Decorating for xmas . . .

 All together now . . . we have all the pieces we wanted to get together for the creche . . .

 And, of course, I did MY decorating . . .

Little modification to the front of the house . . .

 The tree is up . . .

 the stocking are hung . . .

 the railing has nice fresh smelling pine and cedar . . .

 some new friends are getting ready for their debut . . .

The front of the house is mostly set . . .

One more decoration doesn't come out until xmas eve . . . we all know who he is!
Hope all have a Merry Christmas!!
John and Jo

I've been bad . . . so many months without an update . . . so we will start from the bottom . . . the floor . . .

 

From the living room into the dining, here is the transition piece . . .

went from a trip hazard to about 1/2"

 This is the dining area, you can see the radiator in an alcove on the right.

 from the dining room into the kitchen, past the butlers pantry and the pantry hall way.

 Here is the kitchen itself . . .

 Pantry hallway back to the first floor 1/2 bath

Another view of the kitchen . . . one more coat of poly to complete.

And on another front . . . changes one of the Brookings houses . . .

and the hedge cut down to size . . .

new walk in tub

New tub

back of new tub

Front from the corner of the lot, new ramp . . .

New ramp from the access side

New ramp from front on

new ramp from the front door

walk up on the right, ramp on the left . . .

 

 

 

Not a terrible pitch to it . . .

Construction week 3 - some progress, but not much to see . . .

Building in specifics, door frames and such

 layout for the powder room, looking through the kitchen into the pantry and broom closet.

 The barnacle - subfloor panels cut, but not afixed . . .

 The new stove location.  Inset for the medicine cabinet . . . majority of the rough plumbing complete.

 Looking back toward the dining room

Running into some issue that will hold us up some . . . finding radiators and last minute changes with the a/c unit . . . argh . . .

Construction - week 2

Hard to believe a whole week has gone by . . . and the work continues . . .

Monday . . . electrical removed most of the old lines and boxes.  Put new circuits in to power those areas we aren't working in, but were affected by the power out in the kitchen.

All the homeruns hanging . . . while there was still a floor to work on

 Tuesday - plumbers got busy

 and the floor got removed

 and we found some nice slabs of rock . . .

Wednesday . . . plumbing continues and the joists are going in . . .

Looks the same but it works now . . .
and surprise, surprise, we found a well . . . 

Joists lined up and ready for a floor . . .

and thursday . . . part of the floor is in and the bones are in the making . . .

interior walls around the powder room and pantry . . .

And friday . . . window day . . .

windows removed . . . actually

Construction Begins . . .

 

Emptied out . . . 

 

Now ready to begin . . . the tear out - 2/16/2015

 

A hint of some previous layers . . .

Day 1 . . . Cabinets out . . . walls and ceiling down to studs . . .  2 plus tons removed . . .

illegal electrical boxes, 10 . . . and so much mickey mouse building materials . . . ouch . . .

and our new kitchen . . . for now . . .

Yes, the 1934 Sellers Hoosier storage cabinets are in use . . . more work to be done on them and the main section is now in the basement for me to start on . . . but not while we are using this area as a kitchen!!

Day 2 . . . 4 inches of snow and no work done!

Day 3, the effort continues . . .

Furniture moved, refrigerator didn't make it down the stairs . . . so we will live with it here.

 Dining room floor stripped

 Dining room and master bathroom piping exposed

 Window from the original construction . . . blocked in or it would look into the neighbors addition.

 Subpanel isolated and ready to be removed

 Guest bath piping and barnacle exposed

 An original window outline . . . trying to date the middle addition based on the construction we are seeing . . . maybe in the 1920' or 30's?

 No more floor tear up till the trades get in and do their rough work . . .

Day 4 - radiators drained and construction area bypassed, some initial walls studded  . . . ordinarily it would be in the 40 degree range outside . . . of course this year we are barely in the teens and now it is rather chilly down this end of the house!!  I've insulated the exposed piping and there is a small heater to keep the temps bareable . . .

 dining room . . .

 master bath/laundry - original baseboard moulding still in place.

Check out the original bathroom . . . see the outline of the tub to the left, the pedestal sink in the center and the toilet to the right . . . where I'm standing there is the structure for a back stairwell!

Day 5 . . . radiator goes, trades begin rough in . . .