Update

Since the last post Phase 1 of insulating has been completed.

Parging of the basement walls has begun.

And the heater has stopped blowing warm air.

And on it goes...

Attic Before and After

Talk about a crazy week. Ev got sick on Friday with the dreaded stomach virus last Friday. She was sick pretty much all weekend and was slow to recover. By the time she did, both Ted and I got it and we're just starting to feel normal again.

But, the carpet guys came on Tuesday and finished off the attic studio. It looks fantastic! Even though I had second thoughts against the horros of wall to wall carpeting, we wound up agreeing on a tight loop carpet for this room for a few reasons. First, this room is currently unheated by the central gas system, so carpet really helps the toes feel warmer. And Ted wanted extra sound absorbtion as he'll have the drums set back up. Our neighbors should appreciate that!

This room and the roof above it went through some major ripping up and repairs. The roof was ripped down the rafters and replaced, The floor was ripped up in places for electrical rewiring and bathroom vent fan installation, insulation either had to be fixed or added, 3 light fixtures were installed....and I think that's it.

Here are the before pictures:





And here are the after pictures:

Freezing Cold Bathroom Update

I've been monitoring the early morning temperature in the freezing cold bathroom for over a month. On cold days, the temperature has been averaging 40 degrees. Last night got pretty cold and I was so happy to see the temperature come in at 50 degrees!

There's also a noticeable difference in the living room area, part of which is built over the crawl space, and part of which adjoins the freezing cold bathroom and office.

Being properly insulated makes such a difference!

Progress....progress...

Good news to report.....even though I didn't exactly get all of the place cleaned up during this past week.

#1 piece of good news -- We set up the library in the extra 2nd floor bedroom. Love seeing our book collection again -- it's been packed away in storage for so long......

#2 piece of good news -- Frank is here today working on phase #2 of insulating. Phase #1 was last week up in the attic and boy is there a noticeable difference in temperature up there. Today he's addressing the crawl space under the freezing cold bathroom. I will be interested to see if the temperature rises above 40 degrees on the next freezing cold day. I am just amazed that pipes haven't burst under that bathroom! He'll also be addressing the crawl space under the kitchen addition during this phase. Phase #3 will hopefully entail blowing the attics above the front porch enclosure and read kitchen addition. We're losing lots of heat through these attics.

#3 piece of good news -- The carpet is being installed up in the attic tommorow. It's totally cheap stuff from Home Depot, but we also choose it for it's tight loop and subsequent sound absorbing qualities. Very important for a loud, rockin' music studio. Can't wait to get the drums set up again -- it's been at least 2 years since we've consistently had them up.

#4 piece of good news -- Once the carpeting is installed, we can move most of the music equipment out of the 2nd floor kitchen and Evelyn can reclaim this room as her "Crazy Ev Art Studio"...or something like that.

It feels so good to have this house in a more liveable state. Even with the unsightly pink color still prevelant in so many places. Even with the 1st floor in grave need of an interior decorator. I'm actually starting to like it more!!

Homestead Clean Up Week

I hereby dedicate all my spare (haha) energy this week to CLEANING UP THIS MESS in order to make the reclaimed space more liveable. There are piles of tools/supplies in many places. The kitchen is an ongoing disaster.

Off we go...

The Many Blessings of Frank

Another room complete thanks to the awesomeness of Frank. Not even the worst room in the house was beyond his magical abilities. I am so amazed at the transformation of this room. Yes, we did the flooring rip, floor prep, and wall priming....and I caulked the crap out of the windows.....but this room is so Frank!

Let's recap how awful this room was when we moved in just a few short months ago. Panelling in bad condition. Wall to wall carpeting that was ugly and completely filthy. 2 Layers of linoleum under the carpeting. Nasty adhesive under the linoleum, some of which had turned black thanks to the fire that had occured in the house (yes, we knew about the fire before we agreed to buy it). Knot and tube wiring (um...sellers were supposed to take care of that prior to closing....guess they couldn't see it). Heat vent panelled over...the sellers claimed it was because "Dad liked it cold". Sure. Right.







It was awful. And now.......drumroll......





But, the thing that makes this room so completely Frank is what he did to the crappy, bottom of the line, piece of junk door. He took paint and painted what I consider to be a "real" door. I almost had a fit when I realized. I feel so blessed that Frank bestowed his artistry on this crap door. Now we can't replace it.



Evelyn is one happy girl. She's gone from the smallest bedroom in all of S. Philly to super stylin' in Collingswood!! She's moving on up as we speak, though she'll have to deal with just her mattress until we get her the new bed we promised her.

THANK YOU FRANK!! YOU ARE A TRUE FRIEND!!

This Old Trashy House

Remember the song Oscar the Grouch is famous for?

"I Love Trash, anything dirty or dingy or dusty, anything ragged or rotten or rusty, Oh I love trash"

With the exception of rotten, I very much agree with Oscar. Although, if I found the stained glass window I've been searching for surrounded by rotten trash, I would definitely deal with it!

We continue to have absolutely no problem finding free home furnishings in the Collingswood trash. And, I'm happy to report that my craigslist addiction has been completely cured. But now I have a trash obsession. Oh well, at least the stuff is free, in good shape. readily available, and I don't have to arrange times to pick it up. Sniff, sniff.....goodbye Craig.....

On Monday, Evelyn's friend Johnny is coming over and I'll put them to work in the furniture rehab department. Mostly paint updates on bookcases, Tv stand, coffee table legs, and an old freestanding kitchen cabinet (with enamal/porcelain top)!! If local temperatures continue to be above 50 degrees, we can also go outside and zap the wicker chairs with some nice spray paint.

Here's a picture of the freestanding kitchen cabinet. It was sold by Gimbels, and it's probably from the 1940's era. Thus far, I've cleaned the daylights out of it, took the doors off, stripped the hardware off, and sanded down the cabinet. All that's left is to sand the doors and drawers, clean it really good again, give the whole thing a coat of paint, and re-install the hardware. I think it will go in the basement laundry area.


RECYCLE REUSE RESTORE -- There is no greener way to go!!

Music to Repair To

So what does a family of musicians listen to while fixing up their bomb of a house?

The new Foo Fighter and Radiohead albums! Both are just great to have blasting loudly while toiling away on either the house or on the way to resupply missions at the Home Despot.....

http://www.foofighters.com/
http://www.radiohead.com/

Also, 88.5 WXPN Fm. Cool station.
www.wxpn.org

Busy Busy

We also got Evelyn's room primed yesterday. Thank you dearest husband for getting it started! This was the room with the most issues. Panelling in need of repair. Knot and tube wiring that had to be remedied. Horrible old rugs and layers of linoleum underneath. The heat duct was panelled over. And there most god awful linoleum adhesive that was impossible to get up.

Frank did most of the wall repairs today and freed the heat duct



Evelyn was bummed that we got to move upstairs before her. I'm glad that her room is so close and she'll be able to join us soon!!

One More Room Done!!

Yep -- we've reclaimed another bedroom on the second floor!! This is the room we'll use as a den/library. We decided to keep the wallpaper as it's very textured and not a great candidate for painting over. It's also kinda nice and in good shape. Ted primed to panelling yesterday and I painted the wall a nice grey. I found the paint at home depot in the "Oops" paint area. Only $5 for a gallon of Behr! Here are the before and after pictures:

This picture was taken while the floors were being sanded:



Painted Panelling with painters tape still in place:



Paint is such an amazing substance.

Bedroom Before and After Pictures

Our bedroom is done --- we're movin on up!

Bedroom before



Bedroom totally done




Next up....priming the panelling and trim in Evelyns room and priming the panelling in the second floor den/library. So close to a fully functional second floor!

Thank You Frank!!