We've been home a few weeks now

No pictures today - I know, boring.  We moved home a few weeks ago and it's been wonderful.  There are still a few things that need to be done but the guys are on it and we know it'll be done soon.  It's been amazing cooking in my house again using gas.  I haven't used gas for cooking in almost 15 years.  A few days after we moved in we decided to make Boboli pizzas - we all had our favorite toppings and made our own pizzas.  And they all got cooked at the same time because we now have two ovens!  The microwave can even function as an oven - I used it the next day to crisp up the left over pizza and it was great.

The changes we made in the floor plan and the bathrooms have worked out better than we could hope.  It's hard to know exactly what things look like because there are boxes everywhere, but as far as we've gotten it's wonderful.  We've also been ruthless about selling/donating/tossing stuff.  The back of the van was filled with stuff for Value Village after the first 20 boxes were opened.  We've got another load as well as items for sale on craigslist.  I also finally burned/shredded my tax returns from the 80s and 90s!  Now the question is, what are we going to put in all the file cabinets we have?

So in addition to unpacking and moving stuff around we're moving into shearing season for the alpacas and llamas (that starts this coming Saturday) and the start of Farmers Market season (May 1st is opening day) and we're trying to get into some art shows this year.  I've got a bunch of fiber leftover from last year, taking a few months off from the fiber work can do that, plus what we're going to get this year so it's going to be very busy around here for a while.

I'll get pics posted soon -

Home Sweet Home

I'm coming to the end of the story of the house rebuild.  We've been home for over two weeks now.  We got our textiles last week and the furniture comes on Wednesday - we'll finally have someplace to put all the textiles.  There's some work left on the kitchen and details and clean up around the rest of the house, but we're home!  Here are some pictures to bring this up to date:

We can't wait for our furniture to arrive in another week.  The front room is so inviting, but without chairs there isn't much we can do with it.  We're definitely getting a new fire screen and we now have a ton of kindling thanks to all the trim.  We learned that our fireplace is actually very good at putting out the heat and we can't wait to put it to use.The front room is now wood floor instead of the combo of wood and carpet we had before.  At one point our crew was concerned about the fireplace, but Tim and I knew it would look okay and we think it looks great with the floors and walls

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We were hoping to use our original sink, but it was just that little bit too big.  So we ended up with a stainless sink that was similar in size and definitely fit the space.  The counter is granite, orange/black/grey and sparkly.

The kitchen is terribly cluttered right now, unfortunately there was a problem with the counter and the range - the front of the range where the controls are is just a bit too wide for the opening that was cut.  The granite crew was supposed to be back yesterday to fix it, but were a noshow.  Because the range is sticking out a bit we can't put the dishwasher in or get the drawer and cabinet to open properly.  So that's our excuse for not putting more stuff away tonight.

There are still quite a few things that need to be moved into the fiber room - shelves, fiber, setup tables, dry sink etc.  But the space is great and the lighting amazing!

We're Home!!!

We moved home on the 17th!  It would have been the 16th, but Edyk had a band concert.  There was one working toilet, one shower and that was it and I was in heaven!  The boys had their beds set up in our closet because their bedroom wasn't ready.  I think they really liked the idea of sleeping in the closet for some strange reason and were bummed when the carpets were laid down.  They now have their own bathroom and as of today, Tuesday the 23rd, everything works!

Tomorrow we're out of the house 'til Thursday because the second coat is going down on the downstairs wood floor.  Once that's done I'll take pics and possibly a short movie to show all the work and changes that are in place.

Jim, the bird, is at our neighbor's.  The girls will be at the groomers and Rorik is at "Aunt" Ginger's.  We'll be at another neighbor's apartment until Thursday and then it'll be the detail work.

I can't wait!

We're almost there -

The new paint job!

The new floor downstairs

We're just a few days away from being able to move back into the house.  The floor downstairs is unfinished in this picture.  It was supposed to be sanded today and the first coat goes on today or tomorrow.  Then the kitchen cabinets and appliances go in, then the second coat and then we move in finally!

We're working on moving out of the rental by Saturday even though the house won't be quite ready.  We'll either move into our neighbor's garage apartment for the final days or we'll be in a hotel about 20 miles away. Not the best setup, but only for a few more days!

There's also the possibility that we'll stay in the rental since it's not ready to go on the market - I love this not knowing!

Closer and Closer

My plan was to upload a bunch of pictures and label them to give everyone an idea of just how close we are to being finished.  The painting inside is almost complete, the front room needs one more coat and that will be it!  the doors and mill work are waiting to be stained and then put up, the appliances arrived on Thursday and look great.  The upstairs bathroom vanity also arrived on Thursday and looks better than it did on the website where I found it.  The kitchen cabinets showed up on Wednesday as scheduled and I can't wait until it's all installed.  The new front door should be ready this week and the claw foot bathtub for upstairs should also be done soon.  We're also having the outside painting done - this time it'll be yellow, blue and white.  Only the bay window will be blue, the rough cedar will be white and everything else will be yellow.  So far I think it looks really nice.

The plan now is to stain the doors and mill work today and tomorrow.  The wood for the flooring will be delivered and offloaded to acclimate for 24 hours.  I believe the installation will start on Tuesday.  While the wood is adjusting the carpets and vinyl will be installed in the downstairs bedrooms (carpet) and the bathroom, mudroom and my work room (vinyl).  I think we're also going to have vinyl installed in the laundry room - this room was redone mainly because it was impacted by the rest of the rebuild.

I think the cabinets are going into the kitchen on Monday and after the first coat of swedish finish on the wood floor the appliances will be installed.  The greenhouse window is ready for installation, but I'm not sure when that's going to happen.

The upstairs is complete except for the bathtub, sauna and the new electric fireplace (that we still have to get).  The sauna will be installed just outside the bedroom upstairs.  We'll have that delivered once everything else is complete to keep the mess and confusion to a minimum.  The dedicated outlet and circuit is all ready for it and apparently the installation is very straightforward - fortunately.

I think we have a few more things to pick out - the lights for the boys' rooms, the dining room light, towel racks, hooks etc for the bathrooms.

Getting Closer Everyday

The sheetrock is almost complete through the house.  This is the view into the kitchen.  The wood on the right side is where the opening for the new greenhouse window has been roughed in for framing.  Before the wood was in place the light was pouring into the kitchen.  The difference is quite dramatic.

We're planning on moving into the upstairs as soon as we're given the green flag.  The wood floor upstairs is getting it's final coat this weekend.  The bathroom vanity should arrive next week as well as the kitchen cabinets and appliances.  Depending on the timing for all of that and getting the downstairs wood floor installed and sealed will have a definite impact on when we move.  It wouldn't make sense to move in only to have to vacate a week later for the wood floor work - the smell from the sealant is bad enough that the house is virtually unliveable until it dissipates. 

Once again all my fiber work, except spinning, is on hold because the rental is back on the market and having my fiber all over the place is a mess.  So my focus until we get back in the house will be spinning.  Fortunately I have enough roving to stay busy and that will mean that much more hand spun for the market when it starts in May.

I really wasn't sure this would work

But I am so impressed with the tile layout in the upstairs bathroom!!

The center tile area is where the tub is going to be - the pebble tile goes all the way to the right where it meets the border tile in front of the shower.  There's also a small border of the darker tile in the "Throne" area and the rest will be the pebbles:

The shower will be done in a beige tile similar in style to the darker squares.  The vanity we ordered today will have an ivory marble counter with a square, granite vessel.  I hope it will bring out the ivory accents in the tile, but it'll be what it'll be at this point.

I did just figure out that the vanity we bought for the downstairs bath has not only the vanity, but the vessel and faucet!!  So we're headed back to Lowes to return the vessel and faucet we bought because we don't read very carefully.  But at least we caught it (-:

On a different note - this is approximately what the kitchen will look ike when all is said and done:

With a black and orange mottled granite counter top.  The window by the stove will be a green house window.  The view from the kitchen into the house will be:

and it's amazing how bright it is with all the recessed lighting!  I'm pretty sure that all the money we're going to save with the heat pump and on-demand water heater is going to be lost to all the lights we have now, but it's worth the trade off!

The electrical inspection went without a hitch yesterday, but the framing inspection has been delayed 'til Tuesday.  I'm not too worried about passing the inspection, but the delay is directly affecting the time table for insulating the walls, putting the plywood up and sheet rocking etc.  But my new phrase covers just about ever contingency - it is what it is.

We got the second 30% disbursement from the bank so now it's a function of finishing, getting the final inspection for the bank and we should get the last disbursement.  I think everyone will heave a heavy sigh of relief when we sign off on the completion.

Then we'll be on to planning the "After the Fire" party!

The inspections begin

The electrical inspection is happening today and the framing and HVAC inspection happens tomorrow.  After that we can start insulating and closing up the walls.  Then the sheet rock, then texturing, then painting.  At the same time the upstairs bathroom will be getting tiled now that the heating elements have been sealed.

The tile will go on top of this base and with the flip of a switch (and a few minutes) it will be nice and warm.  I think we can even put this on a timer.



The factory ship date for the kitchen cabinets was moved up significantly from 3/15 to 2/24!  Shenendoah really came through on this.  The appliances arrive on 3/4 so it's still looking really good for an early March move in for us.

This weekend the boys are going to start cleaning up the old frig.  Once we verify that it's in working order we'll call PSE to come and recycle it.  The other appliances we'll either take to Value Village or the dump.  Then we'll have the garage cleaned out for the deliveries of cabinets and appliances.  The next thing on the list is to pick out the bathroom and kitchen fixtures - towel racks, drawer pulls, cabinet handles etc.  At least with all the recessed lighting we don't have to pick out light fixtures - at least I don't think we do.

Now I have to get the receipts together to submit to the bank for the next disbursement.

New Camera, no new pictures

We finally broke down and got a new camera, the old one died a week ago.  I did take pictures, but they were all too unfocused – darn camera – so nothing new to post.

The upstairs wood floor was sealed over the weekend.  I was at the house today, Sunday, and there was absolutely no smell.  Amazing!!!  The down time did force our builder to take a day off – the first one in 29 days!  He’s working so hard to get us back in the house!

I moved the fiber processing equipment out of the barn to the covered porch of the rental because I’m so far behind making product for this year.  And now Tim and the kids are getting into the act (check out hdzalp.blogspot.com).  As soon as the work space is ready at the house everything, EVERYTHING, is moving! 

As it stands now we’re hoping to move back the first week of March.  The kitchen appliances will be delivered 3/4 and the kitchen cabinets should be available after 3/15.  We’re waiting for a quote from a local cabinet maker for the upstairs bathroom vanity.  If we don’t get anything by tomorrow, Monday, we’re going to go out and order them from someone else.

We got our first bank distribution and already did the halfway inspection the bank requires for the second distribution.  I think I’ll be scheduling the first county inspection this week – and we’re just rolling along!

And now back to listening to Roman have a cow that the Saints are winning the Superbowl and Edyk making a big deal because the Saints are his team – for now.  Plus I get to go munch on sweet potato chips and sour cream (I had this in New Zealand years ago and it’s wonderful!).

and the progress continues

This is the new view from the front door into the living room!

Yes, that's a wall in the back and lights on in the front room! That angled bit of framing is where the chimmney for the furnace is installed. The entertainment unit for the TV and stereo will be in front of that. I've always wanted to put the TV in the corner because of how we tend to put the couch and chairs, but until now it wasn't really feasible.

The downstairs bathroom is getting prepped for the installation of the vinyl flooring. All the plumbing has been roughed in and I think it's getting installed next week. The upstairs will take a bit longer because the tile still has to be put down first.

Speaking - er writing - of tile, here it is. The big square tile on the sample to the left and the angled pebbles on the right sample are the ones that will be used in the upstairs bathroom. The shower will be done in a contrasting color and the angled pebbles will be used as an accent stripe. We're going to have the floor heated and I think we can even put that on a timer so it's nice and toasty in the mornings.

The floor upstairs is being sanded today. The scorch marks are gone and where the brick hearth was is now completely done over with the wood flooring that was saved from the bathroom tear out. Where the hearth was is where the flat mantle/electric heater is eventually going to go.

The other good news is our bank, Wells Fargo, got the paperwork and cut the first check for 30% of the money for the repairs. We also had the bank's inspector out this week for the halfway inspection. As soon as we submit the receipts for the money used so far, and with the inspector's report, we'll get the next 30%. To get the last chunk 'o money we have to supply receipts for the second 30%'s use and get a final inspection when the rebuild is complete. I think we're meeting tomorrow in town to go over all the expenses up to now. It'll be good to recoup some of our out of pocket expenses.

This is Olive. She's in her "princess" pose on one of the couches at the rental. We almost lost her to smoke in the fire, but the EMTs had the canine oxygen mask, plus mouth to nose resuscitation by me and my husband, and she pulled through. The few times we've taken her back to the house it's as if she never left - checking out all the construction and people (and their dogs).

A lot of progress has been made! This is the front room, framed and now sheathed in plywood. The wall behind the chair originally had shelves where Tim had pictures of his family. Now, it's part of the closet in the hallway.

Even with all of this detail work - these metal plates are on both sides of the notches in these joists - I'm guessing that the work is almost 50% complete. In addition to these plates the structural engineer required daughter boards be screwed into place at the ends of most of these joists - that's at least eight screws per side! Now they're trying to make sure that the bottom of the joists are even so the plywood and then the sheetrock will be smooth. Yep, plywood is going up next on the ceiling just like the walls.

And this is the demolition of the upstairs hearth. We're going to replace this with an electric fireplace that will be flat on the wall with a nice mantle. We were originally going to put a small electric stove in the corner, but opted for this location instead. We don't heat the upstairs, but the lightshow of the fire will be nice to have.

More Progress is Made

I took this mainly to show how far the soot/smoke from the fire travelled. This is the wall on the other side of the bathroom. The moulding has been removed which has made the smoke damage that much more obvious. Fortunately the floors are going to be refinished and the walls sealed and painted.

Soon this view of my work room won't be available - at least as soon as the wall goes up. The entire downstairs sub-floor is now level. it used to be a step down into this space and a step up between the dining room and living room. Not anymore! Unfortunately muscle memory is still expecting the various levels so I'm constantly scuffing my shoes when I'm walking from one room to the next. But the floor contractor will be happy so it's all good.

The drain hole for the claw foot tub has been drilled and you can see it's quite a ways from the original drain (the black thing closer to the wall). We decided to move it over almost a foot to make it easier to get around the tub. We toyed with the idea of raising the tub a foot, but decided against it.

Speaking of raising things - Tim finally found out about his "throne". Apparently he marched back downstairs and shook our builder's hand for finally giving him a raised toilet - apparently it's a guy thing.

As the blue tape says this is the linoleum we're going to use in the downstairs bathroom, mudroom and my work area. I think it'll look great with the blue/green/gray paint I'm going to use. A gray color won't impact the colors of my fiber and is also very easy on the eyes and I'm going to be spending a lot of time in this room so the more comfortable it is the better.

The fun and hi-jinks continue!

As of last night this is what our front yard looks like - six bales worth of hay spread everywhere there might be foot traffic - heavy or otherwise. At this point in the work I didn't really care about the dirt being tracked in, but it was pointed out that sooner, rather than later, I will. So getting the hay down now will minimize the dirt tracked into the house AND the damage to the front yard. So yesterday I brought in six bales of hay that my sons gleefully spread around the ground and each other! The color really comes out because we actually have sunshine and warmer temps today!

My work room is really taking shape. The crew removed all the extra bits of plywood and scraps and uncovered this beautiful floor. I would love to keep it as it is, but since my felting work tends to include water, and lots of it, I think I'm going to go with some sort of vinyl floor covering. Sigh ... But that doesn't change the fact that I'm excited about having my own space for my alpaca fiber and work. I just hope there's room for the shelves of fiber, tables for project layout, my carding machine, picker and felting machine. And the sink - phew! So much stuff and potentially so little space.

The original claw foot tub from the usptairs bath. You can make out the soot stain from the fire. The plan is to refinish this in white and ditch the chrome fittings. We've decided to use brushed nickle fittings and tile with an underfloor heating system. My only compaint about tile is how cold it can be, but with the heating system underneath - that sounds wonderful!

This frame is the beginning of the toilet "throne" or platform that my husband has asked anyone who has ever done remodelling work on our house to build. It isn't impressive right now, but with the area tiled, the toilet in place - I think Tim will finally be happy. I know the crew was excited when they figured out how to do it and we're all trying to keep it a surprise - I'm betting that he doesn't read this blog, hence the post.

On to more mundane matters - the hearth and pellet stove are coming out this week! The wood floor that's salvaged from the bathroom will be used to fill in the hole left by the hearth. The stove was originally downstairs and fairly useless. Since moving upstairs I think we've moved it twice since '98. We decided it made more noise than heat and never bothered with it.

The screen marks the corner of the bedroom/sitting room where the electric heater will be going. Since we don't heat the bedroom it didn't make sense to run propane up for a propane stove/fireplace. So we'll be looking for something this weekend for that corner.

The goal is to have the upstairs ready for move-in by mid-February in case we lose the rental. and at the rate the crew is moving that should be a relatively easy target to meet - mainly because they're working six to seven days a week on this job!

So much has changed with the house since I last posted. This is the start of the new shower upstairs. The triangular burned spot is where the old shower was originally. There's a small window just above this burned area that is severly smoke damaged - you can see it in the next picture.

This is what the same area looks like today - a new shower pan that is nice and roomy for my husband. That's why he never used the old bathroom - the shower stall was too small. There will be a short wall around the rigth hand side of the shower and the side facing the camera will be a 5' door. The floor itself is going to be tile. We'll extend that to replace all the burned wood floor as well as going to the other side of the bathroom where the claw foot tub will be. We're going to put a heating pad under the tile to keep it warm - yay!

We wanted to have the entire upstairs floor heated from underneath - since the downstairs ceiling was off it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Alas it was not to be; we were at the Seattle Remodel Expo today and the one contractor that did this type of work said that it wasn't possible under a wood floor. Oh well, on to other things for us!

This is where our new kitchen started. It was originally an area we had book shelves along with the PDU you see in this picture. The kitchen, before the fire, was actually located to the left of this picture, just out of camera range. Being in the center of the house it was always the darkest area of the house. We tried everything to brighten it with very little improvement. Now we have it on the outside edge of the house right next to the two story bay window! The old space will be used as a dining room.

As of today this is what that same area looks like. The frame with the red level on it is the partial wall where the sink and stove will be. The stove will be in the corner which will allow us to have a retractible exhaust vent. The sink and dishwasher will be in the middle of the wall facing out to the rest of the house. Where the PDU is will be the location for the new frig and the frame to the left of the picture is the wall that will support the stacked oven/microwave oven.

Finally - my new work room! The frame in front of you is for the pocket door. The room itself extends a few feet to the right from this picture. I should have plenty of room for all my processing equipment, fiber etc. As well as running water for my felting.

Kitchen Cabinets and counters

That's Tony waving and Kaiser staring at him. Two of the gentlemen working to get us back in our house as quickly as possible. Tony is standing in what used to be an unused storage room and will become our new kitchen pantry. Kaiser is standing where the dishwasher will be and the frig will be to the left of the pantry opening.

To say we're excited is an understatement!

To add to the good news of the day - we found the cabinets we want. We went up to Canyon Creek after Tim got back from his business trip and were quickly overwhelmed with all the choices. As we walked through the showroom we saw bits and pieces, but nothing that really jumped out at us - until we got to Display #13. this is Rustic Hickory with a toffee glaze - I think. It might also have been a matte glaze and chocolate stain. Fortunately I have my notes and these pictures. When Kaiser gets us the measurements we'll hotfoot it back up to Canyon Creek and get an estimate on cost and shipping.

We also found these two counters, granite, that I really liked. I'm not thrilled with granite because it isn't overly scratch resistant, but I'm hoping we can at least recover the colors with whatever counter material we go with - if we don't go with granite. The one in back has alot of black in it and reminds me of zebra or tiger stripes. The one in front is lighter with a lot more brown and gold in it. Both will look great with the new floor and the cabinets.

Finally we come to an example of the potential window seat. We have a two story bay window in the front of the house. We had to remove the cedar in front of the window due to damage and rot (and we didn't want 2010 to start with a tree coming down on the house and finishing the job the fire started). This has left the front yard wide open and the bay window completely open to the light. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of a window seat, mainly because there's no back to them except the window, but even with the house the way it is I can definitely visualize the window seat now. This is the same wood in the kitchen picture, but I didn't use a flash - hence the yellow tinge.

Our contractor has asked me if I'm happy, excited, relieved that the work has started and in the beginning I was being very cautious due to the false starts we've had in the last two-plus months. Now, however, with so much work having been done in the last few days I'm excited beyond belief. I think I'm finally seeing a day in the very near future when we'll finally be back in our home.