53. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

March 4, 2013January 20, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 9 Comments

The Good:

Kitchen countertop and sink laid out on paper and ordered √

Dishwasher ordered and ready for pickup at Sears √

Black and white VCT flooring tile ordered √

Old linoleum and tar paper scraped off the kitchen floor √

Sliding glass door frame and surrounding wall demoed √

French doors framed in √

The kitchen subfloor discovered to be 5/4″ thick. √

Subway tile for behind sink purchased and waiting √

Two new electrical outlets installed (ahead of schedule) √

A renovation calendar with projects clearly scheduled √

A yellow bedroom that will soon have to be renamed the White Bedroom √

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Subway tile, $120, American Olean Biscuit from off the shelf at Lowe’s.

Two new outlets

Priming the Yellow Bedroom

Renovation calendar

Where the French doors will go…

Oh my! There is so much good progress, I hardly want to show you the bad and the ugly.

But for the sake of truth in blogdom, I will.

The Bad:

It was really hard work taking up the linoleum. I might have whined several times. Our backs and our knees reminded us that we are OLD…

I don’t understand why 18″ dishwashers are more expensive than 24″ dishwashers. Less parts, smaller = bigger price. Totally unfair!

We found another mummified mouse — this one was under the refrigerator when we moved it to pull up the tile. (At least they all have been dead a long time…)

When Mr. H. C. was taking up the tile under the refrigerator, he discovered the floor had been patched there because of termite damage. (But see Good list above — the reason it didn’t cave in was the solid five-quarters subfloor.)

The kitchen is now shrouded in plastic drop cloths and sheets while the work gets messy, dusty, and serious. Which means I have just a small temporary kitchen in the living room.

Which leads us to … The Ugly:

This is actually the subfloor.

Michael cut out the damaged subfloor and fixed it with plywood temporarily.

Old kitchen floor

We worked just as hard, but Mr. H.C. covered 3 times the territory…

The semi-functional kitchen is now shrouded in plastic and drop cloths while we do serious messy work

Which means this is what we get to have for dinner most nights:

Domino’s and Black & Tans

Wait! Is that good? Or bad? I’m not sure… But we certainly are glad to be making good progress finally. Bad knees, aching backs, sore muscles, and the ugly of it all.

52. Now that we’ve seen the worst…*

February 25, 2013January 20, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 15 Comments

We’ve been working on this little cottage every weekend for almost a year now.

We are no longer under any illusions. We know that the wiring is haphazard, the upkeep has been minimal, and it was built in fits and starts without much planning. (This is not to cast aspersions on previous owners and builders — they were our grandfathers and great uncles; they were our fathers and mothers, and we loved them.)

Checking to see how easy it will be to disconnect the sink faucets and drain…

We thought we were prepared for what we were going to see when we took out the cabinets.

We were wrong. WAY wrong. We were not prepared.

We were both so appalled that I only took one small picture, and that was AFTER we cleaned up the floor of insulation, mouse nests, hickory nuts, dead bugs, a mummified mouse, and an inch of mouse droppings. There was no photo of that, because, quite frankly, I don’t want to remember it.

But that wasn’t the worst.

Yes, in the picture above those ARE holes in the walls. See how the wall doesn’t appear to meet the floor? It doesn’t!

Yes, in the picture above, you can see mouse-chewed wire through the holes in the wall.

And yes, in the picture above, that IS a hole in the floor. Under the cabinet were three pieces of plywood about 8×12″ just sitting on the joists. Not nailed down. Of course, those boards moved when the cabinet was pulled out and dropped into the crawl space below. Basically, there was not a nailed down floor under the cabinets. We spent seven minutes staring aghast at the ground; we spent three minutes wondering if Gus the groundhog (see post 21. Apple Picking Time. ) would poke his nose into the kitchen; and we spent eighteen minutes scurrying around fixing it temporarily, so we could sleep at night. While I guarded the kitchen from Gus, raccoons, snakes, bears, or any other critter that could possibly make their way up that hole, Mr. H.C. found enough boards to cover the floor for now while we try to figure out what’s next. We are not wimps here; we’ve seen holes in the floor before…

Just one more polite rant: These cabinets were installed by a Professional Cabinet Company. What kind of professional would leave holes in the floors and walls and shrug and say, “Oh just leave it, the cabinets are going there anyway!”???

Right. A cabinet company that is still in business! Admittedly these cabinets were installed 35+years ago; but thirty-five years ago, did they still leave holes in floors? Now, we’ve all seen or heard horror stories of Professional Remodelers who have done irreparable damage to houses. Any stories out there? C’mon, the worst remodel saga you’ve ever seen — in 100 words or less. Let’s hear those stories!

Plans seem to change daily around here… And it’s not usually boring (unless you’re sanding windows…) So we’re off to buy metal lath, plaster, and some floor boards.

Let’s hear those stories…

*Mr. H. C. reminds me that this, very likely, is NOT YET the worst…

50. Perfectionism, Part 1: the curse

February 19, 2013July 9, 2014 / Apple Hill Cottage / 8 Comments

All our lives we’re told, “Do your best.” “If you do your best, that’s all anyone can ask.”
And what, exactly, is our best?
How many times can we have a do over?
When and how do we draw the line between “our best” and OCD?
And who ultimately gives us the final grade? Friends? Lovers? Bosses? Ourselves? Society? God?
Oh my. These are such hard questions I’d better stop now and have a cup of tea. I hope you’re having one with me…

Several events have precipitated these musings on perfectionism.

The Color of my Kitchen

I spent (or wasted) hours poring over paint samples. After purchasing a sample jar of Benjamin Moore Blooming Grove, I fell in love. There were even signs to let me know I’d chosen well:

I bought a gallon at a store that shall remain nameless. I do have to say that when the mixologist opened the can to show me the paint, I said, “That’s too yellow.”
“No,” he assured me. “It’s Blooming Grove. It will dry darker.”

On the wall is the paint from the sample can. The cabinet door is divided in half–the bottom is the sample can; the top is from the gallon that would dry darker.
I have struggled with this. I don’t want to be the whiny perfectionist lady customer demanding a new gallon be mixed because it isn’t exactly right.
Nevertheless, one can plainly see that it isn’t exactly right.
Does God want me obsessing over a paint color, because, in the scheme of the universe, paint color just isn’t that important. I know this. Where does the line fall here?

The Last Glitch in the Kitchen Window Process

Two weeks ago we were ready to put up the windows in the kitchen. The left side just had to be finish coated and we were ready to go. As I sat down to paint them (paint poured and brush dipped) I could see that the primer on the glazing wasn’t sticking. So instead of finish coating, I spent the next three hours peeling little strips of paint/primer off the glazed window panes.
There are no photos of this event.
And then instead of putting up windows, we were back to priming/drying/painting/drying.
It was discouraging.
And I wondered as I was sitting on the floor in the late afternoon sun peeling off little strips, “Is this normal?”
Would other people just say, “Oh for goodness sake, just paint the stupid windows and put them up!”

I wanted to do that. But I knew it was peeling. Done poorly. Failed event. Where does the line fall here?

Life in General; Rehabbing a Cottage in Particular

I don’t mind little imperfections in wood or paint or people — I myself have little imperfections.
I am not a complete dorky perfectionist all the time. (The jury is still out on Mr. H.C.)
I have buried uncleaned paintbrushes in the bottom of a garbage can because A. I didn’t want to clean them, or B. I did clean them but not good enough and they dried out stiff and I didn’t want any other perfectionist who lives in the house to find them.
I mean, really, one could spend hours cleaning a paintbrush. Or peeling paint from an imperfectly primed window…Or redoing a board because it is a quarter inch off…Or choosing the right color of paint… I don’t have any answers here folks. The age old question — blessing or curse — is still a question. But I can tell you that just last week I read a quote from Thomas Merton (much wiser than I…) who said this: