STILL demolishing and finding..."treasures"

So the blog is pretty boring since in person you can see the difference between the layers of old wood, but in photos, it is difficult to see the difference. The fact that there are no more square nails sticking up in the front room for me to trip on - doesn't show up in photos. The fact that there is a ceiling / floor where the back stairs used to be - not so monumental in a photo, but the fact that I can now walk in my kitchen pantry to get out loaf pans without the threat of falling through to the first floor - wonderful. There are a few places where the change is noticeable. Where there was a tub, there is now the entry to what will soon be the new stairs to the basement. They also discovered that the reason my refrigerator was smelly no matter how many times I cleaned it had nothing to do with the refrigerator, but the decaying squirrel in floor below my kitchen / in the ceiling of the first floor. Perhaps some things would have been better left a mystery...

The floors have all been removed. The top layer in the front room was an overlay of small wood pieces secured with hundreds of tiny nails. The next layer was hardwood installed long enough ago that it was secured with rusty square-edged nails. The photos above show the WIDE pine. It's showing wear and tear - you can see the discoloration and there are gaping holes in spots. It was definitely time for this make-over. That said, I do feel like I'm living an episode of This Old House or some other makeover show where the plans are twarted by the unexpected things that are discovered as the house is opened up.

Speaking of things that were discovered when the walls and ceilings were opened up... here's the poor squirrel who thought he'd found a cozy spot to hang out but then got stuck. ARG. Wonder how long he'd been there?

A noticeable change - where there was once a tub, there is now an opening for a set of stairs to the basement. 

 Before and after - left-hand photo is where the bathtub used to be. Right-hand photo - the opening. Today the stairs were going in.

 

 The bathtub has a new purpose - place to dump tools.

This is where the stairs used to be. Now this is the view from the first floor looking up. This will eventually be the ceiling in the kitchen and the floor to the master bathroom on the second floor.

On the right is a photo of the closet which is currently full of a tin ceiling. What to do with it? I don't want to throw it away, but now to re-use? Thoughts, anyone?

Back in Cambridge

We returned home at one o'clock in the morning and wearily entered the house. What a great welcome home - a brand new set of stair risers and treads. Walking up the stairs and not having them squeak and creak and sink, but instead stand strong and silent as we dragged our bags upstairs. Ah, a small pleasure.

The work demolishing downstairs keeps moving on. After two and in some places three layers, we've discovered the original 1891 floors. Look how wide those boards were!

We are saving the still old, but not quite as wide floors. Not sure if they are also from 1891, but they are old enough to have been held in by square-edged nails. We're saving the boards for a future project. Will they become the dining room table? Shelves? We'll see...

Although the demolition is almost done, the dust is still settling. Here's a photo of the spice drawers that are upstairs from the work. I cleaned these drawers two weeks ago. Arg.

Spice Racks with extra dust

Clean again - how long will that last?

In order to try to minimize the constant dusting, we decided to put as much stuff as we could in a POD and put it in storage for the next couple of months. Even with this POD mostly full, our house still seems full. 

Week Three...

The dust chased me off, but Ned and crew carried on ripping out remaining horse-hair plaster and floors. The bathtub downstairs came out. And now the stairs to the upstairs are getting a facelift. The stairs are exciting because it's something new going in rather than just old being torn out. Hooray!

The old floors are out (saved for repurposing) and the bathtub is going.

Finally - something NEW! New stair treads. Can't wait to not squeak up the stairs, although it is making it easier for Henry to sneak out of the house in a few years (I hope it's not for a few years anyway).

Although we're away, we are not taking a vacation from the house. As tax free weekend was this past weekend, we bought a bathtub, two sinks, two toilets, two faucets, two shower heads, a dishwasher, and over-the-kitchen-island lights.

This is what the "chandelier" that will hang above our kitchen island will look like, although we'll have more lights and chrome wire.  

We also went to the flea market in Santa Fe to get wonderful treasures to put in the new house and then went to TJ Maxx to get the new suitcase in which to transport all the treasures back home.

Still more decisions to make - counters. I want stainless, but can I afford it? What will the other lights look like? What will the floors and shower walls be made of in the downstairs bath? What will the new windows in the kitchen look like? What type of window treatments to get? It's an exciting process, but seems like a never-ending one.

Picking Out Toilets

Toilets were actually the easiest selection since we wanted simple, no frills. Well, we did look at the one that had sensors and would put the seat up and down automatically. It was next to the shower with built in steam and changeable mood lighting which was next to the heated mirror with a built-in TV. I could see this process being overwhelming as there are so many choices. In fact we might be overwhelmed, but seeing as we need to make decisions by the end of this week to but things for tax-free weekend, decisions will be made. Here are some choices...

We started with sinks. I had already picked out one that was simple, rectangular, and that was it. Then I found these with the ability to add floating racks... Very cool. But now to decide upon the shape. Any thoughts out there in blogland?

I like them all... hmmm...

I LOVED this bathtub. Of course I did. It was honed out of volcanic rock and polished and the most comfortable tub ever. And expensive. Thousands without any hot tub jets or anything. But I didn't care, I was ready to set up shop in this tub. Unfortunately for me, but fortunate for our budget, Brad's manly shoulders were too large for the delicate curves, so no expensive volcano tub for us. 

This more affordable and also comfy tub might be the winner. The gold shoes go well with the glass tile, right? The tiles do not come with the tiles, however. 

This shower is the one with steam, disco lights, and a built-in radio. The silver squares in the ceiling are a sound system. The square toilet is the one with sensors to raise and lower the seat automatically. None of the above will find their way into our house, but we are considering the glass shower box - pretty cool.

We looked at faucets and many other things, but by 5:00 on a Friday afternoon Brad and I hit our limit and headed out for Mexican food. Want to thank Elizabeth, our amazing salesperson who loves purple. She was amazing.

Day Four - More Kitchen, the Garden, and a Door

Today work went on all over the house. Nedd finished the door connecting Henry's room to the room next to his, giving him an annex. The rest of the crew stripped the remaining horse-hair plaster out of the downstairs. It looked like it snowed in August (grey snow...) Not wanting to be left out of the actoin (and wanting to get out of the dusty house), I picked up a hammer and did some construction of my own. My cucumbers and a Hubbard squash now have some lovely climbing trellises (okay, perhaps not lovely, but made out of leftover fencing so I feel smug having re-used otherwise scrap materials).

Downstairs...

Upstairs...

 Henry's new hangout space.

The Garden...

The cucumbers have a new climbing gym.

The giant sunflowers are not giant. They should be seven feet by now but we did not plant them in May, we planted them in July. Perhaps a warm fall and late frost will give them time?