One Sixty: The Man Plan

The Man Plan

No permit in the mail when I arrived home yesterday. I didn't really expect it. The building inspector isn't going to stuff the envelope himself and rush it over to my house on his way home or anything. If I get it by Friday or Saturday - I'll consider myself very lucky. Not to mention there's the whole conservation thing to be concerned about - but at this point, we're thinking the project may be small enough to slip through without muss or fuss. Cross your fingers.

Meanwhile, our neighbor Dana came by last night and he and Mike worked for a little while on the mudroom drywall. Then they made big plans for Saturday.

So - Dana and Mike will meet in the morning and pea coat and finish up the room. Then, while all that's drying, Mike will help Dana pickup some.... stuff (I forget what stuff - some heavy garden or home stuff) with his truck and bring it back to Dana's house. Once they finish unloading that, they'll come back to the mudroom and prime the drywall and paint the ceiling.

By Sunday - it'll be ready for me to paint! So I'll be getting my butt up early with my blue paint and my lighter blue paint and my glaze and my sponge roller to re-sponge the room.

OH - speaking of which, Dana said to Mike, "I don't know what we're going to do about this wallpaper."

Mike replied, "Wallpaper?! That's paint! Jess sponge painted this room!"

My painting was so good, he thought it was wallpaper! Too cool, huh? Hopefully I'll be able to replicate my results the second time.... the first time around I had my friend and artist, Kie to help me out... This time I'll be all by my lonesome.

If I can finish all my painting on Sunday - you know what that means.

FLOORING!

And maybe if I play my cards right, I can get Mike to help me with it next week. Shhhhh - it's my evil plan! Well, not that evil. He's been more motivated than me lately!

We just have to put down tile at the french door entry area and in the laundry closet, then hardwood over the rest of the room. I'll have to get some tile and rent the hardwood stapler again - but hopefully I'll have the money for it next Tuesday. And if all that goes well, we could be trimming by by the week of the 21st!

Of course the permit will hopefully be definitely in by then. Hopefully Definitely.

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

The Man Plan

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