One Sixty: I Think I'm Wrong

I Think I'm Wrong

I have to say, I just loved allll of your comments to my last entree. And you all are right - why should I obsess over it?

But, I have to admit - I was wrong.

Sunday I started painting, and decided to give method #2 a try. And by the time the first coat was on, I was in love. Leaving the entire top slant white totally makes the room look bigger! I love it. It 's a nice contrast to the red and matches my white TV stand.

Last night I did the second coat. I didn't look at it this morning, but hopefully this time around I wont' have to do a third coat.

Meanwhile Mike's been putting in the 1/2 inch plywood (underlayment for the hardwood) and boy has it been tricky. But I think we're making good progress. The bedroom is almost all done - and with very little cursing and swearing and throwing of hammers.

Tonight's madness involves removing the closet organizer - which is conveniently attached to the wall in, oh, 10 places! Last night I took out all the stuff in the closet though - so everything's ready to go. We'll probably use two more sheets of ply - which is two less than we thought we'd need. So that's good too. I hate to curse it, but everything is going smoothly.

Hopefully Mike will be able to see what it takes to rent the hardwood nailer too. If we can get that tomorrow night.... oooo! Think of the fun! I can't wait.

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.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...: I have that same decision to make, once we finally get around to painting the 3rd floor rooms. I used a painting program to play around with different looks, and as much as I'd originally thought the same as you about how far the "wall" color should go up, the pics I colored made it clear that painting just the vertical part of the wall was the way to go for me. Like you said, it makes the room look bigger, but also in these rooms it will give it a wainscotting type of look. I'm even considering getting some kind of trim to use as a quasi-chairrail at the juncture, which (being another color addict) may be a contrasting rich highlight color.; 2:56 PM