Reno Update: Week Ten

Our exterior bedroom door before.

I cannot believe we are about to begin week 11 of our "a-stupid-freaking-tree-fell-on-our-house-5-months-ago-and-it's-still-not-fixed" RENO!!! Seriously? Seriously!

As if closing down my retail business 5 weeks before Christmas wasn't bad enough. We hit rock bottom when my kids started worrying about us not having a Christmas tree because the dining room furniture and 25 bolts of fabric was in the living room? What could be worst than all of that? Well let me tell you  what's worse I'm getting kicked out of my bedroom. Today my husband and I having to remove everything from our bedroom into out dining room, one level below. 

Told ya! It just got worse, didn't it? Who knows how long this will take, best guess 2 weeks. They guys have to board over the ceiling with new drywall and remove a plaster wall to assess the damage from the trees impact and fix all the water damage. Fun. Good times. I. CAN'T. WAIT. 

Can you tell I've gotten a little surly. Hell ya I am, I am so totally over this. NO more lemonade for me. Today these lemons are rotten. Maybe tomorrow (or in two months time) I'll be back to seeing this massive project as lemonade. But today, it's just rotten.

The silly during shot.

It was a slow week here in reno-land, the guys just touched up the paint in the kitchen and dining room and put in 2 NEW exterior door in our bedroom!! Okay, all surly bad attitude aside, these two doors really rock my world. They are so strong and fancy. No rotting wood or broken glass. We won't tell the insurance company that a lot of that damage was there when we bought the house 13 years ago. Not that they paid for these beauties entirely, but every little bit helps. My hubby went the extra mile and told the contractors to make me happy and to put in the primo doors. I love that man!! The light that is pouring in is worth all the extra money we're paying.

I found some time to move some of our kitchen stuff around to new spots, I am making the most of that pretty window by making a useful vignette.

Since I moved the (little used) Kitchen Aide to the top of the fridge I was able to get the bread box my Mother-In-Law gave me a better home. It's needs some tweaking and some navel jelly but it's progress. 

What's really exciting is that the studio is all put away and working out so nicely. Well mostly working out, I did a really bad job with the cutting tables finishing tape, that will have to be redone. Don't you think we need a pretty new cutting mat? A giant white one will have to be ordered soon. 

OK, I stand corrected, there's some lemonade to be had!

I took some oilcloth and covered the backs of the cube book cases to make it all wee bit nicer. I love my stashed storage. A rolling rack keeps our scraps organized and the rolling filing cabinet is perfect. LOVE!!

BTW, the white bin is filled with strips of selvedges for my roman shade project!! Note to self: You gotta get moving on that!

Maddie and I hit IKEA last week so I could the chair bases for my fun red chairs. Don't you love them?

The best part of the week was the fact that I could open up the window when the temperature hit 60. Please keep in mind I have never-ever-ever been able to open a window in the studio before now. What a gift! OK, there it is, I am happy again. So the tree falling down wasn't but so stupid.

Reno Update: Week Seven

 Do you like my cottage cheese ceiling? After dark it's very Dr. Who! The stupid tree landed right on top of the kitchen roof, the ceiling really took a beating from all the rain and impact. It was a nice excuse to check and see if the bathroom plumbing was intact.

Since repairs where necessary and a new dry wall ceiling was going to be put up I figured that a few pot lights just had to be added. I can't wait for my new pot lights to be in place!! I just love the new ones in the studio. It'll be so bright and modern, and worth every extra penny!!

 We eat out all week, and now we are broke!

We'll be having oatmeal and roman till the next pay day.

 Dry wall, plaster dust and plastic, oh, my! 

It was 5 days with plastic on the every door and no overhead lights. It was pretty annoying, but worth it in the end. (I'm repeating this over and over and over again!)

 The new dining room ceiling is up. Yahoo, no more water stained crumbling mess to worry about.

 I got dry walled ceilings with tape and mud for Christmas. While out getting lunch one day, I noticed that my handbag smelled like joint compound. I know your jealous!

 We considered sticking with this dilapidated Tuscan look that 

only a decaying plaster wall can capture. 

I love this photo, the mud on the wall isn't even dry and I am as ready for Christmas as I am going to be.

While Sander, chief contractor dude, coated the walls and ceilings with another coat of joint compound, his helpers, Steve and Irving, cleared the room of ladders, drills and other unnecessary equipment. They've been so great about making sure we have as nice of a holiday as possible.

The guys left my house early Wednesday afternoon and I went on a cleaning spree. I dusted, vacuumed, and mopped twice! Then I took down the plastic that separated the living room from the kitchen and dining room and pulled out one of my favorite vintage tablecloths and topped it with the one holiday decoration that Don pulled out of the attic. 

The Studio got a new cutting table top!!! I love how big it is. They guys took a 4' by 6' sheet of melamine board and some 2" by 4" and snuggled it around Target cube shelves and an old dresser. I'll finish up the paint and raw edges next week. 

Please don't judge me, the stuff on the shelves are just put there to be out of the way. I'll properly merchandise the room soon. All I've done for weeks is more crap from one place to another just to keep it safe. In retrospect, I see that I really should have just packed more of my stuff away. I guess I know what to do when the guys go upstairs in January. Oh yes, there's a whole other floor that needs to be repaired.

As a added treat, Sanders insisted that our upgraded electrical box be properly housed. I swear I don't know how to work in a studio that is an actual room and not a DIY dungeon.

The best part of this weeks update is the lack of updates. Four days without the guys in my house has been dreamy!! I grown to love them but break has been very nice. The timing is great, Aidan is sick and Maddie turned 14 on Thursday.

Reno Update Week Two

With the slate roof finished the guys started to remove the chimney that was missing bricks after the tree whet boom. It was so very cold that day, their hands must have really been hurting.

Hey, where did my chimney go?

 And then a few days later the rain came... and it came in the house. Thankfully it didn't come in on the other side of this room where I had 25 bolts of laminated cotton!

Catching rain drops the creative way.

Reno Update: Week One

In comes the dirt. Unfortunately the trailer ended up falling into 

a sink hole created by the new sewer line that was put in last month.

These are the most hard working roofers in RVA!

"Hey! Look what I found in here!"

The guys removed all the stray clay sewer bits and pieces, filled in the sink holes 

and graded the back yard. They added about 11 tons of top soil.

Progress!!

Reno Update: Sewer

Can you see the branch that is stuck in the ground? That silly little branch took out our sewer line. 

 

The big a$$ root ball did its share of damage to the sewer as well. 

After 23 days of limited flushing and other outgoing plumbing we got a entirely new sewer line.

Yah! No more showering at the neighbors house!!

This is the most disgusting place ever!!

Irving is closing her up! Such hard work.

Look at how big those chunks of tree are.

I thought they looked like building blocks for a baby giant.

Reno Update: Week Six

Reno Update Week Four

 One horrible window gone! The old one was cracked and dirty, worst of all it never opened.
Good riddance!

Can't tell you how totally exciting it is that this stupid window is H.I.S.T.O.R.Y. Wahoo!

 The Altman Contracting crew has too much fun!!

 What a great smile Irving has!!

 Framing it out!

 OMG!!! We have window! We have windows that open. What more could a girl need? 

No need to respond to that...

 So that's why it's been so darn cold in the studio.

 Creepy space about the studio.

 Hey! Where is my roof?

 We're missing some roof, but we have some windows!!! 

 New fascias will keep the critters out of my studio, now that is damn good thing!

Here was my big surprise for Don. I gave the guys the go ahead to add a really nice porch above the door to our bedroom. A nice upgrade from the nasty metal awning from the 1950's. That thing blew apart if you looked at it funny. Irving topped it with the recycled slate. Sweet!!!

Poor little sewing machine table, it's so darn lonely. My contractor, Sander, suggested that I take it in for a tune up while we where closed. That's one smart cookie. Meanwhile, what little sewing I've done it's been done on my home machine in the dining room.

It's so bright down there now. I can only imagine what it'll be like when we have lights again. The pot lights are going to be so bright that Nicole and I will have sew with our shades on.

 I've got the guys bringing me a big sheet of plywood so I can finally get the cutting table done.

Won't that be a treat?

The backyard is looking divine, it's okay, I know your jealous! 

It takes a lot of hard working guys to get your yard looking this good. 

 For the last month we have had five big guys on our roof so it was very sweet to have

 some little hands helping out. What cuties.

 Mud and tape cover up all the holes. Progress is a beautiful thing.

Next up? Lights!!!