Holy Shhh...eetrock!!

Well we are finally making progress. The guys got sheetrock/drywall on all the ceilings this week. They also got my loft walls and stairway done. I can't believe how great it looks!! As you will see, it's starting to look like a house :)! This next week they will finish sheetrocking my other two rooms upstairs and then start on the downstairs. This process should go fairly quickly, what takes time is when they start taping and mudding the seams.
My electrician is just about done with my kitchen. He will then do my laundry room he will be done. His plan is to finish Tuesday and then the state inspector will be down on Wednesday to inspect and then the guys can start drywalling downstairs.
But the good news it that it's all starting to come together and there is no turning back now :)! I hope everybody's weekend was good and you all stayed warm! I'm starting to really despise the cold Iowa temperatures! Until next time....

Another wall hits the dust...

While working on the house this week, Daryll (one of my carpenters) mentioned something about knocking out a short 4 ft. wall between my kitchen and dining room. I admitted that I had never thought about that and went ahead and took off some lathe to see how it would look, and it did look pretty amazing. So a couple days after him bringing this up, that wall was gone and another header was put up. And I will say that it does look pretty cool. The house looks even more open. You can see clear through the house now. I will post pictures.
Unfortunately no drywall got hung last week. We had about 7 inches of snow on Monday and that kept the guys away Monday and Tuesday. But they did finish getting ceilings ready for drywall and they got my new header in. My electrician also finished the electrical work upstairs and is making good progress on the downstairs. An inspector is suppose to be down tomorrow afternoon to inspect the work upstairs and then after it is ok'd, sheetrocking can begin. So I'm hoping by Tuesday or Wednesday night I can update again.
I hope you all had a great weekend and stayed out of trouble. I will be talking to you SOON!!

Rumor has it.....

...that drywall will start to be hung this week! I have been busting my rear for the past 6 days getting plaster knocked off walls and shoveled into the truck. I finished that project at about 3:00 this afternoon. When I told people that the plaster was going to have to come off, everybody asked me who was going to do it. I looked at them with a puzzled look and told them I was. They then looked back at me with an even more puzzled look and told me that one person couldn't do it. Well they were wrong. Maybe it's me but when I think something has great potential, you will work your butt off to prove you are right. And that's exactly what I did! I will admit though...Dad did help me shovel for a couple hours today.
Other things going on at the house this week: electrician will be finishing wiring and a state inspector will come down and inspect the wiring, new basement windows will be installed, hanging tin ceiling in kitchen, finish stripping the ceilings, and DRYWALL!! I think things will finally start to take off from now on. It's all so exciting!!!
Oh and one more thing....my Mom just gave me my first Christmas tree decoration. It's a 30 foot long crocheted popcorn chain. I can't wait to hang it on my first real tree next year!
Enjoy the before and after pictures of how much plaster was on the floor to how much better it looks after it was all cleaned up. I hope you all had a splended weekend! Talk to you soon!

Sloooooow start

Well I'm going to give you a quick update. Progress is going really really slow and I wish the house had more done to it by now. My electrician did come and start wiring during the middle of the week. He about has my upstairs done and then he'll move downstairs and hopefully it won't take him very long to get that done, couple days maybe. I have started knocking off plaster on the walls downstairs. I have the kitchen, mudroom, bathroom, dining room and part of the living room done. It doesn't take long to get that stuff knocked off, it's the shoveling it into the truck that's the worse part. I'm going to show you a couple pictures of my "naked" kitchen and the living room. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend! If any of you want to lend a helping hand, don't be afraid to holler. It's alot of work for one person and I would not turn away any help! I still have the entire upstairs to demolish ;).

Cabinets

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on my cabinet selection. After looking at a few different cabinets made by different companies and cabinets made by Amish, I have decided that I am going to go with Amish made cabinets. Last Thursday, my Mom and I made a trip down to Stateline Custom Cabinets 8 miles south of Seymour just past the state line. Lewis Gingrich is the cabinet builder along with his brother in law. Lewis told me about his cabinet making and also gave me a quote. I was impressed with his work and the price. I had looked at one kitchen that he had built before I made the journey south and I fell in love with it. The quality was unbelievable! So I called him today and told him to put me on his list. He warned me on Thursday that it may be late April until he gets to me and that is totally fine. I know it will be worth the wait. This way I can get painting done and anything else before he comes and installs. I will post a picture of what the cabinets will look like. I am getting hickory with a toffee finish. I think that it will look really neat with my light yellow paint and my tin ceiling.
I also met with my electrician last week and today and we just walked through and marked where I want light switches and anything like that. He mentioned that it's going to be a challenge but that's what makes it fun, right?? ;) I have total confidence in him. He seems like he knows his stuff. I think he is getting started on that later this week. It is going to take him awhile because he'll have to run wires from the basement all the way to the attic.
I hope everybody had a good Christmas and got to spend it with the people you love! Thanks for reading!

They're Baaaaack

Welcome back everybody!! Travis and his guys came back this morning to do some work before my electrician gets here tomorrow (cross fingers). They finished knocking out walls that I was scared to and they put up a header where one wall was load-bearing. My jaw dropped when I walked in and saw the walls gone. I can't believe how open it is now! They also took out the wall upstairs in my loft area. You will see pictures here in a second. They are also getting the ceiling "stripped". This means that they are putting up 1 x 3's(?) up across my ceiling. They are doing this so that the electrician can run wires between the boards and then after he is done wiring they can go ahead and screw the dry wall up. I will take pictures so you can understand it better. I think I am learning way more than I would like to ;).
I am also taking on another project. I have decided to get new cabinets! I went to Lockridge in Centerville and got some very good help from Dena. She had my kitchen and bathroom all drawn up and it looks amazing. I am really excited about this! I am going to go check out some Amish made cabinets and look another couple places before I decide what I am going to get and where I am going to get them from. I will keep you all updated.
Enjoy the pictures and I hope every single one of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

1st of the Year...

December 7th, 1941 is a date that we should all remember. The attack on Pearl Harbor changed our lives (even if we weren't born yet) and America forever in so many ways. Today is one day that we should especially be thankful for our troops that are fighting for our freedom all over the world. Without them we might not have been able to enjoy the simple things in life. And I might not have had the freedom to be doing what I've dreamed of doing and fixing up this house.
Nothing has changed on the house other than me putting up Christmas decorations, taking out the old toilet, and knocking out some of the wall between the dining room and my stairs. Something that has happened within the last week that is news worthy is that Kevin, the contractor I had lined up for inside work, has discovered that he has to have hip replacement surgery. I was kind of put in a bind and didn't know what to do since I told him he could have the job. I didn't want him to get started on something he couldn't handle with his bad hip or have him get started on the house and then have to quit to have the surgery done. I had talked to several people over the past few days and I also talked to Kevin about my concerns and it was decided that I should get a new contractor for my inside work. LUCKILY Travis and his crew, the guys that did my siding, have bugged me about wanting to do the inside work and told me they could get to me very quickly. So I call them on Monday and told them that the job was theirs. I thought they did a great job on the outside they are easy to talk to and that's something that I think is very important when you are doing something big like this. And after talking to Travis he told me that they could start in about 2 weeks. So to make things simple I'm telling people work should start around the 1st of the year. Pretty cool, huh??
I hope you enjoy my Christmas decorations. I know I'm not Martha Stewart (THANK GOD) but it's a start. Do you guys realize how much potential this porch has to looking awesome after I get it all decorated??? It COULD look picture perfect if the decorator knows her stuff. Thanks again for reading and if you haven't got your Christmas shopping done, you better hurry. There are only 18 days until Christmas. Don't worry...I haven't done ANY shopping yet. I'm still waiting for the sales ;). I'm also posting a picture of my new help. Although he can't do much now, he's still in training and I always make him wear a mask.