Keepin’ it Clean

 

One of our Field of Despair finds

 

Around the time we were having Dead Tree taken down, we built our laundry room.
My mom and dad gave me a wonderful washer and dryer for christmas, and we had our work cut out for us before they could be anything but art!
They’re quite lovely – front loading, stacked and, well, awesome!  I can’t say thank you to them enough (mom and dad – I’m not sure the machines are sentient. They do sing though. Nothing too complex, but they’re young)

Have I mentioned that part of the reason I’ve not been updating this often is that I’ve been working. . .a lot? I think it’s made me even more giddy than normal.

Ok, so. . .Easterwood and Thomas put in the plumbing for our washer and a utility sink. Thomas and his dad moved a pole that was in the middle of the room, put in a tile floor and scooted our water heater further into the corner.
Then we put up sheetrock on one wall and painted the entire room.
Then it was time to put in the washer and dryer!

oh, wait. Then we moved the water heater back in place and found that it didn’t care for that and died. So off to Home Depot for a new one.

Then it’s time to put in the washer and dryer.

Oh, wait – I forgot about putting in the plug for the dryer. More Home Depot trips for that.

Now! Putting in the washer and dryer. I think that was it.
We’ll, except that the dryer didn’t work. But eventually we got Sears to bring us a new one and take away the defective one. After many, many phone calls, a few visits, and a bunch of parts. But they did bring that new one at 8am on a Sunday morning. . .And it works like a dream.

It’s getting nicer and nicer to do the laundry too, the further we get with the work downstairs. The warmer weather helps too. We got the new(er) dryer about a week after the new year. 

I threw in some shots of the wood chipper the tree guys brought with them – it’s still there now. Thomas spoke to a couple who are supposed to be closing on the house next door, but we’ll see. I wonder if they’ve noticed the big red monster in the back yard. . .

One of our Field of Despair finds

Our New Neighbor

Mr. Chipper

just, wow.

Happy Wall and Plumbing

Mud, Mud, Mud

Our Utility Sink

Faucet!

Merry Christmas!

Doing our first load of laundry

Small space, tons of cleaning potential!

Happy New Year!

My christmas wish was answered!
We have ceilings and walls. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about this. Dance around the room, howl at the moon happy.
(way happier than some tiny cup of yogurt could make me – but, still a good ad campaign)

did you get that?

WE HAVE CEILINGS AND WALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have pictures of everything and stories to tell, but my cameras downstairs at Butters and I’m at Kelli’s house about to go to bed. But it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything that I just couldn’t hold it in any longer.

WALLS!!!!

There’s still a lot of work to do – little bits of sheetrock here and there and ever more mudding and sanding – but we’re getting there.
We even bought our paint today – Lemon Soufflé for the kitchen walls (see my post about our test kitchen) and Parmesan for the walls in our living room and dining room.
Is it really that surprising that we picked food colors? And we weren’t even hungry!
We almost went all desserts, with crème brulée, but that was a bit dark, and, not illogically, didn’t go well with the soufflé.

See why it’s time for me to go to bed?
I’m a bit giddy. That, and it’s time for me to take some more Emergen-C and slather on more and more lotion on my hands. Sheet rock dust is turning my hands into corn husks. ick.

I promise I’ll post more this week – pictures and pictures and stories. We have a new friend that’s made this all possible and I don’t think I can give him a proper introduction without a photo. Not to worry – I have the perfect one already.

If we only had some walls. . .

 

The beginnings of a ceiling!!!

Last weekend (the one before this one, actually), Greg, Dave and Erin came over to help us start sheet rocking Butters.
It was a full weekend – Thomas and I cleaned out all the floor joists, added plumbing in the kitchen (so we can have an ice maker in our fridge) wiring some more boxes, and finished tearing out the bathroom downstairs on Saturday.
Our awesome friends came over on Sunday and we finished cleaning and taking out even MORE nails (there were a phenomenal number – I’ve been pulling them since we started working on Butters!) and Thomas and Greg worked on framing out our soffit-to-be while Dave, Erin and I worked on starting the sheet rock in the kitchen.

We only have 3/4 of the kitchen ceiling done, but it’s still a big step.
Everyone says that once you get the wall and ceiling in, the rest is much faster.
If nothing else, I know it will make us feel so much better about all we’ve done thus far. It’s a long list, but it’s not very pretty yet, so it gets me down sometimes.

But! It’s coming – there’s a teeny tiny little light way down there – see it? You have to squint a little, but I promise, it’s there! (I hope.)

Before we started cleaning

After Cleaning

Which one would your rather use? Yeah, us too.

Herbie was very full after our night of cleaning!

Greg and Thomas working on the soffit

Thomas and I holding up stuff for the soffit

Still working on the soffit – it’s long!

Dave, Greg and Thomas trimming sheet rock (really, they were awesome!)

Putting up Some Ceiling!!!!

The beginnings of a ceiling!!!

 

Pritz and Pipes

 

Pritz and Thomas Carrying Bad Pipe

 

We’ve been working nearly nonstop on Butters for the past few weeks, but now it’s time for a break. Thomas is in West Virginia working this week, and we’re at a point where I really can’t do anything by myself.
Well, not totally true – I’m going out today to buy a carbon monoxide detector and battery for our smoke detector. Big time, I know.

But, I do have time to catch up on blogging!
weee!

So, let’s travel back in time – to a time of uncertainty (and here’s where I put in my heartfelt “wooooohoooooooo!!!!!”).

While the country debated, I went downstairs and crinkled my nose.
Our cast iron pipes had begun to rot in earnest. Not a pleasant smell, thought, or reality.

Luckily, we have the handiest bunch of friends known to man, and our friend Dave (Pritz) offered to help us replace the cast iron pipes with PVC.

Perhaps I should clarify. These pipes that were rotting? They were leaking. What were they leaking, you ask? Sink Water. Bathtub Water. And, oh yes, Poo Water. 

Now that that’s settled, you can see why neither Thomas nor I slept well for the two days (or, well, went to the bathroom).
But Pritz came over on Sunday and we changed everything out – not quite so hard, really, though oh so stinky and disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!  If you ever need to hire a plumber – do it. And do not balk at the bill. These men and women are truly saints for dealing with what they deal with.
Do I need to use the P word again?

I stayed in the doorway while they cut through the old pipes (and stuff sprayed), but did help in getting the new pipe put together. We even thought ahead to the wonderful day when we will have a washing machine and added in a, umm, joint? where the out going water will join up with the main line. (I had all the terms down, but this was three weeks ago, so, no more).
Dave said I’m the neatest purple stuff applier that he’s ever seen. Thank you very much.
The mud room really looks nicer with all the old pipe gone – now we just need to, well, a lot.
I’m focusing on the positive here, not the ever growing list.

Go Dave! Go!

And we wondered why our tub didn’t drain well.

Our Cast Iron Pile

Pritz and Thomas Carrying Bad Pipe

Thomas’ Turn to Hit – Notice Dave Cringing?