Hottub Time Machine....

July 31, 2011

If only that's what this was....



Even though it won't take us back to the 80's (or just 1 year and 2 months), it will be very nice in the master bath!


The new hardware, which will be throughout the bathroom

Alok's also been busy building a small closet into the master bath:


That area to the left of the white pipe is a small closet

He also has been busy framing out our master bedroom closet, as seen here:








View into the closet

Our plumber should also be finished this week. I know know more about how water pipes run and the exact location in this house than I ever wanted to. Here they are in our master bedroom:




The shower has been installed in the hallway bath:



Bruening has also been working on finishing the installation of the duct work for the 2nd and 3rd floors:



New utility closet




Gas/water pipes (think) now running through

Here is the completed laundry room plumbing:





Here is the plumbing running through the yellow bedroom:






So, Alok was talking about this wall area (which is the left side of the pic above this one) and saying "I wish that we could do something cool here, but these beams are support for the roof"......then he proceeded to touch the post here and it completely came detached! Ha! Welcome to our house.....

Jessica

Flashback!

July 28, 2011

As per usual, I haven't done anything at the house and have chosen to consume my time with an ever-so-fine balance of psychological report writing and roller derby (unfortunately, the former is winning). Actually, I take that back. I did pull weeds that were up to my waist yesterday while I was still in my work clothes, watching my husband scarf down leftover Chinese (he tends to forget to eat while working. I don't have that problem). The mosquitoes could sense my presence and planned a swarm attack, which left most of the weeds standing (plus, Alok kept saying "they may be poisonous" every time I reached for one, making me jump back every time, while I looked at him in an attempt to guess the knowledge that my attorney husband has of weeds.... but I guessed more than me and kind of listened.... or really just pulled with caution)

Today, Alok was sweating it up at the house. Of course, I pull up to talk to him on my way to derby and there is no air conditioning (that's not a surprise since it doesn't currently exist), but there is also no water or anything in the house. Apparently, he decided the addition of running water would balance out the lack of cold water or any cups to drink from. I felt bad for our poor plumbers (oh, and my very sweaty husband) and went and got a bunch of water and Gatorade. That makes us even, right?

I also thought that I would be a little masochistic today and take a look back at last year's blog on this day. (Yes, this is something I like to do).

Here is the link to said blog in case you are too lazy to scroll back through them (which would be understandable) or don't like my recap.

http://thisoldhampshirehouse.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-5.html (By the title, you can guess that this was day 5 of the house before, which means we are now on day 370..... yes, I can add while I sigh)

Here was the focus of last year's blog on this day:



At least we have successfully gotten rid of the mold in this room (As a psychologist, I tend to look at the positives).

Although, now it looks like this:


The area to the left in the picture is the window.

Now, not only do we not have mold, but we don't have walls.....or air conditioning (did you notice the lovely, petri dish of a air conditioner in the first picture?) But I think we're moving in the right direction......

On the flip side, I try to avoid pictures like this:



which remind me of the months of wallpaper scraping, only to take down the walls. Again, on the positive note, I now know how to peel wallpaper. Granted, we will not allow wallpaper to enter this house again and I don't really have a fondness for this task, so I doubt it will really be of much use in the future. You should have seen my face when Alok suggested that we wallpaper a bathroom..... I still think he must have been kidding......

Jessica

Cleaning out the closet...

July 27, 2011

So, after receiving the ridiculous quote of the day, I went over to the house to see how things were going. I found Alok up on a ladder building our bedroom closet. Here it is:


















Thrilling as always :-)

The whirlpool tub had magically made its way into the master bathroom:



I also tried to get a picture of the wall that Alok built around it for the drop-in, but I had my friend in front of it. Sorry, Alok!

I also had to test out the water for myself. We had water and power in this bathroom!!

Exciting

Jessica

Quotes

July 27, 2011

and I don't mean these kind " ".

Alok and I have been getting quotes of various projects in the attempt get help on the house with the goal of living in our house at some point in our lives. We have had a lot of quotes in the last year, ranging from awesome to the ridiculous. Yesterday, we got a quote for some yard work. It actually wasn't ridiculous, but was way too much given our current financial situation. Sorry neighbors, the yard will be as is for awhile.

In the yard quote, we forgot to ask them to plant one of these:



This is what would be needed to fund the most RIDICULOUS quote that we have yet to receive on this house. And for those of you who follow this blog, we had a roof bid of 40K and a painting bid (outside of the house) for 45K. This one tops them all....

Drywall bid......

Take a guess in your head.....


.......................


...................


......

$47,000!! Yes, I know it's a lot of work and we have a ginormous house, but seriously!!!

Anyone want to help with drywall in about 2 months when we get to it (or given my significant ability to underestimate time... 4 months?). We can buy a lot of pizza and beer for that amount....

Jessica

We have water!!

July 25, 2011

And that water is actually running through pipes (unlike the water of months past that enjoyed running through walls, roofs, etc). Well, we actually only have fixtures hooked up in the kitchen and 1 bathroom, but having 1 bathroom working and actual running water is pretty amazing after about 8 months of nothing.

It's a Christmas Miracle!! Or maybe a House-A-Versary Miracle!!

Jessica

A MEGA-BLOG FOR OUR HOUSE-A-VERSARY

July 24, 2011

Upon much contemplation (or just thinking about it for about 3 minutes), I realized that our actual house anniversary was yesterday, July 23, 2011. So, my blog on the 21st was pointless, but hey, that's what you get when you request more blogs.

So, on this one year and one day anniversary of buying this money pit/the one year anniversary of actually starting work on the house, we present a MEGA-BLOG to you (you should imagine that the words "mega-blog" are being said in a deep voice with some sort of reverb and flashing lights).

First, here is a picture from July 24, 2010, the first day we started work:

Ahhhh, delusional Jessica and Alok. If they only knew.....

Here is the ultimate review of the past year: (Note: For full viewing pleasure, allow the slide shows to load below...yes, there is something under each room. Also, they run automatically, so make sure to start at the beginning)

Foyer:



Bathroom on the first floor under the stairs:



Main hallway:



The apartment (aka our family room to be on the 1st floor):



The apartment bathroom:



Butler's pantry:



Kitchen:



Dining room:



Living room:



Parlor:



The basement:



Stairs:



Upstairs front hallway:



Master bedroom:



Master bathroom:




Upstairs bedroom (bedroom immediately next to the master... aka the 2nd bedroom):



Upstairs hallway bathroom:



My office:



Alok's office (aka the room in the back of the 2nd floor with a balcony and hooked onto my office):



Office bathroom:



Back hallway upstairs (linking the laundry room, etc):



Laundry room:




Yellow bedroom:



The attic (aka our party space-to-be and current bat lair):



The front of the house:



The SouthWest and West sides of the house:





The East side of the house:



The backside of the house:



Our backyard:



That's all for now.


Jessica

HAPPY HOUSE-A-VERSARY!

July 21, 2011

Exactly 1 year ago today (or 525, 600 minutes for you Rent lovers) Alok and I walked out of Mercantile Bank smiling about the wonderful property we just bought. We thought we would be living there in a matter of weeks and couldn't believe how nice it was (remember, we had just moved back from Chicago and the house was much cheaper than our 2 bed, 1 bath 1200 sq ft condo in the city). We thought we had gotten a great deal and couldn't wait to relax in our new house with all of the money we would save by living in Quincy instead of Chicago.....

Ah, stupid Alok and Jessica ;-) Needless to say, things haven't gone exactly as planned. If you think we are still in house utopia, then you obviously have 1 years worth of blogs to catch up on. We bought the biggest money pit that we ever could have imagined and are still not living in it. Sigh...

OK, enough of that talk. I was hoping to write an awesome blog on the actual day of anniversary (today), but I was distracted by roller derby and Alok was distracted by building a wall in the 100+ degree heat in our non-air conditioned house where most of the windows don't open. We are also kind of in our down on the house funk, so I'll come back to it with a more positive attitude later. (In case you didn't notice by reading, our blog goes through major ups and downs, but that's the way house restoration is). In other words, no big one-year-recap today. One will be coming very soon. I know that it won't be as awesome as it would have today, but if you are dying for one in the meantime, you could just go through all of the old blogs. I'm sure you have time for that, right?

Well, maybe in another 525, 600 minutes (or 1, 051, 200) minutes since buying the house, we may actually be living there. I hate to overshoot, so maybe I should just hope for some walls!

(Ah, all of the fun house related lyrics I have floating through my head to Seasons of Love.... and if you don't know what I'm talking about, please go see Rent!)

Jessica


(Side note- I just went to our first blog and apparently today may not be the first anniversary of the house. Hmmmm... I swear it was today, but our first blog says it was July 23. Well, in that case, the above blog is totally pointless and I may able to actually get you that review blog on time. Oops. I was about 2880 minutes early.....maybe?!)

Lucky Number 9

July 19, 2011

9 floor joists. That's how many were cut in a row in the basement. 9! Not only is this something in plain site to an inspector, but who the heck totally cuts through the beams that are created to support the house. This has resulted in a sagging floor, but also could result in just a little house collapse if we don't take care of it. OK, rant over (for right this second... although I could rant about our inspector a little more).

Over the weekend, Bruening's got busy with the vent installation for eventual installation of air/heat to the 2nd/3rd floor. Here are some exciting vent pictures:




Those black pipes are the duct work. We have the air coming from the ceiling on the 2nd floor














This one is over where we store the stained glass window. Alok panicked a bit when I told them how they even got one in that back room.







Now here we have an exciting change of pace and have the vents in the attic floor:




Creepy pic!


2 vents in our attic bathroom

In more exciting news, our plumbers are almost finished. The delivery of 2 of our fixtures was today:


Cast iron bathtub for the apartment area




My master bath tub!




Hmmm.... I wonder if it will fit through this door

The plumbers have been hard at work in the horrible heat (our house does not have any air right now, so it is VERY hot inside... and most of the windows don't open)


Nice copper things of some kind (I have no clue, but it looks good!)


Laundry sink area



2 new gas water heaters! Too bad we don't have water. Soon though, very soon.


This was the area by the water heater. I was trying to get a picture and instead it reminds me of a scene in a horror movie where you take a picture in the dark and there is a weird figure it in.


Alok has also been busy at work, building walls in the attic for the bathroom (I can't get this to not underline and am too tired to spend time on it!). Can you imagine how hot it is in that attic? Needless to say, he came hating the house today (heat + structural issues + never ending work= 1 unhappy Alok)


His "wet wall." Whatever that is!


Wall close up!

That's all for now. Keep an eye out for our 1 year anniversary blog, unfortunately coming soon :-( (house anniversary that is)

Jessica