We are moving along now....

Since Dave has been on eight hour days, and afternoons, he wakes up and starts working on the house.  I'm home to help whenever possible.  So, we have gotten quite a bit done in the last month.

The plan is to move upstairs this summer!  We'll see how it goes.

So....

The insulation in the attic is completed.

 For those of you who know R values, this is an R value of 50.  We are on a hill and it is windy.  I think normally the R value would be 25, which is one layer, but we added an extra layer and crossed it the other direction over the first layer.  I was glad to finish this before summer heat arrives.

It's one big sea of insulation.

And for the record, do not walk on this stuff, because there is some plumbing and vents and such under the insulation.

This is the bathroom ceiling upstairs on the 2nd story.

We had to do some work in that bathroom, even though we don't even need that level finished right now, because duct work, plumbing, and some electrical, go into this ceiling,

which is our bedroom ceiling.  (below the upper bathroom) And we couldn't cover our bedroom ceiling until all of the 'stuff' that needs to go into it, for the above level was completed. 

So, we got the tub installed,

 which required building a wall.

This is where the tub plumbing had to go, which is looking into our bedroom ceiling (below)

I don't know if you can see it from this picture below, but originally the vanity was going on the left wall.  You can see the plumbing for it on the left bottom of this picture.  However, after installing the tub, there would be no room to stand in front of the vanity.  So we moved the door to the center of the room, (it was on the right hand side of the wall)

and you can kind of see in the picture below, the vanity is going to go against the wall on the right now.  However, this required moving plumbing that was already installed.  It...is...always....something.

In my spare time I've been stapling these air vent things in the ceilings...which I forgot about until I saw this picture!

OK this is enough for now, but I have a mouse story to tell you in the next post.

Cindy

The mud room and office area

I realize it's been awhile.  I didn't realize it's been this long!  I get so behind because when the work on the house is plumbing, wiring, insulating, heat ducts, etc...behind the scenes stuff, it all starts to look the same.  Even to me.

Remember the last post, about my kitchen, when I said I had to men sitting at my table giving me ideas about my new kitchen.  I was proud to have them at my table. I asked their mom, my cousin Gloria, to send me a picture of them all dressed up. Here ya go!  I'm so proud of them.  And, about the kitchen...well Gloria came over again and I showed her another idea.  Oh Lordy people, I'm changing some plans already!  I knew I would, which is why I started planning the kitchen early on.  I'll show you that later....

 Right now I'm going to show you what we've been up to the last month.  Take a walk with me down the foyer.

 Into the cardboard wall/door!

 Dave had to put up a cardboard wall so he could run a space heater.  We have the insulation finished, but it's been in the 20's here (Fahrenheit), and with no heat and no walls up dividing the rooms, he had to make some cardboard walls.  As you can see the electrical is finished in the mud/office room.

 We've had to change our plans in this room quite a bit.  As a matter of fact, most of it was figure it out as you go!  The big space you see here is where a desk will go. 

 We put in a couple of outlets...and had to think if we were going to need future outlets for other office stuff.  Things change so quickly with computers and such, and since it's an office area, we'll probably have a router, computer, printer, phone charger, ipad charger, and lamp.  I actually figured up what all we had plugged in now....and it's all that plus a desktop that gets used now and then.

 The reason we had to plan as we go, is because the chase area was way too small to fit everything in it.  This duct work is actually coming up through a closet. 

 So we turned what was going to be one long closet, into two shorter ones.

 And Dave lowered the ceiling to add a bulkhead which is holding more duct work.  (cold air return)

 See it in the picture below.  It's the area above the space.  No one will ever know what's inside all of this when the walls are finished, but my goodness there is a lot of 'stuff' that goes on behind those walls!

 Cold air return leads out into the foyer.  Not my choice, but it is what it is....

Here is a picture of the finished room.  We have three coat closets in this room.  One on the end, then two on the right hand side of the picture.  On this end is the desk area.

 

Closer pic of the closets.  

 
So this is one room that has gotten finished in the last month.........

There are a couple of things I'd like to say.  First of all to Kirsty from Rural Retreat Restoration blog.  I'm sorry to take so long to answer your questions.  I thought I would answer them here, because they are all a part of building a house here in Indiana.

In the country building a house is a little more relaxed than in town.  We do have codes to follow with electrical and heat and plumbing and such, but there aren't inspections in the country like there are in town.  And if you live in an historic district in town, there are more codes to follow than normal. 

Secondly, there is one thing that we had to do from the beginning and that is to determine if the land we bought was a "subdivided property" or a "legal lot of record."   If the original land has been divided off, then it is called a "subdivided property".  If it was subdivided, then houses are not supposed to be built on it without getting government permission.  Meetings need to be attended and neighbors need to be notified.  A Legal lot of record land is less of a hassle.  Even though our land was subdivided, the original house was on our property, which deemed it a Legal lot of record, so we were fortunate.

And thirdly, we did have to get permits.  A permit to build, a permit for a septic system, and had the driveway not already been here, we would have had to get a driveway permit.  All of them cost money. On a side note, the septic system is governmental ruled.  We had to get a list of soil inspectors and septic installers from "the board of health."  From that list we had to have our soil inspected, and the slope of the ground tested, to see what type of septic system could be installed.  They cost anywhere from around $6000 to $30,000.00 depending on how the soil inspection goes.  We had this done before we bought the property because there have been stories of people buying acres of land and not being able to afford a septic system or not be approved for one.  We had a neighbor out here who lost their house to a fire, and could not re-build on their land because the septic system could not be approved.  The rules have changed to many homes since the original septic systems were installed.  It's got to do with pollution to our land and water with original septic systems.

I hope that answers your questions, and I hope you can get your cottage restored!  A year is a long time to wait.

Cindy

Company and the kitchen

Every now and then I have a hard time trying to figure out on which blog a post should go.  This is one of those posts.  It's really about the house, but it's about family too.  So I posted it on both blogs!
 Here ya go!

Last week, the day after attending my Uncle's funeral, I had an appointment with a kitchen designer at Lowe's.  As I was walking in to that appointment, I got a phone call.  My cousin Gloria, whom (is it whom?) you have met many a time, was coming over that afternoon, with two of her sons that were visiting from out of state. 

The Dixie boy fell in love with Troy.  No wonder....Dixie is a snuggler and demands to be the center of attention and Troy gave it to him!  He wanted to take him home but I was adamant about Dixie staying here.  (Dixie has actually gotten in the car with cousin Vickie before, and one time she even took him for a ride.  Crazy dog.  Crazy dog family!)

 This is Gloria's other son, Clint, and his wife Akemi.  You actually met Gloria and Akemi  here and here.  Clint has never been here.

 So of course, when I gave them a house tour, I had them all write on the wall.

 Clint is deep in thought.  ( I wish you could have seen him at the funeral.  All dressed up in Navy uniform. He had a lot of 'stuff' on his uniform so he might be a high ranking officer or something)  I bet Gloria has a picture or two of her sons she could share with us...Gloria?  They are both Navy men.

 So after touring and chatting a bit, we spent most of our time going over my kitchen design plans.  And they were very helpful!  Troy had an idea of putting a small fridge in one of the pantries for nothing but drinks. I like it.  And one of them decided I needed to leave a little bit of an overhang on the end of the island top for more outlets.  Clint wasn't interested in my design plans at first, but I called him out on it and he came right over and sat down!  And Akemi told me I was talking too fast.  She only understand little Englsh!

So here's what I'm thinking...I'd like for you to tell me what you
wish you had in your kitchen,
what you have that you love
and what you wish you didn't have! 
Basically, give me ideas.

Because after two- three hour visits, and many books, magazines, and pins on Pinterest, I never know if I got it all. 
Here are my plans so far.  You would walk into the kitchen from the left.


This is the wall (above) that you are looking at (below)  The dark area in the center of the cabinets is the window.

I'll start with the left. The tall cabinet, at the top, has slots for cookie sheets and pizza pans and such.  The bottom has slide shelves.  The cabinets on the top are just that, cabinets.  The two on each end have an open area under them which are shelves.  On the bottom, under the counter, the first cabinet is just a cabinet with a drawer above for ladles, spatulas, etc.  The second, taller cabinet has a shelf that comes out that holds my Kitchen Aid mixer (that I got for Valentines Day last year!).  Then we have your normal drawers and doors until we get to over by the stove.  Those are BIG drawers.  Like in the picture below.  Which I think I'm going to love for pots and pans.

This is the island

The picture below shows the pantries that we built in and the little nook by the window. I wrote in pantry in the above pic, where they are on the diagram. The island will go in the space where My Shug has been working.  It's a 10x4 island.  In the photo above, below the island, the door to the left holds two wastebaskets.  One for trash, one for recycle.  There is a second oven, some shelves, cabinets, and then there is a fake panel on the end.  That end of the island is shelves that will hold cookbooks.  On the opposite side of the island are all cabinets that are only 12 inches deep.  They will not be convenient to get into because there will be seating, but they will be nice for extra long term storage. 

Anyway, that's it.  Send me your ideas! 

Peace and Love, (because we need it in the world right now)
Cindy Bee

Doors, lighting and duct work

Ok, so I said we'd talk lights and doors....and even though I'm not really in the mood to talk lights and doors, I'm not really in the mood to talk duct work either!  

This is what you have to think about every time you put a light switch up....

 Which way is the door going to open.  

When you open the door, will it swing in or out.  

If it swings in to the room, will there be anything in the way such as a toilet, or a table or whatev...that the door might bump into.

Then after you figure out the door swing, the light switch will generally go on the side where the door opens, as long as there isn't anything in the way.  If there is, you start over with...which way is the door going to open!

Then, what lights do you want to turn on with this switch?

Do you want them to turn on and off on both doors, if there are two entrances in the room.

If so, what way will the other door swing?

You get the idea.

You just have to THINK about every little detail, including door swings and light switches.

Which makes me understand why housing additions pick about three styles of homes, and build them all the same!

Some other stuff...

When you hire an architect, he generally will put a "chase" in a room where all of the duct work and pvc tubing and such will go.

Our chase "room" isn't big enough.

See there...no more room.

Dave labels everything, which I love.

So, we are going to put the freezer (this is the mudroom by the way) where the coat closet was supposed to be.  The ladder is in the closet at the mo.

 

The closet is now going to go to the right, against that wall, so..more re-doing.  It will hide the chase that way. 

 

Dave also had to lower the ceiling in the master bathroom in order to have room for duct work.

This is the ceiling in the master bathroom.

And this would be me....squeezed in the closet, trying to wrap and seal duct work.  I got to the very last piece and cut my finger.  VERY VERY VERY LAST PIECE!

While Dave was working on duct work he decided I need a bit of heat in the closet.

Back to the bathroom.....Dave did get a linen closet installed. 

We are very anxious to move upstairs.

That's pretty much a wrap.....I've been talking and meeting with people about kitchen stuff.  I'll share with you next time. TOO many choices!  Get ready to share ideas, suggestions, etc. about your favorite kitchen haves and have nots.

Cindy

Master Bathroom

We've been working on the house, mostly Dave with me throwing in a helping hand now and then, but it's all behind the scenes stuff which is hard to show in pictures.  I mean, you've seen one wire or pvc pipe you've seen them all, right?  And, I can't get a full picture of a room to show you the difference between before and after.  So imagine, the master bathroom on the main level was an empty room with studs, and a few plugged holes in the ground for drains.  

Dave built and put up a few walls....but remember,

 we had to decide where everything was going, way back when.....two years ago....while we were working on the basement bathroom.  We had to have plumbing in place before we closed up the basement walls.  And of course, now I wish we could change it.  I decided I wasn't going to stress on this kind of thing anymore.  It's a bathroom.  So, see where all of those pex (tubing?) are coming out of the ground, and the tall pvc pipe.  Well, that was before we put up

this wall.  The shower goes on one side 

and the tub goes on this side. (where the ladder is)

The tub area now looks like this...below...with a little shelf that will be behind the tub.

Hidden, will be a special note, under the shelf,  just for me (I'll know it's there!)  and he changed the date without me telling him to!  HA HA!  Our anniversary is on New Years Eve.

Now, about the part where you have to figure out where everything goes on the next level.  We had to figure out where everything was going on the 2nd floor bathroom, a couple of weeks ago, even though we are working on the main level master bath.  It didn't take long because you only have a few choices.

See this pipe below......it is in the ceiling of our bedroom and it is coming out of the toilet of the 2nd floor bathroom.  It has to be gently sloped (for obvious reasons)

 

and it has to run in between the studs, not through them.  So that doesn't give you a lot of options.  The pipe has to come out of the toilet above, and run in between the studs below, lest you weaken your bedroom ceiling/second floor flooring.

It goes across the ceiling into the next room, which is the bathroom,

then you can see where it connects in to the plumbing,

that is also connected into the plumbing in our basement, that we figured out a couple of years ago.  I bet you had no idea all of this was hidden in the walls of your house, did you?  I sure didn't!

I'll talk about doors and lighting next...I don't want to post too many details at once! 

Sweet!

At Christmastime I had some friends over and they wrote on the inside Kitchen walls.  I love having people do that.  Someday.....years from now.....if this house ever comes down, someone will see all of the love that went into building it.

Cindy