Fear Not the Plaster

It's been pretty cold so progress with "The Beast" has slowed down. I am STILL in the sunroom and probably will be until spring since I only travel to the house on days promising to be above 40 degrees. (I promised "The Beast" that there would be heat next winter.) Yesterday and today were good for working except it was rainy and gloomy most of both days. (At least it was not snowing.)

I have finished plastering the section of wall near the window. I used a 12 inch wide section of drywall to fill in a portion of the missing wall area and used plaster in the rest of the area to connect the old plaster to the drywall.. I have never used plaster to this extent before nor attempted to fix an area so large, so I am rather pleased with myself that it turned out smooth and acceptable. Good practice for some plastering issues in the main part of the house when I get to those "issue" areas. It did not crack, fall out and explode into dust which leads me to believe I did it right and to the best of my ability. I learned quite a bit regarding mixing the plaster and using it FAST...so now I am ready for other plaster concerns in the house. (There are really not many plastering concerns but now I am confident I can handle any challenge.)

I spent part of today cleaning this sunroom wall of old wallpaper paste/glue icky stuff and filling in small chips/holes. I am hoping that the weather will be above 40 as promised for Tuesday so I can return and work on the wall cleanup again. The sunroom will have a black/red furniture theme and now I am trying to decide what color to paint the almost lovely walls.

Once I straighten out the ceiling I am feeling an old school tin ceiling in the sunroom. I have found some pretty cool nail up type styles here..... http://www.americantinceilings.com/. Kinda pricey but it would look really neat in there so I shall continue to ponder that option.

When I went out to "The Beast" yesterday I discovered a window pane on the back porch had fallen out of one of the windows and shattered on the ground outside. I utilized some plastic, some bubble wrap and a hot glue gun to cover the small space and keep out ice/snow and rain until it warms up and can be repaired properly. It's always something, isn't it?

The Library

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon burning leaves and branches that had been piled in the back yard by previously occupants. I made a small dent in the pile. The city only allows yard waste burning on the weekends so perhaps I will continue that project next weekend, as long as things are not wet from rain or snow.

I spent an hour sanding the joint cement on the drywall and ready the walls under the windows for some paint.

It is supposed to snow this week, however I am skeptical. The temperatures are dropping but as long as I can have days that are warmer than 40 degrees I can work in a room with the heater warming the area. I anticipate January will be too cold for 'The Beast and I."

My picture today is of my book 'score' from a local library. I am obsessive compulsive regarding accumulating books for the planned library (my favorite room so far) and had been purchasing books from .25 to 1.00 at Salvation Army stores and the Goodwills. WELL, I delightfully discovered that a libary in a neighboring small town holds a book sale twice a month. Thus, I went to the book sale on Friday morning and spent HOURS. They sell books for one thin DIME. Can you believe it? I brought home over 200 books (mostly hardback) and spent only 23 bucks. The book list grows and is well over 1000 at this point. My sister estimates I should work toward accumulating a target number of 5000 books. The next library books sale is the 19th and my sister is coming to shop with me because she is a lover of books, also.

Home Sweet Home at The Beast

OK....Tuesday before Thanksgiving I spent the night at 'The Beast." I slept in the library... it was very cozy and the electric blankie does the trick. (I don't think that will work for too many more nights because the weather is turning into winter around here, but Tuesday was comfy and fun.) I drywalled the areas of the sunroom under the windows. I thought the joint compound would be dry so that I could sand the next day, but since it was a bit chilly the next morning it just wasn't dry enough. Sunroom is coming along nicely. BIG improvement.

I spent Weds. cleaning the walls of the library. I still have some wallpaper up at the top of the walls to peel off and I have to fill a lot of small nicks and holes from old nails.

I found a library picture from my original photos, when I first viewed the house last April. This is the library and room that has the new windows, and all the carpet is now gone and the hideous wallpaper is almost all gone. This is the room that is getting its walls cleaned up.

OH, my bestest friend Willie said, "Take the Dell. See if you can pick up a wireless signal." I said, "Dude, there isn't going to be any available wireless at 'The Beast.' He said, "Try it. You'll see. No one in a rural town will put passwords on wireless." So....I take the Dell. Lo and behold, I GET A SIGNAL (3 signals actually) and can access the internet at night. I think I was picking up the office products place which is next door to me. This situation, of course, made me laugh because Willie was right and I had to admit it.

Today, my sister and I finished taking down the rest of the fence. After careful consideration I determined that the fallen fence MAY just have belonged to the business next door because that was the only side of the yard where there was a fence, and originally it was probably hiding all the junk they had tossed behind their building. No one ever came out to stop me from cleaning up the area, and getting rid of the fence, so I guess they didn't care. All their junk they had tossed behind the building is now in THEIR dumpster in the alley. I shall put up a new fence in the spring and they are going to have to keep their area clean and tidy.

My sister came to claim her socks. She got two knitted pair so far. I found some hollyberry variegated yarn and created a spiral pattern on the leg section for the second pair. She is quite sock thrilled and doesn't realize they were a trick to get her here to finish tearing up the fence at 'The Beast.' (more maniacal laughter.)

Socks

Of course, the socks have nothing to do with "the Beast". The last quilt show I attended with my sister was held at a convention center where there was also a 'yarn and knitters' show. Thus, I drug my sister to the yarn/knitting show and I purchased an interesting book for knitting socks. Since we inherited a million skeins of thread and yard recently from Aunt Sophie, who is unable to continue crafting, I figured socks would be fun to knit (because one can have only so many hats, scarves and afghans. Viola!...my first pair. I am now working on knitting my sister a wardrobe of socks. This works toward motivating her to come pick the socks up and while she is here.....working on 'the Beast.' (Maniacal laughter.)

Oh, Found a Good Picture

I found a picture I took of the sunroom back in April, when I took my first tour of the house. I thought perhaps the original condition of the sunroom, which included ugly, moldy pink shag carpet, crappy paneling, and pink contac paper pasted on top of the paneling would make the new ceramic floor in the sunroom look even better. My theory is, any improvement is a BIG improvement.

I am thinking about using some metal panels for the ceiling but the ceiling is not a priority so I will ponder that for awhile because the metal ceiling is expensive.

My sister and I worked on the old, fallen down fence. We took apart 4 panels and she took the wood home to use in their wood burning furnace. There are still 5 panels to eliminate and we are considering taking care of that project the week after Thanksgiving, while the weather is still decent for outdoor work. The office products business that is next door to my property had tucked a few junky items behind their building, which were found under leaves and under my fallen fence. Luckily, the business has a nice, red, handy dumpster behind their secondary building, in the alleyway, and we just tossed all their junky stuff in their dumpster. Cleaning up the rest of that area is a priority the week after Thanksgiving.

I met the neighbors, across the alley. I have to stop calling it an alley, because it is asphalted and looks like a street, and people zoom down it in their cars. Anyway, the neighbors directly behind me were coming home and parking in their garage which faces the alleyway. We were putting trash out, and the neighbors were very friendly. They are Tom and Jan, and both are retired from the town's school district. Tom was a superintendent, and Jan was a teacher. Like myself, they are newly retired this year. They have a huge house and have lived in it for 31 years. They renovated it and told me that it was in the same shape as mine when they first purchased it. They told me to keep plugging away because I was making progress. I am going to have to take a picture of their huge, lovely home. They have a really nice cedar fence around their yard, too, and I want one. Actually, I want a wrought iron fence, but I will probably settle for the privacy type fence because the wrought iron fencing is 144 bucks an 8 ft. section, and I am a tad thriftier than 144 bucks for 8 ft.

Tom and Jan told me that my neighbors next door to me are their best friends, and their names are Ron and Lou. They were leaving while we were out working in the yard, and Lou, who is a lovely gray haired elderly lady, waved at me. So, I am feeling all warm and fuzzy now regarding neighbors.

Bring on the Windows

So, I got a call from Rick, who was stalled on his latest roofing job and he had some time to install my 5 windows I had on hand. I got up at 5 (good Lord), and left at 6 (still dark at 6) and got to "The Beast" at 7. Rick was there a moment later and he had one helper with him. He removed the 5 windows and installed the new ones and was done by noon. Rick is 'the man'.

Rick says he can do 10 windows in a day so bring 'em on. Thus, I must now order a couple more rooms of windows for December, January window shenanigans.

The final product looks really good. Of course, we didn't think we would receive anything but a quality job from Rick, did we? Why? Because, Rick is 'the man.'

Now, I wish I had had more than 5 ready for Rick.

These three amigos are the windows in the library.

The stairwell windows are now in place. The large stairwell window was the ONE window that was broken out and boarded up, so that one looks 100% better. (Of course, they all looke 100% better.)

I am leaning toward painting the exterior a light gray with white shutters in the spring.

While Rick was installing windows I worked on finishing up the floor in the sunroom. However, I ran out of grout. So, tomorrow I need for Lowes to cut 4 more piece of tile for me, I have to get another tub of Casual Beige grout, and I could use a small tub of adhesive. Then, the sunroom floor will be a done deal. It turned out quite well if I do say so myself.

I SHOULD get out to the garage and cut the drywall for under the windows but I think its bubble bath time instead. I am kinda tired from the getting up at 5 a.m. (Who does that?)

My sister is coming tomorrow and we are going to take apart the rest of the fallen down fence on Thursday. The rain is supposed to stop so we should have a sunny, Indian summer type of fall day for that project. Tomorrow, since it will rain again....we shall have a thrift store adventure.

Making Things Pretty

One more day and the sunroom floor will be finished with Texas beige ceramic tile. This picture does not really do them justice. They are a bit more peachy beige than what displays here. I took the picture when it was getting sort of dark this evening. The grout perfectly matches the tile though and I am really grout happy. I have 32 more pieces to glue down around the perimeter of the room. I have to go to Lowes Home Improvement tomorrow before driving out to "The Beast" to have them cut 9 pieces of the tile for me. The last row along the length of the room has only 9 inches of space left. Sigh, if the room had been 3 inches longer it would have been perfect with no cutting. Oh, well. I anticipate needing my own tile cutter/saw by the time I get around to the kitchen/laundry room floor and the upstairs bathroom walls.

So, I used 144 tile at a whopping sale price from Lowes at .68 a tile which totaled 97.92, another 38.00 for the adhesive and 16.97 for the grout. Plus tax, the floor cost approximately 163.00. Wall repair may begin as early as Thursday. I already have the drywall. I DO need some plaster. OK... another trip to Lowes.

Fun Furniture

Well, I hung with 'The Beast' on Friday and began putting down the ceramic tile on the sunroom floor. I ran out of daylight and adhesive so I will work on that project some more on Tuesday. I was planning to see 'The Beast' today, but I had a cold all week and was not feeling too frisky last night nor this morning.

The last time my sister was in town and we thrift stored...I found a really fabulous brass bed with huge, tall posts... with shiny huge balls on top and it is really totally coolness. It is old and big and clunky and tall and will look great in a room with 10 foot ceilings. I found it at the Goodwill for 75 bucks. I decided today to start polishing and eliminating the tarnish and it is coming along slowly but it will be quite shiny when finished.

Thus far I have used up an entire roll of paper towels and a small bottle of brass polish. I have been doing some online research and many sources suggest cleaning with regular household items such as ketchup, Worsteshire sauce, lemon juice and even Tidy Bowl Toilet Cleaner.

I shall attempt to try some of the natural household cleaning items tomorrow and see how they compare to the commercial chemical brass cleaners. I am wondering how many years of tarnish are on this bed at this point and how often I am going to have to polish it up to keep it all nice and shiny. More internet research ASAP.

Ta-Da Moment! Roof is Finished

Ta Da!
Another Ta Da moment.

The roof is done. They tore off 5 layers of old shingles. They resheeted the entire roof with plywood underlay. They used 33 squares of onyx black architectural Owens Corning shingles. (In case you don't know....a square is equal to 100 square feet of roof.) They also put the rubber roof on the sunroom. All in all I believe I got a good deal for $10,230.

As an aside Rick rebuilt the front porch roof to line up with the sunroom and finished it with fascia to match the sunroom.

That cost a couple bucks extra and was not in the original job. I liked the result.
What I really liked about Rick the roofer was the fact that he did not ask for a dime up front. Is that not unheard of in today's world? He did not have me sign a contract either. He merely told me over the phone that he could do the job for around $10,200. I had not even met Rick in person before he began the job. He was recommended to me by the local home improvement store. On a nice sunny day he just showed up with his workers and started the job. Next week he will begin installing my windows for me. Rick is the man.

Here Comes the Sun

Finally, a sunny day and no rain. The roof is finished. My sister and I left at 2 today after doing some kitchen work and the roofers were finishing up the back. I am extremely happy with the job.

My sister worked on the kitchen ceiling. She brought an 8 ft. ladder from home in order to get up to the tiles and rip them all down. She was not satisfied to wait until it was time to move the scaffolding into the kitchen. She just had to get the ugly out of the kitchen. The room feels much larger now with the ugly fireplace 70's remodel gone and more available space. Happy Day!

I'm on a mission to bring home all cabinet doors to redo them in the garage. I worked a bit on the kitchen floor. I found advice on the internet regarding the old leftover linoleum and glue which involved heating it up with a blow dryer, but that did not work. I had to stick with the paint stripper to loosen it up. It is my goal to find a better stripper to make that job easier because it takes a couple of hours to clean off a square yard of floor.

Tomorrow we are cleaning up some of the yard and removing an old fence that has fallen over.

My sister is also committed to trying to get a few more things into that dumpster before it gets picked up on Monday.

Almost all of the ugly is out of the house. It's time to start thinking about the beauty part.

OH, I picked up three more windows that came in from my order. This group arrived faster than the first two. Rick the roofer is also going to install the windows. The windows will make a huge difference.

Making Progress

I hung with 'The Beast' today. It was a pretty sunny and mild Sunday. I admittedly didn't get there until noon, and was surprised that Rick was working on the roof. Since it rains during the week and the weekends are sunny he feels he has to make hay while the sun shines. I ain't mad at him. As you can see he is rolling with the shingles. Perhaps two more days and he will be done, however one doesn't really know what those two days will actually be.....depending on which two days aren't filled up with rain. It's actually raining now.

I didn't realize it was raining this evening until I decided to go outside with Pearl (the Great Dane puppy.) Thus, I had to get the umbrella out because Pearl does not like to get rainy wet. This is Pearl. My sister calls her Pearlie T, with an emphasis on T for trouble. She is really a good puppy though. Pearl is almost a year old. She will have a birthday next month. Perhaps there will be no roofing tomorrow if it continues to rain.

I am tired of October rain. (So is Pearl).

Anyway, at the house today, Rick also started working on a porch roof to align and be in sync with the sunroom. He seems to have understood my vision for it and I am happy with his construction. If the weather cooperates he is going to put the rubber substance type roofing material on the porch and sunroom.

I believe it is going to look a lot better than the ugly aluminum siding piece of porch roof the previous owners had stuck up there in their attempt at some type of renovation.

For some reason I am enthralled with the sunroom. I scraped off the rest of the ugly bamboo/ivy leaf wallpaper that had been hiding under the ugly paneling for probably 30 years. Of course there was wallpaper out there because someone 100 years ago loved some wallpaper. I am ready to start making something pretty. I may be ready to drywall underneath the sunroom windows and fix the plaster wall next to the sunroom windows. I am attempting to determine whether I can sand down the hardwood floor cleanly enough to allow for a new stain to be pretty. If the hardwood is totally shot from the leaking out there I will probably do a ceramic tile floor.

I swear I will never wallpaper anything ever, ever, ever. To think I used to like wallpaper and border. Yeeeccchhh.

Worker Bees' Sleepover

My sister and I spent the first night in the house and kept "The Beast" company. There is no heat functioning yet, (on schedule for next winter), but we had a portable heater in one bedroom and I cheated by bringing my electric blanket. I offered to share half with my sister but she likes her house to be a cool 60 degrees at night even in the winter and does not like blankets. I was warm and toasty. I believe it got down to around 37 or 40 degrees outdoors the night we camped out. We did not hear a mysterious, deep voice ...in the house.... in the night ... say, "GET OUUUT!" so we figured the house loves us.

Spending the night at "The Beast" was very productive. Not having to drive an hour to get back home was great and it allowed us to work all day, plus get up and continue with the tasks the next day. We pulled down most of the sunroom ceiling, which was leaky and icky. I removed the rest of the carpet from the main staircase. My sister, "el Destructo," ripped off all the ugly paneling in the back stairwell. OH, we also ripped out all the carpet, ugly bathroom paneling and vinyl tiles that were in the upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is totally naked now and ready for redo. We succeeded in removing the entire Franklin fireplace structure, (and it was a gas burner....NOT a wood burner), and removed most of the structure they had built around the original chimney in the kitchen. The last job we accomplished was ripping all the ugly carpet and linoleum off the kitchen floor.

Rick the Roofer told my sister.... "go ahead, toss all that stuff in the dumpster," when she asked him if we could use the dumpster for all the crap we had yanked out of the house that was in the garage. The offer to use part of the dumpster was probably the reason we worked so hard to get all the other stuff out of the house I wanted to remove. I sure hope Rick can fit the rest of the roof shingles into the other half of the dumpster because we used a really good half of it up. If not, the roof will cost me a few more bucks, OY.

I'm not mad though. Using the roofer's dumpster will be a lot cheaper than ordering one later. His dumpster cost at 475 for the whole load is much cheaper than mine would have been per weight if I had contracted with my waste management peeps. So, it all works out.

So, after three good working days we got a lot accomplished. My sister is such a worker bee. My sister thinks destruction is fun and she takes few breaks.

I probably won't do anything on the house again until next week Wednesday. My bestest friend, Willie passed through today from Little Rock and is on his way to Chicago to check on his mom. He and I may drive out to "The Beast" so I can show him the roofers' progress when he comes back this way tomorrow. But, I am not lifting another tool until Wednesday. My sister's enthusiasm wore me out.

Roofers and Door

Yesterday the roofers began, even though it was raining on them, off and on, a tad. Today they made a lot of progress. They have the plywood and roll paper up on two portions of the roof. They had to tarp the other side of the portion showing in the picture due to running out of time today and it is supposed to rain tomorrow. This October freaky rainy weather is playing heck with the roof project.

The guy in the woodsy camo hunting jacket is Rick the Roofer and in charge of the youngsters up on the roof. He is 50, and according to his work crew, can do EVERYTHING in the world of home improvement. He cut all the branches off the tree that was touching the house so I did not need a tree trimmer after all, and even cut down the ugly evergreen that was overgrown and right next to the back porch. I have learned that all you have to do is say, "Rick, can you...........?", and he will say, "Sure thing," and he will "get er' done." Rick says that he has been doing home improvement since he was 15 years old and can do it all. Good enough for me. I am keeping Rick's number on speed dial.

While the roofers roofed, my favorite and only brother in law pulled the Franklin fireplace out of the kitchen. I thought it was a wood burner but he discovered it was a gas fireplace. Thus, I had to shut off the gas, which I wasn't using yet anyway, and then cap off the pipe after he yanked the fireplace out of there. One of the youngsters who was on the ground and in charge of hauling the shingles to the dumpster was kind enough to help my 72 year old brother in law get the fireplace out of the house and in his truck. My brother in law is going to find someone out in the wilds of southern Missouri who may be in need of such an object d' warmth so that it does not go to waste. Removal of the fireplace has made the kitchen appear much roomier already.

After my brother in law left for home around 2 p.m., my sister helped me pull the dropped ceiling out of the sunroom. Also, after yanking that out we discovered a glued on tile ceiling, a plaster ceiling and some funky styrofoam insulation that had to be yanked out.

OH, and my sis and bro brought a set of their scaffolding which we set up in the dining room. After my sister leaves and I am alone, I will work on cleaning the walls in the dining room and fixing slight cracks, holes etc., in the plaster. The scaffolding will be such a BIG help. My sis and bro in law are the greatest.

OHHHH... and before I call it a day......here is a picture of the front door before I spruced it up. (I did this weeks ago, and was actually my first act of love for "The Beast." Well, I DID put that brass plate behind the top lock before taking the "before" picture.

The door is actually pretty cool because it is super thick and all REAL wood. The screen door was pretty funky due to it being ugly silver aluminum (as screen doors have a tendency to be), and pretty pocked from age. I took the screen door down, cleaned it, sanded it, and painted it with Rustoleum "Hammered" Black. The "hammered" paint gives it a pretty cool nubby look. I liked it so much I painted the door trim and the front door with it, too. I don't think the front door is as nubby as it should be, but eventually I am going to put another coat on the front door and the trim around the outside. I also replaced the doorknob and dead bolt with black ones and used brass trim behind them which makes me happy.

As a final touch I used Gallery Glass Art Paint, and gave the glass in the door a little stained glass effect.

Ta Da!

Finding a Roofer

Did you know you can sign up on the Home Depot website to schedule free estimates for large projects such as windows and a roof? Unfortunately that does not mean you will get competent estimates. Home Depot sent out a salesperson who appeared to know what he was doing. He was a young fellow who measured all the windows and the roof area. He informed me that he did not have enough time to complete the estimate and he wanted to take it home to use his computer software, etc. SURE, I assured him. I was in no hurry. He was supposed to show up at my house the following Saturday with the figures. No show. I get an email with an apology telling me he had a hectic week and he would get the figures together and notify me shortly. Never heard back from him and when he was doing the measuring he mentioned he was moving to North Carolina in two weeks. Thus, NO estimates from Home Depot. Oh, well!

No, I did not call Home Depot to complain. He was a young fellow and in this economy I did not want to complain and cost anyone their job since he was transferring to NC. I figure there were enough roofers around for me to find one that would get the job done and tell me what was required. I just moved on.

I called another local roofer who advertises on local TV. He even has a zippy tune they sing in the commercial. Well, this yahoo never shows up to give the estimate either. He called with an excuse telling me his secretary overbooked him. He requested I call the company to reschedule but, I just moved on. Oh, well!

So, I just go to the local hardware store and ask for roofer recommendations. They were happy to oblige. They were even happy to come out and measure all my windows and bundle them per room so I could order a room a month. I have a seemingly competent roofer now scheduled to being tearing off the 5 layers of shingles and cedar shakes as soon as we are sure there is no rain in the forecast for at least 5 days in a row.

I've chosen the architecural shingles. They are so much more attractive than the plain, ordinary 3-tabs. I wanted a red roof until I discovered red is special order and much more expensive thus, I am going with onyx black. It will be sharp once finished.

Rick the Roofer is going to give me a new front porch roof to flow evenly with the sunroom. This was a deal maker in choosing him for the job.

I am roof excited.

Let's all cross our fingers for no rain for awhile so Rick the Roofer can begin, take care of business, and finish.

The Aventure Begins

So, what to do now that I am retired? Why not buy a huge, 120 year old Folksy Victorian home in a small Southern Illinois town for the purpose of complete renovation? It will be an eventual retirement home to live in and relax in, and ramble around through all the space, and remove myself from the hustle and bustle of the mall laden big cities.

The Adventure Begins

I found "The Beast" in March, 2009. He was listed for 29,900. Normally, when I venture out to actually look at a house it NEVER looks like it does in the realtor.com photo offered up by the agent. Usually, in person, the under 30K, in need of renovation, homes are totally awful, or the neighboring homes are horrible, or there is some other deal breaker that sends me away from considering the property. However, "The Beast" actually looked better in person. I waited to make an offer and continued to peruse all other properties in the desired areas until the school year was over and I officially retired. I decided that if "The Beast" was still available when I was ready then it was a sign he should be mine. In May, the price dropped to 24,900. According to the realtor, there were folks showing an interest and looking through him, but no one making an offer. Needless to say, he was still waiting for me in August, causing me to make an offer and purchase "The Beast" for a steal at 16,800.

I figured everyone else looked at "The Beast's" hideous 100 yr. old wallpaper, tons of carpet needing removal, 6 layers of roofing material, and windows needing replacement and could not see the potential beauty in "The Beast".