More Madness

The remodeling continues.  Slowly but steadily.  My carpenter-friend cannot make it every day, so I usually get him 2-4 days of the week, with 4 being rare.  And he's usually here for only 4 or 5 hours each day, so you can see why this is taking so long.  Plus, I'm doing a lot of the work myself, and I'm slow.  I do all the tedious stuff--painting, varnishing, sanding, etc. 

Next week we begin tearing down the exterior walls to the kitchen and laundry room. I'm the main tearing-down person.  Tove, the carpenter, will mark the items for demolition, and he'll cut the deck in half so that I can dismantle it.  I'll be saving as much useable wood as I can, to be used for rebuilding the new deck and for use in the enlargement of both the laundry room and kitchen.  I have a large bottle of aspirin set aside, and the pain pills for my back/leg are on prescription, so my crowbar and I are ready to roll!

The Madness Continues

Remodel woes.  Everyone told me I'd be tearing out my hair.  Actually, now that most of the lumber and construction debris have been removed from my hall and kitchen, I'm breathing easier.  I love the new white beaded board wainscoting in the hall with the pristine new mottled beige paneling above the wainscoting.  That's a picture of the hall, on the left.  I'm sorting through my artwork, trying to decide which pictures I'll be hanging on the walls above the wainscoting.  The hall will be my informal art gallery, since I have so much wall space.

I have painted or varnished miles and miles of trim and molding, and last night I stained and varnished (6 coats of varnish!) the oak that will be used as windowsills for the new windows in the Craft Room and the Rose Room.  (Okay, so they're spare bedrooms turned into a craft room and a sewing room!)

And next week we begin the expansion of the laundry room and the kitchen.  I'm excited and scared.  The exterior walls of both rooms will be demolished (that's my job!), so we'll have to make sure the weather will be nice, since I'll be exposed to the Great Outdoors.

Stay tuned for more updates!