Life Happens

Wow. I can't believe 3 months have gone by since updating this blog. Like everyone else who has lived through a remodel, once we moved into the house, the progress became glacial. Suddenly other things keep coming up that are more important, like our social life.

We finished painting the front porch just a day before it turned cold and rainy, so the outside is pretty much complete except for some touch-up painting. Inside, we have the bathroom vanities and showers finally done. Next is installing the interior trim around all the windows. We managed to save most of the old window trim and had it stripped and repainted. Time consuming part will be building new sills and trim for all the new windows.

The RV is now put away for the winter. Tom drove it to Idaho to visit his Dad and siblings and we also took it on our annual camping trip to Mt. Rainier. Clearly, living in the RV for 13 months wasn't too tramatic for us. I have to admit that on a few cool, sunny days in September, I took naps in the RV~put down the bed in the sunny dinette area and opened all the windows~heaven!

Here are some pictures of Tom tiling the upstairs bathroom vanity. He did a great job for a first-timer! Also included are pics of our downstairs vanity and Tom installing the downstairs shower.

We're In

We moved into the house on June 27th! Justin and Rich (who did all the demo work a year ago) moved all our stuff from the storage unit to our garage while Tom hooked up all our appliances. After the washer and dryer were installed, we sat on the floor in front of the washer (a front loader) and witnessed the entire 40 minute cycle. Pretty amazing! The kitchen is fully functional and we have one shower that is usable. Soooo Nice!

Exterior painting is complete, except for the porch railing and floor. Looks like a brand new house!

Sorta Moving In

There is a phenomenon in the rescue world called, "post rescue collapse". One minute a survivor plucked from the ocean is awake, counting how many fingers you hold up, naming Paris Hilton's latest boyfriend...and the next minute they're dead. In the fatalistic section of my brain (largely activated when I vote), I have feared that I would survive this remodel only to drop dead of something once we finally moved in. Since my new motto these days is, "if it's scary, run towards it", we are moving into the house this weekend. Sorta.


Yes, we still need to install all the interior trim and bathroom sinks and vanities, but we have the kitchen sink, a toilet, and electricity...we're not too picky. We will still have to shower in the RV until the shower enclosures are install (in one week). We figure it will take us the entire summer to get everything installed and our junk unpacked. For now though, we just want in the house~we're tired of the RV and I want to sleep in a place that doesn't feel like sleeping in a coffin with the lid slightly ajar.


The exterior painters started last week. All the caulking is complete and they pressure washed the house and studio two days ago.

Floors Finished

Nothing says, "light at the end of the tunnel" more than having your Honey Bucket removed from the job site.

All the floors are finally installed or refinished. Our old oak floors look like new. We also have the kitchen countertops on and the toilet installed (and working) in the downstairs bathroom. Indoor plumbing is a beautiful thing!

Pictures are 1)Tom sanding the stairway; 2) Our lovely toilet; 3) Livingroom floors and 4) Kitchen countertops (Quartz).

We are also working on painting the interior window and floor trim and getting bids for the exterior paint job.

June 1st was our 1 year anniversary in the RV. Acknowledging that we made it without killing one another was celebration enough!

Kitchen Cabinets and Lights

We got lights! Electricians finished up all the trim work last week. It is so nice to flip on a switch instead of dragging around the work lights. We feel a bit more civilized. The floor guys have the new wood floors woven into the old and have one bathroom floor installed. All the tile work is set, but still awaiting the grout and sealer. We finished all the interior painting, except for the numerous touchups. I included pictures of some of the light fixtures I bought on ebay because I think they are real gems.

Color and Tile

We are now down to the finishing stage! Chris installed the last window and I took a picture of him putting on the last piece of siding. The outside is pretty much finished except for the porch railings and then everything needs a few coats of paint. The tile for the showers are now going up and we are painting the rooms. We finalized our kitchen design and the cabinets are built and on their way to the finishers.

We Rock

The remodel progress continued this month in spite of us both having nasty chest colds. Paul and Karl got the sheetrock hung, mudded and sanded. We finally got the front door delivered and finished. Chris and crew have been working on the front porch between snow, wind and rain storms. Ah, Spring!

Insulating

The house insulation is almost complete. All we have left is to add the sprayed-on insulation in the ceilings upstairs and insulate the spaces under the first floor. I also have pictures of before and after on the south end of the house. Quite a difference! We still need to install three windows upstairs before we complete the siding.

Sobering

Not only does a home provide shelter and safety, but it also provides a sanctuary when the world seems chaotic. We really missed having our sanctuary a few weeks ago when 2 friends died. Both were in hospice care, at home, being cared for by spouses and friends. We managed to get in a visit and say goodbye to both before they left us. It was very strange to witness these friends who were detaching themselves from the material world as well as loved ones and then for us to go back to accumulating materials and putting a HUGE leap of faith that there will be a future and we will be in it.

So, the last few weeks were harder than most for staying grounded amidst the chaos. We were temporarily homeless for 4 days while our RV was in the repair shop. We received letter from Ford warning us of a recalled part in the cruise control~ something about polarity and instantaneous fire. Luckily, we had another neighbor give us their house while they went on vacation, so we weren't too pitiful.
Lots of progress happening. Inside, the rough-in wiring is finished and passed inspection. Outside, Chris, Brent and Jeff have installed all the 1st floor windows and are currently putting up the siding. It's really starting to look like a house!




West side of house, before and after.

Kitchen before and after.

Brent, Jeff and Chris finishing up the siding on East side of house.

Winterizing

We survived the snow storms in December! We had to keep the faucets running and the water heater on at all times in the RV and also had to shovel snow off the roof so it wouldn't collapse. When we went to empty our sewer tanks during the first freeze they were, duh, frozen. With help from another RVer at the dump station, we thawed them out with buckets of hot water down the toilet and on the valves.
Progress on the remodel slowed for most of December due to the bad weather and holidays, but now it's starting to pick up again. The furnace was installed the last week in December, so now we have heat! Tom and I are painting windows and hunting down doors and lighting fixtures. Alex, our electrician, installed the new meter and fuse box before Christmas, and just completed installing all the light, outlet and switch boxes yesterday. Chris, Brent & Jeff finished building all the soffits to accommodate the new heating ducts.
For those of you counting, we are now entering month #8 in the RV. I don't think we could have made it this far without our great neighbors. One neighbor gave us their house for two weeks in September, and another one let us use their place over the New Year's holidays.