Looking to the past

When my great grandmother had to give up sewing, I inherited her stash of machines and fabric and other goodies, and she had a lot let me tell you. I found these pieces (pictured below) that she hand embroidered tucked in her sewing basket. I assume that she was probably going to make pillows or something with them. I also found her sewing measuring tape and about a million pins and zippers and all sorts of other paraphernalia, some of which  I had to research to see what it was and how to use it (like pattern stuff). I still have her sewing machine, a Singer Touch and Sew, that at the time was top of the line and cutting edge and was really a turning point in what machines could do with decorative stitching and other helpful features. I bet she sewed a million miles of thread on that machine.
The machine still works and I keep it tucked neatly in its cabinet for safe keeping. I fire it up about once a year just to put it through the paces and if something breaks, I take it in to have it serviced. I have my sewing machine sitting on top of the closed cabinet so that when I sew I sit down at the very same sewing table that she did when she sewed. I really think that I got my creativity from her and my (grand) mom through the trickle down theory. Some of it was learned, but I really think that most of it is just genetic. I finally got around to framing these pieces to hang on the wall in my office. I'm searching for just the right spot of honor, but I'm sure she'd think that any old place was fine. I really think that she watches over me with my sewing creativity and though hand embroidery isn't  really my cup of tea, I find it interesting that we both found sewing relaxing.

In loving memory of my Gangy

One bite at a time

This post is really just a way for me to realize what I've accomplished so that I can stop feeling so much anxiety. Today is one of those days that anxiety is kicking my butt but I'm determined to come out on top. I've spent the last who knows how long because I've lost count of the days painting and prepping and moving and unpacking and organizing and installing and building and whatever else I've been doing. I don't even know what all I've done in the last two months but I'm choosing to believe that the excess chaos is winding down and I'll soon be able to shift to normal things. Here are some of the finer points of what we've done since Saturday.

• With Henry's help I've managed to shuttle things from the storage unit to home which made it look like we just moved in. If things looked bad before due to construction, they were about equally bad after bringing all of our things home and piling them up. At least we put them in the appropriate rooms for the most part which made the rest of my week smoother.
• Jonas's room has been set up, organized, and he's settling in. I think that he's excited to have his own space where no one tells him what to do. 
• Colin's room has also been set up and organized and he's elated that he's now allowed to stay up until 9 which is a secret from the other kids. 
• Kinsley's room has been combed through, all of the excess things have been put away or purged, and she has room to play in there again. Going through all of her clothes and toys really sucked but it's done for the next season. 
• Henry's room has been gone through and all of our things have been removed. I also went through his clothes and toys. Shoot me now. 
• All of the furniture for our master bedroom is in our room and assembled. We are finally sleeping on a real bed like adults. I also hung our roman shade so that we don't have to use a sheet as a curtain. Speaking of sheets, we even bought new sheets because our other ones were toast after being on the air mattress for so long. #deadelastic
• I've purchased and assembled our closet system and Henry installed it and finished setting it up. We have our own closet again!
• Speaking of our clothes, we've gone through all of them and purged some and put the rest away. I can now find socks and pajamas and I don't have to dig through a laundry basket like a rat. 
• The master bathroom is functional. Like I put up the shower bar and curtains and shower head and cleaned it and we can take a shower in there. I also installed the towel bars and toilet paper holder, the vanity light. the mirror, and Henry and I put in the new vanity. Props to him for installing the faucet and reworking the plumbing so that it fit inside the new vanity. The new vanity has so many drawers which really helped when putting away all of the things that go in there. I also purged a box of stuff like old hair gel and dead cold medicines etc.
• Henry turned lemons into lemonade with a crazy purchase that I made that didn't really work out for what I bought it for but was perfect for what he needed. He's set up his office and it's looking pretty smooth. 
• Last but not least, I finally got to my office today and stacked the boxes up so that I can open the door and start working. It's still a total disaster and the flooring is just a chunk of old carpet that was left over from Jonas's room but at least my feet won't get all cold and chalky from the slab. Ick. Here's a pic of a less chaotic office. It's still not great but at this point I don't care. 
  

We still have a long way to go to have everything "finished" which as you know never really happens here. We've made a huge pile of things on the front porch and we're having a yard sale Saturday. Whatever doesn't sell is going to goodwill or the dump. I really want the front of my house to not look ghetto anymore. I'm off to do a little lunch and retail therapy now, but eventually I'll get pics posted of the rest of the house. ~Kellie~

Moving in and moving on

I apologize that I still haven't posted pics of our amazing new floors or any of the finished rooms in the house. Honestly I haven't had time to take any since I've been trying to shuttle things from the storage unit to the house and shove them into the appropriate room. We spent the weekend arranging things in the kids' rooms so that we can begin the process of getting the living spaces free of random things like soccer cleats and nerf guns. It feels like we've just moved in. Nothing in the house is really totally organized or decorated or even clean yet, but we're getting there. I feel sorry for the flooring guys since they have to install the last bit of hardwood in our room and it's just a total sty in there. I mean I couldn't find pants if I had to so it's a good thing that I have some mostly clean pajama pants to wear until I do laundry. I do have one pic to show you. Those with OCD or who are just neat freaks you might want to shield your eyes. This  is my office.



























I'd have gotten a more complete picture of the chaos, but I couldn't get the door open far enough. See the office chair with the cricut on it? That's where I'm sitting right now and the cricut is still in the chair because there's no where else to put it. Those of you who have seen my office know that there are sliding doors that take up most of one wall in here so the logical thing would be to open them and move things out and bring them back in in a more organized fashion. Well, I can't and do you want to know why? Because this is going on outside those doors.

That is the yardsale pile that was put there after I crammed my office full by throwing things through the door. I can't even reach the door handle let alone open the door and access the outside space. The purge pile is growing daily as we put things away and slide things out before the kids notice. We're telling them that they got lost in storage. The worst part about the mess that is my office is that I have to make a sloth puppet for Colin's school performance by May 4th. The equipment I need is in here somewhere, but there's no way that I can reach it. I'm hoping to clean up some of this disaster this week but I don't know what's in the cards for that sort of activity. The office is sort of a low priority but a necessary evil if I want to start replenishing the bank account that I just depleted for amazing storage in the master bedroom. Like I said it's a priority thing, pants or puppets- you be the judge. 

In other news, I sent a polite email to the head of the building codes department down at city hall asking him to throw us a bone and give us a pass on this inspection so that we can all just move on. I'll keep you posted on how well that goes over. I guess that's all the news that I have to report for now. Stay tuned! ~Kellie~

The Murphy's Law of Renovation

     When we decided to renovate the house and build the addition, we had no idea that the same Murphy's Law that tormented us with the sliding door in my office would continually haunt us throughout the entire renovation. This whole experience has been a total comedy of errors. It started with the original "contractor" and his arguments with the permits and codes office, then the fact that he had the framers build the addition even though he didn't have the permit in hand. It continued to the point that we had to fire him for sending unqualified people to do shoddy work that had to be redone by a real professional. We've had failed inspections for stupid things like calling them in in the wrong order and having an electrical junction box that was two cubic inches too small. We've tried to upgrade things that we didn't even have to and make wise choices that will serve us well in the future. We haven't skirted any significant rules though we did move the toilet without a plumbing permit but lord knows what kind of red tape and how many failed inspections we'd have had if we'd have put in for a plumbing inspection. We tried to get a pass on the light in the bathroom, and even thought about skirting the rule on it since they just changed it last May  but in the end we complied with their silly rule. I'll know soon enough if it's now too dark in the shower to shave my legs without a flashlight.
     I'm annoyed that even though we hired professionals for some things, we got so so work that is no better than what we could have done ourselves. The drywall guys were sweet, but some of their work sucks and I'll eventually go back and fix it when I've recovered from this trauma. The siding guys did an ok job, but there are still little things that I don't think are right. The flooring guys did a fantastic job and the floors are beautiful, but they ran two boxes short so our master isn't complete and we can't set our furniture up in there because they will need the room to work when they come to finish. I also can't finish things in the master bath because there was a miscommunication about some shoe molding and I can't set up the new vanity until that molding is in place and painted. *choke*
     Our latest run in with Murphy's Law involves our final inspection. The same guy came that has been inspecting the framing from day one, so he's familiar with all of the crap that's gone on. He even admitted that he thought the original contractor was a jack-ass which made me like him that much more. He's been pretty decent as far as giving us a head's up on things to complete so that we don't fail. When he showed up today for the final inspection, he pointed out a couple of little things that our new contractor took care of immediately. He marked those things as complete and proceeded to check other things. He measured the window in the master bedroom, the same window that's been there since he came for the original framing inspection. That's when all hell broke loose. He stated that it was too small to be considered as an egress for the room because the code states that it has to be something like 5.8 cubic feet and ours is like 4. Now this window has aggravated me since the beginning because the contractor measured our other windows so that they'd be the same size, but actually this one should have been bigger because the other windows are replacement windows and therefore he should have measured farther out on the windows than he did due to the way that replacement windows are installed. If you don't know about replacement windows, you should know that they cut out the window but leave the original window frame and set the new window inside the old frame so you actually end up with a slightly smaller window than you started out with. So back to the inspector, we were kind of shocked that he'd make such a fuss over that window at this point in the game. He said that we failed the inspection because that window (which is the same size as all of the other windows but due to the fact that it's new construction is held to a different standard) was too small. Our contractor did his best to talk him into a pass and they chatted back and forth for a bit before we all decided to call it a day and mill it over more later.
     After the inspector left, our contractor suggested that it might pass because it is a double hung window and therefore can actually have a much larger opening. He called the office to check but of course no one answered at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon. He also suggested that we write a nice email to the inspector and his supervisor and politely explain and recap the situation and ask for a pass on this. I mean really, it's about a piece of paper rule and not an actual safety thing. I know that the windows in bedrooms are supposed to be that size because they need to be large enough for a firefighter in full gear to get through, but in all honesty since it's an addition and all of the other windows in all of the other bedrooms are the same size I really wish that they'd let it go. I mean I go out that window all the time and though I've never had on a raincoat and scuba gear, I'm confident that I could make it through if it really mattered. I'm really pissed that he's just now bringing the window size up now. Isn't that something that he should have checked in framing? You know, before the siding was up and the drywall was finished, and the brand freaking new floors were in?? The fact that he didn't check it then alone should make it a pass. He should have said "ooh, I goofed so I'm going to let you slide, but if you ever add on again or replace this window make sure that you get larger windows".
     So what are our options at this point? Well, there are a few. 1. We can write a pleading email and hope that they feel it in their hearts to pass us. 2. We can rip out the window, enlarge the opening, and add a larger window. OR 3. We can do nothing. I mean what are they going to do? Yes we'd have an open permit and yes we'd have to bring it up to code if we were going to sell the house, but by that time I'm sure they'll have changed their software and or lost the notes about the window. We've agreed to do options 1 & 3 because quite frankly I am not interested in cutting into my house again and I'm sick of hemorrhaging money. We just want and need for this to be over. We need to function as a normal family again, and feel like normal humans for a while. This project should have not been this complicated or took nearly this long. I'm not sure why we always get the most incompetent people and have the worst experiences every time we try to do the right thing. If you have a great experience with something, you should thank us because chances are that if we tried it we'd have the worst luck ever so you're welcome that we absorb all of the worst case scenarios. Now that I've finished painting for today and the next several weeks, I'm dragging my tired, frustrated, disappointed ass to the kids' shower before inflating my air mattress in my new unfinished not to code bedroom and passing out. If there is a fire, just know that I'll be sailing through that window like a tiger at the circus and they can rescue me with a step ladder since I'll be standing on the roof of the front porch. ~Kellie~

Shedding light

I haven't gotten to taking pics of the new hardwoods or rooms yet, but I did snag a few pics of the new front door and therefore the totally completed exterior of our house. Let's do a little time travel.

Here's the house the day that we bought it back in 2009.

Here's the house after we painted it later that same year. Every time I see this pic I think it looks like a cartoon because the colors are so vivid. The sky and the grass are crazy bright, but that's just how it was that day.

 This was last week, April 2015, after all of the construction and siding was done. Yes we know it's almost the same color, the whole point of painting it that color was to see if we could live with it long term. No we aren't putting shutters back on it for now. I kind of want to, Henry doesn't, so we're waiting a bit to see how we feel later. Just as an FYI, the new siding is vinyl with a 7" reveal (almost identical to the old siding) and it has a foam backing that gives us an extra R value of 5 which is better than nothing extra.

Here's the house this morning after the new front door was installed. I personally think that it's a huge difference even though it's just the front door.

Here's a closer pic of the little beauty. It's a fiberglass door so that it doesn't warp and swell. It has simulated wood grain and is stained cherry. The hardware is oil rubbed bronze and matches the new porch lights. The handle is just a handle but the lock is a keyless entry system so that the kids don't accidentally lock us out which has happened on several occasions. The glass has black caming (the leaded part) which was the closest to oil rubbed bronze that we could get unless we wanted to pay stupid amounts of money. All in the door cost us a little over a grand including installation and hardware. I totally love it from every angle.

I even love it from the inside because it keeps the foyer/hallway and stairway from becoming a deep dark hole after you close the door. It really kind of felt like you were getting locked in prison before because the old door had no glass so it was just dark in those areas. This door offers a bright inviting hallway by day and a nice glow by night thanks to the landscape lighting. I still haven't stained the inside or added the poly to the outside but I'll get there soon. 

So there you have it, those are the latest improvements. Stay tuned for a series of posts that will showcase the work that we've done/had done in other areas. We're still trying to get over feeling like someone has left the front door open. :) ~Kellie~

Social Media Scouting

I got a good chuckle this morning followed by a hmm and then a oh hell no! as I was checking facebook. Apparently, word of my awesomeness has spread and facebook is picking up what I'm putting down because I got a "suggested post" for painters. Not to hire a painter, to BE a painter. There's a company looking to hire 4+ guys that have to come with their own tools and "whites" and the pay is $15-$18/hour based on experience. Let's cover the points of this ad, shall we?

1. I'm hoping that they are using the term "guys" loosely because almost anything a guy can do I can do. That whole peeing while standing up thing is a little challenging but aside from that...
2. I do in fact have my own tools. I have my own brushes, my own roller handles, my own extension handle, poor spouts, can openers, stir sticks, drill paddle and drill for when I get tired of stirring by hand, and step stools and ladders. Heck, I even ALMOST sucked it up and bought one of those multi position ladders on sale the other day. If they still have some on what has become my daily trip to Home Depot, I might have one by the end of the day because we have stairs and I'm not that poor. 
3. I don't own any "whites". I paint in whatever the crappiest clean to semi clean because I wore it painting the day before while painting clothing I have available is. That includes but is not limited to gym shorts, tank tops, t-shirts, and yoga pants. I've thought about getting some overalls, but the 80s and 90s called and they wanted their clothes back. There was a time when I wore overalls religiously, but that ship has sailed. They also were not white. 
4. Let's talk about this experience thing. I have experience painting. In fact, I have a lot of experience especially lately. I don't get paid to paint, but I'm willing to bet that I can paint almost as well if not as well as some of those who do. You see, something that I've learned during all of this remodeling is that just because you pay a professional to do something doesn't mean that they will do a better job than what you could have done yourself. It also doesn't mean that they will get it done faster either because they have other jobs to start and work on and finish, so you get put in their queue as opposed to everything else getting dropped because it needs to get done. That's understandable and how a professional service works and I'm not faulting them for that, I'm just saying that you have to remember that you're just another job on the way to yet another job so you need to accept that before you hire someone. My next point is very important so pay close attention. 

Professional does NOT mean perfectionist!!!

Are those who do things all the time faster and more practiced? Theoretically yes, but it still doesn't mean that they will show up first thing in the morning work until dark or the job is complete  or complete it in half the time it would have taken you. It also does not mean that they will not make mistakes and that your house will look like a movie set when they are finished. They are human and it's a job in their queue. Most will slap things together just like you would because they want to get it done and get paid and move on. Did we hire painters? No, and from what I've see that the other professionals did, I'm glad that I saved that three grand. Did the other professionals do bad jobs? Well some did, yes, but most only did good enough. We had a few guys that really hustled and we're amazed at their work and we actually monetarily tipped them for their work ethic and a job well done, but the rest, meh. I'll be posting some ratings and contact information later on. Now, I'm off to paint! ~Kellie~

Light at the end of the tunnel

I feel like we are nearing the end of this project. FINALLY, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are finally down to a realistic and manageable time line and amount of work left to be completed. If push came to shove we could handle completing these remaining items ourselves, not that we'd want to but just the same. I'll start with a grand plan and then a trip back in time and then current events.

Let's start with the floor plan for the house.

 Now, way way back when we bought the house, the master looked like this. Entry door on the far right (just to the left of the stairs if you're following along), bathroom door in the middle, closet #1 on the left. There's another larger closet in this room that would be on the bottom right of this pic. Now, part of this room is now Jonas's room. This closet was demo'd and the bathroom door was moved, and the entry way was turned into an extension of the hallway. That will make more sense later.

So here's what you saw (minus the closet because it had already been removed in this pic) when you looked into the entry door before the addition.















So here's a not so great pic of what that same entry way looks like now. The doorway is gone and it's smooth and open up to the ceiling. The door to what is now Jonas's room is on the left and the door to the master suite is straight ahead. The original bathroom door used to be in the area that's on the right, but as you can see, that's been closed in.

 If you open the master door, this is what you see. We demo'd the original small closet to make room for the hallway, but we added a new closet to take its place that is on the other side and goes into Jonas's room (sorry Jonas). The new door for the bathroom is pretty much where the doorway for the old closet was and is now a pocket door so that you're not opening a door in a hallway or swinging it into the tub. Henry's office door is the next one down the line (also a pocket door) and the master closet is all the way at the end on the right.







This is what you see when you look at the wall with the closet and his office. It's very similar to what it looked like in the original master. We chose to do that both because it made sense, and because it kept the feel of the house similar to the original. Now that white thing on the wall between the doors, that's the new mini split system that will heat and cool the new area. I have a love hate relationship with it. I love the fact that we can control the temp in that room independently of the rest of the house, but I hate looking at it. I know they're all the rage in Europe, but I think that here in the U.S. we don't want to see the mechanical workings of the house so it's sort of a functional yet sleek eye sore in the room. No we couldn't use the existing unit/duct work for this room nor could we put it anywhere else in the room, trust me I asked. The external part of the unit is outside next to the big unit for the house, which is pretty much right under H's window so the line set to the new unit had to be there.

I've painted so much in the last week and a half, it's not even funny. We were going to hire a painter and got his very reasonable estimate, but decided that it was money that we could shave off the budget so we are doing it ourselves and by ourselves I mean mostly me. Henry helped prime but he has to do that whole work thing during the day so he's been watching the kids when they weren't somewhere else (yay for neighbors!) so he's not able to paint. The trim and electrical things have been installed and we're waiting for the flooring guys to come, then we can get a final inspection and move in!

In other news, the outside of the house is coming together and we finally have siding on the chimney, YAY! Here are some current pics of the house. I'll even give you some way way back ones to compare.
Here we have how the house looked when we bought it, then how it looked when we started construction.

And here we have it now! We still don't have the new front door in, but it should be here next week.It's really going to make a huge difference inside and out since it has full glass. It will give a totally different look and feel to the outside of the house and provide much needed light to the hallway. As an added bonus, if you're coming around the stairs you'll be able to tell if you're about to get hit in the face with the front door. #awkwardentry. I totally love that the porch goes all the way across now. It's super nice when you're standing on the porch as it gives it that warm inviting country feel, not that country is the style or goal of our house. It's also great so that you can hustle under a covered area faster if you drive up and it's raining, and you can go from the front door to my office without getting wet or going through the bathroom. It even looks awesome in the dark because we got some snazzy new lights! There are now TWO on the front porch, and a much larger matching single one on the back of the house. It's like the liiiiight of the suuuuun!

Oh, I almost forgot, here's my painting list. Shoot me now! It's almost done though. Ssshhh, just let me think that.

~ Kellie~