Visit to Michigan

We got away from the house renovations this week. We still don't have a shower, so we can't move in, and we needed/wanted a break. So we went to visit my sister Bethany, her husband Mike, and their little one, Dani. She's the first kid in our family, since Justin and I don't have any yet. And boy, is she cute. She's about 1 1/2 now, and she is talking like crazy! She is a little sponge that wants to learn every new word possible. You'd better watch what you say, cause she'll repeat it! I said something like, "Sit down, honey," and she starts repeating, "Honey, honey, honey." It's so cute! She is really bright though; she picks up new words, even multi-syllable ones, really fast. On our walk to the park, she learned "motorcycle." Like I said, she's pretty smart. Speaking of the part, I snapped a few pictures of us having fun while mommy and daddy were away.

I think that Dani went down the slide about 10 times!!

First peek at the cabinets!

Finally, some visual progress. The floors went down yesterday, and part of the cabinets went in today. Here's a peek:

Walling up a door frame

After we cut the door frame out yesterday, it was time to put framing and drywall in so could make it disappear. Justin had a little bit of experience with framing, so he put in the 2x4's after trimming them to size. Then he cut the drywall to size and hung it with screws. Sure, he's not a pro, but it did the job.

 

After that, I started mudding up the seams. This is the most frustrating part because mudding is truly frustrating for the novice. The professional that drywalled the bathroom was a pro- he was so skilled and didn't seem to sweat it at all. But me, I take a lot of time, and still I don't think that I am too good. I am getting a little better with keeping the edges smooth, but I know that Justin will still have to sand quite a bit. But this was just the first coat, and we will hopefully get it where it needs to be. We did use the drywall mesh on the seams, which seemed to help. Now we just wait for it to dry and then finish it off.

 

Cutting a door frame

We got the door frame for the bathroom entrance cut!! You see, right now the door for the half-bath opened into the kitchen. However, we are covering up that door and having it open into the master bedroom. Eventually we will break down the wall the sink is on and open it up longer to create a full bath. But for now, we just need to close up the wall into the kitchen and open another door frame into the master bedroom.

 

We had a family friend who is really handy come over to help us with this. The first thing that he had to do was make sure that when we cut through the wall, we weren't going to run into any electrical problems. This ended up being a little difficult, because he had to go through a very small hole to get to the crawlspace under the bedroom to try to figure out what the wiring was doing.

 

After he figured that part out, he started going into the wall on the inside of the half-bath with a sawzall very carefully. It was uber dusty too! Whew- wear a mask over your eyes and mouth if you do this at home! We had measured out and found where the studs were so that we would only have to cut through one stud. That stud was in the middle of the new door frame, and we will have to put a brace across the top when we frame it in. The electrical wiring will need to be rerouted either under the door or over the top- that's for another day though.

 

Justin stood on the other side of the wall as our friend cut the the section of wall for the door to come out. It was pretty heavy too! It took both of them to lift and move it once they had it out, but thank goodness it was all in once piece. (That side of the wall has unique texturing, and we are hoping to be able to use it when we patch another area). Having the door frame cut out now is such a huge piece of progress, because we can now put new drywall up  on the kitchen wall and paint before the new cabinets are put in. Below you can see the process.

 

      Before any cutting  -------------------> First cuts on the inside of the bathroom

Outline cut in the inside of the bath ----->Justin holding the wall piece steady as it comes out

 The new cut door frame... but NO PRIVACY!!

 I'll have to put up a curtain or something until we get it finished.

This is our only working bathroom right now! LOL....

Now we need to frame it up and get that drywall up. It never ends!! But we are glad to be working on our own home! God is good.

You are not entitled to my pumpkin!

You are not entitled to my pumpkin!!!

I'm pretty ticked off that I got home today and one of my giant pumpkins was missing! I have six on my front steps, and the top one, one of the biggest, was gone. How rude!!

I just dont' know how people can go up to someone else's house and take something off of their porch. I know it's "just a pumpkin," but it was still MINE. I still paid for it. I still bought it with my own money. It's wrong, it's rude, and I wish it would come back. I know it won't though. If I tried to file a police report for something being stolen, I would probably get laughed at.

I live in a regular, middle-class neighborhood. Can't we just respect each other's pumpkins? What is wrong with our society? My mom even told me that she had people at work telling her about how they had their pumpkins stolen. Is our economy so bad that people now steal pumpkins?

(Gosh, we have to get a new president to get the economy going...or maybe I'm really off topic...)

Autumn Weather...Surprise!

That old saying still rings true, "If you don't like the weather in Ohio, stick around for a day and it will change." After being on the cooler side this week, Friday and Saturday brought some warm weather. It was perfect for refinishing the deck and enjoying being outside. I took the opportunity to plant some of the bulbs that grandma had saved for me- I can't wait to see them come up next spring. Hopefully I did everything right and they survive the winter.

Our big tree in the backyard is shedding its leaves rather quickly. I swear I could probably rake leaves twice a day. It is so beautiful though; I am going to miss the leaves once they are all gone. Seeing them come back again next year is going to be a joy; hopefully we have some porch furniture by then and can have people over to enjoy. But for now, the weather has turned windy and rainy again, and we will stay inside!

Speaking of inside, Justin had to dig a trench in the basement this weekend for the new water line for the washer. Apparently the drainage was a problem in the utility room, so the washer and dryer will be moved downstairs. We actually wanted that in the first place, just to get it out of the way. But all the little changes add up in the cost... At least we will save a little from Justin doing the digging.

We also finally finished tearing out the cabinets, mudding and sanding the kitchen this weekend, and were able to get a coat of paint on the walls. It makes such a difference. I am definitely starting to get excited about seeing the flooring, cabinets, and countertops come together as well. Only two weeks or so till it is all done! (I think I can wait that long...)

 

How to Clean a Dirty Deck

Well, I feel like this weekend has been productive, and it's not even over yet. That's a good sign, right?   I was off of school on Friday, and Justin decided to take the day off since I was already off so that we could work on the house more.  I worked on cleaning the deck because it was a great day to work outside. We saw some serious progress made!! I love it when I can actually see the progress.

I applied the Olympic brand deck cleaner, which I had bought from Lowe's earlier in the day, with a soft mini-broom tool. It seemed to spread well- it's the consistency of water- and worked quickly. Following the directions, I let it sit for about 10 minutes before scrubbing it off. According to the packaging, you aren't supposed to have to scrub it, but the deck had a serious layer of mildew. Maybe it we had a power washer it would have come up, but I've also heard that can damage the wood. So I stuck to a hand scrubber for that part of the process. Then our awesome neighbor Bert came over with a acid brush that had a longer handle, which was a lifesaver because being down on my hands and knees in that mess was not so fun. The cleaner had bleach in it too, so the smell was pretty strong to be down close to.  I did still need to scrub it a little with the hand brush, but that's just because it was so bad.

I am serious when I say it was bad.... when I was scrubbing, I couldn't even see how much of the mildew that I got off until I rinsed the boards, because the green goop that kept foaming up. It was not pretty. The end result though, was so much better. We still need to go over it with a second coat, but at least it's not slippery when you walk on it anymore. The deck was seriously a hazard when it rained!

And before I close, a special shout-out to my mom, who finished the last portion today, and to my husband, who was stuck inside digging a trench in the crawlspace for the washer hookup while I worked out in the fresh fall air. I love them both!

 Left side of deck... before; right side of deck...after

Homeowners in week four...

It is crazy that we have had the house for four weeks now. In some ways I feel like we have gotten a ton done, in other ways we still have so much to do. I think that is because there are a few things in each room that aren't finished. For example, the master bedroom still needs the floor painted and the new door cut for the bathroom. The family room needs to have the new section of drywall put up, but we can't do that until the roof is fixed. Another instance is the kitchen- we have the floor taken up, the cabinets taken out, but we are still working on the walls. Then the utility room has been painted, but still needs new flooring. So, we have made progress, but so many finishing touches still need to be done.

Monday and Tuesday consisted of sanding down the patched drywall in the kitchen, which Justin mostly worked on. Bert was amazing, again, and painted the utility room in White Raisin from our Rustic Refined color scheme from Sherwin-Williams, which I have been blogging about. I really like how the color turned out, and this is the same color that we will use in the kitchen. Also, I worked on painting the three walls in the master bedroom that won't be affected when we make the full bath. It sounds easy, but there is a lot of trim work to take care of- three windows, several doors, and the baseboard and ceiling. It just takes some time. (Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post of me actually working... guess it's hard to take pictures of myself- someone should get on that!)

Today dad helped Justin get the claw foot tub over to the house (finally!!) in the evening before church. The plumbers were able to come early because they needed the exact measurements. They took the plumbing for the kitchen sink out, so now we only have one functional sink. And that one's not even very good because it gets jammed so often! Justin found a decent amount of quarters in the pipes that the plumbers took out. I think we'll rinse it off and give it to church. Speaking of money, we hope to cash in on that old cast-iron tub that is now out of the bathroom too. That is, if no one takes it off of the front porch. I think it's a couple of hundred pounds though, so that might be a bit of a discouragement. But that's all for now. More to come in the next few days!

And a silly kiss to end the night... I was trying to stay away from too much dust.. LOL

 

Our Wonderful Realtor, Cristal Kremer of Irongate Realtors

We've been so busy with our renovations, that I haven't posted yet about our amazing realtor through the whole process, Cristal Kremer. She's with Irongate Realtors out of Beavercreek, Ohio, and she really came alongside us in this whole process.

First of all, when we started looking for houses, I was still living in California and my husband, Justin, had moved back. So I would look online at new postings, and she would meet with Justin to go see the houses. Justin would take pictures of the inside and post them, and I would decide if I wanted to see them when I came out and visited. I was out several times this spring and she would take both of us back to some of the houses that I thought I was interested in. We saw quite a few! She was so patient with us, and really helped us understand the process.

At the end of April and early May, we had finally seen a house that we were ready to offer on. It would be a fixer-upper, so we offered low. After a counter offer, we finally had a price we were satisfied with. Then came all of the inspections and paperwork. Unfortunately, there were major issues with the house after the inspections, and we backed out of our offer, as per the written contract allowed us to do. I'm sure that most contracts have this clause, but I am so glad that Cristal Kremer took the time to explain how this all works to us. We were disappointed to not be getting the house, but glad that we were saved from some major issues.

So we started looking at houses... again. While she took her vacation in June, Gary Kremer filled in and showed us a few homes. We found one that we wanted to offer on, and he got us started. It's really great how they worked together on this, and I am so glad that Cristal took a vacation! She works so hard and really deserves it. This home, as I have blogged about before, was a Homepath Renovation mortgage, which was a completely difference experience than the traditional loan that we would have had on the first house we offered on. Still, Cristal helped us understand the terms and did the research so we would know all the details.

After our offer was accepted, Cristal was always on our side with talking to our loan officer and helping us get things done. She really went to bat for us when the bank was taking a long time to process, and we were worried about getting everything done before closing. I seriously don't think that we would have closed on time if she hadn't been so good at what she does. She called the listing agent, the loan officer, and anyone else that needed to be contacted to make sure that we were on track. I really can't sing her praise enough!!

Probably the best thing about the process was her communication and timely responses to all our questions. She always got back with us within day, usually less, and answered all our questions as first-time home buyers. It was so great to know that Cristal always cared and wanted to make the process as smooth for us as possible. If we need help with selling our house in the future, you can bet that I'll be calling her!

Homeowners make progress in the kitchen

Well, we are making some progress on the kitchen. Justin got the floor completely ripped up this weekend. Then I started patching trouble spots on the wall from where the cabinets came out. Since we are installing open shelving on two of the three walls, I had quite a bit to patch. I finished the first round yesterday, and today Justin worked on sanding it down. I felt bad that he had to do all this, but my eye gets irritated from the dust, so he has to do it. By the time he was done it looked liked the kitchen had been through a snowstorm- it was pretty white. Justin's hair looked like it was gray. tehehe... in 30 years... Good thing I put up some plastic over the doorways, or the dust would have been everywhere. But I still need to go over it again to make it really smooth after we pick up some more drywall mud... we uh, ran out....

While he did that, I worked on painting a first coat on the bedroom that I had done trim work on yesterday. It's the master bedroom, and I can only do three of the four walls right now because we have to cut a door in one wall for the bathroom. You see, there is a four-foot space between the kitchen and the master bedroom that has a half-bath and a closet. Our plan, eventually, is to take down the wall between the closet and half-bath so that it can be a full bath. We will have it open into the bedroom instead of the kitchen, so it's not an awkward bathroom off the kitchen. Plus that opens up a wall for more storage space. Sometime maybe I'll post the drawings of how this works, because I'm sure that it doesn't make much sense to read.

Our awesome neighbor Bert came over to say hello and ask what he could help with tomorrow morning. So I gave him the utility room to paint in White Raisin, the same color the kitchen will be in. It's a pale yellow that is part of the Rustic Refined color scheme from Sherwin-Williams. Speaking of, we need to go pick up a few more gallons since we got a coupon over email about another sale. I think we are almost done with buying paint now though, thank goodness!

Oh yea, and Bert had us come over to eat some of the carrot cake that he made. He's the best neighbor EVER!!!

Homeowners... tearing out the kitchen floor

After sorta-kinda playing around the edges, Justin went all out tonight in ripping up the kitchen floor. Thank goodness that it was a little easier than expected. At the advice of our contractors, Justin took out the plywood and linoleum at the same time. The kitchen didn't have as many layers as the bathroom- thank goodness! Still, he did have to use a pry bar and hammer to loosen it up before ripping it out. For safety, he wore goggles and gloves. He got almost all of it out! This was a big start because the kitchen is our weekend project.

After he gets the floor out, we really need to start patching the walls from where the cabinets were ripped out.  Getting it patched is going to take some time, because I'm sure we will have to go over it a few times. Sanding it down is a pain too; we've been doing that in other rooms. Then everything gets washed down and a coat of paint. But we are saving a lot of money and time once the contractors come in to work, so I think it is worth it.

One thing I noticed is that there is a smell from the floor... I cant' quite describe it. Like something needs air that has been trapped for a long time... or maybe it's just the smell of the adhesive. But it's weird and I hope that it airs out soon. With the house being built in 1935, somehow I'm always worried about toxic fumes.

Anyways, here is the progress for today:

Homeowners... still gutting the bathroom

Quite a bit of progress on the bathroom was made this weekend. However, the floor was still in place. With a later start tonight, Justin figured that it was a small space so he would get done what he could. An inch and three layers later, he's still working. I sure hope he's not inhaling some toxic mess...

As you can see from the pictures, it's pretty much any and every tool that you can find to try to get through the layers underneath. Thank goodness our contractor is delivering the dumpster a week early, because all that crap in the bathtub needs to be taken out ASAP so Justin can actually get the tub and floor under the tub out. One day at a time though!

Homeowners week three: mold issues

This is not a fun post.

Even back when we were looking at the house, we noticed that there was water damage in the corner of the family room. The roof right above it has a very low slope, and coupled with a bad previous roofing job, had caused the damage. Water stains were around the ceiling and come of the paint looked like it was bubbling/peeling off the wall. Not good. So a few days ago I actually got up in the corner to get a closer look. I started peeling the paint back and here is what I found:

Mold. Ick....

So today Justin took a box cutter to the drywall and began removing it. There is definitely a major problem and we will have to wash it down with bleach before replacing the drywall and patching the rest of the wall. He worked on it a few hours tonight, but we need to check another corner too. Of course, we will have to have that roof worked on as well ASAP. We just got an estimate today and it will cost around $1300 to put new rubber, fix the problem corner, and replace the fascia on the outside. Ugh, more money!! But this is really important. It just can't stay looking like this: