Finishing Up the Colonial, Getting on with Life.

 I think with most of us the Pandemic has effected us in so many ways.  For me, it was a reality of getting older that my life actually has an expiration date and I'm not invincible.   I looked around this house we bought 14 years ago so that I could "get my hands dirty" and renovate it myself and decided that I needed to get it finished and I needed help with it.  So area by area I will be having contractors in to get things finished up.  We have a traditional colonial house with the fireplace at the back left corner instead of the side.  There's a sun room attached to the back with a little outside patio and we have about 2400 square feet.  Four bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. 

That all sounds doable until you actually move in.  We started in our bedroom, the downstairs master.  Here was the problem:  One downstairs bathroom, a full bath that opened to the hallway (for guests) and to the master bedroom and was considered the master bedroom.  I never felt this house had a true master and it wasn't something I was paying attention to when I was looking to buy the day we bought it.  Since that bath was a public bathroom and not a private bath as most masters were, it wasn't a true master.  Well this last year we remedied that.  We cut that bathroom in half and the first half, the sink and toilet became the powder room and opened to the hallway.  The doorway that opened to the master was removed and sealed up.  The tub and shower combo was removed and the floorspace for it was added to the walk-in closet (5 x 5)  of the downstairs bedroom to add a private bath (8.5 x 5) to that bedroom making it a true master suite.  We turned it into a walk-in shower with a bench and two showerheads, a small vanity and a toilet.  It's such a sweet little bathroom and for the first time it's all ours.  We love it.  But then we had to hire someone to come in a build us a closet so we built a walk-in closet (9 x 5) for ourselves.  They built the shell but we're having to build the inside of it.  This has been an interesting venture for both of us.  Gary is definitely a "throw it up and there and get it done" kind of guy with handy work and I'm a "let's plan it out and get every last inch of space we can" kind of girl.  I want it precise and he just wants it done.  Eventually we'll get this done.  Our doors for the closet are on back order as they came in at Lowes once and were all torn up and we refused them.  This next month this whole bathroom/closet project will be one year out.  I think that's long enough.  

Now, we have the electrician working on adding light fixtures for different areas of the house.  Our living room just never seems to be light enough.  He added 5 can lights to the window area yesterday and I have a beautiful light fixture for the dining area that will be added next.  Hopefully we'll be all lit up soon.  We also are having lights added to the closet in our bedroom.  We had several outlets redone and a few switches put in.  Nothing like updating some electricity.  

We are going to have carpet put in our bed room and hardwood floors in the living room/ dining room.  This should happen within the next few months.  

The bathroom upstairs will be updated hopefully before winter.  that should complete the upstairs.  I'm not willing to hand over the reins to a contractor again so I'll contract the work out myself and order the supplies.  I wasn't happy with some of  the choices of the other contractor.  

The death of a 50 year old tree

Friday evening as Gary and I were getting ready to go out to dinner with friends we heard the most horrendous noises.  At first it almost sounded like rolling thunder but then it grew and things started hitting the roof of the house and sun room so my thoughts went to a small plane exploding and went running toward the sun room.  (okay now I understand the scary movies!) I got there just in time to see the end results of a tree (actually a huge limb the size of a tree) landing right outside the sun room and on the sun room roof.  This is the second large limb that has broken off and fallen from that tree this year so I think we're going to go ahead and have the tree removed.  This breaks my heart because the tree is almost 50 years old but it sits too close to the house to take these kind of chances.  I will never again have a house with trees this close.

We sit on 2/3s of an acrea and this limb is taking up 1/3

Totally covers up the sun room

Wraps around to the side where the patio is

side view

Getting Ready for Summer

I'm sitting in my sun room listening to the birds call to each other.  It's such a peaceful time of morning.  The sun is barely up and my coffee is hot and wonderful.  I miss my sun room in the winter.  Three seasons is never enough for this room.  I've been cleaning the windows and getting it ready this week for summer.  This is my favorite room in the house.  The roof is made of something though that makes it almost unbearable when it rains hard because it's so loud out here.  My next sun room will have a normal roof so I can enjoy the rainy days out in it as well.

Gary and I have been talking about selling our house and moving into a one level home.  We'll need to buy one that has 4 bedrooms at least again.  I love having two guest rooms when Rachel and Phoenix come to visit.  But, right now I need to concentrate on this one.  The yard is a mess which is usually the case every Spring.  I can see where we need to weed and thin out bulbs, calk around windows, clear up limbs that have fallen.  The fence needs attention on one side and in the back when a large tree limb fell on it.  We'll get that done when we get back from our trip to South Carolina.  I need to make a list of everything that needs to be done and then make a few calls to get estimates.  We need some tree limbs trimmed, the drive way repaired and three bushes removed.  I'm going to redo the large front flowerbed out by the street this year since the moles decided to destroy it last fall.  I think instead of bulbs this year, I'll put in some colorful bushes and have a few places for annuals.  Maybe we can discourage them from returning this year.  I need to clean all the windows on the outside and on the second story that's quite a job.  I also need to trim and shape my bushes in the front of the house and redo the flowerpots. On the outside back patio I need to clean the furniture and get the patio clean again.  This is our outside Spring Cleaning.

Inside the house I need to concentrate on finishing up the projects that I started.  I would love to have the kitchen finished before Rachel and Phoenix come home this year and have the staircase reverted to wood and the carpet removed from it.  I would also love to have new carpet put down in the living room.  I really wanted hardwood floors but Gary loves carpet so we'll go with carpet.  Perhaps I can get his grandmother's dining room table fixed and move it into the dining room and ship the one we have in there now to Rachel.  She could use it in her house.  Sounds like a lot but if I knuckle down I can get those things done.  It would be nice to have some of the projects finished.

I always get so excited when the kids are coming.  I want everything perfect for them.  I know they'll enjoy themselves even if it's not - but it's just my way of saying "I love you!"  The next house will have bigger closets, a larger master bathroom and a huge kitchen.  Those are my requirements.  We can add on a sun room and we will but we don't have to find one with one already although that would be a plus.  I want 2 1/2 baths this time instead of 2.  There are a few changes that I feel would make things a little smoother for me.  I would love to have some land with it this time.  I might think about getting some chickens and having my own eggs.  I would love to have a work shed with electricity and keep all my wood working tools there so the garage stays clean and we can actually park in it.

Right now I'm looking for someone to take out the center of 4 upper cabinets and replace it with glass to match one that is already that way.  I want all my large cabinets to match and have glass fronts.
Well, it won't be all my large cabinets because it won't be my pantry or the one above my oven but the ones near my sink and stove.  I think it will balance it out more.

So today I work on Rob's house and tomorrow I work on mine.  Tomorrow night I start a new class for photography and Wednesday I get my hair done and we get packed and early Thursday morning we fly out for South Carolina.  According to the weather reports we get rain the whole time we're in South Carolina so I'm not too happy about that since I was hoping to get some fabulous pictures while I'm there.  I'm hoping their wrong and I still get some fabulous pictures.  It makes me sad to think we may be somewhere we've never been and I won't be able to really get out and see it.

Well, it's time to get dressed and run over to Rob's and start working on those floors.  Wish me luck!

Sun room ... My Haven

You've seen me write about my sun room over and over but it was pointed out to me recently that I've never actually shown it to anyone.  This is the room I start my day in and many a night end my evening in.  I sit here in the mornings and watch the sky awaken with color, talk to the owl that either sits in the deep V of the large tree behind me and to my left (I usually sit on the couch) or he sits on the fence post that is just past my sun room to the right.  Either way, we get to spend a good 20 to 30 minutes together in the mornings as the sun rises and world gets busy.  I love listening to the songs of all the different birds that visit.  We have a lot of trees in the backyard and beyond in the greenbelt so we get a variety of birds and there are many mornings when I have a full chorus going on out there.  There's a woodpecker out in the greenbelt that pecks away every day.  He starts early, usually right after sunrise.  The bees and various other insects have their own symphony going on.  It's always so musical in the morning.  Add that to the color changes as the sky awakes and becomes fully awake, it makes for a beautiful day.  This plus coffee, how could a day go wrong.  I make my list of what I need to do for the day.  I read my emails.  I catch up a bit on Facebook and I might even be able to get a chapter or two of the latest book I'm reading in as well.  All of this before 7am.  Yes, the sun room may not be everyone's cup of tea but it's definitely mine.

the sitting area of the sun room.  I usually always sit on the couch.  

As you can see, I keep my favorite books at hand.  I also keep my favorite music and movies.

the dining area of the sun room.  When the kids are home we have breakfast here.  In the evenings, when it's not too hot for Gary, we sit out here and watch the squirrels play while we eat dinner.  It's such a nice place to have a meal.

As always, the cats have their places here as well.  They are very much a part of our family.  

Converting the Hall of Shame

I have been working on the Hall of Shame this week.  I swear that hall grows as I work on it.  I have almost finished one side of it now.  But, I have a tendency to get sidetracked and I have started working on the staircase while I'm working on the upstairs hallway.  So I have two projects going at the same time.  I'm not sure why I do that but I do.  Tomorrow, my schedule is to get up early, have my coffee and get the other side of the hall walls done in white. Then, I can start working with the white enamel.  I need to paint all the doors, door facings, baseboards and the fake wainscoting.  I still need to replace the door handles too.  That should pretty much finish up the hallway.  We'll see if I get all that done.  I do have a lunch date tomorrow at 1pm.  I still need to put on a second coat on the staircase rails as well.

The Hallway of Many Colors ...

Today I'm upstairs finally painting the hallway walls.  When we moved into this house we called that "The Hallway of Many Colors".  I think they used this hallway to test their color choices for the other rooms.  It had quite the variety.  In the beginning I had no idea what I wanted to do with it.  It had two small recessed lights one on each end that gave a very dim light and it's a very long hallway.  So first thing I did was have the electrician put in some light fixtures that lit up the passageway.  Oh my gosh what a difference that made.  Then I painted the walls and ceiling white just to give me a blank canvas to work with.   It's a very long hallway, I don't think I can stress that enough.  So next I built fake wainscoting out of quarter rounds on the lower half of the wall and then topped it off with a thick chair rail to give the hallway some character and break up that long bare wall.  The wall across from it has a staircase and two doors that break it up.  Having done this ... I never finished it.  So today, I'm upstairs painting everything. That hallway is still a very long hallway.  I will post pictures of it when I finish.  I do intend for it to be my art gallery when I finish it.  Can't wait now to get it finished.  Of course one the wall paint is done then there is the white enamel for the baseboards and the doors and the door facings.  Good grief, probably why I never finished it.  And, while I have the ladder up there I should take the light fixtures off and wash them and put them back up.  I need to change out the door knobs as well.  That hallway will be finished today though.  It may be midnight, but it will be finished before I go to bed and then I get to check it off my list!  Trumpets show sound! That's a huge check mark!

Maintaining a Home - Don't forget to

I've posted so much on the negative aspects of this house, about how ugly it was when we moved here, how dirty and what a mess they left for us.  This was truly the ugliest house in the neighborhood.  But you know, not everyone is cut out for home renovations, not everyone can afford them and not everyone has the patience or the ability to overcome the obstacles that crop up along the way.  I'm a very stubborn woman and there have been many times I've been reduced to tears over this house.  I do know the husband was a high school teacher who had lost his job.  Here in Oklahoma that means he was being paid low to begin with.  They had three teenage daughters and the wife was working a job to keep them afloat.  When we were looking at the house, the husband told us he thought they should have turned the master bedroom and the bedroom above it into an efficiency apartment with a spiral staircase.  I'm assuming he had intended to include the master bathroom in that plan which would have taken out the only downstairs bathroom and would have reduced the now four bedroom home into a 2 bedroom home one bath with an efficiency apartment 1 bedroom, 1 bath.  I'm not sure how that would have worked in this neighborhood of 4 bedroom, 2 bath homes or even if it would have been legal.  I'm not sure how he would have financed such an undertaking.  I think he was a dreamer and there's nothing wrong with that.  Dreamers are necessary but he didn't know how to fix anything.  Nothing was repaired in this house or I guess I should say, nothing was repaired correctly in this house.  Now, lets move on to his wife.  She had a truly gifted green thumb.  I think that's where she found refuge was in the yard in her gardens.  She spoke of the unbearable heat here.  There was this sun room at the back of the house that was actually being used as their dog house because they found it unbearable to sit out there.  I find the greatest comfort sitting in the sun room with the windows open, on very hot days the ceiling fan on low helping to circulate the air but the large trees in the backyard give a wonderful shade that bring the temperatures down a great deal.  When it's 105 in the summer it's like 80 in my sun room.  It's a most pleasant room.  Her choice of plants were beautiful, I just didn't find them practical for this part of the country.  The tall wheat like grasses near the house, we have a greenbelt behind us and a creek which means snakes, copperheads mostly.  I would prefer not to give them places to hide so close to house.  But the one choice she made was the peony plant near the street in the front yard and I love that one.  I built a flowerbed around it.  It is so beautiful.  I'm sure you're suppose to trim it, or do things to it but I have no idea what and I'm so not the garden type most plants cringe when they see me come near so whatever I put in the yard has to be hardy and a survivor because delicate anything will faint away just from my reputation alone.  But this peony must be a kick-ass survivor because it comes back stronger every year and it brightens my day every time I see the first bloom.  I know that winter is over and Spring has arrived.  That is the one piece of happiness the previous owners left behind and it brings me hope each year. 

This house has seen a lot of owners.  It was built in 1973, the year I graduated from high school.  It had so much of the original markings of the first owner still in it that sadly you realize very few made it theirs while they lived here.  It was just a stopping place.  A place to hang their clothes, watch a little TV, wash a few clothes and move on.  A house should be made into a home.  It needs to be loved, it needs to nurtured.  It grows old and worn out just like we do if it isn't taken care of.  It isn't so very expensive if it is taken care of yearly or seasonally.  Upkeep on a home is part of the responsibility of becoming a homeowner.  You have a fireplace, every fall you have a chimney sweep check it to make sure it's safe to turn on or burn wood in.  Every spring or fall you check the chalking around your windows to make sure they are sealed properly.  You walk around the outside of your house checking for tiny/small trees that are trying to take root from (in my case pecans) seeds that have fallen the previous year and you pull them up (or donate them whatever your conscious tells you to do). While checking for trees near the foundation you check your brick to see if the mortar is intact and if there are any tiny cracks that need attention.  Lift your eyes up check your siding, has it separated at all?  Is there any way that water can get beneath it?  What about the fascia, does either the siding or fascia need painting?  You want to prevent wood-rot so you make sure all the wood is covered well.  This sounds like a lot of work but really it's just a few minutes walk around the house.  Clean your gutters!!  Clean your gutters!!  This protects your roof and your fascia.  In the house, those little valves that turn water off an on near the toilet, under the kitchen sink, under the bathroom sink, by the laundry?  You really should turn those off and on at least once a year to check that they are working.  Almost all small maintenance problems now are on YouTube.  Check them out.  Get a good plumber and electrician.  I have a great AC/HV company that comes out twice a year for a small sum that does a thorough cleaning and check of my units each spring and fall.  They are awesome and to me it's worth it because if there is a problem they find it before it becomes a big problem.  Get a home warranty (American Home Shield is the one I'm partial to).  Don't let things build up until they become a problem, take care of things a little at a time.  Keep your house happy and I promise you, it will repay you in the long run by increasing in value.  I mean really, a home is one of the largest investments you'll ever make ... treat it like that.   

The first bloom on my peony bush	She's starting to bloom a bit more
We really thought we had lost her this year but here she is	Part of the flowerbed that I built around the peony bush