uncovering floors

So the past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic, despite being on summer break. I still had a couple of graduate classes, but those are both finally over! I'm working DC's Migrant Camp, which I love. Also, the loan is officially permanent, despite a couple of slightly large and ridiculous roadblocks that popped up...As a 90s child, I would compare it to kind of like being on Rainbow Road in Mario Kart, slipping on those infuriating bananas, then barely escaping a turtle shell one of your friends threw at you, only to get eaten by one of the evil chomping bombs. Anyway.

 The loan finally did go through. It is done!

So our first project was nothing too drastic. We started uncovering all of the hardwood floors, which includes the side door entryway leading to the stairs, the hallway, and the upstairs bedroom that used to be the second kitchen when it was an apartment several years ago. We have also started on the kitchen floor, but I'm going to wait and include that in the post about the kitchen :)

So we started downstairs in that side entryway. I must preface with the fact that no one--Leo, my Dad, the hardwood floor refinisher, nor the interior designer we invited over for an hour---believed the floors would be worth saving at all. I would also like to point out that, for the most part, they were wrong. Which doesn't happen often!

This is the before of the side entryway. The tile really wasn't that bad, it was just broken. Plus I am quite partial to hardwood and as you can see there is some peeking out. Under the broken tile. And plywood subfloor. Oh, and it is blue. Gotta love the 50s (I'm sure someone will be saying the same thing one day..."geeze, what were those people from the 10s thinking??)

I convinced my Dad to take up the tile AND the sub flooring (instead of automatically laying down new tile) and he agreed since it is such a small space. Here is the after:

Again, it is blue. I get that. But that can also be sanded out :) The important part is that it is in pretty good shape. Besides a few nail holes. But that is all part of the character! And I'm all for character, as I'm sure Leo is tired of hearing...but hey, it will also save a lot if we can reuse it! He likes hearing that part. I'm learning.

All went pretty well. Then I decided to go to the house by myself to clean up and get one of the boards back down. We are trying to save on the utilities, so we haven't been turning on the air conditioning, instead electing to open windows. In this case, I opened the door. Like my Dad does ALL the time when he is there. Without anything happening. But of course, that's not possible with my luck.

So I'm working away, once again feeling quite proud of myself (I'm seeing a pattern here), and then I hear a loud banging noise. I really wasn't alarmed at first. Then I looked up and saw it. A bird. Banging itself against the window and flying around the entryway wildly. The same 3X3 space that I am in. Terrified and trying to escape. In turn, he terrified me and a running I went. Thankfully no neighbors were out to see my ridiculousness. 

Within seconds I'm out of the door, around the porch and on the front yard. Safe but wondering why the one time I open the door, a bird has to fly in. Hopefully my Dad isn't busy at work :)

Then I realize I have left my phone in the entryway. I stand there. And stand there. And then work up the courage to run, quite recklessly and waving my arms like an idiot, into the house grab my phone and run back out. I call my Dad, and he doesn't answer. My next idea is to text my friend Rachael who lives around the block and see if her fiancé is home (sometimes he works nights, so he is there during the days). He wasn't. She offered to call her mom to help, and its then that I realize I'm being ridiculous. I am (kind of) a grown woman! I can handle a little bird. I grab the broom and go inside. No bird in sight. I start hoping that he flew out as I was running out. 

I slowly walk up the stairs to check the second floor, and my Dad calls me back. Birds of course do not like the Lollipop song blaring loudly right next to them and it was quite clear within two seconds of my phone ringing that the bird had not exited earlier behind me like I hoped. Thanks, Dad.

I ran back out of the house. Like a chicken. 

I eventually went back in and found it cowering at the end of the hallway, behind a window screen that my Dad had taken out. I slowly laid down the broom. I went to open the window so that it could fly out and not stay in my house, pooping all over everything. And honestly, after it stopped hitting itself against the window and saw it cowering behind a screen, I felt sorry for it.

I still didn't trust it though. I didn't like opening the window because it meant that I had to turn my back on the bird. But I got it, and the screen open (actually, it fell out...turns out I'm not the most skilled at opening window screens--Dad not happy) and turned around victorious...and the bird just sat there. And sat there. And we just stared at each other. I went down the stairs to give it some space. Still nothing. 

This is ridiculous. Over 30 minutes has passed over this silly bird ordeal. I don't have time for this. Time is precious to me and taking it up for ridiculous things is one way to either anger me, or apparently get me to put my big girl panties on and fix the situation. I walked up the stairs and just started running down the hallway at the bird. Within two seconds it was coming at me. I ducked into the bedroom and it flew straight out of the window. 

Another "crisis" over. I closed the door and the window (which doesn't currently have a screen) and just worked miserably, sweating like a stubborn pig. But no more birds were getting into my house. Nope.

I went upstairs to work on the floor in the upstairs bedroom. We need to get this up, even though it isn't staying, because we need some extra wood to use in the master where the wood needs to be repaired. And they don't make this kind of flooring anymore.

I'm trying to get a head start for when my Dad and Leo got off work. There was one window that I could open up there. But it didn't help much. And my 100 pound frame didn't get much done. Except I'm now on my way to pro status in using a nail puller. Whooo hoooo. 

The real work of course happened when they got there. Here is the before and after:

It is in really could shape! I would even say better than the other bedrooms because it was preserved under all of that! Of course there is a lot of dust and dirt in this picture and I don't have an up close. I do have some up close pictures of some old newspaper we found! Most of it wouldn't come up in one piece. I thought these were cute, especially the "bellies" article! Maybe thats just my dorky love of linguistics coming out, but I wish they still wrote cute articles like this in the newspaper. I also didn't realize that it was okay to talk about menstrual cycles and cramps in public in 1963...maybe I placed an unfair stereotype of the early sixties in the Bible belt.

That's it for this super long blog! A big thanks if you made it this far and read the entire thing...but even if you just glanced, I still appreciate it! I hope you all have a great Monday! The kitchen is almost done being gutted, so I will be posting on that. It's already unrecognizable...which makes me nervous but definitely excited for the months ahead!

-katie

patio & trees

Hey guys! We finally finished the patio this past week! Finally! And no more hair loss :)

My Dad and Leo dug new footers for the extension. It is now a 10' X 14' deck, with inset stairs. My Dad had to dig a footer for the stairs and make the stair stringer from scratch because the pre-made ones at Lowe's didn't work with the height and the size of the stair inset of our deck.

He was pretty proud that he cut the stairs right the first time :)

Then we started on the railing! They also had pre-made railing. But of course I didn't like it, so I wanted to make ours from scratch. Naturally.

This part was very tedious, more than I thought it would be. The railings had to be evenly spaced throughout the rail and then also perfectly matched up in the middle. Then we attached everything with the nail gun and attached it to the deck. That first section of railing took over almost two hours. I was so proud. Finally we had a section of railing up!

I then I looked down. And I noticed the nails sticking out of the sides of the railings...this was me:

Seriously, I see the shows and see the frustration of home owners. I knew what to expect, but it's always different when you're there and everything is taking forever and nothing is going right. But we survived and moved on.

We unscrewed the railing and started over. It was a little disheartening but we started using screws instead of the nail gun, because it was hard to keep the nail at a perfectly straight angle so that it wouldn't stick out. It went pretty fast from there!

Finally, we put up lattice to cover the bottom and give it a more finished look. I went with "straight" lattice rather than the traditional diagonal lattice. I think it looks more modern, plus it is much studier than regular lattice.

We still have to add the caps and stain it. Which is a point of disagreement between my Dad and I. Who is surprised? Leo actually agrees with me, though. I like this look with the dark stain floor and white accents:

 

While he prefers the natural color (so we would apply a clear sealant)...

Honestly, I don't dislike the second. But the darker stain just grabs my attention! We have 30-60 days to decide, while the treated lumber seasons out.

On a side note, all of the trees in the backyard, besides the two huge ones to the side, are now gone. I didn't expect to be quite as sad as I was to see the redbud come down. It was rotting from the inside out, so it had to come down. But the yard looks so blank without it now! Bigger, but blank. Here is a before and after...

Another point of disagreement, this time with Leo, is to whether or not to plant a tree there to replace it. I want to plant a tree to provide shade to the yard and some interest. 'Cause right now it's looking pretty bare. And of course my Dad agrees with me on this one (will we ever all agree??). All Leo can think of is more leaves for us to pick up in the fall. 

He asked me to wait to plant another tree until next year so we can go through a fall and see how bad our current leaf situation is. And I have to help with the leaves. I guess he thinks that will deter me. I have never minded raking leaves. But maybe that's because I secretly want to be able to create huge piles of leaves so that our dog can do this...

No, we don't currently have a dog. But as any of my close friends will tell you, I'm definitely a planner. So it's never too early to plan an entire tree around a dog we don't currently have being able to play in the leaves, right?? :) 

-Katie