Operation Renovation Part One

In February of last year, we closed and moved into our very first home of our own.  For twenty years, we have rented and given away millions of nickels and dimes to landlords.  Now, we can give our nickels and dimes to the renovation of this home.  While we love the old time charm and original woodwork in this home, we also knew moving in that there would be some work needed.  What we learned after the second time we tried a “project” is that nothing is going to be simple in this home.

Our first project was to remove the rotting decks and porches on this home, and rebuild them.  We have two of the three decks done, and since we’re not sure whether the last one will be a deck, porch or add-on room, we’re not going to start that project for a bit.  We have replaced two doors, and all the windows.

Winter is a slower time for Beef, and since this has been a hard winter with lots of below zero days, we have had plenty of indoors time.  What better time to do our indoor projects?  So, we started with the kitchen.  I don’t have any before pictures, because my SD card somehow got corrupted.  So here’s a picture of our first project, the new cupboards above my sink.  I was so thrilled to have these installed, because hey, who can’t use more cupboard space??

With this project, we learned that all of our walls are concrete slat, and that makes finding studs an adventure!  So, we drilled a bunch of holes until we hit the jackpot, then anchored away!  I’m happy it’s over, and we walked away a with more space!

While cleaning the floor one day, I found the next project, the kitchen floor.  When we moved in, all of the counter tops were blue, and the floor was a blue linoleum to match.

I discovered that the tile was lifting in a spot, so I dug a little, and lifted it further, what I found was that the kitchen floor was actually a beautiful hardwood!  So excited to see this, I decided that I would start pulling up the linoleum to discover that the hardwood matched up with the hardwoods in the dining room!  They were perfectly set up when the original kitchen went in!

What I learned on day three of linoleum removal was that there was more than one layer of linoleum!  I learned that there is a very big difference when a professional lays the linoleum versus when a landlord lays it.  And I learned that after a lot of time, and a big heap of work, sweat, muscle aches and pain, the floor looks beautiful!

And so… we started the next project, the bathroom.  Again, no “before” picture, but we essentially had two bathrooms.  One where we used the toilet and brushed our teeth and stored our linens, and one where we did laundry and took a bath or shower.  When we moved in, we heard rumors that the previous prospective buyer wouldn’t even consider buying until the shower was removed from the toilet room, and a new shower was put in.  We were told that the landlord had put in shower using a garden hose run up through the wall. We heard that someone contracted to fix it, but then decided that it was better to put in a shower/bath in the laundry area.  Who knows what the truth is?  What we knew is that it wasn’t working for us.  And so, we decided to sacrifice our linen storage and put in a shower, so that we could get rid of the tub and have a bigger laundry room, which we also use for our rear entry or “mud room”.

So here is what happened, when we took out the linen storage…

And this is what the middle step looked like, when Beef started working on the tile.  I was so enamored with it like this…

until…

my first shower in it… I’m telling you that this is quite possibly the most luxurious shower I have ever had!

With the shower, we learned that people can do a lot of cobble work.  A lot of different ways.  With many variations of results.  And that’s okay.  Unless you’re trying to make things square.  And safe.  And keep yourself sane in the process.  We learned that it’s best to always make a way out for yourself, so that thirty years from now, some young (ish) couple with two young kids who just bought the house will be able to fix it!

Now that the shower is all done, we will put a hold on the rest of the bathroom, because just this afternoon, we started this project:

I won’t show you the mortifying picture I took when we got the tub and vinyl off… but stay tuned, because after the drywall is up, I will post an update!

This little project will be our last one until we get through planting and possibly harvest.  Unless I can figure out how to build a deck on my own!  Have a great weekend, and remember, we will be working around here, so if you’re bored, we have some work you can do!