The Downtown Farmhouse

If owning a 113 year old is not enough, trying to reimagine it’s new life is really hard.

Yes, we had an architect

Yes we have a permit

Yes we have a plan, Yes we have wishes and dreams. Sometimes Plan A doesn’t work.

The little house apartment bathroom was completely framed up and ready for the plumber. There was not enough space for the toilet. Who knew 30″ was necessary? So the shower walls had to be taken down and moved back into the laundry room which made the laundry room have to be completely reconfigured. Ok, not the end of the world but we don’t have the magic construction framer to come in and magically fix the walls. Nope. It has to be tore out and fixed  so that the plumber can do his thing the next day. It’s dark outside so lights have to be set up. Does he complain? We know what has to be done. We also know that this is for “right now” and “not for forever.”

Here is the new “Little house” bathroom. It’s not much to look at but it’s going to be much better for the ‘rents.

Another BIG change was upstairs.

We will be adding a second set of stairs from the second floor to the attic. The stairs have been a challenge since day 1. Head room, stair treads, landings, yadda yadda yadda. The stairs started in the front room, moved to the back room with a hidden door and nowwwwwwww hopefully their final destination has been determined. However this change has eliminated a bathroom which is not a bad thing. I think we might be able to survive with 4 1/2 bathrooms. Snark snark.

Being flexible is our middle names.

love,

the girl that someday will soak in the tub that is not missing a leg and that is not DISGUSTING.

Me. I used the chop saw. It was fun. I think Steve must have been desperate for an assistant.

I have a shameful thing to admit. I can’t read a ruler. I am good with 1/4, 1/2. 3/4 and the whole number. But all those other little lines???? Cant do it. Steve has tried to teach me. He quizzes me. I can’t do it. As me sometime how I measure, it might make you laugh.

For drywall to be correct, we needed to put in little pieces of wood in each little space. That became my job. I went to the leftover wood pile, grabbed the closest size, measure the space, measure the wood, cut, drill into place, repeat. I wouldn’t begin to know how many I cut but it seemed like 1000’s.

love,

the girl who enjoyed power tools;

I thought you might like to know how I spent my day today. You might think a spa day or a day shopping with a friend. No, not quite.

I started my day in long sleeves and a hoodie. After hauling large boards to the dumpster the hoodie had to go. Then this happened…..the bottom half of my sleeves had to go. I got hot and there was a razor knife near by. CUT THEM OFF!!! Steve said my muscles were busting out, yeah right.

The rest of the morning I spent here, in the attic.

Not dreaming of the new design or how we will enjoy a spectacular movie room. See all that fluffy brown stuff? It’s old antique insulation and that’s not a good thing. It’s stinky and dirty and it has to go. Every last puff ball.

On goes gloves and a mask

I’m not fond of heights so I shimmy up the ladder and maneuver myself around on the random pieces of plywood between my booty and falling through the ceiling of the second floor.

The fluffy brown stuff is pushed into a large garbage bag and tossed down the attic access. It then gets thrown out the window of the second floor and taken to the dumpster.

Here is some of my haul for today.

Just in case you wondered……this is dumpster number 10.

Love,

the girl in her pjs @ 5pm on a friday night. And ok with it.

There are 37 windows. 14 will be replaced with new/old looking windows and will be delivered next week. That leaves 23 old, thickly painted over and over again, broken 113 year old windows. There were many conversations regarding the 23 windows, however in the end, the decision was made to take them out one by one and strip the paint off, sand, repair, prime, paint, replace the glass, re-glaze and LOVE the old windows.

Here are the few pictures of the “before”. Notice the aluminum siding has been removed on about 1/3 of the house. The siding is amazing but it needs a lot of love.

The bottom left window is missing the bottom half and has been sportin the plywood base since day 1.

Here is the other side of the house.

This happened today. Two at a time. We just wave as people walk by.

This would be the current work space (sweat shop) for the window restorations. 2 down………..21 to go.

Love,

grateful for plywood.