We're Baaaaaaaack!

Well hello interweb friends and admirers. Yes, this is a blog post, and yes it's been ages since the world has been updated on our comings and going here on 13th st. We probably broke Google's algorithm with our lack of traffic, and for that I apologize.

Real quick update on our house since the last post: we've done nothing. Oh, we bought a new stove. But yeah, I think that's about it. I won't get into the life stuff that we are up to but suffice to say we've stayed busy and the house has been an after thought.

That has changed. Part of us getting busy was, um well, we're having another kid. This little bundle of screaming and not sleeping joy is slated to arrive in July. A - we're pumped. Parker loves babies and is really excited for a 2 year old which is fun to watch. B - it's time to get on to the final chapter of the house (that doesn't involve the words "kitchen", "bathroom" or "dig the basement out and pour a new concrete pad").

So we decided to gut the final bedroom and totally overhaul it with twin closets, (finally) fully insulated walls and ceiling and new windows. Oh, AND I'M NOT DOING IT! That's right, we hired a contractor. Now, I expect that you're a good reader of this amazing blog, so you already know about the nonsense we had with a previous contractor that we poured our hopes and dreams into. It went to shit. Messy shit. So after that shit (it really was shit) we did pretty much all of the work ourselves, and by that I mean I (Bryan) did it all. Well I don't hang or mud drywall and I hired a painter for the last room, but hey I had a spa day or something.

So Merlin (A+ on the name) showed with a couple dudes in a late 80's Ford F-350 quad cab with the name "Le Beaste" stenciled on the side. All vehicles the size of small boats need names. Anyway, the room being gutted has been in the past (in order): my office, our bedroom, our living room, a storage room, my workshop, and a guest room. It's had a life, and it had the scars to prove it. Aside from pulling up the old carpet and painting the floor, we hadn't touched this room since we bought the house. Pictures of the room before and after are scattered throughout this post, but I hope you figured that out already.

The room had a 1960's paneled (then painted) closet that was haphazardly added and added poorly as well. There was a special notch cut out that allowed someone to stick their hand through the hole in to adjust the radiator valve......But we never once complained because it was one of our 2.5 closets in the house, and the biggest, for the first 4 years we've been here. That was function over fashion in a major way. The other walls are covered in layers of wallpaper, newspaper, and then paint. The back window was so bad that in driving rain the kitchen below it would pour water, which happened just the other day. It was time for this room to GO. So in the end we're getting three custom windows, I'm insulating the walls and ceiling, Merlin is supplying proper electrical in there, and a great sense of this being the "last" thing we have to do to make the house really feel like we're in every room.

Before the baby arrives in July, which means this is Parker's room in October-ish, my mother-in-law will probably be residing in it for a few weeks. So it'll be a good chance to break it all in and see if we need to tweak anything before Parker takes over. Right away there's talk about building a bench that spans the closets which will be on either side of the back window. We'll see.

Dudes were off today so I snagged some pics. Tomorrow is framing and electrical, Thursday is something and Friday something else. Honestly, I wasn't paying attention to what Merlin said, that's why Christina is great.

We'll post pictures every couple of days for this few that want to see what is up. And I WILL get a picture of "Le Beaste", I assure you.

Sigh...for those "non-technical" readers in my family....click on the pictures for larger ones.

Bryan

Star date 2008-05-03 - Bryan's log

This one will be short as we're about to head out for dinner in the burbs. We have OFFICIALLY finished the demo portion of our mission, as there is a mountain of debris in the living room as the final proof. We're getting it picked up tomorrow by "The Hunk of Junk" (yeah...we hope they are really hunky too, I guess) and then our contractor will be starting in a couple of weeks...finally. I've included a picture of our trash mountain (it is hard to tell that it 4' high) as well as a shot of the cleaned up third floor.

Now it's hard to see the space as it was before: two bedrooms, a hallway, a framed in closet, and a plastered drop ceiling throughout. I mean seriously...anyone who complains to me about demolishing a room with drywall needs to whine elsewhere. We've lived the plaster and lath nightmare for too long.

On the bright side, I am now a master at the reciprocating saw, and will be showing it off when I use it to carve our turkey this Thanksgiving. Just email me for details. It'll be a show!!!!

...And Then There Were None!

So after many weekends of sledgehammers, pry bars, contractor bags (roughly 200 so far), and dirt, we finally finished the demo for the 3rd floor! It's hard to understand sometimes how much dirt and dust a house can hold in it's walls after 100 years. I mean it's astounding.

We haven't quite finished taking all the bags of debris down to the living room, but all the walls, framing, and ceiling supports are gone. It is a momentous day for us to have all the walls down and finally see the space as one big room. I think Bryan would like to keep the whole floor open as one room, but that would eliminate the bathroom. (it's Bryan...I'm thinking a bar, pool table, plasma and two couches. PLEASE help me make this happen with the boss!!!)

I however do hold onto the idea of the vaulted ceiling bedroom with wonderful evening sunlight, and the spa like bathroom, with claw foot soaking tub, and one of those book holder things that goes across the tub......

somehow we have to compromise, or at least find room somewhere for the plasma TV!

...and the Wall Came Down

So after our great accomplishment of actually building something yesterday, it was back to demolition today. The largest of the remaining walls came down today, and as shown in the picture we figured out how to get it down in one piece (thank the Maker for reciprocating saws).

I think now that we are about done, we finally figured out how to make a bit less of a mess. We now have 35+ bags of rubble in the living room, but the 3rd floor is almost empty!

Cat Wonderland

So the weather has finally cooperated a bit, and with a little spring fever we both left work early today. I put the final coat of polyurethane on the boards for the door, and Bryan did a bit more demo on the 3rd floor. The wall between the rooms is totally down, the doors are off, and a good chunk of the wall in the hall is down as well. Now that there are no doors to the 3rd floor the poor cats have permanently dirty paws. We hope to get the door together and hung this weekend along with the rest of the demo so that we can get on the contractors schedule for sometime soon to frame the new walls!

Demolition and Wisdom Teeth

Last Thursday Bryan had 2 of his wisdom teeth taken out, and came through with flying colors. We then spent Saturday at Lowe's getting flowers and a few odds and ends to try and finish the back door for the fence. The weather didn't really cooperate much, and we managed to get 1 coat of finish on the boards before the rains came. Undaunted Bryan did some more demo to check the areas of the ceiling around the stairs since our contractor is showing up this week to re-support them from the 2nd floor up to the 3rd floor. We also finally rolled up the rug in the living room, which makes the room feel quite large. It is good to see progress though, and we will keep posting pictures as we move along! So check back for more.....

Demolition!

We took down most of the wall between the two 3rd floor bedrooms to open up the space, and also took down some of the larger supports for the plaster ceiling. We are also trying to sell the rug and runner that came with the house, so we had to clean up dirt under the runner on the stairs that was easily 50+ years old. Not a particularly fun job, but it is great to see progress! Bryan is much better at the heavy lifting, and I do better with the photography of the action....