the house report

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

2006-11-01T18:40:00.001-05:00

We finally installed the fence this past summer to give the backyard a more private feel. It also helps give the landscaping a backdrop. With the color-matched shed, the backyard has finally come together!

Laundry room is finished, and we moved in a year ago this weekend!

2006-04-28T22:36:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's been so long. As you can tell, I'm not blogging on home repairs as much... That would be because I've been adventuring more, which is mostly what my other blog is about.

We finished the laundry room! Walls are painted a nice stone color, floors are gray to match the kitchen, and the bench and cabinet my dad built as an Xmas gift is installed. Lights have been replaced and the tiny utility sink has been removed, much thanks to my dad and an electrician. I'll have before and after shots soon. What's amazing is that we've beeen able to complete every room in our house that we had planned to within a year. Now comes the addition :) - just kidding.

So what's next? Oh, staining the shed, putting up the fence, and of course LOTS of gardening. And we just uprooted 16 arborvitae ... all dead from some unknown cause, tho' I could guess as I found remnants of burlap left in the holes from where I dug them up.

And we celebrate the anniversary of our move-in date this weekend. Wow, quite a bit can happen in a year!

Painting again, Christmas, New Years, the IKEA Zoo, and a certain ski hill

2006-01-06T21:20:00.000-05:00

And there's been a few new developments.

We painted the bathroom a lavender color. We also found out that finding a vanity that's 21" wide to fit a sink in is darn near impossible. So we're reconsidering what we'll do with the bathroom, if any more than just changing a fixture.

We celebrated our first Christmas in our "new" house! It was fun, and did a "tree cutting brunch" with friends, then had friends over to decorate the tree later that evening. I think that's what got me in the holiday mood most of all... just spending time with friends.

We've been working on a couple of other things in the house - the outside light that I ordered 4 mos. ago is finally up outside. Took that long. I had to have a carpenter come and cut the siding and install the light. The electrician I hired couldn't do that on his employer's clock, so he offered to come over on a Sunday and did a mighty fine job. It looks quite nice and breaks up the monotony of the front of the house. :)

I made a trip to the new IKEA in Stoughton, MA. Gee, I didn't know Boston had a zoo?! Well, it was at IKEA. So busy, and I have several things to return, of course - blinds that are too narrow and a bathroom fixture that doesn't fit. I bought a corner shelf for the dining room. Here, Ray has attempted to assemble it. As one can see on the left side of the shelf, there is something seriously wrong with his construction of it. A bit frustrated and angry at me for taking this photo, "Werner's daughter" figured it out. We've since stained it red and need to put the final coat of poly on it.

And did you know Lebanon has its own ski area? This photo represents my view of it out of my office window. I can also see the skiers as they head down the ski jump, but unfortunately, I don't see where/if they land. Lebanon was received some press in Sports Illustrated and named Sportstown USA... not bad.

We had a New Year's gathering at our house too. Just 10 of us, and it was a fun time. Lots of laughs and I made my little tuna capered breadmen, almond lace cookies, and fruits dipped in chocolate. And guests brought their specialty as well.
Pretty yummy.

And so here we are in 2006! And I think we're almost out of house projects... naaaah!

The Patio...

2005-11-06T07:59:00.000-05:00

is done. After several weeks of back-breaking work, the patio is, well, a patio.

We began laying the rocks on Friday and were done by 4 PM that day, with only a few extras to spare. It went much easier than expected at this point, and quicker, and looks fantastic. I really enjoyed this part - laying the stones out and blending them together was an artistic puzzle. We used 1.5 tons of manufactured stone, and about 2080 lbs. fieldstones, plus the free 60-80 ones. Total cost: about $650.

Now for a break as we heal our aching backs and take our weekends pursuing more enjoyable activities.

Of Mud Puddles and Mud Pies

2005-10-18T20:51:00.000-04:00

We dug our patio this past weekend - in sheets of pouring rain.
Nuts, yup.

Ray's friend Dave was visiting from Kentucky this past weekend and we were looking for something to do - hiking up Mt. Cardigan, poking around Burlington, shopping in Manchester Ctr, VT - all seemed like a pleasant way to spend the day. So when Dave asked us what house projects we needed to work on, I said, half joking "Well, there's digging a patio, and building a fence. Your pick."

And sure enough, playing in the mud would be come the project of the day.
Under sheets of pouring rain, and to Ray's dismay, they pulled up sheets of sod in a matter of 3 hours (they, because we only had 2 shovels for most of the project). I was Project Coordinator - tyring to salvage large chunks of sod, pulling out garden plants long past production stage, pulling up delapidated steps - and argued about why we needed to separate sod from soil for future use.
"Unfeasible in these kind of weather conditions." I understood their plight.

Next is grating the area down a couple more inches, then laying in the manufacutred sand ($6.50/ton + $55 delivery, or $2/ 5 gallon pail) and placing the field stones.
Much thanks to Dave, for his thoughts and interest in this very labor intensive project, and Ray for putting up with a wife who has too many grand ideas for a house of only 1022 square feet and .022 acres.

Finally seeing the light(s)

2005-10-07T19:39:00.001-04:00

Well, we finally have hardwired lighting.
One might say our house is "lit up like Luna Park". After 6 months of owning the house, we finally have installed most of the lighitng. Our handy electrician installed two interior lights today and one exterior. He's coming back for the second exterior light and motion detector, because of issues with old wiring, aluminum siding (ugh) and that new lights just don't like playing with old wiring.
We purchased the dining room light from Sturbridge Yankee Workshop and the entry way light from Lowes. The exterior lights are from, as Ray would say, "Cheapo Depot." But they look great too. You'll just have to come by and see them for yourself...

I'm spending way too much time in the bathroom...

2005-09-23T23:01:00.000-04:00

And the reason is caulking.
Or at least sealing the tub and surrounding insert from water. We've tried a variety of caulks, all different types, all specifically made for areas that get really wet. I've spent 2-4 hours each weekend since late August, in the tub, with caulking gun in hand. This doesn't include the hours I spent over the summer trying to get it right with yet another brand/version made for wet areas of the bathroom. We've tried everything except BathFitter. So far all have turned into the cottage cheese-like substance we have become all too familiar with. I'm sure the neighbors must wonder what - in shear frustration - I'm yelling about.
Recently, we tried tub and surround tape (~$20), specially made for sealing out water. And no, that didn't work either and allowed water to seep in behind, causing even more of a problem. (Hopefully LaValleys takes returns on used tape.)
So today we tried some generic plumbers silicant we picked up at Central Supply. It doesn't clean up with water - a good thing we think - and hopefully will cure by tomorrow afternoon. We can't shower until about 3 PM tomorrow, and we'll know by late Sunday whether it's back to the bathtub.

Living room, Before and After

2005-09-19T12:48:00.000-04:00

Or, let's just call it the "Great Room" because it's the biggest room and the only room in the house where you can comfortably fit more than 3 people.
I finally shot a couple of photos of the "Great Room", just to give an idea of what we've done. Check out what we started with: Before & during. It looks a bit different...

Before	After

Grocery store returns to Lebanon

2005-08-20T11:53:00.000-04:00

All within walking distance. Can't wait.
From the Valley News

Happy homeownership - welcome the hornets

2005-08-17T09:13:00.000-04:00

Ray has gotten stung on 2 separate occasions, once with only one sting and the second with 3 stings. We're lucky he hasn't had a serious reaction. One time was when he was working with the BBQ and a hornet came out of the log embankment and stung him. The one this morning was while he was mowing along the fence, where he got stung 3 times.
We're attempting to deal with this. I've done some research that hornets' nests die after the summer when the weather gets cold, so we won't have to deal with them in these locations next year.
Strange thing is I've been gardening for months and (knock on wood) have yet to run into this. Lucky me I haven't attempted to plant the daylilies, which I plan to put in the vicinity of these apparent nests!

Free patio stones

2005-08-13T10:59:00.000-04:00

Boy, were we excited to find these. Thanks to UVList.org were were able to find a bunch of fairly large, flat field stones, beautiful, with a bit of an iron hue to them... and for free! We picked up about 60 stones Friday, for the patio and stepping area we'll put in this Fall. Turns out, the person looking to get rid of the stones was one of Ray's former yoga students!
Thanks, cboone, for a great UVresource!

Lucky for us...

2005-08-12T09:01:00.000-04:00

We got our water bill - a charge that comes quarterly by the City of Lebanon. We were excited to see that ours was a 1/3 of our neighbors - at only $67 as opposed to $250. Must be the low-flow 1.6 gallon toilet (as opposed to the usual 5 gallon flush) and the front load washer that uses an incredibly small amount of water. That's all I can figure - there's two of them that live there, and two of us, so we're guessing its their lawn watering, and ?? Maybe we're feeding off their line...?

Glad to know we're working with water efficiency here!
We also knew when we bought our house that it only uses less than 600 gallons/year for heating fuel! We are excited about this, knowing that its an older home, and the walls are incredibly thick and insulated properly. And we were able to get a discount rate on oil for this winter - at $1.81/gallon! A deal we got as a group thru Dartmouth.

Just as we're settling in...

2005-07-25T07:57:00.000-04:00

our local video/dvd rental store, Videomax, is closing. I heard the news this past Friday from the girl behind the counter.

They're losing to Netflix and can't generate the $$ from rentals. Last day for they'll be renting is July 31, 2005. Then they'll be selling the videos and dvds during August, and done and gone sometime after that.

What will we do now, on those long winter days and nights? Sit around and watch the useless entertaiment found on the boob-tube? I think not...

Kitchen is finally done, Before and After photos

2005-07-04T11:04:00.000-04:00

We finished the kitchen this weekend. Our company who had planned to arrive Thursday couldn't get a flight, so Dave and his daughter Alliegh weren't able to make it :( - at least you'll see the new floor when you do make it out, Dave!

I had purchased the tile over a month ago and this was the first opportunity to lay it. Since Ray's class starts up again in July, with every Fri-Sat being booked, this was the time to do it.

It took us about 12 hours - from pulling up the 1/4-rounds to caulking gaps and painting trim. But it looks pretty darn nice and we're happy with it. Ray says we just added another layer of insulation. Well, that's one way to think about it.

Somethings we learned while laying tile - if two people are doing it, put the "craftier" one on corner, side and irregular shaped object detail, meaning the one who can cut snowflakes out of paper, and understands that concept, will have a better time at figuring out how to cut tiles for corners, pipes and angled walls. The other person needs to be able to look at the floor from a distance and see patterns and attempt not to put two similarly patterend tiles right next to each other.

At about 7 PM, we thought we'd buy new 1/4-round, paint it, and add it in after we were done with the floor. Well, Ray ran to Home Depot, bought the new 1/4-round, cut it, painted some of it - then we decided not to use it (we actually liked the appearance of the walls without the 1/4-round). Meanwhile, Ellen laid the foor with some help from Ray ;) until well after midnight. Boy, my a$$ hurts.

Before	After

Finally, the tools are disappearing...

2005-05-31T21:36:00.000-04:00

Well, almost.

I realized this past weekend, after living here for almost a month, that I'm tired of seeing tools around the house - the level, the tape measure, a random paint pan, a screw driver, the powerdrill - it means we're not quite done with the house renovations.

I've talked to our neighbor about this and it appears that "house projects" go on forever. Apparently, there's never an end in sight. THIS scares me. But we're heading out for a little vacation mid June to San Francisco, so I mark that time as the turning point, when the renovations end and the "small projects" begin. Where we actually get to live and decorate the place, and call it our own.

But we finally have finished the major projects - the new kitchen counter is in and fits the corner perfectly; the kitchen sink is in, with all appropriate attachments in working order. And also thanks to my Dad's guidance, we have a stove hood vented outside. Now Ray can cook his tempeh without the smell seeping into all corners.
The carpet was installed in BR1 by LaValley's about one week after we moved in. Here Ray fills a hole in the floor and boards up an old, unused heating vent. (Yup, that's Ray underneath the floor!)

"The grounds" are really taking shape. Since a minimal number of perennials and plants existed before we moved in, I've been busy planting. Very busy. At left, the pin cherry tree in our yard puts on a show.

A brief Hiatus

2005-05-01T23:47:00.000-04:00

Well, after weeks of life in a flurry, we moved into our house on Saturday in a record 3 hours. Unbelievable. My mom insists its because I have a diligent husband, which I would say is a big part of the reason, plus we had a great group of folks helping us. We would like to thank everyone who helped us move into our first home of our own - Sue, Alexis, Vivian and Chris, Andy and Laura, Alyssa and Colin, Peter, Emily, Ellen's Mom and Dad (who has helped on every apt. move over the years, about 10?), sister Nancy - You all made it such a pleasant, stress free experience. Thank you.

Our kitchen still remains half finished (we need a counter so we can hook up our sink!) and we need to paint some final trim and the built in cabinet in the living room, most of the major work is now done. We'll be back on schedule with some new ventures (sticky floor tile, sheet vinyl or snap in tiles? gardening, and of course the patio door and patio at some point) in remodeling come late May.

Til then...

Floors are done! Yippee!

2005-04-27T22:12:00.000-04:00

We put the final (3rd) coat on the floors Tuesday night. Thanks to our neighbors across the fence, Aaron and Amy, for lending us their professional grade satin Minwax Dura Seal, which they swear by, we'll have a nice durable finish. And we highly recommend Charles Theriault out of Enfield for doing the floors, phone: 632-5844.

What's left, besides the kitchen counter debacle: paint livingroom and entry trim, bedroom 2 baseboard, and then re-floor the kitchen ourselves, besides the carpet for BR1. Michael was able to get the kitchen cabinet to fit correctly and is working on the living room cabinet which looks fantastic from the start of it!

More to come...

Before & After, Master Bedroom

2005-04-26T23:29:00.000-04:00

Before, looking out of room into kitchen

During, looking into room FROM kitchen, vacuuming the floors before sanding

After, same perspective as above, floors sanded, walls painted

I think you can see the transformation.

Two things I now despise: LaValley's and dial-up

2005-04-26T15:44:00.000-04:00

Okay, so we're having a bad day.

The floors will need a 3rd coat as Ray and I didn't know what we were doing with the first coat and put it on too thin and not with natural bristle brushes. Oh well. Live and learn.

So that we can deal with ourselves. We're relying on dial-up internet service at the moment. I hope to get some photos on here soon, but the negative-warp speeds of a 56k modem just doesn't cut it.

So that we can deal with. For now.

But the latest, after my dad was able to successfully get most of the trim and baseboards up, is the kitchen counter. Apparently the nit-wit from LaValley's who came out and measured for carpet also measured the countertop. Apparently he didn't measure it correctly and our mitered corner is off by 1 inch. Ugh. So back to the drawing board. Not sure what happened, but I **thought** since LaValley's SELLS countertops that they could measure for them correctly. They're the same outfit that messed up on getting our carpet quick enough to install before we move in. (See Stake in the Road) Unless the Formica manufacturer can come up with a way to cut these to fit properly, we're "stuck" with them. Ugh. My dad measured and he said we're right on square, maybe off 1/8", no where near the 1 inch how it was cut. Ugh. We didn't order the countertop from LaValley's, but from the Cabinet En-counter and have no recourse on incorrect measurements. I can't WAIT for Home Depot.

Unfortunately, we ordered our carpet from LaValley's too. Lord knows if the right color, carpet and amount will arrive, whether too much was ordered, and if the installer will do it right. Double ugh.

Floors are 1/3 of the way done

2005-04-20T08:04:00.000-04:00

Our living room (birch) and master bedroom (pine) floors were sanded last night, and they look incredible. Right down to the raw wood. No more stain, or nicks, nothing. Apparently Charlie (the floor guy) ran into some issues with wax on the bedroom floor and its going to take him longer than expected. So we won't be able to "use" them most likely until Sunday.

Right out of "Home Improvement"

2005-04-17T22:14:00.000-04:00

Remember the show Home Improvement? We have neighbors on the other side of the gray fence that are fantastic at home renovations. Amy and Aaron bought a 1800's farmhouse and fixed it up in about 3 months late last summer. And it is beautiful. And they have every (power)tool you can imagine along with the knowledge of how to use them properly. While Aaron was visiting us, upon noticing our obvious sheetrock seams in the living room, offered to mud them, and did so in about 5 minutes. Something that Ray and I debated about doing, as we don't have the ability to mud that well or that quickly :)

Laura "no decorative painting" Braunstein and her husband Andy stopped over to check out the place. After the 5 cent tour, we chatted about the Lebanon Homeowner's Coop that they're starting up, which will be quite cool. It will be a great resource for getting assistance on projects, learning a new skill, or sharing resources (anyone need a 3/4 full 5 gallon pail of joint compound or a gallon of "metro mauve" paint?)

This weekend was quite productive, even if we ran into "trim" issues. After touching up ceilings, walls, crown mouldings and trim we ended the day removing the living room carpet and pulling out staples and nails from the beautiful birch (?) wood floors. Beer was needed at this point as energy wasn't plentiful. Needless to say I slept very well last night, no worries about the house, the floors.... and Ray was quite tuckered too.

Speaking of floors, I think we're going to nix the laminate floors and go with the Armstrong Vinyl Tiles. Everyone I know says we should do this. Plus after seeing our neighbor's bathroom which looked quite fancy, the tiles have changed quite a bit since I remember and it was quite attractive. And Alyssa and Colin used them in their kitchen and they looked great too. And so did Tom and Karen!

Stake in the road...

2005-04-16T08:19:00.000-04:00

Not a fork, a stake. Thanks to LaValley's our schedule is now a bit behind. Apparently their flooring department doesn't understand the word 'schedule'. It took them 2 weeks to come out, measure and get back to us with an estimate, and that's only after Ray put the fire to 'em! I wish I could have heard the phone converstation. Hmm. And, after telling the repeatedly that we need the flooring installed the early part of the last week of April, they didn't think it important enough to reserver one of their installers. So we're looking at other options. Needless to say BR1 and the kitchen won't be done before we move in. And the kitchen counter I ended up ordering from the Cabinet En-Counter - customer service is great, and for the same off-square cut, they quoted us $100 less than LaValley's.. another Hmm.
Everyone has said "you'll grow to hate LaValley's". We now know why.

Our living room is taking shape. While my mom was cleaning the window on the outside, my dad attempted to fit the trim on the inside, which we found on some windows and entryways needs to be recut because of what covers the walls now, versus what covered the walls perviously. It's a width issue... So back to Hancock heads the trim!

Our master bedroom is almost done. Just a few touchups on the paint, and the floor guy will be sanding this coming week. A coat of tung oil, and then we apply the last two coats, all for $1.25/sf, very good. And the guy was responsive and knows what he's doing. Just don't light a match, break a bulb, or create a spark. Here I am vacuuming after ripping up the old, stinky carpet. Next is to pull up the staples and nails, and prep for sanding.

Home Depot openings...

2005-04-11T13:44:00.000-04:00

Check out the recent Home Depot store openings. Claremont and West Lebanon NH are coming soon, but not soon enough.

Physical exhaustion and "decorative painting"...

2005-04-11T09:56:00.000-04:00

Today I am physically exhuasted. I guess you could say it's better than being mentally exhausted. "But we're on a schedule, and I'll be healthy and strong after all this physical labor" is what I keep telling myself. Yeah, right.

After getting our living room walls to a near perfect finish yesterday afternoon with the last coat of paint, Ray and I thought we'd attempt our southwestern effect, a.k.a. 'decorative painting' (something I learned has been banned from the Braunstein-Ager household ;) ). Perhaps it was too late in the evening to be painting and we were too giddy.
After doing the adobe-effect glaze on one of the walls last night, I went over to the house to look at the walls this morning. I did find that (because of the yellow color) it looked like the same effect if a 2 year old had smeared his egg breakfast on them. Bummer. Back to the drawing board. I think we'll need to rethink our approach on the living room. We used Benjamin Moore Cream Yellow with a glaze of Sunlight Yellow. I think we'll try something different on another wall... or change colors all together.

But the master bedroom with the Wal-Mart Dutch Boy Antique Lace looks great. Perfect coverage on the second coat. It will go well with the refinished pine floors.

seed-starting and dreaming...

2005-04-10T12:22:00.000-04:00

I've been starting seeds in the last couple of weeks in hopes of having pretty garden spaces come summer. I know the previous owner did quite a bit himself, but of course I'd like some of my all-time favorites too. So I started with tomatoes of differnet sorts and sizes, heirloom seeds taken from last year's plants mostly. Maine tomato berries, yellow pear, and some big tomato variety. Flowers of morning glories, lupine, cosmos, verbena bonariensis, mexican sunflower, among others.

By far the best tool for seed starting I've found are Pete and Gerry's egg cartons. Remeber using egg cartons to start seeds in kindergarten? Well here's the newest method. Not only are these trays made of a plastic that is recyclable after you do your planting, their versatility is perfect for seed germination.

All you'll need are the cartons, seed starter soil, seeds and a mister spray bottle.
Take the egg cartons and detach the perforrated egg tray. Poke 3 holes with a straight pin in each egg "socket." Flip it over, put the flat top as the bottom of the tray, lay the removed pin-punched egg carton in that, press the corners down so it fits in place, and voila!, instant terrarium for germinating seeds! The lid flips on and off for easy access and misting. I recommend putting 1/4 inch of water in the bottom tray when first starting seeds.

Too many numbers...

2005-04-09T07:12:00.000-04:00

we changed our address thru the city of Lebanon by contacting the city engineer. this has gone fairly smoothly except for the insurance company being a bit confused. surprise, surprise.
Hence we had to change our house numbers. I looked on E-bay (some good ones there), googled for house numbers, just wanted something a little funky and a little different. So, since one of my Dad's hobbies is metal sculpture, I asked him if he could make something up for me.
And he did and they came out perfect.
what i did find was a handy way to remove stuck-on numbers with a hair dryer and a scraper. wipe it down with goo gone and voila... an address change.

Cecilia says "enough"

2005-04-08T19:51:00.000-04:00

Cecilia thinks we're working too long and too hard on the house. "Maybe if I sleep on the painter's pants they won't be able to use them and.." Unfortunately for her, we just sold her favorite sleeping spot - the futon. We'll make it up to her.

a couple of crook-necks

2005-04-07T22:06:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not referring to squash. Werner (Ellen's Dad) and I felt like a couple of crook-necks after painting all day today. Staring up at the ceiling for hours was a bit tiring on our necks.

The place is really starting to shape up! The priming is almost complete. Werner delivered the beautifully primed and sanded trim this morning.

Talked to Charles Therriault today, and he is going to sand our living room and master bedroom floors for $500. We are going to apply the final 2 polyurethane coats ourselves in order to save $300. Much better than the $1900 quote we were given by a well known local company.

I think the worst is behind us. Just need to apply some caulking to the ceiling trim in the livingroom and entryway, and then it's paint, paint, paint.

primer, spackle, primer, drip

2005-04-04T18:26:00.000-04:00

okay, so we're not Professionals.
but we're playing them when it comes to home remodeling. we're filling in cracks, divits, and holes in our shotty mudding job. I think we found a technique for filling divits after priming (which shows ALL your (walls) imperfections) - use Lightweight Spackle then sand the entire wall to create the same texture. We'll see how it works.

we were able to get two of the three bedrooms with wallpaper still on the walls (we attempted to take it off in one of the bedrooms and created more of a mess than we thought removing wallpaper should create, mostly in the name of divits and chunks coming off). so we spackled Seams where needed and primed the walls. In fact, I might have even spackled the seams if I knew they were going to look as good as they do. we've put two primer coats on the wallpaper, and all looks quite good.

we're having two floors refinished - figure it's easier to do it now than later - one quote came back at over $1900 for two rooms covering about 338 sf total. One's pine the other maple. So another person is coming by this week to check it out. $1.25/sf and we put the last two coats on. Not bad! he was recommended by the carpenter, Michael Lawrence, who is building our living room bookcase enclosure. we'll see how it goes. we will need to put a 1/4 round moulding in possibly both rooms as the baseboards were installed along side of the floorboards, instead of on them.. doh!

I've been trying to figure out what to do with the dishwasher/cabinet situation in the kitchen. i could put in a simple corner cabinet, but am having troubles figuring out the size it is and the size cabinet i need to order! it may be better, and look well matched, if Michael builds one.

You'll notice Michael comes into this picture quite a bit - he's a friend of bloggin' Sue T in Tanzania (blog at left) - and is the carpenter we both wish we could be. we just found out from him this weekend that the bottom part of the cabinet is built, and he's working on the top. can't wait to see it.

it is all coming together at a good pace (knock on wood)!

"my Family is Great."

2005-03-28T21:45:00.001-05:00

That's what Ray told me after they left after spending most of the day (or afternoon) helping us spackle, attempt to steam off wallpaper, move appliances, pull up carpet strips on the hardwood floor, clean - among many other things - on Saturday.
My mom and dad arrived early - Dad had his own ideas for removing the useless utility sink in the laundry room, and we'll eventually build a bench to box-in the plumbing and create a storage chest - we'll need it in this tiny house.

Since Ray and I were able to scrape off most of the glue Friday, we were able to spackle the walls on Saturday. Here my dad spackles away in his old work clothes...

Though the previous owners had left the house immaculate, I knew my mom's strong suit and put her on "fridge duty". Now I can feel comfortable putting food on the shelves knowing that they are C L E A N. (Sorry, Mom, no photo of you cleaning the fridge!)

My sister Nancy and brother-in-law, Dave, arrived mid afternoon, and were able to get quite a bit done - two big things: pullout the dishwasher so that we can put it in the new cabinet, and pull up the carpet staple strips on the hardwood floors, among other odd projects. Here my sister is scraping wallboard glue off in the front entry way in style...

One thing that plagues this house is wallpaper. For some reason people of a certain generation seem to like wallcoverings. And of course that doesn't suit our tastes and we attempted to steam it off using a Wallpaper Steamer.

Unfortunately, we chose a room in the master bedroom that the previous owner constructed, rather than a wall that was all sheetrock. This left the wall quite messy as the joint compound was starting to come off because we had to get the wall so wet. So the result was spending 1.5 hours steaming a wall of about 5 feet wide.

Ray and I decided that because the wallpaper was obviously done by professionals, and that the seams are darn near perfect, we're going to paint over it. We purchased "the gripper" primer coat paint and will make an attempt this coming weekend. As Ray said, "There's just too many more important things in this life to consider besides the seams of wallpaper." And that was it.

We closed! Finally...

2005-03-28T21:13:00.000-05:00

It was a nice sunny afternoon. We closed at 2:30 PM on Mar. 24. All went smoothly. And within 24 hours we had ripped off all the wallboard and paneling in the hall and living room.

Here Ray starts the overhaul of the living room.

.And what it looked like later that evening... We actually felt quite bad about ripping the place apart - it is in excellent condition, it's just that we didn't want wallboard and 70's brown carpet in our living room. It will be 100 times nicer when we are thru with it. it has to be.

a creative break

2005-03-23T18:54:00.000-05:00

lord knows I need it after the ridiculous loops we had to jump thru last minute to close on this house, which is now going to happen on Mar. 24.
so on a quick creative break, I came upon the uvscene and realized that they have some good stuff on their site for what's going on in the Upper Valley of NH.

On their site I came upon this cool tool, from the flickr site and an inovative way to spell out what you're thinking :

now if I could only find cool numbers like this for our house...

NOT closing day

2005-03-23T14:30:00.000-05:00

if you read my previous post, "banks" and "smooth" should not appear in the same paragraph, let alone sentence.
i'm so bummed... we were supposed to close today at 9 am, then it got put off until 4 pm, now it's scheduled for tomorrow at 2:30, and all because of THE BANK. CharterOne is now asking for our most recent pay stubs AND proof of insurance, both of which we gave them previously.

nuts.

Closing day...

2005-03-23T10:59:00.000-05:00

And it's going **fairly** smoothly!
We had the walk thru this morning and will be closing at 4:00 PM today, and not at 9 AM as originally planned. Some how the bank lost our purchase and sale agreement (??) and that was holding up processing. Fishy.
House looks good - it's so darn clean! Can't wait to get in and call it ours!

built in shelving for the LR, ordered stove

2005-03-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

Today I got the price from one carpenter to construct built-in bookshelves in the livingroom. (Photo to left is for idea purposes only, we're looking at something with less mouldings, simpler lines.) Apparently for the size we're looking at, about 6 linear feet plus a small bench with open shelves underneath, we're looking at $3500-5000. Not in our price range... a couple of more people to ask and then I'm on to doing it myself, with my Dad's guidance, of course (he was self-employed as a fine furniture maker and made furniture for The Modern Furniture Barn for 40+ years). I did find some ideas online too, which were helpful in getting the juices flowing. Also, This Old House had some ideas.
Next week we hope to get into the house and do some measuring.

We also ordered a new stove to replace the old (15+ yo) coil-top stove that's there now (note: in this photo, the dishwasher will be moving and we'll be putting in cabinets next to the stove). We ordered a glass top from Sears with 5 burners, 1 dual and one additional warming burner. Though we'd prefer gas, there isn't a gas line for this house, and we weren't about to put one in for a stove. Color? White. We debated over the black and white options. Both are the same price, but we chose the white as the kitchen is white, as is the fridge. Dishwasher is black. We have black kitchen top appliances and will be installing a charcoal countertop. We thought the black might be too ominous in such a small kitchen. No stainless steel - doesn't quite fit this cottagy-type house, and the constant fingerprint markings we decided would drive us both nuts. It was only about $200 more. Plus nothing else would be stainless steel in the kitchen except for the sink. ;)

Under contract

2005-02-24T21:25:00.000-05:00

Nice to see after 4 months and looking at over 30 houses. And only a month til we close!

what we're working with...

2005-02-22T17:22:00.000-05:00

what I did today when I needed a quick creative break. what'ya think... I think we will remove all of those black shutters and replace them with flowerboxes on the front and entrance side of the house...

mar 23 is the day

2005-02-21T12:25:00.000-05:00

that's the day we close. we've already started shopping, or should I say "I" have already started shopping for everything from the walls to the windows. this past weekend, I bought a level... it's an old house.

the house we're purchasing is a 1928 garage, yes garage, turned into a 'bungalow' in 1943. that's how i've interpreted the loosly-held records on its origins. it has some period details and has quite a bit of potential. maple floors in the livingroom, and a fir floor of some sort in one of the bedrooms. one note is that it is quite smaller than most houses, only 1022 sq.f., the yard is an "intown lot" so maintenance will be minimal. it comes with a "well-landscaped yard", and the house is in fantastic shape both structuraly and visually. the current owner is an engineer, if that says anything. meticulous might be one way to describe it.

we're looking forward to maximizing space, using color, textures and the like to bring out its best features. We'll see how it goes. Photos and future postings will come at irregular intervals....

~ PROJECT PLANS ~

2005-01-01T14:30:00.000-05:00

Overall

Update certain electrical outlets throughout the house - done, 4/1
Change all electrical outlets ourselves to new 3-prong
Paint ceilings in all rooms - done

Living room

Pulloff wallboard, mud, prime - done
Build bookcase/tv cabinet (Michael) - done
Paint " " - done
Sand, refinish LR floors - done
Move light fixture over dining area - done
Buy light fixture for dining area - yeah! done
Paint ceiling - done
Re-attach trim - done
Paint trim - done
Replace picture window with doors to patio, or special windows..? - not happening

Hallway

Pull off wallboard, mud, prime, spackle, attach metal corner - done
Paint walls - done
Caulk ceiling and trim joint, repaint - done
Re-attach trim, prime - done
Paint trim - done
Install new light fixture - done, finally

Bedroom 1 (Ray's office/quest room)

Prime wallpaper, prime closet for bookcase - done
Paint walls and trim - done
Replace carpet - carpet ordered 4/16, LaValley's, still waiting, done 5/10
Paint celings - done

Bedroom 2 (Master)

Sand, refinish floors - 4/19-22, done
Prime wallpaper - done
Paint walls - done
Paint trim - done
1/4 round moulding for floor - not doing
fix baseboard - done (thanks, Dad)

Bedroom 3 (Ellen's office)

Prime wallpaper - done
Paint walls - done
Replace closet door
Paint trim - done
Replace light - done, by Ellen successfully (and with a dampened brow)!

Bathroom

Replace toilet seat - done
Replace hardware on cabinets - done
Install pedestal sink?
Replace light
Paint - done
Floor (with kitchen) - done

Kitchen

Paint Walls - done
Move dishwasher - done
Build/buy corner cabinet - Michael building, done 4/27
Order counter - ordered, 4/16, need to reorder, delivery 5/12, done
Replace faucet - done
Replace two overhead lights - done
Install under cabinet lighting - done
Install flooring - done ! 7/3 !

Laundry/utility room - (Fall '05)

Replace floor?
Remove tiny, utility sink
Install bench in its place
Sand, prep walls (?)
Paint walls (?)

Gardens, grounds, outdoors

Start tomato seeds - done 3/30
Start flower seeds - done
Install privacy fence on lefthand side of yard - done 7-8/05
Install window boxes - done
Install motion detector and garage light - done 8/05
Install stone patio (fall 05? after the 3 weeks of rain?) - done 11/05
Expand vegetable garden - done
Re-seed sections of lawn - done
Fertilize with lime/organic - ongoing...

~ RESOURCES ~

2005-01-01T14:23:00.000-05:00

More to come

For house fixtures

Rejuvenation
ReCover Home Repair
Corday Lighting
Restoration Hardware
Home Depot
Lowe's
EBay
Ikea - USA
Kichler Lighting
Smith & Noble for shades and window coverings
Lee Valley

Decorating/Design ideas

Gardening

Fedco Seeds
Yardiac.com has Brill Reel Mowers from Germany, but we ended up with a free Scott reel mower from a friend and that works just as well!
Home Depot Garden Club
Cornell Home Gardening
Plow & Hearth
Smith & Hawken
Gardener's Supply
Lee Valley

How to do anything

eHow tells you how to do everything from replacing a light fixture to make Rugelach.
Home Depot Know How
Home and Garden TV - we don't get the channel but their site is helpful!

Anything to add? Post it in comments below.