Renovation: Now it looks like a house.

What did I post last on this? Oh yes. That gorgeous Tyvek exterior. Ahem.

Let's move on.

We have siding now. We choose tight-knot cedar with a bleaching oil application, one of the good recommendations from our contractor (as opposed to a good bunch of stuff that...ugh. I don't need to get into all that now). Here is our "address" side of the house. Note that we plan on (eventually) power-washing the paint off the brick chimney to match the extension.


Ok, if you moved left from the photo above, you get this view (below)...ultimately the entrance to what will be our front porch. The deck--what's left of it--is coming down.



Keep going around to the back of the house and this is behind our new dining room, with the french doors. When these pictures were taken, we were planning a brick patio. Now we have it ...but you'll have to wait for an updated set of shots to see it. You can see all our skylights from this angle.


Here is the driveway side of the house (to the right, around the corner of the first photo). No garage doors yet. (Still! Next week, we think.)


Here is an interior shot of what the old "sunroom" area looks like now that the renovation is relatively complete inside. This is the block of windows to the left on the photo above.


Next week, after a little painting and additions, I hope to post the whole exterior set. Interior...well, we're working on that.

Renovation: Built, with Tyvek

Timeline: October 2007.

At this point it started to look like something that someone may actually live in again. The crazy thing was, we lived in it the whole time.

In this first photo to the right, you can see the roof is on, the Tyvek is on (boy, that Tyvek stayed on for a loooooong time). This is the angle that shows the entirely new space; there are two skylights intended for the first floor that aren't in place yet, and I like the way the roof angles around O's bedroom window.

This next photo shows the garage and front view of the new space (hey, and our old car!). Note how only a few of windows were punched out of the Tyvek. In case you didn't guess this already, this makes the house kind of dark inside.


Here's the side view...now officially evolving as our "front" yard as the new porch and front door space takes shape. Our deck is still attached to the back, and the chimney is not extended yet in this photo. But, you can see the change in roof angles from this elevation.

Inside, this is our living room/sunroom area that at this point, has been connected since the wall was knocked down. Our furniture is under the plastic sheet, and we've got more plastic between us and the elements. Thank goodness there weren't that many elements and we had temperate weather. The fireplace is to the right in the photo, also covered. Like our hanging electric? Yes...we had to keep a close eye on O.

This next one is taken of the space to the left of the sunroom area...soon to become part of our kitchen. At this point, we still had functioning appliances behind the wall to the left of the photo. You can see the new triple window and the new support beam across the broadened kitchen space.


This was when the outlook was rosy, we were still relatively on budget, and the tight living space hadn't started to wear on us yet. I'll try to spare the grisly details as they come up.

Renovation: Back Inside - Living in De-construction

Now. These photos are from October--I know, I know--but I'm catching up, aren't I? It's starting to cool down, but if you recall we had a rather temperate Fall around these parts.



First I'll give you a glimpse of how lovely our exterior looked once the majority of siding came down. Mmmm. House was built in 1945. Old. It should be mentioned that the second story to the above left is the master bedroom area, which was added in the early 90s.

The next three photos are: the family room (expanded and opened up to include the sunroom, which is where our old front door entered the house...do you see the cracks between the plywood?


...a wider shot of the now completely opened up sunroom area (our fireplace is to the right in this shot)....


And this little yellow room...what was that again?...oh yes, our KITCHEN. Still functioning. I think it was a rainy day when I took these. Cheery place to live, no? Ugh.


All I can think when I look back at this is, poor O. What a good, good sport he was.

Renovation: The Build on the Outside

Around the same time as the pictures you saw of the inside (ie: our open-air upstairs), the outside was slowly being ripped apart, too. See the gaping hole on the left? We actually cut into our dining room to create a new front door. You can see how we raised the roof on the right; this is where G's bedroom is now.



Here is the driveway side of the house...two car garage, and the second floor has taken shape. This area closest to the front of the picture is our dining/multi-purpose room, really the crux of the addition to the house.



This is the back view of the addition I was just mentioning. The space on top is O's new room. The big hole is for a set of french doors, ultimately out to a patio in the back. Note the Japanese Andromeda next to the house. Sadly, we lost it. Too big to transfer. Thank goodness we have another five or so.


Here is a view of our old deck. Note that the contractors put a temporary door in here, where they broke into our old dining room to create the porch for the new front door.

Good story (well, not really) about this lovely plywood temp wall. When they ripped the siding off initially, our outdoor light was still outside. It was a motion-sensor light, and it stayed on during the rain one night. It was kind of leaning on the wall, which was exposed rotting wood (nice, eh?) and insulation hanging out.

C was coming up to bed, and smelled something funny outside. Turns out the wall was ON FIRE and he had to run and get the hose, after slipping in the mud, to put it out. So yes, get rid of your motion sensor lights, please. I heard other horror stories about them after I told mine.

Tomorrow, more chaos. This is kind of cathartic, though.

Renovation: The Build, from the Inside

Yesterday's renovation post gave a quick glimpse into how the exterior of the house looked at the beginning of the construction and demolition. Here are some shots of our interior during that period. The first photo, above, shows what you would see when you walked upstairs. Yes, you read that right. Our bedroom door jamb is to the left in this photo. Other than that area, we had no roof for a few days. And then, tarp.



The next photo, above, shows what it was built into...a entry to my son's room, with a new bath on the right.


Now, note the stairway on the right. This third photo shows what you would have seen if you looked to the right after coming up the stairs (so our bedroom door, as mentioned above, would be at your back). You can see the chimney (which we ultimately had to extend) exposed here, which was behind the wall in O's original room. Which was all of a nook, truthfully.

Lovely views, though, no?


Here is that same space, framed out for G's room. Of course, we didn't know it was G's room at the time. O decided he wanted the new room, rather than the new & improved version of his space. Personally, I think the new version here is bigger than the brand-new room, but don't try to tell him that.

More to come.

Renovation: The Beginning

It's time.

Here are some pictures of our house pre-renovation and early renovation. It was sold to us in 2004 as an "other"...basically an adjusted cape; one portion of the tiny top was pushed out to create a master bedroom. (Really the selling point of the house, truth be told.) The first picture is actually of a guy taking a tree down behind our house, but it's one of the few digital pictures I have of the exterior finish. Vinyl siding and plastic shutters.

Next photo, albeit blurry, a picture of two of the guys with our first wall ripped open. This was our old dining area, next to the old minuscule kitchen. Note our chandelier still intact. Which now hangs in our new foyer.

The third photo shows the driveway side of our house in the build stage. The entire area to the right didn't exist, and to the left, they had to tear down the walls of our sunroom and reconstruct them...they were a disaster (rotten, leaky, etc).


The fourth photo shows the other facing side of our house (we have a corner lot). Our front door - really the door to an old closed-in porch that became an interior portion of the house with the last owner - was where the plywood is located here. The funny thing is, this is the side of the house where our front door should be, since our address is for this elevation, not the driveway side. The pile of rocks is where the steps were...which were also horrible; they had no landing so every time I opened the door for someone I practically threw them down the steps.

I'll post some additional entries this week to bring you all up to speed. :0)

HOT as H-E-Double Hockey Stick

With most of the renovation behind us, one would think that there was little risk of complete discomfort and/or displacement at this point.

Nope, as O would put it.

We're having record highs today...likely tomorrow, the next day. It is supposed to reach 100 degrees tomorrow. We have no AC in the house.

Our seemingly useless contractor's project manager has been trying to get the HVAC guy here since February. This, from the pack of fools that gave him the final check without him finishing all the work. To top it off, our old AC unit, that we were planning to re-use for our upstairs, has disappeared from the property. Yes, you read that right. Disappeared.

How something called a "one and a half-ton unit" disappears into thin air, particularly when a brand new one is sitting right next to it, seems a bit, well, fishy, no?

We have a 3 1/2 month old baby, and C and I are supposed to go to work and leave our kids and our nanny in this sweltering house? I have too much guilt about that. I don't know what to do.

C called him Friday, asked him to step up like a professional and finish the job. He spoke with him again tonight. He should be here at 9:30am tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for us. It's brutal in here.

* Photo from tuberose.com. No, I have no idea who that guy is.

Renovation: Pictures (disclaimer)

Shamefully, I was reminded just now as the bank inspector came by to take pictures of the house for our most recent draft on the construction loan that I haven't posted pics of the renovation yet.

Sorry. Once it stops raining here I'll get them taken with the new camera and do a mega-post. This weekend.

Really, we have a few things to do to get the C of O and then finishing our mess of a yard:

• porch
• stairs to porch
• stairs to french doors
• stair railing
• doorways in the basement

Can we get it done before O's birthday party on 6/28? The race is on.

I REFUSE to let this go to August, making it an official year-long project.

Renovation: We own a dining room table

So what do you think of that. Does this make us official adults?

We used to have something we would call the dining room in the last iteration of our home...that we never used as a dining room. It kind of became a playroom for O, with sliders out to the (now defunct) back deck.

In the new dining room, with french doors out to the back (yes, that was a necessary upgrade in our estimation), we have recently added a table that can officially be called a "dining room table". Not just a dining table...many things can serve that purpose. But something that looks like it's designated for dining, not just eating.

It's a cool table, procured from the ABC Carpet Warehouse in da Bronx. Love that place...sign up for their email alerts for sales, you are a FOOL if you live in this area and do not. Seriously. It's like not knowing when the Barneys Warehouse sales happen. Sinful.

My dad (can he be any more helpful, hello) and C took my dad's giant SUV to pick it up today and we christened it with a snack for all when they got it here. It's actually got two leaves that fold up onto the table when it's closed (can fit 6 snugly), so you would be eating on the backs of the leaves when it's open. Does that make sense?

Anyway, I feel terribly grown up. I think we can start hanging art and pictures now. Yay.

Renovation: What is going on now?

Well, it's been pretty rainy so that slowed down the momentum on the siding a bit. Understandable. With that said, though, the guys are here, working outside in full rain gear.

There's another one here too, I think working on our basement stairwell, which I'll confirm in about 10 minutes. What needs to be done in the basement stairwell, you ask? Well, the sheetrock subs didn't finish it. Now, we don't have a finished basement or anything (give us another six years on that...we need a little recuperation time), but we were told it was part of the estimate. We gave our contractors a final check for the sheetrockers and asked them to make sure everything was done prior to giving it to them, and, well...I don't know what happened, but our basement stairwell was missing a piece of wall and never taped/finished/sanded, we had a wall in our foyer that wasn't taped, and we had a few areas that were never addressed and should have been (holes etc).

So now they are doing the stairwell, gratis. Thank God they took responsibility for something.

You have to appreciate the fact that I'm breastfeeding and I've got people knocking on my door, allowing themselves in. Kind of mandatory to keep a blanket handy for coverage when necessary.

Anyhow...what else. We've ordered our bar top for the kitchen island. Gosh, I can't wait to get this finished. We're going to use cherry butcher block, 1 1/2" thick. Big fan of Lumber Liquidators, if you are renovating...check them out. Good prices. Also ifloor.com...we got our cork floors from them.

Rain stopped, siding work is back on again. I wonder how far they'll get today. I have to say I just love the fact that all of our neighbors have complemented us on it. No one else's house around here has anything like it, so it's going to stick out a little bit. But now with everyone's feedback, I am doubly happy we made the decision we did. It looks kind of New England-y. (Pictures coming, I swear.)

I've put some thought against the backsplash...rather than going red, I think we're leaning toward a lighter color now. Maybe cream colored subway tiles, done in a herringbone pattern. But with a red grout. Would that look weird? I want to get red into it but I do want it to brighten up the dark woods a bit. I'll try to post a pic of the kitchen so I can get some feedback. (I'll take a pic once it's a little neater than it is right now.)

Renovation: Siding!

Very exciting! We have our first piece of siding nailed to our house (actually...I hear banging...perhaps two or three pieces by now). Of course, they are starting in the back of the house. I was kind of hoping the front would get done first so our neighbors can finally get rid of their lovely views of Tyvek...but, no matter. What's another week or so when it's been like that for six months, anyhow?

We decided on cedar slatboard for the house. When we moved in in 2002, we had a vinyl-sided house (ick). I know that it has its benefits, but personally, I felt like I was sitting next to a plastic house when we hung out on our deck. With plastic "shutters". I don't understand shutters that don't actually work and are simply affixed to houses for a certain look. (See the faux-shutter look. See, those shutters can't clearly cover those windows...so why are they there?)

C agreed, so it had to go.

We're using a bleaching oil on the cedar to "pre-weather" it until it weathers to gray on its own. Will post photos as soon as we get a bit more up.

Renovation: Garage Doors (again)

Jeez, I wish I blogged my whole renovation. I think it would have been highly therapeutic. You know, just as there are books for getting ready to get married, to have children, to change careers...there should be a pretty substantial shelf in any B&N to provide self help books to guide someone through a home renovation. I'll have to look into that.

So today the first quote came in for garage doors, from United Overhead Door. $1100 higher than anticipated, of course. Not UD's fault, another mistake on the spreadsheet or a mis-estimation by our contractor. They had estimated for aluminum doors. Which dent easier. So with two kids...I don't know, it would seem you'd want a sturdy garage door, no? I can just see O's tricycle running into it...basketballs...remote control vehicles.

The rep also pointed out we'll need some work done so the doors are framed properly (they are currently not...of course). Right now they are not framed for a standard door size, and in order to install the rollers, they need the walls either built out or chipped back in certain areas. Now, if you were a contractor, isn't this a lesson that one should retain from previous jobs?

We will also need to move our electric connection on the ceiling for each door back. The units are affixed at 11' into the garage and the cords are only 4 feet long. So, isn't there anyone on my job who should know this?

(Okay, if I posted during this whole project, yes, you would have these questions at the end of every paragraph about the renovation. Which would be completely annoying. I'll try to stop.)

Garage doors just shouldn't be something that's hard. Here's an entry to the garage, here's a door that fits in it. Another quote coming Thursday. Let's see what that brings.

Renovation: Garage Doors

So today I was trying to set up appointments with garage door suppliers, making an attempt to not have my contractor do it. Considering I don't really think they have any better connections than I do.

I have two coming in next week...United Door and Precision. We are looking for 2 steel 9-ft doors...nothing fancy. White, maybe some simple windows on the top. No carriage house nonsense...we don't live in a carriage house, for crying out loud. Realistically, we are hoping this is an area we can save on a little bit. Would rather spend the money on a cooler driveway. (That will be another topic once I start bringing masonry folks in.)

So I found a few helpful links with regard to figuring out what kind of garage door one would actually need, and how the different materials perform. Now at least I won't sound like an idiot when these people show up and try to sell me next week.

A little more detail on the types of garage doors, and a rundown of the things to consider.

On Messes

I was just speaking with someone and was kind of complaining about all the stuff we have; after going through the house renovation, we have so much to clean up and organize. After having O, (the first grandchild on both sides) it's really crazy. But then I thought how lucky we are to have all that, even though it's a nightmare to put it all in a proper place sometimes...many things are gifts from friends or family.

I've heard of "Bless this Mess" before...I think the more appropriate phrase is: Blessed With A Mess. See, and then your challenge is to make the most of your mess. If that makes sense.

Anyhow, I went to the Container Store and spent $250 today (jeez, that is WAY too easy to do in that place) on more stuff to organize all of us. Mostly for the kitchen. I should post before and after shots of the kitchen. Well, after shots once it's done would probably be better...not yet. Actually, I'll post befores and afters of the whole reno, eventually.