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It’s been about a millions years… or feels like it, anyway

Our last post here was a catch-up post that I wrote in early October 2020, and the post didn’t even catch us up to the then current state of progress on our remodel. It’s been forever, and a lot has happened since then. Frankly, one of the things stopping me from updating the blog is pictures. Between us there are many hundreds of photographs to slog through. I’m not going to do it. The photo slogging. Not today, anyway. I’m apologizing up front for the limited number of photos. It’s come down to this: I need to either process all of those (expletive deleted) photographs, or I need to blog without (most of) them.

The other thing is how to organize all of the information and events, and get them all to you in a way that makes sense. I’ve been thinking about it, and I think that if I break things down by month that will be the easiest way to go. We have email messages and Facebook history that I can use for the order of things. Though written in October, my last post caught us up as far as early August last year, with most of the windows being installed, the replacement of the beams in the kitchen ceiling, and graveling the driveway. Next up: the rest of August. Oh, and though I was going to write entire paragraphs for all of this, get Dave to proof it, and any number of other things, I’m not going to. I’m going to leave it as a bullet list, and actually get this update out today! Here goes:

August 2020

  • North-facing kitchen window re-framed for larger glass
  • Window installed

September 2020

  • Removed remains of double sticky tape from lower bath walls
  • Dave continues to take the house apart

October 2020

  • Building starts in earnest: the new laundry room is framed in

November 2020

  • Removed wallpaper border from half bath
  • Copper pipe removed
  • Plumbing rough in done, except for a few things that they returned to do, and a number of things they never did
  • Inspector passes the plumbing… why?

December 2020

  • Electrical rough in starts December 9, and turns into a much larger job than originally planned, as the original wiring in parts of the house were so weirdly done, and so far away from code that it’s amazing the house didn’t burn down decades ago

January 2021

  • Electrical rough in passes inspection—hooray!
  • Maple tree near house removed, so very very sad, but it had to come out as a significant percentage of the trunk was hollow

February 2021

  • We realize that the plumbers didn’t do more things than we’d thought… like they missed plumbing the shower in the downstairs bathroom, and the ice maker in the kitchen has no water, and a large list of other things; if you’re local and want to know which plumber to avoid, we’ll be happy to tell you

March 2021

  • Heavy rain shows that the fix to the laundry room wall isn’t 100%
  • Network closet floor installed, and it’s gorgeous; that same floor will be installed throughout the house, except in bathrooms and laundry room

April 2021

  • Roll up garage door installed in barn
  • Fixed laundry room back wall leak problem but good; work done by Rock Solid Waterproofing

May 2021

  • Dave begins pulling network wiring throughout the house
  • Master bath linen closet delivery
  • Removed remaining insulation from entire house
  • Same guy who laid the floor in the network closet also fixed the two toilets that the journeyman plumber didn’t know how to deal with (there are no words for that original plumber that make him sound good)
  • New plumber found to fix original plumber’s mistakes, then he leaves for a three-week vacation so work is put off until mid June
  • Rose hedge falls over
  • Insulation hung upstairs

June 2021, so far

  • Insulation hung thought most of the downstairs
  • Insulation inspection passed for upstairs; downstairs pending
  • Finally finished painting the master bathroom; painting the half bath begins
  • Sheet rock going up!
  • Climbing rose put on trellis
  • Work cutting fallen roses back begins; this is going to take me a while (there are 17 bushes in the hedge!); the worst of the fallen have been cut back, and the remaining canes look great

And now you have read the list, and we are all caught up. Basically. I don’t even want to tell you when we think we might be able to move into our house, as I don’t want to jinx it. Stay tuned. I’ll leave you with this photo of Ansel. He is extremely good at being cute.

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More walls coming down

Well, at least the coverings on the walls are continuing to come down. Dave worked diligently this week, and got the paneling off over the stairs/north dining room wall, some tongue-and-groove along the stairs themselves, and paneling on the west dining room wall removed. Now you can stand in the master bedroom, and see who’s eating in the dining room.

Or, you can stand in the dining room, and look out the guest room window.

Here’s Dave in action, taking the final full piece off the dining room wall.

If you’re standing at the top of the stairs, you can see that the paneling on the stair-side of the pony wall is gone now, too.

If you enter from the front door, then go into the dark and dingy hallway that leads to the lower rooms, you can see where Dave removed more tongue-and-groove planks at the side of the stairs. Before we’re done (I use the imperial “we” here, as Dave’s the one doing the work, as usual), the side of the stairs will be open to the hallway, making it lighter and more welcoming. That’s the general idea, anyway.

While Dave was working on those things, I was running from bathroom to bathroom removing ancient, ugly, dirty, disgusting contact paper from the drawers, cleaning the drawers and cupboards, and also giving the toilets and counters a little much-needed attention. I wish I’d thought to take a picture of the paper that was in the drawers in the master bath. Remember how all the curtains were either dark brown or dark red? Well, the contact paper matched: dark red brick print. Really?

This lovely paper (and even better papering job) was in the bathroom off the living room. It was there so long that the paper was brittle, and actually broke, often, in response to my attempts to remove it. I won in the end, however. These drawers are now paper-free, and washed.

I replaced the original paper in the master with this little floral print that I’ve probably had since some time in the 1980s. Brand new roll. Well, never used, still wrapped in the original packaging. That’s “new.” Right? It’s so old, though, that it didn’t want to stick. I ordered some brand new contact paper that I use in all the bathrooms after it arrives. I expect that it’ll stick better than this poor old blue floral.

I didn’t take any view shots when we were there, so I’ll leave you with a photo of Ansel looking out the window.

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Shower: Exit Stage Left

We’re doing an addition to the house for Laura’s office. It’s going to be off the southeast corner of the house with its door to the left of the bathroom that’s off the living room. Unfortunately, that bathroom has a shower right where the office door needs to go.

So out goes the shower. Don’t worry, there are three others. Besides, who needs a shower right off the living room, right?

So here is the bathroom as it was when we got the house:Guest bath, south end

As the shower was making its exit:

And all that’s left:

Still need to remove some of the flooring and cut and cap the drain pipe.

(And Laura notes that having a shower control and shower head in the middle of the door to her office will probably be slightly inconvenient, and so both of those should go as well. LOL)