Harvest Time

Before

 Fall is upon us and here in Saskatchewan that means harvest time.  Jeremy is working long hours at the shop, doing his part to keep those combines combining.... Anyhow with fall came the realization that the weird tree up front of the house wasn't an apple tree but a plum tree.  The poor tree was in dire need of a serious trim so I took an afternoon and started hacking away.  After an hour or so of consistent swearing and a hundred little tiny scratches that are like burning needles of damnation later on in the shower.  I found the tree.

After

 What a cool looking trunk this tree has.  I have never really lived anywhere where fruit trees grow (except apples).  I'm super excited to put the hose to this tree in the spring and hopefully help it come back to life in an awesome, sweet, juicy way.

Before 

 Life, as always is super frustrating.  But I think the worst frustration is having everything we need to move forward (drywall, windows, wire...) yet having no time to accomplish the projects.  That being said we have been able to carve out some progress on the attic renovation. Firstly was an excess of silly little bits and bobs that needed to be done.  Things like one more piece of insulation here, or to tie in that last outlet into the circuit.  We have finished all those frustrating little things that had stymied so much of our ambition.

We decided to take on Payton's room with a all out, hell bent, get er' done attitude... So we put in a new window, and had a beer, taped some seems, and had a beer, mulled over this and that, and had a beer...

After

 Then we finally got down to business.

dresser cubby

 Things you forget to remember about Drywall:

• It sucks
• You can't fix 'everything' with mud
• Get all your tools... yes all, you will need them in 2 minutes
• Watch that YouTube video again
• It sucks
• Nothing will ever be square or straight so get over it

 So that is Payton's room all taped.  There is still an excess amount of mudding and sanding that needs to go into the room before paint but here we go again.

Another happy fall thought is the thought of school!  Whoo Hoo, game on drywall.  Both kids are in school full time this year (Grade 1 and Grade 2).

They had a good summer of spear making, skinny dipping, and bike riding.

I have one final thing I would like to share a video I took for my Aunty Kim who asked me to show her where I lived.

Are We There Yet?

 Sleeping in the living room is getting old... It feels as though we have been living this way for a year, but it has actually only been 6 weeks.  Progress seems so slow, but in reality things are coming along really well.  The staircase is built and we are using it.  That is pretty much the one finished project of this renovation.  That's not to say we haven't been getting stuff done.  We  just haven't quite finished any of the stages of the renovation.

The stairs obviously need a lot of finishing work but that project will be one of the last and go hand in hand with sanding and staining the floors (one of the final projects of the entire house).  The staircase really personifies the overall concept of the house.  Simple, utilitarian, minimalist.  The stairs will have new treads put on at the end of the renovations and the whole thing will be stained to match the floor.  No railings.  A simple computer/office nook will go under the the second flight.  A modern bright colour on the window wall and a bunch of simple bookshelves will complete the room.  Oooh I feel like a visionary... But I could just be spouting bullshit, only time will tell.

This is coming up the stairs reaching the second landing and the half wall. 

Second Landing

 This is the landing Jeremy built so that someone taller than my own 5'2" could navigate the stairs in retaliative comfort.

 Standing at the top of the stairs you and see to the right the wall of the bathroom which creates a short 'hallway' into the little seating room that separates the bedrooms.

Here is Jordan's room on the left and the frame for the pocket door on the right for the bathroom... actually that is the pocket door in the box.

The door to Payton's room is going to be an unusual shape but fitting a staircase, chimney and door in a line will produce variable success.  I really wanted to leave the chimney exposed but I decided to save the fight for the whole railing issue.  I won no railing, Jeremy covered the chimney.

So Jeremy will continue to plug along on the rest of the construction side of the attic project, but unfortunately harvest in Saskatchewan has arrived so it's pretty much impossible to predict when he will have a chance to work on the house when he's not sleeping.

We are so close to drywall (my half of the project) I'm itching to take the reins an' get er' done.

The Optimist

A pessimist and an optimist have fallen off a building.  The pessimist is having a hard time thinking "Oh my god, only 15 more floors to live!".  The optimist on the other hand is thinking: "So far, so good"


Although nothing ever goes to plan, such is life. We have been making steady progress in the attic endeavor.  Jeremy has been building the walls.  After many a discussion as per placement/height/suitability we both agreed that we had exactly the same plan and the other person needs to learn to speak better English. Honestly up and forward are two completely different movements!

Most of the framing is done in the attic.  Jeremy has built for both bedrooms to have a nook in the wall where a dresser can be placed.  He is becoming quite the electrician, with 2/3 of the attic wired.  Pictured here is the proposed walls for the half bathroom.

We have a small (28") pocket door for the bathroom.  We have two new windows for each bedroom as well, now if we could only find the time.

 





While cutting the hole in the ceiling for the staircase Jeremy came across this little jewel.

It was kind of a cool find.  It's hard to argue with those rates!

Moving forward, I was getting a little tired of climbing up the closet ladder which has now been dubbed "the climb of death'.  So we switched to stair building.  This is our first staircase.  Stairs really are not that complicated, the math is simple and there are more than enough stair calculators on the internet... but for some reason it just never makes sense. We argued and calculated, calculated and argued:

Me: "Just because you have big freaky feet doesn't mean we have to build the staircase to fit you!".

Jeremy: "My feet are just like any normal person, we need to build it to standard size".

Me: "Well just in case you haven't noticed there is nothing standard about this damn place!"

Jeremy: "If we want the railing to go like this..."

Me: "Railing! I don't want a railing.  Jeeze, I grew up with no railing on either my mom's or grandmother's. We never fell down the stairs".

Jeremy: "Yeah and none of you are scared of heights either right?"

Me: "Ugh, beside the point.  Here look the guy on YouTube said to do it like this, see, you one step short.  That's why this piece of newly created firewood doesn't fit".

Jeremy: "Fine.  Here jump up onto this landing and see if it feels right".

Me: "Shit! I'm going to hit my head on this! Oh crap now what the hell are we going to do! I'm only 5 feet tall!"

We eventually did come up with a plan that works and with a combination of beer, stubbornness, and creative thinking it fits all our personal criteria.

It's even level

We are just going to put some plywood on for treads for now because there is so much drywall to come.  I keep telling Jeremy that I'm ready for drywall any day ("Sure no problem, I can do that, I'm pretty much a pro now").  It's a complete lie, I'm starting to have nightmares nightly.

Sleeping in the living room is getting really old.  So I'm dragging Jeremy out for at least one night of camping this weekend.

Project List:

• Put plywood treads on stairs to circumvent climb of death.
• Build post under last stair (in kitchen) so safe, comfortable, no railing stairs don't become surprise drop of doom.
• Finish last bits of wiring, framing, insulation.
• Make a friend who will help Jeremy pack drywall upstairs...
• blah, blah, blah, CAMPING! 

Plan B... C...D?

The reason we bought this smelly, small, old, house was the attic.  We tried to buy other, more suitable houses in this small town in the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan, but alas we settled on this one.  We KNEW that we (being extremely talented and perhaps a little insane) could transform the attic into a cool and fun place for the kids to get out of our hair.  

If you have been following the saga of awesome (endless) renovations you would know that this particular project got put on the back burner in lieu of The Studio.  But we are back to the Big House (800 square feet).  

Here is a photo of the attic last fall when we bought this ugly, dated, dusty, house.  It's not hard to see the potential here in adding almost 2/3 more space to the house.  We spent hours in this decrepit, disgusting, spider-infested, attic.  Discussing potential floor plans, heating/cooling options, insulation, plumbing, electrical, and access.   

The Stair hole (stage 1)

We had a plan, a good one.  Too bad nothing ever works out.  Jeremy actually framed half of the attic in preparation of insulating.  We had decided that the best way to go was spray foam.  We don't have a lot of room but you don't need a lot for spray foam, plus all the air tight benefits etc...  

Well unfortunately for us, we (Jeremy) always get a head of ourselves (Jeremy).  Turns out the spray foam guys wouldn't drop their price below $4400!  Our house is pretty small, and the attic even smaller.  That was our entire budget for the attic and stairs.  It just wasn't going to happen. 

Lucky for me, Jeremy (get so far ahead of myself, no wonder that I have to take 3 steps back) is a pseudo-genius and came up with another idea.  The plan goes thus:

• Buy entire truck full of fancy rigid foam
• Cut foam to size and fit between joists
• Bump joists using 2x2's 

•  Create air tight seal using cans of low expanding spray foam

Most seam's were not this pretty 

•  Try desperately not to die of heat stroke or dehydration (turns out beer is not a good hydrater... who knew?)

•  Add fiberglass R-20 on top of foam, and try not to destroy lungs in process. 

Well, that pretty much covers the basics of the plan.  As per any secondary plan, more things went wrong and have had to be adjusted (like taking down all of Jeremy's carefully and meticulously built walls).  

I like to think sometimes that we have learned enough to take on these projects. But the more we do, the more it appears that we have no idea what the can of worms holds... this time I believe it was maggots.  Things like tongue-and-groove planks under the drywall on both outside walls and ceiling.  Not realizing that our insulation caused us to loose too many inches on the ceiling of the attic, so if your over 5 ft 6 inches you have to duck for the last 3 steps.  How exactly do we do this... or that... well, shit.  

Jeremy is presently on days-off (the kids are back in BC for the time being), and we have been working on this big, bloody, messy job for the past 5 days.  We figured out a plan for the stairs to make them a little more comfortable for an adult to go up them, but it's pretty involved.  So, off the mark, we are so far behind I feel like my name is Jeremy (who is destroying my kitchen as I type). 

The in home nightmare has begun I can only hope that we don't loose our minds. 

The Middle?

Well, it isn't the beginning... it isn't the end... it also isn't the middle... So.... Oh whatever, we are shifting gears.  The studio has numerous 'little' things that need to be done to make it done, but it's done enough.  I moved all my quilting stuff out of the house and into the studio and, holy crap, do I have a lot of sewing stuff!  Also, my living room in the house is really big.  

Summer is here and, as I have been dreading, it's time to take a bite out of the house.  In case you missed it, we are building a staircase in our present bedroom into the attic where we plan to build two bedrooms for the girls and a water closet type bathroom.  

This attic project is the first of a series that will see the house transform into a functional and funky (Jeremy doesn't know it's going to be funky yet) modern home.  The plan would ideally see the first half of the house (attic, living room, master bedroom) completed by Summer 2014 (1 year), but the chances of that are 1 in 50.  So like champs we are going to try anyway. 

I'm taking the kids back to British Columbia for a couple weeks and Jeremy is going to get started on the staircase and the framing of the attic.  I will return, leaving the kids in BC with their grandparents for another two weeks, and Jeremy and I will continue on with trying to get the bedrooms up to drywall so the kids could move in to at least one of the rooms.  

It's going to be a journey actually living in renovations again, this is our 4th house we have renovated.  Although, this is going to be the most extensive project so far.

It all begins with a plan and some wood... passed up a tiny hole in the bathroom closet.   So our plan basically goes like this:

• Frame half the attic 
• Demo our bedroom to make room for stairs
• Build stairs hoping they end up where we planned 
• Insulate attic (spray foam?) 
• Wine... I mean wire attic
• New windows
• Rough-in water closet plumbing
• Frame master bedroom on main floor
• Drywall and all that crap

Well consolidating all these thoughts here on the computer screen has made me go cross eyed.  

Jordan and Payton playing in Jordan's future bedroom

The masking tape is the proposed walls

The kids are always ready to do a project so they got to paint the cat house.

Ground Up

Lately I have been feeling a little dizzy, I'm not sure if it's due to exhaustion or excitement but since all I do is feel dizzy I suppose it really doen't matter.  We have been plugging away at the endless number of tasks to bring this renovation hell to a close... we are not even close yet, but closer than last month I suppose.  Its time to turn our sights to the floor and get er' done.

Before the floor could be laid Jeremy had to fix a rather large gaping hole in the floor and build a new access to the crawlspace.  This ended up working out because our back ordered flooring we purchased never did show up at least not in time for us.  We cancelled our order and found some other stuff.  To be completely honest I'm really not that picky about the floor... actually I really couldn't have given a darn.  Jeremy kept asking me and sending me photos from the stores asking me which one I liked best and in the end it only took me telling him 12 times that "I DON'T CARE!  As long as it's not gray, or dark, or cheap, or fake looking...."  Hahaha indecisive through and through.  In the end it's just laminate, and in a studio to boot, so whatever.


With the flooring stacked in neat little piles, I was excited to get started and use some power tools!  I have wrestled with a fear of saws since a kid in my grade 12 year cut off three of his fingers and I saw him running through the school dripping blood and yelling... But I'm also ready to overcome this irrational fear and get sawing.  That is when Jeremy dropped the bomb on me... He wanted to do the floor because his OCD would never abate if I messed it up.  So after a split second of disappointment I shrugged and went to go read a book and have a cup of tea (I mean if he really wants to do it, who am I to argue? It was a good book).

But as per renovation law things had to snowball... Like building a brick wall, one brick HAS to come before another or it all falls down.  So, with financial tap-out looming, we had to purchase both toilet and vanity for the bathroom so a layout could be planned and proper holes for the plumbing drilled.  Also we had to purchase interior doors (on back order until who knows when, dammit) for the finishing of trim and transitions between rooms to be properly installed.  The finishing sure adds up, little things that seem so insignificant at the beginning of a project, but are vital to a completed one.

I've taken another job here in middle of Nowhere, Saskatchewan...which brings the grand total up to 5.  Yep, I have 5 part-time on-call jobs outside the house, renovation hell (studio), and somehow a stay-at-home mom?  They include :

• Teachers Aid (on call)
• School Secretary (on call)
• Librarian (on call)
• Janitor at the Fitness Gym (free membership!  When I can use it is still to be seen)
• Bartender (the newest on the list, I mean who needs sleep?)

But all whining aside, I'm very happy with our progress this far and very proud of Jeremy's laminate skills (I still think I could have done it).  Upcoming pressing matters include (since I'm in a list-type of mood):

• Back porch lino (already got it, just need to clear the area and get it done)
• Finish window trims (need more trim, pick up tomorrow)
• Base boards (pick up tomorrow with window trim and then paint it...)
• Plumbing in toilet, vanity, and outside tap (for the garden I didn't mean to plant)
• Rough in plumbing for tub and kitchenette sink
• Buy another case of beer and finish writing this list.

Yeah enough lists, it's disheartening.  I just noticed my calendar by the computer is still on January... no wonder I forget so much stuff...  Well that is all for now.

The Kids Step Up

Well the kids have been working on their own project, a house for the cats.  It's fairly self explanatory, so here are the photos.