Long time no update!

Things are happening around the Bungalow Project. But in the meantime, I got sick so I haven’t really felt like posting. Siding has begun. The rear dormer and one side have been completed, but the siding crew has also encountered the joy of illness and it has slowed things down, so it’s just taking a little while. Hopefully within a week I can post photos of a refreshed bungalow with nice, clean white siding! I am happy to report that the 4 over 4 didn’t cause it to look too much like a cape, like I had feared. It just looks clean and well-kept now. And the way they wrap the windows adds depth, so they actually look better then original. Drywall is continuing. One room is completely hung (dormer bedroom), others are coming along. We took what I call a “future us” approach to hanging it, attempting to do the full or easier pieces first, then going back to fill in the rest. I am also getting a drywall lift for the ceilings so they haven’t been done at all downstairs, and only in one room upstairs. We did find that by walking up the stairs, then bringing the sheet partly into the bathroom, then down the hall into the dormer room, we could make the corner into the pink room. So yay for getting full sheets upstairs! The floor is also out of the "kitchen bedroom" and it's beginning to look less like a kitchen and more like a bedroom. This is the "peach room"

Kitchen

"kitchen bedroom"

Actual kitchen

Dormer bedroom

There are still what seems like a million things to do. Some are smaller, like finishing removing all of the various hangers for curtains and blinds (some are stripped screws that will require more work), and some are huge, like kitchen cabinets and bathrooms (floor tiles, walls, ceilings, new fixtures). In the beginning I was hoping to hit the market in February, but old houses hide all sorts of “problems” that need to be resolved and take time (like things not being built for drywall-plaster and lath didn’t require studs to be perfectly straight and 16” on center). It seems whenever I cross an item off the to do list, a couple new ones take its place! Such is the nature of a project like this though. It is tiring, that is for certain. Future Projects might involve a little more bidding out to subs-or at the very least mixing in some that don’t need quite this intense of a scope of work. As tiring as it is, mentally and physically, it is also fulfilling. There is something indescribable about seeing this house reborn. I have slivers in my fingers and my thumb seems to be swollen today from using snips to de-nail lath to use as shims, but if I can make it through this project, I will feel like I finally did something with my (work) life. I know for some people, fixing and selling houses (flipping) is all about the money-they decided to do it because they had nothing else to try, or because they saw some show and figured they wanted in on the cash, but it’s so much more than that to me. I know I didn’t keep every single original feature (like the bath sinks), and some I kept aren’t exactly as they were (ie the built in), but when this house is done, I will be able to step back and say that my helpers and I did THAT. We brought this house back from the brink and made it into something amazing. The people helping me with this deserve a huge gold star for their efforts. This place has been nothing short of a challenge from the get-go, although I will say it has a great personality. It just FEELS warm and welcoming. The future owners will probably never give a second’s thought to what went into hanging the kitchen cabinets or fitting the drywall, or the late nights and long weeks (ok, MONTHS) of work it took to make that house their home. And I guess that’s the point, that they don’t have to. They just better take care of it this time or I will beat them with a stick lol (ok, not really, but I will get rather exasperated).

What a little paint can do...and MORE DRYWALL

The porch on the Bungalow Project needed some attention in the way of paint on the floor.  Scraping a bit revealed pine floors with dark gray paint, then light gray paint, then a dirty white paint. Yesterday (New Years Day) I scraped the floor, vacuumed it (if you ever want to feel like people are staring at you and thinking you're off your rocker, vacuum your porch in January) and mopped.

The wet pine floors were a really nice rich reddish brown and threw off my original idea to paint the floors dark gray like it appears they were originally.

So this morning I went to the local hardware store (a short walk away) and stocked up on paint chips in reddish browns and grays.  After about an hour I had it whittled down to a nice deep brown with a red undertone and a dark gray.  I moved them around.  In the sun, out of the sun, to the top of the stairs.

Finally, moving them to the top of the stairs solved it.  Almost.  I consulted on it and decided on the gray.  I'm going to do the treads on the stairs the same as the porch floor and the risers in white, since the trim is white.

So there are the befores:

And after:

And the happiness that is drywall going up!  It's nice to see, yet a little strange after being so used to the house without it:

The roof is done, but the siding isn't. I got pretty busy working on stuff and didn't take photos of the outside yet.  They are hoping to get the siding started tomorrow, depending on the weather.

More roof and siding stuff plus...DRYWALL

This is off of the bumpout roof on the peach bedroom.  That's 6 layers if you can't quote count them!

They had to take some of the siding off to properly flash the bumpout roof.  I think someone got carried away!  It's ok, since I'm getting new siding.  I don't think I would have liked the original green shingles.

This is the back of a piece of trim, plain pine.  Had to take a piece off...

...for DRYWALL to start!!

They didn't get the roof done (it's New Years Day so I told them yesterday I'd see them on Monday.  I might be working today, but no reason for them to be).  So, no finished roof photos.  Hopefully the siding crew comes soon too, I can't wait to see this place all done outside.  I really think it's such a great house, I can't wait to see it looking like it again.

We have ROOF!

Or, really, lack of.  The roof work was started today.  Even with just the decking stripped it looks better than with that awful roof.

That's all.  Just wanted to share the awesomeness.

The forgotten part of the house

I forgot to post this really cool looking cabinet that's built in, in the basement.  I would so take this with me if I could!!  Don't mind the wire, that's gone now.

Oh, and this great door too.  Check out the latch!!

A little progress

With the holidays and a visit from out of town family, not much has been happening around the Bungalow lately.  The fridge bump out/closet did get framed up though.  I've been kicking around the idea of using two of the doors from the built in for doors on the top part where the fridge will go, since a refrigerator is only 70 or so inches tall.  But then do I put shelves below?  Or just drywall?  Of just drywall, will the doors look out of place?

Hm.

New windows! And a new project?

Windows are being replaced!  It looks much better on the outside, so much cleaner!  Here are some inside photos to get started.  Pardon the mess!

As for the new project...well...not really.  I did go look at it.  This house and I have a history-I looked at in back in 2002 when it was a forclosure.  It's been bought and sold a couple times since-the timing and money have never aligned for me to buy it.  And again, the timing is wrong.  It's a LARGE brick vernacular farmhouse.  A TRUE brick house, with no wall studs on the outer walls.  3,000 sq ft of uninsulated house.  Now I know one reason it's been for sale so much.  The other...well...they say a picture is worth a 1,000 words.  First, there are some good things-like the amazing trim and radiators.  However, there are a number of bad ones too, like the spalled brick and wavy wonky foundation.  Without further ado, I introduce you to the house that has haunted me for about 15 years.