Re-Do / Re-Use

The last few weeks of work are starting to actually produce something for our labor. It's nice to see some bits coming together, even if a particular room still isn't done-done. We've been working primarily on the living and dining rooms so that we would have a place to actually sit and not feel as though we have no place to go. While we don't have a lot of down time right now, being able to relax, even if it's just for a short while is a wonderful luxury. I will preface the photos with the thought that we are still not done with either room, but there is some semblance or idea of what will eventually be, even if it all looks a bit sterile for the time being with no real personal touches yet in place. Starting with the living room, this is how it looked on the day of closing. I wish that I could describe in words the smells and un-viewable bits that were in this space. The photos, unfortunately, cannot tell the whole story, but rest assured that there were many hole...

House renovations are moving forward (as they have been), though always at a slower speed than I (we) would prefer. Things are changing, but it's difficult to document them in photos as it doesn't seem like much when viewed through a lens. It makes us feel as though the work we are doing each day isn't amounting to anything, but we do believe we are reaching a bit of a crest and within the next week (or so) we may actually be close to finishing another room! Yay!! So, what's been happening? For the most part, we've been doing little bits that will ultimately help with the finished product. I've been painting (too much, honestly), even though it's tough to get my hands on the paint needed. Yesterday, we went and picked up some paneling for the dining room. Yesterday and today I've been busy painting the floors in the living and dining rooms. We are attempting to get the living room completed by this weekend because we have some furniture (specifically, c...

Frustration. That would sum up today. I probably shouldn't even post today, but I think the realities of renovation should be shared as well as the good moments. When we are doing a big renovation project, I don't buy all of the paint at once because I can't use it all at the same time because I am just one person (and in this case, it really is just me because Sam is not permitted to paint because he is one of the messiest painters ever and doesn't keep the paint where it needs to be and it drives me crazy). Being just me, I can only paint so much at one time, so I generally just buy one room at a time. So, when we started, I bought just the ceiling/trim/wall paint for the first room, not considering that we are in the midst of a pandemic and that nearly everything is difficult to find.  Yesterday, I decided to order a couple of gallons of trim/ceiling paint for the next room because I was almost out. Generally, the paint store can turn the paint around in less than a ...

Our first room is nearly complete now. It was a strange first choice, I will admit, but we had reasons for doing this particular room. This house has a lot of bedrooms and we don't need multiple bedrooms; however, the house also doesn't have closets. It has closets, but because it was built in the 1930s, there wasn't the need for the sort of closet space many of us desire today. So, the idea of transforming one of the rooms into a closet came about while we were still considering offering on the house.  The bedroom/now closet space as it stood the day we closed on the house. The level of grime is not evident in this photo, but the walls (and ceiling) were in pretty bad shape - both physically damaged and dirty from smoke (or something that made the walls/ceiling black). We haven't shared a closet in our married life (over 18 years), so the thought of being able to do so was exciting. Perhaps some people prefer separate space, but I think this will work out well for us....

The last couple of days have been full of house-fixing activity, but again, there still doesn't seem to be a whole lot to show for the work.  The living room walls are now re-textured (thankfully, as that was a multi-day chore to finish one room - ugh - not looking forward to future room wall texturing, but hopefully, it'll be worth the work in the end). One of the windows in the living room is now a door, which is pretty exciting because it made no sense for it not to be a door as there is a deck right outside and we would've had to go through the entire house, down a flight a stairs, around the entire backyard, and then up another set of stairs to use it. Why this hadn't been done in the past is beyond me, but we're pretty excited that it will provide easy access, as the deck is pretty large (though in need of a fair amount of repair/maintenance at the moment). This morning it was 34F degrees, so it's not something that will likely get used on these chilly mor...