Entrance

Here are some before photos of the entranceway of our house. When you enter the house, there is a 4 foot long hallway that ushers you into the living room. We have taken the hallway down and plan to reorient the entrance so that you enter into a foyer with a large coat closet as soon as you enter, a tall and narrow shelving system on the left for shoes, mail, key, etc. The new plan would have us entering into the living room to the right.

Structural Wall -Midpoint

Unfortunately, we don't have photos of the demolition. The house had piles of dusty rubble that we cleaned up with snow shovels. Then swept, shop-vacuumed, mopped three times and voila...the wall is ready for the structural guy.

Structural Wall -Before

Just because I haven't written does not mean that we haven't been busy (triple negative). We have decided (probably against better judgement) to open up the walls between the kitchen and living/dining rooms and renovate the kitchen. The plans have been in the working stage pretty much since we moved in (April 2009), but they were really just dreams. Well, I think as soon as you dream of a kitchen with more than one drawer and a tiny bit of extra cash comes your way, you dive right in. We did, anyways.

Somehow February seemed like the best option. I'm always a little bored on my holidays anyways, so why not cram an entire kitchen reno into 3 weeks! Step One was to wait patiently to be able to tear the drywall off the wall that we intend to remove. Actually, Step One was having a Structural Engineer come to advise us on how to keep the house from falling down, since the wall in question is structural...of course. Step Two was seeing if we could afford to pay a contractor to do the structural work. Step Three was doing drawings for the permit application and it was actually Step Four that had us waiting patiently for said permits and waiting patiently to be able to tear down the drywall. As you can see, we weren't very patient. We cut a "window" just to see what it might look like from the kitchen to the living room and vice versa.

New Fence, New Fence

Two weeks before C's parents arrived the landscapers called to say that they would like to remove the old chain-link and set the new posts starting the next day. We swiftly hacked away at the tangle of overgrown shrubs, sapling and vines that made up our "garden", creating a pile of brush taller than a person. The posts were set over the next 10 days(!), the fence wood was delivered and C's parents arrived. Forecast for their visit....rain every day! The sloping backyard was a challenge, but 6 days later and plenty of caked on mud, the fence is built. Gates will be tomorrow's task.

Old Fence, New Fence

In preparation of C's parents coming to build the new fence, we pried off all the old fence boards that were attached to the chain-link, hammered out the old nails, took the split boards and cut them down, then hatchet-ed the bits into kindling. All in all a very hands-on day. I felt a bit like a pioneer because once all the outdoor work was done, I headed to the kitchen to do some canning!

New Shed, New Shed

Once the old shed was gone, we pulled down the fence boards, which turned out to be beautifully aged cedar. We ordered a cedar shed kit (Outdoor Living), waited 3 weeks for it to arrive and got to work! It was sort of like a very lengthy Ikea construction that required more tools. Also, some of the trim plan was crappy, so it meant a lot of fiddle-y cutting and building. I installed the doors...first attaching all the hinged upside-down!

Old Shed, New Shed

C's parents planned a "working visit" for the Fall and it was decided that they would come and help build us a fence. In order to accommodate the new fence, the old shed needed to be torn down (it was in the way of a stretch of old fence boards that were attached to the existing chain-link fence). Of course, a new shed was needed and had to be smaller as the new fence was going to be built along our lot line. Hence, old shed out, new shed in. The existing metal shed was constructed to last and took 4 hours to dismantle.

Basement Project: Camping Storage Closet

Yes, we have such an abundance of outdoors equipment that it needs it's own storage closet.  

Our first basement project:  We started by pulling down the aging ceiling drywall, then used closed cell 1 inch foam on the floor followed by 1/2 inch plywood subfloor.  Then we insulated the outside wall with more foam and Roxul.  C. framed out the closet and we drywalled it, she mudded and sanded it and I primed and painted it.  We had leftover vinyl tiles from our old house kitchen reno that we used in the closet, but laid them like ceramic tiles with spacers and "grout".  I LOVE this closet!   

Updates and Randoms

The summer has been busy with work (lots) and play (little).  Here's a more recent photo of our growing garden.  Also, C built an ingenious frame that attaches to the car roof rack so that we can buy whole sheets of drywall and transport it ourselves.  

Patio

The backyard patio is a mix of interlocking pink brick and concrete.  There is also this odd altar type structure that has an electrical outlet on the one side.  We suspect that it used to house a light-up Virgin Mary.  I don't think that I have a good "before" shot, but here it is mid-deconstruction and then again  without the altar.  By the way, the electrical wire was buried bare (no conduit) about 4 inches in the soil.  I just yanked on it and the whole thing came above ground.  I'm sure glad I didn't attempt to edge the lawn and electrocute myself.

Virginia Creeper

We researched native vines and discovered that Virginia creeper might grow in shade and eventually grow up the wooden slats that we have yet to build.  We found some Virginia creeper growing in our backyard and planted some in our carport planters.

Ugly garland gone

It took all of 30 minutes to unscrew the fence, roll it up and cart it off to the dump.  Some time in the near to distant future we plan to add horizontal wooden slats to keep snow out in Winter. 

The carport remodel: Stage 1

The carport on our new house has this hideous woven synthetic Christmas tree stuff that we discovered was full of mosquitos.  It is chain-link fence with wired Christmas garland through it. 

Project 2: Tiered, Terraced Garden Boxes

Boxes built! Yahoo!

Project 2: Tiered, Terraced Garden Boxes

Step Two:  Building the boxes...this took two full days!  

Project 2: Tiered, Terraced Garden Boxes

We decided on splurging and building the boxes in cedar instead of the standard pressure-treated wood.  This way we won't be leaching toxic chemicals in the the soil that will grow our vegetables.  The building of the boxes happened on a rainy, stormy day...but, now that we live in a bungalow with a car port...you get the picture...the building continues despite the weather. 

Project 2: Tiered, Terraced Garden Boxes

We need a sunny place to plant a vegetable garden, so we decided to get in gear for this year and build some raised beds.  Step One (after design and staking out a square plot) was to de-sod a large square of grass.

The "after" carpet removal

Carpet Removal

We've been itching to tear something out and decided on an easy project.  There is this plush and disgusting trail of carpet leading from the front door, through the hallway, down the back steps to the back door that continues down to the basement.  Note the scalloped edging...classy.  We took a peak when we were first viewing the house and decided that it was subfloor underneath:(  We resigned ourselves to having to live with bare, scalloped edge plywood floors (maybe we'd paint them?) until we were ready to redo the floors on the whole main level.  However, when we peeled back the layer of underpadding (equally disgusting) there was oak strip flooring underneath!  We discovered and removed vinyl tile that was hiding under the carpet in the foyer and vintage marmoleum in a lovely speckled brown/teal/pink melange that was under the carpet at the back door.  We thought we'd save the marmoleum for a while..it's almost retro enough to be cool, but crow-barring the tack strips ruined it...so it left as well.  The only bit of carpet left is in decent shape and is in the rec. room.  It will stay until we renovate that room.  The house suddenly smells better....