Still waiting

It is so hard to imagine how things changed for our house!

Right now we are on a holding pattern waiting for the trim and 2 interior doors to come in.

Meanwhile, I am still 'unpacking' the old kitchen and getting used to the 'new' kitchen.

Last night I was able to cook a very nice meal. I'd received Turnips from my 'up the hill' or Upstairs neighbor and sauteed them with an onion from our garden.

I made Southern Fried Chicken but did it in strips. I did it the old fashioned way and actually used my Kindle on the countertop to read and follow a recipe.

At least as much as I cared to follow it. I have a habit of modifying things to my own way.

This was a pretty big accomplishment for me. For the past 20 years I really did not like to cook in our incredibly small cramped kitchen. I found out what a luxury it was to be able to spread the items out!

We had supper in our eating area and then settled in on the porch. 
I'd picked flowers from our garden to add a bit of my 'touch'.

The next room that we have to work on is the eating area. The old dark siding that goes around the lower half of the wall is going.
It will be replaced with pine 'beadboard' which will be nice and light...and airy.

The carpet in the living room will be torn out and we'll be putting the same flooring as what we had installed in the downstairs bedroom to match.


Here is a snapshot of the sample...

It will be fun and very weathered looking.

The work outside in the yard has yet to begin. We'll be doing most of that ourselves. But the task looks pretty daunting right at the moment.

Siding. Done.

The top photo is a shot from the east side of the house.

The second one is the west side of the house.

Now I took these same photos and put blue over the original house so you can find it.

What a difference right?

I may still let my critters graze in the yard once in a while though, just for old times sake!

Today after the siding was finished. The counter tops came, the kitchen cabinets came, and the flooring came. The washer and dryer were delivered too. We had to put them in the shed.

Now the intense inside work starts.

I made the best of things. I had nothing prepared for supper so I ventured into the garden and picked lettuce, beets, onions, kale, and made up a salad with a left over chicken breast.
And we ate on our new counter top.

Now wasn't that fun?

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.

Yup, Pink House!

The windows are in and the insulation is on!
Someone turned my house pink!

Yesterday was spent re-organizing the house and packing up what was under the kitchen sink [nasty place!], the bathroom, and ALL both kitchen cabinets near the sink in prep for the plumbers arrival on Monday.

Walls will come down, and the wash machine, dryer, old water heater, old tub, old toilet will go out.
Yes.
No shower,  toilet, or wash machine for a while.  Thank goodness for the outhouse right?

I have the creek to wash in right?  Hah.  We will have water.

I am taking some inside shots so that I can compare before, during and after the construction.
This is getting interesting!

Somehow I am still managing to keep the place somewhat organized.

Incredible right?

Oh and the concrete guys should be here to prep and perhaps pour the porch today.

Things to keep in mind

There are some things to keep in mind during a remodel. 
Kurt told me that we would experience some 'inconvenience', he told us this when bidding the house project.  So there will be no surprise as far as that is concerned.

I've had a year to think about how to make things move along more smoothly. I've also found out that 90% of what I have packed away last winter has not been needed around the house.  Hmmmm. Time to clear out some of that?

I made good use of the dumpster this past two weeks.  Out went 'stuff' that I hadn't used or looked at in a long time.  I think remodeling is a good time to review the 'crap' that has been collected for 20 years and clean house of clutter.

Even after the clutter is cleaned up, there is more clutter. It seems to have a life of its own.  I think it self generates. Is there self pollinating clutter? Do they have baby clutters? Or does clutter just sprout?
I don't know. Maybe they make a spray to kill the clutter seeds.
If not, I should invent it.


After the remodel though, I'll have more space to clutter and more areas to put stuff.  I wonder how long it will take for us to clutter it up? I would like to leave the kitchen counter sleek and nearly empty.  I would like to have things stored in an orderly fashion.


Next thought.
The kitchen project.
Oh.
All the stuff will have to be removed from the kitchen.

I think I am prepared to toss my canned goods, and boxed goods into a bin and move it to the tiny living room. However the huge table and the other stuff that is in the small kitchen/dining area will have to be moved too.

So, I've been keeping the groceries at a minimum so that has meant more trips to town. Meals are now getting planned on the spur of the moment.

I wonder if I should just put all of our stuff on the porch once the concrete is put in.  
Yikes.

I am so glad that the construction crew is so helpful.  They are able to work around the tight spaces and accommodate us. Kudos to them.

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.

Update

A lot of the work this past week was roof related.  

Here is a pre construction shot.

Here is an update shot.

It is very hard to imagine what it will look like when the exterior is on.  I can't see it in my head yet.

However, it looks great.  The roof is ready for the next step which is putting on the forest green metal roof.
The porch is ready for the concrete guys to come in and frame it and pour the concrete.

Morris has adjusted fairly well to the construction. I've let him out to greet and be patted by the workers.  He runs around to each of them and gets a pat on the head, it is as if he is checking in on 'his' people.

If he had his way, he'd be helping the guys and getting in the way.  He spends time tied in the yard so he can watch or sleeping in his crate in the house.

After the exterior is done work will move to the interior.  My kitchen won't be the same ever again.  

Which is pretty nice considering that I'll actually have some room in the kitchen to prepare meals.  I bet when this is done, I'll wonder how I got along all of these years with such a small space?

The photo above is pre construction and the window now looks out on the New kitchen area that will be extended.  The window in the new area will be positioned above the kitchen sink.

See?
It is so hard to imagine what things will look like when completed.

It begins to take shape

Holy Batman.
I have a lot of organizing to do to catch up with how fast these guys are working!

Sunday night Rich hammed it up in our 'new mud room'.

Monday morning bright and early the Trusses were delivered.

And the guys were working on the framing.  I still couldn't see how this was all going to fit together.  I left for the day for Range Re-Qualifications and a late night shift, but I grabbed a shot before I left.

These guys were busy.

I will be putting together photos of the project from start to finish both as a personal photography project and I will give Kurt a memory stick of the best ones.
He can use them as he pleases.

I was gone Monday and so yesterday morning I grabbed a photo before the work started again.  

A lot was done while I was at work.

They began to put the trusses on yesterday.

And they wasted no time.
The house begins to take on a new shape.

You can look through the 'new' door towards the old entrance.  I am watching the old house transform like a beautiful butterfly.

Today I need to mark out some areas to take update shots from the same place each time.


I couldn't resist a shot with the Infrared filter yesterday. The guys were taking off the old shingles and Rich was watching.

When they were finished, it looked like this:

Only last week ... it looked like this:

Of course Morris was supervising everything at the time.
I have to admit it, the house looks better without those bad shingles!

And so we continue!

Day 17 the framing starts

A quick little 1 minute video of how busy these guys are from Crooked Creek Construction, LLC.

Yesterday they started to frame in the addition.  These guys are hard workers!

From this:

 To this:

The first two shots are of our General Contractor cutting the wood for the framing.

The bottom two shots are showing how it is framing up.

The kitchen window spot is in, the entry door is framed, and both bedroom windows are now framed too.

Above is the view of some of the equipment used and the bottom two shots are of the basement entrance and a shot into the basement.

They were back early this morning and the basement entrance wall is being put in as I type.

Funny note. Rich thought that the phone box was an old phone box and since it was in the way, he simply cut it off.
Nope.  That was our landline.  We still have the internet and he was able to call the phone company to have them come out and fix his error.

So far things are going rather smoothly.  I'm going to get the scrap pieces of the lumber they are cutting and use a hand sander to smooth the edges.

After all, when the little grandkids come to the house, I will have some nice wooden blocks for them to play with!

On another note, I discussed a new computer desk with Rich and I asked if we could take the two old kitchen cabinets and use them as a base for our desk.  
I will repaint and antique them, and then add lumber from all the pallets that we are acquiring.  I have some really fun ideas for reusing some items I have collected.

I learned that I can make a stain for the wood on the pallets with vinegar and a steel wool pad.  I'm going to try and experiment of course before I do that.

So happy decorating to me!

Oh, here is a floor plan of sorts showing what we are doing.  It doesn't show the bump out for the basement stairs nor does it show the porch.

This isn't perfectly accurate, but should give you an idea.