remodel 5...

weeks 8-11

Insulation

Finished ripping out the kitchen and the tile

Changed a window to a door and a door to a window and started putting the inside back together (finally!)

baby talk...

Asher has such adorable adaptations of words.  I've been wanting to video him talking, but he mostly freezes up or fights me for the video camera.  So I'm taking a little time today to write them down here before he learns to say them the right way and I forget all about mungas and dine-choes.

movie:  munga (he has actually learned to say it now as "moo-ey" which is what pushed me to finally write this post)
yogurt:  jogurk
dinosaurs:  dine-choes
thank you:  dee coe
more:  meer
another:  a-wah
cracker:  tat-chi
hyena:  hye nina
tiger:  tigee
lion:  wyant
The Croods:  tudes
Wild Kratts:  why tats

funny ash...

I am so happy that my kids are nuts!  It makes life so much fun.  Asher has the funniest little habits. Here are a few examples:

-He refuses to sleep on his bed.  Instead he sleeps on the floor by his door with his face pressed up against the door so he can look out of the crack under the door and see what is going on with his chubby fingers sticking out.

-Before he goes to sleep, he all of his clothes out of his drawers and fits them on his arms.  When he wakes up, he walks around the house with both arms pointing up at right angles in an attempt to keep the clothes from falling off.

-He is obsessed with my phone.  If I ever leave it within his reach, he will grab it and run to find a hiding place.  And he screams like a banshee when I take it away.  

-All little figurines (dinosaurs, animals, Little People, etc.) fascinate him.  He will put as many as he can in his hands and wander around the house just holding them.  He also can't leave Nana's little Honduran nativity alone (though why it is out year-round, I don't know!).

I heart spray paint...

One of the things I have learned with trying to keep costs down but wanting an updated look is to use spray paint.  I have painted light fixtures, house numbers, a  cheap plastic Ikea clock, and...the back of my area rug!

Back in the days of red (you know what I'm talking about, right?  Red accent walls everywhere...), I bought a square, cranberry red rug to go under my square dining table.  Once we moved to this house, it migrated to the family room, since the dining was too small.  Through the entire remodel, it was our one little source of ugliness, I mean comfort!  Even though I had lost my love for all things red, it was nice to have something soft to step on while not caring if it was covered in dust and drywall mud.  After finally getting our flooring in, we needed something to protect the wood floor from the dining room chairs.  I looked for a rug, but had two problems:  I couldn't find a square rug, and even rectangular rugs sell for no less than $200.  I joked to Caleb that I was just going to flip the rug over to save money, and then decided I actually liked the idea.  Once I did, however, I noticed how dingy the back was.  So, I brought out my favorite trick--paint!

At first I tried spray-painting the whole thing, but I soon realized that would take too long, and my fingers agreed (that little nozzle isn't exactly ergonomically designed).  So I bought a gallon of cheap gray paint at Wal-Mart and sloshed it all over.  I was just short and couldn't quite cover the edges, so rather than spend another $15 on one more gallon of paint, I modified my plan.  I taped off about 8 inches around the border and spray painted it the original, darker gray.  

   

Despite the scoffing I received from neighbors, friends, and family, I persisted in my project and am so pleased with the outcome.  It has a unique, contemporary feel.  Now I want  a new table....<sigh>

See all the red (this is from our Delta house)?

Poor, ugly, abused rug.

Ta-da!

 

remodel 4...

Once the second story was framed in, we needed two things before it rained, lathing (the step preceding stucco) and a roof.  We decided to spend the extra money and re-do the entire roof rather than match the tacky, cheap-looking white 3-tab shingles.  It looks so fantastic!

 Lathing (I bet you just learned a new word, didn't you!)

Truly, one of the uglier features of the house:

So much classier!

We also then were able to focus more on the interior:  taking down the wall between the kitchen and family room and framing in the upstairs.  We'd wanted to remove that wall ever since we first saw this house!  It was so satisfying to open it up.

Before the wall came down:

My helpers:

Finally opened up!

And the upstairs gets some bones:

deciphering the bah

A multiple-times-a-day occurence at our house:  Asher screaming, calling my name, gesturing wildly, frustrated.

Me:  "What?!?  What do you want?"

Asher:  "BAH."

Seriously.  At least 20 times each day.  It is his universal word.

remodel 3...

Once everything was destroyed, it was time to put it back together.  Start with lots of heavy floor trusses and a couple of gigantic beams-

add some walls...

then roof trusses...

and viola! A second story!

remodel 2...

Once we had the permit, we needed to do some digging and demolition.  Because we were adding a second story, we needed to make sure the house was structurally ready for all that weight.  So we dug some giant holes (about 3' x 3' x 2') in and around the house (5 of them) and several trenches to lay pipe for relocating the kitchen. 

Then it was time to destroy!  I didn't realize they would just start ripping the roof off at this point, so I was not prepared for the mess raining down on my kitchen!  I was scrambling to get stuff out of the way.  It was a losing battle, though.

It took Caleb's brothers, Anson and Jacob, his dad, and two of their employees about 3 days to get the job done.  The took out the upper kitchen cabinets, demolished the 1/2 bath, removed the ceiling, trusses, and roof, and ripped off the back patio.  At some point during all of this, they also brought in a cement truck to fill in the footings and trenches and extend the storage room so we could hide where we were closing in a door.

I wasn't really prepared for what the "after" situation would be:  blue skies and wires galore!