One Sixty: Spring Edition of Now What

Spring Edition of Now What

As you may remember, purchasing 500sq feet of hardwood flooring was a 100% gamble. Sure, Lumber Liquidators had their No Payment No Interest for 12mo's deal going on, but who wants another card and another must-pay-this-off-in-a-year monthly payment? I gambled on upcoming tax refunds to pay off the entire thing. (An educated gamble based on the amount of past years refunds.)

This past weekend we prepared our returns (thank you to my in-laws and their edition of Turbo Tax) and were both pleasantly surprised to find that we would be able to pay off the entire hardwood purchase AND THEN SOME. The "and then some" was definitely an unexpected surprise.

Already a flutter of possibilities are swimming around my head... although I know I have to rein myself in. Immediately and without thinking, the first thing out of my mouth was, "now we can do the floors in the living room." Although after thinking on it further, I reminded myself that the siding is still in desperate need of replacement and the porch is still in desperate need of railings and trim.

Not to mention the obvious - the baby's room is not 100% completed yet!

Our biggest problem (that Mike and I share) is our tendency to begin new projects without completing the old ones. We just get waaay too excited about new projects sometimes, and it bites us in the butt. Might I bring up the examples of the upstairs (still awaiting some trim and lighting fixtures), the downstairs stair railing (as of yet unfinished), and of course the porch and siding.

So when the money arrives (March 20 if all goes well), completion of the baby's room will be the A #1 priority. Baseboard trim and everything for the closet. Not much - but it all needs to be done.

Then what? That's the question isn't it. But I'm not even going to ask myself right now.

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

Spring Edition of Now What

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