One Sixty: Fancy!!

It's Fancy Friday again! And I just ordered a novel thing from the Home Improvements Catalog website! These are switch box spacers! Now, if your drywall was done incorrectly, as mine was, your switches and outlets don't sit flush to the wall as they're supposed to. So therefore, your wallplates fit poorly and when you try to plug stuff in, you end up pushing the outlet into the wall. And it's all jiggly and messed up.

So I discovered these spacers in one of these catalogs that I usually just throw out. With these and some longer screws, you can firm up your outlets and switches. For just $7.99 you get a set of 56. You can't beat that, so I figured, why not try it? It just might work. In fact, it's a rather ingenious invention if I do say so.

Ok, I'm sure you're all dying to know what my weekend war is all about this week. Well, last weekend we got so much accomplished that I don't know if it can be beat! All in one day too. This was last Saturday:

7:30 - Wake up and load Mike's truck with demo for the dump.
8:30 - Arrive at Jess's eye appointment
9:30 - Stop at CarQuest, pickup auto primer, a relay, some wire, and a bunch 'o butt connectors. (And other connectors.)
10:00 - Arrive at the dump, unload the stuffx.
10:30 - Arrive back home, prep and prime Mike's new truck hood.
11:30 - Between priming coats, finish the shingling on the back wall. Jess conditions all the inside closet trim with pre-stain wood conditioner.
4:00 - The shingling is finally done and the truck hood is drying. Install exterior outlet next to the side door. Re-install exterior security light on the newly shingled wall.
5:30pm - Jess paints the mudroom closet trim and gives the mudroom ceiling a coat.
6:30pm - Mike comes inside and installs our newly stained bedroom door and door knob. We stain the upstairs closet trim and the bedroom door trim.

Then we were done for Saturday. Mike went riding on Sunday and I finished re-organizing and re-decorating my office, then hooked up and organized my computer. So all in all it was crazy. I don't know how were going to beat that. Let me start a fancy2.

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.

One Sixty

Fancy!!

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