Thursday, February 16, 2012

Found more pictures


Still haven't found the picture of the outside of the house yet. I may just have to go take new ones. I want to do that anyway, now that we have new windows in the front. Oh, they are so pretty!
I did find some of the bathroom work that we had done. When we first moved in, the family before us had carpet in their bathroom, can you believe that? CARPET! The bathtub was also
falling apart, and leaking into the kitchen below. So, a trip to Menard's was in order.
We picked out a very pretty fiber glass tub with surround. Also, a very good quality vinyl tile flooring, whose name escapes me now.
So, let the games begin. We started tearing the carpet up and found 2 layers of linoleum underneath. Below that we found newspaper dating back to 1952. Did you know you could buy 4 brand new Firestone tires for less than $10!
After the flooring was removed, Aaron and I tried every which way to get the old tub out of it's area. Finally, he just took the sawsall and cut it into pieces. The kids and could haul those smaller chunks down the stairs to outside easier that way.
Now, for the fun part. Installing the tub. The floor has a horrible slant to it, so just putting it into the hole wasn't an option. Besides, the cabinet was in the way, so just slipping it into place wasn't an option. It took a lot of work, in and out, lifting and swearing, but eventually, we found "level" and got the tub installed. After that, it was a piece of cake. the surround went in easily, but it exends out further than the wall on the left hand side of the tub. (sigh) Oh well, that we can cut off and hide with trim.
The hard part is done. The sink and counter will stay. I have the paint picked out, just not purchased yet, to cover the lovely yellow and green flowers on the walls. (oh, so 70's!) Then, the bathroom with be almost close to done. YEAH!

Well, now that I know what to blog about...


We purhased our house on May 31, 2011. I will add pictures of the house later, when I get a chance, as my computer crashed that had all those photos on it. I haven't transferred them to my new laptop just yet.
The good news is, it's a wonderful home. We have 12 acres of land to play on, the back end is bordered by the Little Cedar Creek. Being here for the last 8 months has been a lot of fun for all of us.
We started the summer building a garden and planning what we are going to do. We have a good sturdy barn, that Aaron wants to make into a workshop, with a play loft on the 2nd floor. The detached garage will be going away, with a pole building replacing it, and the kitchen needs a makeover from head to toe. So, that is what my blog is going to be about. The trials and tribulations of rebuilding a house.
Since Thanksgiving 2011, Aaron has been working in the barn. He has removed the stable areas and posts. We made a visit to our favorite home shopping center ("Restore" in Mason City, IA) and found several old school doors to use on the interior. We also found double hung windows to put up on the 2nd floor, so we can watch the view from up there. Plans are also to put in a bathroom and kitchenette. This will be where I get to do my canning in the summer time. (YEAH!)
Minor little updates have happened, too. Sawyer and I pulled all the ghastly wall paper off from the stairway to upstairs. Now we have bare plaster to stare at, but it will get painted over soon. We are also discussing kitchen plans, and have started buying replacement appliances... a dishwasher and microwave to start.
Today, is window day. We purchased double hung windows from Sears home improvement, and are having them installed today. The gentlemen doing the work are very meticulous about what they are doing, and clean and vacuum after every nail is removed. I'm very impressed so far. The new windows change the look and feel of the room, too. What truely amazes me, is, it's 47 degrees in Feb. that they are doing this. LOVE that part of it!
That's it for today. As soon as we close on the other house (date 2/23) we can start purchasing fruit trees to cover the back yard. Looking forward to have hugs harvests of cherries, plums, and apples, along with the other garden harvests.