Exciting things are happening...

The last time I posted, we had left just as the roofers were beginning, so a lot has happened since then...
Luke and I headed out again on Thursday the 28th. We weren't going to get in until about 11pm and by the time we got the rental car (actually a F150 truck) and got to the hotel it would be midnight. I thought I would just get a cheap hotel close to the airport since all we would be doing was sleeping for a few hours before heading out. Let me just say: DON'T EVER STAY AT THE TRAVELODGE IN ORLANDO, EVER! We got to the room and it was pretty disgusting. The air didn't work, the blow dryer didn't work, and we kept our socks on just to be safe. Luke woke up at 5am with diarrhea and vomiting. We were supposed to pick up a couple things off Craigslist at 9am so around 6:00 we headed out. I stole the ice bucket in case he had to throw up in the car. We went to Wal Mart and bought a blanket and pillow so Luke could lay down in the back seat. No one was home at the first stop so we headed east to Costco to pick up a dresser. Then the first guy called and he was home so we went back, and then finally headed over to the beach, arriving at 1:00 in the afternoon. The painters were hard at work power washing the exterior of the house, I picked up some more furniture, and a t.v. and then met with the roofer and the building inspector for our AC units. Reed got in around 2am. We had Direct TV arriving at 8am. The painters also arrived early and started painting the exterior. What a difference a little paint can make! Reed and I worked on lots of little inside projects over the weekend. Here is some of the progress.

  

There were a dozen guys working steady for five days.

Then the power washing and painting began...

They are still painting for another couple of days but it is really coming along. The neighbors keep stopping by to say "thank you." It has been such an eyesore for so long. I spoke with the director of the historical society and they are interested in doing a fundraising tour when we get it finished. There is lots of work being done over the next couple of weeks so I will post photos as I get them.

See you all soon,

Slowly but surely...

Let me just warn you, this is a long post...
Things are really coming along. Luke and I made it out to Florida on Sunday (the last two seats on the plane). Very good thing since contractors would be there at 8:00 Monday morning. We had a call on Saturday from Guy, who is doing our plumbing, to let us know the upstairs AC unit wasn't working. The AC guys showed up to put some new wires from the outside unit up to the second floor attic unit. They have to come early because of the heat and bring a skinny guy that can fit through the opening. I wonder if that is in the job description? The window installers were also coming to put in six windows that had been missing and were just boarded up for years. You can see here where all of the windows upstairs around the front of the house are GONE! 

These are the windows from the inside. 

(Don't even mention the black trim)

This is after the windows were replaced. I forgot to take a photo but Megan sent this one while the roofers were there the day we left. (that will be another post)

 Megan and I painted the dining room and let me tell you, it was a drastic change for the better. Below is the way it looked before. It was a really dark eggplant color which made the room feel small and dark.

This is the wall we had closed up

 Bye bye purple! We kept walking out of the room and turning around so we could admire it again.

Here is what it looks like now

The roofing tiles were also dropped off. They will begin on Monday while we are heading home. The stucco guys were there repairing some large areas.

Megan, Luke, and I took a day to just relax and go to the beach. It was the perfect day for it too, the water was 84 degrees.

Reed arrived Friday afternoon and spent most of Friday and Saturday putting IKEA dressers together. Yuck! He also put a door in the kitchen leading into the basement. The frame wasn't square of course, so he had to do lots of trimming.

We also have a couple of additions to the family... we knew there was a box turtle out in the sunken garden part of the yard. We named her Lizzie after the woman who built the home. After they cut the bougainvillea, she didn't have anywhere to find any shade so Luke and I decided we would put in a couple of plants, then a shelter, then a pond...

Then we discovered a second turtle. We named him Martin after Lizzie's husband who died on the Titanic. Of course we had to make the shelter bigger so they could both fit!

We went to The Garlic  for dinner on Sunday YUM!! and then headed out early Monday morning for Colorado. Major things are happening the next couple of weeks so I will have lots to share with you next time.

Progress...

I haven't posted in awhile because we have been in Colorado for the past few weeks. Luke and I are heading back out to Florida on Sunday and rather than wait until I come back, I thought I would at least catch everybody up on the house progress. We have been so fortunate to have some great people working on the house while we are away. Jimmy is the "go to guy". If he can't do it, he knows someone who can. We had a really weird room that was open to the dining room. I think it used to be a porch and was closed in at some point. Jimmy closed in the wall and had someone sheet rock and plaster it on the dining room side. He put tongue and groove on the walls on the "porch" side which will be painted white. We will use it as a breakfast room and put our German beer garden table in there. We had some bad news from Guy, our plumber; seems the main sewer line was cracked all along the bottom and was leaking into the crawlspace. (I won't post any photos of that!) While he was under there he discovered (along with many animal skeletons) that we had some air ducts that were not attached and were blowing our very precious cool air right out into the crawlspace under the house. Jimmy had a guy come and fix it. He also had a guy come and fix our missing window panes and he is also adding a frameless glass shower enclosure to the master bath. Thank you Jimmy! The yard has now been all cleaned up and trimmed and they have started on the exterior stucco repairs. The missing upstairs windows will be installed on Monday and the roof should be replaced next week. My focus this trip will be to do lots of interior painting and Luke is going to pressure wash the driveway. He will enjoy that for about five minutes! Reed will join us Friday or Saturday, after his next trip. He is flying his tail off to pay for all of this!

Weird porch room?

Dining room side. Can't wait to lose the purple!

With the tongue and groove

Stucco "before'

Stucco "after"

Porch ceiling "after"

I don't have a "before" but it had to be completely redone

Remember the two giant bougainvillea? WACK!

That's all for now. I will update everyone when 

I return on the 11th. 

Thanks for following along!

Two Weeks Later

I headed out to Florida with Roxy on the 21st and Reed and Luke headed off to boy scout camp for a week. My friend Heather was there waiting for me as she had gone over early to be there for a mattress delivery. Keep in mind that it is 95 degrees and there is no air in the house. By the time I arrived, she had even cleaned the toilet. Now that's a true friend! Since we were there last, the entire yard had been trimmed, palm trees groomed (all 19 of them), and things were really starting to take shape. Or so I thought...

 

 

 

 

The guys who were doing the yardwork gave me a really great deal but they also weren't very reliable and in the end we had to get someone else to come in and finish hauling some of the debris away. They were doing that today so I will post some photos the next time we are there.

 

My friend Laura had purchased a cabinet for her shop and wasn't going to use the doors so she was kind enough to give them to me. They have since become the new gate to our courtyard. Thank you Laura!

 

doors before

 

new gate

 

 

 

 

 

 

Megan and I got the kitchen painted, including all of the brick. The after photos really don't capture how great it looks but trust me, it is like night and day! 

 

 Before

 

 

During

 

 

 

after

 

 

This photo makes it look yellow which it is not. It's more of a taupie sage.

 I will take some better pics when it's finished.

 

 

We played around with the cabinets we bought on Craigslist. They are going to work out great. We have more than enough to do the kitchen. They will be painted and glazed on another trip.

 

Sooo... while I was working on some projects I couldn't find the drill. I called Reed to see if he knew where it might be. We had purchased two new drills along with a bunch of other tools the first time we came out. It didn't take long to realize that someone had climbed in through a window and stolen a bunch of things. Drills, extension cord, hose, level, trash bags, hose sprayer, etc. etc. Megan and I went around checking and locking all of the windows and adding locks to a couple of old ones that didn't close properly. This was really disheartening and not the way I wanted to start this project but lesson learned. On a positive note, I have somehow managed to find some really great guys for plumbing, air, electric, framing, roofing, tile, and windows. Friday I had six trucks there from 8am to 8pm installing three new AC units. Yaaay!! So much easier to work with a little cool air. Sunday was the day for some electrical work and my day to powerwash the courtyard. I couldn't wait to get started.

 

 If you remember, I trimmed the courtyard last time we were here. 

 

 

This is the courtyard partially powerwashed

 

and after

 

Right in the middle of powerwashing, I headed for the garage for more gas only to hear a strange sound when I turned the corner... here is what I saw

 

I called my plumber but he was out of town, then the electricians who rushed  back to see if they could shut it off, then the city who said they don't come out on Sunday, then another plumber, none of which had a tool big enough to shut it off. After calling the city a couple more times, they finally came out and turned off the water. This meant that I had no water on the property at all. Monday morning my plumber came out and capped off the leak. I was able to get the guy from the city to leave me his big tool (get your minds out of the gutter) so we can turn it off and on as needed for the next couple of weeks. Reed and Luke arrived at 2:30am on Monday. Reed worked on putting the grill together, adding indoor lights and outdoor motion lights, and even took Luke to the Boardwalk for a much needed fun day! On the 4th, Megan came over and we had grilled chicken, corn on the cob, pasta salad, and water melon. All of the neighbors were out grilling and shooting off fireworks. Luke had a ball playing piro with the neighbor boy Stiles. This would be our first night staying at the house. I will fill you in next time.

 

Thanks for stopping by,