Skip to main content

You did it all, backwards, in the same year...

Image
By Natalie

Recap of 2014!


Got married  - October
Had a baby - September
Broke an arm - September
Started kindergarten - August
Went back to school -  May
Major house rennovation restarted - May
Sold some property - April
Took a new job - January


And where are we on the house...

The roofwork is looking good. We restored the slate roof and added gutters. We finished the plaster upstairs, added HVAC, added tile, actually...it's kind of hard to remember all of the things we did to the house. In showing off the place recently I was startled to realize that a year ago we were living without real heat in three rooms of the drafty old place. Now we can wander around almost the entire place with climate control and have a delicious baby daughter. What an incredible year.










And what's in store?
Finish tile work in the bathrooms - our tile guy disappeared in August with the job half done. He's too busy for his own good.
Finish the trim work - headers, quarter round, picture rail
Paint the interiror trim
Paint the exterior of the house
Create and install better lights in the upstairs hallways
Re-install the fancy woodwork in the hallways
Finish the girls bathroom
Figure out exactly what we want the butler pantry to look like
Replace a bathroom window
Paint the walls in the bathrooms

Summer kitchen?
Butler pantry?
reopen the service stair?



What about that budget of yours?
When I talked Harris into buying this house I made a 30+ line item budget for everything imaginable that might need to be fixed in the house. I then put hard or soft numbers with each line item and added 15% at the end for fringe. This became the 'most the house could possibly cost' budget. We then ended up paying our max budget for the house, doing the kitchen right from the beginning instead of a temp kitchen, and a couple of things took a little longer than expected (plaster, exterior rot repairs, termite damage repairs to name a few). This spring, once Harris finishes installing the trim, we'll have painters do the interior trim and paint the outside. At that point, we'll be at 106% of our 'most it coud possibly cost' budget or about $120/sqft to purchase and restore the house.  Yes, we've broken the mental $400k ceiling to buy and restore the house. This is why we don't go on vacations or have a real savings account.

At some point in the future we will finish the master suite and sunroom downstairs. The estimates we got there were pretty high cost and timewise, so we'll just see what happens and when we're ready to do them. There are a lot of elements of it we can do ourselves in the meantime that will dramatically cut the cost and it's not like we're wanting for space.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

a second kitchen design

By Natalie
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.   ...
4 comments
Read more

Two fun finds

By Natalie
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.      
3 comments
Read more

reflecting, thinking about what's next

By Natalie
Reading through the blog, mainly to look at the ruin that was our house and the wee little babes that were our babies, now walking, running, yelling girls and found this from January 2016 What's left - the girls bathroom, master suite, sunroom, tile patching in 2 bathrooms, butler pantry. Summer kitchen. Landscaping. We've completed the girls bathroom, butler pantry, and landscaping. The sunroom is ALMOST finished. After living in the house with three girls we've changed plans a little bit for the remaining work. We're opting to turn what would have been mine and Harris's bedroom, closet, and bathroom into a bonus room of sorts. We'll also leave the wall there and add the washer/dryer upstairs and some desk space so the girls have a place to work. We also will build a general storage closet up there so clothing doesnt have to go up and down to the attic each season. We've also decided we need a shower upstairs, so the clawfoot that is in bad shape up...
Post a Comment
Read more