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Anyone remember where we left off in the bathroom? Filled with ladders and buckets of joint compound, that’s where. It’s now painted a lilac purple, and all plumbing and light fixtures are installed and operational.
I should have snapped a quick shot tonight before we left… but I forgot the camera today. We’ve now installed an over-john cabinet, toilet paper holder, towel bars, and shower curtain.
Of course, the fridge is now in the bathroom, too, filling in the footprint where the stacked washer/dryer will go… it will stay there until the wood floors are finished. The linen cabinet works well for food and plates while all the cabinets are AWOL from the kitchen.
We stayed overnight last night (Saturday) and I even got to be the first one to shower in the new tub! What a treat, truly.
Well, I realize I’ve disappeared from the blog world for awhile.
[Insert unnecessary apology here]
The progress on the house continues, although we are still living at our Spring Lake house. (Otherwise known as the “Spring Lake Estate” …and when you say it, you must do your best impression of Thurston Howell III.)
When asked, “When will you be moving?” our automatic response is: “Two weeks.” We wanted to move before school started, but the first day of school photos took place on the front stoop here for the last time.
I’m going to cover updates a room or two at a time. We’ve made so much progress! Here’s C and J’s room, walls and insulation torn out:
Somehow, I haven’t snapped a photo of the completed sheetrock in the room. Seams are even coated twice. A quick touch up coat and some sanding, and it will be ready for paint and carpet.
The next shot is from the last day of roof replacement. Going up the stairs, I could see right out the roof…
Making pictures of our house is going to be decidedly more boring when all the walls are up.
Spreading the grout felt a bit like what I imagine it’s like to smear poop all over the floor. Well, it sure LOOKED like poo.
One thing is done.
I think I need to do a better job of recognizing the small finished pieces that make up the whole. Soon enough, they will all add up…
Prize Mania! Thank you kids for picking up sticks!
Yes, there’s a hole where the toilet will be! And a hole for the heat duct. The cement board is installed and ready for the tile.
The washer and dryer will be stacked next to the chimney wall, with a linen cabinet to the left of the outlet (between the tub and the washer/dryer).
Not all of the electrical work was finished when the inspector showed up last week, so we can’t finish putting up the drywall quite yet.
Look! A light switch to the right… this is the back of the new bathroom wall. It works a light in the ceiling of the living room where there was no light fixture before.
I realize we’re not changing the face of the planet or anything, but man it feels nice to put something together and turn on a switch and have it work!
The next shot documents some exploratory destruction. We are going to rip out and replace the stairs and we needed to see if we could tear out this little spot for more head room… looks like it used to be a small storage cavity.
Newspapers lined the floor… since 1961. We saw headlines featuring JFK. And Martin Luther King, Jr. marching and getting arrested along with his fellow ‘negroes’.
How do you spell linoleum? Not sure. But Sean tore some out of the big kids’ bedroom. I wonder if we should be trying to spell asbestos…
There is plywood on the floor! O Happy Day! The new chimney is complete, too, which means we have heat again.
A new wall in the making. Studs included! (As opposed to the hack job of sticks inside the wall previously.) Note the new electrical wire being run and that fancy three-stud corner I figured out how to do from the internet.
A new header for the doorway between the living room and kitchen.
Seems I’ve stumbled onto a way to get that camera snapping in my hands on a regular basis.
I like it.
The battery was recharging when I missed a few shots of dust billowing out of the trash can as we swept up plaster and insulation dust and dirt and bricks from the basement. Would have been a cool picture to make.
The excuse of documenting the remodel forces me to keep the camera handy! My brain has responded by framing shots constantly.
The last big chunk of chimney.
Looking down where the chimney used to be, from the top level to the basement. A new favorite shot.
Disoriented? Me too.
Another new favorite.
Sean was compelled to walk across the opening in the floor over and over again, giving me a slight heart attack each time he did. He almost tripped once, too.
This feels like progress. Chimney removed, new chimney pipe started, rotted floorboards replaced. After monkeying with the joists, the floor is as level as we can hope for in a 120-year-old farm house.
The chimney viewed from the west side.
Man power. Brave guys. Thanks Jeremy!
Another wall bites the dust. And creates more dust. This is by far my favorite picture I've made on this project so far.
Chimney chunkage.
