Wednesday, May 22, 2013

So much to do ... and none of it involves fabric...yet

Well last week certainly flew by as I spent most of my time doing stuff that didn't involve fabric or yarn or thread. It did involve paint, lighting fixtures, appliances, tile, cabinets and lots of other  decisions  that need to be made regarding this.... my new house.



My little yellow house! It makes me happy! Now the house was built in 1953 which was a very very good year. How do I know this? Well I was born in 1953 - enough said - LOL! This little house has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a basement that is going to be a dynamite sewing studio. Notice the syntax in that last sentence - the sewing room is "going" to be dynamite. It looked like this when I purchased the house.

View as you enter coming down the stairs-




View when you are in the room looking back toward the stairs-



Isn't that tile something? My son thinks they were trying for an Ohio State motif... perhaps.. but its not our college and it has to go!  The room measures 13 feet wide and 32 feet in length which feels like a lot of space to me.

Here is how the space looks today.






Amazing how much demolition was accomplished in just one day. My contractor, Tom, hopes to have this spaced framed in and dry walled by next week. That is my hope too. Till then imagine a laminate wood floor and lovely light yellow walls. The color I chose is a Sherwin Williams paint and no joke - the color is called Glad Yellow - how apropos! I'm sure I will be very glad in this yellow sewing studio.


This is just the beginning of this total house renovation. Every room will be painted. The wall to wall carpet on the first floor will be removed and the hardwood floors refinished. The basement bathroom will have the shower redone and a sink added and a new tile floor. The upstairs bathroom will have the wall tile reglazed, a new tile floor, a new toilet and the vanity repainted. All the lighting fixtures in the house will be replaced and ceiling fans added in the bedrooms and the kitchen. The kitchen will be totally completely gutted and a brand new kitchen will be created. And that's just what I can remember at the moment.  I have to make decisions about all of this stuff -- yikes!!!!  It is fun and nerve wracking.

I plan to share pictures and stories as I move through this adventure. My contractor is the same one who renovated my son's house a year ago. I bought this house for many reasons, one of which was its location close to my son. Our houses are only 2 short blocks apart - you can walk from one house to the other in about 3 minutes - perfect. Now the plan is that all this work should take about 6 weeks but I know that it is going to be longer than that since my contractor is squeezing in this job while he's in the throes of renovating another house in the neighborhood, and he promised another client a kitchen remodel which he has to get to before he'll be able to do mine. I'm okay with that. I'd love for my house to be finished tomorrow, but it is unrealistic and if I was the other client with the kitchen remodel I wouldn't be happy with someone else getting in line in front of me. As it is the contractor is juggling a lot of balls and I'm just thrilled to see some, heck any progress on my house.

I know this project will have ups and downs and I'm keeping my sights set on a completion of the whole renovation at the end of the summer.  You have to check back and see the "before" pictures of the kitchen. It has been virtually untouched since 1953!


Happy stitching-
carol fun

17 comments:

  1. How exciting to be looking forward to a new sewing space! I look forward to seeing the "after"! :0)

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  2. I think you have a new name - House Renovating Carol Fun. LOL Oh this is exciting! And yes, it will have it's up and downs, but it will be so rewarding when it's finished. I would love to see more pictures as the project goes.

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  3. Oh to have a space like that!! The times will be fun and crazy, I'm sure, but all worth it in the end! Looking forward to seeing more!

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  4. I love watching other people renovating their homes! Your studio space looks awesome!

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  5. Wow! You could fit a long arm in that studio!

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  6. I can't wait to watch the progress. It will be nice to have things done the way *you* want them to be! Oh what fun!

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  7. What an exciting adventure you're undertaking. It sounds like you have the right attitude, so just take it as it comes, and keep plowing forward. Awaiting more progress pics.......

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  8. What a wonderful yellow house! I love it, Carol.

    A new chapter in your life is a very good thing. Enjoy!

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  9. Congrats on the new house! It's so cute and that room downstairs looks perfect as a sewing room. Lucky lady!

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  10. Lovely house. I hope you will be very happy there .XXX

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  11. This sounds so exciting, Carol!

    I'm sorry I never responded to the email you sent me; I had stuff and somehow never got to it. I was really happy to hear from you regarding my comment however.

    What a LOVELY yellow house! I'd also like to live in a yellow house someday. :D Looking forward to the reno pics and etc.

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  12. You have wonderful plans for your new house... wishing you much happiness and joy!

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  13. I'm really looking forward to seeing the progress you make on your very cute new home!!

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  14. Very exciting! What a sweet house. I can't wait to see when it is fabulously finished!

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  15. Your own house how You want it. How cool is that! Can't wait to see the progress.

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  16. It sounds like you're having a blast! I love yellow. We were going to reside our gray house in yellow then our neighbor across the street beat us to it! Rats. How wonderful it will be to sew in your lovely yellow sewing room!

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  17. I can not tell you how unbelievably excited I am for you! What fun! It looks like you found the perfect home! I'm excited to see all the new improvements. I am very good at demolition...putting everything back together...not so much. 6 weeks is a drop in bucket. It took that long for 2 guys to redo my bathroom. We only have one and it is a tiny, hiney, bathroom. Have fun and I'll be eagerly looking for updates!

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