Plaster repair planning

Our current plan is to create a smallish apartment or suite on the first floor in which we can live while we work on the rest of the house. This will include a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living space. It will be clean, beautiful, and safe while we finish plans, get permission, and raise funds to complete the house.

We will most likely have a small detour to complete the Bunny Manse, we are going to flip LIZZY first. We've tried to sell it this summer, turning down a really low offer after saying no to a more competitive offer this spring. The shear fact of the matter is right now selling it as is we would double our money, or we can flip it and triple our money. While it will mean that the Bunny Manse takes longer to finish, it will also mean we have less debt on the Bunny Manse when we're done and more cash to make it perfect.

We met with Ed Rokosz on Saturday to talk about the plaster repair. He showed us how to prepare the walls and to determine which loose pieces need to come out. There will be very little sponging work to do.

He will place a screen, re adhere the plaster to the walls/frame/wood of the house so that they can move together again, and will patch the holes and cracks. It's really interesting to see where they patched it in the 60s. With a scraper, you can just tell if the plaster is original or not. Super cool, but the top coat is more powdery if they patched it than where it is solidly original. Here's hoping when Ed is done we'll have very minimal plaster repairs ever again.

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a second kitchen design

Taking into account comments, good ideas, and original plans I think we have a new contender. No, before we hadn't thought about where the microwave would go or the trashcan. :) Originally Sara had us putting the range on the chimney and running counters all around it. We couldn't figure out how in practise that would work and started dreaming about dual ovens and cooktops in counters and all sorts of things that are fancy and pretty, but not really needed for how we live now or plan to live later. This one gives Harris a gas cook top and me a convection oven. Dual fuel from bosch and we're both happy. It also creates two separate work stations on either side of the range and will fit around the door that will exist for the next year, but not forever. I like that this way we're not building out something that will have to be torn out in 12 months. I really really hate that. ...

Two fun finds

We knew the house had 'help' from the census records and because the service stair exits into the plainest bedroom upstairs. The was also the tangle of wires right by the kitchen that at one point held the call system. In each room, there is also a protruding wire in the wall that is not a light switch. These are the call buttons, or at least, what is left of them Also, in the center of the dining room floor that was :sob: there was this lovely gadget. You use it to call for the next course or for whenever you needed the kitchen help to reappear. It would have been connected to a button or level under the table. When they pull up the flooring, this will be salvaged. Maybe we'll reinstall it so I can ask Harris to bring me glasses of milk.

Budget

Dad was asking about the budget and how we're doing so far. Initially we had a total budget of about $350k for the house. As we negotiated the purchase price up and found more information about what the house needed that budget went to a maximum of about $415k. As of today, we anticipate spending around $400k or ~$111/sqft. As a comparison, Oakwood cost us $90/sqft and we sold for $106/sqft and the new owners are doing all kinds of neat stuff we dreamed about doing. So far we're under budget in a couple of areas, within budget but ahead of schedule in some (which can also be read as over budget...) and just going to be way over in a couple of key areas. Our original plan including making a temporary kitchen that we could live with, but would be massively overhauled within a year or two. Instead we decided to do it right the first time and enjoy it the entire time. To this end, our temp budget for cabs, appliances, and counters, was initally $5,600. However, that's g...

Adventures at The Bunny Manse

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