Lots of labor for Labor Day

I guess you might wonder why we don't just move in already? Well, there was lots of damage, almost everything was missing and then there were the frozen pipes, and we aren't plumbers!

We also decided to change the mistakes we made on the first remodel and since I am much more handicapped then I was a year ago, we are making sure I can live in this house.

Remembering that this house was built in 1859 when there was no indoor baths or electric wiring, it went through many changes over the years, most not so good. Many walls were put up with all kinds of left over wood and most blocked the windows and all the light and air. Some rooms ended up very dark because of this.

I always felt that there had to be a doorway from the sitting room into the dining room when the house was built. There was no way with the huge ladies skirts that they could be passing through one doorway and this was a hotel.

Since we never got around to changing the bath that was put in sometime in the 70's, we decided to take it on and make it into a handicapped laundry and powder room. We started with breaking through the wall where I felt a doorway must have been. And there it was! It still had the original blue/green paint for the 1850 era and was extra wide to allow for large skirts to pass through.


Once the center board was removed, we had a wide handicapped entrance



This laundry/bath will have 2 entrances so it's easy to just pass through instead of trying to turn around in a small space. So, next came knocking down the wall that closed off all the light and air to the diningroom.



The new john is sitting to the right. The laundry area will be to the left. It will have double doors with etched glass so the light can pass through even when the doors are closed. The window will be the original full length, looking out on the woods. The other entrance we opened is in front of the john and exits into the sitting room.

We also had some more planting and clean up outside. You can finally see the house. Just 3 weeks ago it was hidden behind 4 & 5 foot weeds. It didn't take long for mother nature to take over!



Since the dumpster didn't arrive yet, we left with this mess facing us next weekend. We'll be moving up stairs to take out a few walls to make room for the new handicapped full bath and to enlarge a bedroom that was cut in half over the years with poorly thought out construction projects.

We will be moving on the 18th. Nothing will be near finished but we wanted to get the walls down and the plaster cleaned up before we moved in furniture. Now I'm off for some much needed rest!