Some people have been asking, "What exactly are you guys doing over there?" The answer is, nothing. When we first bought this house, I (Bethany) imagined us doing a lot of of the work ourselves. I had a vague vision of us sort of crouched near a door, lovingly assembling or installing something (a doorknob? This was not well thought through.) But in reality, once we realized the scope of what would need to be done, we knew we would not be doing much, or any of the work ourselves. We heard many horror stories of house renovations gone wrong, but so far, ours has been pretty painless and all of our subcontractors have been great to work with. Here's a list of everything that's been done so far, in chronological order:
November 2014 - early February 2015
November 2014 - early February 2015
- Take down faux-wood paneling, particleboard doors, and non-original moldings
- Pull up carpeting
- Discover a chimney!
- Sadly, remove both the surprise chimney and the chimney we knew about. They were crumbling at the base and pulling the house down. The chimney we did know about had a fire at some point, and had charred some of the wood in the living room walls.
- Foundation - rebuild piers and girders
- Foundation - dig out back corner of the house, which had sunk into the ground.
- Discover significant fire, termite, and water damage in the back corner of the house, which just kind of crumbled apart in your hands. Rebuild two walls back there, match original wainscoting.
- New HVAC: ducts, AC unit, and thermostat
- Electrical: Replace all old knob-and-tube wiring, add new electrical outlets.
- Close in a wall
- Remove mildewed drywall from the ceiling a the back room, hoist up the ceiling by building new joists in the attic, drywall new ceiling.
- Discover framing from where an old door likely was; search high and low for an old window matching the unusual dimensions and style of the other ones, find one (!!), purchase, and then get kind of overwhelmed by the prospect of finding a sash and making it work properly..
- Flip closet so that it serves the new master bedroom and combine it with the space where the old secret chimney was
- Repair cracked drywall
- Drywall for ceilings where old popcorn ceilings were
- Trim out everything, including painstakingly try to match original trim as closely as possible.
- Sand, patch, repair, and refinish floors, including the two big holes in the floor where the chimneys used to be.
- Locks: Get new locks and secure back door.
- Move in!
- Prime & paint four rooms and two ceilings: Feel ridiculous researching various shades of white, host 12 friends over the course of two days for a massive painting party. (HUGE thanks to everyone!!)
That's all, so far!
