Home!

So, after 17 long hours in the car, we finally made it home late Thursday night.  Our 2 week southern adventure was truly spectacular, but it is now time to get back to the stuff of real life, and that means house renovations!!  We were able to tie up loose ends and get to the house by Friday afternoon.  Lots of exciting things happening.  An excavator has been delivered to the front lawn in preparation for the big septic dig which will probably happen next week.  Steve and Oliver successfully jacked up the middle portion of the house which means that the Den floor is now level and even.  Our downstairs bathroom window has been installed.  Our other mason, Spike, is beginning work on the stone steps leading up to the side entrance.  Joel dug right in and over the course of Friday afternoon and Saturday morning removed all the windows on the west side of the house, ripped up the majority of the kitchen floor, continued to remove the high peak exterior molding (this time he was careful not to let any pinch bars crack his forehead!),  and hauled in another truckload of concrete block from his father's house.   Since Saturday afternoon was so beautifully fall-like, I asked Joel to take a break from work and do a Christmas card photo shoot.  Mom and Dad came up to take the pictures.  Surprisingly the dogs cooperated, and I think we got a keeper shot:)

discussion of stone steps

Joel removing exterior molding

after the photo shoot

We've Been Framed!

As we near the end of our whirlwind tour of the South, we can't help but get excited about seeing the progress on the house.  Both Cathy and my dad have been emailing pictures which never cease to wow us.  Thankfully the weather has cooperated and Steve has been able to really accomplish a lot.  Between he, Oliver, and the mason they have solidified the dining room foundation, framed out the new walls, zipped the side and installed the windows, and dug a trench in the front of the house which will divert rain water from the road away from the basement.  Eventually we plan to have a stamped concrete patio and walkway laid down in the front, sides, and back of the house.

We should be home by the weekend. It will feel great to get back into the swing of house renovation!

See What's Happening at the House!

We are away on our anniversary bike trip, but Cathy has been keeping me updated with pictures and descriptions of what Steve has been up to the past few days.  I've got to say that I am kind of glad that I am not there to witness the mayhem (and I mean that in the most loving way!!)  Just before we departed, Steve and Oliver had prepped the outside wall on the east side of the house to be jacked up.  Joel and I stopped by to take a look the evening before we left.  We laughed as Joel texted Steve to ask exactly what was holding the dining room up and Steve's response was "air"!  As you can see in the photo, the dining room is just sagging over nothing, and the exterior wall is completely useless. 

Steve told Joel over the phone that as he and Oliver braced for the big effort to jack up the house they realized that all that exterior prep work was unnecessary as mere human lifting did the trick!  Even more surprising is that once Steve dug down underneath the foundation he discovered that the stone work just ended...he will have to build it back up using the cement blocks that Joel conveniently just got from his father.

Cathy sent me this next photo of the side of the house with the walls of the dining room completely torn off.  See what I mean about mayhem?!  Yikes!

I will end with a picture that I took the day before we left which clearly shows the beautiful path that we are on.  Steve finished flashing the chimney and tied the siding and molding in so perfectly that I just had to smile:)

Repeat Performance!

Once again the week flew by and a lot was accomplished at the house.  Steve and his nephew Oliver got the front sided and moved around to the west and covered the majority of that as well.  Steve also added a decorative trim to the top of one window on the front of the house to see if I liked it, which of course I did!  Down the road he will trim out all the windows that way.

Joel and Steve met with an engineer to discuss a new septic system, a leach field, and the vaulting of our upstairs ceiling.  All good!  We passed our perc test ; they mapped out where the septic may go; and the engineer is looking into our vaulting ideas.

Over the weekend Joel and I enjoyed our mugs of coffee as we once again cleaned up inside and out.  We rallied so much, though, that we surpassed our goals...On Saturday Joel removed three windows, tore apart the side porch and the side wall just behind the parlor.  He hauled down 30 bags of insulation from the Yoga room and threw them into our 7th dumpster.  While he was prying some molding off of a high peak on the west side of the house mid-day, he banged his head with the pinch bar and lacerated his forehead pretty good.  Off to the ER we went and he got 4 stitches.  Didn't slow him down though:)  We returned to the house and finished our projects until the sun set.  Back again on Sunday.  I shop vacuumed the entire upstairs again while Joel stripped nails from all the flooring wood.  I photographed and measured the kitchen space because I am meeting with a designer from Lowe's tomorrow to lay out a plan.  Joel removed all the remaining exterior trim work, loaded the dumpster up with stray wood and debris, and loaded up a trailer with wood that we want to save and reuse.

We are off to the south this coming week as we celebrate our anniversary with a bike tour and visit with our kids in fun places.  Joel and Steve will stay in touch, and I will post if anything super exciting happens!

Joel and I make a GREAT team!!

We accomplished so much at the house this weekend.  Working side by side for the better part of both days, Joel finished removing the last of the lathe and plaster on the back staircase while I started in the front upstairs rooms and swept and used the ShopVac to clean up all the dust, debris, and stray insulation.  We created quite a mound of filled-to-the-brim garbage bags! He caulked and put a second coat of paint on the side windows so Steve can round the corner and continue with the siding.  I took the wheelbarrow around the entire property and picked up nails, stones, and bits of wood.  It finally feels like we have reached ground zero on the inside.  There is very little left to remove.  Soon (well, relatively soon...) we can begin the interior rebuild!

                   Look how clean and ready to be made beautiful again the upstairs is! 

  

There was a flurry of activity in our front yard yesterday morning as the Lake Delta Half Marathon runners passed by.  We seem to be the halfway point of the race, and the volunteers had set up a water and orange slice station on our lawn.  We turned up our music nice and loud and took a moment to cheer the athletes on.  Who knows?  Maybe next year we will be out there pounding the pavement with the Roman Runners instead of pounding nails.

I stopped working halfway through the day yesterday so that I could get my parents up to enjoy the afternoon at the lake.  Several of our friends dropped by to say hello and check on our progress.  My caramel popcorn is a favorite of Karen's so I was happy when she and Mitch sat for a moment to enjoy a few bites.

I'm Back from North Carolina!

Feels great to be home, but I already miss the company of my fabulous girlfriends and the beauty of the ocean and the beach.  So blessed to have had the opportunity to get away and relax!  Now it is time to get back to the exciting business of the house.  Quite a bit happened while I was gone.  Both Joel and my dad kept me in the loop with updates and photos, which I appreciated.  Steve has been busy putting up the siding and it looks wonderful.  I love the sage and cream color combination and think my third color will really make things "pop" as they say on HGTV!  Joel continues to remove the remains of the high exterior molding...the pieces that Steve will rebuild and paint the mystery color soon.  He also dug out one more cellar well and put the second coat of paint on the window and corner trims once Steve got them in place.  Hopefully the entire front and two sides will be completed by early next week.  The plan is to then  work on leveling the middle part of the house and getting those windows and doors in before winter.  The mornings are starting off chilly so we know what is coming:)

I have heard from both Terri and Lyn who each sent me lovely pictures of the house and their family enjoying holidays and outdoor activities.  It is fun to see their brothers playing in the high snowbanks and all the children wading in the pond with their grandmother.  The house looked so elegant with the white picket fence and the shutters.  I certainly hope we can replicate the original beauty with our own style.

I will post again soon as things are speeding up.  Yesterday we met with the electrician and a team of plumbers who will all work with us to properly place receptacles and switches, sinks and toilets.  Now is the time to get the innards of the house all set.  I will leave you with the promised photo of our beautiful view of Lake Delta.  Thank you Joel for felling the trees and shrubs!

Don't Fence Us In!

Lately we have been spending some long days working at the house and feel guilty about leaving the boys at home.  Joel fashioned this containment area out of dune fencing which suffices for now.  I have to be in their field of vision, however, or Striker starts to whine!  Staying in their sight hasn't been a problem for the last three days, though, because I have set up a work station outside and have been diligently painting long pieces of PVC trim.  I think I have completed 20 so far but have MANY more to do.  These will be used around the windows and as corner finishing.

On Thursday Steve installed the first of our upstairs small awning windows.  I was anxious to see how it looked from both the outside and the interior.  The verdict is a thumbs up!  The small wall space in those rooms is difficult to work with, and we debated over many different window styles but opted to stay with the original design.  While he was framing out the window, Steve came across a perfect example of a mortise and tenon joint.  He brought me up to see and explain the theory behind "timberframing" or post and beam construction.  Pretty neat!

Joel has been working hard both inside and out.  He broke through the wall between the dining room and the den and recreated the original doorway.  He also took down a built-in cupboard in the dining room which gives us more space in the side entryway.  Between his debris and the ceiling tear-down mess that Larry, Brian, and Josh made, we filled our 7th dumpster in no time at all:)  Since the weather has been so beautiful, Joel has also been down in the gully area clearing out brush and cutting down small trees to enhance our view of the lake.  Success!  The water is peeking through the greenery big time.  I will post a picture of the vista next time.

We had several visitors yesterday.  My mom and dad stopped by in the afternoon to see our progress.  They knew that I was painting trim work, so they brought lawn chairs and stayed for a couple of hours to keep me company.  A pair of crazy cyclists (and I am not talking about the Tour de France kind!) motored by then turned around when they saw us toiling away.  Heather is a nurse who worked with Joel years ago.  She and her husband, Danny, had heard we purchased a big old house on the north side of the lake so they took a mid day ride to find us.  I love it when people pop in, so if anyone is out and about and wants to come say hello please do so!