Monday, September 22, 2014

Weekend Updates


We tidied up a bit, and the old cabinetry that was being stored in the kitchen nook is now staged in the dining room. 

We've scheduled a pick-up from Restore for Wednesday. They'll take all of the old cabinets, and the dishwasher, stove and refrigerator. 


We did make another discovery over the weekend - the kitchen doesn't have the original wide plank pine flooring. This is perhaps because the ell of the house was built at a later date, or possibly because the planks were removed at some point due to fire (which was quite common), or some other reason. 

An architect neighbor of ours thought that this north kitchen wall, which is adjacent to the dining room, once held the cooking hearth. There is some evidence of this in the roofline, and in a few mismatched floor boards in the dining room on the other side of the wall. 

However,  the reason I took this photo is to share our most recent mock-up of one corner of the kitchen layout.  We've often used mock-ups as a means to make final decisions for items that can't be easily undone and always find them so helpful.

We've decided to keep the sink and the range in the same place as they were previously. The refrigerator will most likely also remain in the same place. You can see masking tape to the right of the refrigerator that shows where the kitchen counter will/may come to. 

The other option was to put the refrigerator in the corner against the west wall, but having the refrigerator line up across the room from the range and hood feels like it will provide more balance.

In the end, we also removed the pantry on the north wall. We decided to do this to open up the room more upon entry from the dining room, and it's removal also facilitates flooring options. Now that we know that the old wide plank floorboards are not there, we are discussing the potential to put down new Eastern white pine planks from a local sawmill, which replicates the original floors in the main house. 


Upstairs, we did find the original wide plank pine floors underneath the vinyl. We are speaking with our floor refinisher about replacing a couple of more damaged boards (casualties of plumbing retrofits) so that we can refinish the bathroom floors to match the rest of the house. 


The loo had to be removed before the old vinyl floors were taken up. 


As did the sink. Both of these items will also be donated to Restore.  

Still not absolutely sure what we'll do in here between bath, shower and toilet. It's hard to focus on one particular project when there are several other projects going on at the same time. So we are moving forward with the certain goals - get floors refinished, and walls patched and finished.  Hopefully by then the other details will follow. 

This is the length of the space in the bath/shower nook. The wall will most likely come out but a plumber has to assist Mike as there is some peculiar plumbing involved. 

This second measurement is the maximum width that the sink can be. 

The reason I have photographs of these measurements (which I took with my Canon Rebel) is because we didn't have pen and paper to write on. That's how high-tech we are. ; ) 

Hopefully, my next post will be about our doors! They've been away for over two weeks - more details to come. 


20 comments:

  1. Love to see the progress! Keep up the good work!

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  2. A girl after my own heart. I used my iphone throughout most of our reno to capture the details on products I was buying and for measurements I needed to remember.

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    1. I forgot to mention in my post that I used my Canon Rebel to take the photos. I never use the cell phone as we don't have cell service at our rental house. So when I said that we are "high tech," what I meant is that I am painfully low tech!

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  3. Can't wait to see you spin your magic.

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  4. I'm so glad that you are sharing all the details with us. It's like a version of "This Old House!"

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  5. I am so enjoying your adventure. I've always dreamed of restoring an old home, but they're in short supply here in Atlanta. Can't wait for your next post!

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  6. love the updates !!! Looking good

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  7. I am a wallpaper geek and em ooh'ing and aaah'ing over the paper in this house!

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  8. Are you worried about asbestos at all? Like in the old linoleum?

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    1. YES, VERY MUCH SO! In fact, I will be doing a post on asbestos and lead soon. We have had every layer of linoleum and vinyl flooring (and their backings) tested for asbestos. We've even tested the wallpaper, where the adhesive can have it.
      I will post on all of that soon!

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    2. Awesome!, I will be interested in knowing how you deal with, and have dealt with it all. We've refinished wood floors many years before when the only threat was lead paint. We are moving to a stone farm house built in 1860 and now it seems we have to worry about radon and asbestos too! LOVE following along on your adventures by the way, very well done!

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  9. What an adventure. Although I'm certain its more "fun" on this side of the computer screen. Can't WAIT to watch the beauty unfold. Blessings to you!

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  10. Yay Kitchen remodels!! Can't wait to see how it all turns out :)

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  11. I just love watching your redesign your house, and I love your taste!!!

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  12. Love seeing the details of your renovation. I am so glad you are at this point as this is what I loved about your blog for your other house. I can hardly wait each day to check and see the progress.

    Shirley - Atlanta

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  13. So exciting that you found the original flooring upstairs! It's really coming along. Can't wait to see more. Thanks so much for sharing.

    Take care,
    Em

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  14. Progress=baby steps, but progress. I am mourning the fact that the old floor boards were not under the flooring, (same thing happened to us in our old house), we also had local pine floors milled. Love every update! :) donna

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  15. Can't wait to see what you do to this tired lady. Your sense of style is unerring and so, so elegant!

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  16. I too have some difficulty doing many rooms at the same time. I like to finish one and play off of it for the next room although color has to be approached cohesively, I just don't "see" the ideas in multiple places at the same time. That's why it is good to run out of funds, let things ferment and start up again later. You have a wonderful sense of order and make classic choices so it will all work out.

    Vanessa

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Thank you for leaving your thoughts. Kind regards, Catherine