One Sixty: A Little Door'll Do Ya

A Little Door'll Do Ya

So I've managed to calm down about Saturday. Mike was nice enough to give me half of his Sunday - which is usually "guys day" - to work some more on the upstairs.

First thing, we made a trip to the HD in Plymouth, since the one in Wareham was all out of the size bi-fold closet doors we needed - plus we needed more finish nails and some fertilizer. (Yes, our precious lawn is suffering.)

And - get this - I almost bought a fridge. Ok ok ok ok ok ok. So we were leaving HD and you know how they have all their closeouts right in the exit there.... and they had an LG, bottom freezer, french door, stainless steel, matte finish - the high performance fridge of my wildest dreams. ON CLOSEOUT! For $1500 something. I was dying. I was drooling. I was caressing. It had those super cool drawers in the fridge part. It had a cube size select ice maker in a pullout drawer in the freezer drawer which pulled out so super smoothly. Did I mention Closeout priced?!

I had to have stood there for at least 10 minutes mulling over it. I wanted to take the plunge - buy the thing. I wanted to so bad!! Mike was no help - he just kept telling me to do whatever I wanted. And I wanted the fridge! But I knew it was wrong... especially with everything else we're trying to accomplish right now. Not to mention the $500 in upstairs finishing materials I had just bought in the last two days. Not only that, but I didn't even know whether it would fit in my kitchen design. Or, even more importantly, if it would fit through the door to the house!

That's what tore it for me. I told myself, "we'll never even be able to squeeze it in." Never mind the fact that I shouldn't be spending money on impulse. But I think about it even now... wonder if it's still there. Just down the street from me right now. I know I made the right decision.

That was my frame of mind when we got back home. We installed the office bi-folds to test fit and that was the end of my half Sunday allotment. Mike was off on the boat and I decided to stay home and relax after that. It was nice.

I have to admit I went upstairs several times while Mike was gone, just to look at the closet doors. They make the room look so much more finished - even without trim. Now we just have to test fit the doors in the bedroom, take 'em off, stain 'em and put 'em back up again with all the trim.... which we need to put a second coat on, hopefully tonight.

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.