We are done! Well sort of.....

My last post was in December? It seems unreal that it's taken me so long to update the blog, but we've been super busy. Busy finishing the 2nd floor and the pieces of the 1st floor we had left until we finished upstairs. There was so much to do, it's been a blur of time for us to get it finished. Erik did the majority of the work. Drywalling, mudding, sanding, painting, hanging doors, trimming, tiling, flooring. We did have a good amount of help from our "Watertown Angel" Brian King, who came up several times to help with the big push for the tile in the bathroom and trim for the windows. Some highlights for the projects we had to deal with upstairs. The floors were beyond uneven- I believe from one end of the house to the other was off by 5" in places. Erik had to shim the floor nearly every 2 ft in order to lay the flooring out and have it work. Originally, there was linoleum throughout the upstairs which hid the problem, well sort of. Erik made it work to the best he could and was able to lay out the flooring. 

Our first room we finished was the bathroom. We stole some space from the larger of the bedrooms to make the bathroom a bit more spacious, it is a wonderful space now, that 2 people can share without ending up with someones elbow in their ear. The tile is probably our favorite part of the room. Erik tiled the entire wall behind the tub and toilet. It looks like wood. It is modern and warm. It reminds me of our honeymoon to Europe. There is only one hot air supply for the 2nd floor, so we added a panasonic  Whisper Warm to the bathroom, it vents the air, has a light and also heats the space. It seems to be the best solution to adding some heat to the room. Our bedroom was the next room to be finished and it is great to be living upstairs again. Bartlett is very happy to go upstairs to bed as well. We have a small window that we want to add to the dormer wall, but we are going to wait to do that for a bit.

The guest room is ready for visitors! However, in the next few weeks we aren't sure if you want to make a reservation anytime soon...as the last room we finished is for the baby! Who is soon to arrive in the next four weeks. 

Below are a few shots of the upstairs. 

Hall looking towards our bedroom.

A sneak peak into our bedroom. We added the small window next to the double hung. 

 A sneak peak into the bathroom, you can see the tile surrounding the tub looks like wood- but it's ceramic tile. It's awesome.

The guest room, so serene and peaceful for the next few weeks.

The baby room. 

And in a few short weeks, the real work will begin!!

Phase 3- inside the 2nd floor part 2

Putting it back together. Erik reframed what he could. Erik shimmed every 16" to level out the 3" difference across the entire 2nd floor. This was huge. If he hadn't of done that, everything would have been off. Have a mentioned how truly talented he is?  Also, he reframed the interior walls, which were not bearing. This gave us a bit more space in the bathroom and reconfigured it so it feels much bigger. Adding a walk-in closet in the larger bedroom and reframing the other two bedrooms to include decent size closets and little niches for dressers. The 3 bedrooms will remain nearly the same size with a few changes. We had the 2nd floor re-wired for lighting and outlets and switches to update from the old frayed wiring to current codes. As soon as all the electrical was updated and framing, we had the underside of the roof and walls spray foam insulated.  Here are some photos of the framing and the new insulation below.

Phase 3- fall update inside the 2nd floor

The final phase, phase 3. Erik and I spent the better half of the summer tearing the 2nd floor apart and putting it back together. We found; the insulation that was blown in had trails from rodents, the old mineral wool is very itchy when it gets on your skin, there was a good deal of recycled wood holding the 2nd floor together, the front dormers were floating (there was nothing tying it back to rest of the house), a Ted Williams baseball card, all the razerblades from a lifetime of one man's daily shaving ritual fell behind the medicine cabinet into the wall, there was a 3" difference across the 2nd floor, the dump guys can be bribed to fit 4 trailer loads in only 2 and that we like outdoor showering even into October. Here are some photos highlighting the gutting process. 

July 4th

It's been awhile since my last post. Erik and I are about to begin phase 3. of the big phases to the house. We just moved our lives back downstairs and cleaned out upstairs in order to begin gutting the upstairs. We'll probably start ripping it apart tomorrow. It will feel so good to get this done. I can almost see the end! We've been at this house for over 3 years now. Seems like forever. Here are some pictures of what we've been living with. I cannot say I will miss too many of these fine features, but they've been apart of my daily life for 3 years that a thoughtful "send off" seems appropriate.  Here is a list some things that I will not miss; squeezing into the tiny space for the toilet (honestly you have sit sideways it is so tight),  the blue toilet seat which was only held on by one hinge, the blue painted floor, blue dust ridden shutter doors on the linen closet, blue tape on the ceiling to keep the mice in the attic, red rage wallpaper (WOW that color isn't a good one to wake up peacefully), wallpaper on the ceilings, the electrical socket on the ceiling ( I don't know why it was there?), having to use a painters light in the bathroom, the insulation pocking out  of the walls, and the smell of old insulation that probably was wet at one time. Oh, and how could I forget the linoleum floors.

The Big REVEAL

I came home to find Erik about to hang the last shingle on the final end to be sided. What a momentus event to witness. I am thrilled with the progress of this year, as we approach our 3rd year at 528 Spurwink, the exterior is done- now we can focus on the finishing the interior. This gives new meaning to the phrase, "home stretch"!

Exterior Finale

The last window to be replaced! After Frankenstorm Sandy blew through. We had a leak come through the living room window. We thought we could ride it out, but we were overexposed. Erik got a fire under his skin to finish installing the last of the windows  and finish the siding the exterior. This section of the gable end is the last to be sided. Brian King, Erik's friend extraordinaire, came up for about 18 hours to help Erik prep, install the windows and get as much siding up as possible. Team King works like a well oiled machine, except for the bickering. At one point I was upstairs cleaning up the insulation and I just stopped to overhear them going back and forth on what was the best way to frame the new window opening.  After a good go around, it was framed and the windows were installed before I left to go to a batchelorette party that afternoon! Brian and Erik despite picking on each other, work so well together. I am so thankful Brian came up to help us make such a huge stride in our renovation.  

 Brian is a good "cut man" as well as "net man", once this is done, we will treat him to a trip down the river, where he can sit back and catch some fish rather than take cut orders from Erik!

 The new window opening- looking out to the pond. 

Windows installed!