The Fixer Upper House and Garden

The Fixer Upper Garden

One of the things that really motivated me to buy T.F.U.H. 20 months ago was that it needs a total landscaping overhaul, and I really love to toil in the garden. My green thumb is going to come in handy, because the front evergreens are so dense and overgrown that five children can simultaneously lay on top of them without even bending the branches. The side garden is a barren mudslick and the backyard is so bereft of plants it looks as if a bomb went off. The property endured decades of benign neglect from the P.O.s and nine months of cataclysmic assaults from us: The demolition of the old addition, the digging of a new basement, the building of a new addition and the installation of a storm drain all have detonated the property. There's nothing left but rocks, scrappy trees and hard, clay soil...I can hardly wait to get started!

This is the future bluestone patio:

The Gambrel Roof

Here are before-and-after shots of the gambrel roofed addition.

Before:

After:

 

Photos Of ...

The floors looked spectacular for the 15 minutes that I saw them last week. The next day, GC taped a sign on the front door that said "Remove Shoes: Floors Just Refinished." This prompted the painters to tape heavy craft paper over the floors, so they could keep wearing their boots. This is good for the feet, good for the floors and good for the olefactory system.

Here are several photos of the work that's been going on recently. Great thought, care and effort went into every one of these projects by all involved--and not a little bit of agonizing!

The kitchen is shrouded in plastic:

Painting the bricks lightened up the kitchen a lot--the wall was once the exterior of the house. After we built the addition, Miguel had the idea to place HVAC ducts on both sides of the stained-glass window, creating a little desk-niche.

Here's what the refinished floors look like...under cover:

White snow, blue sky, new addition:

 

Before the recent spring snow storm, Nawkaw came out to stain the new bricks. I think they look good but Husband says "there's not enough red." Oh well.

The mudroom is multi-functional, including cubbies, a coat closest, nooks for dog beds and lots of shelves for stuff (opposite the cubbies). The Dutch door will come in handy when muddy paws need to be contained. To maximize light in the kitchen, we decided to not use the top half of the door.

This next photo shows what happens when you trim Motawi tiles. I will post about this in detail later, but if you're considering using hand-glazed tiles, just know you can't trim the field tiles that have variations in shading. Instead of trimming them to fit, you can order custom-sizes from Motwawi for just $4 more per tile:

The "Shaker Beige" paint on these plaster walls frames the old door and windows:

No matter what's going on in life, you still need to walk the dogs ...

 

... And dance!

On To The Next Thing: The Fireplace Surround

I am coping with the shock of the half-inch overhang fairly well today. Pushing up the leg posts is going to be an ordeal, given that they are nailed to the new floor, so we are going to fill the gaps with a strip of wood that's flush with the leg posts. This is different from placing scribes over the gaps, an earlier suggestion that left me colder than the ice on my front stoop because the scribes would stick all the way out to the edge of the overhang.

Enough about that.

Now it's time to focus on the fireplace surround. The lovely hand-glazed Motawi tiles arrived yesterday, so this morning I had another pow-wow with Bert and Miguel to go over the order. I think everyone was worried about one thing or another---that the tiles wouldn't fit within the just-built mantel, or that we wouldn't have enough pieces, or that Leon the installer wouldn't know what to do with them. Fortunately, our worst fears have not materialized and things are working out fine. Here are some pictures of the morning's progress.

Miguel examines options for the tile pattern beneath the soapstone hearth:

Here's Leon, the tile installer, making some suggestions:

As of about noon today, a work in progress. Leon was very busy!

A corner detail emerges. The photo really doesn't do that soapstone slab justice. It's black with a lot of green swirling around. Very cool:

Floored!

Yesterday was one of those dreary, wet and muggy days that make me wonder why anyone would chose to live where I'm living. I went to the gutterless house in the morning, fearful the melting icicles and slush had seeped into the new basement overnight...they had not! The house was drier than the Arizona desert, and just as dusty. The floor guys were already at work sawing and buzzing, and they made great progress. Here are some shots of the house as of today, Wednesday:

One view:

View from another angle:

And another view:

The Shoe Dilemma

Thank goodness the holidays are behind us, the vacation is over and tomorrow we return to our blessed routine. Call me boring, I don't care. I love a good routine.

I also love a good domestic dilemma, and I face a small but important one for the mudrooom: should we have built-in shoe cubbies...or should we store our shoes in baskets?

Miguel's drawing at left shows one wall of the mudroom. I could have the carpenter build partitions for shoes beneath the "lockers" and bench, which will look tidy but fit only about 3 pairs of shoes each. Alternatively, each shelf area could hold a wicker basket that would hold several pairs of shoes, depending on how big the kids'  feet get...

Another plan, favored by Husband, is to limit each child to storing 2 pairs of "in-season" shoes in the mudroom, with the "off-season" shoes kept "off-site, such as in the basement or bedrooms. I'm not sure how the kids would decide which "2 shoes" to keep in circulation, but I can imagine some interesting getting-ready scenarios. For example:

Me: "Time for church!"

T: "I can't find my church shoes!"

Me: "Check the mudroom!"

T: "I'm past my 2-shoe limit!"

OR....

Me: "It's summer at last! Let's go to the beach!"

M: "Anyone know where my Crocs are?"

Me: "Check the mudroom!"

M: "But it's off-season!"

OR....

Me: "C, it's time for Irish Dance class!"

C: "Where are my hard shoes?"

Me: "Don't you keep them in the mudroom?"

C: "Dad won't let me!"

......................... 

Now that I think about it...dumping multiple shoes in baskets is probably the best idea!

                                                

While We Were Away ...

While we were away, GC and the subs were very busy. What fun it was to come back to a house with walls! Here's the 2nd floor "window nook:"

Behold, the fireplace wall:

A view down a hallway (please forgive the vertical nature of this photo!):

Happy Holidays

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FIXER UPPER HOUSE!

To the readers of this blog at this holy time of year: Thank you for sharing the highs and lows of renovation with me. Thank you for reading and listening and sharing your opinions. Thank you for praying for my loved ones who have been ill or unfortunate. Thank you for sending positive vibes my way. A year ago, I didn't know  beans about blogging. Now, I don't know how I would have survived this year with out it! Whatever your beliefs or rituals this time of year...I wish you all the very best.

Nooks and Cronies

The stucco is up; the kitchen nook looks great...but the brick is ugly.

From the side:

From the back:

In the kitchen:

One of these things is not like the other. Unless you're colorblind or reading this blog on a b&w computer, you'll notice the new bricks don't match the old bricks. We knew the pallette we picked out wasn't going to be a perfect match, but this isn't even close: There's more orange here than in a pumpkin patch. At GC's suggestion, we've hired NawKaw (www.nawkaw.com) to stain the new bricks to match the old ones (cha ching!). A nice young man from Naukaw came by this ffffrrrrreeeeezzzing morning to get started, but it was too cold to get much done. I'll report more on this as the events unfold.

Upgrade Vs. Uptick

What is it they say about the renovation budget? That you should be prepared to spend 10% more than you initially planned? Or is it 20%? Could it be 30%? 50%? So much comes up when the walls are in shreds that it's hard for me to remember where the budget once began and ended (rest assured that Husband has not forgotten where the budget ends!) Today's dilemma is the location of two enormous down drafts in the eating area of the kitchen.

Roger-the-HVAC-guy installed these after exploring other options, none of which worked, with the end result being that there are two enormous hvac returns flanking the kitchen table in what is otherwise a most peaceful, elegantbuthomey space. Miguel, our architect, doesn't like the look of these enormous hvac returns, and so he's suggesting that we relocate the north return so that the two drafts flank a small stained glass window, creating a desk-niche area. It's a clever idea, and we could use a little desk/niche area to organize those never-ending school notices, forms and bills. But one cannot relocate a roughed-in HVAC return without incurring some rough expenses. And therein lies the renovator's challenge: When is an upgrade worth the uptick?

Below is Miguel's drawing for the desk/niche area. I have to examine this more closely when I'm in the house later today.