Liz & Steve's House Remodel

Remodelers Showcase April 3-5

2009-03-23T22:10:00.002-05:00

Well, we are now house #30 in the upcoming Remodeler's Showcase in the Twin Cities. Hours are Friday, 1-7 and Saturday/Sunday 12 to 6. We are busy hiding all the junk we haven't put away yet, getting the last minute things up (like the tile backsplash and the stained glass in the kitchen cabinets). Michal Crosby is looking at accessories to make the house look it's best. And we have a lovely golden backyard (sorry no photo yet)! To keep the mud in place - until it's time for sod - we have spread 3 bales of straw around the backyard and playset. We have told the boys that we need to keep the gates closed, or else we will have horses wandering in to snack. AJ isn't quite sure if we are joking or not. I'll post photos when the house is ready to show - or better yet, stop by!

BDA: The Mudroom

2009-02-09T22:01:00.006-06:00

Before: With the old back porch being added to the kitchen configuration, we needed a new back entry. So an 8 by 10 foot addition to the house's footprint was added for a mudroom. Above it would become part of the master bedroom. I lost a little gardening space. Here's the view just after the digging started. During: AJ wondering what he could do with a wheelbarrow. The crawl space was dug and the foundation blocks put in. You can see the hole in the basement wall on the left. The "bump" on the house is the back of the built-in-buffet in the dining room.

The framing for the new back of the house went up in a day.

Here's the back of the buffet again. We didn't strip it any further for fear of possibly damaging it.

Here's the upper shelf we ended up with once the buffet was sheetrocked in. On the right side is the ductwork to the master bedroom.

After: The new back door with salvaged door knobs.

Closets go all the way to the ceiling for off-season storage and a convenient bench for putting boots and shoes on and off. The window faces south.

Look at all the room for footwear storage... And you would not believe how fast it filled up! The red/brown tiles hide the dirt and mud really well.

AJ demonstrating how he gets ready for school in the morning, one boot at a time. You can see we have plants on our shelf above the buffet.

AJ on the new back entry steps - he says "Thanks for visiting!".

While this is the last room I have to blog, it may not be my last post. I will try to thow up a photo or two of the remaining finishes (stained glass in cabinets, tile backsplash, etc.) as they occur. Also, we will be the White Crane Construction home in the Spring Remodelers Showcase, April 3-5. There will be some great photos then - our house will look like we don't live in it!

Thanks for following along. Looking at the pictures tonight, I almost can't believe it once looked like it did. And we all lived through it... happily ever after. Mostly. :-)

BDA: The Master Bath

2009-02-09T21:43:00.004-06:00

Before: Well, we really don’t have a “before” picture for the master bath. It was the flat roof area (could be called a balcony) above the old back porch and kitchen in the picture below.
During: I’ve already blogged the shower construction here. And the funky body jet plumbing here. So just a couple more photos:

Here is the floor tile going in...

And the vanity with a marble top, both from Restoration Hardware.

Medicine cabinet, light fixtures, plumber and niece.

After: Le Spa.
Handheld shower and body jets.

The vanity and sink. Note the frameless medicine cabinet is now surrounded by a frame mounted to the wall. The heat vent is under the vanity, so warm air blows on your feet in the morning.

Another of the dual-flush toilets, this is a bathroom after all…

BDA: The Back Bedroom

2009-01-17T11:04:00.004-06:00

Before: This was AJ’s bedroom, and before he came, an office. There were windows on 3 sides and a door onto an unused flat-roof “balcony” over the kitchen and back porch. We had grand plans for our Master Suite (or to be gender neutral, the Owner’s Suite) here. During: This room all but disappeared.

The wood floor remained and on one day was simply hanging out into space without wall above or below (no, we didn’t get a picture of this). The space expanded over the new mudroom entry to the south (bedroom) and covered the old balcony to the north (new master bathroom) with a closet in between.

The view into the closet, and through to the wall of the shower. Yes, we've got a window in our closet!

The old wood floor and new wood floor meet in the bedroom.

After: What a great space! The beautiful batik that you see when you come in is a gift from my Aunt Mary. A small spotlight in the ceiling illuminates it.

The sun pours in through the windows in the afternoon/ evening – you’ll have to trust me on this since I took these pictures at night (it's winter here in Minnesota, the daylight is limited).

Boudicca was annoyed that I disturbed her nap on the bed. We have two small windows on either side.

The niche fits my dresser perfectly (it was planned that way of course).

And a view of the closet pocket door and into the “spa” (to be blogged next). The wallpaper and curtains are a William Morris Arts and Crafts reproduction print. We can’t believe all the space we have - it's our own private retreat!

BDA: The Middle Bedroom

2009-01-17T10:17:00.003-06:00

Before: The middle bedroom at the top of the stairs became quite involved in the remodel. This was Christopher’s room. With the changes in the roof, a massive header beam had to be placed above the windows to support the new roof joists. Only one wall remained intact. Here you can see the sloping ceiling where the old roof line cut in. This will be going away. During: this was the space behind that slope with cardboard insulation.

This is the big beam over the windows for the new roof.

After: This is now AJ’s room!

With a new Big Boy Loft bed! (and unfortunately, still the little boy mess)

B&A: The Front Bedroom

2009-01-17T09:49:00.003-06:00

While this wasn’t technically part of the remodel, we needed to update the front bedroom to be more suitable for an 8-year old boy. About 18 years ago, I sponged and ragged my (it was just me then) bedroom in 5 shades of purple. While Christopher was excited about the larger bedroom, he was not enthusiastic about the color. Here is Before:
After: Christopher suggested many times that we should remodel our house to be like Hogwarts. So for the young Harry Potter fan, I painted him his own castle. We have since added some torch lamps from Ikea on either side of the windows and are planning an appropriate window valence.

If you are interested, I painted the darker grout color first, then taped the gout lines (which took hours). I roughed up the edges of the tape with a utility knife to make an old stone look. Then I could sponge and rag on the lighter stone colors (just 2 shades), adjusting the design block by block. Lastly, I painted a few strokes with a feather to add a little more dimension.

BDA: The Kitchen – Work Area

2008-12-28T22:11:00.004-06:00

Before: We had a small porch for the back entry which was on the foundation. Above it was a flat roof balcony, with a door off the back bedroom. Probably had been a sleeping porch, but more about that later. Our least favorite window, above the sink, actually stayed, but had new sashes put in. And you can see how much pink-with-gold-flecks counter top we had.

During: Demo!

This is when the flat roof went missing. The window is still the one over the sink.

Framing for the two new windows facing the back yard. The one on the left is where the booth will go.

Stuffed…

And rocked.

After: This is the corner where the stove used to be, now the “baking center”. I still need to make the stained/ patterned glass inserts for the upper cupboard doors, though it is very convenient to just reach in. The tile backsplash is being planned. The under cabinet lights are great. We have our tray/cutting board storage right next to the sink. It was a small, leftover, space, but was made very useful. In the corner is a “super-susan” – there is another one in the other corner.

The window looks and works much better with the new sashes. The faucet has a spray option, rotates and detaches (NOT for water fights). The boys think the flip-down front on the sink for sponge storage is very cool. Curtains for the windows are on order and should be here in a few weeks.

The dishwasher (yessss!), stove and microwave. The pendant lights, fan light, recessed light, and light over the booth are all on dimmers. It’s wonderful having light where you need it. You can see the other set of cupboard doors awaiting my glass creations. We are still (almost 4 months later) figuring out where to store things! But the kitchen works great – we managed to cook Thanksgiving dinner without getting in each other’s way.

The last remaining things are a movable cart (we have an outlet in the middle of the floor for power), and some shelving for Steve's Squeezebox along the wall next to the dining room door. Currently, we are using one of the bookcases, which works just fine for now.

From one end to the other

2008-12-28T16:55:00.003-06:00

Whoops, I forgot a few photos in the last post. Here is the view as you come into the kitchen from the hall. It's the new fridge. A counter-depth Kenmore, with french doors on top and a freezer drawer on the bottom. Cold water is available on the door. The best or worst thing, depending on your point of view, is the black-glass finish. Magnets do not stick to it! Minnebou is admiring her slender reflection (it is shaped to make you appear thinner of course). And this is the view through the hallway, back to the front door of the house (leading onto the porch). The slightly open door on the left is to the basement, which remains open most of the time for access to the litter boxes.

BDA: The Kitchen – Hall/Entry

2008-12-28T16:43:00.005-06:00

Before: If you remember, this was the congestion point of the kitchen. The refrigerator was in the hallway, the bathroom across from it. We often had to walk through the dining room if someone was getting something out of the fridge – and inevitably piling it on the stove. Steve has few scars on his head from gouging it on the stove vent hood corner when moving things from the fridge to the stove and visa versa. There also was a false ceiling with the cute beehive lamp.

During: Fridge gone, and walls stripped down to the chimney, which is to the right.

The area was framed to be a pantry. The door to the dining room is on the right (with the Do Not Open sign.

After: It has taken us a while to not “shrink in” when we go through this area (you can see the cat thought I was taking pictures of her). The pantry is filling up of course. The doors are millwork doors from the lumberyard, which was less expensive than kitchen cabinets. We went with sliding doors since we were so tired of the hallway being blocked by open doors. The doors come in standard heights, so we have a shelf above the panty for “decorative storage” – I’m still working on what that should be. There is a small recessed light, in addition to the hall light, to illuminate whatever wonderful items end up there.

BDA: The Kitchen – Breakfast Area

2008-12-27T21:27:00.006-06:00

This is it, what you’ve been waiting for, right? The room that started it all. Let’s take it piece by piece, or post by post.

Before: View of breakfast area with table and bookcases. Coats are hanging on wall to the right, next to the microwave on a cart (out of view).

During: Waiting for the sledgehammer…

This is looking through the wall into the mudroom, closet to the left. Pocket door framing is in the wall.

And sheet-rocked...

And remember the booth from Architectural Antiques?

After: Here’s the corner where the booth goes, after wallpaper. The light is very cool, in addition to the six “up lights”, there are 2 small halogen “down lights”. This is where I sit to work. There's a heat vent in the floor, so it's nice and warm too! The wallpaper is a reproduction William Morris Arts & Crafts print called Golden Lily, you'll be seeing more of it.

Boys breakfasting in the booth. Tom Haugen stripped the tabletop, and painted the booth in blue with a bit of “distressed” red. AJ feels Tom should come back and fix it to be all blue. Craft items are in the tubs under the bench. Not exactly elegant, but it's functional for now - and an excuse to get some baskets soon.

Here you can see the morning's mini-muffins and the detail on the booth.

Lastly the view into the mudroom through the pocket door.

BDA: The Main Bath

2008-12-27T20:28:00.010-06:00

Before: The main bath, upstairs, which had been remodeled in the 1950s? I gave it new paint and wallpaper in 1990. The tub was short and shallow. The counter was long and had many things piled on it due to the absence of storage space. More junk was stored in the linen closet in the hallway.The roofline cut into one side of the bathroom, making a shower improbable. During: the plumber hadn't been by yet to disconnect the old tub pipes.After: Lights! Heat! The sink stand interfered with the old register - oops. A quick online search brought us this very nice new one that fits perfectly and was paintable. Storage! The sink with stand and towel bar, medicine cabinet and lights.And Splash! Number 1 son taking the first bath in the refinished clawfoot tub.Number 2 son, enjoying his bath last month with a few more amenities.

BDA: The back of the house

2008-11-14T21:47:00.007-06:00

The back of the house before the remodel. We added an 8x10 foot crawl space to the foundation in the right corner for the mud room. The old back porch was on the orginal foundation and became part of the new kitchen. And the roof came off...

During the big demo!

Here's the after! The new back entry is great (the detail on the little roof matches the front and sides). Above the mudroom (behind the door) and kitchen, is our master bedroom (big double windows), closet (the small window in the middle) and bathroom (the small window on the left). And the in the spring, we'll get some grass instead of mud and maybe some tulips if I didn't get them in too late.

BDA: Powder Room

2008-11-04T21:57:00.006-06:00

Before: The main floor "powder room" as it was - cramped. The boys would hit their heads on the sink when they were toddlers.

During: Gutted to the studs - which were very full. The wall on the right is the only continuous wall from the basement to upstairs, so it carries electric, plumbing and sewer. We could just squeak in a small concealed cabinet in the wall on the left side. The window remained, but was trimmed out to match the rest of the house.

After: New walls, lights, tile floor, trim. New dual-flush toilet (press down for a small flush, up for a large one). The sink is mounted to the wall with a tile "beadboard" backsplash for those sloppy, messy kid hands. This small bath feels almost spacious now with the smaller sink and pocket door. We also tried to keep things flush instead of protruding out from the wall.

Remaining to do in this room: Lace curtain at the window, mirror above the sink, and a lovely picture in the frame (which actually conceals a cabinet containing our fine selection of kiddie bandaids).

Living with Boxes

2008-11-04T21:30:00.003-06:00

Our blog has been silent for a long time. To catch you up, we DID move back in early September, just a few days after school started. Our house is lovely, but it's hard to see because of all the boxes and unpacking yet to be done! So I want to show you wonderful pictures, but have to carefully take them to keep the boxes, bags and piles of junk out of view. The last few things are wrapping up (who knew towel bars had 6 week leadtimes?). I'm trying to get bulbs in the ground before the snow and find our winter wear. In between, I'll try to show you some pictures of our fabulous new spaces.

No Drips Allowed

2008-08-23T14:20:00.016-05:00

This is a long sequence of photos, and it was a long process. This is how the shower in the master bath was built up over almost 4 weeks, layer by layer. The window is non-operable due to the close proximity of the incoming power lines. (There is another, operable, window in the bathroom.)

Some of the features of the shower are shown below...

The control, adjustable handheld, and 3 body jets (before grout)...

The "grottos" for shampoo bottles and other necessities...

And the footrest for saving my legs!

Grouted and done

The view from the shower!

We're going home!

2008-08-19T21:50:00.001-05:00

Yessss! We can move back in on September 5th – actually ahead of schedule! This news has created a rush of “ohmigosh, we’ve got to” items… school bus changes, phone, mail, curtain cleaning, packing, movers, etc. There is a lot to get ready, but we are so excited - There’s no place like HOME!

Inside

2008-08-19T21:34:00.007-05:00

Brad and the other White Crane carpenters have been busy inside doing the interior trim. It is impressive to see how smoothly the cut the maple planks, chamfer them, put on the trim pieces, and ta-da, have a doorframe that matches the rest of our 95 year old house. Maybe they’ve done this before?

And this week the painters have been staining that woodwork, and tomorrow they will start painting the walls.

Brad was able to reuse the original attic access framing. It had to move over in the upstairs hallway due to the new roof joists.

Outside

2008-08-19T21:22:00.006-05:00

The exterior was restored to green/rust/cream and white. Here’s the painters and the result.

The cornerboards are to be painted white and the back door will be rust. The back door in the picture is actually an old door White Crane uses so the new door doesn't get banged up. The painters are back this week doing the inside and will finish up the outside too. What a nice new entry!

And the Kitchen Sink

2008-08-19T21:12:00.005-05:00

Not great photos, but the kitchen counter came in last week - Cambria, a quartzite material made in Minnesota. “Yorkshire” (cream color) if you want to know. I don’t miss the small, cramped, old pink counter with gold speckles at all!

Presenting the real kitchen sink - Swanstone “Granite”. The boys like the flip-down facing on the sink with the little storage trays. I'm sure a small toy or two will end up being stored in there.

Little House on the (ex)Prairie

2008-07-26T23:09:00.009-05:00

I’ve been planning to blog how life is in our little rental house. “Cosy” is one way to put it. I had to measure the size of our one bathroom the other day: 5 feet x 5-1/2 feet. Interestingly, just as we are expanding our storage space at our home, we are learning to live with less in our rental. Hmmm. Hopefully we won’t forget that lesson anytime soon.

Here’s a picture of the outside of our rental house. I had to do just a bit of contaniner gardening. Steve enjoys reading the paper on the front porch. The cats also love the porch – there is plenty to watch between birds and squirrels in the trees and cars and people at the convenience store next door.

Two things are getting Steve through the summer: Baseball and Zuma.
Here is Steve parked in his chair watching the Twins take on the Yankees.

And what is Zuma? A highly addictive computer game we learned at Aunt Mary’s last winter. We all play it now, but Steve is the only one to get to “Sun God” status. Here’s the boys, emulating their father, sitting at the counter between the living room and kitchen.

Christopher and AJ have the expansion attic space, with a skylight and a window at each end of the attic. It’s a “bachelor pad” for the younger set with beds, train table, toys, bean bag, and absolutely, hands-down, the best of all, a TV and DVD player.

We are a little less than 2 miles from our house, but there are new parks and restaurants to discover in the neighborhood. Christopher and AJ have been zooming around the block on their scooters, and Christopher has learned to ride his “new” bike (it’s an original Schwinn Dragster).

And lastly, we are escaping frequently to the cabin on weekends. Here is a photo of Steve getting some help trying out his new hammock next to the lake. Aww.

Oh, You Doorknob!

2008-07-26T22:39:00.001-05:00

It is amazing to me how what seem to be small details can consume so much time. For example: the humble doorknob. There are people and entire companies who spend way more time than I do thinking about doorknobs. (And I have been stunned at what some of them cost.) But now I am fixated on doorknobs, and trying to find 2, or maybe 3, sets of doorknobs that come close to matching the existing ones, original to the house. Below is a picture of what is turning out to be a hard-to-find item. Doesn't look that special, does it? Any suggestions?

Where to Stuff It

2008-07-26T22:18:00.008-05:00

It almost makes me giddy to contemplate the places we will have to store things properly. The closet system in the mud room was installed last week from Scherer Brothers (we went with closets instead of cabinets to keep the cost down). Carrie helped us design places for shoes, boots, and hooks for coats with cupboards up high to stash the out-of-season gear. We ended up with a high shelf in the mud room due to the way the built in buffet in the dining room projects into the space, providing more decorative storage opportunities. We also have a bench under the window for taking off your snow covered boots.

Shelving was also installed in the new pantry across from the powder room in the kitchen. Sliding doors will be installed here – rather retro, but we were so tired of having the hallway blocked by an open door, they made the most sense in this busy hallway. A rather boring picture, but thrilling for us! Above it is another open shelf area, this one with recessed lighting.

And presenting – the kitchen cabinets! We had tremendous help from Pete at Cabinet Concepts and Interiors in making the multitude of decisions around the cabinets. They look great and it’s starting to look like a kitchen. In both corners we will have lazy-susans, we hated crawling into our old corner cabinet trying to dig out a pan. The lower cabinet on the right is for my mixer. It has a pop-up shelf - I couldn’t pass up that feature. (The cabinet for over the microwave is sitting on top of the stack of drawers.) Oh, the cabinets are cherry, with butternut finish, from Durasupreme in the Homestead panel if you're shopping.

Here’s the sink cabinet going in. We had a small amount of space between the sink and the “super-susan”. We put in a skinny cabinet/open shelf for storing trays.

Exterior Accomplished

2008-07-26T22:10:00.006-05:00

The new siding is up and looks great. Here are a few shots of it from last week. Painting should begin in the next week or two. As expected, my garden around the house has taken a beating, creating new opportunities for landscaping in the fall and spring.

Underfoot

2008-07-11T22:34:00.010-05:00

Inside the house, it is getting a little more colorful. The tile installers and the hardwood floor guys (Blue Canoe) are getting busy. Below is the ceramic floor tile that will greet you when you come into the mudroom. A top consideration was how well it would hide the mud and melted snow. The 12 inch square tiles have a lot of red along with grey, blue and brown.Not the best photo for color - but this is the ceramic floor tile in the master bath. These 6 inch tiles are a mix of blue, green, and grey.

In the upstairs main bath, the floor was extremely uneven, a big problem in a bathroom. Several bags of leveling compound were poured on top of the sub-floor - here it is drying.

Tile was laid on top of the leveling compound. In this bathroom, and in the main floor "powder room" (1/2 bath), we picked white 1 inch hexagonal ceramic tile - very probably what was in this bathroom 95 years ago.

In the master bedroom, the old wood floor is being extended to fill the room. Here's some more fun power tools, along with plenty of sawdust.

If the lighting were better in this picture (we still only have a few outlets working), you could see the old and new floor come together. (The old and new floors in our house are maple.) They will be sanded down together, then varnished. The new wood floor in the kitchen is also installed and will be finished next week because... (drum roll)... the cabinets arrive on the 17th!

These windows face west, and you can get a feel for how nice this room will be in the afternoon and evening! It looks out on the backyard and our small maple tree and larger crabapple tree.

On the Side

2008-07-11T21:40:00.005-05:00

Two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to make another big decision. When we first talked through our remodel, we had discussed re-siding all of the house, not just the new part in the back. The cost was significant, and we took it out of the bid to be done in the very near future. Originally - we think - the house was either stained or painted with an oil-based finish which didn't breathe. Large chips with many layers of paint have been coming off the siding, even shortly after we had the house repainted about 10 years ago.

As the work drew closer, White Crane had the siding re-bid and it came in 1/3 less than the first bid. We debated over the weekend, decided to do it, and within days the old siding was torn off and the guys were stapling up the moisture barrier (that's the well marked Tyvek) and nailing up the hardiplank on all sides!

Below is the south side partially done. The siding here was especially bad with the sun exposure.

The front with shakes and not-quite-all the lap siding. Yes, it will get painted, the same colors as before because 1) we like it and 2) we can't manage to make another big decision!

Sheet Rock Happens

2008-07-08T22:17:00.009-05:00

Yes, sheet rock happened! The other (thing) that happened was my hard drive crash and replacement. So these photos are now about 2 weeks old. Everything was "rocked" during a weekend, then mudded, sanded and primed to keep the dust down. The difference was dramatic, we can really get a feel for the rooms now. The photo above is of the stilts (or whatever you call them) that the "rockers" wear to mud and sand the ceilings.

Even more progress is being made, and I hope to catch up with it this week. For now here are a few photos of the whiteness. The first one is the ol' hallway from the kitchen into the living room. The door with "Do Not Open" is to the dining room. The space next to it will be the new pantry - formerly home of the refrigerator.

Behind the plastic is the kitchen window above the sink. This corner will be the "baking center" since my mixer will have it's own special pop-up cabinet. Whoo hoo!

Kitchen windows looking into the backyard. The booth will go under the window on the left, then fridge, then counter under the window on the right.

Two views of the Master Bedroom in stunning white primer. You can see the doorway to the hall and master bathroom below.

Cheers!

2008-06-20T22:22:00.004-05:00

You may remember from May, that when the wall came down in the middle bedroom, an (empty) whiskey bottle was found next to the chimney. We decided to replace it with a full one and a note for the next person who opens up that wall. We all signed the note with our names, explaining why it was there.

Our "time capsule" ready to be sealed in - for who knows how long. Another 95 years?

The Padded Room

2008-06-20T22:09:00.003-05:00

Framing inspection passed earlier this week, then the insulation and moisture barrier went up. Now it looks like we are inside a marshmallow! The insulation was inspected as well and passed. Sheetrock starts tomorrow.

The old and new kitchen wall. The old part got the yellow insulation, while the new part got the white insulation. No one is really sure why...

The backyard kitchen wall - ready for sheetrock.

And this is?

2008-06-20T22:01:00.004-05:00

Have you guessed yet?

It's the plumbing in the shower in the master bath. The oval on the left is the control, the hand held shower is above, and the 3 body jets are down the middle. The tubing needs to be the same length so the water pressure is balanced. Did you guess right?

Old Roof, Meet New Roof

2008-06-12T22:45:00.007-05:00

A lot has happened in a week - we have windows for a start. And the roof finally was finished inbetween rainstorms. No leaks! And we have one other addition on the exterior...

After 95 years, the old roof had a bit of sagging around the edges (well, we all do as we get older). Of course, the young, new roof was perky and straight. After trying several ways to get the old and new to align, Brad fashioned some cedar brackets to support the old roof where it joins the new roof. Here are pictures of the two sides of the house where the roofs join. A matching set was made for the front for balance.

Roughing and Stuffing it all in

2008-06-12T22:28:00.007-05:00

Looking up into the kitchen ceiling, you can see plumbing, lights, and heating all being jammed in. The walls are getting full. Inspections have been happing this week on all the "infrastructure" areas. And lots of detailed decisions - such as the exact placement of the doorbell. (Yes, it does matter!) And the occasional "hmmm..." as we find out something isn't going to fit where we had planned (like the medicine cabinet). Somehow, all those deadlines for ordering crept up on me and it's time to get the tile, cabinets, lights, and everything else. Yikes - I've had to scramble this week!

I have lots more photos of framing in various stages of plumbing, electrical and HVAC installation. I won't bore you with them. This is a nice picture of the master bedroom window looking out on the back yard. Ah, serenity.

65 Percent

2008-06-03T22:27:00.004-05:00

Here's something very cool! Zoe told us today that Atomic Waste has managed to recycle 65% of our construction debris. That is almost 8 tons (that's an American ton or 2,000 pounds, which I have just found out is less than a British ton or 2240 pounds, and different than a metric tonne or 2204 pounds or 1000 Kg - you can guess who provided that information). Wow! No matter how you weigh it, that is a lot. Sorry, no picture available!

Come On In

2008-06-03T21:38:00.012-05:00

While things have slowed down a bit on the outside due to the weather, let's take a look at what's happened inside. While we've been focused on getting a roof back on, the framing on the inside is done! The windows have also arrived. Here's the view out the new back doorway from the mudroom complete with a smiling framing guy. (AJ is about to ask if he can visit the portapotty again.)

We have 3 pocket doors in our remodel plan to save space - upstairs master bedroom closet, downstairs half bath, and between the mudroom and kitchen. Here is the framing and (pretty cool) pre-assembled "pocket" for the one in the mudroom.

Remember the view into the backyard from the upstairs hallway? This is the view today. You are looking through the doorway into the master bedroom, through the closet, The rectangle in the outside wall frame is the window in the closet. Bedroom to the left, bathroom is to the right.

New floor meets old floor. Looking up from the kitchen, you can see the old floor joists (near view, more roughly planed) and the new floor joists on the other side of the Really Big Beam (right side of the picture). While it's all exposed, Brad worked on the old subfloor and joists to remove any "squeakiness".

True Blue Electric has begun roughing-in the wiring. We've been talking switches, light fixtures, and who gets to control what on their side of the bed. After living in an old house for so long, the thought of having power outlets and switches where you actually need them is terribly exciting. As is the prospect of adequate circuts and circuit breakers - good bye searching for the right replacement fuse by flashlight!

The view up into the new rafters.

Here's a shot of the Big Header Beam now in the exterior wall of the middle bedroom supporting the new roof joists. There is a similar one on the other side.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2008-06-03T21:00:00.004-05:00

We want to finish the roof today! The weather has not been cooperating, so work has been going on inside while we wait for dry skys to finish the roofing. Here you can see where the old and new roofs join.

Plastic will have to do until we can get the shingles on!

A home-made "drip shield" inside on the rafters under where the roof lines join. The plastic on the outside has been doing it's job, so they have not been overly stressed even with all the storms we have been having.

Just in time for the rain

2008-05-29T21:19:00.001-05:00

We have a roof again! This was the view Thursday morning.

Give it a few more days

2008-05-28T22:00:00.004-05:00

And we have a second floor and a master bedroom/bath framed up by Tuesday evening (following Memorial Day). Roof trusses in, but no roof yet, but Steve saw it the next day, and it was there.

Two days later, a main floor

2008-05-28T21:37:00.010-05:00

The previous pictures were from the end of the day on Tuesday, these are from the following Thursday afternoon. We have a new mainfloor framed (kitchen, mudroom and half-bath), and the floor is going in for the second storey. Yes, that is our new entry to the mudroom.

Here was something unanticipated... looks like plain old dirt and rocks you'd find in the yard, right? Well, it was in our walls between the main floor rim joists and the exterior cladding. While it's good insulation, it's bad for moisture protection. They were able to remove it from the areas being remodeled. Haven't got a strategy yet for the rest of the house. What were they thinking 95 years ago?

Chirstopher and AJ trying to stay out of trouble when touring the construction. They like looking at the parts of the house that haven't changed - I think it's reassuring to all of us at times!

This is the back of the dining room buffet. You can see the exterior of the "cabinet" on the left. The rest was part of the exterior wall shielding it. This will be the wall you see when coming into mudroom. New floor joists for the master bedroom are above it.

Here's the new kitchen wall facing the backyard. Window on the right is over the counter, window on the left is over the booth/dinette. Above is the existing bedroom floor!

Supports inside the middle bedroom holding up the roof before The Big Roof Truss goes in.

Razing the Roof

2008-05-20T23:16:00.009-05:00

Now this is serious demo! Not for the faint of heart. Thanks to Brad from White Crane for the photos. In one (fortunately nice) day, the roof came off the back of the house. We are on our third dumpster. A new roof truss will be going across the house (side to side) where you can see the supports in the middle bedroom. That bit sticking out in the middle is the upstairs hallway (see the next photo).

Another shot from Brad. This is the upstairs hallway, looking into what was the back bedroom. What a view! The new roof truss is going across here.

All covered up for the night.

Another shot of the Big Blue Tarp.

Two Weeks In

2008-05-19T21:45:00.010-05:00

Even "less" to see inside this week! Everything (2 out of 3 bedrooms, both baths, and kitchen) is stripped to the studs and the electrical and old plumbing has been pulled out. In the basement, they are getting ready to put in a new support (that's the hole in the floor AJ is pointing too).

The foundation has been opened up into the to-be mudroom crawlspace. See the next photo for the exterior view.

AJ in front of the mudroom foundation. The supports for the back steps and porch also went in this week. That "bump" in the exterior wall is the back of the dining room buffet, which will become an interior wall in the mudroom.

Here's the temporary power pole in the backyard. There was no power or water to the house this week. Whoops, we forgot to finish clearing out the freezer in the basement. Yuck.

An interesting "co- incidence": whenever our boys visit the house, they need to go to the bathroom, even if they just went before we arrived. I wonder when (if) the novelty will wear off?

A Booth for the Kitchen

2008-05-19T21:32:00.002-05:00

Here is the very cool booth Michal Crosby found for us at Architectural Antiques. Steve is thinking how nice it will be to sit in it with a cuppa and the newspaper. While we are not purchasing the milkcrates of tiles, it does show that the table is in good structural shape.

It's the right vintage for our house, and with a little clean up (there are several coats of paint) will be just great. At 5 feet long by 6 feet wide (at the most), it is narrower than the space we had planned, so we met with Zoe and Brad on Friday and moved the mudroom wall over by 6 inches (mudroom gained, kitchen lost) and shoved over the fridge and added about 6 more inches of counter and cabinet. Just in time, because framing is about to start next week!

One Week Later

2008-05-11T20:43:00.012-05:00

It's time for our first official walkthrough. Here's Christopher standing by the sign out front.

I was very impressed with the schedule board!

Cardboard insulation (not original) inside unused space in the middle bedroom.

Brad and Steve admiring the attic through the middle bedroom ceiling studs.

And the treasure behind the walls? An old wiskey bottle. Empty unfortunately.

The Upstairs bath before...

And after demo! Tub was on the left, sink was on the right.

Remember the downstairs half-bath? This tile was down about 15 mintues after I took this picture.

And the walls came tumbling down

2008-05-08T22:51:00.007-05:00

There were just too many possible captions for this photo. You'll have to write your own...

The kitchen sink is still standing.

Where the refrigerator was....

A view of the attic through the (absent) middle bedroom ceiling.

The old "knob and tube" wiring is still there (but not for long).

And They Are Off!

2008-05-05T21:32:00.006-05:00

It's Day One! And some of us are very excited (others, less so). White Crane Construction is on the job. Inside it's zipwalls and site protection. Outside it's dirty. Marv arrived and is digging the hole for the mudroom foundation/ crawlspace.

A closer look at the hole for the mudroom foundation. No buried treasure.

We've got a dumpster! Atomic Waste recycles too. What should go in first? It's so hard to choose. We should have a ceremonial "first toss".

We Are Out!

2008-05-05T21:26:00.005-05:00

I am sure we are not the only ones who have said "Hey, when you get all this junk out of here, there's actually a lot of space!". We moved ourselves to the rental house a week ago (it snowed, ugg) and finished clearing out the back of the house this past weekend. Here are a few photos of the kitchen in it's last hours.

First Blood

2008-05-05T21:20:00.004-05:00

First blood was drawn by the remodellers at the end of April - they had a peek under the siding and in the kitchen ceiling.

Checking to see what, if anything, significant is in that soffit (there isn't, so it's going away). I will miss the 50s beehive light. It's the only remaining fixture from the house when we bought it 18 years ago.

The rest of the house

2008-04-21T21:17:00.000-05:00

One of the objectives of the remodel is to get the kitchen and bathrooms to better match the original Arts & Crafts style of our 1913 home - you can guess the age of the previous remodel. Here are a couple of photos of the living room and dining room. Obviously not taken for a magazine photo shoot (more like a TV reality show on living with boys).

Our new (short term) cosy home

2008-04-20T22:26:00.000-05:00

Since our house will be without electric and water for periods of time, and frankly, they will get it done faster without us around, we are moving out. We are renting a little house about 2 miles away. Here is our cosy home away from home. The boys get the expansion attic space for beds and toys. Steve has a small office in the back bedroom/den. We are right next door to a convenience store for Steve's late-night trips for chocolate milk. AJ "helping" to move the bookcase. A perfect fit.

So what's the plan like?

2008-04-20T22:08:00.000-05:00

Here is the back of the house today...

... and if you can imagine it... The new entrance to the mudroom is where the current corner garden is. Two new windows in the kitchen downstairs facing the backyard. The back porch becomes part of the kitchen. Upstairs, from left to right are widows in the master bath, master closet, and bedroom. The plan adds about 80 sq ft to the foundation.

This would be the view from our "northern neighbors". The lower window is same current kitchen window, and the one above is in the master bath.

View of plan from the South (the duplex next door). The current bay window is our dining room. The lower floor small window will be in the new mudroom, the upper two windows are in our bedroom.

Starting Postions - Upstairs

2008-04-12T21:45:00.000-05:00

The middle bedroom, currently Christopher's. The slope in the wall is going to straighten out due to the roof line change. That's about it in this room.

This is the back bedroom, currently AJ's room. This will expand in all directions to become a Master bedroom, bath and closet. The floor and one wall will stay (well, most of it).

I will be very happy to get this upstairs bath redone! There is very little storage - everything is in the linen closet. The window will stay, but the sashes and trim will be replaced.

The sloping ceiling will straighten out and we have a clawfoot tub to be refinished and put in. We'll get the shower ring for it too.

Starting Positions - Main Floor

2008-04-09T21:12:00.000-05:00

The main floor half bath. Depending on your height, you either hit your head or your hip on the sink. We will get a pocket door here and a smaller sink.

This is my favorite of late - the hallway to the front of the house with the refrigerator blocking part of it. If the fridge door is open, you need to go through the dining room to get up the stairs. The half bath is behind the stove. Needless to say, the new fridge will be in a different location.

Current backdoor (also our "family organizer" as you can see by the items taped to it) with the boys coat closet and shoe storage next to the microwave. The back porch (behind the door) will become part of the new kitchen.

Here's the current "breakfast nook" in the kitchen. The new mudroom door will be to the left of the left window.

And here is our

expansive current kitchen "workspace". See all our counter? It's there, you just have to look hard. The window will stay and the sink will be in the same place. Minnebou is wondering where her treat is.

Hello World

2008-04-09T21:06:00.000-05:00

OK, we're trying this out to see if it will work to share photos and notes from our house remodel in the spring/summer (hopefully not fall) of 2008.