Let There Be Light!

Well, almost.....last week was a bit slow as our contractor decided he needed to go see wild horses in Delaware for his family vacation. Who gets a vacation?

Anyway, the electricians came on Thursday and started to layout some of the recessed lighting, and switch locations to actually get electricity back into the 3rd floor. There are still a few more things to add, and a few things that did not land in quite the right spot, but those should get fixed next week. The plumbers also came on Friday and started to mark the ceiling on the 2nd floor for the plumbing runs, and the one line out to the existing stack on the OUTSIDE of the house.

Yes, one of the exciting things about a house built without plumbing or electricity, was the exhaust stack is on the exterior of the house. The old knob and tube wiring is also amazing to find. It is quite scary really to realize that a small ceramic tube was part of the power for an air conditioning unit......so far only a couple minor electrical fires, but that is why we are renovating, right?

The other great accomplishment of the weekend is the tub is almost done. I think Bryan is refinishing the tub for me to earn brownie points for the rest of the Baseball season (meaning he can watch some games at the corner bar). I think his plan is to get the tub set up so I can soak in the tub while he watches the never ending, constant all the time Phillies games......in the end it will probably work out for him!

Shopping

So now that there is magical progress everyday, it is time for me to quit changing my mind and actually order all the fixtures, new mirror, and Bryan's toilet! There were 2 requests he made for this whole remodel, first that the shower have an "old time" feel with an exposed connection from the handles to the faucet, and second that the toilet have a dual flush button on the top, not a lever.

The picture above is the toilet we have ordered, and you can see the sink (just the sink, not the storage or faucet) as well.

We have all the pieces on the way and they should start arriving this week to Bryan's office. I think that he is going to have to bribe the guys in his mail room, since these boxes are not going to be small!

Day Three

For once, it's me...Bryan. So I have been telling people, 'Yeah, I mean I'm sure we'll take pictures everyday, but really I'm sure we'll just update weekly'. Right. So it seems that Christina and I enjoy racing home after work and running up stairs to see what has happened during our torment at our respective offices. This has lead to Christina's blog addiction becoming ever so fun to watch.

Anyway, today the fellas tweaked some things that we found last night and framed the closet. This new closet will make THREE for the entire house. The guys also framed in all of our built in storage spaces, but that's too much fun to show.

Also, Christina wants to show off the edge that makes the bathroom (tub) open to the stairs. In time that will be a wall of some sort, but I haven't been told yet, so I don't need to know at this point.


Also in the post are just a few elevation drawings for the contractor and because I don't understand 'archi-speak' and need pretty pictures. I poo-pooed posting then entire drawing set, because I know EVERYONE is going to STEAL our ideas. You're all sneaky. For all you architects out there if you are curious about the plans, let us know and we can email them. There are also some 3D renderings that will probably make their way onto the blog when there aren't as many fun new pictures to post! (Ed: That was the boss, not me)

And They Returned!

So they came back, even with the heat! This picture shows the new framing for the bathroom, the shower is the square in the middle. I think they plan to get the framing done this week, and the electrical and plumbing done next week. The new windows should show up the end of next week as well. The other picture starts to show the slope of the ceiling with the new joists. It is absolutely amazing to have stuff magically get done while we are at work!

Day One

So I realize the picture isn't terribly exciting, but it was the first days progress, and it needed to be celebrated! This just shows the small area where there is new sub-floor for the bathroom, and a pile of tools in the corner. I should also mention that without any power on the 3rd floor, and record heat temperatures, I think the actual temp was 99 today, I was surprised they showed up at all. We did have a few extra Gatorade bottles throughout the house....but check back often now that we aren't the only ones doing the work!

Blog revamping

So we're currently in the process of sprucing up the blog. I (Bryan) have added a handy little project progress thing purely for personal motivation reasons. The carrot and stick don't mean much if you can't see the finish line through the lead paint dust. In the coming days I would like to add some other blog sections that will be used for some general non house related entries. I guess that's it.

If you (our dear friends and family) would like something specific on the blog just drop us an email.

Cheers!
Bryan

Stoop Fun

So we have been doing small projects lately. This one was a bit of procrastination from tub scraping, but an improvement none the less! I had found some numbers I loved at Design Within Reach a couple of years ago, but like most of their products, at $65 a number always thought against it. So we found these copies at a much better price. These are a great improvement to the original ones you can see in the first picture stuck on above the door (like the duct tape and vegetable can as a pipe stopper, the previous owners always seemed to use anything with adhesives) Any good weekend project isn't complete on its own and this one has now spawned 2 or 3 additional projects. First painting the door and frame now that the unsightly numbers left a mark on the white aluminum, adding a light outside the door that we have wanted for awhile, and finally the foxglove addition to the front. 2 down 2 to go!

The last picture is a view down the street and that is our little "Charlie Brown Tree" in the foreground. Bryan makes fun of its sprout at the top. I admit it does grow in a strange way, but it is now almost up to the 3rd floor and just starting to fill in a little for shade in living room.