A Snap shot of the Progress & Life

So, it seems like a year has passed since I last updated my blog; so much has happened. I suppose that technically, it was more like a little over a week ago, but that's how it feels when you are working like crazy. And that's what we've been doing for the last two weeks-- working like crazy, with a few minor set backs.

         As of this weekend, most of the multiple layers of flooring in the 10 separate rooms have all been removed. All that is left is wood, except for that we've run into a little thing called cutback. Black, awful, gooey, stuff that doesn't want to come up off of the floors. Fortunately, we'd done our research and are aware of the potential for this stuff to have asbestos, thus we were prepared with special masks to protect from asbestos. In the areas near the edges of the rooms the cutback is dry and scrapes up moderately well. From about 12" in to the center it is almost like hard tar with a layer of tar paper. Being essentially asphalt, we've looked into special flooring products that will remove the stuff with more ease than the desperate scraping measures that we've succumbed to for the last week. The best products recommended and talked about in old house forums across the web seem to be Sentinel 770, Citrus King, or Titan Oil Flow. The one we are attempting to order is advertised to take up the tar, and is less toxic than some of the products available. This product can also be cleaned up by using detergent and water. I'll let you know how well it works in a following post. Wish us luck with this one, as we are really not keen on sanding the tar off of the floors-- potentially releasing dust which may or may not contain asbestos, which we then will have to attempt to clean from the complete interior of the house. Not a project to envy.

Orange kitchen is gone. Nothing but the white cabinets and ship lap left.
                                          Before:

                                                    After:

                                                   

        It seems our plans for the house change daily as we read more, experiment, and hear from those who have gone before in the journey of restoring old houses.  My instinct is to keep as much of the old wood as possible, only replacing the necessary parts. The old wood gives the home a welcoming feeling and suggests that there are stories and memories, history within the walls.  My plan is to strip the old cabinets and paint them, strip the base boards and trim, use a heat gun if necessary, scrape, and then paint. We are also using the existing sinks in both bathrooms, and one of the existing claw foot tubs.  We've purchased another claw foot tub from Waylon's sister and brother-in-law, for the down stairs bathroom.  We may eventually restore both tubs, but for now they will remain as is.

The pink and green bathroom is no more; Jonathan & Julia helped pick out the color for the walls: Martha Living-- Sea Anemone MS L087 is our choice for the new paint.  We removed all of the walls.  Will post pictures when this is finished.                                                   

      Much work to be done, and I will post more pics as we make progress. For now our plan is to move into the cabin near the house (which has a kitchen, bath, and closet space), while we rent out our current house and work on the new/old house. So my goal this week has been to primarily focus on moving everything that I can, with the help of Jonathan.  That way Waylon will be free to work on things like AC installation, and bigger projects that I have not a clue about. Next week my focus will be poured into designing and working on the chicken coop (using an existing cattle trailer that is sitting in the pasture).