Our River House Fixer Upper - Week 15

It is hard to believe that we are into August.  Almost 4 months have gone by since starting this project.  We do love this place, and are so happy we have it.  But it has been hard work...and a lot of it.  We are sore and tired.  We smell like paint and look like hard laborers.  My hair is tinged white, and although I have some natural gray, most of the white is primer that will not wash out.  When I am not wearing scrubs for work, my attire consists of faded, paint splotched T shirts and shorts.  Haven't worn make up since when? And forget about manicured hands and feet.  Captain Man did make time for a haircut last week, as he was looking like he had stepped back into the 60"s.  I am not complaining, just stating that we are working hard trying to make our house our home.

New window spot

Level and plumb?

The back of the house with new window added

What it looked like before the new window installation

Our new window is in and it was a huge process.  This property is in the historical district and before changing anything on the outside of the house, it must be approved by the Historical Committee.  This involves submitting a request along with pictures, drawing, etc., anything to show and impress upon the panel that any changes you plan to make will not take away from the historical value or integrity of the property.  Thankfully, Captain Man did his homework and provided them with clear explanation and supporting documentation to get their approval.   Once approved, then we had to find a triple wood window (the Historical Committee will not approve vinyl windows) to match the existing one.  That was much more difficult.  He found a company online that makes windows according to your specifications, and the shipping date was supposed to be approximately 3 weeks, which turned out to be a bit longer.   So that was probably over 2 months ago.  Finally the window arrived and it was damaged.  Bummer!!!   Apparently, it was dropped somewhere along the way.  So we had to wait for a replacement.  But once we got the new undamaged window installed, Captain Man was a happy camper.  The back of the house now provides us with a beautiful view of the property and river.  We love it!

Our view towards the side of the property

Our view of facing the river

The exterior is getting its much needed love as well.  One side is scraped, primed, caulked and painted.  All except for the trim.  

One side done minus the trim

The paint color choice that won out ... Muslin, with trim being Straw Harvest.  Excited!   

A few days ago

Our unpainted living room is being filled with kitchen cabinets.  Captain Man has been assembling the cabinets this week and hopefully most of them will be installed in the kitchen soon.  I have painted the kitchen/dining room and the laundry closet.  

Living room - that's a toilet in there?

Yep...working hard to get this home in shape.   We are so pleased and we are thankful that we can do this.  We hope to have many wonderful, happy memories to share with our family and friends in this place.   Can't wait!!! 


Until next time...

Enjoy!

 

Our River House Fixer Upper - Week 14

Guest bathroom complete

Tile work in shower

Bathroom can be checked off list!

We have moved in!  The guest bathroom is done.  And we are pleased with the way it has turned out.  

It is a small bathroom, and we struggled with the sink.  At first I wanted a cabinet sink (for storage), but after looking at the finished bath, I thought a cabinet would make it seem too crowded.  I initially did NOT want a pedestal sink in this bathroom, but quickly changed my mind once I could see how much space we had.  And the pedestal sink works out well.  The bathroom is small but when you are in the room, it just doesn't feel cramped.  We are happy.

All that is left for that guest bedroom is a piece of colorful art to place on one of the floating shelves.  I am looking for a small print or canvas of the Pamlico River.  So I am on the lookout during the limited time we have to roam around the area.  It is there, just need to find it.   Until then, we are using that space on the shelf for extra towels.  But it is done!  

My armoire...love, love it!

Our bedroom is livable.   It is painted and cleaned and has a bed and dresser.  No pics to post at this point, because we need more furniture and needs some personal touches.  

This house does have a negative...no closets...well it does have one closet in the master bedroom, but it is small.  Captain Man and I both knew we did not want to alter the integrity of the rooms by adding a closet.  It would look too obvious that it was an add on.  So, I went about searching for an armoire/wardrobe.   Most of the ones that we were drawn to were expensive.  I wanted something that would fit with the style of the house, was well built and BIG!  Everything I saw that met my wants/needs were well, outrageous.  So, I started looking on Craigslist and found one.  It was big, made of solid wood, and the style was point on.  And the price....you will not believe....I am embarrassed to even say. I am so, so pleased with the piece.  It is gorgeous and holds lots of clothes!  Now we are looking for a bed frame and another dresser.  Oh, and a rug.  Once we get the room  almost complete, will post some pics.  

I am still working on trim work, and painting, and vacuuming dust.  But we are here and I am happy.

Until next week...

Enjoy!

 

Our River House Fixer Upper - Week 13 Part 2

Ready for a new paint job

Our painter started working on the outside this week.  It will be a tedious job with lots of scraping and caulking, and so far she is doing a meticulous job of prepping.  The front of the house is not quite as bad as the rest due to the protection of the porch, but you can see from the pics, this house is long overdue for paint.

Side view

The other side

 

Our front porch

The rest of our week has been spent working at our regular jobs and cleaning inside.  I am sure we will be vacuuming sheet rock dust for months to come.  After our first round of cleaning, we opened up the A/C vents and vacuumed those.  Captain Man installed a new thermostat and turned on the much needed A/C.  We waited for a few minutes, but no cool air.   We had to have the A/C serviced, but now, thankfully, we have a working A/C.  So, so, so nice after working here for last few months in the humid heat.  

base cabinets for the kitchen

More cabinets ready to go into the kitchen

Captain Man has also been busy assembling the kitchen cabinets.  We chose a ready to assemble cabinet and we are pleased with the construction, no particle board.  We went with a white Shaker style, which seems appropriate for our craftsman home.  We did run into a snag though.  We originally ordered a "pantry" cabinet and turns out...when we opened the box, the face frame was missing.  😢  But the company was easy to work with and our face frame is on its way.  Can't wait to get them installed in our kitchen! 

It has been a busy week for both of us.   But we are getting close to moving in!!!   Yay!!!

Until next week...

Enjoy!

Our River House Fixer Upper - Week 13 - Part 1

We have a working bathroom!  The tile work is complete and it looks great.  Am so pleased.  

Almost done

Grouting complete

Captain Man sealed the grout that evening and the next day he installed the sink and toilet.  And it works!!! I am so excited...a working bathroom after 3 months.   

Our guest bathroom

We still have to hang the mirror, get some shelving, install the outlet covers and a few other minor things, but it is almost done!!! 

Ceiling fan being installed

The master bedroom also has a new ceiling fan (a must have for me) and although rather ornate, it blends in well with the craftsman style of the house.

Our working fan

I have completed the scraping of trim in the master bedroom.  A major accomplishment on my part.   This room has two large windows side by side measuring over 7 feet across, plus a small 15 pane window in the corner.  Then a fireplace mantel and base board trim.  This house also has picture rail trim close to the ceiling.  It is a piece of molding that is attached to the wall, usually aligning with the tops of windows.  This type of molding was used to hang artwork on hard to penetrate plaster walls.  It was popular in New England and in southern homes during the Victorian Era.  You can sort of see it in the pic above.  

Scraping along

Moving along to the mantel

Working on the other side of the mantel

You can note what appears to be cigarette burn marks on the mantel.  The mantel had several coats of paint, one of which was PINK.  Yep, the mantel was once painted pink.  Once I scraped off the many layers, I saw lots of these burn marks along the edge.  While I was scraping, I was imagining what the history of this house must be, and envisioning the man of the house coming home from work and having his cigar or cigarette while staring into the fire, with a shot of whiskey or brandy and contemplating his day.  Maybe placing his cigar or cigarette on the mantel and forgetting about it, thus leaving these burn marks in the wood...  I know, too many paint chips... starting to affect my brain. (Yes I am wearing a mask.)

Scraping done and one coat of primer

I have a coat of primer on all trim and on my next day off, I should be able to get a couple of coats of trim paint on, and this room will be ready for a serious cleaning and maybe some furniture?  Captain Man and I need to go shopping.  😉

The sheet rock guys are done.  We were so glad to say goodbye to them...you were great guys, but we are happy to get you out of here!  Means some stuff can get finished!

Until next time...

Enjoy!

Our River House Fixer Upper - Week 12

Three months!  It has flown by.  And we are getting closer to the point where we can clean this place up.  The sheet rock will be completed tomorrow!!!  Woo HOO!  😄  This really makes me happy.

Tile in guest bathroom

Floor tiled 

 

 

 

 

The captain started tiling in the guest bathroom this week.  It is looking more and more like a bathroom now, not just a small room with a shower stall sitting in the corner.  Can't wait for a working toilet!!! 

Master bedroom ceiling painted

I painted the ceiling in the bedroom this week and it looks great.  Got a couple of coats paint on the wall and I am happy with the color...Valspar's  Malted  Milk.  This will be our color for the downstairs area.  We tend to favor neutral tones and once the trim is painted in white, I think we will be pleased with the look.  

RTA kitchen cabinets

Oh, and our kitchen cabinets arrived this week!  We opted to go with a ready to assemble cabinet and our boxes are currently stacked in the bedroom.  We need to paint the kitchen first, (hoping to get this done soon) and then the cabinets will be assembled and placed in the kitchen.  We are getting so excited! 

 

And...our exterior painter is ready to start on Monday.   She is a local artist who does exterior painting on the side.  The exterior is getting painted soon!!! 

 

When we bought this house, we knew it would take some work.  And we had a vision of what we wanted this house to be.  I think we are beginning to feel the excitement of our vision coming to fruition.  It is going to be beautiful.   

Now, it is time to get back to work...

Until next time...

Enjoy

 

Our River House Fixer Upper - Week 11

It is week 11 into our progress on our house.  It is going at a much slower pace than I would like, as we are still waiting for the sheet rock work to be completed.  It seems like it is taking a long, long time to get the walls done.  The sheet rock guys are doing this for a couple of hours each week (they are coming by after they get done for the day on their regular job) so this part of the process is slow, slow, slow.  I am ready for the final sanding to be DONE.  Then we can move on to cleaning and painting. 

Large cracks filled  and mudded

More of the same

You can see in the pictures there were lots of cracks.   Captain Man worked on the living room walls and the sheet rock guys were impressed with his work.  The process goes something like this... fill in the cracks, apply a 'fiberglass mesh' over the wall (it comes in a large roll), then mud over the mesh, assuring it is smooth, without any humps, clumps, etc. while trying to get it as level with the wall as you can.  They usually "mud" three times, allowing it to dry completely between the muddings.  Once the wall has had the enough mud to applied to assure a smooth finish, the walls are sanded.  So, the process does take some time...and almost all the walls downstairs had to be worked on.  

Captain Man hard at it...bedroom ceiling

Man in motion

The ceiling in the master bedroom had a few cracks, so my captain worked on the fix.   It took a few days, but once painted, should look good as new, or as good as an old house ceiling can look.

Scraping the trim

I am still scraping trim.  I did find a wonderful tool to make the job a little easier.  It's a Hyde Contour scraper, that comes with 6 changeable blades.  The different blades fit into most of the curves, contours and crevices.  The blades are super sharp and scrape the paint off without "digging" into the wood.   Works well.   But I still have a LOT to scrape.

Hyde Contour scraper

 

The picture does not show the left side of trim, but there are 12 edges to this one piece of trim on the window.  12!   Most people looking at this have told me "just replace with new trim".  Nope...I am determine to complete this.  I love the trim in this house, and I hope the house is thankful that we are wanting to preserve its original beauty.

Captain Man is telling me that we will have the master bedroom and guest bedroom completed in a few weeks.  He is thinking we will be able to move in at that time and work on the rest of the rooms while living there.  I am having a hard time believing the bathroom and bedroom will be done.   But I am hopeful he is right.  We will see.

Until next time...

Enjoy!

 

 

Our River House Fixer Upper - Week 10

When I say the house is a mess, I am not joking...this house is a mess!  It is filthy, dusty, and junky.  I really do not like this part of the project...the constant mess everywhere.  I want to get in there and CLEAN it up, but until the sheet rock repair is completed, it's just wasted time and energy.

Living room mess

Hallway mess

Mess in the bedroom

As you can see from the above picture, I am still busy scraping the trim work.  Seems like a never ending job and the process is slow.  However, I do find it somewhat cathartic.  It will be pretty once completed and I get a sense of satisfaction knowing we are preserving the original trim.  

One of many wall cracks waiting on repair

And a large crack needing some help

We are wanting to get the wall repair work completed.  The captain is doing most of it.  We were hoping our sheet rock contractor guys would have more time for us, but they are busy at their primary job.   So their time working for us is very limited.  The process is time consuming, but Captain Man is doing a great job with it.  Will be sure to post his progress next week.

Until then...

Enjoy!