Lots of Progress

You can see from the pics Matt posted last night that we made a lot of progress this weekend. On top of all of our house work, I actually got up and ran a 5k this morning-I have no idea where I got the energy!! But it felt good to finish and I'm very glad I got up and went. The race, which was along Lake Michigan, benefited a local childrens hospital. The great fall day along with the beautiful scenery made it a very enjoyable run. We worked so hard pulling the floor up this weekend that I didn't think Matt gave it justice on his posting yesterday. The picture to the left shows the first layer of linoleum. It took me about 30 minutes or so to pull it up while Matt and Ron worked on the windows. I thought "Oh, this is a breeze. It won't take long." I was wrong!The layer under this one was the first of two layers of subfloor, one of which use to have lovely green carpet on top of it. Thankfully we didn't have to pull it up but they left us a small remnant so we could see just how fabulous it once was. The subfloors were so tough. Big nails and staples EVERYWHERE. Even a little glue on some of them. Bonnie thankfully arrived early afternoon to give me a hand. She also brought us a second round of her great food to get us by while we are without a kitchen. This has been such a big help for Matt and me. Its very nice to have something home cooked to toss in the microwave when we get home. We appreciate it so much. Matt pitched in with the floor once the windows were in while Ron finished up the electrical work. It took us Friday afternoon and all day Saturday to get it torn up. In the picture below you can see a little of the subfloors, the very old 2nd layer of linoleum, and the original wood floors underneath it all. The bottom linoleum was so old it pretty much crumbled. I thought it was neat in a way that something so old was still in the house but I'm glad it's gone. Ron and Bonnie left late Saturday evening after much help and hardwork.




















Today Matt and I finished tearing out the ceiling which had a layer of drywall and then a layer of plaster underneath. No, "do it right" was definitely not in the vocabulary of our poor little house's former owners. Cheap and easy certainly were. We are now laying in bed, sore muscles and bruises from head to toe, and very happy about the progress we made this weekend. Our task for the week is to work on pulling out the zillion nails and staples still remaining in the floor. We're planning on putting laminate down throughout the downstairs, likely the most durable option with two crazy dogs : )

Gatsby's mug shot!

Carpenter, We Don't Need No Stink'in Carpenter

Well after being told three times by the carpenter that our windows would get put in the end of next week we decided to take things into our own hands. Well the capable hands of Ron anyway. Over a beautiful fall weekend we managed to tear out the old windows, frame in and hang the new ones, tear up the kitchen floor, and tear down the remaining plaster in the kitchen. Daisy enjoyed the day in the sun.

Kelly and I were busy over the past couple weeks destroying more of our house. The really fun part of the remodel is the fun we get to have living out of the family room. As the pictures show, before we tore out the kitchen walls we moved everything we had into the family room. The tv stand is now the counter, holding the microwave, coffee maker, and other things. We took down the roof of the soon to be kitchen and the wall that seperates the two rooms.

Doesn't the new refridgerator look great. Thanks John.

I forgot, Gatsby's cage is also in the kitchen/living room/storage room. Despite all of this we have still found time for the finer things. Like Garrett's Cheese Popcorn (on top of the refridgerator)

The view from current living room to the current kitchen. The stove is now on the back porch

The view from the other side.

After finally getting in touch with the carpenter and him saying for the third time that he wouldn't be able to get to our windows till the end of next week we decided to move on without him. We asked if Ron was interested in giving it a go. He was so excited he jumped on a bus in Kzoo and took a 4 plus hour odyssey through the back roads of Michigan and Indiana to Chicago's Union Station. I picked him up around 1 am on Friday morning. Good times. Friday, we awoke to a wonderful fall day and got started. We managed to pull out both old windows, take down some stucco, and frame and hang the new ones.

The large windows that were on the south wall of the dinning room. GONE.

The smaller windows in the back wall. GONE

The new casement windows that replaced the large window on the south wall. Soon, the sink will be centered under this window.

Level yet!!!

I held the window over my head while Ron decided if we were level yet. Actully, I didn't. Instead, we got it level on the first try.

The new windows in the back of the house. Soon a table will be under these so we can look out and watch the dogs in the backyard.

Things were going so well that we decided to take up the floor in the kitchen as well. For those of you counting at home, there was a layer of linoleum, a subfloor, a plywood subfloor, a layer of linoleum, then the original hardwood. The long scrapper tool was pretty handy but a lot of this was done with a hammer and a chisel. The picture shows the second layer of linoeum and the original floor.










So tomorrow, if I manage to crawl out of bed, the ceiling in the current kitchen will come down and the destruction part of the job will be complete. Our cabinets are scheduled to be delivered on Thursday and hopefully we will be able to get our plumber over to do that work. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Let there be light, well some of it anyway

Where are the dogs? Not outside, not in the living room, not on the porch. Kelly found them. This is how Kelly found the dogs at one point on Saturday afternoon while everyone was downstairs working.

BIG HELP GUYS, Appreciate it!!!!

Progress continued this past weekend. Bonnie and Ron made the trip around the lake to help bring light to the new kitchen. Although the selection of lighting was a bit more difficult and involved a few more trips to home depot and lowes then planned, we found what we wanted. After that, Ron made quick work of the place and we had some nice light before we knew it.

During one of our trips to home depot we purchased some lumber for some shelves we desperately needed in our linen closet. A few measurements and cuts later we had four nice shelves. We painted them green because we had some green tinted primer laying around and felt that was a good use of it. I got to use Ron's mitre saw and my new skill saw. Almost 30 years old and I make my first cuts with either type of saw. Not sure what that says about me. The shelves have been put to use and as of now we haven't heard them crash to the ground.

On the delivery front. We received our new windows and hope to have them installed next week. They look great. We are really excited about them and can't wait for them to go in. We also received our new appliances. Our refrigerator is already in use and the dishwasher looks great. The stove was damaged and the replacement didn't show up so we continue to wait for those. Thanks to John for the help with the purchase of the appliances.

Tear It Down

First and most important, Congratulations to Tim and Brooke on their pregnancy. I know we are late on this one, sorry about that. Also Happy Birthday to brother and soon to be a dad, Tim

I know how you feel brother, I had the same face when I found out you were going to be a dad:) Just kidding, you guys are going to be great parents.

We haven't posted in a while so there is lots to talk about. Again, thanks again to everyone who has helped us over the past couple months. For starters some dog humor.

Its kind of fun to stand on the sleeping porch and call the dogs while they are in the back. Here Gatsby displays his best "where the heck are they" face.

ON TO THE HOUSE:

We painted the middle bedroom a very soft blue. So soft in fact, it barely shows up in the pictures. It does however, look very nice. In the room is a rug we found in the attic. We had it professionally cleaned due to the rather fragile state it was in. We think its kind of cool to have something in the house that one of the prior owners had. We found out we are only the third owners of this house, it was built in 1924!!

With permit in hand we started the destruction of our house. Well, just the present dining room (soon to be kitchen). Since there was a grand total of one electrical outlet we took the room down to the studs in order to wire for more outlets and lights. Sorry fans of the wicker ceiling fan, it is going away. It was a nasty process. FYI, plaster comes down in very small pieces and as dust. Which means lots of bags to carry to the back. The shop vac has been the MVP of this phase of the remodel. We also had to take the room down to the studs for the plumber and the carpenter. The slats from behind the plaster have provided us a nice pile of wood in the basement. It looks like the piles you see in the movies when they are burning someone at the stake. This combine with the general spooky nature of our black basement (yes, its painted black) assures that Kelly will never go into the basement past sunset. We hope to have the new windows delivered in mid-Oct and the new cabinets in late Oct. After much deliberation, we ordered the cabinets last week. Finally, we get to spend some real money.

The rear wall


The chimney and south wall

Some of the bags we dragged out back full of plaster. They are gone now. It was really cool, I called these guys, they showed up with a truck, and an hour later the bags all the molding we took down and all of our yard waste was gone.

We also took out the non-functioning fireplace. Came down pretty easily overall. The mortar that was stuck to the wall was probably the hardest thing to get rid of. I wouldn't know. Herb and I were in the back fixing the garage door. Kelly and Dottie tackled the fireplace wall cleanup and spackeling of the walls in the living room.

Sweat equity baby. We figured we got 15-20 of square feet by putting the fire place in the back yard. Ok, so my masonry could use some work.

GOOD, Its GONE. Getting the fireplace out made Kelly a very happy lady.

Kelly and I decided to strip the window trim. Unlike the fireplace this turned out to be more work than we thought. Pretty much a whole day due to, what at least I would call excessive, amount of paint on them. The first layer, seen in the pictures, was a joke. The next few layers gave the extra strength stripper a bit more of a run for its money. We managed to kill a fair number of brain cells with all the fumes but pretty much got it done. For those of you worried about the dogs, they stayed out back all day.


















Finally, last weekend Bonnie, Ron, and Uncle Butch (special shout outs to Butch, its been a while but the man looks almost exactly as I remember him) came down to run all the electrical for the new kitchen. The incredibly efficient (obviously I stayed out of the way) pair of Ron and Butch got the whole
thing done in around 5 hours. That includes lunch and a trip to Home Depot. So fast we didn't get any pictures of the two at work. Now it is up to Kelly and I to take down the ceiling so we can wire the new lighting next week.