My grandpa's drill on D-Day

I was working on the kitchen tile and my drill was burning out while I was mixing the mortar.  Dad brought his father's drill over who was involved in part of the organization of D-Day.  It was such a beautiful tool and using it while commemorating the anniversary seemed too good to pass by.  

It was a dream to use.

Hank tried his hand at the tile saw.  He was ripping through these like nobodies business.  I love his no fear attitude and how hard he works when he has a purpose.  So so cute.

He did most of the cuts for the second day of the kitchen.  So on D-day, we used my grandpa's drill, Dad was working away, and I was laying tile that my son cut.  Makes me sort of teary eyed.   

Little Red Brick House... the walls

Just a few pictures and stories about the walls....

  

The plan was to seal up this wall so we could create the master bedroom again.  The other rooms were too small to fit a queen sized bed.  When dad was working by himself one Saturday, a woman came by.  She had offered on the house when it was on the market.  She was quite outspoken about sealing up that wall.  She thought we were crazy, because "people need a place to do things".  She went through the house and bluntly criticized everything we were doing.  

I wish I was there for that interaction.  

My dad's cousin, Jim Harvey, is our drywall guy.  He helped with the last house we did.  Everything I know about drywall and mudding, I learned from him.  Whenever he shows up, it is a good day.  He is happy, full of energy, and progress is always made.  His allergies would act up around this house, so he hasn't been around as much.  I am so grateful for him and for all he has shown me.  I would have been at a loss otherwise. 

This is the view of the dinning room on the left side and the hallway.  Silly, but just getting texture on the walls made such a difference for the house.  

Mudding and texture seemed to take forever.  I was so happy to finally be done.  It is funny, though, because once you accomplish something, you have a moment to analyze all of the other things you need to do.  

The Little Brick House's Floors

 There has been such a push to get things done before the boys are out of school, I haven't had a second to post.  Because I have so many things to show, I thought I would focus on the floors today.  

We took out the kitchen floor to the joists.  

This is the view of the basement room underneath the kitchen.  

Plywood and cement board.  Love the clean, non-creaky floor.  

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This slanted picture is the before shot showing where the wall of the bedroom used to be.    It was centrally located, so every time I walked through, it would bug me.  

 I shouldn't have worried.  It was a bit tricky but smoothly executed by my dad.  The channel is one inch wider on one side than the other.  I always laugh at how critical he is of his own work.  We have refinished the floors and you can't tell where this was channel was located.  Another great job by Paul C.

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Sigh, the bathroom tile job was the best ever, because of the previously owned tile saw I picked up.  I might be more excited about this than anything else on the project.  I can tile until the cows come home because I won't be in a hurry to take it back to the rental place by the end of the day.

Isn't it pretty?

I am still really enjoying the project.  I can't believe how lucky I am to be doing this.

Red brick house windows

Out with the old, in with the new!  

A few details from window day.  We ordered the windows from Wholesale Windows and Doors in Orem.  They were fantastic to work with and delivered before the time quoted.  Fernando, the installer, rocked!  He is an artisan tiler who happens to install windows.  The exactness he employs while laying tile is used when working with the windows.  They were perfect.    

He also generously offered tips for my large format tiling jobs.  

I have already used his advice and it made the bathroom floor install with ease.  

The shock of the day was the clarity of the new windows.  There was a discussion of keeping the old shed.  After the windows were put in and you looked out the kitchen window, that idea was thankfully put to rest.  Funny how clear and bright windows can change the view so drastically.  

The Little Red Brick's Shed

Introducing the shed.  It occupied about two thirds of the back yard.  The previous owner used it as his workshop and spend countless hours on his woodworking projects. 

I think during the last few months, this shed has been hanging over Scott's head.  He is the demolition guy. Two of his brothers mentioned helping and Scott took them up on it.  Of course my dad was also on board.  By afternoon of the first day, most of the structure was gone.  I will repeat, in one morning, four guys took the thing down and hauled the materials around to the front of the house.  

I don't have a complete picture of the shed because it wouldn't fit in the frame of a camera.  Yes, it was that large.

This is one of the rooms of the shed.

Matt, Scott, and Klint pausing for the photo.  I am so grateful for those guys and my dad.  What a huge difference they made in such a short time.

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

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The other aspect to this shed and the backyard is the firewood.  We think there was about a 10 year supply of wood.  The previous owner's children have been coming by and taking trailer loads away.  I estimate they have hauled away 13 loads to date.  That is probably a conservative amount.  I am so grateful for all of their work and I do love the idea that their dad's firewood will be keeping them cozy next winter.  

I can't say enough of these great people.  Pictured are two of the daughters, their husbands, and a friend.  (The two sons and their wives are not pictured here)  This family has been so supportive of what we are doing.  This is where they were raised.  It must be a bit unsettling to see their childhood home all ripped up and in disarray.  Thankfully they seem happy about the changes we are making.  

This house is not a flip.  It is much bigger than that.  It is a chance to make something better while learning so much.  It is a moment to be with my dad each day.  It is a chance to eat at the Purple Turtle for lunch.  It is a moment in life that will never be repeated.  It is the most empowering thing I have managed to do.  Hum... I do wonder if feeling empowered is a good thing for me.   

The little Red Brick house, bathroom #1

Before Picture of Bathroom.

  In this case, wall to wall carpeting includes the bathroom.  It was a luxury touted in the seventies.  How long was that trend?  When did people come to their senses?  

We have been doing such tedious electrical work, so demolishing was quite satisfying.   In a day, we had most of the bathroom out including the crazy heavy cast iron vent and sewer pipes in the crawl space.  My dad really went to town on that cast iron.  

Looks like this much metal brings $50.00 at the recycler.  

My dad's wife, Mary, came by and commented that it would be better to take the wall down and put up new, clean drywall.  Such a perfect idea.  I would much rather tackle the drywall than the wallpaper glued on the old wall.  

 Here is the project as it stands now.  We altered the space by removing some hallway storage that was encroaching on the bathroom.  We will switch the vanity and toilette locations with each other.  Because we removed the extra storage, we can fit a vanity rather than the small sink.  

Feeling like I will go with a white tub this time around.... although the mint green tub has carried it's own for the last 60 years.  

Little Red Brick House, Red letter day #1

I don't want to put a date on it, but it has been almost two months since we closed on the house.  This depresses me a bit, but I have to take into account the few dresses I have finished, the kids we have some how gotten to and from school, and all of the various other things going on in our lives.  I haven't posted many pictures of the process because I have been stuck in the attic or crawl space that whole time.  Or at least it feels that way.  

I don't want to give the crawl space a bad wrap.  It is cozy and quite delightful because we have access to the whole house for our rewiring project.  We have pulled wire to every receptacle and light fixture in the house.  I am so excited to say that we have replaced every bit of the old wiring. 

During this process, we would finish wiring the living room and dad would proclaim, "Well, it is a red letter day".  It happened every few days when a milestone had been reached.  I started feeling like the wiring would just go on forever.  Until this week.  

You can tell by the big smile on my dad's face that we are getting closer.  Finally it was the moment we had been waiting for... the day we heated up the whole house by organizing and hooking up to the panel.  

 

I am going to sound a bit sentimental.... but just look at that box!  I love the feeling of tackling something so much bigger than my usual format of a gown.  Working on something the scale of a small house is so satisfying.  We will see how long this attitude lasts.