Christmas and more

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. It's not always easy to make it through the Holidays. There is usually someone you're missing, somewhere else you'd rather be, sicknesses getting in the way of family time, an ache or longing for something or someone more, crabby kids due to lots of parties and too many late nights and missed naps...you name it. Thankfully, as Christians, we have the hope of eternal life with Jesus. That is what we remember at Christmas. We have the Good News of Great Joy.

This Christmas was undoubtedly strange for us. Last year, we didn't have the slightest idea that it would be our last Christmas in Zeeland. It hit me this summer shortly after we were under verbal contract on the Farmhouse. We were vacationing at Big Star Lake and Ben and I were able to make it to the Chapel that Sunday morning. The soloist that morning sang "Christmas Offering" by Casting Crowns. It totally hit me that we had spent our last Christmas in our home where we had brought our puppy and our babies home to. I lost it, and Ben thought I was crazy. I later re-told the story to my friend and former neighbor, Candace. Before I could explain why it made me so emotional she said "you had your last Christmas here and you didn't even know it!" Exactly. Mommies unite.

We had originally assumed that we would be in the Farmhouse by Christmas, so while it was sad to end the era of Yuletide celebrations in Zeeland, it was exciting to think about the memories to come. Well, Christmas has now come and gone and we are still in limbo. And we are at peace with that. I am starting to get anxious to be in our own house again and to start making memories there. But it is so easy to look ahead for the next best thing, it's not uncommon to miss the wonder happening right in front of you.

So yesterday, after we lost power, we trekked over to the Farmhouse, made a fire, and roasted some marshmallows on a sunny 45 degree Christmas Day in Michigan. Memories made. My brother Matt and his flock of girls randomly stopped over when we were there and they got an updated tour. I kid about the girl thing, but really it is funny watching him pile out of his van with his wife, first grade daughter, kindergarten daughter, college freshman daughter, and high school freshman daughter (oldest two are international students and blessed additions to our family). Ben taught Ricky how to use a drill, and Ellis showed her how to bang a hammer. Memories made. This was the most hilarious Christmas to date. And it really hits home the fact that Christmas is not about a place or a house...it's about the ones you love.

House updates. It's incredibly hard to keep up with everything. Since the last post, the addition is completely framed in and roofed. It's basically water tight now, though we are still missing a few doors and don't have a garage door yet. We did finally decide on a garage door. That turned out to be more of a hassle than I ever thought it could be. Took some convincing but Ben finally said "I trust you" which is code for "if it looks bad I blame you." All of the new windows for the addition are installed and a few of the old windows have been replaced. I went through with a marker a few weeks ago so the guys know what windows to try to save for us for future use. We'll see how they come out. We are also saving old joists and 2x4s for various other projects. I'm pretty sure we are keeping an old "ship lap" style wall from the original structure in the mudroom and just adding drywall where needed. The shower is installed in the new master bath and all of the other pluming is roughed in. The plumbers also added runs to the garage so we can have a utility sink with hot water in there. The plan is to have hot water outside too for a shower. Don't worry, neighbors...this is mostly for feet, the dog, and the boys. Ben won't be out there, I don't think.

terrifying. 

View from the backyard

View from new upstairs family room into new hallway/old bedroom closet

View from new family room into new master suite

Kitchen. North wall opening goes into the mudroom. East wall opening will be a pantry.

The kitchen is completely gutted now, and to our surprise, we uncovered maple floors throughout. We knew there were areas of wood flooring in the kitchen, but we didn't expect what we found. Plan is to rent a sander and see what we are dealing with. It will require some patch work, but Greg said it wouldn't be a problem to find the wood we need. We didn't think it would be...where there's a will there's a way. How's this for irony? We ripped up the kitchen flooring together. On our 8th wedding anniversary. After I threatened the "D" word if Ben did that exact thing a month ago. I've come around, and we got the go-ahead from the bank to do what we needed to do. Once I explained to our draw specialist what we were looking at with the kitchen she agreed it needed to be addressed correctly. That made me feel 100% better. Someone's got to follow the rules and it isn't going to be Ben. I digress. Nothing creates a bonding experience like pulling 50 year old linoleum flooring staples with vice grips for four and a half hours in the damp, poorly lit kitchen. Nobody said this was going to be glamorous.

Kitchen after anniversary demo/staple pulling day

Maple floors we didn't know were there! Crossing our fingers we can do something cool with these.

We've decided on a new kitchen layout, picked out the appliances we want, and had picked out some flooring. That's obviously on hold for now until we know what the maple looks like. Fortunately (I hope) we are going with white cabinets for (what we consider) the classic farmhouse look so whatever happens with the floor should work with the cabinets. I'll be accepting donations of magic erasers and am slightly nervous about it, but nothing else was catching my eye at all. Maybe we're crazy for going with white. Oh wait, of course we are crazy but not just because of white cabinetry. We're renovating a farmhouse that's 130 years old with two small boys in tow.

We had a walk through with the electricians the other day to decide where outlets and fixtures are going in the addition. This process was exactly why I said I could never build...too many detailed decisions all at once. We were originally supposed to meet with them at 8:30 Wednesday morning and we had daycare all lined up. I'm usually home on Wednesdays with the boys, but we were able to flex our schedule because of the holiday week. That plan went to crap after the boys came home sick from daycare on Tuesday. Not terribly ill, just enough to need to keep them home Wednesday too. So the backup plan was Ben's sister Gina. She wasn't concerned with colds, so I was going to drop the boys at her house for the morning to play with their cousins while we talked details at the Farmhouse. THAT went to crap when Ellis was up puking all night Tuesday. So we decided to have Ben do the walk through and I would just have to trust him with the lighting plans. THAT went to crap when Greg texted at 8:00 Wednesday morning to let me know the meeting moved to 11:00. I seriously wonder why I even try to plan ahead sometimes! This ended up working out great, because it gave Ben a chance to sleep in. He was a gem and took the nighttime puke shift. Once he was awake at 1:00 am there was no going back to sleep for him anyways, thanks to his day (night) job. I moved to the couch after Ellis finally crashed with Ben in our bed around 2:30. They both woke up at 10:30 and Ellis was like a new kid.

Precious. This is two sheets and four pairs of pj's later.

We decided to take the boys along so we could both be at the house. Good thing, really. Turns out we have some opposing ideas for lighting. It was chaotic, yes. The boys both ended up covered in mud. And I mean covered. Like tripped and landed in the puddles. Like boots got stuck and one of Greg's guys had to help me get one of Ellis' back. It sure takes a village.

Oh Colter...I don't even know what to say.

He sure is happy, and Ben is clearly amused.

Solving the world's problems. I mean the Farmhouse electrical problems.

Even though I'm sure we missed some details, I do have the peace of mind knowing that Ben can add an outlet at the drop of a hat. At least he used to be able to before there were hundreds of competing priorities. I remember one time in Zeeland I mentioned that it would be nice to have an outlet in one corner of the basement. Before I knew it, he had delivered. Ben, my electrical genie. Don't worry, he was trained by his dad, a true electrical engineer.

It's starting to come together. We really need to make work of deciding on light fixtures, flooring, and paint colors. We have a lot of tiling to do, a ton of painting to do, and we can't do any of it very well until we have some heat. Hopefully HVAC guys are coming back next week. Please pray with us for a wise decision here. The existing house runs on a boiler system which currently works, but obviously nobody knows for how long. The addition will be fueled by a new furnace and AC unit. This AC unit will apparently work for the other bedrooms as well, and right now we are not worried about keeping the downstairs cool. Greg told us on Wednesday that he's getting a quote for new HVAC service throughout. It likely makes sense to just bite the bullet and replace everything now while the house is in a state of disaster anyways. This would provide peace of mind and more efficient heat, while also allowing us to pull out all of the old radiators which, I'm not going to lie, would be an aesthetic bonus. However, it comes at a steep cost, so we just want to make sure we ultimately make the best choice for the house, our family, and our emergency fund. Actually, it would probably come out of Ben's tractor fund.

What we look like coming home from the Farmhouse. This clay is no joke.

Occasionally helpful big brother

Gross. And so much fun.

Rainy 60 degree Sunday splashing through the flooded front yard of the rental. Time of their lives.

Building back up

There is so much visible progress all of a sudden! The garage is up, the trusses are up, they're working on tying in the addition to the upstairs, the basement access is re-routed to allow for a bigger kitchen, a second staircase to the second story is in...wowza. I can't remember if I talked about the staircase before. When we started thinking about the addition and where things would be, we realized that to get from the master bedroom to the garage would require walking the whole length of the house...twice. For Ben, this posed some fire escape concerns. For me...it was really more about chaotic mornings if I'm being completely honest. We thought about how we could fit another staircase into the plan. We literally spent an entire evening Googling and brainstorming options. We thought we maybe had a plan that would cut into some living space, but we could live with that because of the aforementioned benefits. We met with Greg a few days later to discuss some layout stuff and told him we wanted a second staircase. He rattled off some solution off the top of his head that was 100 times better than ours, naturally. It's like this stuff is his livelihood or something.

In order to tie in the addition, we needed to demo a built-in cabinet and a bedroom closet upstairs. This will become a hallway.

My dad and I went to work on the demo. Greg actually called us the "A Team". He really does know his stuff.

Before:

After:

Demo started slow...two layers of drywall and a layer of plaster & lath will cause that I guess. It picked up though, and we pretty much had the space opened up in a few hours. Unfortunately my dad had to take off unexpectedly to help my grandma, so I somehow had to get all of the debris out to the dumpster by myself. Enter: the Skytrak! AJ, who works for Countryside, ran the lift up to the little balcony on the second floor, I loaded it with crap and he dropped everything in the dumpster for me. I'm not sure how I would have done it otherwise. He certainly didn't have to do that but I sure appreciated it. A few hours and a few loads later I was ready to go home and take a nap. And thank Ben for all of his hard demo work. I asked him how much money he thought we saved thanks to me...and it wasn't much. Apparently professionals would have done it much quicker or more efficient or something. I stopped listening.

We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving, but then Ben had to work the whole weekend after for the first time in our marriage I think! He never works that weekend. He didn't even help set up the Christmas tree. I would have waited for him, but Colter woke up Friday morning all ready to go and I couldn't say no. The only progress we made that weekend on the Farmhouse was purchasing bathroom tile at Menards. And a bow for the tree, per Colter's request. He could not believe we didn't have a star for the top. And he wouldn't accept my logical explanation that we didn't have space for one because the tree was too tall. A bow was the compromise, if you can call it that. We apparently do not have the same taste in Yuletide decor. But it put the star issue to bed so what do you do.

I digress. We've officially started building back up. As Ben said before, we sure pray we reached our low point already. It's so fun to see it come back together a little bit, and maybe even have some meaningful talks about paint color. That's been so far off the radar but we're going to have to make some decisions soon. I found some flooring I think will work great for the mudroom and kitchen. Yes. The kitchen. I am being overruled and really don't want to talk about it. They don't even ask me anymore. I have lost all control. I'm not even being sarcastic. Well maybe just a little.

Ben has been having fun helping Greg and the team. We love that he lets us take some ownership of the project. It will  be great to look back at the pieces we contributed to.

We also completed the first draw on our bank loan. This was shockingly painless. We requested funds, they sent an inspector, they wrote up some paperwork, we signed and emailed back, they sent a check that arrived the next morning. What was Ben so worried about, honestly? Oh wait. That was me.

Phoebe loves everything about this. She's basically the mascot of the renovation .

Blessings ya'll.

Rock bottom

“If you rip up the carpet tomorrow, I am divorcing you.”

I had a choice to make.

Every project has a rock bottom. I pray that Saturday November 21st was it. In my head it was to be the last and worst of the demolition. Builder Greg was starting framing on Monday and, for the most part, it would be building back up from here.

The drywall wall that made up the kitchen was ¼ inch sheetrock over wood paneling. The original plan was to take off only as much that is necessary for the new addition. This was the north wall (towards the garage/mudroom) and the east wall (mud room entry point, new staircase and laundry space, and replacing the slider with a window). I planned on stopping when I got to the south wall which shares its backside with the fireplace room. A fresh coat of paint on the sheetrock as well as some paint and primer on the paneling would give it texture, a face lift, and meet our standards.

What started with obligatory demolition, relatively small and simple, uncovered an issue that piqued my curiosity. Upon removing a sheet of paneling I found what is referred to as an “open junction”. My definition of this is exposed energized wiring joined together, in this case with wire nuts, and not contained in a junction box (as code and universal precautions require). If the wires would short the idea is that the sparks are contained in a closed environment and the circuit breaks or trips, thus reducing the risk of fire. In this case the wire was flattened between paneling and the jack studs around the sliding door and tucked between 130 year old bone dry plaster lath. Within inches of this issue a paneling nail was pounded through the romex wire – it literally split the wire in two – right between the two conductors (white and black wires). How this did not cause a short is a phenomenon itself. When you see this, you first cuss softly then pray a prayer of thanksgiving. And then one of forgiveness for the cuss.

As dangerous as this is; it isn’t disastrous, and it is not really a surprise. A cursory search of the wiring in the basement showed many open junctions – but they were also in the open space between the floor joists. Stuff that makes the home inspector cringe but does not make me lose sleep – though I will address them. With additional wiring that needs to be done anyway and not knowing what other ominous hazards lurk behind the paneling I decided to take the rest of the paneling off the three sides of the kitchen walls. Drywall is cheap, in the scope of this project, and now the electricians can do their work much easier. (Honestly what they are saving in labor will go a long way towards the cost of the drywall). The drywall and paneling came off easily and upon popping off the wooden lath no new concerns were located in the walls.

The kitchen ceiling, from a cosmetic standpoint, needed to go. The bulkhead over the kitchen cabinets needed to go someday. As Carolyn outlined it was not specifically addressed in this loan but the addition of the family room above required this to be tackled and the cost of its repair (new drywall ceiling) was covered in the quote. The popcorn ceiling was giving up its grip on the sheetrock and behind that was a layer of plaster and lath. The plaster and lath are not the worst of the ceiling coming down; it is the 6 plus inches of blown, loose cellulose insulation that will come down once the lath is removed.

This same type of insulation was the bane of my existence for a time at the ranch. It also had blown insulation in the attic space and when I added can lights to the living room and kitchen as well as remodeled the main bathroom I had to deal with the fibrous substance. It is not itchy like fiberglass insulation but does irritate the eyes, throat, and lungs. Dust masks are a must but imperfect. Black boogers for days and eyes that burn with a fire unquenchable by Visine. The life of this insulation has run its course, it settles over time thus diminishing its insulating properties (r-value).

The kitchen as it stood. Before Ben.

Clean. Quaint.

Looking toward the east.

Kitchen before lath and insulation came down. No I do not have photos of all the insulation on the floor. Know that I will never forget what it looked like. And that it made Car mad as a hornet.

Previous entryway (back)

Reworking the back entry.

Floor will be framed over and eventually kitchen cabinets will be able to move back several more feet.  Basement entry will be moved to a closet in the front of the house.

I have thus clearly and successfully defended my position to (seemingly) over-demo. My failures came first and foremost in communication with Carolyn. In neglecting to convey to her my plan and long term intentions as well as rationale. The kitchen will be simply, inexpensively, and tastefully put back together in a manner pleasing to the eye, functional, and satisfying to an inspector from the bank. And then taken back apart for final demolition and rebuild of the kitchen in its final form.

Secondly, I failed to cover the carpet or hang plastic to contain the dust from the falling insulation to the kitchen. No excuses, just overzealous to get going. A great life lesson. Minutes of preparation would likely save hours of cleanup work and the emotional tension associated with the frustration knowing I should have taken measures to control the mess. But lessons, in the moment, lack merriment:

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5: 3,4.

To add to the stress it was snowing Saturday. A cold and wet, icy frosting on the cake. To be clear, it was one of the first days of autumn that actually felt like winter was looming. We have been so blessed this Fall with mild and sunny weather. The sun in your eyes has a way of blinding you to issues forthcoming that one overlooks when basking in its warmth. It was no longer sunny on the farm. The reality of all the work that has yet to be done coupled with the instability of the fall weather, the mess in downstairs living area, and the feeling of disappointment knowing Carolyn was distressed at my well-intended deeds weighed heavy on me.

Frosty.

Insulation. Lath. Loathing. 

Saturday went great. Carolyn's dad came over and we got things down and out to the dumpster. He was really a lifesaver. It was still rather emotionally sterile as Car had yet to turn the corner but from an achievement standpoint, the day's goals were satisfied. On Monday, Greg's crew was there putting up walls defining the mudroom and other rebuilding and reinforcing. We decided to frame over the old staircase to the basement and will be adding one in the front closet (under the staircase leading upstairs). It should be minimally invasive and will give us significantly more square footage and freedom for design and layout for the kitchen this spring.

So that covers the walls and ceilings. The flooring (carpet) is good for now.