A rhino here, a rhino there...

I would be remiss if I didn't post another adorable find.  This plastic rhinoceros found his way out from beneath the surface of the floors in the sunroom.  He will be added to the treasure trove of decades old toys that we've uncovered in this gem.

And yes, please pardon the dust!

How Is This Ever Gonna Get Done?

I am wondering the same thing, but there is a day that comes in all remodel projects where you have the "aha" moment when you realize that it is all coming together.  This week has given me the aha moment.  Here is where we've been and where we are going in short order.

I'll post more progress pictures after the weekend. 

We're so busy remodeling. We forgot to blog!

So I know you are just itching to know what we are up to.  You have been hounding me and I have been terribly remiss in posting updates.  This project is a doozy!  We are chugging along, slowly and thoughtfully.  Here are some highlights of where we stand today. 

Monkey helping with kitchen planning

Well, when a bulldog figures out the kitchen layout before the humans, we are in trouble. Monkey insisted on adding a wine fridge! Opinionated little guy!

My Very Own Tootsie Toy!

There have been lots of interesting finds throughout the remodel of this house, but this broken metal toy truck has intrigued me. I can just imagine the little boy who owned this toy ...  racing it around on the oak floors...pushing it through the grass in the backyard.  How did it end up in the crawl space under rubble?     

I wasn't certain how old this toy was.  I was thinking perhaps the 50s.  But I finally found my answer.  This Overland Bus Lines Coach was released by Tootsie Toys in 1929!  There is a web site dedicated to the history of the toy line at www.tootsietoys.info. 

Look at what this beauty looked like in its day.

I'm inspired to keep digging for buried treasure....

Stairway To Heaven?

Those that know me well know that if I had any chance of not breaking an ankle coming and going from the second floor, I had to do something to address the pitch of this staircase.  1/2 Airhead Polish + 1/2 Klutsy Italian + Old Steep Stairs = 2 New Broken Bones + 1 Aching Concussion.  

Apparently one hundred years ago people made due with the space they had.  The attic was...well...an attic.  The stairs hidden behind that beautiful oak door offered no more comfort than an attic ladder.  The prior owners of this house drywalled out the attic space and made two bedrooms (er....confined spaces...bedrooms is generous), but never addressed the steep pitch of the stairs.  I'm assuming Grandma never went up and down that hazard!  Getting to the 2nd story was basically like climbing into a tree house.


New stairs were needed and new stairs were completed!  I hemmed and hawed about cutting into the beautiful crown molding, but after several contractors and I hashed out various options for moving the opening, moving the entire staircase, etc, etc, the only logical spot was right where the original builder built it.  In the middle of the house.  So we carved out a few feet at the top of the stairwell, added a landing and several stairs into the dining room (only enough to accomplish the task and not interfere with any dining room traffic or furniture) and voila!  A proper staircase is born.  I call it graceful and modern.  You probably just call it a staircase.  The added bonus was that expert woodworker was able to salvage and reuse the beautiful moldings to accommodate this new design.  The next step is to turn these rough stairs into a masterpiece by adding treads, risers and moldings to complete the project.  Headed off to interview flooring contractors.

Baby steps people...baby steps

So I took a 2 week break from the blog.  I'd like to chock it up to hard work on my end, but I can't.  I've been sick.  Living through this chaos is enough to put anyone back in bed and under the covers!

In the meantime, I met up with a creepy junk hauler on Craig's List (you get what you pay for I guess).  Not only did I have to listen to him tell me that I should be on the show "Yard Crashers" -- like 40 times -- but I also had to deal with him trying to stick me for more money at the end of the job.  Craigs List + weirdos = no more!  So back to networking and using Angie's List to find proper sub contractors to get the job done.

What used to be the "hiney" of my house is new and perky!  I am so excited.  Well, not so excited to find that once we exposed the innards of the back addition, that it was ready to collapse.  
 So as in all remodels, we had to rebuild the addition from the ground up.  Time + $$$ = Broke and delayed.  But the addition is so sturdy now that nothing can shake this baby from her foundation!   Check out our progress and just wait until you see more of the cool stuff we dug up out of the mud pit under the crawl space!

 













Now that this major hiccup is out of our way, we are moving towards the work that really shows progress -- drywall, floors, kitchen install.    We're getting there!

So let's recap our kitchen progress. 

Well, here's hoping that there's a level sub floor, windows and perhaps even dry wall in the next picture!  I'm shifting focus to the exterior for a few days as we have to get insulation up to keep water out.