Progress - slow but sure

Kitchen before reno (UGLY floor)

Going back together

The kitchen is going back together, one piece at a time.  The floor is done, cabinets cleaned and put back in.  The appliances arrived and are in place, just need to be hooked up.  We took out the cooktop and wall oven, then bought a new stove so we'll have to redesign the cabinets.  We are using the existing cabinets (for now) and will replace the doors with flat ones & new hardware (or old if I can find any).  The former kitchen had this awful crown moulding sort of thing at the top of the cabinets and I couldn't wait to take that off.  Now we need to find someone to make a 6' cabinet with legs to go back where the original one was which divided the kitchen from the dining room.

Kitchen counter cabinet with gorgeous legs, circa 1962-63

If ONLY I could find those lights that are above the dining room table!  My Mom made those in ceramics and she said they were just vases that had the bottoms cut out.  The white ones had round plastic "jewels" in them and were so pretty when the lights were on.  Guess its time to get back into ceramics.  I always did like that......!

Old linoleum & new Fritztile

This is a photo of the original linoleum that we uncovered the first time we tore out the layers of flooring in the kitchen.  Former owners had covered over the floor with another layer of plywood, then put UGLY vinyl flooring over that.  This required an ugly metal transition strip between the kitchen floor and the hardwood floor.  Below is a photo of the new Fritztile Vibrant Pearly Winter White.  No more transition strip.  Just the way Dad did it way back.  Very nice. 

Flooring, flooring and flooring revisited...

Had to tear out the kitchen subfloor I paid to have put in last fall....the contractor used OSB, not plywood which is what I wanted.  Another pile for another dumpster??

So, my son and brother had it out in about an hour and a half.  We were back to the original sub-subfloor - again.  2 steps forward and 1 back?  I was getting very discouraged.

My son and his cousin then put in a plywood subfloor and they did an awesome job!  That is exactly what I was looking for.

Now it was ready for tile.  I had to wait a few weeks for that to happen, but today it went in!  I absolutely LOVE the way it looks.  Very pretty.  I never thought I'd go for white, but this tile (Fritztile Vibrant Pearl in Winter White) reminded me of the original linoleum my parents put in.  That had confetti in it and this has real iridescent shells.  When they catch the light they are beautiful!

Inside the house...

Living room ceiling.  Wire mesh strips hanging.

The ceiling is another story.  My son, the struggling college student needed some part-time work so he volunteered to tear the old plaster ceilings out.  Not an easy job.  Plaster is thick and heavy and I wouldn't have torn down the whole thing but the chimney had leaked over the years and damaged the ceiling on both sides.  Since the plaster had a swirl pattern to it, it would have been hard to repair and I decided new insulation would help with heating bills.  So, out it came, but not without a fight.  The plaster had iron mesh strips in it that ran across the ceiling and then down into the walls!  Well, now we had to do the walls because we might just as well insulate them better too.  By the time it was all over, there was so much plaster dust in the house everything we touched was white.

What a mess!

Kitchen

Winter is soooooo slow.......waiting impatiently for spring!

I don't snow ski, sled, snowmobile, so I hate snow.  Can't wait for it to be gone along with the cold temps we've been having.  The sun is out today and the air is warmer than it has been in a while so I know warmer weather will be coming, but when I say winter is long here.....so is spring.

Its been a while since I posted and have to say not much has been happening on the renovation.  I am the holdup though and its because I need to nail down what kind of tile I want for the bath and the kitchen. The old mosaic tile had been removed from the bath long ago, but when we gutted the bathroom and took out the tub (the original beige tub had been replaced with one that looked kind of green...), we found some of the old tile underneath the edge.  I was pretty psyched about that because I want to find the same tile to put back there.  That is the problem.  I can match all the colors except the "makeup" beige color that ties in with the toilet, sink and tub.  Yes, I was able to find a tub at a local Reuse store that matched the toilet and sink! So, the search is on for "makeup" beige tiles in 1" x 1" and 1" x 2".  I used the Mosaic Design Tool on Daltile's website using the Block Random canvas and Keystone & Keystone shapes tiles.  I came pretty close (see below), but still missing the beige (I substituted "Luminary Gold").  So my tile guy told me if I could find the 1" x 1" tiles in beige, he would tear out tiles from the sheets I buy and add the beige tile in.  Gotta love Tony - he's my tile guy.

2011 - its got to be better than 2010

My life has taken an unbelievable turn.  My Mom passed away on Dec. 23rd and things will never be the same again.  She was an amazing person, so full of creativity and ideas and vision.  She was the one I talked to about everything and especially about my house because she was there when it was built.  She remembers things that my Dad doesn't so it is just one of the many things that have been lost with her passing.  I am glad she knows I got the house.  This photo is of her at the dining room table with us and the neighbor girls back in the early 1960s.  She painted that branch on the wall.  It was covered over many times and I had hoped to uncover it when we removed the wall, but there were too many layers.  We have memories of it though, and of her.  I love you Mom.

Trees!

The very first thing that had to be taken care of was the trees.  My parents planted a sunburst locust and what they thought was a mugo pine (NOT!) on each side of the walkway back in the 1960s.  Noone every trimmed them or cut them down and the leaves & pine needles were keeping the roof very moist.  Not a good thing.  

As you can see in the photo to the right, the tree was very skinny back in 1968.