OUR WORK JOURNAL
7/22/05
-- The center piece of the front window is completed and in place!
~~~~~~
7/17/05
-- This weekend, Jeff and Randy started laying the hardwood floor in the
upstairs foyer, and Jeff started trimming up the stairs, as well.
He's
also dismantled the smokehouse and took it to the dump!
I've
also taken some pictures of my rain chain!
~~~~~~
7/2/05 --
Progress! In order for us to lay the hardwood floor in the upstairs
foyer, we must first build the stairs to the 3rd floor/attic! Last
weekend, we cut the hole in the upstairs ceiling, and today we built the frame
for the stairs! Jeff came up with the plan and we are executing
it!
We also held up
the backsplash and got a little idea of what it will look like! I don't
know when we'll get to it, but it is going to look great! We are using the
same antique (1910) metal ceiling tiles as we will use on the downstairs foyer's
ceiling.
Jeff
has also been working on the center piece of glass for the front door.
Here is a picture inside his "workshop".
~~~~~~
6/25/05 -- Jeff
and Randy have been working to dismantle the smokehouse out back. This has
to be removed so that we can begin to build our garage/workshop-- which has to
be built to get the workshop out of the room that will be the den!
The smokehouse was covered in asbestos siding, which Jeff and Randy to carefully
remove. Here are some pictures of the progress, including some of them
looking like Oompa-Loompas in their full-body Tyvex suits!
If anyone was
wondering how we get things done with 2 toddlers in the house, we have lots of
help!
~~~~~~
5/10/05 -- In the past couple months, we have been working on the upstairs master bedroom, and Jeff has been working on the stained glass for the front door.
Randy and Jeff
have supported the floor upstairs, put in the sub-floor, and are now in the
process of putting the hardwood floors in the master bedroom! Jeff and I
finally were able to paint those purple walls, so it is starting to look like a
real room! The boys will be sleeping in it far before we will, but we are
all very excited about the possibility of moving upstairs in the
not-to-distant-future!
Jeff and I have
designed the stained glass pattern for the front door, picked out the colors,
and now he has finished 6 of the panes!
~~~~~~
3/12/05 -- Spring
is near, and it feels like we are making progress once again! Today,
there was major progress on the fence! The pickets are up around the
front, but we ran out before we could go down the side yard.
I painted some more trim, also...
~~~~~~
3/6/05-- Jeff has
been working hard on the fence. He has painted the pickets, and made a lot
of progress on the 2x4's.
I spent the boys' naptime painting the columns on the porch. I almost
finished the bottom ones!
~~~~~~
2/28/05 -- In the
past couple months, the weather has put a damper on things, but we have worked a
little more on putting up the wood for the tin ceiling in the foyer .
Jeff and Randy put black plastic under the house (not a glamorous job, but
productive nevertheless). The most exciting piece of work Jeff has done is
beginning the picket fence that will surround the house.
At the moment, we have all the posts up, and the pickets are not primed and
ready to go up, too!
~~~~~~
11/7/04 -- We have
been working on painting the trim and the gables.
Jeff is also putting up rails on the porches. It'll be a great place for the boys to play!
The guys also came
back to finish cutting down the oak tree.
~~~~~~
10/22/04-- Here
comes the paint!
Today, we had to
have someone come to cut down one of our old oak trees that died. It is so
sad, it was an absolutely beautiful old tree. I am trying not to think
about it. I think I will plant a magnolia there.
~~~~~~
10/16/04
Jeff and Randy primed the house! We've been waiting for this--- painting
will make it look SO much better!
~~~~~~
10/1/04-- We moved into the house. For the time being, Jeff and I are sleeping in the dining room (with no door to the kitchen!), the boys are sleeping in the living room, the den/parlor/study/whatever is the workshop (so it is off-limits), and we are using the foyer as our living room! It's tight, but I think we'll be ok. Most of our stuff is upstairs in boxes. Hopefully, it won't be too awfully long before we can expand our space!
~~~~~~
9/21/04 -- I
have painted the stair case and primed the walls in the foyer!
I haven't written much, but it isn't because we haven't done anything-- it's because we're too busy!
~~~~~~
9/8/29 -- Jeff has made the door casings for the foyer. We found the rosettes and blocks at an antiques show.
I worked on
stripping the old paint off of the stairs. I got 3 done!
~~~~~~
9/4/04 -- The flooring is down in the kitchen!
I worked on
getting the little tub in shape and Jeff put it and the fixtures into the
bathroom.
~~~~~~
8/13/04-- The
countertops and fixtures are in
the kitchen!
~~~~~~
8/7/04-- The
bathroom floor is now in! Jeff also put in the pocket door to the bathroom
that I wanted so bad, and the wainscoting.
We also started
putting the wood floor down in the kitchen. Randy had planed the upstairs
boards to get all the old paint off of them.
I worked on
getting all the junk off of the bricks in the fireplace. I made a mess,
but it looks so much better now!
~~~~~~
7/31/04-- I
have been making progress getting the floor up from the back room. The
flooring that I'm working on now will go down the in the kitchen.
The downstairs
bathroom is very narrow. We thought we were going to have to put a tub in long ways,
but we found a tiny little tub that is about 48" long! We're working
hard to get it into shape!
~~~~~~
7/25/04-- Today, Jeff and Randy took the cast iron pipe out of the bathroom!
Next, Jeff began
leveling the VERY uneven floor in there. He put down strips to level it
out and the started putting in the floorboards that I pulled up from the
upstairs. We found out
from a neighbor who lived here in the 1950's that there used to be a coal
burning heater right where the bathroom is. You can see the black
marks on the ceiling!
~~~~~~
7/24/04-- Jeff has
been reinforcing the joists in the master bedroom and the upstairs
foyer.
~~~~~~
7/19/04-- The
kitchen cabinets
and the butler's pantry
are in!!! They look
GREAT! It's starting to feel like a real house! I was worried that
the kitchen was going to be way too small, but the cabinets work just fine!
~~~~~~
7/8/04--
Thanks to Mark and Charles, the downstairs bath (not the walk-thru one, but the
one off of the kitchen) has been gutted! Somehow, I managed to talk Jeff
into sheet rocking over the door in the kitchen, moving all the plumbing around,
and flipping the bathroom so that the door is in what will be the butler's
pantry... on the opposite wall! In tearing out a wall, the guys found a
HUGE cast iron pipe! I hope to keep it, I like the look! But, it
will probably be in the way.
We found some
great antique tin ceiling tiles at an antique show! We are going to use
them in the foyer, and also for my backsplash in the kitchen and the butler's pantry!
~~~~~~
7/1/04--
Jeff has made a
lot of progress on the foyer wall!
And, today the
owls flew the coop!
~~~~~~
6/19/04-- I
have been in charge of taking up the upstairs floorboards. I am now pulling up
the floor boards in the back room... they are full 16ft boards!
I have also taken out the wall that
separates the back room (future master bath) from the small area that used to be
a bath (future closet)!
Jeff has taken the
sheetrock out of the rest of the foyer, including the ceiling. (After
dropping a board on his face!) We are going to put in tongue and groove
walls and either metal ceiling tiles or tongue and groove boards there, too.
~~~~~~
6/12/04--
Today we put in
the tongue and groove ceiling in the kitchen!
In sheet rocking
the kitchen, it was discovered that the door frame between the kitchen and the
foyer had to come out (termite damage to the stud).
Jeff, Randy, and
Hal somehow moved the cast iron tub that was in the walk-thru bathroom-- whew!
I went up to check
on the owls and they have feathers on their wings!
~~~~~~
We bought an
awsome clawfoot tub for the master bath upstairs!
~~~~~~
6/5/04-- Today,
Jeff took down the tongue and groove plank wall that separates the foyer from
the living room. We are installing a double French door in the center of
the wall!
Jeff has also
taken the bathroom door frame out in the kitchen. We will be closing this
off and making the door to the bathroom in the hallway across from the Butler's
Pantry.
I have been taking
the floorboards up to put in supports in the floor. Randy is running them
through the planer and we are using them in the kitchen. We'll be putting
matching hardwood floors throughout the upstairs.
In the process of
yanking out the small closet and tub where the Butler's Pantry will be, Jeff
uncovered a HUGE squirrel nest. Yes, there were squirrels living under the
tub. Unbelievable!
~~~~~~
5/23/04- The
window, that currently is in the walk-thru bathroom, has been sided over.
The bathroom will be gone and where the tub is will be a butler's pantry...
someday!
The fascia and
soffits that were missing or needed replacing are completed along back and most
of side.
There is a family of owls in the attic, so we have to leave a piece off of the
side so the owl can get in to her babies!
Today, I scrubbed
all of the bottom floor windows today, in preparation for painting. Some
of the sills are in very bad shape. Here is a picture of one of the
worst ones. Jeff is using a hardening chemical and filling in the holes.
~~~~~~
5/19/04- The
siding along back wall is finished! Yay!
The French
door is put into the dining room. Trim that was found in the smokehouse
out back has also been added to the windows.
~~~~~~
5/16/04- The
windows in the dining room are now installed.
There will be a French door in between them. This will have a view of the
pecan tree and crepe myrtles out back.
The Utility room
and upstairs siding is complete.
In the foyer, we
found a surprise under that wallpaper! You can tell that, at one point,
there were stairs on the left wall... which is just baffling... Check it
out!
There are 2 rooms upstairs that still have the original flooring. We are taking that up to use in the downstairs, and then we will have all matching hardwood for the upstairs. Jeff has been taking up floorboards from the upstairs master bedroom.
We have a whole colony of squirrels in this house. Jeff has taken up the
floorboards in one of the rooms to find the squirrels'
stash of pecans.
Also today, Jeff
has begun grouting around the chimney where there is a big gap between it and
the house.
~~~~~~
5/11/04-
When we bought the house, there was no siding along the back-- you could see the
wiring and everything!
We hired help to put up the siding. As of today, the siding was installed
along one section of the upstairs ,
and siding is going up on the utility room.
The plan is to add a deck/porch off of the utility room and wrap all the way
around the west side and along the entire front of the house... one day!
Also, a French
door and 2 windows are also being added in the dining room.
~~~~~~
5/8/04- Here we go! Today was a busy day!
The back porch
(off the kitchen) is being framed in and turned into my laundry room and
pantry.
Jeff also took
down the sheetrock on the front wall of the foyer. On
the other walls, there are old planks under the sheetrock. If possible, we
hope to put them back up in the foyer instead of sheetrock. In
between the sheetrock and the planks, we found old wallpaper. It is
actually a fabric instead of paper like we use today. It was also nailed
onto the wall in place instead of glue. I read that sometimes they would
take the wall "paper" down and take it with them if they moved.
When we bought the
house, the room that was to be the kitchen was completely unfinished, with no
flooring, ceiling, or sheetrock. The people before us had a make-shift
kitchen in the downstairs room that we will be using as the informal living
room. Before that, the kitchen was in a section of the house that was torn
down due to structural damage. Today,
Jeff and Randy have installed utility boxes in the kitchen. The sheetrock
is installed put up on the section of the room that will have cabinets and
counters!
Also, Jeff
has taken the closet out of the dining room. It must have been used as a
bedroom in the past.