Our house was built in 1979 and we bought the place in 1997. We rented it out for two years and then, when Jim had retired from the ministry, we moved in on September 1, 1999.
From the time it had been built until we moved in nothing had been done to it, no repainting, no repairs, nothing. The was a leak in the roof which the former owner "fixed" by putting an empty ice cream bucket on top on the kitchen cabinets to catch the drips. And, just in case that got too full, he bored a little hole in the top under the rim and ran a drinking straw from the hole to a second ice cream bucket.
I always wished for a house of my own that I could paint, renovate and redesign. Well, I got my wish!
One of the first things we had to do was reroof. That was finished in the summer of 2000. We've had some leaks since then, but managed to fix them. Instead of a tar/gravel roof we now have a "torched on" roof. The leak happened around the sky light in the kitchen where the roofer neglected to run the material up onto the side of the sky light. The carpenter who helps us now fixed that.
I did a significant amount of the renovations here, including building a wall against the foundation in Jim's study downstairs, and building a closet in that room. Then we had John Turner, a very clever fellow, do some carpentry for us. He took out the wall between two bedrooms to create our computer/sewing room, an 11' x 27' room just off the dining area. He put in a door from that room to back hall, and those changes created a great space for us to work and for me to sew. He also installed all new windows on the upper level, redid the balcony that needed new plywood flooring and some attention paid to the railings. Together he and I installed Ducan decking on the floor of the balcony. There were several other projects that John and I accomplished in the house. He also helped us build the #1 and #2 greenhouses. Then he moved away to B.C. Too bad for us!
In 2002 we had another carpenter, whose name I won't mention, because I found he wasn't clued in to plumb and level, renovate the two bathrooms for us. We had everything stripped out of both bathrooms and all new fixtures installed.
In the downstairs bathroom we removed the old sink from the vanity and installed a one-piece counter and sink of cultured marble. I took the doors off the vanity and removed the drawers, stripped the wooden front and painted the pressed board side. I stripped the doors.
At that point the whole project fell in to the "neglected" category. I put the doors, partially stripped into the open cupboard under the counter top/sink. There they remained.
Because the kids and grandkids are coming for a visit in July I felt some pressure to finish up some of these projects and to clean up some neglected drawers and closets.
This afternoon I finally, at very long last, got around to finishing the cupboard doors. I finished the stripping (with Circa 1850), scraped and sanded, wiped with mineral spirits, dried and sanded some more. Finally I brushed on some Danish Oil Treatment in a "Golden Oak." OH BOY!!! Do they look nice! I feel so happy that that's finally finished. They just have to be reinstalled. Maybe I'll have Rick, our current carpenter, reinstall them. He's very good at doors!
From the time it had been built until we moved in nothing had been done to it, no repainting, no repairs, nothing. The was a leak in the roof which the former owner "fixed" by putting an empty ice cream bucket on top on the kitchen cabinets to catch the drips. And, just in case that got too full, he bored a little hole in the top under the rim and ran a drinking straw from the hole to a second ice cream bucket.
I always wished for a house of my own that I could paint, renovate and redesign. Well, I got my wish!
One of the first things we had to do was reroof. That was finished in the summer of 2000. We've had some leaks since then, but managed to fix them. Instead of a tar/gravel roof we now have a "torched on" roof. The leak happened around the sky light in the kitchen where the roofer neglected to run the material up onto the side of the sky light. The carpenter who helps us now fixed that.
I did a significant amount of the renovations here, including building a wall against the foundation in Jim's study downstairs, and building a closet in that room. Then we had John Turner, a very clever fellow, do some carpentry for us. He took out the wall between two bedrooms to create our computer/sewing room, an 11' x 27' room just off the dining area. He put in a door from that room to back hall, and those changes created a great space for us to work and for me to sew. He also installed all new windows on the upper level, redid the balcony that needed new plywood flooring and some attention paid to the railings. Together he and I installed Ducan decking on the floor of the balcony. There were several other projects that John and I accomplished in the house. He also helped us build the #1 and #2 greenhouses. Then he moved away to B.C. Too bad for us!
In 2002 we had another carpenter, whose name I won't mention, because I found he wasn't clued in to plumb and level, renovate the two bathrooms for us. We had everything stripped out of both bathrooms and all new fixtures installed.
In the downstairs bathroom we removed the old sink from the vanity and installed a one-piece counter and sink of cultured marble. I took the doors off the vanity and removed the drawers, stripped the wooden front and painted the pressed board side. I stripped the doors.
At that point the whole project fell in to the "neglected" category. I put the doors, partially stripped into the open cupboard under the counter top/sink. There they remained.
Because the kids and grandkids are coming for a visit in July I felt some pressure to finish up some of these projects and to clean up some neglected drawers and closets.
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