Moving along slowly

Well things are still moving along. The clear coating of the wood has been finished.
We did two coats and are ready now for Kurt to come back and get the window framing done in the living room and kitchen areas.

With that done, we can have the bank come back out and do the inspection.

Our new direct vent heater was delivered last week and Rich is working on getting that installed.
Just in time too. I think we normally have the first frost around the first week of October.

I've finally gotten the carpeting all pulled on the stairs and that is ready to paint.

[View from the top]

Morris was rather put out by having his 'perch' changed.

He refused to come down the stairs until I had all of the little pieces of wood removed. I don't blame him. 

That night after he came down the stairs he refused to come up and go to bed in his normal spot. He curled up on the couch and didn't move until I came down the next morning.

Here is a shot of him when he was quite young. Laying on his 'perch' on the stairs.

What a change it is! I am going to paint the stairs with a primer and then a greenish very light color for a finish.

The stairs have always been a huge issue for me to keep clean and tidy. The dog hair was always embedded into the stairs and now I'll be able to wipe the stairs clean.

We will be adding stair treads for extra cushion and for safety.
I'm thinking something along these lines:

The big project will be pulling the carpet on the living room floor.

I need to do some research on using textured paint. I plan on a 'do it yourself' job for our ceiling.

Then I have some repaint and touch up work to do in the bathroom and kitchen.

Slowly but surely we are getting there. I'll have photos of the new heater once it is installed.

One day at a time!
It is really looking quite nice.

The woodwork is done!

Here is the living room wall as it looked on August 19th. The new drywall was in place and Rich was preparing the wood to put up.

Here is the wall as of yesterday evening before supper!

What a huge difference the wood makes. The brick is a past memory now. Along with the old chimney and dark paneling.

Here is a reminder of what it used to look like.

The brick area was pretty unusable. But we lived with it for so many years.

Rich has to install a new cabin heater soon as our mornings are getting chilly already.

Yesterday I started clear coating the wood as I'd finished the chair rail in the dining area.

I pulled the carpeting from the stair landing. I'd like to put something other than carpet down.  I'm thinking about what options we have.

I have an idea for right now but Rich wasn't sure he liked it.
I want to just paint the wood white to make it brighter and easier to keep clean.

He says it is extra work and I say it will save us a bit of work as we won't have to address the ugly stair syndrome for a bit longer.

The next thing on our list is sanding the patches in the drywall on the ceiling and getting it texture painted.

I'm not sure where to go on this step. Buy textured paint? Hire it done? It isn't a large area, but it is the next step.

Rich is going to call our contractor now so he can come back and finish framing in the windows.

We need to pull the carpeting in the living room too and we will replace the carpet with the same type of flooring as the downstairs bedroom has.

Morris is handling this quite well for an old dog. He likes to lay on the covered couch and supervise with a hedgehog toy.

I still have some small areas to paint as you can see behind Morris.

One step at a time. It goes slower when we have to juggle work, farm work, and everyday life. But I am enjoying the transformation completely.

I keep reminding myself that this ...

was how it used to be!

Well now, let's catch up!

The orange peel spraying began/then the priming.

Oh the plastic! All over the place.

Everything got 'walled' off in plastic sheeting. And the orange peel was put on.
Unfortunately the day was humid so that was as far as they could go.



They returned the next day with plans on priming and painting. Kurt said he'd put down the flooring in the bathroom along with the vanity and the plumber would put the toilet in.

I secretly did the happy dance...several times. No midnight walks to the outhouse in a Thunderstorm!

Only the priming layer got put on, yet another hot and humid day prevented things from drying.

It looked like there was an alien in my new bathroom!
I couldn't resist a quick shot with my old pink camera.

The old part of the house is where most everything is stashed and covered. Thank goodness I had been putting a lot of thought to organizing how this mess was going to occur.

I have to climb over things to get the cereal, I have to wash very few dishes in the tub [I did it outside before the tub was installed], and we have become porch people.

Apparently we will be moving off the porch soon too. The siding is in as is the interior paint.

The kitchen cabinets should be delivered maybe...Tuesday?

Meanwhile, on Friday, they finished priming the bathroom, put in the floor and set the vanity and the toilet.

And the floor...

I was hoping that Rich liked the floor, I'd had to choose it on my own. 

I'll be getting some different pulls for the vanity, and I have a design for the shower curtain that may look pretty neat.  But one thing at a time.

So I don't forget, here is a photo of the OLD bathroom.

The new kitchen area looks enormous. I can't imagine it finished.
It echoes in there.

Things are really coming along. I am sorry to be at work Monday and Tuesday. But I should be happy with any progress that can be done.

Kurt from Crooked Creek Construction, LLC, is doing a fantastic job.
He thinks of everything.

Today's assignment is to go get the lights, the mirror and some groceries that are easy to fix on a grill, microwave, and crock pot.

Remodel Stress

Apparently we are in the 'worst' stage of remodeling.
The Drywall phase.
Put on the mud, and wait for it to dry. Nothing else can happen until the walls dry.

Well they have been sanding the portions of the walls that are dry.
Next is the spraying of 'orange peel'.
After that dries, they put on primer.

After that dries, the put on paint.

The bathroom is still not operable.  Not complaining, but this is the hardest part. They can only go by small steps at a time and you cannot rush a good job.

The guys have been great through it all and I couldn't ask for a better crew.

However, I felt bad for Morris last night when he went in the house -- he has been staying on the porch for most of this.
He began to gag and couldn't breath. Of course he is close to the ground and I image the drywall dust irritated his lungs. He does have issues with ragweed so much so that I have to be careful not to take him hiking when the pollen is heavy.
Anyway.
I vacuumed and worked on cleaning up an area. 

This morning heated water in the crockpot to wash with and felt like a true camper when I washed my hair and took 'a bath' standing up in the kitchen in the pre-dawn light.

All good things come to those who wait, right?
I also got called into work for today so we'll see how things progress today without me around.

Yesterday I avoided the dust and mess by going to the neighbor's house to do 3 giant loads of laundry. 

I am a bit thrown off by all the things that I can't do during this portion of the remodel.
So yes, I'm feeling a bit stressed 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.

Eating Area and Wallpaper...ugh!

Today we started on the 'eating' area of our little house. I took a break from removing wall paper as I'd gotten to Rich's corner and stared at his stuff.

What on earth would we do with all of that stuff?

It is piled in broken down boxes and no matter how I tried over the years, I could never get him to totally clean up and put away the Stuff.

Of course we live in a Tiny House and when stuff accumulates, it needs to be weeded out and put somewhere.  However, this tiny house has no extra storage.  
For the remodeling, I started last year packing away any extra Stuff that I could.  
I stored it in a shed in plastic tubs.

Yesterday I handed Rich a large plastic tub and let him go at it.
He cleared just enough Stuff so that I could move the table and get at the wall.

You are looking at an area where the flooring will be replaced, ... we are pulling up the old tiling as we go along.  The brown wood will we replaced with a very light colored almost blonde wood.
The windows of course will be replaced and ... AND! No wallpaper!
I'm considering colors for the walls now.

The Stuff will reside somewhere else and I am thinking of getting a corner cabinet of some sort for Rich to put all of the paperwork Stuff that he keeps [and rarely looks at] into and out of sight.

We are doing a wood laminate floor and there will be so much more storage once the remodel is done.

So there it is.  Ugly as all get out right now, but perhaps cute as a button once it is finished.

The cabinets will be hickory and I would like a very very light light green for the walls.

When I was a kid we rented a house that had a putrid green paint on the kitchen walls and white cabinets.  I recall washing those walls and wishing the paint would fall off.  It never did.

So why would I even consider it again?  I think I can find a nice light green/grey color.  I don't think I want white in the kitchen section.

Maybe off white in the eating section?  That sure would brighten things up!

Well off to peel more wall paper and sort through more stuff.

Oh Yuck Wall paper ~

Wall paper on drywall that was not primed is a royal pain in the ... -ss to remove.
I however did find a secret weapon that helped.

I watched YouTube Videos on 'How to Remove Wall Paper' and it all looked easy.
Just wipe with hot water, spray with hot water, use Dawn, and it will just peel right off and then you wash with hot water and vinegar --- or Dawn Dishsoap and get the glue off.

Easy Peasy.

Wrong.  All the walls shown had been primed.

Suggestions for taking wall paper off from un-primed walls?

Take down the drywall and start over.

Wow, that was not helpful and not what I wanted to hear. Another person wrote, get a steamer and it goes really well. The trick is hot water.

I started thinking about the Dawn Dishsoap and how it breaks down the water surface tension and allows the water to soak into the material.

This paper was nasty grungy.  After taking down the wall of photos I was grossed out completely.

Yuck.

Above the small closet door that is under the stairs:

Super yuck.  Why hadn't I seen it?  
In truth, I wanted to get rid of the wall paper years ago, but Rich didn't want to start a project like that.
So I began to ignore the ugly stuff.  I thought...one day I will get the chance to remove it!

And ... now I do.

Morris is on the stairs supervising the stripping.

And it doesn't come off very easily.

So I decided to take some Oxyclean and dab it onto a cloth, then wipe the surface of the wall paper and spray it with warm water.

Well not only did it help the water absorb into the wall paper, but it took some of the grunge out too.  Of course I sprayed up towards the ceiling and then wiped with the Oxyclean cloth and found that my ceiling was going to need a very good cleaning also.  

Insert a large groan ... however I am prepared for that and I figured it would be coming next.

Meanwhile, back to the paper.  Sometimes it would come off in larger strips and sometimes it wouldn't.

Between chores and errands, this section took all day. I'd be really discouraged if I had larger rooms to do.  But this is such a small house that I only have two partial walls left.

I was extremely surprised at how much cleaner and brighter the wall was after the paper removal.

Considering that it wasn't a primed wall, I didn't do too badly. Some of the dry wall finish came off but hopefully we will be able to repair that fairly easily.

Meanwhile Rich has been working on the bricks that had been put in the living room when Glen owned the house and had a wood burning stove on it.

Before the work started

All of the brick will be removed

After one day of removal.

This is a dusty and very noisy project so hubby has been doing it a bit at a time.

He will also be removing the very very dark paneling and replacing it with light colored 'car siding'.  He wants to retain the 'cabin' look with wood and I wanted bright and light walls.

This will be our compromise.

So onward.

Morris?

He is getting accustom to the work now.  He still dislikes the shop vac but it doesn't freak him out anymore.

I might take a day or two off from the wall paper peeling.  I'd like to do some hiking now that the outdoor temps have risen above the zero mark.