The Farmhouse at the Maple Woods

Dreaming of a new front porch

2012-02-08T13:05:00.001-05:00

Now that spring is just weeks away and spring-like weather is already here, I'm thinking of how nice it will be someday to sit out on the front porch reading to the children or looking at the stars.

The existing porch is falling away from the house and the floorboards are rotting and, in some places, fallen right through. A remodeled porch has always been on our list since we decided to renovate the house, but it has been of lesser importance than essentials such as a new roof and basement windows.

The roof was completed last year, the windows should be replaced soon, so I'm beginning my front porch wishlist.

New columns as the old ones have rotted.

Remove the vinyl siding and replace with traditional porch spindles (which of the scads of styles possible is the question).

Railings high enough to keep the boys safe.

A simple swinging front gate to keep little ones on the porch.

Trex or other very durable floorboards. No use having to redo the porch again too soon.

Screen the whole porch in? It would be nice to keep mosquitoes and cats out, though I'm concerned about screening/frames looking too modern, blah or like an afterthought.

New front steps. Wider?

Extend the depth of the porch as much as possible under the existing roof so we can comfortably use the space with our existing porch furniture.

While I'm dreaming, I'd love to wrap around a corner/side of the house so we have a place to grill, even if that portion isn't roofed and is either open or with a orthopaedic over top.

A way to attach flower boxes to the railing? Definitely think about where hanging flower baskets, porch pots and bird feeder(s) will go.

Two or three clotheslines for drying across the length of the porch. Maybe retractable or high above seating areas. I can maybe install these as long as the carpenter gives me strong supports to which to attach them.

KEEP THE EXISTING, ORIGINAL BEADBOARD CEILING!

Paint the front door green?

I'm not sure what will look best for skirting. All I know is that I hate lattice. Actually I do know what would look best: fieldstone. But let's be reasonable about affordability. I've never seen a faux stone panel that doesn't look too fake for me, but I'll keep an open mind in case I have seen one on a house that looked so nice I didn't even realize it wasn't the real thing.

This is how my home was meant to look!

2010-05-26T01:56:00.004-04:00

Sort of.

This picture took my breath away. When it's late at night and everyone else is sleeping, the thought of shingles beginning to curl gets me thinking about a new roof, which gets me thinking about roofing materials and colors, which after time spent reviewing Consumer Reports gets me thinking about coordinating with shutters I don't even have, and a porch that is not remodeled either.

I learned that the style of our dormer is called a shed dormer. And that this 1920 builder's ad is gorgeous.

I feel like our house is farmhouse in the back, trying-to-be-a-bungalow in the front. Using even a few of the ideas from this home catalog picture would help our house look intentional. Someday.

I even like the name. The Marsden.

Further Googling tells me The Marsden was a kit from Aladdin Homes which was located in Bay City! This style was offered from 1912 to 1922. Apparently at least according to some random person posting, the home in this picture still stands a few blocks away from the Aladdin Homes factory. That tells me that the 1928 remodel of our house could truly have been inspired by this home. Either that or it was just a generically popular design in the '20s. Either way, it's cool.

Here's another version from the Central Michigan University Clarke Historical Library web site. They have a collection of Aladdin documents.

Pictures of the new house

2009-08-28T14:07:00.007-04:00

Some of you have asked to see pictures of the finished house. I was going to wait until we were all settled in with the house looking perfect, then realized that will never happen. Bob assures me you'll look past the cardboard boxes and messy closets.

Kitchen

These are the old kitchen cabinets, from 1929. They don't have fancy drawer glides or pull-out trays, but they work just fine for me. Keeping them was 5 parts sentimentality, 2 parts economy, and 1 part crazy. I think they are absolutely beautiful and the highlight of the house.

A lot of sweat went into bringing these cabinets back to life. They had a number of coats of paint though Great Grandma B. stripped them a couple decades ago. The frames had even more layers. We (and by we, I mean a little me, a little my brother, and mostly family friend Steve) spent hours stripping the doors and drawers over the winter in my parents' farm shop. Many gallons of stripper went into the restoration. Then Steve sanded, primed and painted them. I wanted them to be the color of butter.

I took on the cabinet hardware. I think I could have found suitable replacements to mimic the old style, but once I counted them up I realized it would get really expensive even if they were only a few bucks apiece. I tend toward keeping the old anyway, but these were in rough shape so I wasn't sure if I could. First I stripped them in my crock pot (see the old post about that). Then Addy, Bob, Mom and I used Brasso to clean them up. Finally I found a Rust-Oleum Hammered Copper spray paint and gave them a few coats. Finding new screws was as much a challenge as anything. That alone cost $50. There are 344 screws in the hardware!

Pat did some retrofitting of the cabinets to accomodate space for the dishwasher.

There are four recessed lights in the room, plus a vintage porcelain keyhole lamp over the sink (original to the house, but was in a different location) and the vintage light in the middle of the room that I found in my parents' garage. My brother-in-law enlisted Keystone Antiques in Marshall to find the missing parts for the fixture.

This is the opposite wall of the kitchen, with new cabinets. The house originally had a wood stove in the kitchen and refrigeration was accomplished by lowering butter and eggs to the basement through a pulley system in one of the kitchen cabinets (yes, I kept it!). Over time, a fridge and stove were added but with nothing built in and no cabinets around them. We added these few Michigan-made Merillat cabinets. Originally Pat was going to build some to match the old, but I decided I wanted contrast -- that look of the kitchen being added to over time -- and some stained wood.

The close-up is of the iron maple leaf and twig knobs and pulls that Addy spotted in a big box store. The flooring has faint leaves in it, including accurate sugar maple, and the counter top is a crackled brown that I'm pretending looks like a crackly fallen leaf after a long winter.

The breakfast nook is just off the kitchen. I wanted the chimney to be exposed. The arch was originally the opening between the living and dining rooms, but we opened up those rooms so they're used as one. This arch is such a beautiful feature of the house that we didn't want to lose it. Moving it here became the ideal solution. We bumped into what was a downstairs bedroom to steal space for this nook.

Bathroom

The vanity is the same as the kitchen cabinets and the countertop is the same crackled brown.

You can't see how pretty the vanity light is, but I think it is and I paid $4 for it at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Living room

It's hard to show in pictures how we opened up the space between the living room, dining room and kitchen when I can only show you choppy pictures of one part of the area at a time. At left is the entryway into the living room. I didn't want dirty shoes on the new carpet, so the entry is tiled with remnant tile from a furniture and flooring store.

At right are the kids in as much of the living room as I could get into one picture. It has a ceiling fan in the middle (currently awaiting rewiring) and two pendant lights so we can sit and read.

Dining room

The dining room and living room are now basically one big room with only a header dividing them. We painted and carpeted them the same.

Someday this will be where we have a buffet, a nice dining table and maybe a china cabinet, but for the next 18 years it is our crowded school room full of books, puzzles and science kits.

This arch was the walkway between the dining room and kitchen. That's all opened up now, so I asked Pat to set this out in front of the wall. I call it a wall niche. Eventually a nice portrait will hang in it.

Office

Ooh, I can't believe I'm showing you this. I still need to manage my computer cords and this room is chock full of unopened boxes waiting for me to put things away.

Hall

This was an enclosed stairway, so we opened it up. The house feels so much more open now. The stained glass window once hung in Maggie and Dick's house. When I mentioned the idea of using a transom window to get light to the dark hallway, they offered this. It looks perfect and we are thankful.

The quilt was a wedding gift from my sister Beth, which was completed in time for our 5th anniversary.

Bathroom

We took a very small bedroom and existing bathroom and turned them into one bathroom/laundry.

The maple leaves in the tub surround tile are made from leaves from the woods. I mailed them to an artist in Washington that I found on Etsy.com and he made these in exchange for some maple syrup. Aren't they fabulous?

I call this Bob's shower, because he's usually the only one to use it.

We love having the laundry upstairs. It only made sense to us to have the washer and dryer right where we dress. Now the laundry gets done since it's not hidden in the basement!

Master bedroom

Our room is long and narrow, but it's the biggest room in the house. I love the orange (it's called Chivalry Copper). I'm glad I ignored everyone who told me to paint the house a single neutral color for now. I know I never would have gotten to adding color in the future. I have kids underfoot! So we spent the time upfront and painted every room a fairly bold color.

The closet and sewing room was once a small bedroom. Pat opened it up so it adjoins the master bedroom. You don't get to see the sewing room half of it yet because it is all cardboard boxes so far.

Girls' bedroom

I had Pat do double closet rods with Addy's clothes on top and Dori's on the bottom.

Guest room

The main feature in the guest room is the wardrobe that was built for Great Aunt Lillian and lifted into the house through an upstairs window. I love it. We also exposed the chimney in this room. Other than that the room is empty until we get our twin beds from Reed City and do some shifting around of beds.

So that's most of the house! I'm not allowing you to see the mudroom until I unpack the boxes in there. I also strategically positioned the camera to avoid showing you other boxes throughout the house, so when those are taken care of I'll take more pictures later.

Moving ...

2009-08-07T07:35:00.000-04:00

... today!

Thankful

2009-08-06T14:38:00.003-04:00

I'm almost overwhelmed with the amount of work ahead of us as we finish our last bits of packing and move everything we own into the house.

I'm also thankful. One of my brothers will be helping us move, and bringing a family friend. A sister and her husband are coming to help and feeding the crew lunch. A nephew will join us Saturday. A neighbor offered to help. My mother-in-law will watch the girls and feed us dinner while my father-in-law helps with the boxes.

Others would make it if they could.

We are blessed.

Still to pack

2009-08-03T13:17:00.007-04:00

If I don't make a list, it doesn't get done. I still need to pack:

Items in sewing cabinet.
Stray items in office.
Computer! (wait until last minute)
Seal up boxes in office closet.
Top cupboard in hallway.
Fabric in hall closet.
Take apart the swingset.
LLL stuff.
Stray items from bedroom.
Put clothes Bob and I need this week into big blue suitcase.
Put clothes girls need this week into little pink suitcase.
Items from top of Addy's dresser.
Jewelry boxes.
Outgrown clothes in basement.
Clothes near washer/dryer.
Cleaning supplies on basement shelves.
Items above kitchen pantry.
Cookbooks.
Food from pantry. (Continue to eat up what's in fridge and freezer.)
Last year's school books.
Miscellany from basement.
Clothespins and other laundry items.

My tiles are done!

2009-08-03T13:05:00.002-04:00

I found an artist in Washington state on Etsy.com to make three maple leaf tiles for the bathtub surround. I'm trading for syrup. The tiles are done and will be shipped out soon. I can't wait to see them.

I sent him a stack of leaves from the Battel maple woods, so they will truly bring the woods into our house.

I think I managed to do a good job of getting the maples into the house as I wanted, yet without going overboard. The vinyl flooring has subtle maple leaves (among others) in it. The knobs on the new kitchen cabinets are maple leaves. The new kitchen cabinets and the bathroom cabinets are made of maple. The rooms are all painted the colors of autumn leaves, but toned down. The metal all over the house is a deep bronze, which reminds me of a tree trunk in winter (or the humusy material under the leaves year 'round). The shower door is a leaf pattern, though it's fairly abstract and not necessarily maple. I have two different styles of maple leaf curtain rods to go in some of the rooms. Anita gave me a cute maple tray, and Beth gave me some framed leaves and some cool steel leaf cut-outs that I may hang on the barn door. And that's all!

I'm not going for kitschy, so I will leave it at that and promise not to add more maple.

I am so sick of packing

2009-07-31T21:44:00.003-04:00

I feel like I have accomplished a lot, yet there is still more to do. Bob has been taking some loads over to the farmhouse so we can at least move around this house without so many boxes in the way.

So far I've filled 4 large boxes for the yard sale. Yay! Dejunked house, here I come.

We thought we were immune.

2009-07-31T14:05:00.002-04:00

Turns out that when people tell you your project will go up to 25% over budget and take longer than expected, they were right.

We thought we were immune.

We were not.

Moving date is now firm!

2009-07-31T14:02:00.002-04:00

We're moving into the house Aug. 7.

We'll get the U-Haul truck Thursday afternoon and load as much as we can. We'll work all day Friday, and again Saturday morning. We'll take a break Saturday afternoon to attend a friend's wedding, then probably have more to do again on Sunday.

Then I will take a long nap.

Almost done!

2009-07-26T01:43:00.010-04:00

So much has happened since I last posted! We've been busy finishing up the details of the house and packing for the move.

Here's what is left to do:

Final building department inspection!
Wash windows, including window frames.
Mount recharge station in mudroom.
Figure out shelving/hooks/cubbies for mudroom storage.
Hang temporary curtain in downstairs bathroom (need a 24" tension rod).
Fix oversized electrical boxes behind three porcelain wall sconces (girls' room and guest). Also fix sewing room ceiling. (Leigh coming Tuesday.)
Repaint what Leigh fixes.
Touch up copper paint along baseboard in downstairs bathroom.
Touch up oops paint spots on all ceilings.
See what's in box from cabinet company that's sitting on 18" kitchen cabinet and install.
Wipe clean inside of kitchen cupboards.
Make sure plumber finished downstairs bathroom sink sprayer and dishwasher installation.
Turn on water heater (when it's inspected Thursday morning ask how).
Clean vintage light fixtures that are already installed.
Wait for Rejuvenation package to arrive (expected July 31) and install beaded chain fixture.
Recoat trim under stair railings.
Touch up golden fleece paint around stair railings and edge trim.
Install stair railing for final inspection. Tighten handrail on left.
Decide on internet service and arrange for installation.
Wipe clean bathtub.
See what's needed for new plugs on stove and dryer.
Touch up blue paint around stained glass window in girls' room.
Pick up any loose hardware around the house.
Clean up linoleum scraps.
If time, cut linoleum scraps for under sinks.
General cleanup.
Clean off front porch.
Empty kitchen and upstairs bathroom cabinets.
See what's wrong with vintage kitchen light (one of three bulbs not working).
Install mailbox.

In preparation for the move:

Green table is 34" wide. Check to see if there's enough space for comfortable seating in breakfast nook.
Measure stairway to see if queen bed will fit upstairs (bed is 5' wide). If not, either devise complicated pulley system, dangerous ladder or loader tractor scheme, or panic.
Double check width of downstairs bathroom. Room for huge open pantry (4'1" wide)? Also consider height.
See if mudroom door will swing open wide enough with pantry in front of window (would start 11" from door and is 17" deep).
See how long dining room wall is along stairwell. How many inches of bookcases will fit before it's open to railing?
Line up U-Haul, vehicles and helpers.
Hang room layouts so everyone knows what goes where.

Fat chance we'll have time, but if we do we should ...

Repaint the green table legs to high-gloss Jersey Cream. Edge trim semi-gloss Dover White.
Paint the preschool locker unit to match the dining room (either Blonde or semi-gloss Dover White).
Hang pegboard in sewing room.
Maybe repaint girls' closet doors correct Superwhite color if time.
Stain the mailbox post.

Toady McToad came to visit

2009-06-17T08:28:00.003-04:00

We've had the first toad on our kitchen floor. Addy found it in the yard and brought it in to show me. I'm sure it is the first of many.

Meanwhile the house is really looking like a home again. All ceilings are painted and all walls have one coat of paint. The girl's bedroom is finished except for electric, including final paint and carpet. The hallway and stairs are the same, except for railings. Our bedroom and closet need the final wall paint (trim is done), then the carpet being stored in the shed will be ready to install. Later Pat will put closet shelves and rods in both rooms.

The office has carpet, but not trim. The guest room has carpet and trim, but I need to paint the trim and the final wall coat. (I'm scared! I don't want to drip on the beautiful carpeting! I have drop cloths, but still.)

In the upstairs bathroom the cabinets are all in, flooring is installed, and tub and shower have been installed for awhile now. Yesterday the plumbers installed the shower door and it is as beautiful as I had hoped. Pat is finishing the tiling around the tub, and the Wisconsin artist will make the three maple leaf tiles to fill in the spaces Pat left for them. Once baseboard trim and trim around the window by the bathtub are done, I'll finish painting.

Most of the downstairs has farther to go. It needs all the trim, final paint and carpet. The vinyl is already installed from the mudroom through the bathroom, nook and kitchen.

Steve has been at the house the last two days. He's working on ceramic tile in the living room entryway. I found some nice boxes of remnant tile for $11 per box (99 cents per square foot), which was about a 90% savings from their original price. There was plenty to do the entry and we wouldn't have done it if we hadn't found such a good price. Hopefully it will protect the living room carpet when people come in with dirty shoes from the front porch.

Steve also worked more on painting the kitchen cabinet frames. Pat made the dishwasher opening, cut out the one small bin and matched the curve on the other side of the kitchen sink last week. He raised the countertop and got the countertops installed.

Bob brought back the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers last week that Steve had stripped and painted. Next they will be installed. Pat has to do some work to cut down the door that the dishwasher now replaces, make a new door to replace the large broken bin, etc.

I found a Rust-Oleum Hammered finish spray paint for the cabinet hardware and it looks great. We chose Copper, which looks really sharp. I put silicone spray on the backs of the turn knobs and they should be fine. Finding replacement screws was much harder than I expected. The originals are a #4 flathead brass screw, 5/8" long. And I needed 344 of them! Brass was a little harder to find than silver metals, #4 is a little less common than #6, and I never did find 5/8". I bought some 1/2" and some 3/4" inch and am hoping it works. I'm afraid the shorter will pull right out since the holes are established and that the longer will poke through the back. If that all fails, I have a source in Midland I can try for the exact right size.

Our other problem this week is so far off that it's almost funny. I ordered a U.S. Marble sink and countertop through Mortimer. It was supposed to have the one center faucet hole drilled, then a second hole off to the side for the soap dispenser. Despite Ashley's careful drawing and description, they managed to drill the hole wwwaaaaayyy off to the side, like at the edge of the countertop. So weird. I'd be mad if it weren't so crazy. They'll redo it, but it will be the beginning of July before we get the new one. A piece of paper was laying on the bad sink top when I saw it in our bathroom, so I only noticed that the soap dispenser hole was not by the sink area and thought they just missed it altogether. I was about to tell the plumber that I needed to have that taken care of when he told me my soap dispenser hole wouldn't work because it would be inside a drawer. That's when he lifted the paper and showed me the hole wasn't missing; it was just severely misplaced.

Oh, and we also need a new water pump. That's probably the most expensive news we've had in awhile, but neither Bob nor I was the least bit surprised given the age of everything.

Paint

2009-06-04T23:14:00.003-04:00

We continue to paint. And paint. And paint.

Today I worked on more Kilz primer on wood trim and on painting the first coat of the upstair hall doorways. I also filled the stairway holes. It doesn't look like much progress, but we're getting there.

Vote for Addy's picture in farm photo contest!

2009-05-18T13:31:00.003-04:00

When Addy isn't playing in the maple woods or the hay loft, her other favorite place is in the barn at my family's dairy farm with Uncle Duane. Duane snapped a beautiful photo of Addy with a red-and-white Holstein calf this winter.

If you can, please take a second and vote here for Addy's photo to win the contest. The deadline is May 25. (Click on "Vote today!" Then Begin Survey. Hers is photo 5, child relaxing in straw with calf.)

29 gallons of paint on the wall, 29 gallons of paint on the wall ...

2009-05-18T10:54:00.003-04:00

... take one down, pass it around, 29 gallons of paint on the wall.

That's our tally so far: 29 gallons of primer and paint applied to the interior.

My wrists hurt.

I figure it will be about 40-50 total gallons when we're done.

Yesterday's progress: All ceilings are done with two coats. Basement entry is completely done. Bob finished the lower part of the hallway (only the upstair was ready before). Underside and edge of a few stud walls have one coat of white to separate the colors that will be on either side. Kitchen walls are cut in and have one coat.

To-do list: Living room and dining room walls. Then I'll see what colors we have plenty of and decide what to do in the office, mudroom and downstairs bathroom. I also want to see how the Blonde looks in the living and dining room before deciding.

All primed

2009-05-18T10:49:00.002-04:00

As of Saturday, May 16.

The downstairs is now all primed. Bob and I worked 10 hours today painting. In addition to the priming, we got the kitchen, dining and living room ceilings painted with the first coat of Dover White.

The whole house took 15 gallons of primer.

Tomorrow after church our goal is to get two coats on all the downstairs ceilings and one coat on the kitchen walls. Of course this all has to be done in time to get back home and watch the Survivor finale.

Loving my carpet deals

2009-05-18T10:42:00.003-04:00

Deal #1:
Beautiful sage green carpet with ivory leaves, 12x17', $200 from Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Looks marvelous in the guest room, and there is enough left do to the office with minimal seaming. Spent the same as I was planning for a poor-quality remnant from local carpet store.

Neighbor man who installed it deemed it "very good."

Bonus: Brand new with absolutely no signs of fleas, stains, crime scene blood or anything else I feared.

Deal #2:
Golden, plush, Mohawk remnant 12x20' from flooring store one town away. Will be just right in our bedroom and adjoining sewing room/closet.

Was planning to pay $300 for a nice carpet, but not the style I wanted, from local store. This was marked $279. Went to pay for it and was charged $213 including tax.

Somebody pinch me

2009-05-16T04:31:00.002-04:00

We're at a stage with the renovation project that I didn't think I'd ever see. We have some color on the walls, one piece of carpet lying on a floor, and decisions made about the rest.

All winter long the house looked like a skeleton. We knew Pat was working hard on the rough-in and beefing up the structure, but they were all tasks that took time and didn't look a whole lot different from week to week unless you knew what to look for. Some fresh lumber appeared here and there every time we stopped by the house, which contrasted against the old.

Now we've reached the stage where every step makes the house look much more like a house. This week Leigh taped, mudded and sanded the downstairs. Pat subcontracted him to do this work while he focused on other things. Pat built the tub surround. The plumber was out to install the tub (Am I dreaming? The girls and I are super excited!). I picked out tile for the tub surround and apron, and even found an artist in Wisconsin who will make me three custom tiles with impressions of actual Battel maple leaves in exchange for some syrup. I might have him do two maple and one tile from the huge white pine by the road.

I actually wrote a check for 50 percent down on most of the vinyl and carpeting. I kept holding off in case I found a better carpet remnant for any of the rooms, though Bob didn't see why I couldn't just make a decision.

Last week Bob and I went to B.C. to get more paint. We had to take a detour and I noticed a Habitat for Humanity ReStore with a sign advertising a great bargain on brand new laminate flooring. I was disappointed to see that while it was a very nice value and enough for our living and dining room, all the stacks had SOLD on them. Instead we walked out with a brand new piece of 12x17 carpet that is perfect for the guest room. It's exactly the right color -- in fact the same sage color we had just painted the room earlier that day -- with pretty ivory leaves. It's a nice low-pile plush. The cost was the same as I would have paid for the much lower quality sage remnant I had picked out at our local carpet store. I think there will even be enough to do the office.

The first week of May we spent painting, painting, painting. Diane had the week off work, so the girls were with her from mid-morning to late evening most days. Bob was in the fields doing some test plot planting much of the week, so I painted upstairs while Leigh and Pat worked on the house in other ways.

Yesterday was a big day for the old house. Leigh sanded all the drywall and finished up the downstairs, so all walls are ready for us. Bob couldn't plant because of more recent rains, so he took the day off. We loaded up the girls in the morning and arrived at the house to meet up with the tree service. They took out the two big, dying maples by the front porch along the driveway. It was sad to see them go, but Mark was watching them and said many of the logs were rotted out inside. We had asked them to round up our bill to $1,000 and grind out as many stumps as they could for the price. They were able to remove everything in the front yard and side yard, and were charitable in throwing in a couple to have those areas completely cleared out. They said that price didn't include clean-up of the wood chips, which was fine with us because we could have taken care of it with several wheelbarrow loads. However, they had the equipment there to clean up the wood chips from the two big trees anyway, so they were kind enough to just take some scoops and do it anyway. Watching the two robot stump grinders at work was pretty cool.

Bob took the old linoleum floor out of the guest room yesterday in preparation for our neighbor, Tony, to install the carpet. He also pulled out the half of flooring that was left in the girls' room. Some old issues of the C.C. Chronicle and S. News were under the floor as padding. Bob found one from about 1983 advertising Return of the Jedi. He first noticed that X-rated movies were advertised right in the paper then. Wouldn't see that in a small town paper today.

Yesterday afternoon I dropped the girls at Brenda's house without warning and she was nice enough to let them stay for several hours while Bob and I worked. They painted fingernails and found morels in her yard.

We put the first coats of wall paint on the upstairs bathroom and our bedroom, so now everything upstairs has a completed ceiling (at least the ones that are white) and one coat of walls. While I went to order tile and scout out another carpet deal, Bob primed the kitchen. I joined in to help cut in the dining room and finish the breakfast nook. I also wore out my arms using Pat's wet/dry vac to suck the sanding dust off the drywall. I still have to do the office and mudroom/bathroom. This weekend we hope to get the downstairs all primed. I think we can get the ceilings all painted our Dover White, and I hope to get the kitchen walls covered with one coat so Pat can install the few new cabinets we're adding on a partial wall that have been in at the lumberyard for a few weeks now.

Yesterday it was fun (OK, tear-inducing) to see that Pat put up more of the old doors. He was able to adjust some of them to use for the pocket doors upstairs. The pocket doors are so much more space-saving than swinging doors would have been, but I wasn't eager to see plain, hollow-core doors hanging in them. Those are nice, but just don't fit the look of the farmhouse. That he made these work is so wonderful to me. He even used them for the girls' closet doors. He had to do some trimming on some, and adding on others. They all are in desperate need of new paint jobs anyway, so we'll paint over the changes. We have to decide whether to strip off some of the old paint for a smoother surface to fill in some dents and dings, or to just scrape off chips and paint over them. It's not my biggest priority right now. Because they're hanging, they're out of the way and we can always pull them down later to paint.

My only disappointment was to learn that Bob had burned the original front and back entry doors with the nine panes of glass. I thought he was kidding. I mentioned that seeing how Pat was able to use the interior doors for the upstairs pockets, maybe he could use two of those together for the wider kitchen pocket door. Bob said, "You don't mean the ones I burned, do you?" I couldn't believe he wasn't pulling my leg. He says I must have told him, and there had to have been some miscommunication because he wouldn't have done it without asking. I had planned to use one for a bench project I saw in a magazine, and even saved an old table for the legs. I wonder if I asked him to burn the junk on the front porch and he thought those were included. It's no use getting upset because he didn't realize I wanted them and they're gone now.

It's almost dawn now, and Addy has a soccer game scheduled. It's raining, so we'll see what happens to the game. Our plan was to take the girls to Brenda's after soccer so we could paint all day. If soccer is cancelled, maybe we'll just take them earlier.

Bought the primer

2009-04-27T00:25:00.003-04:00

Yeah, Bob was thrilled when he pulled up with the van to see the Sherwin-Williams guy hauling three 5-gallon buckets of primer out for us on a dolly. It is a little overwhelming to see that much paint at one time, and to think that we have to apply it all.

This is only about half the primer we'll need for the house. The very helpful assistant manager Rick estimated we'll need 20-30 gallons to prime the whole house. I don't even want to know how much actual paint we'll need. I'm not ready to hear that yet.

Much of the house has drywall, but not all of the downstairs is done. Bob asked Pat to focus on taping, mudding and sanding the upstairs so we can have something to get started painting while Diane has a week off work. He's working away at it, then he'll go back to finishing the downstairs drywall.

I think I have most of our carpet picked out, so I'm safe to pick out paint colors now. I narrowed it down from 1,000 in the sample book to about 300 of my favorites. Sheesh. From there I now only have about a dozen top choices for each room. Gee I can make a process long and tedious.

Color is important though. There is a lot to consider. Really.

Energy efficiency

2009-04-23T11:24:00.002-04:00

Someone asked if we've made energy efficiency upgrades to the house. We have upgraded the efficiency of the farmhouse a great deal.

There was no insulation before, and now it is very well insulated with spray foam on all walls and batting in the attic, with a little poured insulation behind a wall of 1920s kitchen cabinets we’re restoring.
There is now a vapor barrier under the drywall on the top floor. The windows were vinyl and about 10 years old, so we’re keeping those, but have tightened up the installation to prevent gaps and air leaks.
We replaced the old wood doors with energy efficient steel doors.
For now we’re keeping the fuel oil furnace (only 2 years old), but a high-efficiency model and/or an outdoor wood burner are in our future plans when we can save for them.
The house has all new duct work, which should make the distribution of heat more efficient.
Just yesterday we picked up a new water heater from our electric co-op through their program that gives us a monthly credit in exchange for them putting a control on it.
We’ll be buying a new water softener and dishwasher, and we’ll purchase energy efficient models.

Getting the water heater into the house was a real challenge for Bob yesterday. He called me to tell me it's basically the size of a small refrigerator. I had no idea. The co-op lifted it onto the truck with a forklift. He and Pat wrestled it off the truck and into the house with a dolley. Today they'll get it into the basement, with hopefully no steps that lead to hernia surgery or cracked skulls.

This is where we were meant to be

2009-04-18T15:10:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting in the sugar shack, chatting with my father-in-law about an upcoming school presentation. I can see Bob out the window driving the tractor, taking loads of scrap wood out back to burn. The girls have been wandering the woods and now are going to see if Daddy has time to play. They'll probably end up in the hay mow.

I can smell the thick, sweetness of syrup now that the kettles I'm watching are closer to a boil. It's masking the unfortunate odor of squirrel pee. This is their woods, too, and they have been into the woodpile. Addy had deposited a collection of leaves on the counter in front of me. The oniony leek smell is still faintly detectable although she ran off gnawing on the leaf half an hour ago. Outside it just smells like a spring wood -- humusy, thick, woody, a little fresh now that the trout lily leaves are fully emerged.

I don't see the girls any longer, so that likely means they've talked Daddy into a break from cleaning up the farmstead.

I don't much have to worry about them out here. Our neighbors across the road are homeschoolers with kids who love to play with ours. Down the road are a few Amish families, then of course Grandma and Grandpa are half-mile the other way. We do have the ATV-riding, doing-donuts tearing-up-the-road family in between, but it's probably better than our current neighbor in town, whom Grandma P. had dubbed Muscle Man. We even have grazed Holsteins to the northeast, and our neighbor to the north sold us our used lawn tractor and will install our carpet.

This is where we were meant to be.

The stairway and upstairs hall

2009-04-09T21:42:00.006-04:00

Restoration Hardware San Sebastian 13" flushmounts, two of these

Paint is Sherwin Williams Golden Fleece

Stairway railing and spindles will match those downstairs

The mudroom

2009-04-09T21:37:00.011-04:00

Restoration Hardware Turner 15" flushmount, style pictured but in Oil-Rubbed Bronze like swatch

Light down basement stairs (closed off by door) will be a porcelain light original to the house

Flooring same as kitchen

Walls are Jersey Cream

Ceiling is Sherwin Williams Dover White

Still need some sort of coat and boot storage, hopefully benches, hooks and cubbies

Have vintage doorknobs to turn into some hooks

The sewing studio/master closet

2009-04-05T18:46:00.021-04:00

Walls are Sherwin Williams Chivalry Copper

Ceiling and closet wall are Dover White

Curtain fabric

Carpet is a golden Mohawk plush remnant

Still need ceiling fan with light or just light alone, track light for above sewing machines

The master bedroom

2009-04-05T18:46:00.020-04:00

Walls are Sherwin Williams Chivalry Copper

Ceiling is Dover White

Carpet is a golden Mohawk remnant

Using two of the house's original, vintage, porcelain wall sconces above bed between windows

Curtain fabric and trim

Fabric to make and cover a headboard (more gold that it appears here)

Need ceiling fan with light

The girls' room

2009-04-05T18:46:00.018-04:00

Walls are Sherwin Williams Lobelia

Ceiling is Sherwin Williams Ceiling Bright White

Carpet is a blue plush remnant from local store

Using two of the house's original, vintage, porcelain wall sconces next to girls' twin beds, the two on the right

Can't believe I bought this ceiling fan, which won't go with the decor, but looks intriguing. Hunter Discovery. The blades reverse to black and we can easily change out the globe should our girls ever grow out of it (I mean ... when they grow out of it).

Twin beds are cherry

Bedspreads are pastel blocks of vintage handkerchiefs and chenille made by Maggie

The guest room

2009-04-05T18:46:00.017-04:00

Walls and ceiling are Sherwin Williams Svelte Sage

Minka Aire Concept fan

Reusing one of the house's vintage, original, porcelain wall sconces on wall near bed

Keeping Aunt Lillian's wardrobe, exposed chimney brick

Carpet is beautiful sage wool with ivory leaves from Habitat for Humanity ReStore

The downstairs bathroom

2009-04-05T18:45:00.046-04:00

Walls are Chivalry Copper

Ceiling is Sherwin Williams Dover White

Teeny little 18" vanity in Merillat Classics Deluxe, door style Avenue, color Maple Sable, plus little medicine cabinet

Pat scored this Eljer Salerno bar sink for us, knowing I originally wanted a laundry tub in here. This puppy is 10 inches deep and will do well to soak all kinds of grimy stuff.

Danze 221016 Opulence Single Handle Lavatory Faucet in Brushed Nickel

Plumber is getting soap dispenser and sprayer to coordinate

American Standard Cadet 3 Toilet with comfort height and elongated seat, standard toilet seat
Same flooring as kitchen and mudroom

Have vintage light bar for over sink

Need 1 cabinet knob, toilet paper holder, magazine rack

The upstairs bath/laundry room

2009-04-05T18:45:00.045-04:00

Walls are Sherwin Williams Svelte Sage

Ceiling is Ceiling Bright White

Light over vanity is Portfolio 4-Light Traditional Vanity Fixture

Merillat Classics Deluxe for vanity, linen and above laundry; Silhouette door style; Maple Sedona finish

Flooring is a Mannington sheet vinyl remnant from a local store, look of large brown/green/rust tiles (not sure if it's this one shown, but close anyway)

Sterling Intrigue Neo-angle Shower

Sterling Intrigue Shower Door, Oil-Rubbed Bronze with Naturalist Glass

Delta Lahara Shower Trim in Venetian Bronze

Kohler 7236 Soaking Tub

Tub surround and apron are Daltile Matte Elemental Tan 4.25 x 4.25" tiles with a slightly darker unsanded grout

Delta T-4755-RBLHP Victorian Double Handle Roman Tub Trim with Handshower in Venetian Bronze, handles H616RB

U.S. Marble Cultured Granite countertop in Brown Sugar

Price Pfister Ashfield faucet

Price Pfister Ashfield Soap Dispenser

Delta Victorian Towel Ring

American Standard Cadet 3 Toilet with comfort height and elongated seat, slow-close toilet seat

Grab bars in oil-rubbed bronze

Need ceiling light near washer/dryer, 7 cabinet knobs and 6 drawer pulls since these are full-face, toilet paper holder, magazine rack

The front and back entries

2009-04-05T18:45:00.043-04:00

Have Smith & Hawken Hartcliff wall sconce for outside the doors (two on porch front, one in back entry)

Pembroke Kwikset Venetian Bronze door lever

Mastercraft I-4p entry doors already installed!

Plain old motion ceiling light for front porch (bronze plastic mount), Cooper Lighting MS600

Need dual doorbell

The living room and dining room

2009-04-05T18:44:00.025-04:00

Walls will be Sherwin Williams Blonde

Ceilings are Dover White

Both ceiling fans are Hampton Bay Glendale in Oil Rubbed Bronze Finish

Flooring is Dupont Sorona/Mohawk SmartStrand carpet, Sausalito style, Straw Matte color (made from corn!)

We have a 5x6' patch of odd lot Dal-tile ceramic tile at the entrance to handle muddy shoes. A local store had partial boxes for 99 cents/square foot.

So the Pottery Barn Rustic Glass Pendant is never going to go on clearance before we move into the house, so I settled for some Hampton Bay mini-pendants in antique bronze. They're still cute, take a regular 60-watt bulb or CFL, and were 1/3 to 1/2 the price of anything else I've seen. I can't find a photo because they're the cheapest of the Hampton Bay line, which is so fancy it's the Home Depot house brand.

Curtain fabrics

Curtain rods

Need entryway ceiling light

The office

2009-04-05T18:44:00.023-04:00

Not sure of wall color yet, but probably Svelte Sage

Ceiling is Dover White

Carpet is the Habit for Humanity ReStore remnant in sage with ivory leaves

Minka Aire ACERO F601-ORB ceiling fan in oil-rubbed bronze with mahogany blades and opal frosted glass, 100-watt mini-can halogen (at least I think I'll put this here, or maybe in the living room, guest room or master)

Curtain rods

The kitchen and breakfast nook

2009-04-05T18:21:00.025-04:00

I'll be posting my plans for each room and adding to them as I purchase new items. I don't expect anyone else to get excited about the details of my soap dispensers. This serves as my online reminder of what goes where when it comes time to install these things. It also helps me visualize everything.

Still thinking on the sink: Either stainless or white cast iron to match bathroom sink

The existing kitchen cabinets have now been painted in Sherwin Williams Jersey Cream. (I'd call it pretty close to the color of butter.) Walls are also Jersey Cream

Ceiling is Dover White

Curtain fabric

Curtain rod

Cabinets for short kitchen wall in Merillat Classics Deluxe, door style Destinations, color Maple Sable

Formica laminate countertop in Burnished Glaze

Flooring will be Armstrong Solarian Vinyl Sheet, style Rhythms-Framingham, color Straw. It has accurate maple and other leaves all over.

This vintage brass light fixture was in my parents' garage from some old house, maybe the Anderson place or Gordon's house. It will hang in the middle of the kitchen. I'm not sure if I'll find some shades or get clear bulbs and leave them bare. The rest of the lighting will be cans (I know, but I need to see). Need one piece from Keystone.

This pressed glass shade was also in the garage and I think I'll use it in the breakfast nook. It has wheat in the design. I need to find a fixture to hold it with three beaded chains, maybe Beaumont in Bronze Gilt from Rejuvenation.com if I can't find anything cheaper or actually vintage.

Grohe 33758IBO Ladylux Soft Black Faucet (No, I can't afford Grohe. I can find a plumbing supply store that's going out of business and liquidating everything at a loss. Yay me!) It's not exactly the farmhouse look I was going for, but the price was unbeatable.

Hansgrohe 40418XXX Chrome Soap Dispenser

Stair rail is from L.J. Smith: square newels, square 1-1/4" banisters and plowed handrail, will be beech stained to match kitchen cabinets. I selected the handrails specifically so no young children can confuse them with gymnastics balance beams. You think I'm kidding?

Need flourescent bar or something over sink, part for vintage brass light, fixture for beaded shade, 8 cabinet knobs and 3 drawer pulls since these are full-face

Who's hungry for some hardware?

2009-03-05T02:08:00.003-05:00

I asked the dude at the lumberyard for some Tarn-X.

He asked me if I own a crock pot. (I do.)

Then he asked me if I own a dishwasher. (I do.)

Turns out that a little dish detergent in a crock pot of water set to high overnight can strip hardware. Who knew?

In my case, it removed the grime from my kitchen cabinet hinges and latches and pulls, only to reveal the rust underneath. It was a useful excercise, but I still need some Tarn-X. And a new crock pot.

If you see me at the church potluck with this slow cooker, don't eat my food.

Progress as of Feb. 12

2009-03-05T01:51:00.004-05:00

Plumbing is all roughed in.

The mudroom has a tray ceiling.

Pat's working on insulation.

Larry will finish plumbing and work on heat runs.

Four steps forward and one step back

We had water in the basement. Again. This time it was 7 inches. The sump pump burned out overnight. We now have a brand new one. Ugh. This is the water gushing out of the basement through an odd set-up of tubing and an old stove pipe. Temporary, of course.

A remodel can be mighty ugly

2009-03-05T01:41:00.003-05:00

This Old House just did a piece called Debris Removal 101, noting it can cost up to $10,000 to remove all the debris from a whole-house remodel.

We've managed to get by so far filling only one dumpster, making frequent trips to the scrap metal yard, burning a lot, and saving the rest to burn under the maple syrup evaporator. We still have more junk to remove.

The two pics at right are things removed after the basement was thoroughly cleaned! Most was attached to the house in one way or another until recently.

Thank God for Google

2009-03-04T21:52:00.003-05:00

I've had visions of bronze faucets dancing in my head.

They're often much more costly than standard chrome faucets, but thanks to my nightly Googling for home supplies, I figured out which quality deep bronze bathroom accessories I can actually purchase on a polished chrome budget. I could never do this if I had to drive from home center to home center, or even if I had to call them all.

I don't expect anyone else to care, but I'm excited about this:

Ta dah!

If you ever find yourself yearning to know the difference between Moen Oil-Rubbed Bronze, Delta Venetian Bronze, and Price Pfister Tuscan Bronze, I'm your gal.

Wow!

2009-03-04T21:48:00.001-05:00

The house looks more like a house every day! Framing is complete. Furring strips are up. The initial plumbing and heating work is in. The electricians have worked part of the last two days. Whew!

Shower door saga continues

2009-02-26T13:17:00.003-05:00

This better be a wonderful shower.

I choose a shower and door. Our contractor says the door won't fit the shower. So I pick a new shower.

The plumber says the door will cost $2,000. Yes, four digits. It should actually be a small fraction of that. Turns out his supplier couldn't get that door, so this is to replicate it in a custom order. I say no thank you.

I call my supplier. My supplier cannot get the door either. He can order one to be custom made. He can't tell me the price until it is ordered. I say no thank you.

I go to big-box Lowe's. They can get the door. Easily, and at a reasonable price. I use Google to learn I can save 20% more if I order from an online supplier. I place the order.

It has been five days. Today I receive an e-mail acknowledging the damage claim I filed. But I filed no such claim. My door has not arrived.

I check the UPS tracking page. My door is ... missing. It consists of three large pieces of glass, measuring roughly 25 x 75 inches. Missing?

Meanwhile, I attempt to order the second-choice shower. My supplier says he can't get it. I am about to become incredulous, since I received a price from his comany two weeks ago. Then he says his company is in receivership with the manufacturer. "The banks have us," he tells me. I say I'm sorry.

I find that Lowe's has it in stock. Then I miraculously learn that the local lumber yard (I really do prefer to buy local) can order it for 20% less and have it in a week. Thank you, I say. Here is my order.

Bookshelves!

2009-02-26T09:50:00.006-05:00

I would be most content if my children

grew up to be the kind of people

who think decorating consists

mostly of building enough bookshelves.

~Anna Quindlen

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

~Marcus T. Cicero

Books are not made for furniture,

but there is nothing else

that so beautifully furnishes a house.

~Henry Ward Beecher

These quotations came in my Above Rubies e-mail newsletter today. Wow, they strike a chord with me! Now I feel confident enough to reveal my dirty little secret: I have been far more concerned about the placement of my books than the couch, piano, dining table or anything else. I've been afraid to say it out loud for fear someone will suggest I get rid of a few. Priorities! Among my earliest measurements was the minimum linear inches of shelving space I will need.

I envision something like this along

the stairway in the dining room.

And this on the east living room wall,
backing up to the breakfast nook and
running over the office door. And along
the short wall, and probably wherever
else I can fit shelving. We'll save space
for a TV to be hung on the wall in the
center of the shelving.

Today a reader,

Tomorrow a leader.

~Margaret Fuller

When I was about eight,

I decided that the most wonderful thing,

next to a human being, was a book.

~Margaret Walker

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.

~Mary Ellen Chase

The Reading Mother

I had a Mother who read to me,

Sagas of pirates, who scoured the sea,

Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,

"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays,

Of ancient and gallant and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,

Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales,

Of Celert the hound of the hills of Wales,

True to his trust till his tragic death,

Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things,

That wholesome life to the boy heart brings

Stories that stir with an upward touch,

Oh, that each mother of boys were such.

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be--

I had a Mother who read to me!

~Strickland Gillilan

Construction as of a month ago

2009-02-12T01:40:00.002-05:00

These photos have lingered on my camera for a month. As of mid-January, Pat had these projects done. Of course much more is accomplished now.

Stairway opened up, roof reinforced and attic floor beginning to be built, downstairs walls reinforced below ceiling joists, new framing around windows and doors, front door to be raised up a couple inches to allow for carpet.

Who needs a bath?

2009-02-08T18:01:00.009-05:00

In this whole big remodeling project, there has been lots of exciting progress and plenty to look forward to, but most of all, I need a bath. Grandma P's house (which we're renting now) has only a shower. Some people enjoy a good glass of wine; lounging in the bathtub is my getaway. I've been without that for a year. While it's also easier to wrangle two muddy little girls into a tub than a shower, this is mostly about me.

So here it is, the bathtub of my dreams. Kohler model K-1159. It's not a particularly fancy or expensive bathtub, but it will hold 72 gallons of water at its maximum, and any number of kids. I've special ordered a different drain so none of those kids will have a trip lever poking them in the back. Most of the Kohler tubs have names like Mariposa, Archer or Portrait. To get a name as exquisite as Caribbean or Purist, you have to pay $2k and up. This one is simply called 7236, in homage to its measurements. I think I'll name it myself.

Our shower, on the other hand, has a name ... or two. The walls are Kohler Devonshire. I figure it can't be too sophisticated if they sell it at Home Depot. The receptor (the base, what sits on the floor) is Sterling Intrigue. The doors are also Sterling Intrigue, in Deep Bronze with the Naturalist glass texture (leaves all over the place, my new addiction). I'm telling myself that I carefully chose the walls to reflect the architectural detail in the arches from downstairs, but the truth is that the price was right and this one didn't have little grooves I'd have to (not) clean.

I considered saving the bucks and going with a simple shower curtain. Then I remembered that new drywall for the kitchen ceiling resulting from kids who don't know how to keep water on the correct side of the curtain is even more expensive.

What's with this product marketing?

2009-01-13T15:59:00.003-05:00

I'm perusing the vinyl flooring options available on today's market. Get a load of some of these names:

Saguaro Bermuda Sand
Venice Warm Dawn
Sedona Canyon Earth
Chadds Ford Arabesque Beige
Fiorelli Road Cashew

I'm not looking for something with the "impression" of slate, or wood, or tumbled rock. I don't think my friends would be fooled. Especially if they walked in the house and found me still in my pajamas at 3 p.m.

If I wanted my house to look like a Mediterranean getaway, wouldn't I be using tile, or at least Pergo? If I wanted my house to reflect the message, "I am stylish, modern and oh-so beautiful," I wouldn't be looking at vinyl.

I'm looking for a floor that says, "Look at me. I'm doing laundry. ... Hey, who left the caps off the markers!?! Oh look, Dori spilled grape juice. Again. And Addy, what's that smell?"

I made an actual decision!

2009-01-13T14:58:00.009-05:00

I had to make the first actual purchasing decision for the house last night. I've been dreaming about countertops, moulding and the like for months. Now it's time to stop contemplating and start deciding.

At left will be the front and back entry doors. It's a pretty close match to what was already there, only in energy-efficient steel and glass combination that "closes like your refrigerator," or at least so says the manufacturer's product literature. And the grilles are inside the glass for easy cleaning. Music to my heart.

I tried hard to keep the original wood doors, at right. They're beautiful, but I got dumb looks (as in, I was the dumb one) when I proposed stripping and refinishing them, reglazing the windows, and adding weatherstripping to bring them up to today's standards. Yeah, I have to admit, they would still be energy suckers no matter what I did.

This is the entry lever. Can you see I'm planning ahead for carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis? Sheesh, I'm only 34.

Bob and I bought three of these entry light sconces on a super deal at the outlet mall Smith & Hawken store. I'm in love with oil-rubbed bronze (or faux bronze, which is the case here). One will go by the backdoor and two by the front.

So why are we doing this again?

2009-01-12T16:19:00.005-05:00

Flooded basement, sinking roof, cracked foundation ... so why are we renovating this house?

This is why.

This is where Grandma measured Daniel's height on a bedroom door. That particular doorway will be closed off as we expand the bathroom. Although we won't be hanging the door, I'm keeping it. No matter what.

Shifting wall!

2009-01-12T14:58:00.003-05:00

The heavy load of snow on the roof, coupled with the rains we had a couple weeks ago, made for a big problem. The ice was too heavy for the roof, and it actually pushed out the front wall of the house a bit. It even snapped one of the upstairs ceiling joists.

Why has this never happened in the house's 125-year history? The house is unheated as Pat works on it. The house had never gone unheated in 125 years, and it also never had a speck of insulation in it. All the heat went right out through the roof and melted the snow, so there weren't heavy snow loads sitting on it.

Once the house is insulated and we're in it, we'll have snow on it most of the winter. Pat has been working away in the attic, bracing the roof and attemptening to straighten out what he can while up there.

Isn't this fun?

The dangers of a major home renovation

2009-01-02T02:28:00.009-05:00

Danger #1: Big slivers. Bob got this doozie pulling the planks from the walls and heaving them out the windows.

Danger #2: The Great Flood. Only Noah wasn't there.

Bob took some family members to the house Dec. 27 to show them the progress. Thanks (?) to Addy's misbehavior — going down the new basement stairs even though she was told not to — he was alerted to lots and lots of standing water. He didn't think he should be hearing splash! under her feet, but it was as good a sign as an olive branch.

Thanks to Diane offering up their spare sump pump and Dick's help setting it up, they got the water pumped out. We're hoping there was no damage to the furnace and that the only damage to the doors we plan to reuse was cosmetic. (They'll be repainted anyway.)

We didn't even think to tell our contractor on Monday ... something about spending all afternoon with Dori at the hospital's urgent care clinic for another respiratory issue made our thinking fuzzy ... but by Tuesday evening Pat and Mark had installed a different pump and more effective piping. Whew.

Pardon me while I put on my wannabe meterologist hat and refer to an NOAA chart for explanation. See the tall blue bar circled above? That's a lot of snow. More than 10 inches, to be specific. Note the blue bar's friends, the other tallish blue bars and the tall green bars. Those are more snow ... and rain ... and all sat upon the ground with little melting in between.

Now see the red spike that's circled? That's a warm, 55-degree day. In December. Heat melts snow. Melted snow is water. Lots and lots of water makes floods.

You'd think we could have figured that out a few hours before the splash. But I was so relieved to see that the huge wind storm the night before hadn't torn shingles from the roof or dumped a tree branch on the porch that we didn't check the basement until after enjoying our lovely holiday dinner.

More construction as of December 11

2008-12-17T14:07:00.003-05:00

Mudroom ceiling cut away to raise it. Stairwell beefed up underneath. Fridge will go below.

Country girls

2008-12-09T11:48:00.003-05:00

One thing that's exciting about the farmhouse is that it fulfills our wish (or need?) of getting back into the country for most of the girls' growing-up years. When Addy and I stopped by this week to check on the progress inside the house, she wanted to make sure I gave the hay mow my full attention. I had been telling her that I didn't want her up there alone until I made sure everything was safe and showed her where she could and could not go. I gave my inspection and she is now cleared for playing. And play she did.

I keep this verse from a poem posted above my desk.

Before green apples blush,

Before green nuts embrown,

Why, one day in the country

is worth a month in town ...

— CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Lightning rods

2008-12-09T11:43:00.002-05:00

I have always loved lightning rods, and it's cool to me that the house has three and the big barn has some, as well. We have an extra blue glass globe for one of the barn rods, but now I'll be on the lookout for one to match this one on the house. Two of the globes are intact on the house, but one is missing. I think it's milk glass.

Buzz, buzz

2008-12-09T11:32:00.004-05:00

We had heard the story of the bees making hives in the walls of the house, but hadn't yet found the evidence. Well, here it is. Bob found this over the window in the dining room when he tore off the planking. This is just the bottom of the affected area. From my understanding, we may find more when he removes the upstairs planks.

Progress!

2008-12-09T11:19:00.003-05:00

Pat has made enough progress in the house that we can really see the downstairs rooms coming together. It's exciting!

This will be the breakfast nook. I'm thrilled that we could keep the beautiful arch that was between the living room and dining room. We wanted to remove it from its previous location to open up both rooms. We'll be keeping the chimney exposed. I think it's pretty already! Now imagine one of our vintage lights hanging down as a pendant behind the arch.

Here is the new entrance to the kitchen. You can see the pocket door frame at left. The refrigerator will go where the old entrance from the mudroom was.

There must have been an old staircase across the middle of what is now the kitchen (running parallel to the road, from where the sink sits now across to where the current staircase is. Does anyone know more about this? We hadn't even noticed it after the gutting, but Pat pointed out that the joists above had all been cut with an opening about 3 feet wide all the way across. They were spliced together, but he had to beef them up to hold the weight since we'll be having a bathroom and laundry above the kitchen.

It turns out that the planks on the walls have to go. Initially we thought they could stay and be cut into where necessary, but Pat decided they should be removed with the plumber and electrician needing to cut into them to run ducts and wiring, along with the risk that the nails could pop through the new drywall. Bob tore off quite a bit of planking from the downstairs in one evening, with a few more sessions to go.

Vintage lights make me drool

2008-12-01T10:36:00.004-05:00

Mom and Dad found a nice quality light fixture for us at the church rummage sale, of all places. It's very nice and looks new, but we (meaning everybody but Bob) decided that the style doesn't fit the farmhouse look, so I gave it to Dale for his foyer. Meanwhile, I pulled some vintage glass shades and a fixture out of Mom's and Dad's garage that have been sitting there for years. No one else laid claim, so I'm taking them for the house.

Bob seems to think it's funny that I passed up the new, shiny light fixture for some old, dirty, cracked and dented ones. C'mon, Bob! They're not old. They're vintage! I think one is from Gordon's house, one is from the Anderson Place, and the others were some church friends thinking Beth might want them.

I've been browsing enough antique lighting sources lately, such as Rejuvenation.com, to know that enough others agree with me to give them significant value. We'll also be reusing the porcelain fixtures that were mounted on the walls of the upstairs bedrooms, which I found priced at $185 on an antique salvage site. And I like them (stomping my feet).

Inside, outside, upside down

2008-12-01T10:27:00.003-05:00

Interior construction. I was excited to see that we now have a breakfast nook. We stopped by the house last night after a very nice Thanksgiving dinner made by Diane. Pat had erected the walls of the breakfast nook and relocated the living room arch over it. It looks so nice! I'm glad I planned it plenty big, too, because now that I see it we may even be able to fit in a small table instead of benches. He also created a beam to take the place of the wall that was between the living and dining rooms. I avoid the basement, but Bob said he had braced something down there.

Exterior improvement. Dad came with both his loader and lawnmower a couple weeks ago. He worked all weekend again, doing odd jobs to fix up the farmstead. He and Bob pulled out lots more fenceposts (all the rest, I think?). Dad filled in some holes in the yard with soil from the field, moved rocks to Mark's rock pile, etc. We ordered three loads of gravel for the driveway and Dad spread them around. We could easily use another load, maybe two.

Mark, Bob and Joe (Amish neighbor) have all been cutting down trees. Coming down Grassmere road, you can see every building well now! I can even see good places for Addy and Dori to play, including a spot for their swing set. It was hard to imagine before with such dense tree and brush growth.

Builder has started

2008-11-30T00:40:00.006-05:00

Pat, our builder, has been working for three days now. It only looks like a pile of lumber and a couple braces now, but things are rolling and the place should start looking like a house soon.

Gutting

2008-11-29T23:37:00.007-05:00

We were able to completely gut the house the weekend of October 18. Thanks to the help of several family members who arrived to help us out and those who supported the crew, we were able to save thousands of dollars over having the builder do it! The cost instead was a lot of sore muscles, a handful of Band-Aids, a dumpster, a burn permit and only a little cash.

I won't say it was an easy do-it-yourself project. It has taken me this long to finally recover and get this video put together. The work was hard on our muscles and the plaster dust hard on our sinuses, but we are thankful it was done so quickly and very thankful to everyone who helped.

Bob and I did many nights of prep work, removing everything that needed to be saved or that would get in the way of demolishing the interior. Our first friends and family members came on Friday, October 17 and got more done than we imagined possible. By the time more people arrived on Saturday, we were well underway with lathe and plaster flying every which way. It's amazing what a determined bunch of people can destroy in a couple days!

We started out Friday morning with a list of priorities and some directions I had penciled on the dining room wall. By noon those were long gone, as the plaster was already ripped from that wall. Everyone was adept at seeing what needed to be done and getting right to work doing it. Each person had her or his own method that worked well for them. Some cleaned as they went. Others pushed hard for awhile, then took breaks to shovel out the debris. Some preferred a small prybar and hammer, others a pick axe and sledge.

Bob spent most of him time shuttling loads of lathe to the burn pile on a wagon behind our lawn tractor. Maggie, Rick, Arthur, Chris, Dale, David, Glenn, Anita and I worked on interior demolition. Dick made the hog barn look so clean I couldn't believe it was the same building. (Now it will be the perfect home for the girls' future 4-H animals.) Mark worked on some projects around the farmstead. Brenda, Diane, Anita and Carol took care of Addy and Dori and meals (big thanks to Diane for feeding the crew the entire weekend). Diane and Brenda both spent time sweeping up after the crew. Addy and Anita pulled nails after all else was done.

Fall color is beautiful in the woods!

2008-10-26T22:05:00.010-04:00

We're about a week past the peak of fall color here, but the leaves are still beautiful, even on this cloudy afternoon. It looks like many of the orange and red leaves are on the ground and the yellows are sticking around.

Farmstead ideas wanted, please

2008-10-12T21:21:00.003-04:00

Now that some of the interior house work is either underway or on the radar, there are a few outdoor things I'm thinking about to dress the place up. I'm looking for creative ideas. None of these are immediate projects, but I'd like to dream about them over the winter.

1. How should we post the centennial farm sign?

Between two 4x4 posts with pretty post caps is what is commonly done, but something that demonstrates maple might be nice. Maybe there's a way to inclue an old metal spile with a metal pail hanging from it (bottom drilled out to prevent water). And it should probably have at least a little "maple syrup" sign somewhere so people know they can stop and buy some. It might be nice to have that expandable in case Addy and Dori ever want to start an egg enterprise or anything.

2. Where should we put our Battel sign?

It's a board about 8 feet long, painted red. BATTEL is in white raised letters. In Eckford we had it on the big red barn. It could go on the big barn here, though that barn isn't painted. It might be too big to combine with the centennial farm sign. Not sure though.

3. What should we do with the big black kettle?

Maybe it could be worked in with the farm sign display, maybe even hung with wood stacked underneath that looks like it could have a fire under it. We could do the typical flowers-spilling-out-of-the-kettle idea. I always like a little garden pond by the front porch, and the pot might work well.

4. Should we leave the front porch open or add railing and spindles?

We hadn't planned to change the porch at all, but the columns are rotted out. This project won't be done right away, but when it is I'd like to get rid of the vinyl siding at the bottom. Should we replace it with railing and spindles, or leave the porch wide open? Is it too high for an open porch (three steps up)?

5. Where should the driveway to the house ideally be?

We need some loads of gravel anyway because the driveway has very little, if any, left, so this may be a good time to determine if the driveway is in the best spot to access the house. We'll still need at least the back end of the driveway to access the barns. Should it be a U-shaped driveway in front of the house? At the very least, if we keep the existing drive only we should add a turn-around pad. I'm not thrilled about the idea of people backing all the way down the driveway into the road for safety/visibility reaons with kids playing nearby and horses trotting past.

Let the gutting commence

2008-10-11T21:35:00.003-04:00

Bob and I have managed to accomplish everything we planned to do at the October 17-20 work bee, so instead we will be gutting the house with the help of a small crew of friends, family and neighbors.

Everything is torn out of the house — including the kitchen sink. The doors are off their hinges and labeled. The trim is off the windows and doors, except the inside window frames that can wait until after gutting. The baseboards are off. Wall coverings are mostly removed. Ceiling tiles and furring strips are down.

Brenda took care of the girls this afternoon while Bob and I did some more prep work for the gutting and she offered to do it again tomorrow. We'll spend the time burning some more rubbish as we did today and clearing out the house for the big gut. We have some nails to pull out of the plaster down at the baseboard area, but other than that we should be ready. We even have a bag full of dust masks and a bucket full of pry bars and claw hammers ready to go.

We're feeling good about this! It's not exactly fun work — as I told Bob today while hovering over the baseboards on my knees in a pile of dust and nails — but it's satisfying to get so much accomplished.

Swatches of the old house

2008-10-10T22:47:00.002-04:00

I photographed all the old wallpaper I could find, some of it under a number of layers of paint, paneling or paper. It's a little sad to pull it off because I know it was carefully selected at the time, and many of the choices are very beautiful. This is our way of preserving it.

I'll always remember the blue diamonds of Grandma's kitchen. What rooms do you remember?

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Farmhouse, half torn up

2008-10-10T22:38:00.001-04:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I found the crew I want to hire to gut the house

2008-10-10T14:22:00.002-04:00

http://view.break.com/143704 - Watch more free videos
Six guys gut a house with their bare hands

Two bids are in

2008-10-04T20:54:00.003-04:00

We have now heard from two of the four general contractors on their bids for the complete gut. We'll be doing the gutting down to the studs and one of them will take it from there, probably with us painting at the end.

We're now awaiting the other bids and will make a choice from there. Then we'll also finalize our decisions on some of the issues still lingering — what to do with the kitchen cabinets, where to place the dining room, how to handle the heaved mudroom floor, etc. We'll decide which projects can wait, maybe even a couple years. These might include the roof, front porch (although some temporary shoring up needs to be done to carry the burden of the rotted-out post), tuckpointing the brick, maybe the back entry porch (also needs temporary fix to hold up the corner of the roof).

Whichever way we go, it looks like we will max out our budget. Anybody want to buy a beautiful blue brick house in Reed City yet? No word from our REALTOR since we renewed the contract in August. We're thinking maybe its too bad we have never missed a mortgage payment and didn't get involved in the sub-prime loan mess. If we had, maybe the government would bail us out of the Reed City house soon. Kidding, of course.

Mysteries in the brick

2008-09-23T23:51:00.006-04:00

I wonder if some relatives can help me figure this out. I just discovered on this horribly fuzzy photo I took that the brick is different around the kitchen window (the double window at bottom right). It almost looks like a former bay window to me. Any clues? Notice how it arches a couple feet above the double window, then continues a few inches straight down along the sides, then straight down a couple more feet below the window.

Deciphering the changes in the house through the different brick patterns has been interesting. We know the front of the house was added on in 1929 (did I get that right?), which is evident in the picture. The brick at the front of the house (to the left of the PVC vent stack) is lighter. The mudroom/former laundry area to the right (mostly obscured by the tree and out of the picture) is also an addition. But on both sides of the house, about midway up the upstairs windows, the brick changes again. I wonder if the original house was single-story. And what's with the several courses of brick that are darker on the left of this picture between the windows? It's all very interesting.

I only took this picture because I was so proud of the work Dick and my dad did to tear out all the plants growing up the side of the house. Really only the gable was visible until they came in with the chainsaw, loader tractor and miscellaneous tools.

Unfortunately the removal of the incredibly tough grapevine revealed some brick damage we hadn't known about. At the bottom right you can see a couple spots that look like white bricks, which are just patches. The foundation of the mudroom/former laundry addition has heaved from frost and that's evident in the brick in two spots. Par for the course with an old house!

Mystery #1 solved: See the brick "eyebrows," the arches above the windows in the small photo at left? They're gone now. Thanks for the pic, Maggie!

More satisfying tear-out

2008-09-22T20:21:00.004-04:00

We spent another evening ripping up the house. It's pretty fun to whack with a hammer and have a wall come down in the name of progress!

We finished taking out the downstairs bathroom, including the stud walls. All that's left is the bathtub, a heavy metal beast that we'll haul directly to the scrapyard.

The kitchen ceiling tiles and furring strips are gone, are the linoleum floor tiles. Upstairs I began to remove the bathroom cabinet. Bob tore carpet out of two rooms.

Next we need to recycle or burn the results of the last two days. So far we have carpet, paneling flooring and wood on the front porch. Hopefully we'll be able to use Mark's tractor to haul the lumber to the woods and the rest to the burn pile. Anybody want to roast marshmallows?

There is flooring to be pulled up in the downstairs bedroom, mudrooms and dining room, and maybe some upstairs. There's a little stuff to clear out of an upstairs bedroom — old window screens, etc. We're still too timid to whack at plaster, moulding and door frames until we are positive they will go.

New lawn tractor
On the way out to the farmhouse yesterday I pointed out a Cub Cadet lawnmower for sale in front of someone's house. I noticed it on another trip by and Bob said he knows the owners well, parents of a classmate. They live just a mile north of the farm in the same section. Coincidentally, it's the same model lawn tractor we sold 5 years ago when we left our 10 acres in Marshall. It's even in about the same condition, but with more hours on it. Had we known how short a time we would live in Reed City (postage-stamp lawn we mowed by hand), we would have kept it. Instead we sold it for less than it was worth. These folks last night were only asking $50 more than we sold ours for, so we agreed to buy it. We didn't even start it up because Bob said the owners are more than trustworthy. It will be nice to have neighbors like that!

No turning back

2008-09-21T20:57:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we borrowed a farm pick-up to help Brenda move the rest of her things to town. We took one more load of scrap to town, including a washer, dryer and grill — 640 pounds in all. That scrap yard creeps me out.

This afternoon we spent 4 hours beginning deconstruction. We want to get as much torn out of the house as possible by ourselves before brining in more help. We aren't yet sure whether we'll gut completely, so we're only doing things that we know for sure need to come out. The biggest project we took on today was beginning to remove the downstairs bathroom. We have the paneling off and the sink and toilet out. Next we'll remove the drywall, stud walls and bathtub.

We did a lot of little things today, such as removing outlet covers, nails from walls and wallpaper inside kitchen cupboards. I tore out the mudroom sink and broke down its cabinet. We haven't done anything upstairs yet.

Addy was a huge help today. She removed all the metal kick plates off the stairs, tore away most of the wall covering in the kitchen and tore up a lot of vinyl off the living room floor (it had been hiding under the carpet). She took on other tasks, too, and worked really hard. We are proud of her and she was proud of herself.

Dori started the afternoon helping us. We got the kitchen wall covering loosened so she could help pull it off. The problem was that she kept taking off her shoes, then even her socks. There are too many nails and other things around for that to be safe, so we're glad that Grandpa was willing to come and get her.

Waiting for bids
This week we gave tours of the house to four carpenters. We went through our layouts and asked for bids to do the work. We expect each will take at least a week to calculate their costs and let us know. We're anxious to know the projected bottom line, of course. We're hoping their costs to subcontract all but the electrical from a gutted house on up will be within our budget. If so, we'll be ready to go.

The other itchy problem

2008-09-16T16:18:00.003-04:00

No big surprise, but we have confirmed that there is poison ivy on the property. Bob has signs of it on his face, arms and hands. I think eradicating a lot of the brush will help. I just know that if I get it, I won't handle it nearly so well.

Dori also has an itchy problem, but hers is ringworm. Addy and I checked the kittens and found the source. Soon they'll all be covered in gentian violet.

Too many faucets

2008-09-14T22:26:00.005-04:00

Beth suggested a trip to Nu-Way to get some bathroom ideas. We made the trip and learned that they also do kitchen and bathroom cabinets, so we got some ideas there, too. I know we won't be able to afford their cabinetry line, but the ideas are helpful.

When I say "we" got ideas, I mean Beth and me. Bob thinks the multitude of choices is too much, trusts that I'll pick something reasonable (I hope!) and prefers to stay out of discussions about wood finishes and paint colors. Instead, he dropped us off and got his wedding ring cut off his finger. Nope, no divorce looms yet from this big project, but his finger swelled up and started to bleed after the work bee and I feared gangrene. He also washed the car and picked up some supplies — all the while avoiding looking at faucets.

I must admit, although I thrive for the detail of this project, it just seems wrong that so many bathroom faucet choices even exist. I mean, after we returned from Honduras and again from Belarus, we felt like we already had too much and that we'd gladly live on less. And here we are getting haughty over whether the polished nickel or antique bronze finish better compliments a traditional farmhouse style.

I'll continue to go through the catalogs and pick out a bathtub, shower fixtures, cabinets, faucets and all the goodies. If I didn't, Bob would pick for me. His choice? "What's the cheapest option that will still last 40 years?"

I'm going to blame Beth for what happened that night because, even though she had absolutely nothing to do with it, I figure if we hadn't driven to Nu-Way as she suggested none of this ever would have happened. As if. We got a flat tire two-thirds of the way back home from the farm. It was dark. It was muddy. My flashlights were missing. Our cell phones provided our only light. The spare tire fought with us every step of the way. The girls were cranky. We were cranky. We finally got the donut put on in less than an hour, in part thanks to a very nice woman who happened to have three drops of WD-40 left in her can (Who carries that stuff around? God bless her!).

At least I had lots of experience changing tires after all those blown on Dad's lawnmower last week.

At some point as we crept home at 40 mph, I vaguely remember a nice white pickup passing us hauling a skidsteer on a trailer. We saw it next as we turned toward home, in the ditch. We pulled over to help, hoping to pass on the kindness that strangers showed to us as the pulled over offering to help with our tire (all after it was nearly done, as luck would have it.) Anyway, it turned out to be a drunk guy telling us, "I'm screwed!" and refusing to let us call a tow truck for him. I guess he thought that by admitting he had been drinking we would show some kind of mercy on him and magically remove the truck, trailer and machinery from the ditch, so I pulled away and called 911. At least that poured some mercy upon the people he could have hurt with his huge, drunk load that night — including us. I can only hope he'll learn something, but who knows?

This morning — you know, the only morning I really didn't want to miss church — Bob went out to the van and saw that even the donut was flat. The girls missed Sunday School, but thanks to Bob hauling a tire on the scooter in the rain to fill it up (it looked as funny as it sounds), me getting a can of Fix-A-Flat, and some teamwork, we managed to limp to church. Bob dropped us off and headed to Wal-mart, which we would prefer to avoid, but happens to be the only place in the entire Thumb open to fix tires on a Sunday. Addy got to sing the song she had been practicing all week in church. Dori stood there and looked cute, choosing not to sing for once. Addy received her very own Bible with all the other first-graders. Dori whined loud enough for the entire congregation to hear, "Mama, I want one!" I was installed as a Sunday School teacher. Then, as church was about to end, Bob walked in. The month-old tire was shredded, so we have another new one on the van. We now have our own cans of WD-40 and Fix-A-Flat to carry in it. We were able to enjoy the Rally Day potluck dinner, the kids won way too much candy at the games, then we drove home safely. Ugh.

What's up next?

2008-09-14T21:47:00.007-04:00

Date now firm: We're planning another work bee on Saturday, Oct. 18. That will be our first soccer-free weekend.

Our next step will be to get going on the inside of the house. Bob spent some time this afternoon trying to fill up our rented dumpster as much as possible while it's still here. Of course we have lots of work for the professionals to do, but we'll keep busy with some tasks we can do, as well. Next we will:

Tear out the upstairs bathroom. Tear out the wood cabinets. Shut off the water and dispose of the sink, toilet and bathtub. I think it's also safe to demolish the wall between the first bedroom at the top of the stairs and the bathtub, but we'll wait for a contractor to confirm that.
Tear out the downstairs bathroom. Shut off the water and electricity and tear out the walls. Dispose of tub, toilet and sink.
Tear out the mudroom sink. Water off, of course.
Finish cleaning out the basement.
Check condition of the floor in the upstairs bedrooms. New flooring will probably wait until after we move in, so for now we want to determine whether it's best to keep the coverings that are already there or expose the wood planks. This will be in the SE, S center, SW and NW rooms.
Remove the kitchen counter. If we can do it easily without destroying cabinets or wall, remove the laminate countertop and sink (water off).
Tear out the living room carpet.
Scrape flooring off mudroom and laundry room concrete.

Outside, lower priorities:

Put up the bathouses. The big one goes on the big barn. The smaller one goes on the electric pole closer to the house. They should be at least 15 feet up and tools are in the shop.
Cut smaller trees and brush. Bob did the east side of the house; next is the west and around the apple tree.
Clean out the hog barn and big barn. Junk, burn or scrap anything no one needs.
Cut down the cedar trees behind the house.

We'll probably have lots of lathe and plaster to tear out inside the house, but for now we're going to wait until we know for sure it's our final decision.

Work bee statistics

2008-09-09T21:10:00.006-04:00

So much was accomplished the last few days! We offer a gigantic thank you to Al, Brenda, Diane, Dick, Doris, Maggie and Mark for your roles in making the work bee so successful.

— Bob & Sue

Here is the tally:

150 person hours worked (plus babysitting, fixing meals, planning, etc.)
3 buildings removed and burned
2.5 acres of weeds mowed
3 lawnmower tires punctured by nails and wire
3 lawnmower blades busted on iron and rocks
20 hours put on Dad's loader tractor
40 fence posts pulled
400 feet of barbed wire removed
5.5 tons of scrap metal sold (most hauled in Dick's truck)
1 borrowed trailer gouged up on the deck by the not-so-careful scrapyard dude (Sorry, Leon!)
10-yard dumpster about 2/3 filled
1 load of wood readied in the wagon for burning under the syrup pan this spring
Several small trees felled and burned
Scads of grapevine pruned away
Immeasurable improvement made in the appearance and safety of the farmstead

Just a short to-do list

2008-09-08T23:08:00.003-04:00

Yikes! The short list of priorities for tomorrow quickly grew into a long task list. We'll see what a crew of willing workers can handle in one day.

Priorities for today, 8/9/08

Burn garage roof (if possible!)
Remove fenceposts behind big barn
Mow as much as possible
Remove freezer from house and scrap it
After 12 p.m.: Take big scrap machinery on trailer
Finish taking small scrap
Look for more tires and put in truck
Clear out milkhouse (keep the blue globes — they’re for the lightning rods)
Haul any large items out of big barn
Haul any large items out of hog barn
Clear out attic
Burn cabinet from basement
Take hazardous materials from basement to pile by shop
Clean misc. stuff out of basement
Put up bat houses (reach with loader bucket)
Load wood into wagon for syrup
Move rocks/concrete chunks into a pile
Put out fire and scrap or bury anything remaining (or could put into dumpster)
Trim trees/grapevine on east side of house
Pull down eavestroughs and scrap

3 tons and counting

2008-09-08T22:36:00.004-04:00

The most easily quantifiable accomplishment of today was that Dick took 3 tons (tons!) of scrap metal to be recycled. We spent all day working on general cleanup at the farmstead.

Dick became the king of scrap metal, sorting it by type, loading it and taking trips to deliver it in his truck. None of us predicted there would be that much. And that's only pieces small enough to load by hand — from nuts and bolts to box springs and cow stanchions. Bob and I stopped counting after a dozen broken pitchforks alone. Tomorrow we'll load entire old iron implements on a trailer with the loader tractor.

Maggie worked all day in the shop. She sorted through the treasures (an ox yoke, a few Lincoln Logs and marbles, interesting farm tools) and the junk (random jugs of hazardous waste, evidence of some rodent's bachelor pad, parts to long-gone tractors). The progress in that one building alone was incredible.

Bob and Mark took on a variety of projects that needed to be done. Trees were trimmed (lots more to go though), wood loaded, junk burned, decisions made, weeds mowed, parts run after, a burn permit secured. I also worked on a variety of projects, starting with fence post patrol and ending with mowing weeds in the light rain. When I started to get cold, I focused on mowing closer to the fire until I was warm enough to move farther away.

Dad spent most of the day on the loader tractor. He pulled fenceposts, yanked old implements from their burial places in the ground and carried burnable items to the big fire.

The only big job we weren't able to get done today that we wanted to was to burn the roof from the old garage. It shattered apart whenever we hooked onto it with the tractor, so we'll have to try something different tomorrow. If all else fails, plan B is to remove the tin and cut up the wood by hand. Ugh, not looking forward to that.

Brenda kept the girls safe by babysitting them all day. They spent the morning playing with her old Strawberry Shortcake dolls. She's in the midst of cleaning, sorting and packing, so she was already busy.

After she was home from work in the afternoon, Diane took care of the girls and made a nice dinner for the crew, putting up with the mess we must have tramped in the house — and more to come tomorrow.

We got home about 8 p.m. and the girls and I had our showers. Addy and I managed to much of today's school done in a short period of time. I'm determined to stay on track even with all the work to be done.

Before I hit the hay, I'm going to make out our list of priorities to accomplish tomorrow. We want to make use of the loader tractor, mower, trailer and dumpster while we have them. Mom will be staying with the girls at Mark and Diane's house, so I figure she can use her substitute teacher experience and work with Addy on some of her schoolwork tomorrow.

More outside cleanup

2008-09-07T22:39:00.004-04:00

We finished up another day of cleaning up the farmstead. We made piles of scrap metal to recycle and wood to burn. We filled the dumpster up more than we expected.

When we got to the house in the early afternoon, after church and lunch, we were surprised to find Dad already there with the lawnmower. The fuel line came loose though, so we'll have to try to find a part to reconnect it to the tank through a Scag dealer tomorrow. We're concerned about ruining the entire mower at our place. He's gone through two tires, three blades and a bunch of barbed wire wrapped around underneath so far.

Bob finished removing planks from the old garage. Diane wants an outhouse for syrup season in the woods — and I agree that it's harder for us women to find a spot to go — so a friend will build one out of the garage wood. After Bob had all the planks off, we pushed the garage over by hand without too much effort. I can breathe a little easier now knowing it won't fall on the kids.

Maggie and Dick came by in the evening and were amazed to find a seemingly endless burial ground of metal scraps next to the shop. They worked at it for quite awhile and will be back tomorrow for more help. Bob went down to the house to retrieve some sloppy joes for us that Diane had made. They hit the spot.

Brenda will watch the girls tomorrow. Mark will join us for the work bee and Dad will be back with the loader tractor this time.

After everyone else was gone, our last job for the night was to pull some cardboard boxes out of the milkhouse and burn them. While we watched the fire I noticed a beautiful half moon. Later we heard an unusual bird call that turned out to be the twittering a male barn owl makes to attract a mate. It sounded like this.

Tears of ?_

2008-09-05T21:51:00.005-04:00

Dad came with his big Skag Turf Tiger zero-turn lawnmower today and chopped down two acres of weeds growing up around the property and the barnyard. That thing is a beast, nearly as effective as a brush hog. I followed him around, looking for any old equipment, rocks or other debris that might get in the way.

We knew there was a lot of junk buried under the weeds and brush. He found some only a couple hours into the project — or I should say, it found him. Neither of us saw it. A nail or something left not one, not two, but three holes in the tire tube. A quick trip to B.A. to get it fixed turned into a three-hour hiatus from the mowing job. The repair guy had his thumb in one of the holes when he showed it to us.

Once Dad got back to work in the afternoon, I pulled out more cement blocks, tires and random rusty metal, then headed up front to the dumpster. As soon as I turned around and saw how much he had accomplished, I felt like crying.

The thing is, I'm not sure why. I'm not sure if it was more, "Wow, I can really see progress now! This is where our children will run and play! This is where we will make memories!" or "What the #$%# have we gotten ourselves into?"

It was a little of both.

To tear out or not to tear out?

2008-09-03T21:52:00.003-04:00

The more we get into this project, the more it looks like we'll have to tear things down before we build them up. We started with a short priority list. It grows by the day.

The main question is whether to tear out the plaster in order to make access easier and less costly for insulation, plumbing, electric and heating. I think we know the answer. We just don't want to admit it.

It would be a much easier decision if our house in RC was sold. But it's not.

The itchy problem

2008-08-27T03:37:00.012-04:00

Every time I think about actually being at the house, I itch all over. There is a huge mosquito infestation, and Brenda says the recent county spray job only lasted about three days.

We went to a program at the nature center and got the bat-brained idea that a couple bat houses might help. Each bat supposedly can can eat 7,000 insects a night. Each bat house can hold up to 100 of the critters — assuming the average 60- to 80-percent occupancy rate has them choosing our dwellings.
Of course we need to get the few bats that live in the attic out of there first.

Bats in yard=good. Bats in house=bad.

Apparently the process is not called "getting those damn things out of the attic." It's called bat exclusion. I guess the difference is whether you beat them to death with a broom or take the time to install mesh, wait for them to leave and plug the holes.

We're going to give it a try, so a couple of these houses are on the way.

Plans are coming together

2008-08-25T14:25:00.004-04:00

I finished measuring all the rooms yesterday while Bob tore down some grapevine that was covering much of the brick on the east of the house. He hadn't planned to do it, so he was wearing church clothes and wielding an old scythe he found in the barn. I suggested that because we are not Amish and it's not 1882, we come back another day with a tool that uses electricity or gas to get the job done. I'm grateful he hacked away at the foliage though, because it's getting to look like a jungle (Grandma's words to Brenda a few years ago, apparently).

In the afternoon we sat down with Maggie and Dick and got some great ideas for making the house work well for us. Duane had already been through with some excellent ideas from his experience renovating his houses. All the possibilities had seemed so overwhelming, but now it feels like we have enough direction to move forward.

Direction is now in place, but enough cash is not. We still need to sell that house on the other side of the state!

We're going for it!

2008-08-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

Part insanity, part history, part roof over our heads, we have decided to take on the project of restoring the 125-year-old farmhouse that has been in Bob's family since shortly after the Great Thumb fire of 1881. It received its last facelift in 1929.

Yeah, we have a lot to do.

Bob and I are country people, suckers for the draw of family and history, so although this may possibly be the craziest plot we have yet developed, it is our plot.

And it thickens.

The Great Thumb Fire of 1881 wasn't the only one to ravage the area. A decade earlier, another one tore through the Thumb, brought on at the same time and by the same conditions as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 — minus Mrs. O'Leary's cow, of course.

If you're wondering what the heck a Thumb is and why I'd capitalize it, think of the shape of Michigan as a mitten. We live in the thumb. And we're a proud people, so it's The Thumb.

Most of this area was left charred, but somehow a large section of maple woods was spared. That is the family sugarbush, where the family has been making maple syrup since 1882.

Those maple trees have charmed five generations so far. Addy says she has two favorite places in the world. One is my parents' dairy and cash crop farm. The other is the maple woods.

I can't imagine anything better than raising our children at the edge of the woods, with barns (though having seen better days) in which to raise some 4-H animals. We'll be just down the road from grandma and grandpa. Our neighbors will be cattle, corn fields and Amish families. There's one English neighbor (that's what the Amish call the rest of us) across the way, and it's nothing less than thrilling that they have a couple of homeschooled kids just a little older than ours.

We have been town people for nearly 5 years, but the country is where we grew up and where we belong. If you know me well at all, you know that my requirement is to be able to walk to the mailbox in my underwear. Doesn't work so well in the city limits.

Maybe we've been reading too much A.A. Milne and Laura Ingalls Wilder, but we are charmed by the appeal of The Hundred Acre Wood and The Little House everywhere.

I know, it sounds charming now. Wait until we're knee deep in plaster and paint. Ask us how charming it is then.

Until then, we're gathering bids to see just how costly this plot will be.