Flooring

We are in the process of deciding on flooring for the main level. The main level flooring was torn out and currently is in it’s original state as it was at the turn of the century.  Time and settling have created areas where the floor is uneven.  Some of the new vinyl floorings are excellent products but on it’s own will show any inconsistency in the floor.  So we’re checking out some products that will look good and play nice with the age of the home.

This vinyl flooring is an excellent product especially for smoother floors, not going to work for us unless we purchase a product to lay underneath it.
Deciding on what color we like…what would you pick? Our cabinets will be white like these.
Testing out the samples in the living room.

The best test we did on these samples was throw crumbs and dust bunnies on them to see on which sample they showed up on the most.  Reality is I’m not sweeping every day!

Light, Sweet Light!

The flip house now has electricity!  Scott Bradford of Bradford Construction came out and installed the new panel and after a small snafu where the electric company hooked us up to the old panel we have light! And more walls!

The source of our new power!
New stairscase in basement studded out as well as supporting walls while new stairs get installed. This is hard to see but stairs will come down where you see the green 2 by 4’s in the ceiling. Notice the nice light bulbs glowing?! 

More Walls Up

The past two weeks brought more walls up.  Take a look…

Closet in bedroom at top of steps studded out.
Upstairs storage studded out straight ahead, Wall to right studs out the bathroom, wall to left studs out bedroom.  The next pic.  is the room behind you if you were to turn around from this spot.
Brian has taken out the wall and lathe to begin measuring out the closet that will go along the entire length of this room. This will be the master. Nice!

Oh so many more walls to go!

We Are Excited: The Header is a Go!

We are excited!  Scott Bradford of Bradford Construction came out to the Flip house to see if we would be able to remove a support wall and install a header.  Our kitchen layout depended on this being able to happen and he confirmed it can be done!  Whoo Hooo!  Now to get it done!  Last week he came out and he and Brian got it done!  So exciting!  This all happens so fast when I write about it!

Wall ready to come out with support beams on either side.
Wall is out!
Header is in!
The header from the bedroom above it where the chimney came out. That’s our cute girl looking up at us!

When Katherine & I walked into the house for the first time to see the header installed I was very excited and saying things like “Oh Brian this looks fantastic” and without missing a beat she looks around and says “What? It’s a mess in here!”

 

 

RISK

 

It has been a BUSY TWO WEEKS!

As you will see we now enter a season of work on the house that is every day overwhelming!  Ever been overwhelmed and felt paralyzed, not able to move onto the next step, ever have NO IDEA what the next step is? Us too.  Here’s how we deal…

Risk, it’s a small word, simple enough.  Easy to say, much harder to live out. The saying goes a risk is worth the reward.   I’ve lived long enough to know that’s not always true. But I may be changing my mind. Often for me the reward that comes with risk is not the financial gain (sometimes you lose with a risk) but the change that occurs in my heart & thinking along the way.  Risk to me goes hand in hand with trust.  It requires a decision.

Ever since Brian began his own business in 2012 we have chosen to walk with risk. In our region farming is commonplace so any farmer reading this will not be impressed, they live with risk every day.

Why this post on risk?  Why right now?

With demo complete, building can begin.  Here are some of the things on Brian’s to-do list.

  • Get bids for kitchen (be knowledgable on cabinetry, flooring, spacing, including having EXACT measurements) This is why I write, he measures!  I usually eyeball  my measurements, this DOES NOT WORK in mapping out a brand new kitchen!
  • Decide & purchase appliances (fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher, washer/dryer)
  • Contact someone to get header in, can it even be done?
  • Contract to get new electric panel installed
  • Drywalling looms over him (250 sheets of drywall it will take)
  • Stairs need rebuilt upstairs & new stairs installed going downstairs
  • Install plumbing
  • Install heating duct work
  • Not to mention his busy landscape season begins in 6 weeks

You get the idea, it is OVERWHELMING!  Will the house get done in time? That feeling can easily paralyze. There is much at risk right now.  This is where trust comes in.

Most often I prefer to be in charge. OK, all of the time, I like to be in charge. I trust myself to work hard. This works to some degree until I am so overwhelmed that I cannot see clearly what the next step should be.  When the weight of my action or inaction affects my children.  When it is obvious to me that the outcome I desire in no longer something that I can control or can work hard enough to attain.  This is when I am reminded I am a child of God and have a decision to make. Our countries coins say “In God We Trust”.   We do. But I myself have learned this lesson the hard way over many years.  Can I trust God with the areas of my life that are most important, especially when we are walking with risk?  This is where faith comes in.

Risk. Trust.  Faith.

Faith is believing in something you cannot see.  Brian & I’s faith in Jesus causes us to depend on Him to guide us and ask what do we focus on today?  We believe He answers. Our God is big and small at the same time. He wants everyone to know his great love and yet he loves each of us intimately and personally.  Those are easy words to write but difficult words to live out.  We pray, we trust and then we go to work.

If you knew God was for you and nothing could come against you, what would you risk?

P.S.  In our experience God is with us even when we are stupid so don’t risk selling the farm until you’ve checked the market!

First Walls are Up!

First wall up is in what used to be the downstairs bathroom.

The guys have been hard at work this week.  Demo has slowed and is almost completed.  Wall’s are beginning to go up. Brian also spent most of the early part of this week getting bids from local businesses to purchase the kitchen.  A lot of legwork and time goes into this process.

Flip House Flashback…

This is us back in the fall dreaming about what the house could look like. The table is covered in drawings & schematics we are talking through. Now we are seeing CAD drawings of our dreams and ideas become a reality.

Now for something fun!

Flip House Cooking!
Flip House Cooking

Did you know you can cook on top of a space heater?  Hot sandwiches taste great in the 30 degree temps. Brian & Mike work in daily.  Cast iron skillet and aluminum foil do the trick. Yum!

A quick pic. before it’s back to work!

Demo continues…

It’s easy work to get up in the morning and know you get to tear stuff apart however the end is coming and Brian is now having to look at what happens next and this requires purposeful planning and research, mostly done during the quiet hours of early morning with hot coffee.

Main level…

That’s a lot of demo! AND that’s ALOT of drywall!  For newbies to DIY, everywhere you see no wall that means a wall must go back up! Brian say’s his arms hurt already!
Tile floor coming up! I got to help with this project!
Main level bathroom gutted, plumbing and fixtures removed! Whew!
Katherine helped & her dad had to get creative to keep the hair out of her eyes!

 

Did I mention it is dusty! AND cold! There is NO HEAT in the house.
No MORE Stink! As soon as THE FLOOR came out the horrible smell was gone!

 

Demo

Today was a great day for me, I was able to help tear down walls. Living room walls coming down.  A hammer & pry bar became my best friends.  The hammer I was using was a Christmas gift from a long time ago.  Memories, they can come back like a warm blanket or a storm. This memory was a warm blanket and I enjoyed being wrapped in it while I worked. Once upon a time I wasn’t so good with a hammer and because of my skills received a Christmas gift: a hammer with a hole drilled through the end with a wrist strap attached.  Makes you scared to know why I received THAT gift doesn’t it!? YEARS AGO (back in the 1900’s) I was helping a dear friend and her dad do some work in their barn.  I was working with her dad, whom I affectionately called “Fast Marvin”, when the hammer flew out of my hand.  I tried to pretend it didn’t happen, retrieve it quickly and get back to work when I hear “I saw that kid”. If he could see me tearing plaster off of lathe with the hammer he made for me, he’d smile and say “Good job kid” while keeping his distance.  His gift of time invested in me I still treasure.

Tearing the plaster off today also required pulling LAYERS of wallpaper off the walls.  There must have been 6-7 layers.  My mind goes to wondering what life was like in the house when those layers went on.  I remember my own Mother putting wallpaper up in our home as a kid.  Those long sheets of pretty colored patterns and bucket of glue.  The look of focused attention on my mother’s face.  Isn’t it refreshing to give yourself to a task and be satisfied when it is done.

Wallpaper!
Brian and Mike are in the pink room, just finished bringing the ceiling down. I helped tear plaster off the walls in this room today.

The “Flip” before demo began

Before I show you more fun pics of demo. I thought you’d like to see the house as she stood when we bought her.  The house is 2,000 square feet, 2 story, 1.5 bath, 3 bedroom, unfinished basement on .4 acre.

The front of the house, I’ll take you in through the door on the right. Come on up the steps!
Front room and then kitchen, this wall will come out if it’s not a supporting wall.
Doorway to kitchen, stairs to upper level is through doorway on left. Main living areas to your left, follow the pink!
In front room, looking left. All this will be torn out.
Nice bump out window area in “pink”/center room.
“pink” room to “green” room.
Access to first floor bathroom is from “pink” room.
Kitchen!

 

Heading upstairs. Stairs will have to be rebuilt.
Bedroom at top of steps

Two additional bedroom to left of stairs. Have to enter the purple one to get to other one, so Brian will build a hallway here. You are also standing in the source of horrible stench, I’ll show you that in a minute.

3rd bedroom, no words! Chimney will come down.
The source of the horrible smell! That little cubby is a bathroom, in a very light sense of the word.
Hold your nose! The smell is so horrible!
Access to the basement is to the right of stairs in kitchen.  This will become a pantry.  New stairs going under existing stairs.

That’s the inside…now for more demo! Stay tuned!