And there shall be a garage!

Where there was only cement, now is a garage. My hubby, brother & dad, aunts & uncles (and a few friends) helped erect the garage in COLD weather. Fun Times! Currently its halfway sided & the doors are on, the roof is done, too.

Garage

New Concrete!!!

Oh, My, God!!! A sea of Concrete! Amongst a gazillion other things that are coming together on the House. We were able to get the concrete poured TODAY! YEAH! I was up on Friday to run around town with Bob getting permits & measuring the yard. Monday our Uncle came down with a few guys & used the BobCat & other various MAN tools & got it mostly dug out. Tuesday Bob finished digging out, framing up & getting everything inspected. Wednesday over 23 cu yards of concrete created the 22x22 new garage slab (new garage to be bought & built soon), the 12x70 driveway, & the 12x25 patio! YEAH YEAH YEAH!!! It looks awesome & is a fantastic update to the house.

No More Shingle Siding!

Last week, amongst everything else, the shingle siding came down and so did the wood siding underneath and it all went into a 30 cu yd dumpster. Bob packed it down a ton of times, threw in a whole other ton of garbage, debris & construction (um... deconstruction) and laid the old doors on top for a cap. YEAH!

I had been up the Saturday before to do some more painting (bedroom ceilings & priming the bathroom), some weed pulling and the demolition of the dining room. I also pulled a few rows of shingle boards off the driveway side of the house since I wouldn't be up to help with the rest of the tear-off.

Bob's done a great job in the upper bathroom. He and his wife tiled and grouted the floor and roughed in the new linen closet.

He also is close to putting in the laundry chute (none right now), but their main objective was to get the whole house wrapped before the rain really started.

It's coming along.

Kitchens & Bathrooms!

It's always a "not so good sign" when the credit card company calls with a potential "fraud" alert! After spending about 3 hours at the local Home Owner's Bargain Outlet (or HOBO as we call it!) my sister in law & I loaded up a trailer with the NEW kitchen cabinets ~ 8 cabinets & a set a drawers to be exact! We also got the upstairs bathroom vanity, a granite counter, an under mount sink and all the tiles, grout, adhesive & spacers to get the whole bathroom done. We definetely racked up quite the bill!
Its exciting to pick out the features for the bathroom & I really hope the new owners appreciate that we lugged tile from one end of the store to the other to match them up to the display of the granite counter. So fun! Hopefully the cabinets will go in smoothly once we rip the kitchen totally out. I can't wait!

Progress So Far

We, or I should say, my brother & sister-in-law, have been BUSY at the Appleton House! The entire 2nd Floor has been insulated & freshly drywalled. We also put in all new windows. The small opening in the hallway for attic access (that you have to reach with a ladder) has been replaced with a much more functional pull down staircase. The two front bedrooms were painted & the 3rd will be complete soon. All 3 closets were also redrywalled & painted. The very short railing on the 2nd floor was replaced with an actual half wall. My brother had to move the bathroom door over a few inches and then could drywall the hallway. My SIL helped rip up the floor in the bathroom ~ the hardwood floors are going to be replaced by a beautiful tile. Instead of going over the hardwood we salvaged it for patching in some of the spots where removing the plaster & moldings left large empty areas.

With the bedrooms & hallway almost finished, its on to the 2nd floor bathroom. The tub & surround that we purchased was too big to fit through the staircase, so with a few friends, some ropes & ladders & a lot of cuss words & sweat the tub found its way up the side of the house & into the bathroom via the much enlarged window opening (good thing we are replacing the window & residing the house!) Now in place, my brother can build a linen closet on the far side of it between the tub & the outside wall (currently no linen closet exists!). Then a new toliet, vanity, sink, etc can be installed.

Also to follow soon will be a laundry chute ~ currently none exists & then on to the doors & floors on the 2nd floor.

The kitchen design is done & we will be creating a breakfast bar peninsula, adding a ton of counter space! We also have plans to incorporate a dishwasher, garbage disposal & over the range microwave (again, none exist presently!)

Our aunt came over recently & spent a few hours weeding & doing lots of yardwork. We haven't been doing too much outside because all the siding has to come off & its just going to make a mess!

This house is getting the total makeover!