Moving along

Remember this?

It is starting to look like this:

I can't believe the difference this is making! It looks fantastic.

When my husband first presented me with this idea, I was a huge skeptic.

Not so any more!

Well it did go from this:

To this!

The trim on the beam across the top of the photo has now been finished also.


In the new little bedroom we are awaiting the built in dresser to be put in. Kurt estimated it would be ready last Friday, but then said it would be delayed.

At this point we are moving things out of the living room and into other areas, like the small downstairs bedroom and into the basement for storage while we work on the living room and dining area.

Morris was a huge help to me while I used a light coat of Acrylic sealer on the basement hand rails.

The basement is nothing to write home about yet, but it is cool, dry, and a convenient place to store things out of the way now until we build some shelving.

All this work is tough on a little dog who has to constantly supervise.

We'll probably do inside work today after chores. Our area is currently experiencing an 'Excessive Heat Warning'. 

It's all about doors!

As you can see, the doors are being installed and framed in. The washer and dryer now reside behind two beautiful pine doors.

[Here is this are pre remodel]

We hung a sheet across the bathroom door for privacy and it worked pretty well.
That too has been replaced.

A very special door got installed for the basement entrance. It is a spoon carved door. I have no idea how old it is, but I know that it was the front door to the farmhouse where my husband's father was born.

It is in the ... not quite finished room. The whole in the wall is going to be a dresser that is being built into the wall. 

The living room paneling is going to be pulled down and replaced by light pine beadboard. The carpet will come up and the flooring will be the same as the flooring in the room pictured below.

Behind the red door is the stairwell to the basement.
More about that and what I plan to do with it later.

The Red Door.

I had a shower curtain made from one of my favorite photos of a place called Baxter Hollow.
I felt it would look neat as a full graphic...

The photo doesn't quite do it justice, but when a person looks into the bathroom it appears as if you are peering into Otter Creek minus the sounds of the water running over the rocks of course.

Our 'front' and back doors have matching storm doors and 'disappearing' screen doors that match the barn red shakes in the peaks.

The doors are all framed in now, but I didn't have a good photo of that.

Soon we move to the stair well, where I plan on putting a finish on the railings and getting started on organizing things.

For the time being we have started to move things out of the living room area in prep for us getting ready to work in there. Boards are cut to start putting in the chair rails in the dining area.

Morris has been supervising this work.

And he is happy to have most of the living room to lounge in again.

And so we are going!

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?

Dry walling is dusty

And so is ripping apart the house.

Which is exactly what has gone on since I last posted.  The dryer, wash machine, toilet, ... all gone. 
Most of the week was spent without power during the day time hours as the electricians and plumbers worked on putting in outlets in the new sections.  The plumbers drilled through the concrete floor and hooked up to the existing sewer lines.
These lines were a mystery as the builder of this house is deceased.

New water was run for the shower, the toilet, the vanity, the washer, and the new kitchen sink.

Old:

New:

Not exactly the same angle as the old shot, but the 'new' door was boarded over to keep critters out until the real new door can go in.

New bathroom, sort of partially done.  It is bigger than the old and there will be room to actually store my towels in it instead of the coat closet!

What you don't see in this shot is my dish pan and Dawn detergent for washing bowels and cups up.
And was is nice to be able to wash up or take a bath!

New bedroom with hole in the wall. An in the wall dresser is being custom made for us to save on wall space.  Cool right?

The entrance to the bedroom is on the far left of this photo. The doorway is the entrance to our new basement.
Maybe it won't make sense to those who read this, but it is a perfect solution to the addition for us.
Wait until you see the door we use for that entrance!

Last but not least, is a shot from the dining area towards the back door. The frig is stored right now in the future washer/dryer cubby.
I will have the frig near the back door. 
I will have gained 9 ft of kitchen when I only had 2 ft of kitchen previously.

To me, it is a big deal all the way around.  
Today is more sheet rock work and mudding work.

It is supposed to be 95 degrees and very hot today. I do not envy the guys doing this work, but I am also happy they are not on the metal roof trying to work.

I think after chores I will retreat to the porch and busy myself with something 'crafty'.  I don't believe that I can do anything in the house but stay out of their way until they are done this evening.

Then I will have the weekend to enjoy some peace and quiet.

We had storms yesterday and that made things quite muddy around our place.
It is also evident that after all the work is done, we will also have to redo the driveway.

We will hopefully get at the yard mowing before the weekend is out too.  But the weather has not been cooperating!

I'm looking forward to when the guys pack up their stuff for the last time.
I bet they are too!

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.

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.