Friday, October 25, 2013

Putting it Back Together

The heart of the home is coming back together. Our new best friend, Jerry, is helping piece back all the new tongue and groove and sheet rock in the kitchen walls. Over time, it felt like a real room again and you could finally get a sense of home. Sadly, it also enclosed the room so it didn't feel so open and airy so it's lost a little bit of that "largeness". However, its still a big room at 20x20. Just mental.  Jerry, Jay and Heath (bright safety yellow shirt) do a great job working together. So half the room is tongue and groove while the area in which the cabinets are located will be sheet rocked and later tiled for back splash. And you may notice the one doorway is alittle small... its part of our new diet program. Keeps you from coming into the kitchen for food f you can't fit through the door :)  J/K - needs to be cut back and framed out with the new pocket door jam.













Thursday, October 24, 2013

Bedroom Ceilings Got to Go

After many discussions, priming, more discussions and finally some hands on research, we decided to start looking what was under those 50 year old bedroom ceiling tiles. They are so ugly... and who knows what they've seen and well, they could still retain the old house smell.

No thanks! So, pry bar, hammer and needle-nosed pliers and I was off.
I did find out what left that stain in the middle of the ceiling. Ironically enough, due to the house shifting over the years, the actual leak was from the center of the house and the water ran to that spot. Thanks Gravity!
So as I started to peel back the tiles and found more oddity's....

One bedroom had wood strips holding up the tiles with staples. The other bedroom they used glue and staples. I seriously wonder which room they did first and what learning's they had as they attached each tile.
Glue versus strips plus nails.... I prefer the wood strip method. Record time in taking them down. Mind you, the rooms are 13x13. So That's 169 tiles in each room. 169 tiles time 4 staples for the corners and an additional 4 staples in the centers of each side. That's approx 1352 staples to be removed. 1352 *2 rooms - = 2704 staples. Fun.      

Oh by the way, we'll be sheet rocking back over the ceilings. We are glad we took them down. Nasty old tiles bye bye.





Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Cabinets have Arrived

Sneak Peak of the kitchen cabinets! Natural Hickory..... Yes Mom, we all agree...Love all the lines and knots in random spots. Can't wait to see it all come together. I'd say less than a week..
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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Nate vs Fence & Cement - Round 4

So typically, digging out an old fence is a known task on my list. I have learned to not go into thinking, "this is going to be easy." Reminder of old "fence diggings" can easily come to mind though. Fool me once, shame on me..... fool me twice, find someone else to dig the holes and remove the junk! Well, not this time. The old fence was a barrier to the old propane tanks that once provided heat to the house.
They are now gone. Thankfully, the ground is very soft still and unlike every other property we've worked on or owned, there are minimal rocks or should I say, mammoth boulders to have to worry about. With the tanks out of the way.... my results were quite easily obtained. Yea Me!