Monday, October 18, 2010

(Before and During) The Storm of Demolition

I am finally back on line after the move.  It has taken longer than I had thought or liked for the Internet service here in the house to be online.   And we have learned that free wifi hotspots are few and far between out here in what is really country like.

The house is ours to make into a home now.  The settlement (closing) on our purchase of the old stone house was delayed for a few days, giving us an extra weekend to explore our new home area (instead of our original plan to get stuck right into the job of working on the house).  Eventually the delays cleared and we got the keys.  We went to check the mailbox, look around, and also cut some roses to take back to the rental house for Winston and Maggie to enjoy.  The outside in front looks lovely.  We had contracted a local gardener to do the lawn, so we would be able to take off from his work.  It was mowed and trimmed and beautiful spring lilies blooming.  Also a few rose bushes.  The ones on this back of yard trellis are the most bloomingly prolific, though the buds on others promise to join in soon.

After looking through at what we had to work with, we decided to come back the next day with brooms and cleaning materials and do a big clean up.  The house has not been lived in for more than a year and had some work and replastering done sometime in that period...and the inside was not cleaned up for presentation for sale.  It actually was a pretty grim and sad sight.  After half plus day of real elbow grease from me and Ian, we reviewed our progress.  It made a huge difference.  And allowed us to see what we should keep and what to rip out.

Not much in the very dated kitchen and bathroom made the "keep" cut.  An old stainless steel vintage molded sink dating probably to late 40s or early 50s rated and is put aside for using when we add a guest cottage.  Or for a garden area sink.  We may keep the bathroom sink for the second bathroom we will add, and also the heat lamp.  One of the gas heaters is worth holding onto.  A few original old doors will stay, but all the old and cheap hollow ones need to go.  Everything else is going.


In fact, by Saturday most of it was out ! Ian made very fast work of this, kitchen gone first day, bath the next, and working on the tedious job of pulling up tiles.  Yesterday we started marking the floors with the rough layout for the kitchen and bathroom.  Good thing I had done a lot of the concept work already.  We drew the footprint of the kitchen cabinets and appliances in place, measuring where they should go and also worked out the maximum dimensions for the kitchen island.  Ian needs much information to be able to make the right decisions for the plumbing and electricals.  Hot water service is a major consideration that needs careful thought.  Running electricals and concealing them is another (they currently run in exposed, narrow conduit pipes from ceiling down to powerpoints (outlets).  Ian wants to hide them for a neater and more polished look.

The floor will also need to be cleaned up and then leveled before we can put any flooring down.  Good to have more time on the flooring choice.  I would like porcelain tiles, polished concrete tiles, or terrazo...we just have to find it and see whether it fits into the budget !

I am sure more to be wrecked before it begins to look better.  Check again soon for more !