One Sixty: The Cape Cod of It All

The Cape Cod of It All

Mike had a little freak-out when he realized that I hadn't told the foundation guy we wanted an 8 foot ceiling. And of course, I was stressed out from worktime business and bitched back "Then you need to take some initiative and call him yourself!" Which, wasn't very nice, I know. He's also busy at his work.

But, he knew that I hated talking to contractors and gave them a call earlier this week. Well! Just to give you the whole scoop, I had left them a message at the end of last week because Ernie (the dude) asked me to leave Nick Mitchell's phone # on his office answering machine so they could chit chat about depths and footing holes and blah blah blah.

So I left him the message - "Call Nick Mitchell at XXX-XXX_XXXX. I'm not sure if he knows my name, he's been working with my fiance, Mike Banis. So you should probably use that name when you call."

Turns out, one of Ernie's guys is a good friend of our friend Andy, who we've hung out with and rode motorcycles with before. He recognized Mike's name on the answering machine and put in a very good word for us! And so, we're getting our 8ft walls for an amazing amazing price. I'm not sure if that's the same price he quoted me or lower... but either way, that's super cool! Plus, they're starting ASAP.

And by ASAP, I mean as soon as Bob jacks up the house just a teenie bit more... which will be once he's finished some other jobs. Maybe he's waiting for our first check to arrive... I sent it to him Monday and he hasn't cashed it yet. Biggest check I've ever written and it's only $6,000! The remaining four I'll pay him when the house is down safely, which I'm sure it will be - hopefully within two or three weeks!!

Blog Story

My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.

And here we still are... renovating away.

This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.

We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.

New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.

We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.

Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.

Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.

And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!

In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!

In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.

And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.