One Sixty: The Lions and The Lambs

The Lions and The Lambs

This March the lions and the lambs are just running around in circles! One day it's winter, next day - spring. Surprising that living creatures don't go into shock from the constant changeover.

Yesterday was definitely a lamb day. Mike and I cleaned up around the yard and burned some brush. It felt good to be outside, even though I couldn't do much yard work save for picking up some bits of trash. (Although I did dare to go for a short motorcycle ride late in the afternoon.)

And in the evening - well, I sort of have a confession to make. I went to the deepHo and bought baseboard trim and closet doors on my HD card. I had a coupon.

So before you shake your head and remind me that I shouldn't be using that dam card - I'll have you know that I paid off the entire balance this morning. (Minus what I just purchased yesterday.) And there is the matter of having a coupon... a coupon requiring you to purchase on your card of course, but a coupon nonetheless. And if I don't purchase anything else, I can have this paid within the next billing cycle. So it's not so bad after all.

Now comes the cycle of cutting and staining and sanding and staining again. The rest of the window trim still hasn't been cut. Mike and I have both been really busy... and he doesn't much like trim work anyway, so he's been procrastinating and I just haven't pushed the issue yet. Although I did pick up the new rug on Saturday! I'm really happy, it looks good, and now I'm even more eager to have the trim done so I can put the rest of the curtains back up.

The only things left to buy are the closet light and organizer. And if I had remembered, I would have bought the closet light on my coupon too. The organizer is a Lowe's item.

Baby's room with rug - looks pretty much completed from this angle. You can't see the other sides of the room where there are no curtains, no closet doors, and a big pile of hardwood....

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.