Walls and Floors!

Well, it's a miracle, but the house is starting to look like a place that humans could inhabit! Meaning, of course, there's lights that turn on, paint on the walls, and as we speak, the floors are being resurrected from a very shabby state. Ben and I spent a great deal of the weekend painting, while Jack helped out in the entry way--putting a skim coat of plaster over the ceiling, and beginning to patch the walls in that area. We all worked very hard and got a lot done. Kim came over and magically made the sinks work, too, which is a big deal.
The floor refinishing will be done on Tuesday, meaning we can walk on the floors in socks Tuesday night. We'll need to give it more time before we can put down area rugs and furniture, but that's okay. We'll start gradually moving our things in the back part of the house, where we can access the kitchen, basement, and laundry room, which can act as a storage place while we're waiting for the floors to do their thing. Behold, photos:

Remember Last week?

Paint and some lights make a big difference

Painting the den.

Jack's work in the entry way

Am absolutely thrilled to see a working outdoor light! (back door)

Painting the downstairs bathroom.

 Quit a difference between the sanded and un-sanded floors!



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The next big thing!

Well, the last few weeks have seen monumental progress! Kim has finished the plumbing, electricians have come and gone, insulation has gone in, doors have been dipped (more on that later), wainscoting has been put in, and now---sheet rock! Glorious sheet rock. Never have I appreciated the beauty and allure of gypsum and paper, and never would I imagine how strange it is to have walls! Ben and I walked around the house after work yesterday, after the first day of drywall installation, and we just can't believe the transformation. It's obvious to say, but it's such a change in so short a time, it's downright disorienting. In a good way...

Ben's been working away at creating a shower pan that won't leak for the new upstairs walk-in shower, and I've been hard at work stripping the old lead paint off of the windows, and uncovering some beautiful copper finished window hardware (why of why did anyone ever paint it brown?!) Pictures below.

So pretty without the paint!

All the window got re-roped, courtesy of Doug

Shades of new electrical

Before and now

The Bathroom upstairs!

And now, the story of the front door:

So, the front door, is, in my opinion, stunningly beautiful. But, it had been painted a dispiriting brown color (this has been a running theme both inside and out of the house, and it is a shame). Well, we were told of a place that 'dips' doors so as to remove the paint, and restore the wood to its natural state. We took off the front door, and replaced it with an attractive piece of plywood and had to use the back door for a few days. We also dipped the door that will be used in the upstairs bathroom. Below, you'll see a photo of how the entry looked before (I wasn't able to find a picture with 'just' the door, but look right, and you'll see it open).

Well, here's two shots of it after it was returned to us as bare wood, and as I stained it (the blue on the beveled glass in the stained picture is just painter's tape to protect the glass--nothing fancy.

Pretty nice, eh?

Here's a shot of it hanging where it lives:

I love my door, so thank you for following me through that digression.
Now, to the exciting part! Sheet rock! Here's some before and after shots for you!

Here we have Mom, Ben, and canine construction crew member Sophie, after we installed the insulation and archway between the dining room and living room this weekend.

Here is the same room last night!

Below, you'll see a VERY 'before' shot--this was on the day that we had the home inspected before we'd actually bought the place and started this journey...this was the dining room then:

This is the dining room now:

It's at a slightly different angle; but I hope that you, dear reader, will appreciate the absence of the faux wood paneling and the higher ceilings. I'm wild about the archway as well.

The paneling on the walls are the beginnings of our wainscoting, which will be painted and trimmed. It was common for houses of that era, and we like the effect.

So, that is the current update for the Loftis House on 32nd Place! The place is changing so rapidly now, tonight's project is paint selection and we've already purchased the main light fixtures for each of the downstairs rooms. It's so much fun to start forming the personality of the house, and it's becoming easier and easier to imagine the outcome--which is a much-needed light at the end of the tunnel. Speaking of the end of the tunnel, it now has a date! We move out of our apartment by December 31, so we will be at our new address full time in no time! The prospect of moving is daunting in itself, but I find solace in the idea that it will be our last big move for quite a while. The house is coming along beautifully, and I don't imagine I'll want to live anywhere else in the foreseeable future!

Thanks again to everyone who has given so much time and energy to helping us! We've had wonderful support from family and friends, and the outcome is really emerging as a lovely place to call home. We'll have more pictures to come soon--and I anticipate being all the more motivated to post them as the house looks more and more finished!

October has come and gone!

Again, I'm so sorry for not posting for son long! Such a bad blogger. I wanted to toss up a couple mor pictures for those of you interested in the ongoing progress.
First and foremost, Kim has continued to do an amazing job on the plumbing, which is pretty much done! Hurray! Behold a sample of the beauty of good plumbing:

The other exciting bit of news is that the electrical work gets underway next week. Then, it's sheetrock, painting, and floor finishing. Ben and I can then finally move it! We can't wait, and are still hoping to be in by Christmas.

Meanwhile, Ben and I rebuilt a window in the basement, which was a long project--we used an old window that we salvaged from the Portland Rebuilding Center (cool, cool place), for $6.00, and found a way to install it...it even opens and closes! A definite improvement over the hole and plywood patch that was there after our structural reinforcement.

Speaking of patching, the floor guys came and patched all the holes in the floors! Happiness is walking across your floor with impunity, unafraid of possible death and dismemberment...just sayin'.

                                                                                     (this hole is long gone now!)
Just trust that the floors are entirely walkable, and they look great. I can't wait till they'refinished, I think the old growth fir is going to look glorious. I will definitely post before and after pictures of that!

Let's see, what am I leaving out?? Well, due to the new plumbing for the new upstairs bathroom, we had to 'drop' the den ceiling about 12 inches--we started with Mom and Doug, but Ben, my Dad, and I finished that little bit of business up this weekend.

Ben and I wrapped up the furring out of the studs this weekend too. For the uninitiated, 'furring' the studs, is a process to make sure the studs of the wall jut out the same amount. We had removed lath and plaster, and will be replacing it with sheetrock--it's different material, so it comes out at a different depth--say, in relation to window sills and door jams. If we want to fit the molding back on, this has to be done. It's tedious, but important. So...not great photojournalism, but good work done.

We also bought a tiny little sink at IKEA, which we'll install in the water closet (toilet closet), so it's an actual half-bath. That will be nice...one has to wash one's hands after using the toilet, after all--but it' another hole to bore into the wall, so it can be plumbed and mounted.

We're still cleaning up on the framing,the bathroom upstairs is looking good--soon we can construct the shower pan, and then it will be tile time!

                                                                           (this will be the walk-in shower with shower bench)
Things are coming along. Ben and I have been very busy, needless to say, between our jobs, this house, and trying to get a moment's rest every couple of weeks or so. I have an inflamed wrist tendon, so I've been taking a little bit of rest, but as I type, Ben's over at the house, cutting holes in the upstairs walls where the new electrical outlets will go.

That's all from this end for now. I hope to post more soon, and have some photots that look more like a lived-in home, rather than a work site!!

Cruel, Cruel Summer

Hi everyone!
As you might have noticed, I have been very lazy at posting lately--for that I am sorry. It isn't as though we haven't been doing much, in fact, we've been working so hard that I haven't had time to post. The projects that we've been working on haven't been very photogenic, as well, which meant that posting photos was not very 'sexy', and didn't show much progress. The hope is that the progress to come in the near future will be visible improvements, and will be something fun to see. But, as of now, we've been doing a lot of structural stuff--the center beam in the basement was pretty undersized and cracked, so Ben, his buddy J.T., and Kim spent a lot time and concrete reenforcing it. The problem came to our attention after we tore down a basement wall to get that evil furnace out--it's another case of 'pick one thing to work on, and you realize that everything around it needs work too!'...it's been a theme--like tugging a thread on a big sweater, it all starts to come apart. Thus, the remodel project goes from a nice, manageable scale, to total tear-down. Needless to say, we're not living in it yet, and a target move-in date is still ellusive, but some vital, great work is getting done that the house needs, and that we'd never get around to if we moved in and called it good.
Anyway, we've done a lot of planning, measuring, musing, demolition, and now I'm sanding molding, and getting ready to give the downstairs bathroom a litte make over. For reference, the downstairs bathroom doesn't actually need a lot of work, it's just ugly, and it's something I feel that I can control.
So, I'm going to be getting rid of the horrid wallpaper, painting, getting a new medicine cabinet, and replacing the shower walls. While working on the wallpaper, I'm reminded of what was supposedly Oscar Wilde's dying words: "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do". It gives me inspiration. That's all for now! More soon!

Let them be gone!

For you structure buffs, check out some new beams and plumbing!!

New Concrete! A thing of beauty, seriously.

Work Weekend, goodbye August

Well, another weekend has come and gone, and we got a LOT done! Mom and Doug came to town to help up out, and they are such work machines!! They really inspired us to keep pushing ourselves, and between the four of us, we finished up some big projects that needed to be done.
I'm especially thrilled that the guys got those joists reinforced! That makes it possible for all sorts of other things to be done.

Look at all that glorious new wood!

Ben and Doug are getting ready to put in a 4"x12" beam above the pocket door in the entry--notice the false wall to stabilize it while they removed some studs.

It took four guys to get it in there, but there it is! Thanks to Ben, Doug, Kurt and and Kendon! Well done guys, thank you for your support~ :)

Meanwhile, Mom and I were hard at work upstairs, where we finished the demo of the hall, the closet of the master bedroom (which will be the future stand-up shower in our bathroom to be)

We also demolished of the entryway lath and plaster.

Go Mom!

This weekend, we were also able to do some fun little projects, like Ben's mission to get the hardware on the pocket door working--he took off the door plate, and found--oddly enough, and old stamp from Norway underneath it! I wonder how long that was there, and why!

After that, we got a good bit of work done cleaning out the basement. Since the furnace and the oil tank have been removed, it was kind of a mess down there. We shoveled out some of the old, oily dirt, took out some of the funky old cabinets, and swept up.

Ben also found some funny old things in the piles.

The cleanup went pretty well, though.

I know, it's still an old basement, but it's much improved. And here's our shrine to the old funace:

R.I.P., buddy.

In other news, we got a few things for the house in various places. The tub was found on Craigslist. It needs to be scraped and painted on the outside, but the inside's in great shape, and the type of tub is really unique--it's a clawfoot, but has a skirt rather than claws...behold:

We also scored an old door this weekend from the Rebuilding Center. We're planning on taking out the panes of glass and inserting mirrors in place, and using it as a closet door for the entry way.

We also bought a new toilet. That was interesting, I had never been toilet shopping before today. I didn't take a picture of it--as it's still in the box, and you can all use your imagination as to how it looks, basically. So, score!

Well, that's it for this installment. My fingers are complaining of my typing--this girl is exhausted! Till next time!

Scary scary basement pictures

I know it's a bit early for Halloween, but...
Here's what's been going on in our basement. Our crazy old furnace, named Hercules, has finally been liberated from the space that he has resided in for god knows how long. Hercules (so aptly named) was the octopus-armed beast that lived in our basement (think, the furnace the Freddy Kruger lives in, or...better yet, for 'Burbs fans, totally a 'Burbs furnace).
Closely related to Hercules was the oil tank, which nursed our furnace beast. Well, since we're switching to a natural gas furnace (the existing system was too old, asbestos covered and scary), we had to get those things out! Here's a picture of the furnace's head, or hat, sitting in our back yard.

The tragedy was, that several of the contractors we'd talked to about getting in our new furnace and toxin-free duct work, wanted a fortune to get these antiques out! Those who would do it (and not all of them offered) wanted in the ball park of $1,000 for the removal. Ouch. Because Ben and I foolishly believe that nothing is impossible, we figured we'd take these out ourselves. That would have been so awful, I don't want to even think about it.  Lucky for us, Kim (who's been saving us constantly during this process), knew a guy who knew a guy, and boom! We are free of the tank and furnace--FREE--they just wanted the scrap metal. Mysterious, metal gathering angels.

Above, notice the tank cut in half in order to get it up the stairs.

This is the delicious-looking interior or the drained and split oil tank.

And here is the place where the once-mighty Hercules stood (with attractive basement crawlspace in the background).

And now, let's check in upstairs!

So, the upstairs bathroom-to-be has been enjoying a good demolishing as of late. On the days where it hasn't been too hot or we haven't been to crazy busy, we've been working at clearing the room.

All that broken plaster on the drop cloth is a heavy, dusty mess! It's all the worse in such a small room, because you just don't have space to move--it's constant clean up. 

Our chore for after work tonight is to remove the remainder of the molding (door and window--we got all the baseboards out, pretty much). Then we start demo of the entry walls. (I swear, this never ends!)

Isn't the old wiring terrifying? Aren't the fixtures illuminating? Can't wait until this is a bathroom. Ben and I bought a bathtub on Tuesday, it's living in the back yard for now. Pictures of that to follow!