Zen moment of the day

In the words of Ryan (my infrequent partner in blogging), "THIS is why we live here."  He suggested it be added to the blog and I agree.  Makes the horrors of last night's demo almost disappear.

Sunset on Little Neck, Ipswich, Massachusetts

Well, that was unpleasant

Someday, in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future I will be cooking contentedly in my modest sized, yet spacious feeling kitchen.  I will look up at the soaring ceiling height and breath easy.  Perhaps we will have friends over who will remark the openness of our petite kitchen, Ryan and I will smile modestly and say it was nothing, a quick project we did one weekend.   Someday.

So far, THAT was the most unpleasant work we’ve done.  And I really have no right to complain AT ALL as the way I prefer to take down ceilings is from this vantage point.

Ceilings come down fast and are much more easy demo work in that regard.  But the DUST (and Lord knows what else) that has settled on a horizontal surface since 1860 (the front rooms) or 1940 (the kitchen) is unimaginable.  We sealed up the kitchen anticipating this.  We covered the two windows with care so we didn’t get junk caught behind the sills.  We forgot about – or didn’t realize – what a huge help the box fan venting out in the front rooms was.  Additionally, the kitchen ceiling had recessed lighting (yay, electricity!) and insulation to contend with.  Here’s a cutaway of what we were dealing with – plaster over lathe, insulation, drywall, and live wires.

Ryan did a fantastic job ripping down the ceiling.  I tapped out early when the dust got to me and busied myself organized the yet-again filled barn (kitchen cabinets, mudroom contents, latest Home Depot run supplies).  In two hours, “we” took down about 2/3 of the ceiling and cleaned up almost all of the debris (Frank made another run to the dump and returned an empty truck).   Here’s a few more shots of the ceiling above… it’s going to be great, but my goodness it will have been hard won.

We did have one casualty of the evening.  Ryan now has another thing in common with Curt Schilling (besides you know, having a near perfect game at Fenway Park) - the bloody sock.  We’ve had a couple near misses throughout demo with nails into shoes, but Ryan hit Yahtzee tonight.  L  Foot is now cleaned and elevated… don’t worry folks, I was a lifeguard in high school.  I’m all over it. 

This weekend we have the “E&T Show” as we like to call them (Cait’s brother Eric and sister-in-law Tatyana) coming in.  We won’t subject them to the kitchen work, but we’re excited for them to see the place and have some kitchen cabinets to touch up that have their name all over it.  Rumor has it that Rick and Denise, Ryan’s parents, might also swing by.  We love visitors! 

Should I be concerned?

Tonight we met our new pal HVAC Mike up at the house who delivered some good news regarding well, some HVAC issues.  He told us that we can vent the furnace through the foundation instead of through the roof, which will let us keep the area around the fireplace open.  We like that.  Also, he can help us out with our no hot water situation... wonder if that will magically make the shower work?  One can only hope...

We then turned our attention to the kitchen.  Real quick vote for those 4 readers out there...  murder room from Dexter or innocent ceiling demo prep?

Weekend Warriors

We’ve decided that, when renovating, Sunday is much like Day Two of a through-hike.  You wake up and you're sore, you’re tired, but once you get moving, you feel much better.

We spent our first night at 84 High Street on Friday.  (Though we were roughing it on the blow-up mattress in a bedroom with no lights, it was an improvement from the first night that we spent at our Salem apartment – no heat, middle of January, with camp pads on a hardwood floor – ouch!)  We enjoyed a delightful tapas menu outside and before turning in early, we did some serious cleaning, purging, and let’s not forget (shop) vacuuming of the barn.  Suffice it to say, the Bro Barn is going to be awesome.

Saturday, we woke up bright and early and after a trip to Ye Olde Hardware Store and Marty’s Donuts (amazing, should you ever find yourself in Ipswich on a weekend morning before 10:00 am), we got after it.  Frank also made a run to the dump with our junk and returned the empty truck back to us.  Having that truck has been a lifesaver.  We then finished ceiling demo, cleared out all debris from the front rooms, tossed the junk from the barn, filled that dump truck up yet again, and began the process of wiping down the front rooms using the industry standard (so I'm told) of sweep-vacuum-swiffer Ryan learned in his lead paint training course.  Safety first.  Tela was very happy to be able to explore these two rooms we’ve been spending so much time in.  Incidentally, we’ve also been using proper safety precautions for her throughout demo.

Sunday, Cait’s parents – en route to Cali – came to add some muscle and as we were in Day Two of our through-hike, we needed the boost.  Thankfully, all new plantings were still alive.   Mom added a few more plantings, worked on the yard and helped out in our uphill battle to contain and eradicate construction dust.

Cait’s Dad Lou spent most of the day outside, weed wacker in hand, and the place looks so improved.  In the small yard, cutting back and taming the bushes even a little makes such a huge difference.  He also gets major props for upon discovering out shower didn’t work (add that to the list), on-the-fly improvising with a garden hose through the bathroom window.  I'm impressed, and you should be too.

I was very excited to get a few shots of Ryan and I together.

After a few conversations, we’ve made the decision to take down the ceiling in the kitchen to reveal a cathedral ceiling above.  So, we started the process of pulling out all the cabinets and preparing for demo, which will hopefully happen over the course of a few weeknights this week. 

Trips to True Value:  2

Next up:  Kitchen ceiling