Progress

One bright light in this remodel has been our electrician. Dennis is absolutely wonderful; he's tidy, good tempered, patient, timely, non-smoking, and he has a good sense of aesthetics. He really thinks through the best function and appearance of every light switch, outlet, and lighting fixture. And he doesn't even fuss when I have him undo or change something!

We're having the entire upstairs rewired (or perhaps I should say wired, as there really isn't any "re" about it), as there was only one outlet and one wall switch for all three rooms and the hallway up there! Now, I have switches on every light, one or more outlets on every wall, GFCI plugs in the bathroom, sconce lights over the bed, service lights and plugs near all the mechanical systems, heavy duty junction boxes for ceilings fans on the deep front porch, hardwired interconnected smoke detectors, properly sized breakers, and a neatly labeled electrical panel. He also built the nifty little access door and service platform to the attic because I didn't trust the framers to cut into my almost-90-year-old wooden walls and get it right.

Thankful

One of the many reasons I love Thanksgiving so much is because it's the only time of year you can buy fresh cranberries in the store. Even as a picky eater in childhood, I have always loved cranberry sauce. The whole berry canned variety will do in a pinch, but my mom spoiled us with homemade and it is that which I truly prefer. A homemade batch is my yearly contribution to the Evans' family Thanksgiving table. I always make a double or triple batch so we can enjoy it before, during, and after the holiday!

It's basically the staple recipe on the bag of cranberries, with lots of my own variation. I substitute orange juice for half of the liquid, and I simmer cinnamon sticks, allspice, and cloves to infuse the water for the other half. I often stir in a tablespoon or so of brandy just after boiling the berries, too.

One of Jeff's favorite meals: tender turkeyloaf with pineapple glaze, candied sweet potatoes, spiced cranberry sauce, and a green veggie for good measure & pretty color!

Great Blue Heron

We've had a large avian visitor several days in a row now. He (or perhaps she) lands in the large expanse of side yard we idealistically call the West Meadow (I hope to plant a field of wildflowers there one of these days). He's quite gorgeous, and he just sits there or walks slowly through the tall grass. Once, I saw him stretch low and then swoop quickly at something, so we wonder if he's hunting. He's welcome to some of the mice around here!

To date...

It doesn't look like much yet, but here are the requested photos of the bathroom. The framing went up weeks ago, but all the effort so far has been in the little and hidden things, like the HVAC vent, electrical, plumbing rough ins, etc.

View from outside

View from bathroom doorway

View of future shower (on the left) and toilet (on the right)

View of vanity wall

Small Town Parade

Sunday was Veteran's Day, and our small town celebrated with a first ever local parade and dedication of the new county veteran's memorial. The parade lined up just down the block from us, so we could see the activity coalescing for about an hour while we worked on some painting and caulking out on the back roof. Then we got ourselves down and cleaned up and headed over to watch the festivities.

After the parade passed, we walked over to Veteran's Park and looked at the beautiful new granite memorial and statue. There was a very nice presentation with color guard, singing, presentations, and addresses. All in all, a very nice way to spend a gorgeous fall afternoon in our little town.









 

Bathroom Update

The bathroom is coming along. We have developed a plan to make a regular door and jamb work, so the pocketdoor problem has gone away (though the plan is not implemented yet, so there is still plenty of time for things to go awry). The room is fully dried in, as evidenced by several rains and no late night trips for the drip pan. So that's good news.

Now it's just constant decision-making. How many sconce lights? What height for the chandelier? Which lights on which switch? How far from the sidewall to place the toilet? What distance off the vanity for the outlets? Shower drain in the center or to the front? Center plumbing based on pan curb or not? Decorative tile accents or no? Bullnose wrapping the wall end, or just sheetrock? How large for the shower niches? Separate handshower or incorporated showerhead? 30" or 32" entrance door? Bath fan vented to the right or the left? HVAC duct turned horizontal or vertical? What size crown molding? Window casing mitered or built up with stool and apron?

It never ends, and I feel rather incapable of the task at times. I am a very visual person, and I have to mock things up. The problem is, I often have to make decisions now for something that is coming later. For example, the plumbers are coming tomorrow to rough in all the drains and supply lines. So I have to know where the tub is going. But since it's centered just in front of the window, I have to decide now about trim to know how much space to leave. That's just a tiny example, but it's the one I'm dealing with right now. Or will be as soon as I finish this post and get back to work!

Weekend Work

Jeff and I enjoyed a fairly laid-back weekend. We had a church chili supper Saturday evening and didn't get home until very late, so the extra hour we gained was spent in much needed sleep. But then we got busy.

I finally found time this week to put the final coats of Waterlox on the floors, so this weekend we moved a few furniture pieces back in. Until the finish has really cured, we don't dare bring the antique piano or a couple of the heavier items in, but just having the rooms straightened up a bit has helped the rest of the house not feel so disordered.

Dining room floors before

Dining room after refinishing

Before view in living room

After

Our other project was hanging the living room ceiling fan. Jeff prefers ceiling fans and I like attractive fixtures, so we were excited to find a version we both love.

Unattractive (but functional) fan

Stained glass Craftsman style fan

Potty Problems

I really want to keep perspective. My new bathroom is too small. Okay, it's smaller than I wanted. Truthfully, it's a decent size bath; I've had bedrooms that were smaller! It's really just the proportions that are off. The framers made it wider and shorter than it was designed to be (partly because of a legitimate concern and partly because of mis-communication from the contractor to the framers). But then it was badly compounded by the fact that no one told us, and we had to find out days later on our own when we were measuring the room. It's not the square footage loss that is the real problem, it's the fixture placement and layout. I very carefully designed the room for maximum function and aesthetics and already purchased key items, and now that's all been thrown for a loop.

Since it was already done and our contract said it couldn't be changed, we settled on a pocket door to save space and allow us to use the vanities I already bought. I had to go get the framing kit myself from a distant lumberyard (a multi-hour ordeal) because they needed it that morning. Then the framer, who knew we were using an original, vintage door from the house, never measured the height of said door (which is very non-standard, as you can imagine), and now the header and pocket framing are installed three inches too high. I can't swap it for another door that is standard height because the opening and cavity were framed for my specific door width. And the framing kit is fragile-looking to begin with, so we don't know if it will survive them tearing it out and cutting it down and re-installing it. 

We really don't trust the framer to do anything more with the door at this point. We wouldn't even need a pocket door if the room were the right size! As the saying goes: good, fast, cheap; pick two. Well, I think we only got one of those (if you don't know which one, just look back at the title of the last week's post)!

 I try to remember that at the end of all this, we will have a bathroom with shower, tub, and sinks. I just hope it has a door!

Momma needs a new hammer!

Jeff and I spent some time salvaging the lumber from our old roof. It is great quality, old growth true 2x4s (which means it really measures two inches by four inches, not one-and-a-half by three-and-a-half). We don't have a specific plan for it, but we hated to see it thrown away. But it meant we had to knock the boards apart and pull out some pretty hearty nails. That is when I lost my head!

My hammerhead, that is. Jeff always called this my "lady hammer", as it's a rather lightweight, slim handled hammer. It was sometimes too slight for the job, but it usually performed household tasks well. Now I guess I'll be on the hunt for a new model.

In addition to losing my head, I lost a foot as well. Not a limb, of course. But it almost feels that way. We discovered this morning that our new addition is one foot too short! That's a full twelve inches! For those who have ever constructed or remodeled anything, you'll know how significant this is, especially in a small-to-medium sized room. In our case, it dramatically affects our floor plan. We'll be talking to the contractor and the framers tomorrow, but I have a feeling that what's done is done.

Famously Fast Framers

Our bathroom has begun! The framers arrived Thursday and started cutting, pounding, and building. They were creating the flooring system of beams and joists that would carry the walls and roof, so they just worked in the existing attic.

Imagine my surprise when I went out mid-afternoon to check on the chickens and looked up to see a tidy rectangle cut out of my old roof! I had no idea they were that fast. By the end of that first day, they had the exterior walls framed and standing like a railing for giants around a look-out deck.

Thursday morning:

Thursday evening:

 
Today is only the second day, but they're telling me they'll have the roof, shingles, siding, windows, and trim in. It's only four hours until sunset (and there is a small chance of rain tomorrow), so as long as it's reasonably dried in, we should be good.

Now I'm starting to panic about plumbing fixtures, lighting, tile, etc. I thought I had weeks to make decisions, but they may start asking me for rough-in info in a matter of days!

Oh, and on top of that, I'm still in the middle of refinishing the downstairs floors. Here is the before:

And after sanding:

I have since managed to get two coats of finish on the floors, but now I'm stuck. I really need uninterrupted time to work on them, but with the contractor and tradesmen coming and going and needing answers and decisions, I can't really dedicate the hours to it. And there is a lot of dust in the air; not something I want with wet, tacky flooring exposed.

So in the meantime, living room and dining room furniture is spread all over the house and porch, construction debris litters the yard, and, oh, I forgot to mention, we had a wiring incident in the midst of yesterday's "deconstruction" and our overhead lights are all out. Thankfully we have lamps. Which makes the clutter around the house less noticeable. I think that's a good thing.

The Best Of...

Here are just a few highlights of our trip to Israel and Jordan. I've realized we are sometimes rather indiscriminate about taking pictures, and also that context is key. Otherwise, half of the major landmarks and historical locations in the Middle East just look like brownish rocks!

On the Mount of Olives

At Caesarea

Really, this sign was on a stall in the marketplace in Jerusalem! We have no idea what they were selling.

I'll give you one guess where this was taken!

Find the slideshow with titles and descriptions here. I promise, it's not overly long and I tried to make it not too boring!

We're Back!

We had a wonderful trip to Israel and Jordan. All things considered, it was a very smooth, enjoyable, and educational trip. I have lots of photos to sort and label, but I'll try to get some posts up soon. In the meantime, I'm washing, drying, ironing, folding, hanging, mowing, weeding, and just plain getting back in the swing of things.

Life did not stop while we were gone. Our young chickens started laying and we came home to several egg cartons full of "hen fruit". Our closing date for the delayed refinance is only a few days away (taking advantage of 3% interest, hurray)!, the electrician is coming tomorrow to start detangling the mess that is our upstairs wiring, the floor sanding guy will arrive next Monday (whether we have the furniture out or not!), and the bathroom contractors will start demolition in less than a week and a half away. I'd like a pause button on life some days, but it just keeps roaring ahead!

Taking Wing

It's been so hectic lately, I haven't had a chance to post about our travel plans. We are already on our way, winging toward Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel for almost a week and a half, followed by a few short days touring Jordan. We have a layover in Rome, but sadly it will be at the airport only. It seems a cry shame to be traveling through such a beautiful city and not be able to take advantage of it, but we didn't want to be greedy or overextend ourselves. So we will be content with a small (and secure) portion of the Middle East!

Fall

Jeff captured this image of the migrating geese from our backyard. We hear and see fly-overs several times a day now, so it definitely feels like autumn.

Hoarding

I'm starting to feel like a little squirrel storing up for winter. We hope, optimistically, to begin our bathroom addition in October or November. It may not happen then, but I've already started buying up fixtures and scoping out deals in preparation. It's all at super great prices, so I can always resell items for at least what I paid if the project falls through or I change my mind. And we are blessed with the large shop building, so storage isn't a problem.

I've already bought...

two undermount sinks from discontinued store displays (had to go to two different Lowes to get them!):

two (almost new) matching Delta sink faucets from eBay:

three windows from Craigslist:

a combo bath fan/light on clearance at Home Depot:

two furniture style vanities on close-out at our JCPenney Outlet store:

and the pièce de résistance, an antique 1920's clawfoot tub from the flea market:

I still need a shower faucet set, the toilet, my tile for the custom shower, a small chandelier for over the clawfoot tub, and flooring; but that's not bad for a head start!