One year ago...

I was moving in to the house. A terrifying prospect really, since in the two weeks preceding the move, I had (with assistance of course) ripped out the kitchen, a disturbing half bath, redone the existing bath, painted most everything that stayed still, cleaned what could be cleaned, had cable installed, and then brought all of my belongings to this rough shell of a place. Still needing to be done at that point were a laundry list of projects large and small (and ever growing), as well as the major issue of being without a kitchen. Flash forward a year, and the laundry list of projects is still there, but some of the smaller ones (and a few larger) have at least been somewhat tackled. There are now new windows in all of the rooms (OK, the north wall of the house needs to be reconfigured, so those windows are still original) the old windows mostly being reused by neighbors or donated to houses in Mexico, there are ceiling fans in the bedrooms, and they are quite lovely if I do say, new lighting in the hallway makes a huge difference as well. New doors on all of the rooms, the old doors gone to be reused elsewhere, the floating laminate flooring has been removed and sold (shocking really) and the current floors will be painted for the time being until the new floors can be installed throughout the house (the new ones will be cork). The yard has been cleared somewhat, and is a work in progress, but the picket fencing which divided the lower and upper yard has been put to use in other properties. The fireplace has a brand new look, the next projects for me are to trim the inside of the windows, and paint the floors. The next projects for me to contract out are the roof (super high priority) and the installation of a beautiful stained glass door in the office (after the roof - see picture). Additional changes which have been made to the plans? Well, the doors from the kitchen to the garden have replaced plans for the window which was going to be in that spot. Amazingly, I found the doors for both the kitchen and the office at an amazing local shop where they specialize in one of a kinds and recycled materials, and both doors have the same green glass, although the office door is far more architectural than the leaded doors for the kitchen. I also have scored three beautiful oak wine cabinets which will be redone as kitchen cabinets, and with the doors, they will be perfect for the space. They have had their initial clean up and scrub down, and I have started to price out what it will take for them to be a part of the new kitchen. I have also been working on a couple of pieces of furniture for the house, two pieces I have been lugging around with me for nearly ever, and one new piece which has served as the catalyst for getting them all done. I have another 'project piece' which will take a bit more planning, but it is currently in Siobhan's room (which doubles as the guest room when she is not here).

My parents came to visit and were incredibly supportive, although more than a little dismayed at the state of the house, they did joke that five gallons of gas would probably make substantial improvement, but helped to get a couple of trees down in the yard (eucalyptus, I will be putting in fruit trees in their place). Dad also moved the make-shift kitchen sink which made a double bonus, I have hot water and the line no longer leaks outside (this is actually HUGE). Mom and I refinished the teak set from Rick and Erica, and it looks incredible, although it is currently covered with a drop cloth as I am using it as a staging area for the refinishing of the furniture.

More changes to the original plans? Well, my neighbors (who are wonderful) Beth and D'Etta, have exposed beams in their house, and it makes a huge difference in the light and look of things, and I consulted with friends who think that it will be entirely doable and look great since my supports are actually more like a spiderweb than traditional straight lines. Which means that as part of the installation of the roof, I will have structural insulation added so that I can pull the ceilings out of all of the rooms except for the hallway and the bathrooms. The reason those will be left standing is so that the duct work can be installed for the HVAC (since it will be roof mounted). I have been collecting the prices for all of these little projects, as well as the plumbing, and I am actually coming in around where I thought that I would. I still have to figure out the electrical, but I am confident that I will be able to come in around the level I had hoped for that as well.

I have decided on bamboo fencing for the yard, and am toying with the idea of fencing the front as well so that I can have the dogs come out in the front with me and have privacy for the patio table and another possible patio area on the side, but that is still up in the air at this time.

It is helluva crazy tons of work, but I do love it. I will be trying to update more often...and add more pictures.

Time for an update...

OK, I just realized that it has been a bit since my last update (already slightly annoyed because I have started this post a couple of times, and lost the text while trying to post pictures; ANYWAY), and the fireplace is complete - grouted, sealed, and functioning. I love it. Fires at home (in the proper place) are an amazing treat. I have also had the front windows replaced, which is a HUGE undertaking (I did not attempt myself, this was definitely a job for the pros, and I did find a great one, kudos to Emil for sending Roberto my way). But on the same day that the windows happened, Oscar also came to join the family (sometimes it is easier to just get everything out of the way right away, and this was no exception)

here is the finished fireplace (yes, I will be adding trim, crown molding, and an oak mantle eventually, but this is where we are now...)

And introducing, Oscar...

Oscar and Vergil are doing very well, although many are astonished that Vergil could ever be thought of as 'the little dog' - Mom says that in a pict I sent of the two together that Vergil looks like a chihuahua...I am sure that she's exaggerating. They all make me really really happy. I do kind of wish that I had gotten a shot of Oscar and Gita (the chocolate point siamese) nose to nose, but they wouldn't hold the pose until I got the camera...will have to try for that again. Pema, Gita's sister wants little to nothing to do with Oscar, although she has acquiesed to coming out of my room and making appearances with him in the house.

Less exciting in pictures, but really thrilling in person, the windows are in, and they all open, have screens, and already make a huge difference in heat transfer. Perhaps picts of those later.

Short days, long nights

In preparation for the first winter in my new to me home, I have been trying to finish a few of the inside projects to keep me warm and snug in the chill of the cold (not that it really gets all that cold here in Southern California, but still, I could see my breath the other night, so that counts for something). I picked the fireplace as a great place to get started, not because the fireplace wouldn't work without making it prettier, but because if I have to look at it, and it really is one of the first things to see upon entering the house, I want it to be done, and it is one of the projects I could do myself.

I found some really beautiful slate and I love the idea of slate tiles to the ceiling (which changes the whole look of the livingroom since it was previously only half way up the wall). One oddity was that the slate I found was 16x16, and that was really too big to look right in the small space, so I cut all of the slate down to 8x8 which made it far more reasonable to work with as well as far more interesting. Attached are the pictures from before (way, way before - when I was waiting to close on the house) and one of after the tile is up, but before the grout goes in...that will be this weekend. I do love my fireplace.

Refresh the beginning

It has been a while (months even) since I have entered anything onto the blog, and it is time again to get started.

I have moved into the house, and it's kind of like camping. I have made some progress in several areas, and need to make more progress in other areas. I have no kitchen. The dining room furniture is temporarily housed in the guest room, which is also a semi-functioning guest room, so amusing without a doubt. The turtles have been moved out into their pond, the living room is coming along, currently the slate tiles are spread out all over the floor to create the pattern for their installation. The bathroom is functional, although the more I inhabit the house, the more I see changes I want to make in even the one room which was somewhat thrown together prior to my moving in, and the problems which are glaringly apparent from even the bit of work completed prior to the move in now make me laugh.

I am going it somewhat on my own, although I do need assistance for things like hanging the ceiling fans (they are too heavy to hold up and attach at the same time). I love my house, and the more time I spend here, the more I see in the potential here.

I had a funny incident when I attempted to buy the roofing supplies to replace the existing roof. There is a logic here, I promise. My intention with the house is to make it a renovation using high efficiency pieces parts, and recycling as much as possible in the process, as well as using some recycled parts. So I did a bunch of reading on different types of roofing materials for the replacement of the roof. I am somewhat lucky in that the roof has a very low pitch (3-12) and there are several options from which to choose. I finally decided on solar reflective shingles, located a local distributor, and moved on from there. I consulted with the contractor who will be doing the actual labor (sorry, there are some pictures I do not need to have in my head, and the 'oh shit' of me falling off of the roof in some fractured accidental grace is not one of them). I called the distributor, got some pricing comparisons, and found that the initial outlay seems to be overwhelming, however the end result when comparing to traditional shingle is under 300 dollars after the tax refund, and then the electric bill compensation makes it gravy.

So I go into the distributor to order the shingles, and it doesn't go well from the start. The guys behind the counter tell me that none of them remember talking to me, and they are the ones who would have talked to me. They look through their printed pile of quotes, lo and behold, there I am. Next? Why do I want to use these shingles? Who said that I have to do it? Who advised me on this? Then the run around for a bit - the ones I had actually picked out are on back order until after the new year, and there is another company who has some that they are coming out with, but the old colours are on back order, and the new colours are available immediately, but they don't have samples of the new ones.

Big deep breath.

OK, I tell the guy that I don't really care about the colour, the pitch of the roof makes it negligible as the only place you would see it is from an airplane (although my mother did point out that hot pink would make an interesting choice at that point). Then the guy starts to tell me that he has been in the roofing business for over 26 years, (have you noticed that NO conversation which is going to go to anyplace good starts in this way?) and no matter what claims they make about protective coatings or reflective anything in these shingles, the roof is still going to get hot, and I need to make sure that the insulation in the attic is sufficient, and...and...and...

I interrupted him at this point and told him to ask me what kind of roof I have now.

When I told him that I currently have hot mop and gravel, he laughed. My job was done, the goal was to get him to see things from my perspective a bit, and I did. I even made him laugh to boot.

Downside, the sales guy from the manufacturer never came in with the shingles, they never called me back, I can not seem to get the roofing materials. I will have to employ my other lessons that I am learning with this renovation, and be flexible enough to move on to other areas.

More later with pictures. And in a more timely manner this time.

The starter bell rings...

Closed. Finally. Really thought that "maybe next week" was going to be the mantra forever. Instead, I actually did close just in time to have the Memorial Day weekend start the demolition of the kitchen and bathroom, the redo of the existing bath (tiling and putting in a new vanity) and getting the yard cleaned up.

I took a day off from work, went in and surveyed some of the wreckage, there was a lovely piece of panel used in the living room against the fireplace (I do hope that you could see the sarcasm in the term 'lovely') and once the panel was gone (and the mantle piece too) there was big black MOLD behind the fireplace. Well color ME happy. Going to need some bleach - not the ideal in my world, but trying to be open minded here. I prefer non-toxic cleaners, but I also prefer non-toxic 'stuff' in the house.

Today, there are reinforcements coming to assist, and life will be good. Two weeks to start moving in, and things are looking a bit daunting.

Additionally, on further inspection of the supports in the ceiling, there are going to have to be some redesign points in the kitchen. Either that, or that brass stripper pole coming down into the dining room that I joked about will be a reality. Not tempting, but possible.

Fabulous news is that I did manage to get two beautiful vessel sinks for $100.00 on Craigslist, a lovely granite vanity top (already cut for a vessel sink) and possibly all kitchen appliances from a woman who is redoing her kitchen in stainless steel so is selling her relatively new black appliances for very low rates. I do love a bargain. I also procured pebble tiles for the bath which are really beautiful for under $3.00 a square foot. I love Craigslist.

Siobhan has driven down from Salt Lake City for the weekend (this is actually the third Memorial Day weekend we have 'celebrated' together - but this is the first one where we have not had mere relaxation and party in mind). She is a fabulous trooper for doing the hand holding and input, and huge thanks to her.

Gotta run and get to the house!

OK, the time is slowly dragging on, I am packed up at the house, I have gotten rid of a bunch of stuff, and now I am in the holding pattern to close on the house. This is not really the fun part. The upside is that Ron and Ro have returned from their trip and have begun designing the new kitchen and laundry room/bath combo. It is going to be AMAZING. Ron and I spent the day on Saturday at IKEA (found a cool sink and faucet for the kitchen) and then at Lowe's (very lovely cabinets, made in Oregon, custom done, will be delivered right to the house) and some really lovely appliances. I am determined to get the sexy washer and dryer this time - the ones I currently have came from the erstwhile husband's latest sucker - always makes me laugh - she got him, I got the washer and dryer, and I really did get the better end of the deal.

Anyway, the cabinets are cherry (the redder ones, not the dark ones) and the floors throughout the house will be saltillo tile (with radiant sub-floor heating) so the colours are looking like they will be in the warm tones - which is good for me (since I am picking them out and all). Ro and Ron have really done a fabulous job on the kitchen specs so far, and I am more than ready to get started. More pictures and such soon...