Kitchen counters is here

Okay here is the final kitchen counter, we will install the back splash this week, hopefully.

Also the bathroom floor and sink (being built)

The Bathroom with tile

These are a couple of pictures of the bathroom with tile. The floor tile is not quite finished, but you get the idea. Oh and this is the final wall colour. These pictures were taken at night so the light is bad, and the pink window will one day match the wood window.

The kitchen colour

Here's picture of the kitchen with it's final colour. The area that is still white will be covered by either the counter or the back splash

Slow but steady

We are steadily making progress on the bathroom. Last week we put up all the walls and floors. Today I finished the tile in the bath tub, pictures tomorrow, and will be putting the first coat of paint on the walls and ceiling tomorrow. If all goes well that will mean putting tile on the floor by Thursday and the toilet and sink in on Friday. It will definitely feel more like a house after that is done. The counter is arriving on Monday hence we would be able to move in then.

Week 4 (3 weeks ago)

This was our toilet for a few weeks. In other words, we drove to Bexley.




















This is the hole where you expect a bathtub.




















Things are starting to come together! Here's our new tub!




















Our new kitchen floor tile is going in. The big 15" tiles make the room look larger.





















We also have cabinets and most of our appliances. Today we picked out granite counters. They take a few weeks to order, so will be one of the last things installed in our kitchen.

OTENA

So, we have just moved into a neighborhood called "Olde Towne East." It's going through a bit of a renaissance, there is a huge mix of poverty with wealthy new neighbors. People who live there are very connected to each other and have been accused of being a bit nosy. People refer to it as "The Neighborhood" or OTENA (Olde Town East Neighborhood Association). There's even a listserv and regularly scheduled parties to check out your neighbors home improvements. Friend & neighbor Richard has designed a few tasteless, yet hilarious, logos for The Neighborhood. Enjoy!

It's ball time

Much to Jodi's chagrin Baseball season starts tomorrow.

The Red Sox's pitching is looking good and the hitting continues to be backed up by the best hitting duo in baseball, Manny and Papi. Of course the Bull Pen looks as weak as always and a few of the starters are rookies, so that could spell trouble. I would have to wager a guess that this is not another World Series year, though I think we will get a shot at the division title.

First game Kansas City, in Kansas City. Is that the Missouri or Kansas side of Kansas City? Either way we'll cream them.

Lessons for future re-models

Okay here are a couple of rules to live by when doing remodels. In no particular order

1.) Having contractors in house does not mean you get to work on your own projects while they are doing their thing. For each contractor you have in the house you will need to spend 10-15 minutes with them for each hour they are in your house. If you have 3 or more contractors in the house that amount of time will increase as you need to keep them from running into one another. Plan on doing paper work while they are all there, because you aren't going to get anything done yourself. Oh and don't forget to throughly inspect their work. The Cable guy's way of getting the cable in the house was to open the bulkhead doors and back door then lay the cable on the basement stairs.

2.) Do all your demolition, and I mean all, before you move forward. I have had to have the electricians out 3 times because I keep realizing I need to move another set of wires as I finish tearing down walls.

3.) Be flexible, old houses have quirks and wreak havoc on your plans

4.) When seeking opinions on major structural changes, ask lots of different types of people. I got advice from an architect, his contractor friends, a general contractor/home inspector, another architect and a series of friends. The most useful people have been the ones who have done what I want to do, in this case build a staircase. Also, read up on it before you start bringing people to show you what you need to know about. Though professionals have experience they won't always tell you what the do and don't know and have a habit of advising on things that are outside of their frame of reference.

5.) The people at the hardware store will become invaluable, get to know them well. Especially the old guys at the hardware store, they are a treasure trove of knowledge.

6.) Though they are good for saving money the staff at the big box stores don't know shit! Don't trust anything they say.

7.) Buy lumber from a real lumber yard. The discount stores sell cheap, warped, split lumber. It's will be worth the extra money.

Cabinets and Wonderboard

Well the Kitchen continues to make progress, as does everything else. The aforementioned walls have been primed. We have Cabinets up and tile down. The tile pictures will come later, though below are pictures of us laying something referred to as Wonderboard, no it does not fly and does not come dress in tights. Wonderboard is a flat board of concrete all dressed up in a mesh coating. Wonderboard adheres to the cement that hold the tiles to the floor, or wall.

The Cabinets look fabulous, an excellent find at Lowendicks in Newark (ph.740.323.3126). Below are pictures of their installation.

The bathroom is almost to the point where the finish work will begin, the toilet flange, the piece that connects the poop pipe and the toilet, will be installed tomorrow. From there I need to fill in the hole in the ceiling, where the old stairs were, re-drywall the ceiling and we are off and running.

I'm thinking of having Dealers Lumber mill wood flooring to match the first floor, it's 7/8" inch wide. It will be about twice as much as buying the normal hard wood floor, but it my be worth it for the looks.

Oh and a picture of the fireplaces Jodi has been pealing the plaster off of this week.

walls, walls and more about walls

Remember that brick wall that was being filled in. Well the drywall went up today. It feels nice to see something coming together as opposed to being torn down.

The photo on the bottom is the result of my friend Jeff re-building my cabinets, he took the drawer on the left out. Another thing being finished, with everything torn apart it was beginning to look like the demo was never going to end.

Oh, and it looks like we are going to be able to put a window above our back door, a little surprise discovery under all the plaster. There is a word for that type of window, but it is escaping me right now.

Mexico 2007

In what has become annual trek for us, me and some of my friends, and some of their friends, headed to Baja Mexico last week (from the 8th to the 12th of March). All in all 13 men camping on the coast due east of Ruben De Jarmillio (South of Ensinada). The camp ground overlooks a wave known as freighters (aka shipwrecks, not the one in Cabo San Lucas), generally a mushy long right that wraps around an old shipwreck into a small bay. From there we surfed in San Quentin (Beach Breaks), Roberts Lefts and Quatro Casas . The best surf of the week was at Quatro Casas a mushy head high day.

















much of the gang warming by the fire, drinking liquid grain refreshments of course

















Though behind ours the Mexican space program has to get its start some where

















Mike Davis, "The Doctor", walking the line at the Tiajuana border. He is trying to sell that spiffy Mexican blanket.

















A shot of freighters

Me, My new board and its shaper Tyler Anderson sole proprietor of Monarch Surfboards. BTW the board rode great I highly recommend Tyler's craftsmanship

















"Phat" Matt riding in the back of Seth's truck. Matt, like me, is east of the Mississippi spending most of the year in North Carolina

















More beer
















The planner and all around instigator of the trip, all props to Doug for this idea. P.S. if you are in Santa Barbara and need to buy beach wear, surf gear, or skate decks go to Doug's shop Surf Country in Goleta.

More photos of the house

Good luck! We'll see you in about 6 weeks! Really, Jim's mom has been a trooper - she's been over almost every day. She's the demolition mama!



























Our lovely kitchen almost as we found it - only the frame has been taken off the back window. There isn't much room for cabinets because of the 2 low windows, back door, basement door, door to the dining room and door to the hall.




















Kitchen with the old cabinets removed.




















Here's a shot of the back window being bricked in. This will allow us to have cabinets on the back wall.





















Here's a shot of the bathroom after we started construction. It's very small and PINK.




















Believe it or not, this is the bathroom now, but facing the hall. The part on the left is just above the bathtub, which will soon be tiled. Check out the beautiful wood doors and built in linen closet.




















Jim has started pulling up floor boards and insulation in the attic for the new stairs. The old ones were next to the bathroom and ran straight into the wall. Yes, you heard me right, the bottom of the narrow stairs ended at the wall. Now we have the option to finish the 400 square foot attic.

I'm Dead sexy

With spring lines already out, I thought I would throw in my contribution. Only the highest quality plaster dust coated green sweatshirt, accented here with with a simple gray and blue chemical mask. Hair done with plaster bits, wood chips compliments of 1224 Madison Salon.

Big Week

This has been a huge week. We closed on the house on Wednesday, last Monday Gavin met with my lawyer to propose an alimony settlement, and Jim has narrowed down the job market.

I'll post photos from the house as soon as we get more organized. We got started ripping up floors and walls about an hour after we closed. We are planning some pretty major construction, under the contracting firm of James Taylor enterprises. We are moving/closing a window in the kitchen, knocking out the bathroom wall to expand the room, building new stairs to the attic...

Jim has all of the contractors timed out in order of what needs done so it all falls into place. It's moving along really well - the kitchen floors and bathroom floors are almost totally ripped up, all fixtures and counters are out except the range hood, the bathroom wall is half down, we are starting on the wall where the stairs will go, and Jim has started prepping for the new stairs to go in. All within a couple days! I've never been so sore!

On the alimony thing, Gavin proposed to my lawyer that he make a lump sum payment instead of monthly installments. It's less than the full amount he owes me, but after the change in tax status and interest, etc, it ends up being almost the same amount. He's supposed to give a cashiers check to my lawyer today. Jim thinks it's still a fantasy to get any $ from Gavin, so I hope he's proved wrong.

On the job thing - Jim has like 4 job offers. Most of them are kind of open - "come work for me" and we'll figure out the details later type-things. He's sorting through everything from mortgage banker to manual labor/maybe business partner.

State College

A few weekends ago we headed out to State College, home of Penn State (My friend Kristen's Alma Mater), to visit our friends Byran and Jen and their adorable daughter Alexa. We visited the Nittany Mountain Winery, yes there are wineries in the Midwest, played a game called the Settlers of Catan, highly recommended, and generally hung out and took it easy. It was nice to see old friends from college and get a break from the buzz of house hunting and home improvement shopping. State College is a beautiful town, higher in the mountains than I would have expected. It had your usual laid back college feel to it, liberal, chill, and young.

Bryan and Jen own this cute Nordic style house, complete with the ceiling to ground roof on one side. They had done some great wok on it, added a 2nd floor deck, cut out new windows, added wood floors, which Bryan hand milled himself, with more to come. Bryan had a wood working shop to die for, I was quite jealous.

Below are pictures of me standing next to the statue of Joe Pa, they have a statue to him before he has even retired.

Devil is in the details

So the good news is we got a digital camera. One of Jodi's co-workers accidentally bought a digital camera, I guess he didn't mean to hit the button and type in his credit card number (who knows).

So I headed over to our soon to be house to snap off a few pictures. Once I got 7 pictures taken the camera informed me I had no more memory. "That can't be", I thought. Ah wait right there on the side of the box under "optional accessories": xD-Picture Card (it doesn't have a memory card). No wonder it was so cheap!

Anyway here are a couple of pictures of the inside of the house. More to come when we buy a memory card.

Taking Advice

One thing about buying a home that I have learned a lot about is seeking advice. I learned as much form my own research as I did from those close to me. Not to say I could have gotten as far as I have without the one who are supporting me.

I have noticed that those closest to me have no ability to remove themselves from their feelings for me in their advice giving. I'm not sure if it is the fact that they have not seen me work or they are projecting but no one seems to have any faith that Jodi and I can take on a large project, such as our house.

Here's my advice you my readers. When someone asks your opinion give it to them, but stick to the topic at hand. Don't offer you big picture advice, that comes with all of your lifetime assumptions. Your assumptions, motivation and experiences are likely to be different than those of the one you are talking to.

Welcome Home (posted by Jim)

In the past 3 days I have received no less than 5 phone calls from people asking me if I regretted moving home. The reason being is the 5 inches of snow followed by 1/2 inch of solid ice that has decorated the lawns and vehicles of Columbus residents over that last 24 hours. It's not as bad as the local news makes it seem, you'd think Kennedy was shot again, and having grown up here the instincts kick in when it come to driving in this stuff.

That said after spending an hour cleaning the ice off of Jodi's car this morning, using a hammer, chisel, ice scraper and some sort of chemical de-icer, I did fondly remember what I was doing last winter about this time. Last winter I was surfing Rincon Point and other local breaks in Southern California. In fact, if I remember right I got a sun burn. It is sure a change of pace living here.

P.S. everything is still on pace for the house. Anyone know anything about building staircases? We need a new one in the house.

Another one bites the dust

Yet another friend is leaving Santa Barbara over the cost of living. Apparently, rents have skyrocketed over the past couple of months. Our friend thinks he can get $3000 per month for his 3 bed-2 bath home which is sliding down the mountain. It was worth about $1800 just a couple of months ago. Hopefully our landlord wouldn't have jacked our rent, but you never know.

On the flip side, we are scheduled to close on our house on 2/26. We just need to get it appraised, finalize our mortgage (lender is waiting on the appraisal), and buy home owner's insurance. Then we are the proud homeowners of a fixer needing a bathroom and kitchen.

We won!

We finally got a bid accepted! We have to get a home inspection, secure a mortgage, and get an appraisal (so the bank will give us the $), then the real work begins at the end of February when we close.

It looks like a lovely place, but it needs a lot of work. On the plus side is it's 1600 square feet, has oak floors, windows, and trim throughout, and a relatively big yard (it's very long). Plus it was 1/3 cheaper than any other house we considered. On the down side, it needs 3 times more work than any other house we considered. My favorite thing is the auditor's site listed the date the house was built as "old."

Before we move in we have to remodel the kitchen and bathroom. Re-model isn't really the right word, because it needs all of the basics except for cabinets - broken bathtub, no stove, no fridge, nasty toilet...

There is a weird stairway up to the attic, which I can only describe as backwards. The bottom of the stairs run into a wall at the end of a short narrow hall, so you can't really get anything up them. We need to move the stairs in order to finish the attic someday. The stairs are next to the bathroom, so we might as well do that immediately so we can expand the bathroom when we fix it up the first time.

After all that is done we need to move in and paint, buy lights, furniture, repair and refinish the floors. That's where we run out of money. Eventually we will finish the 400 square foot attic, expand the 1 car garage, landscape, build a bigger deck, refinish all of the wood inside and probably 100 other things.

I'll post "before" photos soon. You really don't want to see it now as the seller has a bit of work to do before it meets our contract. The ceilings are falling down, walls are getting plastered, there are piles of clothes and furniture in the attic from the previous owner he has to remove (don't ask me how in the world they got furniture in the attic with the weird stairs). There was so much clothing and other stuff in there, the current owner brought in a snow shovel to push it out the door.