Still Here!

Just checking in.  We are still here!  It's been crazy around here lately with remodeling our new-to-us-old house.  What we thought would be a few simple changes before we moved in has turned out to be a lot more involved than we had hoped for so we still aren't even living there yet.  The biggest issue was trying to figure out where to put our washer and dryer.  The previous owners had the laundry in the basement.  Unfortunately, they had just put a big hole in the corner and let the gray water run out through there into what is called a "dry well," which is essentially a big hole in the ground filled with gravel.  That is slightly illegal.  We had hoped to put in a sump pump to remove the waste to our septic tank, but unfortunately, the ceiling in our basement is only 6' 9" and has to be at least 7" in order to qualify as legal living space.  Our attic was also too short.  So we looked into building a mud room out of our back porch but that was going to be a lot of money for very little space.  It took several weeks of talking to the county permitting office, talking to my dad, meeting with designers, and just figuring out what we want now and what we want long term before we could make a final decision and actually start working on the house (which is why almost two months after purchase we still haven't moved in.)  In the end we opted to do a two phase remodel/addition.  For now we are updating the kitchen and adding in a "laundry closet" in Scarlet's bedroom.  That space (which is her bedroom) will eventually be turned into a half bathroom, a laundry room, and a hallway leading from the kitchen out to an addition.  But that will be phase two.  Even though we have to wait for the addition it is still super exciting to see the changes happening. 

Unfortunately, I am not using a computer that I can upload photos so I can't even tantalize you with any of the before and after pictures that we have thus far. 
        
                               But I can tell you what Ken and I have done with our own hands:

-Ken built a new trail in our backyard.
-I have done lots of scrubbing with a pumice stone (tub, bathroom sink, toilet and would have done the kitchen sink to but we are replacing it anyway.)
-I started to mop the wood floors until I realized that I need to mop over one spot 5 times before it is actually clean (decades of grime built up.) 
-I put in new blinds for a couple of windows. (I even used a power tool...)
-I vacuumed out the cobwebs in the basement.
-Ken built part of a bridge to go over a stream in the backyard (with help from family and friends.)
-Ken put up posts to build a wire fence (with help from family and friends.)
-Ken removed the corroded fire pit and built a new fire ring out of brick from free craigslist.
-Ken and I removed the kitchen cabinets (only the upper cabinets so far but all will be coming out.)
-I removed a door to a closet so that it would no longer be a closet and we can have our electric panel in there.
-Ken and I knocked out the old kitchen pantry. (Future location of our fridge instead of having it in the dining room like the previous owner did.)
-Ken and I knocked out the wall between the kitchen and dining room, (with help from my Dad too.)
-I removed the plaster that was covering a chimney in the kitchen (with the help of my mom too.)  It is just for aesthetics.
-I washed the kitchen ceiling today, which had a lovely film of grease and dust all over.
-(Not my hands but...) I have an awesome friend who helped me clean out all of our nasty window sills and then my mom helped me wash all of the windows and screens.  (That may not seem like much but it was several hours of work.)

      This is what we have paid (or will be paying when the bill comes due) to have done so far:

-Two walls for a laundry closet (framing, insulation, drywall.)
-Bathroom tub leaks fixed.
-Bathroom sink leak fixed.
-Water main leak fixed.
-Plumbing for the laundry.
-Plumbing for a future half bathroom.
-Electric for laundry.
-Electric for future half bathroom.
-All electric re-wired (still had a lot of knob and tube old school stuff.)
-Electric panel moved from outside to inside.
-Additional outlets in every room.
-New ceiling lights in every room.
-Additional lights in the basement.
-Floor and ceiling where the old pantry was removed (for some unknown reason the pantry never had a real ceiling or real floor.)
-Load bearing beam installed where the wall between the kitchen and dining room was removed.

So that pretty much brings us up to date on what has been done so far.  This weekend we are hoping to have my dad back up to do the drywall on the new beam between the kitchen and dining room and possibly convert our bedroom closet from a single to a double door.  Hopefully we will be getting new kitchen cabinets in a few weeks.  And I better stop there on what is coming next because the list could go on and on and on and on and on.

Since the project kept getting bigger and bigger as we looked into our options we decided to stick out a bit longer at our friends house in order to not be living in the mess (even though I am pretty much there all day long everyday anyway so it sort of feels like living in a mess.)  I've been telling people for several weeks that we would be moving in within a week or two but that hasn't happened yet so I really have no idea when it will actually be at this point.  Hopefully soon..