Sunday, November 30, 2008

Monday we get our babies back!

Our pets have been boarded for almost 2 weeks! Tomorrow we will get them back! Zoe
Deuuuuce!

Ke Ke and Ko Ko


Lizzie-Lou
We are sooo happy that we will see them soon!
As our 1 month anniversary out of the house is here, having them back home is a great way to celebrate!
XO




Saturday, November 29, 2008

Update: Month 1

As our first month of work comes to an end... missing walls...
missing floors...

and a heap of electrical wires...
MEAN PROGRESS!!!
We are so grateful for the work that has been done! It is a grand mess, but it is moving us closer and closer to our "dream" house!
Stacy and Rodney have expectedly encountered the unexcpected! We need all new electricity, all new plumbing, new walls, and all the fixins'! We are still on time with our timelines and as hard as these guys work, I wouldn't be surprised if we remain on-schedule ( and I'm crossing fingers and toes that it may even be earlier!).
We were able to go through all of our attic junk and organize it all! All of our attic contents were taken down to re-do the electrical and for insulation. We were able to make a few Bridge House runs, go through some old memories from my mom and dad, see Sophie's baby treasures, realize how many pictures need to go into albulms, and finally organize some of our Beverly Garden stuff that we moved to Bell street, but never unpacked!
With my life, January-March revolving around Fridge Art, being out of our house will be difficult...but we will survive. Lynn and Sophie have become very used to my craziness around this activity that is so important to me.
This past week, we were at our third house and we did OK! We all miss being home very much! As our first month comes to an end, we are homesick and hopeful and still very excited!
XO,
Laura



Thankful 11/29/08

Bella is 8!!! today!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Giving Thanks!

What we are thankful for...

  • A happy kid
  • A wonderful family
  • Our family of friends
  • Our pets
  • Each other

What's going on???

All of the work now is under-house and in the attic. There is a heap of electrical wires (a fire waiting to happen) that have been pulled out and all of the plumbing is gone!

Not much else to report at this time.

We hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving week and spending time with the people that we are most thanksful for.

L>L> and Sophie

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Excitement and lots of changes...

If you know the book, If you give a mouse a cookie, you know that if you give a mouse a cookie, the next thing you know is he'll get thirsty and want a glass of milk, he'll spill the milk and need a napkin, etc.

I think this is how renovating an old house works, as well. If you decide to renovate a room, you'll have to do 2 b/c you'll have to tear down walls...if you want to change out a pipe, you'll have to change the drain...you know!

Anyway, because mice like cookies, we are getting all new electrical wiring, plumbing, walls, etc...

Stacy and Rodney are working very hard! They are beyond "on schedule." We are very excited! I am impatient so I have to stay away! This process definitely takes patience!

All is good...well, great!

Hopefully, I'll take pictures of the new pipes and wiring...ooooohhh! Exciting stuff!

Also, Kimberly came through with a great price on our quartz for the counter-tops! We are clipping along just fine!

Laura

Saturday, November 15, 2008

We bought CABINETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kimberly uses 3 calculators, a spread sheet, and an on-call accountant to figure out how much our cabinet order will cost. Then, there was the waiting for the Brinks truck to be available to take the check and all the drama...it was sort of like buying my first car, except a few dollars more expensive. My first car was a Plymouth Arrow (you remember..."Me and my arrow, taking the high road..."). It was silver and very cool and it cost $1600.00!Kimberly smiles after we write the check! Heh! Heh! If the whole "showroom" and tape measure thing is a ruse, Kimberly may be in Costa Rica as you are reading this!!? But seriously, Kimberly is so professional and thoughtful in her work. We were so lucky to have her help us make our new kitchen be the perfect kitchen for us.

Tala had a good time "helping" as we finalized the cabinet order...She was so funny all day. She is imitating everything! She has her daddy's sense of humor!The Cabinets are so nice! We hope that they help maintain the integrity of the original house. The pulls are not shown because they looked crappy in the pictures on the Armstrong site.

Rutledge Cabinet. Mocha finish on maple.

you can view it at http://www.armstrong.com/content2/resam/files/25188.pdf As we have said over and over again...there will be a party in our new "old" house...if you are a blog reader...you will know when it will be!


XO,


Laura







Friday, November 14, 2008

KIMBERLY to the rescue!

The long hallway is now part of the open space that will be the dining room-kitchen. We are thinking, with Stacy's suggestion, to open up the living room as well...we'll see! Kimberly came over to get some difinitive measurements for the kitchen!!! I can't really tell you how excited I am about the kitchen! I still can't see it, but I know it's there!!!

Kimberly re-designed the space and Lynn and I both really love the re-design. I know that you all will, too!

We are really so lucky to have so many people working together to make this all happen so smoothly!


Finally, the window guy came by to make arrangements for the last window in the house to be replaced.
Onward and upward!
Love,
Laura



Thursday, November 13, 2008

Not much to share as work moves under cover...

Rodney and Stacy are so cute! They are trying to reassure us that work is continuing, but will not be as glamorous over the next several weeks! Is that so sweet? They are concerned that we will think that they've stopped work if we don't continue to see walls coming down!

Lots of excitement, but for the next several weeks, you photo buffs will have to wait. The paparazzi is temporarily closed until further notice. I don't even think we'll post the most recent visual of the "open floorplan."

We want to wish everyone a happy turkey day with family and friends. We love you and appreciate you!


XO,

Laura

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Look into the light...or LET THE SUN SHINE IN!!!

The temporary wall in some way impedes the view (especially in pictures...however, it is spectacular! The very large support beam was being constructed and going up possibly today.
This is the view from the KITCHEN!!!!

Another view of the temp wall and Lynn reacting to the view!
We are also excited because on another leg of our journey, we are once again within (and a little under) our budget!
We were able to shop for our bathroom stuff (showers, faucets, toilets, etc) and for both bathrooms, we are $4 under budget!
We are very, very proud that we are able to control our usually expensive taste in stuff for the house.
We also went to the Bank (awesome)(http://www.thebankantiques.com/ ) today on the way to get Sophie and Haiden from school. For $75 we will have our mantle (pretty sure original to the house-square,hand-forged-blacksmith-looking nails) stripped! can't wait to see what is under all that white paint!
Framing is well underway, but over the next few weeks, things may get boring...plumbing and electrical is not nearly as exciting as DEMOLITION!
XO,
Laura

Monday, November 10, 2008

No photos...broken camera...an incredible view!!!


Sorry to report that there are no photos attached! The camera was not working!


Lynn went by the house this afternoon and...(drumroll)...the side-hall wall is DOWN!!!!!! The view to the windows is breathtaking...Lynn took a picture w/ her cell phone.


Will try to post pictures soon!


Laura

Thursday, November 6, 2008

EXPOSED!

Rodney and Stacy The Dynamic Duo!!! Rodney and Stacy are so awesome. Their skill and vision and ability to make something new out of something very old, while respecting and maintaining the integrity of the space is so incredible to me, to us.

The best birthday gift to me today was the EXPOSED fireplace...completely exposed! It is beautiful and looks so ready for the BIG stove! I hope everyone is hungry, b/c in a few months, a whole lotta cooking will be happening! That will really be the best gift ever, to cook for everyone again!

One of the coolest findings, besides the old high school ring, was the old wallpaper on the barge board. There were 2 layers of paper, one 19th century, the other, early 20th century. The walls under the paper were covered in burlap. To think that the earliest residents of the house had the barge board and a layer of burlap between them and the elements...


There were also graffiti marks on the newer paper. Drawings and scribbles in paper. The word, "mama" and a bird were the most discernable.



Scribble
The bird





Our old closet.



Our old bathroom.








This large hole above the window was to vent the wood burning stove 100 years ago.























The fireplace on the dining room side.

What will tomorrow bring?!




























Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A "no picture" day

No pics of the renovation today...the cement guy came back to finish...well, complete yet another phase. We prefer not to talk about the cement stuff...paid for in April, promised completion in June before Lynn's surgery...not completed yet...Ugh!



The surprise cement visit thwarted progress today, but according to Stacy, the fireplace is completely exposed! Can't wait to see it! Hopefully, this time next week, Kimberly from Armstrong can come by for some hard measurements. Fun!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

A day of progress...11/4/08

Today...
Beautiful Barge Board in the sidehall, dining room wall...

The front bathroom is GONE!!!!


The fireplace peeking through.

The Sidehall exposed.
The hall.

Inside Soph's room.
Fireplace and where the bathroom used to be.

Barge Board. Wow!

A look into the new kitchen!
Beautiful brick ready for a stove!

I hope everyone exercised the right to vote. No matter what the outcome, history is being made today. I'm just happy to be a part of it. I'm so excited for my daughter and my young family members. What an interesting future the world holds for them...maybe one day we'll see an election where race, gender, age, or political party doesn't matter...
Progress was made on Bell Street today, as well. Talk about exciting!!! Stacy is the right person to entrust our major life "renovation" to. He loves the house, too. Lynn said that until the kitchen (the very ugly kitchen) was ripped out, Stacy was a bit incredulous about our master plan. Now he is like a giddy school girl (he’d say that). With the walls gone, even I can see the plan unfolding. It’s so strange how Lynn and I looked past the existing space for the past 2 ½ years. We knew what we pictured in our heads was the house we would see one day. It’s just amazing…totally amazing.

What else is amazing…my first day in 10 days where I am not on heavy drugs! My head is clear. To Sophie and Lynn’s disappointment, my reticent demeanor over the past few weeks is a thing of the past! Back to being a pain in the butt! Too talkative, too impatient, and just “too” everything!

The disclaimer for this blog is that you may have to divide every fact (especially numbers) by 2! My family has this long-running joke that I exaggerate…so they divide everything I say by 2. For example, if I say, “there were like 100 people in line to vote today.” My family automatically translates that to, “50 people in line.” You may have to do that while reading the blog. I will try to be as accurate as possible, but if I get too excited, the facts may become distorted!

Monday, November 3, 2008

When the walls come tumbling down...sort of!

The wall of the front bathroom, looking from the kitchen into the dining room. Where you see light blue is the fireplace. This will soon be exposed brick and the new home for the stove.
The walls are coming down. Today Stacy found termite damage in the walls between the bathroom and the kitchen. For a 110+ year old house that is pretty typical. We've found termite and bora beetle damage throughout the house, but it has all been old. The wall between Sophie's room and the old study.


Sophie's closet.

The front bathroom.
The termite damage.


The outside wall of the front bathroom. Soon to be part of the kitchen.



Looking from Sophie's room looking into the study.



The DUMPSTER!

Soph's room.


The old pantry space.


More termite damage.


The dining room and a cute little girl.


My new PLANTER...the clawfoot tub from the front bathroom.



The front bathroom before...



The progress and hard work is so appreciated! It's amazing how much can get done in a day!