long time no see

It's been a while since I posted about the house.  We've been working hard as usual, but have some bittersweet news to share.  We've decided to put 1928 Bungalow up for sale.  We're not really sure where we're headed next, so we'll trying to adjust to the idea of renting for a while until we figure it out.  We've done so much work on the house and the yards over the last five years, but we can only hope that the next owner will love it as much as we have. 

I'll be updating as we go along but thought I'd share a few recent photos.

a blog post with no name

It's been a busy, busy week since I last posted. Or two weeks, I guess it's been. We got back from Asheville with a rush schedule ahead of us to get the house ready for our first family event--a double baby shower for B's sister and cousin. There was some stress, some yelling, and some making up, but we managed to get most of it done in time. Other things (like the molding in the hallway that's just propped into place) will have to wait until we can get around to them.

We did get the bathroom finished, thanks to some trim painting help from my mother-in-law, who also came over to clean before the shower since I had to work. A million thanks for that, Patrice. The shower was a huge success and the day was the most gorgeous we've had in months here, so the girls ended up opening their gifts in the front yard since all the guests had all drifted out to the porch during the morning. We had maybe 40 guests and received numerous compliments on the house. Brandon's aunts and cousins did a fantastic job with the food and decorations, but I don't have any photos because my camera was in a cabinet behind all the gifts!

We've been looking through the Craigslist ads this week for doors and furniture, and may have a lead on an old Craftsman door. We also found this loveseat for $120, and the guy agreed to deliver it for another $20. It's not old, but we like the way it looks. We might re-cover it eventually, but for now the colors match the living room. Not sure yet if we're going to use it in the living room or move it back to the den. Obviously, it won't stay where it is in the middle of the room! You can also see that Gecko has already adopted it as his new home. Ha!

More photos are under the links to the right.

bathroom redo

I've been terribly lax (or just too tired?) in writing about the bathroom updates. Check out the photos link here or on the right side of the page. We've done just about everything except paint the trim, which will be white. I think it's taken us three weeks or more for this "weekend" project.

"hey! i wonder what's behind there?"

If there is such a thing as famous last words for renovators, it's got to be those.

You might note that on the bungalow to-do list at the bottom right of the page mentions that we hope to paint the bathroom trim soon. Although now...we first have to install some new trim before we can paint it.

We had set aside this past holiday weekend for painting the bathroom. We'd decided to go ahead and pick out a nice pale yellow/gold for the walls, and just paint over the plastic wallboard stuff that's on the walls. The tile is a minty green, and we kinda like it, so we wanted to leave it (besides, that's an entire remodel for the room) but wanted to get rid of the twisty, spiral tile that someone installed at some point.

You can see the "before" bathroom in this photo. It looks cute in photos but is really a weird mish-mash of styles and decades of home "improvements."

So...we started by removing the twisty tile trim. It came off easily enough--turns out it was glued on! Of course I cut myself about two minutes into this job, but I've already had my tetanus shot, right?

Then, at some point, one or both of us wondered, "What do you think is behind this plastic pebbly wallboard stuff that someone has painted a noxious pale green?" We wondered this because as we pulled the twisty tile off, bits (and by bits, I mean a lot) of old paint and plaster started falling out from behind the wallboard, which had not been secured by any other means than the glued-on tile. We debated, and then finally, riiiiiiiipppppp! off came the wallboard, literally ripped in two. It was then that we discovered that the wallboard was also nailed into place at the top only, by little tiny nails that were under the moulding (which was also glued into place!). So off comes the moulding. And part of the drywall ceiling edges. Oops.

The wall behind the plastic stuff was solid, but a little mildewy. We haven't seen any signs of a serious or recent leak anywhere, and there are no pipes in that wall (that we know of), so we think it's just years of moisture build up, or possibly an old leak. We found a few minor cracks, and in many, many places the top layer of plaster had disintegrated. Possibly some wallpaper was up at one time as well, since a yellowish glue substance seemed to still exist on the walls.

We could have chosen to hire a plaster guy at this point, or tried to learn to plaster (I read the top layer is called "skim" and it's possible to do yourself, with some practice), but no. Instead we decide the wall has "character" and decide to smooth out the worst bits with drywall joint compound. You know, the kind in the little tubs.

Two largish tubs of compound later, the wall looked...better. We haven't primed the walls yet, and plan to do that one night this week. Then we need to cut new trim (the old stuff was in fact, not old, and was made of foam/plastic) and put it up, then prime it, and caulk, and then paint the walls a nice yellow/gold.

So this is why I haven't posted anything for a few days! We picked a great weekend, though, since everything outside was covered in ice, although it did make for some interesting trips down the back stairs. They are scary even in nice weather...

More coming soon...and photos!