You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'House' tag.
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…
My sister Becca and I had such a fun email exchange last week. She asked how Sean was recovering from knee surgery (they scoped him and removed some torn cartilage), and I told her that he was up and moving around without crutches.
I was worried that he would push himself too quickly and that recovery would take even longer. I went on to describe the many ways that our house projects are gaining momentum and all the different people who are helping us make it happen.
She has been renting the Little House on the Prairie series for her girls and my comment reminded her of the episode where Pa breaks a rib and has to finish stacking the bags at the mill to pay the mortgage. Mary and Laura try to do it for him, but of course the men of the town swoop in and stack the bags and save the day.
I vaguely recall the episode… I remember the tape wrapped around Pa’s ripped abs. Well, maybe he wasn’t THAT ripped.
Anyway, she said that it sounds like our house project is coming together Walnut Grove style.
I like that.
I’m cheesy that way.
The latest project includes a new staircase to replace the steep farmhouse steps we ripped out last week.
Our skilled friend Chad brandished a tape measure, saw, and nail gun to make it happen. It was amazing to witness the process. It started with a TON of measuring and dividing and marking on the walls. Apparently there are more rules for stairs than just about any other place in a house. A few cuts into the first boards and we had a platform:
Once the boards dry out well and the roof is fixed to prevent more water (and the resulting mold) problems, we will be able to finish treating the mold, and then insulate and sheetrock the walls inside the staircase hall.
Here’s our hero of the day! A million thanks Chad! If anyone out there is looking for a contractor to hire for a remodel job, I know of a really great guy…
We still need to cut into the ceiling to make more headroom. For now, the opening is perfect for munchkins.
C has decided that the platform is a stage. What a surprise. Like mother, like daughter.
There will be finished southern pine boards for the skirt along the wall and the edges of the steps, and we will install a carpet runner in the center of the steps.
This last one makes me smile.
Geez, maybe someday we’ll look back at all this and say, “We were crazy.”
I’m sorta basking in it for the moment.
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…
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.
The bathroom is hereby officially gutted like a fish.
Now the girls can pee outside with the guys.
The view from the shower.
Here's the official Cady Home Project Logo Image
"Wow, your house has so much.... potential...?!"
Here it is! The new Cady place... as soon as we can make it habitable.
The front door and windows, from inside the porch. The main part of the living room is inside to the right.
Here's the living room. Stairs leading up are off the frame to the right. The bathroom is behind the partially-destroyed wall. Kitchen is straight back. We had a pizza picnic on the floor--our first meal in the new place. Yay!
Super powered Cady kids can walk through walls...
The soon-to-be-expanded bathroom. Will include laundry!
I'm not sure this photo truly depicts how disgusting and cracked and rotted this space is. It's slated to be torn out completely.
Here's the view from the kitchen into the living room (bathroom on the right).
The side door that leads into the kitchen... on the west side of the house. Patio doors to the backyard on the left. Twelve-year-old daughter numb to the crazy mom sporting a camera.
The kitchen viewed from the northwest corner. Random crazy husband jumping into the shot.
View of the backyard from the patio doors in the south facing kitchen. Solar dryer included! We are on an acre, surrounded by farm fields and one neighbor to the west.
Six-year-old strikes a pose at the top of the world's steepest set of stairs.
South facing bedroom above the kitchen.
Same south facing bedroom. The only bedroom with a door at present. Four-year-old with panda in the closet saying, "This could be an extra room for sleeping!"
The bedroom with a boarded up window that faces west. An amazing trick panda!
Gotta love all the paneling. This is the third bedroom, with a window facing east.
View from the landing at the top of the stairs into the east bedroom. Panda boy returns.
Panda boy in the kitchen.
