One Sixty: Renewed and Ready

Renewed and Ready

Back from Laconia, Beek Week.... beek week?! Did I seriously type that? Could have been worse. Could have been Beek Wike.

Yes - Bike Week. The trip was nice - relaxing, fun... short. Too short. But I suppose vacations always are. I can't remember the last time Mike and I had a moment to have something that wasn't an argument. That sounds terrible. Makes it sound like we're not getting along. And that's not true either. We're just under a lot of stress and highly testy.

Now, going back to good news, one of the conversations, of course, was house related. As in, I'm sick of stagnation. As in, "I know you]d rather start a new project then finish the old, but we need to. We made the decision to seek Tim as soon as possible. (You know, Tim the roofer.) That garage addition roof is #1. Also, we want Tim to place a bid on the completion of the farmer's porch. Yes, that's right. The farmer's porch. I made the executive decision on this one. We don't need much that we can't do - but we need it done. (Say that 5 times fast!) Furthermore, we need it done immediately, or sooner if possible. After the difficult stuff is complete, we can do our own staining, railings, etc. etc.

Which brings me to my next point. The yard. With all these new additions, it's time now for landscape planning. And I am no good with plants or researching plants. I want someone to do a design. Mike knows people - so talk to people! Get them over! Do a drawing, give me an estimate, I don't care just do it.

It all starts now. Yes, MB is still in NH until tonight, but this morning our neighbor Richard stopped over. Turns out that while we were gone, Timmy actually stopped by - ready to roll on the roof! (Figures, right?) Well, I told Richard - we want the roof and we want the porch. And I know Timmy always tries to refuse money. Not this time. No way.

So Richard will talk to Tim, Tim will talk to Mike - maybe even tomorrow - and get started. He told Richard he could finish the garage addition roof in just a couple hours, with only a couple more little materials. (ice & water, that sort of thing) Sweet...

Wouldn't it be awesome if we could get this whole porch done in just a couple weekends?! The very notion....

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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

Renewed and Ready

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