Rain, Rain, Go away ....

With all of the rain we had last week, I was a little bit worried that the little house was going to float away!

I was surprised that the creek out back grew to be as large as it did ( 6-10 ft across in some areas) , and made such a wonderful sound as the water rushed by, but it never came above the banks. 

The house is outside of the flood area and is not really at risk, but...after Gaston....do we really trust that anyplace is truly safe from flooding? 

I was relieved to see that even in a monsoon - the creek was not even getting up into the yard. 

Time to get these walls in order. The colors are making me insane! 

One of my great clients turned me on to this Behr Paint & Primer combo paint. I loved the way it looked in her house, and I have to say - I am pretty impressed to see how one coat has covered even these crazy dark colors! 

Of course, we will still need a second coat, but so far this Behr paint ( tinted to match one of my my favorite Ben Moore colors) is really impressing me. 

Living room with 1 coat - plus you get a sneak peek @ the kitchen island!

One of the true bonuses of Christmas Break...

I happen to have a surplus of teenage boys with extra time on their hands sitting in my house! 

I was only able to get Jack to come help today, but with two of us working, we got a ton done. 

We pulled out the rest of the kitchen cabinets / sink & dishwasher too. Loaded all of these, plus the big pile of upper cabinets that I had to stick on the back deck, into the dumpster. 

I worked on the remaining layers of flooring. It is still pretty messy, but I finally have it down to the old adhesive and we can see through that to the wood. So far the floors look like they are in good shape, and I think Ron will be able to work his magic when he comes out to refinish them. 

Jack also removed the broken pull-down attic ladder for me. 

( Did I mention how much I loved having a helper today! :) #happymom

He was less than thrilled about sticking his head in the creepy old attic with no light. Me telling him that I had been up there several times already was no consolation. He worked quickly to get that ladder off and get out of there! 

Oooh and he came across some more " treasure" while working. 

I decided to start pulling out the kitchen wall. We are almost ready to have Marcus & Doug come start framing , and I wanted this to be open before they arrive. 

I was a mess by the end of it, but...demo really is fun

After opening up the wall I came across these treats. They really left me stumped. How in the world could this crazy mix of "treasures" make it's way into the middle of a wall? I will never know. 

Honestly - the clean up took as long, if not longer, than the demo! 

My plan thus far has been to open the wall all of the way to the fireplace, but....

Now that it is open, and I see the header board already in place, ( I guess because of the pocket door that was there) I am wondering if I should reconsider. 

What do you think about leaving the opening just as wide as that header? 

I would replace the wall to the left of the fireplace and it would extend about 30" to the left of the mantle. 

I have not made any final decisions on that, so feel free to chime in. 

Thanks! 

B

It's beginning to look a lot like ....DEMO DAY!!

But first we needed to add a little bit of Christmas to the new little house.

Storm door off, lots of stickers peeled off the mailbox & entry and a little bit of elbow grease - I think it looks much happier already! :)

Inside the first thing I wanted to tackle was the mantle. 

It's the first thing you see when you walk in the house, so it's important that it looks good. 

I had a sneaky feeling about the paint that was quickly confirmed.

I truly believe that anyone that paints latex over oil should be charged! Crimes against humanity! ( is that too harsh?) Well - at the very least they should be fined!

So - I sanded & primed ( then sanded and primed again!) I'm hoping that will do the trick.

Working so close to this wall all day, on a project that didn't really show me any grand result made ne eager to see some progress. 

So.....

I decided to just make a tiny hole - to be sure I liked the idea. 

Then I moved on to pulling up the kitchen floor 

Then started pulling out the radiators. 

Time for all of this to go

My pile of rubble was growing in the corner of the kitchen. It needed to be relocated outside.

Walter and his brothers arrived to install the HVAC!!! Yippee !

Their supplies reminded me of presents under the tree, I was so excited to see them!

As I was moving the rubbish from the kitchen to the deck ( since our dumpster has yet to arrive ) I had a chance to check out the back gate. I'm thinking I might love it! 

Too bad the chain link doesn't go all of the way around - but I do like the look of a traditional chain link fence & gate. 

The siding on this house is aluminum, but they left the windows & soffits wood. I was tempted to scrape & paint these, but there is too much rot on the windows. They will all be replaced & the trim will all be wrapped so that it can be completely maintenance free.

As much as I love hot water radiator heat - we are getting a completely new system for this house. It will be a high efficiency 2.5 ton HVAC unit, which will do an excellent job of heating & cooling this space.  The air handler & duct work will all be run in the crawl space - to preserve the attic for storage.

This also means that I can do away with the oil tanks and the oil burning furnace that is currently filling the room that I want to make into a laundry room. 

The radiators had to be removed and apparently had never been opened before because we found all kinds of "treasures" 

Any Chuck E. Cheese fans out there? I've got a stockpile of tokens that some little child would probably love to find in their stocking Christmas morning! 

A couple of little surprises along the way ...

I'm not sure what the story is with this board. Ron ( the flooring master) told me not to worry - he can piece it back to match perfectly , but the super sleuth in me just wants the back story! 

That, and we have an annoying little drip that was previously undetected. So, although I knew we'd need some roof work - I think it's going to be a bit more extensive than previously expected.

That's okay - no major unexpected hurdles ....YET :)

I have to say ... I was pretty happy with how much I got done in such a short time. 

I know , a crew of guys could knock this out in 10 min , but I don't have a crew of guys, so... 

Ooh - and look 

I love the old flooring. It can't be saved , and I won't try, but I think  it's so fun to see what the original house included. 

He he - the guts of our new HVAC system spilled out all over the 3rd bedroom. Why I think that's funny ... I don't know.

Maybe too many hours by myself in the little house :) 

Time to pack up.

I'm hoping the dumpster arrives soon - this pile looks gross, and the neighbors are going to hate me! 

The neighbors are actually very nice. 3 have already been by, and one sweet older woman is from Garden City! What a small world we live in! 

As much as I love the Demo phase , it's always hard to keep the vision, and the finished product in mind.

Of course there's always the hint of worry as little things pop up - even when we plan for them , and allow for all kinds of "cushion"

After a long productive day, when that moment of worry hit me, I was blessed with a sun shower ( my favorite - and a sure sign of good luck ) and then this ....

I pulled over to take a picture because it was so beautiful. The frame would not allow the whole thing to fit, but I could see both sides. Right in the middle - just below the highest point ... Is right where the new little house sits.

What a wonderful message of Peace and a reminder that all will be well :) 

Merry Christmas to all of you! 

xo

Closing Day for the New Little House!

Here it is... 

The new Little House Project! 

I Love the dramatic entrance created by these two giant trees :) 

Okay...the front door might need to go - but it functions, so for now I am not going to worry too much. 

The wood floors & fireplace actually look really good. As soon as we get them refinished, I bet they will be gorgeous! 

The wall to the left of the fireplace is going to have to go. I hate to remove a pocket door - but...this just has to to be open to the kitchen. 

The kitchen is huge because the wall to one of the bedrooms was removed. That will go back up, to bring the home back to a 3 bedroom again. 

This window ( overlooking another room in an extension ) will be closed, and a new window to the outside will be added. 

Ew! 

This will be the laundry room. Sadly this brand new boiler was installed never to be used - but there simply is not enough room for it. This will make a great laundry room once I get it cleared out and bright.  

Terrible addition that is not quite a room - but not quite a porch - so we will be making it outside space again. 

The other addition room ( the one that you see from the window in the kitchen) 

Bedroom 

Another Bedroom 

My favorite B&W

The backyard - can you see the creek? Soon enough - I will pull out a machete and get to work! 

Awesome - right?