Being Bold

Renovation is not for the weak at heart.  Faced with a dilemna of having a dark foyer caused by the double dungeon doors, we knew we wanted to have more light coming into the front of the house.  We began pricing out replacing the front doors with new arched doors.  The original doors were made by a Thomasville company that also made custom moulding for the White House years ago.   New double wood doors would have to be custom-made to fit the entry and made the replacement cost prohibitive. 

Here is a photo of the doors when we purchased the home.  I wanted to maintain the double-door look and certainly keep the curved moulding.

The outrageous cost of replacing the front doors left us with two choices:  live with a dark foyer and dungeon doors....or BE BOLD and customize the existing doors.  I kept telling Chad for weeks that he could do this and finally he agreed.....

That's right.  We cut the solid wood, orginal to the house, custom-designed front doors.  Chad drew the design directly onto the doors and cut them to insert double-insulated glass.  Of course, he had a little help with this project.

I'll save the finished product photos until the glass has been inserted, but the neighbors have already given their approval of this decision.

The drywall guys moved out this week after amazing us with their teamwork.   Here they are finishing up with sanding.

The next post should show painting in process....if I can make a decision about paint colors!

Week 6 of 10-week project

Today marks the beginning of Week 6 and so far we are on schedule.  I'm really liking the progress that's occurring this week.  Paul Wisham and Sons (and grandson) are experts at hanging drywall.  They moved in your house like a troop on a mission each with assigned duties.  Mr. Wisham's term for drywall is "ROCK".  So we are hanging ROCK today in an assembly line fashion.

Wisham and Company hanging "rock".

Another project that is underway is building an arched opening from the foyer to the kitchen.  Something about the theme of the arched front doors and influence of the tudor theme or whatever.......

Chad and David creating one of three arches.

Next project is installing the new windows.  I selected the window company based on the desire for them to be made in Georgia if possible.  Found a window and door company in Monroe, GA called "Tucker Door and Trim".  No relation, thus no family discount. 



Brooks standing in family room window opening.  Note dumpster in the background that is full of the 2nd load of debris from our "little" renovation.  It certainly makes it easy to give directions to our house.  "Just turn on Rebecca Drive, and we are the house with the dumpster."



My gloves on Monday morning thanks to a group of practical jokers working in our house.  



Day 17 of Renovation Reality: Kitchen Gutted

The decision was made.  The kitchen had to go.  The countertops were removed and stored, then cabinets removed.  So all our groceries are stored in the back of the truck and all pots and pans stored in boxes in garage.  We have clothes in three closets now in three different houses....Camilla, Pelham and Mystic.  We have one washer/dryer that is 70 miles from our clothes   Packing for two out-of-town trips in one week involved strategic planning.  I've lost 3 1/2 pair of earrings in one week.  Every organizational skill I have (or had) is of no value at the moment.  We are living in DIY mode.  So looking on the bright side: 

• we eat out every night, so no dirty dishes
• we have no television, so great family time
• we are blessed to have clothes in three closets
• we love our new area and making many new friends
• we know God has a plan for us living in this house, neighborhood and community,
• and in the midst of adult-level chaos, the boys love every minute of it.

Here are some before and during pictures of kitchen renovation:

Good news and not so good news.

The good news is that the air compressor is back in business after Chad found a part on an old compressor.  The not so good news that we didn't know when "it" would happen, but we knew "it" would happen sooner or later as it always does in remodeling projects.  The unexpected was uncovered and the "it" occurred.    A small rotten place in the dining room floor caused us to open up the sheetrock which showed signs of water damage.  The plywood was removed to find a hole in the roof at the corner of the dining room.  Yes, that open space at the top of the picture is daylight.  No solution yet.

Brick Mason says call Gutter Guy

We had a visitor to come and inspect the remodeling.  Ma found a location for reading by the fire. 

It's not all hard work at the Tuckers.  Sometime you need a break to play "Rockem' Sockem' Robots". 

 It's a battle between Contractor and Electrician in this round.



Load-Bearing Wall..........it's down!!!!

In 1978, the typical floor plan was a small living room adjacent to a small den off of a small kitchen.  The largest project to-date in this renovation was to remove a load-bearing wall between the living room and den.  A few DIY shows later and a couple of check and double-check calculations by our next-door neighbor (Ray the engineer), our architect (Jason), our hardware guy (Rick) and the mailman, we agreed that we needed a engineered beam of almost 18 feet with a thickness of 6 inches.  First, two temporary walls were installed and the load-bearing wall was out of there.    The new beam easily went into place from the supervisory position I held.  We used liquid nail first and then joist hangers where the beam met the floor joists from the second floor.  Tony, being trained by my Daddy in the school of a few screws wouldn't hurt, asked that we drill a couple of bolts through the beam.  Again thinking like my Daddy..... if three bolts would work, then 10 bolts would work better!  The photos below depict our very successful day Friday. We have completed 13 days of work as of Friday.

David ponders if we should really take down the last support.

So, I make the decision to remove the last stud.

"Mam, this is the only way you can have lights outside."

I can just hear someone telling the first owners of this home that this is the only way you can have lights on the outside of the house.  Otherwise, why in the world would you ever have the wire mould in white along the front of the house.  Just a small cosmetic change to improve the curb appeal by running this wire through the coat closet behind this exterior light.

Another electrical change I thought may be slightly better in the family room was to remove this ceiling fan.  The wiring ran along the side of the former slanted fireplace.

My contribution to the electrial work has been only pulling receptables out for the electrician to change to white receptables.  The electrician corrected every switch in the house that went to a receptable rather than the overhead light.  However, I did find one electrical job that I could do and relocated the thermostat to another wall.   Glad they snapped this picture rather than the one where I received a little shot of 110. 

All you can see is STUDS

Everywhere you look downstairs, all you can see is STUDS.  We are now into Day 7 of tearing out anything that touches anything that we've already torn down.  I even put a sign up in the house that our theme was now "BUILD IT BACK".  But apparently, we like demo much more than renovation. 

To date, we have torn out the following:

• the wall between the small living room and den
• the arched openings off either side of the foyer entering the living room and the dining room
• the half bath downstairs
• the fireplace facade
• the staircase
• the laundry room (that will become the half bath)
• the pantry (that will become the laundry room)
• the coat closet (just because)
• the air return closet (again, just because)
• the laundry shoot that we thought Brooks shouldn't know about (that will become the hot water heater storage closet)

The list of things to date that we didn't mean to destroy include:

• the outdoor light that Brooks broke playing football on the day we moved in
• the new air compressor that took a direct hit from falling sheetrock from the ceiling

Few more pictures of the demo stage are enclosed for your amusement.





Chad and David enjoying demo days!





The former air compressor (September 20, 2010 - October 1, 2010)





The pantry to be laundry room across from the laundry room to be half bath.