Vignettes

These are small things, small areas, but we are grateful for the things that are done!

Vanity area.

An actual mirror, nice and big. We got it a the ReStore; attached to a broken medicine cabinet, priced at $70, which seemed a bit high for a broken medicine cabinet. We inquired of management and we all decided that the goal had been $7, which was a lot more reasonable. Jack took off the broken medicine cabinet part, and voila! a beautiful mirror for $7.

The little chest of drawers is very special to me, as it was my grandmother's sewing chest since my mom was little, and I remember it from my very early days. My grandparents recently moved and this was one of the treasures I got. It was a stained green before that didn't match quite right, so a quick paint job and it's ready for new use! I think of my Mum-mum every time I use it.

The Shelf. 

That's its official name, and you say "the" with a long "e", as in "the end" because it's just that special. My man made this for me before he was even my man, as a birthday present the birthday before he left for Mexico. It was neon green then, my signature color at the time. I absolutely loved it, When we moved into our apartment, we painted it a little more grown-up shade of green, but we never got a chance to finish the little frames in the doors. Here at this house we finally finished it! This is one of my most precious possessions and we plan for it to see many different shades in many different rooms in our family through the years. 

Bed Area
The bed we brought from our apartment, along with the the rest of our bedroom set, the nightstands and a bookshelf. We made this set before we were married. The bedclothes, lamps, and picture frames are a combination of wedding gifts and garage sale finds. The two stick arrangements were fun to do: I found the urn on my side almost two years ago for $2 at a garage sale, then accidentally broke it. Jack fixed it for me, and I started collecting sticks. The four different kinds of sticks were from four different garage sales over two years. (Total spent $7) but I was waiting for a second urn to make the arrangements. A few weeks ago I found the one on Jack's side at Community Forklift, for $5, because it was broken! So now the his and hers jugs have matching cracks. :)

The Bookshelf. 
Part of the same set that we made, this is one other part of the house that I actually have gotten set up.

 
Keepsake Shelf.
This is another example of my hubby's mad skills. One of our favorite places to get ideas (but not actually stuff, because it's expensive) is The Country House. They have a shelf they call a keepsake shelf, which we loved:

Price: $59
Here is my husband's version:

Price: $4 (for the knobs. the material was scraps, and the paint was free at the dump). I love my man! :)

So there you have it, there are actually a very few things that are done. Grateful for all bits of progress! :)

Things that substitue for actual things

Before we update on actual progress that's happened, we'll talk a little about life in between the progressive moments. When you're in transition in a house that was basically studs, you have to make do with a lot of things... or I should say, without a lot of things. The trick then is to come up with temporary solutions to stave off the insanity. They almost always cause pain to the aesthetic part of one's psyche, but pragmatism rules the day around here. Here are some instances of making do, which I'm sure will bring smiles to our faces some day when the real things are up and running.

Add style to your wardrobe and your decor in one easy step!
I do feel that I would be capable of this particular project, but for some completely unfathomable reason my dear husband seems to feel some trepidation about my ability to hang something in a way that's perfectly... what's the word.... level. No idea where he gets these ideas from. So, until he is able to hang the closet rods, I have improvised. Now I'm wondering if I really need curtains at all.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall... can you even see me at all?
If anybody has discreetly wondered lately why I appear to have applied my makeup by feel, or why my shirt is on backwards, or anything like that, it's probably because this valiant little guy is playing the part of the only reflective surface in the entire house. 

Eventually two nice big mirrors go up in the bathroom and bedroom, but in the meantime we're playing old-fashioned on this one. I call it my looking glass. Now, not having a large mirror is definitely good for my self-esteem (::smirk::) but I'm probably inflicting pain on people by making them try not to laugh at the fuax pax that I'm sure arise from me having no earthly idea how I look. To top it all off, this little mirror lives on the shower wall, so not only do I probably look funny, but the bottoms of my feet are perpetually damp.

At least it has a kitchen sink...
This corner boasts two entries in today's category ("things that substitute for actual things.") First, note the lovely piece of plywood playing the part of an actual counter.

I like to use the terms "rugged" and "rustic" to describe it, as opposed to the less evocative but accurate "impossible to clean." I promise to cook on another portion of counter if you ever come over for dinner. 

Second, the economy-friendly (Dollar Tree) utensil holder. 

Originally I was in an obstinate mood and was determined to wait to find my actual nice burgundy utensil crock, but the subsequent weeks of my cooking implements' scattered state (with a lot of box-searching yielding no crock) contrived to break my pride. The biggest issue is that the pitcher's lack of sturdiness as compared to the weight of the utensils is liable to cause the entire business to end up falling over and spilling utensils everywhere, therefore defeating the very purpose it was originally contracted to serve. 



Looking forward to the real things being in place, but until then, grateful for creativity stretched and memories made.

Posting again...

Hello everyone! It's been awhile. November was a busy month for Jack with school, and then just as we were beginning winter break my dear sister-in-law Amy developed a severe brain hemorrhage. During her month in the hospital, and the weeks after her passing away in mid-January, we didn't much feel like posting here. We are now, by the grace of God, working back into a routine, and we're ready to document more house progress. We miss Amy so much but have such joy knowing she is with her Savior, and we will see her again. Stay tuned for house updates!

A Floor in Every Attic

It's like a chicken in every pot, but more useful.

When we moved in, our attic was animal-infested, damp from leaks, and based on broken joists. It contained a huge cardboard box holding a neon pink silk bedspread, a coffee table book on the World Trade Center, and a pair of red red plastic shoes with toes that curled up. (I dearly wish we'd gotten pictures of these treasures, but alas, we lapsed that day...)

In short, useless and best avoided.

Our attic is now clean, dry, based on a sturdy grid of extra joists, and incredibly useful. That's my guy for you.

You may remember that Jack spent a lot of time laying the foundation for our attic back in the beginning, but we just finished the floor this past weekend. We used tongue-in-groove OSB from Home Depot. We had hoped to recycle more of the wood that had been taken off the roof, but in this case it was't worth it to save money because the wood really was in such awful shape. Becuase this stuff is tongue-and-groove, Jack was able to cut it perfectly to line up with the joists and it needed less support. He did a wonderful job and we had a grand ol' time moving much of our stuff into happy storage. The biggest problem storage-wise for us right now if all of our living room decorations and dining room stuff, like tablecloths and nice dishes, since we can keep nothing in those rooms right now (they're full of things like, you know, tools and front doors. Ours is an interesting house.) So, the attic now holds these soon-to-be-thankful-for-but-currently-a-hassle-to-deal-with treasures, which greatly frees up our guest room, where they were.

Cost: $88 for 7 sheets of OSB (paid for with a gift card gotten in a refer-a-friend bank promotion)

About Appliances

If there's one thing in the world that is never worth it to buy new, it's appliances (in our humble opinion). They lose value instantly when you buy them, but they don't lose function for years and years and years. We never imagined we'd be able to afford stainless steel. God provided royally with our appliances, and as usual with craigslist, we met some great people in the process. 

The stove and microwave we got from the same gentleman, whose house was in a remodeling state even more severe that our own, if you can imagine such a thing. We went for the microwave, knowing that the stove had been spoken for, and praying that something would change because the stove was perfect and an incredible price. Praise God, the first folks did fall through and we were able to get them both. Less than a year old and pretty much exactly what we would have chosen. 

Gas 5-burner stove with warming tray -- $250

Over-the-range microwave (with "reheat" button - very important to my dear microwave-impaired husband) - $100

The fridge we bought from a dear lady in DC, a widow who had lost her house and was relocating to an apartment.  She was asking more than we could afford originally, and we thought she could get that much but gave her our number in case she couldn't, explaining that we could do $500. She ended up not having a buyer at her first price, and called us back. Very soon after we'd made that purchase, we got an unexpected windfall and were able to send her a gift card for something she's mentioned needing as well as some encouraging scriptures. God works in great ways. I wonder frequently how many people we'll see in heaven that we met on craigslist. :)

25-cubit-foot side-by-side fridge  -- $500 

The one thing about this fridge was it has mold colonies in it that rivaled Rome in its heyday. I spent an immensely satisfying 3 hours one sunny Saturday on my in-laws' driveway armed with strong soap, 4 types of scrubbies and brushes, a hose, and some motivating tunes. (I invented a little spoof that went along the lines of "I'm gonna wash this mold right outta my fridge...")  I disassembled every inch of that thing and actually ended up having some fairly deep spiritual applications about the beauty of shining clean items drying in the sun, and how opening up our lives to the light instead of hiding and concealing our sin is a beautiful thing. ... okay, well, it seemed deep at the time... but I was probably breathing in a lot of soap fumes.

The dishwasher was the best deal of all -- free! It has something wrong with it, so the folks were giving it away. Either Jack will fix it or we'll have to get it fixed, but any repair price will still be way better than what new would have been! A cute young couple in Virginia was giving this away, and when we got there we found they were remodeling themselves as well. They gave us a tour and some great tips, and we learned a lot, plus were inspired. They also gave us two perfectly good ceiling fans that they didn't need! One is slated for the living room (once it has an actual ceiling). We think about them often an pray God provides for them the way He used them to provide for us!

You may notice that there is no counter on top of this dishwasher... that's because that is a project still to come. In the meantime, free laminate given us by a friend who was moving comes in perfectly handy as is such a blessing. 

Except for the dishwasher, I love using these lovely shiny appliances, and we praise God for them often.

An actual update

Okay, I've been fully shamed into this update. I admit it - I've been woefully bad and I'm ashamed of myself. My only excuse is that our lives when Jack started up school again shifted to truly insane and we haven't exactly finished a project since, which can be discouraging when thought of in those terms. We have made a ton of progress on multiple fronts, and we love and are super grateful for this house. But going from having like 100 hours a week to work on the house to maybe 4 a week does mean the blogging slows down too. Hopefully some more robust posts should be on their way over Christmas break. 

And while I mention school, I'm going to interject here to brag on my boy: Jack is working so hard and I'm so proud of him -- he's been getting perhaps 3 hours of sleep a night for weeks now, but his incredibly faithful work is paying off as he's at the top of all his classes. God is sustaining him, and we are both learning very good lessons, me in particular, about letting go of "needing" to have things done, or even to get things done, in order to be happy. God is the strength of our lives, and our portion forever -- not having a living room.

That being said, however, we do want to have a living room as soon as possible because we want to be able to open our home to friends. Right now, inviting people over would scare them. 

So, that is our current situation and story. We're working along on stuff slowly and steadily, and planning to pack a lot into winter break. I do intend to try to post things, most likely about once a week, with some updates on what we are doing... but I warn our dear readers, they'll be kinda boring compared to the summer progress. 

And since just words is pretty boring, I will post one picture here, which is not house-related at all but will make this post more interesting. It's from a fall festival at a small town in Pennsylvania, the visiting of which is our annual October tradition, along with visiting my parents. 

Also, it proves that we truly haven't fallen off the face of the earth, despite what my abysmal posting record would imply. 

Also, just to be honest here, I feel that I was having a fairly good hair day, which happens approximately 3 times per presidential administration, so I figured I could weasel in this pic to combat all the lovely pics from the summer with the painty clothes and the normal (read: hideous) hair days.

Thanks to everyone who's been asking me to post... it means a lot to us that you guys care. I promise, my goal is a post per week. :) Stay tuned!

Kitchen Progress Plus Daddy

My very wonderful father shared not only his Labor Day weekend, but also his anniversary, with us to help us with the kitchen (and my sweet mother gave us all her blessing!). He was a huge help and we actually made fantastic time. On Saturday (after some early morning garage saling, of course -- the Germantown Marc station has a huge flea market the first Saturday of every month) we put in the floor. We'd chosen the Bruce Flooring "Marsh" color from Home Depot, because of the fantastic price. They ran a special with 10% more in the boxes, plus we used coupons. Then, we also were able to get half off 9 boxes (so far) because they were opened. So far at current pricing, we're getting the flooring for $1.68 per square foot. If we are able to find more open boxes, that could go even lower (we still have more to buy because we're doing hardwood throughout the first floor).


The floor prep was a lot of work, because the subfloor was in pretty messed up shape after the layers we'd chipped off of it. Using a belt sander to even it out helped a lot, but we also needed to build up the spots where the floor had layers splintered up, leaving low areas. We used tar paper (which had been given to us for free by a friend when moving) and Jack carefully cut layers in the right shapes to fill up the holes. 

We have a great system going when we work on this; the three of us have done it before in my parents' dining room. I pick the pieces, planning for the seams, and cut them to size. My dad and Jack are on their knees, my dad tapping each piece into a perfect fit and Jack nailing it into place. We don't have one of the angled floor nailers, but the regular nail guns seem to work just fine (they wore kneepads). We were able to get the entire floor in that day, praise God!

Sunday after church they finished the base cabinets, but they didn't have the camera with them, so pics of that will be in the next post with the appliances. :)


Cost:
flooring for  kitchen: $174.72