New walls and floors

The project for the past couple of weeks has been a new closet for the master bedroom.  The old closet was about 2 1/2' wide, and while we have downsized, that just wasn't going to make it.  So Paul cut openings into the next bedroom, removed the windows, and built a new wall to enclose the closet.  The other half of the room now also has a doorway cut into it from the kitchen on the other side. The new wall has been drywalled as well as the old closet doorway.  Then Paul spent a week repairing the drywall in all the walls downstairs.

 One of two piles of wood needing all the nails removed before scraping and sanding to be reused.

Meanwhile, I tore up all the tile and linoleum in the kitchen to expose the wood floor.  The real task will be removing all the glue that held the linoleum down.  Looks like hot water, more scraping and then sanding should do the trick.  I also spent a day washing the walls and floors upstairs.  One of the upstairs bedrooms had so much cigarette tar, it took several buckets and three washings to get it clean.  I think we got most of it but what a mess.  An internet search revealed a smoke smell removal mixture of hot water, ammonia, vinegar and washing soda.  Looks like it may have worked - the room smells a lot better.  A little febreeze canister didn't hurt either.  The whole house is feeling and smelling much cleaner.

                                                          The kitchen floor in process

Bed, Bath and Beyond

The master bedroom is almost all scraped and sanded, but drywall patching is still needed before it can be painted.  The old door to the tiny closet is off and a new closet entry doorway has been cut into the wall between the master and the middle bedroom.  Half of the middle bedroom will become a walk in closet for the master and the other half will be added to the kitchen for a pantry.

The bathroom had been remodeled (sort of - see picture) but Paul is redoing most of it.  So far he has moved the toilet and an ill placed vent, and replumbed the sink.  He had to do quite a bit of electrical work to add vanity lighting and new outlets.  Recessed can lights are installed in the soffit he built and a tiled bump out was built to hide plumbing for the sink.  Tile board is installed on the bump out and floor. Of course nothing is ever easy and once again Paul had to go into the crawl space to reinforce the floor in the closet from the previous 'renovation.'

                                                           Previous bathroom remodel

                                                                   Bump out framing

                                                              Bathroom progress

Two more sections of floor still need more jacking up but the whole floor is much closer to being level.  We received positive results from the flooring we sent in for asbestos testing so we have the go ahead to remove the old linoleum and tile in the kitchen to expose the wood floor.

                                                                 Garden workshop

Slowly, I have been cleaning up the yard, digging new beds and adding bushes, vegetables and flowers. I'm using the bricks from the old chimney to lay out new paths and a patio.  We've been picking lettuce and herbs from the garden and our first peppers are almost ready. We even have figs growing on a little tree we purchased this spring. We've had no rain for weeks so it's been a battle to keep all the new transplants watered but so far we haven't lost anything.  I have to keep a step ahead of all those vines that want to grow back and of course what little grass we have wants to grow everywhere but where we
want it.

We are making steady progress and hope to move in by the middle of July.  Still, a lot remains to be done.

                                                           Digging a raspberry patch

                                                       Chain link and cement chunk bed

                                            Step one towards a patio and new garden beds