Whatcha doing today?

[addy1]

We get free heat in the winter, the sun heats us right up! The windows face south. We only use a free standing propane heater in the winter, our propane bill is about 200-300 for the year. We also have a instant on propane water heater, love it!

The windows are dual pane which helps a lot.

In the summer we drop insulated blinds to keep from heating up too much. I open and close as the sun wanders around.

 

[JamieB]

Oh the list of things this house needs! We are slowly finding and fixing issues left by time and previous owners. Previous folks built new stairs going up stairs, fluctuating from 11 inch tall to 18 inch tall, but very steep climb. Dad renovated it so instead of a steep climb from the hall, in now normal steps that form an L shape in the living room. Both downstairs bathrooms were renovated, but the tile needs redone because the guy they hired for that was super skimpy on the grouting. We are working on living room ceiling support for the upstairs bedroom, then it will be painted, a cat walk way built, and then I hope to tackle the gaps in the door frame/ door. Hubby says we may need to check if the house isn’t level anymore. Then the kitchen... oh the dreams I have for that and the sun room. That will require warm weather so we can grill all our meals for a while. Need to remove the ceiling and take it back up to original height, take out all the cabinets, build new ones, I want to do epoxy countertop, and more storage. I also want a hanging pot rack, with a pulley so I can lower it to get to what I need with out guys having to duck. The sunroom was originally a cement porch that was enclosed at some point, and it needs leveling, smoothing, and new exterior and insulation. The kitchen floor will get worked over too, it’s tile glued over hardwood. When we take out the cabinets we will take out the tile, refinish the floor, possibly move the plumbing for the sink, and change where the propane lines come in too. If we take out the counter where the sink is, I’ll have to move where I keep the two aquariums. I do need to do some measurements and see how I want the lay out in there....

 

[addy1]

Always something, we figured over the years we have done 9 total kitchens, floor up, including here. Multiple floors, paint etc etc. One reason I told hubby for this last push we are hiring, time to stop. I want to just enjoy the house and not need to fix fix fix, We will have some stuff to do, but all minor, like new paint here and there etc.

I just redid all the bedroom floors here. Got rid of carpet put down life proof vinyl.

 

[Tula]

Good for you to hire this work done !!!! You and hubby have worked like dogs for years on rentals to fix up and sell.....you deserve to have this taken care of!

I love your house, what a room and what a view !!!

 

[JamieB]

Previous folks went for an excess of blue. Pale blue back splash that matches the counters, giving space for bugs to hide behind. Mixed blue vinyl tile, which o think originally had gold swirl, now with discoloring of yellow . I want to go for copper counters, natural wood floors, cherry stained counters. If we raise the ceiling, I’ll do the top portion of the walls cream with copper flecks, same as I plan for in the living room, but in the living room, the bottom portion of the walls will be a nice tan, and I’d like to do the wall around the fire place and my little nook in real wood, tongue and groove. Maybe stain it light grey, so it looks weathered.
But for this evening, I’m working on getting plants potted/ planted, as the java fern doesn’t like to be planted with roots submerged below soil. Going to glue those to rocks, maybe make a rock sculpture.
Ignore dinner mess, I’ve got to get it put away, and clean the counters, cause guys are all engrossed in games.

 

[JamieB]

I made a few glued stacks of rock, glued on the java fern. Have two pots of dirt with the plants that need it, topped with kitty clay. Now soaking in a bucket of water, where it will sit for a while, then the rock java fern mix will be moved to a tank, and I’ll monitor the nitrates in the bucket with the potted plants.

 

[addy1]

You are constantly busy @JamieB It takes time to refresh a house.

We have, most of the time, just picked one area got it done and moved on. Well except his parents house in Fl, we bought from his two brothers it was willed to. We ripped out the kitchen, everything, sink included, ripped out a bathroom, went to rip out the other bath and went what the heck! We won't have any potty or water in this house! So paused on the second bath. It needed a good refresh.

That house got two kitchens out of us, the first one after they passed, the second one after the food hoarding tenant died. Only way to get rid of the rat poo and smell. All new cabinets, appliances, dry wall, kept the flooring though. Rats eat everything including wires and backs of refrigerators.

While his parents lived there, FL, we would visit and paint, fix floors, clean carpet etc etc .

 

[addy1]

Good for you to hire this work done !!!! You and hubby have worked like dogs for years on rentals to fix up and sell.....you deserve to have this taken care of!

I love your house, what a room and what a view !!!

I am getting older and smarter lol...................When we bought this house in 08 it had a wall with two patio doors leading to the patio, we tore down the wall, added the sun room. The contractor did a lousy job therefore leaks, dry rot, redo years later. 24 hours after we moved in we took down two kitchen walls, it was of those tiny L shaped kitchens, about 4 years later, after fixing another rental kitchen I sort of said DONE we are now doing mine. At the time I had one counter about 8 feet long for the entire kitchen work space, sink, stove and a 2x2 counter for prep.

Love my kitchen here! We did all except the granite.

All i was doing was looking for a old pic and memories showed up Here is our original kitchen. That opening is looking into the living room where the slider was. That opening is now where the stove is. We trashed everything to the left 24 hours after move in. The area to the right was my kitchen for 4 years.

 

[addy1]

Found a OLD picture, this was the house before we bought it, the deck ran the full length of the house. The two sliders in the living room are to the left of the pic, not seen. That is where the sun room is now. It starts at the edge of the house.
We added more deck on the other side of the sun room, where the deck ponds are now. Need to get those deck rails installed, maybe tomorrow .

 

[JamieB]

oh I adore your new cabinets. That’s the kind of color I want, a warm dark red, to balance the bright blue on out walls and if I have my way, the copper color of the counters. It will be warm weather renovations, so we can cook on the grill, and I can wash dishes outside just fine. I’m already talking about putting a coffee pot in the living room for it! Easy enough to do. The kitchen floor will require probably the most intensive work, peeling up the tile, sanding the glue off, maybe staining (depending on how it looks once cleaned) then sealing. I could get the bulk of the tile up before we ever go moving stuff around, I could get it done in a day or two, but it’s a beast to get it cleaned. Dad and step mom pulled tile up in the hallway, it never got the full cleaning because they had planned to do the entire kitchen, but it fell to the way side, due to health and financial reasons. So for now, I’m trying to get the big stuff done

 

[addy1]

oh I adore your new cabinets.

They are from cabinets to go. Think it was St James mahogany collection. Comes in boxes and we put them together. I have white stone looking tile on all of the kitchen walls. Think it is 8x3 inch tiles. I would need to measure to be sure. They were on clearance via lowes.

The granite is from a shop near us, we had them do 4 kitchens for us. They do excellent work.

 

[JamieB]

I’m going for built in this time, no space for bugs or mice behind them! The mice love these crappy things, and I haven’t figured out where one is nesting, but somehow I keep finding mouse chewed paper falling into rear pans.

 

[addy1]

I’m going for built in this time, no space for bugs or mice behind them! The mice love these crappy things, and I haven’t figured out where one is nesting, but somehow I keep finding mouse chewed paper falling into rear pans.

We get them in our basement, no clue where they are coming in from. Someday might find the entry. I keep anti mouse stuff down there, don't want them messing with my stored honey frames.

 

[JamieB]

I’m hunting for mouse access holes, but short of steel panels outside, or maybe granite slabs, they’ll find a way in. Plumbing is a common access point, they run along the pipes, chew open a way in, and voila.

 

[addy1]

Our basement is solid block walls. The well plumbing comes in and heads down to the basement. I just thought of one place to check where the air handler is, there is a drain pipe years ago I looked at it, saw a big spider and never got near it again. Will send hubby to check it out, (dark behind the air handler)