Four Week Progress Report

 Gosh! How time has flown!
The last two weeks have mostly been working in the basement (on plumbing and electrical) and working on the basement. Mandy and I scraped up all the tiles on the basement floor and were left with black adhesive. In hindsight, it might have been better to leave the tiles in place, but it is too late now! We have discovered that washing soda softens up the glue quite a bit and with a stiff deck brush it is coming off little by little. I have decided it is really not worth spending a lot of time washing and scraping and after a few washes I will paint it. Nothing a good coat of paint can't cure!

I bit of progress made! If we washed it enough we would probably be able to get it all up, but when this stuff covers the whole entire basement it is a daunting task! And it is not like we have that much spare time!

I am so excited a new waste pipe was put in! Not only is it nice a clean, but the basement already smells a lot better. The old cast iron pipe was cracked in several places and not only leaking waste water, but gases as well.

Plumbing unfortunately always means holes in the walls. Thankfully all of it is in one wall, but for the waste pipe we needed access on each floor. This is wall in the back stairs. 

And this one is in the stairs to the second floor. Since we have everything open, next week is replacing water lines!

The bathroom was full of surprises. Pipes left in the wall, vent pipes disconnected...….

So it got a little messy! But it is nice to know it is all new and up to code. And I shouldn't be receiving any midnight calls concerning leaking pipes!

These are all the old cast iron pipes taken out. It takes a lot of pipes to make a house work!

The last two weeks hasn't just been about plumbing. We have also done a lot of washing of walls, floors, cabinets and windows. The electrical also got tidied up as there was extra switches and outlets hanging from ripping out the walls in the basement.

And to leave you with a pretty picture, one of the lilies that is blooming in the yard. Love those colors!

A red, white and blue Porch

Sorry I am a little late with this. I have been a bit busy! 

Anyway, I don't think we were very motivated to decorate for the 4th last year. So when it rolled around this year, we were all ready!

I got out the flag banner I made several years ago and the star pillow cover and Mandy found these cute patriotic pinwheels and little flags at Hobby Lobby. We are loving the little pails filled with flowers! Though inpatients seem to take a long time to re-flower. It might be time for a flower refresh!

We also hung the little pails on the fence in the backyard. So cute! They have filled out a lot in the past couple of weeks.

The pails are from Lowes and the brackets from Menards. (The labels on the pails are really hard to get off! But I haven't tried anything other then trying to peel it off.)

And a quick apple update! There is lots of apples this year! So exciting! The apples are a little bigger then a ping-pong ball and so pretty!

Two Week Progress Report

Can you believe it has only been two weeks since I closed on Brick House? Whew! So much has happened. With the holiday and an extra day off last week I was able to get four long work days in! It made a huge difference!

The biggest outside difference is the screened in porch we removed. It opens up the front of the house so much! I love how well you can see the beautiful front windows now.

 The bathroom also got a little attention. (I know these photos are pretty ugly. But we can appreciate the after that much more!) All the walls were covered in paneling that was trying to look like tile. It was just making the bathroom look smaller. That all came off the walls, but left glue marks.

 The flooring, vanity, sink and medicine cabinet all came out too. This is a very tiny bathroom and the vanity cabinet just felt like it was eating the bathroom.

 The medicine cabinet was also too oversized for this space, not to mention it had not aged well. You can see where an old (probably original 1915 cabinet) use to be. I am on the hunt for one similar sized.

This is the underside of the stairs going to the second floor. We had to take all the plaster and lath off as they are not in good shape and need fixing. 

 And here is the newly gutted basement. So much brighter! This was the big project of last week and I am so excited it is done and out of the way!

 A few extra wires that need still need to be removed. They were all switches and outlets in the walls.

We also got all the walls washed down, the windows de-hardwared, extra telephone and cable wires removed and ceiling fans taken down. I am sure I am forgetting a few more things we got done, but those were the highlight!

Next up: removal of basement tiles, replacing plumbing and untangling the electrical.

Brick House Tour

 Ready for a photo tour of the Brick House? She needs some loving inside, so try and see past the crazy colors and dinginess. There is a lot of potential here!

We are going to start at the front of the house at the front door. An original to the house, very lovely!

Looking back to the front door with the staircase to the right and the living room to the right. This is after Mandy and I tore up the last piece of carpet, you can see the carpet padding stuck to the floor in spots.

Look at the newel post! I have never seen one this fancy. 

 There is also an original glass door leading into the living room!

And don't forget to look up and admire the light fixture. I don't think it is cira 1915, but I love the ribbed glass shade.

 Looking toward the dinning room, a nice large room.

And looking back toward the living room. (That is the entry hall door to the right.) A classic layout with the living room and dining one big room. I love how large the windows are! And they are all original. The "boxes" under the windows are metal radiator covers. 

 And that brings us to the kitchen! I can't wait to get rid of the orange! The kitchen has a chopped up awkward layout. I am not sure how much I can fix it, but I am going to try and minimize it! There are two large windows (to the left), the door to the deck (right), the door to the dinning room (behind) and the door to the hall (further left). 

 Because of the door to the deck, the cupboards along this wall can only be 12" deep. The dinning room doorway is to the right.

This is across the kitchen looking toward the entry hall, the windows are to the right. I have a couple of ideas to hopefully make it more functional. For a small kitchen it should have a good amount of storage when I am done. 

We are now ready to head upstairs! 

 Another nice feature, a built in linen closet at the top of the stairs!

This is the little hallway. To the left- the bath, forward- back bedroom, to the right-middle bedroom, behind- front bedroom. I love how efficient this hall is! Just enough space, but not too crowded.

 This is the front bedroom, what you might call the "master bedroom". It has two closets and three large windows.

The aluminum window awning is on the tear out list. 

 The middle bedroom with another aluminum window awning.....

And an extra long closet! I love all the closets with the slanty ceilings and angled walls. 

The back bedroom, which is a bit on the small side. But still not too tiny. I think getting rid of the purple will help!

This bedroom also has a door to the outside balcony. Honestly, this is one of my lest favorite features. I would rather of had a window.

 And to finish off the second floor, here is the bathroom! It is a very small, very beige box. (Which makes it hard to photograph!)

 It needs some serious updating in here!

Including the floor....

This also gives you an idea of how tiny it is! Barely one step from the toilet to the sink.

 I have just a few photos of the basement. It is pretty dark, dirty, creepy and just plain sad! It was finished sometime in the early 60s, judging from the paneling, and it has not aged well. It is also chopped into little spaces that doesn't make it very useable. So this week's project is tear it all out!

Just to leave you with a happier picture, here is the best part of the basement! A cute little sink! I am going to keep it and the toilet. It is always handy to have an extra when there is only one bathroom in the house!

Thanks for taking the tour! Definitely plenty of work here! But I love bringing back to life these old beauties!