the tiny work space.  But this all is on the same wall to be removed and changed.

I assume I will have time to move the coffee maker toaster and microwave before they start in on that.

However, we are down to just a few dishes and living on the bare minimum we could possibly could and still able to make regular meals.  It gets interesting when we need something, I have to recall which plastic storage tub it is in and then go digging.  

So tomorrow this portion is changing:

The window behind the closet lettering is the bathroom window on the original house....

Lest we forget what the old place looked like.

Moving Right Along

Everyone arrived at once yesterday and they started to off load the steel for the roof onto the yard.

Green!  I love green!

I had spent the day before repacking the living room and moving furniture around.

Before:

I have wanted to move this for quite a while.  So I bought slider coasters and viola...
I moved it to the wall against the stairs.

This is normally where the love seat sits.  I moved the love seat to the wall near the door and windows.

After the floor and walls are done, it will sit in a slightly different position.

As it is, Morris discovered he could watch the electricians working on the porch.

This is the view of the couch against the windows and next to the door.  

Yes, I cover the couch as Morris likes to lay on the couch and I find it easier to clean and old blanket rather than clean the couch upholstery.

Also, we can plop down on the couch without worrying about our clothes being spotless.

To the bottom right of the photo is the area where we have taken the brick out. 

Everything is pretty much packed up right at the moment, and ready to move into storage in the basement once the stairway is complete.

Computer area and 'stuff' area before:

Pretty junky looking and cluttered.

This is after I packed away that ugly table for future use in the basement as a craft table....

and used the plastic crates as a base for my computer table...plywood scraps for the table top.  It actually works well.

It is still a bit cluttered looking but we are getting closer.  I will have room to store the vacuum cleaner out of site after the remodel!  The dark paneling will go away.

The carpet will be replaced by laminate flooring with throw rugs and the computers will get a new improved desk with actual drawers.

The windows arrived two days ago, so I imagine they will be putting those in soon.  More than likely after the holiday weekend.

Yesterday they worked on the roof, and wow, what a difference it made!

Here is a view of the work being done midday from my neighbor's meadow.

I had to tell Kurt how I felt about the new lines and dimensions of the house.
What he designed was turning our little tiny cottage into a beauty.

Architecture usually doesn't do a whole lot for me, but looking at the new lines of our cottage, I am thunderstruck.

Before the roof was on:

And after they finished work yesterday:

They are working on the trim today.

Of course we had a huge gully washer of a storm just as dawn broke so the area around the house is MUD again.
For the weekend I will be making a scrap plywood walkway to the door.

I just love the 'new' porch.  I can't wait until they pour the concrete for it.

Meanwhile I wait until the crew is gone in the evening and sit out and enjoy the view.