TIME TO CATCH UP ON THE HOUSE BLOG

This is my studio.  Sage did the huge job of removing the paneling and the drywall from this room.  I am now pealing off the wallpaper and then steaming off the cardboard type paper backing.  I prop up the wallpaper steam in a spot with a trim board and continue peeling the wallpaper in another area.  After one song has played I remove the steamer and scrap off the paper.  Comes off pretty easy after 5 minutes of steaming.  It is just time consuming.  As you can see I have the doors pilled up in there.  I am going to keep the doors white but I plan on sanding them a bit and repainting them.  Some of the doors have deep dog scratches in them.  These doors are so heavy.  Beautiful beautiful doors.  I love them. 

What the wall looks like after I have steamed some of the paper off.  It is stunning.  It has been a dream of mine to live in a log house.  This is darn close to living in a log house.

Pulling off the top layer of wallpaper is a bit time consuming as well.  There are some parts that come off in big sheets and others that are tiny tiny strips. 

Crockpot cooked door hardware.  So satisfying.  These are only brass painted and not brass. 

Chad got us a lovely claw foot tub for the bathroom downstairs.  Our plan is for a walk in shower and a claw foot in that downstairs bathroom.  I can't wait to rub a dub in this beauty. 

The tree guy came and cut down the aromatic fir trees and the cute holly tree.  I don't ever want to cut any trees down but the holly tree is right in the spot where we will move the house and the fir trees would also end up in the way when we move the house.  The tree guy left the furs like that because he said the excavator people can just pull them out when they come to dig the basement.  These trees smell so beautiful.  Sorry trees. 

Struggling with the layout of the bathroom.  I don't think I want the tub under the window.  

Clawfoot for the tub.  

Discovered that one of the door knobs is black glass/marble?  Never even knew under all that paint. 

More steaming in my studio.  I love the look of the white trim against that wood. 

Studio steam time.

Studio wallpaper removal from the ceiling. 

The top layer of wallpaper is off and now the steaming part. 

Wren's room where I burn the incense to try and cover up the dog urine smell.  I burn a lot of incense. These window will also be replaced by some old windows we bought.  This room gets a lot of light.  It faces the street and you can see the water from this room. 

Not a very good picture but it was so darn cold in the house there was frost on my studio floor.  I scraped the frost off my floor.  Probably a lot of moisture is coming from me steaming the wallpaper backing off.

Working on stripping off the wallpaper on the stairs.  

My studio is coming along nicely. 

Upstairs hallway. 

Chad got all the paneling off the stairway for me so I can strip more wallpaper off.  

This was a big job.  This is the ugly little bathroom that was added on and sticks off the side of the house.  It was my task to get this drywall and paneling off these walls.  Check out the funky little corner cabinet outline.  Looks like maybe they had the sink on this wall at one time.  

This is the beautiful wood that was under the drywall and paneling.  Gorgeous with a touch of black mold.  Luckily my respirator mask is really not that uncomfortable to wear.  

Chad had taken up some of the subfloor boards in our upstairs bedroom and it looks like they used wood from a sign. 

Old knob and tube in the floor of our upstairs bedroom. 

This is the after and the next photo is the before.  Chad put a brush attachment on his grinder and I polished up the door bolts.  I am so pleased with how they turned out.  

Looking into that hideous bathroom from the kitchen.  When I started on removing the drywall and paneling I was feeling frustrated because it was hard and I didn't think I could do it.  There were so many layers of flooring that had pinned the paneling on the bottom.  I just persevered and did what I could and eventually I got all of it off.  I was very proud of myself for that huge task.  Now Chad has the tedious task of removing those beautiful boards so we can use them somewhere else in the house.  The nails are so long and that wood grain is so tight.  It is a hard job.  

Open concept bathroom.  Zero privacy. 

All the paneling that I ripped off these walls.  Yah me. 

Chad showing off our open concept bathroom.  I wonder if the neighbors will enjoy the show?

Slowly but surely this thing is coming down. 

Loading up the truck with the bathroom demo so we can take it to the dump. 

The crawl space under the bathroom floor.  

The inside of the roof of the bathroom.  

 Chad does the hard work and I do the clean up.  I did a little yard work and picked up more trash.  Believe it or not I am still finding items in the yard from the people who lived here.  Found plug in earbuds, butter knife, some weird magnet thing, yard spike to hold a dog leash...  Years from now we will still be finding stuff in this yard.  I can't imagine what this place looked like when these people lived here.  It must have been a trash pile.  This beautiful house deserves much better.