Spring 2012

Again, it's been ages since I've posted. Apologies to all. We've had a busy few months--I've been getting ready to have our first baby, who is due any day now, and Ben has been working non-stop on this house in preparation! We've had help from family and friends, and I'm thrilled to say that a lot of the big work is done! My Mom and Doug came up to visit us several times in the last few months to help with the final stages, and Ben's Dad Jack has put in countless hours working on our sheetrock and patching plaster, and painting. Kim, as ever, has been a lifesaver, finishing up the plumbing and helping us with our concrete foundation back porch area. The house is really coming together in a way that I can hardly compute. There are little things left in abundance, of course: getting the baseboards up and painted, finishing the wainscotting in the dining room, finishing the window bench in the dining room, hanging paintings, organizing furniture, and the ever-present challenge of getting the basement put together in a way that doesn't look like a chaotic mess. And, this summer will see some serious outdoor work, as the back yard still looks like a missle testing site, and the exterior wants a paint job, and fencing and landscaping should be addressed. One day. But, house projects are going on hold soon, as we welcome our baby boy into the world in a matter of days! We're planning a home birth, so we've converted the den into the birth room, equipped with birth tub and all. Now, it's time to rest and wait. In the meantime though, I've posted some photos of the recent work that has been accomplished in the last few months. We've just had our electricians in for the final flourish: lights and power upstairs! We've been living off extension cords for so long up there, I can't believe how civilized it is to flip a switch! Also, our building permits just got closed out this morning after a final inspection. It feels like such an accomplishment! Enjoy some of the pictures below:

Living room with LIGHT!

Our gorgeous laundry room!

The entry way (still needs to be painted to get that brown out of there, but the walls look amazing!)

On the way up the stairs

The top of the stairs--we got an old school house light and mounted a stained glass window that my Grandma made in the high window.

Here's a view of the guest room

One side of the nursery--still not finished decorating...

More nursery

Our Master Bedroom!

The closet lining the south wall of the master bedroom

My most wonderful upstairs bathroom! Completed!

Another view (we still have to mount the mirror)

The entrance to our luxury shower

Interior of shower (so hard to do it justice in photographs...)

Well, that is the house as of now! There will be more work to do in the coming months, but I'll try to be a better blogger, and keep you all posted. We're going to take a bit of a break to settle into parenthood for now though, but check back from time to time, we'll get this house finished up yet!

Fall 2011...already!

Hello autumn! It's been ages since we've posted about the house remodel, but that should not indicate that we've been idle! In fact, considering everything that's been going on in our personal lives, we've managed to get some good work done on the house through the late summer and into fall--it's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is coming up already.
Well, the principle project of late has been laying the foundation under the back of the house. The back portion of the house is an old enclosed back portch area, which is now the utility room and pantry. We want very much to sheet rock, insulate it, and get the electricity done out there, but without a foundation, it seems like a moot point. What a job though! Ben and Kim have spent a lot of quality time out there, and we've had other help from Jack, Kendon, Anders, Mom and Doug, and Jess. They've jacked up that portion of the house, dug a trench under it, after removing the old concrete sill, and laid the concrete foundation in two installments, and currently Kim and Ben are building the studs down to it, so the house can be taken off jacks. Then we'll attach siding and then we'll have the green light to sheet rock in those areas. A mighty undertaking. I'm not sure when they'll have it done.
Meanwhile, Ben, Mom, and Doug took the master bedroom down to the studs, and Mom and Doug just finished a framing party up there--so not we know what our closet will look like. Exciting! Now, we'll need to get the insuation up, and then we'll be able to get around to sheetrocking in there too. Ah, to dream.
 Sheetrock has also gone up in the crawl space storage areas off the front bedroom. It looks great. And I've been working away at my beloved future bathroom. I had an epic tiling weekend, and got most of the floor done. It was really tough--not the act of tiling but making sure those tile sheets squared up in a not-square room. And, after staring at those black and white tiles for a few hours, one can loose their mind and go under total hypnosis! Anyway, it's looking great now, and I'm pleased to be off of my knees after 48 hours of crawling around that floor! Enjoy the photos.

Removing Siding in the back of the house

The yard is looking great again!

Ben with the jack hammer



The back of the house is jacked up

Ben taking the chimney down

The Debris from the chimney

Master Bedroom is down to the studs

Mom and Doug's frame job

Sheet rock in the crawl space







Taking down some trees!

For our major work weekend, my Dad came down to Portland with chainsaws and some other forestry equipment up his sleeve. It was time to take out so of the plum trees around our house that were not in good shape, and we worried that the roots were a little too obtrusive to the foundation. Also, we want more air and light, and this sets the stage for some landscaping (future date, undetermined).
 Enjoy the shots!


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This is what it looked like before we cleared.

  

Here's Dad attacking the dreaded holly bush

Here's Ben working on the last of the brush pile as Dad works on the stumps



This is where a big hedge once was

Things are clearing up!

And, the final product! Now we really have to PAINT this house! (oh well, next summer, I'm afraid!)                             



The Finished Bookcase

Putting on the trim!

Starting the sort

Finally, a finished bookcase with booksin it!

Beer and Bookshelves

Well, we finally got back to work after a few weekends on hiatus. Our good friend Jonathan came to town to help us build a window seat/bookshelf unit off the bay window in the dining room and a big bookshelf unit in the living room. Jonathan is a buddy we met on our travels in New Zealand--he's from the U.K., but now lives in Las Vegas, and is a skilled carpenter. We had a great time working on all this, and when we were on break, Ben and I took him to some of the best microbreweries that the Portland area has to offer (Jonathan is an avid craft beer drinker, and buddig home brewer).
Anyway, enjoy the shots. We have more work to do in terms of adding the trim pieces and painting. It looks pretty rough at the moment with the exposed plywood, but we'll get the job done this week (fingers crossed).
Thanks Jonathan!


In Progress



Before window bench/bookshevles







Finished so far

The Workers

Before Bookshelve (Living Room)

Building in the Living Room

Inspection!

Charlie's Angels (of bookshelf building, anyway)

Full Sail Brewery, Hood River

There are many cases of good beer down there!

Off the clock at Hopworks, Portland

Spring!

Hello friends, family and well-wishers! I will spend less time writing this time, and just let you enjoy some photos. Regrets for the long length between posts again, but as ever:
 busy working means not busy blogging!

The trash pile in the yard is no more! HUGE cause for celebration.

The very same weekend, Ben's buddy from work, Orlando, came over to help us sand down the floors in two of the upstair bedrooms.

Much better! Ready for Elsa to treat.

Yes, worked out lovely

Ready for the close up--still have yet to finish the electrical in this room, but oh well.

Chaos still lurks down the hall though...

The upstair bathroom-to-be begins to look better, thanks to the backerboard on the floor and the trim back on the window

Ben's new project is stripping the bench in the entryway.

Elsa's new project is tiling the bathroom...

Not a total disaster thus far...

Our new construction worker, the cat that we're cat-sitting for the next few months, Robot.

Well, that's the gist of things as it stands now! Just wanted to post a few more pictures for you all! Hope you've enjoyed, and certainly hope there's more good stuff to share soon.
--Elsa