TwinsChoice

Remember...to start at the bottom!

2009-12-13T20:16:00.001-06:00

If you are new to this blog...please go to the Archive on the left and find the earliest (June 2006?) and start at the bottom to read from the beginning of this flip. Thanks! To Jake's mom...I hope you find this!

We sold the Wisteria House!

2007-12-12T19:33:00.000-06:00

We had the closing this week and it was so nice to meet the buyer and share this blog with them! Congratulations E.F.!!! We're so excited that somebody is moving in that loves the place as much as we do. I couldn't even go in one last time without getting choked up. (We got pretty attached to the little house.) We hope you share this blog with your family so they'll know what a GREAT DEAL you got on it! :-)

Be sure to read the part of this blog about the bathroom medicine cabinet so you'll know more about that box in the closet! The piece of fuchsia drywall is an actual part of the kitchen wall, and there are other momentos we saved when we made it all new...just for you.

Congratulations on your new home and we wish
you all the best for the new year!

~ Karen and Ken McClure ~

Happy Campers Right Here!

2007-07-13T20:28:00.000-05:00

2007-07-13T19:59:00.000-05:00

~ For Sale ~

Here are some of the last pictures of the Wisteria House. This is the best Friday the 13th!

The custom bar and counters are in and they look so pretty! We ended up putting a more updated friese carpet (pronounced freeze-aye) in a neutral color and a low pile indoor/outdoor type in the Florida Room. Thanks, Paul Gillman, for doing such a fabulous job with the pressure washing. What a difference! Thank you Greg Sievers for doing a great, great job on clearing the lot and making major changes in the yard. It looks so much better!

Okay, here are more pictures...

Front Door

2007-06-06T20:46:00.000-05:00

We decided to save the old front door. It was pretty scratched and dinged up (dung up?) (that sounds funnier!) ~ but the little arched windows at the top really looked good with the new arches in the house. So, we decided to keep it and strip the whatever-it-was on the surface. We weren't sure what the door was made of...but it was a chore getting the finish off and down to the bare wood. There were several large scratches on the front, too. Here's a "before" picture.

We stripped it down and stained it with a medium stain and put a clear finish coat on it to bring out the grain. We think it is cedar. Here's an "after" shot.

We decided the door was too pretty to put the old screen door back on, but that thing is really cool, too.

So Ken re-screened it and we're going to save it for the new owner(s) in case they want to put it back up and enjoy mint juleps on the front porch.

We found out that in order to have carpet installed, we had to put on all the baseboards. Prime, paint, measure, cut, and attach. They told us if they use that "knee kicker" thing without baseboards to stretch the carpet on the tack strip--their kicker would go right through our drywall.

Who knew? So...we got THAT done, too. Filling in the nail holes with caulk just about killed me. By the time I finished the last nail hole I was all but laying on the floor dragging my sorry butt from wall to wall. I think I was moaning, too.

Might seem small to you!

2007-06-06T20:43:00.001-05:00

Hey! This might seem like a small thing to you, but the mailbox is in! I guess I should check it and see if anybody is inviting the new neighbors on the block to a church meetin' or something. It'll be a great place to hang a "For Sale" sign on when we're ready!

Florida Room Blue

2007-05-23T09:10:00.000-05:00

We've been working on the Florida Room and the blue color looks very pretty with the white windows and the beadboard ceiling. There's a closeup shot of the ceiling below showing the framing near the wall and every four feet or so. It looks very "cottage-like" and the white and blue should look good with the Berber carpet.

Here's one of those "before" shots. I painted the buffet at the end of the room, and I'm going to paint the top tan (to match the sand colors in the room) and with new hardware, it's already looking much better. We found all SORTS of things in that cabinet from Tupperware to fireworks! That little rectangle black thing is a HOLE. We're rebuilding the drawer that goes in there. You can see the areas in the "after" shot where we will be installing molding around the windows (cove type) and behind the buffet. This room is where "old meets new" with the cement block and drywall. Molding~it's a beautiful thing. :-)

Ken installed a 3-way light (one light to face the laundry area [and that ugly water heater!], one to face the back door, and one to face the sitting area of the room). There is also a small ceiling fan for those Summer evenings while you read. Love the blue!

This week Ken worked on replacing the siding on the sides of the house where Ivan took a bite of a few sheets and did some work on the custom bartop.

Florida Room Updates

2007-04-30T07:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know it's been a while--almost exactly one year since we've owned this baby! We finally got some free time to start on the Florida room and Ken got the drywall up and mudded in record time. I actually earned my paycheck this weekend while working in the Florida room helping Ken hang the beadboard ceilings. The first 4x8 sheet was a comedy act. The second sheet was not quite as funny and the third sheet was what I'd call an almost-fight. Here is a before and after shot of what we've accomplished so far. You can imagine...if you know my medical history and my inability to hold my arms over my head for long periods of time...it was a challenge to say the least.

But! We got the ceiling hung, and because the room isn't exactly square (2 inches longer on one end than the other), primed trim was hung to frame the ceiling edges and matching trim now covers the joints. It looks so "Florida-like!" Here's a before and after (close enough) of the window casings Ken designed and a partial shot of the ceiling before all the trim was installed. The upper cabinet no longer blocks half the window and the room will be painted blue and white.

You can select any picture on the right and see a larger view.

Florida Room Windows

2007-04-29T20:48:00.000-05:00

I thought the work Ken did on the windows in the Florida room warranted a set of three pictures all by itself. So! Here are some close up photos of the neat area surrounding the windows that look SO GOOD! It is all done with drywall and mud and has very crisp and clean edges. Great job, Ken! There's nothing to block the view and no wood trim around the windows to detract from the nice open feeling in the room.

I didn't think about how busy the room would appear if we added molding & trim with the windows already being so close together. Plus there are so many windows on one wall...this is so much better!

The area below the window is the original cement block wall which will be primed and painted blue. The window itself and minimal trim that will secure the window and hide the drywall edge will remain white and the surrounding sill area will be painted in the Florida room blue color. The last of these three pictures is the laundry area window. The carpet will probably be berber. Priming is next! Can't wait to add some COLOR to this room!

Just a little different...

2007-03-16T21:54:00.001-05:00

Looks prettier with the sink and faucet in the kitchen! The faucet is no longer coming out of the wall. The refrigerator doesn't take up 1/3 of the room, and the arched pass-thru is nearly done. It's hard to see the crown molding in there, but it's all finished. The stove connections have all been redone and it looks nice.

We put all the cabinet hardware on the top cabinets but it's not easy to see them in this picture. I'll try to get a close-up picture added soon. No more fuchsia in this room! Yeah!!! Yes, Brandi...hard to believe it's the same place...thanks for your comment!

Future Laundry Room

2007-03-16T21:44:00.000-05:00

Since Ken went back to work we were thinking about hiring out this room and letting someone else hang the drywall and insulation. But…it’s more fun saving money at this point.

Here is the “before” shot of the end of the Florida room where a washer and dryer would go. This room will have indoor/outdoor carpet or Berber. You’ll have to wait and see!

More Pictures to Share

2007-02-23T20:02:00.000-06:00

Here's a picture of the bathroom with the new crown molding.

Here's a funny picture of Ken in the hall. Check out all those corners (molded of course)! :-)

Kitchen Countertop

2007-02-23T19:54:00.000-06:00

We put in the kitchen countertop and it actually makes that darn kitchen look BIGGER. Maybe it's because it defines the space and shows the width of the room and the clean yellow wall? Who knows. Looks good, though!

The space on the right is for the stove and the cabinet closest to your view will have a matching countertop. Ken will be cutting the hole in the counter to place the sink and our friends Lindsay and Bob the plumbers will be hooking up the plumbing, gas stove, and water heater tomorrow.

Ken got the hole covered in the hallway where the old gas floor furnace used to be. In case you haven't heard, we are carpeting the entire house (except for the tiled areas in the bathroom and the kitchen (which look awesome by the way!), so we still have the baseboards to install after the carpeting goes in.

The kitchen crown molding will take a little patience, but once that's done, it's off to the Florida room to finish the drywall there, hang the beadboard ceiling and paint. Whew, this light is blinding us now!

I'm gonna miss this little house. I found myself getting choked up when we stood in the livingroom with a view of several rooms. I guess it was a combination of sweat and pride. Watch for some inspiring updates to our blog soon.

It's all about CROWN MOLDING!

2007-02-11T10:15:00.000-06:00

We have a new resume bullet. We have absolutely dreaded starting the crown molding on this flip because in our past experiences with it--we failed miserably. Well, the old saying "...the right tools..."

Wow! For Father's Day last year I got Ken this thing called Magic Mitre which professed to at least help someone cut molding for an older home with odd corners. I thought it might come in handy if Ken started throwing saws.

Crown molding defies logic ~ even if you have a step-by-step instruction manual or a professional showing you how to cut the wood.

We managed to crown the spare bedroom, the master bedroom, the sitting room/office, and the hallway (which we originally said we weren't even going to crown) and didn't ruin one single piece of molding!

Hard to believe but the first room we tackled was the room farthest away from the front door. And check out those interior and exterior angles! Beautiful!

Medicine & Kitchen Cabinets

2007-02-11T09:59:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture of the medicine cabinet I told you about, along with a better view of the kitchen cabinets before we put up the molding in the room.

Kitchen Updates

2006-12-30T12:00:00.000-06:00

The tile in the kitchen has been installed and there's a really cool corner cabinet. It's not your ordinary "spinning" type corner cabinet (like the one I can't stand in my OWN kitchen!), but it has better access and a lot more usable space!

I'm also posting a closer shot of the kitchen tile. It looks really good with the maple cabinets, we think!

What a huge difference the countertops will make in this neat space! Right now the counters in the kitchen will be a laminate done in a version of black granite. The pass-through will have a similar counter surface as the bar that see beginning in the first photo above left, as well as the base cabinet in the corner by the backdoor. All three of these surfaces will match. There's a Plan A surface and a Plan B surface. Watch for more pictures when that project is finished.

New Bathroom Updates!

2006-12-30T11:51:00.000-06:00

We've been making progress in the bathroom since the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Not a TON of progress, but hey! Tis' the season to be in debt.

The light has been installed, the tile is in, the new vanity looks great! And the "tub guys" came and finished the plumbing installation. There's a nice rain-type shower fixture and besides the crown molding, and the baseboards, the only thing left is this really cool medicine cabinet on the wall!

Oh yeah, and the shower curtain and the beadboard rail cap, and the toilet paper holder, and...okay, so you get the idea. Here's another picture of a closeup of that cool shower head! Remember to click on the small pictures here to see a larger picture.

Just so you won't have to scroll down to see it, I'm including a small "before" picture of the bathroom so it's easier to compare this new look with the one in all it's Pink Glory!

Cabinets look great with the yellow!

2006-11-22T08:31:00.000-06:00

Our great friend Lloyd came over yesterday and spent ALL day with Ken installing kitchen cabinets! I think out of all the projects we've done ~ this has made the biggest difference. It's beginning to look like a home. Thank you, Lloyd, for helping Ken. He wouldn't have wanted to do it without you!

The kitchen is painted in a buttery yellow and I think the maple cabinets look great with the room color. The doors are on and the rest of the cabinets are up, but that "picture" will be saved for the open house! Thanks again, Lloyd!

Hey! Did we tell you that ugly dumpster is out of the driveway???

Painting Party!

2006-11-22T08:23:00.000-06:00

We finally had our first painting party with colors! The living room is done in a wheat color and all the bedrooms are in the same natural family of colors.
The bathroom, however, is in a caramel and it looks SO good against the white beaded paneling. (Sorry, I don't know why I'm having so much problem getting these pictures to line up!)

Susan, Reinhard, Ken and I finished painting the whole house (in one day, I think!) and then Ken finished up with the second coat on most of the rooms. The crown molding will really make a difference. Have you ever tried to cut crown molding for a wall that isn't plumb? No doubt there will be a blog when that is complete! Thanks for all your help, Susan & Reinhard!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Florida Room Windows

2006-10-29T21:08:00.000-06:00

I don't know if you remember how bad the windows looked on the back of the house, but they look much better now! We decided it's time to get that huge dumpster out of the driveway and get rid of any big stuff before it goes. So, Ken removed the upper cabinets in the Florida room, took out the old A/C and gave it to a dumpster diver, and tore out all the old windows.

The Florida room now has a new window by the washer and dryer area, as well as two big sliding windows and a new smaller sliding window where the air conditioner used to be. What a difference! The back of the house will be finished with vinyl siding to match the existing white siding. For now, Ken's sealing the windows, weathering around it and getting the white vinyl siding ready to install.

Here's an inside shot of what the corner of the room looks like now...the smell of the new wood and the exposed wood reminds me of a cabin. We're going to leave that lower bank of cabinets in there for extra storage and add insulation and drywall to this room.

Kitchen Entrance

2006-10-29T20:48:00.000-06:00

Our friends Pat and Lloyd came by to see the Wisteria House this weekend and Ken showed them some of his latest projects. Thanks for stopping by!

For those of you that have been tracking our progress all along, Ken has completed the final drywall in the areas that required wiring, plumbing, and wall rebuilding. He's on the final mudding and taping but is all but finished with the entrance to the kitchen, the rest of the hallway, the rest of the bathroom, the remaining ceilings in the kitchen bar area, and when the dust settles, we can begin to prime and paint the rest of the inside.

Susan and Reinhard are planning another working vacation the weekend of the 11th, and we're very excited to show them our progress and get their HELP once again. Some days it seems like it goes so slowwwww...but Ken has to remember ~ he's just one person. I have to admit, he's doing all of the work most of the time. I just go over and tell him to move out of the way so I can take pictures and take part of the credit. It's amazing how the little odd jobs around our OWN house seem so TINY compared to the projects he has completed in the past three months in the Wisteria House. Just today he was talking about what he wants to do with our kitchen at home...and he actually sounded excited about the possibilities. :-)

Golden Arches

2006-10-07T14:07:00.000-05:00

The Arch Inspector said Ken did a fabulous job on the new arches above the pass-through in the kitchen and the sitting room doorway arch. Here you can see them almost completely drywalled and ready for mudding.

Meet our favorite inspector, Karen's dad, Jim Avery! Remember, if you click on this picture, you can see a larger version showing more detail. Like dad's white socks.

Ken says drywalling the curved part at the top of each arch is the easy part. I'm just glad he remembered to wire my little pendant lights before he closed in that wall! Very nice, very nice! I'm very happy with the arches, thanks Ken!

The Hall has Walls

2006-10-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

The guys finished drywalling the hallway this weekend, too! The picture on the left shows going down the hall toward the living room. The one on the right is going back to the spare bedroom.

All that DUST!! I had to wait for it to settle before I brought the camera inside to shoot these pictures...

The floor furnace has since been removed and sealed off. Eventually it will be covered with wood. Now you know why many of the older homes have a cute little rug in the hall! :-)

Cutting-in and the Spare Bedroom Floor

2006-10-01T13:27:00.000-05:00

While the guys were busy working on the kitchen & hallway, we got started priming the walls and ceilings. I did the cutting-in while Susan did the hard stuff. Sis--you're going to be sore tomorrow! We managed to get the spare bedroom primed, along with the master bedroom, and both ceilings (that's where the sore part comes in!). We also finished cutting-in the sitting room, and we tore up the tiles from the wood floor in this spare bedroom.

This picture looks like we spilled a 5-gallon bucket of paint, but that's where the tile had been removed before and the drywall dust, sawdust, and dirt stuck to the adhesive and left behind from earlier tile removal. Like Ken says, "Piece of cake!" Yeah, okay.

I'd Say it Looks Better!

2006-10-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

I'd say this tub looks just a wee bit better than the other tub! The wall to your left is the "other side" of the kitchen wall we finished up this weekend. We picked out the beadboard this weekend and the paint color. (The green is not the color!) Now that the wall is done and the outlets are in--floor tile comes next. The vanity, mirror, and light fixtures are ready and waiting in the living room!

Started Planting in Front

2006-10-01T13:15:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Elizabeth and I started working on the garden out front. We added a few bags of compost, turned over all the dirt, and added some little plants. This weekend Susan and I added the rest of the plants and sprigged some grass we moved from another area of the yard. The pretty colors make it look so much better by the porch!

Kitchen Coming Along Nicely

2006-10-01T12:57:00.000-05:00

There's a lot going on in this picture, I know...it doesn't even look like the same kitchen anymore! The ceiling has now been drywalled, the window to the left has been closed in, the floor has been repaired where the plumbing was updated and that is now covered with a new wall.

There are new GFI outlets in the kitchen & the bathroom, light switches have been installed in the kitchen for the lights and the fan, and Ken added outlets for the bar and the "L" shaped cabinet area.

Ken ran the wiring and installed two cool pendant lights over the pass-through and started the half wall for the bar. Reinhard and Susan came down from Atlanta to lend four hands. Thanks you two!

More Pictures Soon!

2006-09-29T19:47:00.000-05:00

There will be more pictures soon for the blog! Some of you have commented that you haven't seen anything new posted here. This post is for you.

The new tub is in and Ken has been busy filling in gaps. The plumbing is finished in the bathroom and kitchen, and now the bathroom is drywalled and the subfloor is in. No more hole to fall through! The pass-through wall framing is up between the kitchen and livingroom and the kitchen ceiling is finally finished. With no light fixtures up and insulation falling from the ceiling after tearing off the old kitchen ceiling sheetrock, the pictures made it look like we were actually going BACKWARDS.

Susan and her husband, Reinhard (yes, I said her husband!) are coming in late tonight to work on the house with us this weekend. We're wearing painting clothes to begin priming.

Our good friend Susan E. from Texas stopped by this week to pay us a visit and we had fun opening boxes to show her new fixtures, lights, and the new bathroom mirror! Seeing as she is doing her own renovation...it's easy to get excited about things like faucets, pendant lights, and doorknobs! So...for all of you waiting for pictures and posts, you'll see more soon.

Cast iron breaks?

2006-08-29T20:19:00.000-05:00

Did you know that you could lay a towel or blanket on a cast iron tub and hit it with a heavy hammer and the tub would break into a million pointed shards of metal? Neither did we, until we talked to the plumber. You can see one end of the tub broken and lonely on the floor. (See the picture with the orange bucket). Remember, you can click on any of these pictures and see a larger version with more details.

Ken had quite a day today. He accidentally found the rotten part of the bathroom floor. Ken said he was breaking up a large section of the tub while he was standing over where the toilet used to be. The floor looked totally normal except that the toilet had been removed.

Whoosh! Down he went, straight through the floor! But, luckily his Guardian Angel went down there first.

There were large sharp jagged pieces of the tub strewn all around him, along with pipes and boards, nails, and tools that fell into the hole with him.

Any one of them could have done major damage when he fell, but he missed every one of them. His left leg hit the dirt under the house and his right leg stayed out of the hole (youch!)--let's just go ahead and rip every groin muscle from the ankle to the neck. It doesn't appear anything is broken, thank goodness.

Here's another picture of Ken after he finished demolition. It looks like he's wearing one of those "What have I gotten myself INTO?" looks. He really wanted to have the tile off, so he made great progress and is right where he wants to be.

Out of that damn hole!

Bathroom Progress

2006-08-28T20:49:00.000-05:00

The vanity is gone. The toilet you see here is now out (yes we covered the hole where the wax ring was!). We tried to clean the major dirt and rust off the bathtub, but after further inspection, we've discovered the finish has been rubbed off on a large part of the inside of the tub. After bouncing around a few ideas, we've decided to smash the tub and take it out. Ken found a beautiful tub and surround today and it has plenty of little shelves and cubbies to put shampoo and soap. Considering there is still plenty of work to do demolishing all the pink tile, we think this is the best idea for making it all brand new and easy for the new homeowners to clean.

We considered installing a contemporary shower, but we figured a young family with a small child or an older couple would prefer a nice new tub. So...that's the plan there. We will be choosing a new mirror/medicine cabinet, a new vanity, and new toilet to fit in the space soon.

Thanks to our good friend, George, for stopping by to take a look around. Ken is still working hard on removing more of the tile you saw on that one wall. He's trying his best to dislocate his shoulder by smashing it with this huge chisel and small sledge hammer (the wall, not his shoulder). He said for me to tell you, "Next time, please stay longer and bring eye protection and a hammer."

Custom window stools in the front room...

2006-08-24T19:52:00.000-05:00

The previous owners didn't have windowsills (actually, the inside sill is actually called the "stool") on every window, so we made a command decision to put the frame moulding around all of the windows in the bedrooms and sitting room and leave the stools off in those rooms.

Using the old stools as templates, Ken designed custom stools for all of the windows in the living room and dining room. It's hard to see in this picture, but it has a decorative routed bottom edge and the apron (the piece of wood below the stool) is plain. These will be primed and painted white to match the moulding and baseboards.

We think the windows were done this way to maximize available wall space for putting furnitue as close to the wall as possible. We figured 2-3 inches missing from every wall would take away valuable space for a bookcase or a chair near the corner of either room.

Alrighty Then!

2006-08-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't exactly say we're at a loss as to what to do with this bathroom...but we are definitely having some daily production meetings about how to do whateverthehell it is we're going to do.

It would be easier if the tiles were simply glued to the wall with some construction adhesive, but these tiles were never meant to fall off. Okay. They were never meant to be sledge-hammered off either.

I don't like the pink and it "dates" the bathroom, so one way or another, the tile is coming off. Worst case? We'll have to put up cement board to cover the damaged plaster walls. Guess I'll bring it up to the boss at the next meeting! :-)

We've decided to try to CLEAN the cast iron tub. That might have something to do with the plumber saying the tub would have to be cut into pieces to get it out of the house. It doesn't look like it's been cleaned since 1946.

Master Bedroom Window Rebuild

2006-08-24T18:11:00.000-05:00

The master bedroom window sure looks better! There was an old window air conditioner in it that leaked inside the wall with that gooey slimey drain water you don't want the dog to drink. Ken rebuilt the wall area under the window and replaced the sill and installed the window. Here is the before and the after!

I was wrong!

2006-08-17T18:26:00.000-05:00

No picture today...I just wanted to say I was wrong, we saved even MORE on those windows than I thought. We saved more like $3,000 on installation. It costs between $250-$350 per window for installation, caulking, framing out, inside moulding, and disposal of the old window (and that's if your old house takes STOCK sized windows!). Besides the cost of the actual window, it takes about $20 in miscellaneous materials to do each window (screws, caulk, wood for framing, moulding, etc.) Of course that first window could cost you $60+ because of a learning curve!

Today, we installed four more windows and we're almost halfway done with the eleven new ones. Looking good! Almost time for a dumpster dump. That sounds gross.

Cha-Ching!

2006-08-16T20:18:00.000-05:00

We can hear the savings falling into our piggy banks already. It feels great getting eleven Pella Vinyl ThermaStar double hung insulated replacement windows (with screens!) for just over a grand and saving twice that by installing them ourselves! And they look great, too.

Ken's finally finished playing in the mud and he hung and framed out the first window in the sitting room today. The first picture on the left shows the old window. The other two are the "afters." Man! This is getting exciting! We never thought we'd be so happy to finish one part of the project and begin another. I told Ken, "Don't get too giddy pardner' ~ we've still got the wood floors to do!

The plumber came by yesterday and we went over the pipe issues in the kitchen. After a closer inspection, we found out the damage from a slow leak for forty years only affected the floor boards under the kitchen cabinets and extended only partly into the bathroom (under the toilet and the sink). We originally thought we'd have to totally gut the bathroom, but maybe not.

He says he didn't fire me...

2006-08-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

You hear people say, "I'm going to drywall the entire house myself. I can't see paying someone to do a little taping and mudding when I can do it myself."

Well, I'm going to get right on this new fangled Internet thing and tell the whole world that Ken is only a couple of hours away from drywalling the entire house!

Here is a picture of one of his beautiful outside corners (in the hallway near the A/C control) and all of it looks soooooo good! Susan and I helped hang the drywall and we even started with the first of the mudding, but I don't know how Ken didn't throw a hammer through a window by the third coat.

I went over to help him one afternoon and I thought we'd have to stucco the damn wall by the time I was finished glopping on the mud. I lost my touch and nearly messed up his hard work. And I was doing this in the front LIVING ROOM! He says he didn't fire me, but he did ask what we were having for dinner...so I threw the drywall knife and left him to fix my mess. I don't know how he did it ~ but I swore I'd never ask him to do that again. We'll hang the sheets but some other sucker is going to finish it. Good job, Ken! And thank you...it looks great.

Dang Breaker Box!

2006-08-03T16:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, you'll have to "think back" if you can't figure out what part of the kitchen this is...it looked quite different in the other "before" pictures. For help, scroll down till you see my post from the "Weekend Progress" on July 3rd to revisit this area...it's the corner where the refrigerator used to be.

In the new kitchen, the window will be removed and drywalled over and an "L" shaped counter with cabinets will be installed in this corner of the kitchen. There will be plugs and a small counter for things like a coffee pot, a message center, etc. Well, that's the plan anyway!

The kitchen will be extended to the left and the new refrigerator will actually be moved to the other side of that little wall with the breaker box in it. The door you see goes out to the Florida Room and the washer & dryer. Click on this picture to see a closer view of the mess. I mean, the corner.

The Front Porch "Before" Shots

2006-08-02T20:42:00.000-05:00

Every time we open and close the front door, we realize just how perfect it is for this house! We've decided to keep it and strip off the old paint and finish(es) and see what the woodgrain looks like. There are four cool little windows at the top of the door and the glass is cut to fit in the arched shape.

The second picture here is the old wood frame screen covering we found over all the windows. These are painted with a lovely dark red paint and will look beautiful in the dumpster. Besides, we won't need them once we install the new energy efficient windows!

The third picture is the rusted porch railing which currently only covers about 1/10th of the entire porch. This charming rusty feature will be replaced with some other new porch railing system. In other words, we have no idea what kind of railing, but we know we don't want wrought iron!

Razor Blades in the wall?

2006-07-30T20:53:00.000-05:00

We finished gutting the kitchen today (okay, mostly Ken, but we helped take his mess to the dumpster). Susan and I finished taping & mudding the back bedroom and most of the master bedroom. Don't believe anyone that tells you taping & mudding a ceiling is fun.

If you'll look closely at the first picture, you'll see the back of a white medicine cabinet on the right side of the wall...I had never heard of this before, but in the old days they used to have a slit in the bathroom medicine cabinet where people would stick their old double edge razor blades. When they would drop a blade into the slit, it would fall into the wall behind the bathroom cabinet and pile up between the studs. If you click on the picture on the right, you'll see some cool old razor blade packages we found and some of the HUNDREDS of blades we recovered. Apparently this was common practice even until the early 1960's and some medicine cabinets actually had the words "dispose blades here" embossed above the slit. Feel free to leave us a comment if you've ever heard of this. I thought for sure Susan and Ken had been secretly sniffing the drywall paste.

Tapin' and Muddin'

2006-07-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

Let's see, what's next? Lots of taping and mudding...and maybe we'll get the rest of the kitchen demo finished this weekend. I already broke one pipe under the sink! The plumbing is located behind the wall so it's nice to know where the shutoff valve is before we swing the sledge hammer next time.

Susan, get plenty of rest before you get on that plane. And be ready to see lots of changes since your last visit!

Dwindling Drywall

2006-07-27T20:36:00.000-05:00

What a huge difference!!! The house is looking sooooooooo nice. Ken made great progress this week in spite of the fact he only used nine fingers. Here, you can see he opened up the doorway into the sitting room, moved the electrical outlets protruding out of the floor, and hung the rest of the fifty sheets of drywall. See how small that stack of sheetrock is now??? That looks like a marble floor but it's loads of dust. Today was the first day Ken had to crawl under the house. I told him to stay outside and throw his shirt away in the big monster can.

Who's Cutting Up Now?

2006-07-24T20:25:00.000-05:00

One box cutter ~ $6.00
One emergency room visit co-pay ~ $50.00
One roll of gauze ~ $6.23
One roll of medical tape ~ $3.74
One sheet of ruined drywall ~ $10.00
One fingertip ~ priceless

I read somewhere you should never leave a guy alone with a box cutter and a house to renovate. Everything will be fine, Ken. Nurse Susan will be flying in Friday to fix you right up.

While at the emergency room--who did Ken run into? Dad! Hope your hand is feeling better Pop. And...Happy Birthday Mom!

Here, let me help you fill up that dumpster...

2006-07-18T21:48:00.000-05:00

Some of our friends have asked us how we could possibly fill up three 30-yard dumpsters with stuff from one tiny little house. Well, this is one tiny little room with half of a dumpster full of junk. This is the Florida Room on the back of the house, finally getting the TLC it needed. These pictures are of two different ends of the same room. I know, what IS all that stuff? Vases, cleaning supplies, dog bowls, pieces and parts to old washers & dryers, torn cushions, a record player console, old clothes. You name it. It's in the dumpster.

A Room You Haven't Seen Yet...

2006-07-18T21:17:00.000-05:00

Here's a room you haven't seen yet, the bathroom! Say bye-bye to the beautiful vintage pink and blue tile because it won't be here when it's finished. The subfloor is totally shot, so this room will be a huge hole at some point.

In the "after" dream, the window will be missing, too. Who wants to look out into the Florida room when they're taking a shower? Not this home recycler! Think "not pink" when it's finished.

Weekend Progress

2006-07-03T21:39:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness...we made great progress with the drywall. The landscaping is still the same, however. It's true, everything costs more and takes longer than you plan. We managed to complete all the ceiling drywall! It look so good. The pile of drywall is dwindling slowly but surely. The walls in the kitchen are totally open in preparation for the new kitchen/breakfast bar floorplan. The picture on the left is the "before" picture of the area we opened up.

Sago Palm is staying...

2006-07-02T19:35:00.000-05:00

Check out this beautiful Sago Palm located just outside the Florida room. It is about 5-6 feet in diameter and we estimate the age to be 15-20 years old, maybe older. There are lots of smaller plants at its base and they look very healthy. We just might have to adopt some of them or move to the new garden we have planned for the front yard.

We're not sure if this is a male or female. We think it's both!

Drywall Progress

2006-07-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

Ken did an amazing job installing the drywall in the Master Bedroom! We helped a little, right Ken? In addition to this room, Susan and Ken drywalled the ceiling in the second bedroom, and also insulated the hallway. Karen was busy kicking walls out of the kitchen to make way for the new bar. The stack of drywall doesn't seem to be disappearing as quickly as we would like...but the azaleas look much happier with a little H2O.

We stripped the kitchen bare!

2006-07-02T19:16:00.000-05:00

The cabinets are off the wall and the stove was put out by the street. Within one hour someone had already picked it up (for scrap? Who knows.) The wall on your right (the pretty red ugly one) has been torn down.

All we did was breathe on the trap under the sink and water poured out onto the floor. This is a PITA (pain in the ass) room.

Interior Living Room & Dining Room Walls

2006-06-29T21:10:00.000-05:00

The 4th of July weekend is here! These are the walls of the living room (on the left) and dining room (on the right). You can see the firring strips and the old larger bricks we found when we tore everything off the walls. The windows you see are old wooden painted windows. Some don't even close all the way. We don't want to air condition the backyard anymore, so before too long, all the windows will be replaced. They are being delivered Friday!

The other half of the workshop...

2006-06-29T21:05:00.000-05:00

We call this the "back shed" which is attached to the workshop behind the carport. This poor shed gave up its roof to Ivan. You can see where half of it's missing. This was where we found the other 300 empty boxes, lots of wet stuff, and the well pump.

It's got a workshop, too...

2006-06-29T20:57:00.000-05:00

This is one sad looking workshop right now...but it just needs a little TLC. Anybody want a bunch of cans of dried up paint or rusty nails? Why do old people hang things from rafters with wire hangers (like brittle hoses and more rusty hangers)? I'll bet we found 600 empty boxes in here along with gunpowder, mason jars, and an ancient feral cat. At least this part of the workshop had a roof! Check out the other half of the workshop.

The Kitchen

2006-06-24T12:33:00.000-05:00

Yes, the kitchen looks this bad. The floor is linoleum and the cabinet doors had been removed before we purchased the house. The gas stove is on your right and refrigerator takes up half the kitchen on the left. Elizabeth started demolishing the countertop this past week and she says her hand is still tingling.

This picture doesn't do that ugly red paint justice. It's really FUSCHIA.

Think tile, stainless steel sink, new countertops, new cabinets...with doors or glass fronts. We'll stay out of your way, Ken. That poor kitchen isn't big enough for four of us in there--not YET anyway! Watch for major developments in this room in the next few weeks.

Green but way too overgrown!

2006-06-24T12:13:00.000-05:00

Have clippers and trimmers, will travel? Okay, Susan, here's your job for the weekend. Make some of these 10 foot green monsters go away!

There are areas of the backyard that have very nice azaleas and several places that are way out of control. The landscaping and trimming will definitely be a major undertaking...but we think it will make all the difference! It's hard to see there's a nice size shed and workshop out back. Tag, you're it, Susan!

Interior Walls...

2006-06-24T12:09:00.000-05:00

All of the exterior walls that didn't have panelling and drywall were covered with 1940s wallpaper. Here, Susan and I strip the remaining wallpaper backing from the master bedroom. It went a lot smoother than we thought it would! I think we broke two spray bottles by the time we got the last of that stuff off!

See why we didn't keep the carpet? Yuck!

Sitting Room? Office?

2006-06-24T08:34:00.000-05:00

From the living room, you can see into the third bedroom. The front door is to your right. The hallway is on the left. The brick is part of the old chimney servicing the old floor furnace.

After we tore down the wall between the two rooms and removed the old musty drywall, it felt like a totally different house! We are considering adding an arched doorway and making this a sitting room or bonus room off the main living room to keep these two rooms open to each other. The carpet has since been torn up in all rooms of the house and the whole place is beginning to smell so much better!

Ceiling Tiles

2006-06-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

Most of the ceiling tiles have been taken down and the ceiling looks pretty good underneath. The firring strips are pretty solid and will be covered with drywall the 4th of July weekend.

All of the air conditioning ductwork has been installed and the registers will go up after the drywall is complete.

This is the ceiling in the sitting room right off of the main living room.

We found hardwoods...

2006-06-20T20:24:00.000-05:00

Found 'em! Under the carpet, the padding, the tack strips, the tile and the felt, we found hardwoods. You know the drill...the black tarry glue with all that black felt stuck to the wood.

The floors in the closets are pristine. The fun part will be restoring the rest of the floors to make them all match!

The air conditioner was installed today and the rest of this week will be spent bringing the electrical up to code. Making progress!