One Sixty: Too Down To Trim Up

Too Down To Trim Up

Ok - I just wrote a huge thing about this and that and why I've been feeling down. But then I decided I don't really want to share today. And I deleted it.

Probably because a number of people have warned that it's dangerous and stupid to publish your thoughts online and made fun of bloggers to my face. Normally, I would whole-heartedly disagree.... but in current state of mind I'm a little bit sensitive to suggestion. Not that I share my blog with these people who would wonder "what's the point?"

To summarize - I've just been too bummed to do anything lately - for a multitude of reasons. And Mike has tried his damnedest to snap me out of it, but I can't help worrying about well, everything.

So despite having all the gear to finish the upstairs, it's been just sitting in the basement, some half stained, some unstained, some un-cut.

That all changed this Sunday. We put up the office window and base trim, wired the bedroom and office smoke detectors, and put a coat of stain of both sets of closet doors. Although we did also discover that we didn't have enough base trim to cover the room. It had been so long, we had just forgotten! Plus, we ran out of stain.

An office window.

closet trim (door trim was already there)

notice the baseboard trim

see the smoke/carbon monoxide detector? now just one hole to fill - the office ceiling fan.

If we can finish the doors and install them this week - both upstairs rooms will be 99.9% done. The only remaining projects up there would be the attic crawl space doors, office ceiling fan, and the bedroom window trim.

And since we lifted the house, the bedroom windows went crooked. So they actually have to be physically taken out and put back in straight before we can trim them. (Our carpenter will have to handle that one.)

Next on the docket is the stairway/hallway. I'd like to finish it next the same way we finished the upstairs. That is: Buy everything needed to finish it and don't stop until it's done. That would include all materials for the banister and catwalk railing, lighting fixtures for the hallway, paint for the hallway, a couple light switches, and trim.

Not so bad right?

We probably won't be able to finish that until we get back from our vacation Oct 1st. And who knows what the money situation will be then - so I shouldn't say anything.

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:

Kelli said...: For what it's worth, I understand what you're going through with feeling down preventing you from picking up and getting things done. My husband and I both deal with issues of depression off and on, to different extents. If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about some people talking smack about bloggers and how people choose to write in their blogs. If it will make you feel better, maybe just write the post that lets you vent and just keep it as a private post for yourself. I know I always feel better when I get it all, either by writing about it or unloading to a friend who knows how to just listen. :) Glad to hear you made some great progress though! Hang in there!; 2:11 PM