One Sixty: It's Nearly Summer - Do you Know Where Your Progress Is?

It's Nearly Summer - Do you Know Where Your Progress Is?

Ah spring. Yesterday was May 1st and that means it's high time for some major warm weather progress action! YEAH! Get pumped. Download some techno. Strap your ipod to your arm and start groovin like there's no one around to see ya!

That's what I did yesterday. Well - I downloaded some techno and pumped it up in the car and drove like there was no one around to see me anyway. Then I went to the GROCERY STORE! Yeah, hardcore... right there.

Too bad cash flow has trickled down to zilch due to massive spring bills and rising fuel costs. Still, we attempt to press on and I attempt to motivate myself and keep that 'ol depression at bay.

Tonight Mike's picking up a cement mixer, which we're renting for the weekend for just $50. (That's usually the price of just one day's rental, but Mike's got some connections....) Tomorrow morning he'll be working for a friend of his for some extra cash and we'll start cementing in the afternoon.

After that, I suppose it's time to start ripping siding off the house. That means I'll have to purchase plywood. I'd rather not keep racking up my homedepot card bill - but I need to save cash to pay for labor.

God, it seems just like yesterday I had nearly $10,000 in my savings. A freakin record. Now I owe myself at least $1300 and I'll probably end up transferring more money out of savings so I can buy Lean Cuisines for lunch next week.

Ok - this is the kind of talk that made me download new music. I just can't get down and stressed about this crap. What have I been saving for if not for this porch?! Gotta just start groovin here at my computer - get me back and pumped up.

Somebody give me a Corona - stat!

Once the siding has been ripped back a little, we can start building the actual porch of it. At which point, we need to call in The Professional. I'll have him call Morse Lumber using our acct. # for whatever materials we need - they're great and they deliver.

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.