Tag: rehab

The Smokey House Rehab (Part 3)

This past weekend after all the bridal shower festivities Steve and I got back to work on the Smokey House rehab.  Luckily it’s starting to smell a lot better in there after we ripped out the carpet.  We’re enjoying doing the work ourselves, even though it can get really tiring.

This lovely lady gave us a stare down as we stopped to admire her on the way to Home Depot.  I hope we can have at least one cow someday!  They just look so cuddly!

Steve went CRAZY here!  We had a 10% off entire purchase coupon up to $2000, and Steve was determined to utilize it to it’s full potential!  We bought a table saw, circular saw, chop saw, saw blades, large level, rubber mallet, paint for ceiling and trim, paint brushes, paint rollers, air compressor with nail gun, and a whole bunch of other stuff.  Steve justified all the new tools because we were not paying someone to do all the work, so we might as well use that money for new tools that we can use over and over again.  Men.

When we arrived, the tree clearing guys were almost done clearing the two gigantic cedar trees that took up almost the entire backyard.  Before, you couldn’t see anything beyond where that guy is standing.  Now you can tell how large the yard is!  It looks 100x better!  The forest behind that fence was starting to make it’s way into the yard, and these guys were able to clear all that too.

And the best part was…..they threw all the trees into a chipper and hauled it all away!

I had the fun job of removing the nasty vinyl from the kitchen and bathrooms.

The smell was so gross.  The heat gun would literally cook the disgusting stains and spills on the vinyl and I had to breathe it in.  After I was completely finished I talked to my dad about it and he said, “I hope you were wearing a mask.”  Duh……a mask.  Ya think that might have helped?  Sheesh, I can be a real blonde sometimes.

But I didn’t complain!  I was accomplishing something I had never done before all by myself!

Here’s a close up of me using the heat gun to remove the vinyl.

And here’s the finished product!  That large wood area in the middle was super easy to remove.  I didn’t even have to use the heat gun there.  He must have spilled something that somehow soaked into the vinyl and loosened the adhesive, because there was a large orange stain there.

Here’s another view of the kitchen, and Steve taking out the trash.

Here’s the living room.  Steve removed all the baseboards to get ready to paint and put the laminate floors in.  The floors will probably be the last thing we do.

Here’s the front entryway.  Steve did an amazing job removing the wood floors that were there.  They were glued down over every square inch, and it was really difficult to remove, but he did it!

Bedroom #1 is ready to be painted!

So is Bedroom #2!

The Master Bedroom is ready for paint too!  See that small square of tan paint on the left under the window?  That’s the color all the walls will be, except for the kitchen and possibly bathrooms, which will be white.

Here’s the master bathroom without the vinyl floors.

Ever since we started this rehab project, this little nest with 5 baby birds has been sitting here next to the front walkway.  They must have just hatched right before we started because they were TINY a couple weeks ago.

Look at that little guy!  They’re definitely a lot bigger now.  I don’t know how 5 of them can fit in there!

Mama and Papa bird are very diligent parents.  Every time someone walks by the nest, or even opens the front door, they sit on the roof watching to make sure their babies don’t get harmed.

Don’t worry guys, we won’t hurt your babies!  We made sure to tell the tree clearing crew to be careful around the nest and not to knock it down while they were clearing some of the trees and bushes in the front yard.  I can’t wait to see when they’ll fly away!

The Smoke House Rehab (Part 2)

It’s been a LONG weekend of rehabbing the Smoke House, but we are finally making some great progress!  Rustin & Elizabeth helped us ALOT on Friday and Saturday, and then Steve and I worked by ourselves on Sunday.  We were able to clean most of the kitchen, rip out all the carpets, and clean all the bathrooms.  (Steve generously assigned the bathroom cleaning project to me).  The bedrooms, hallway, and living room are ready to have their baseboards cleaned, and then all that’s left is to paint and put down new carpeting.  We’re still contemplating if we want to leave the vinyl floors in the bathroom or replace them with tile.  The vinyl doesn’t look too bad, but we’ll probably end up replacing it with tile so that it matches the entryway and kitchen.  Might as well make everything the same, right?

The kitchen has been an adventure.  Elizabeth and I spent the entire day on Saturday cleaning the cabinets and counters.  And what a task that was!  But the difference is amazing!!  Just look for yourself!

They look like brand new cabinets!  And when we add the new hardware, the transformation will be complete.

Here’s a before and after of the drawers in the kitchen.  I’m still surprised at how clean we were able to get them.  Bleach mixed in water is clearly our friend!

The fridge still needs to be cleaned out, and let me tell you, I am NOT looking forward to it.  And yes, I know it’ll be me that has the lovely task of cleaning this beast because there is no way Steve will come near it.  Did I mention that he found a vial of blood in the freezer?  Yah, talk about gagging!

Here’s another look at the nasty cabinets.

Here’s a nice butt shot of Steve scraping the carpet staples off the sub-floor in the master bedroom.

Here’s that awesome shot again of the clean freezer and dirty fridge.  The whole outside of the fridge is clean now.  I just have the dreaded inside left to do.

Here’s the hallway leading from the entryway to the bedrooms and guest bathroom.  The sub-floor is now completely cleared of all the carpet debris and thoroughly vacuumed, as are all the bedrooms.  I didn’t take any pictures today with all the blue carpet cushion stuff gone and all the rooms vacuumed, so just pretend that it is. 🙂

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Master Bedroom.  Those wooden carpet tacking strips are gone now.

Living room.  All the trash and wooden strips are gone, and it’s ready to be painted!  We’re going to sand down the fireplace and paint it white.  It used to be white, but now has a yellow tinge from all the cigarette smoke.  Pretty much every wooden surface in the house has a yellow tinge.

I can’t believe how far we’ve progressed after only 3 days!  Here’s what we have left to do:

  • Wash baseboards and crown molding and paint white
  • Paint walls
  • Sand and paint fireplace
  • Finish cleaning kitchen
  • Rip up vinyl floors in kitchen and bathrooms and replace with tile
  • Install hardwood floors in living room and hallway
  • Install new carpet in bedrooms
  • Hire an HVAC guy to come and assess the AC/Heater and clean out all the ducts
  • Hire tree removal service to cut down 2 VERY large evergreen trees in the backyard that serve no purpose.
  • Redo the front porch (it’s sinking)
  • Replace all hardware and light fixtures
  • Mow yard and clean up the landscaping
  • Pressure wash all the siding on the outside of the house
  • Pressure wash deck, and seal

It seems like a long list, but really I think we’re in the home stretch.  We’ll probably only be working on it for a few more weekends.  At least I hope!  If any of you have done remodeling or rehabbing projects and have any tips or advice, we’d really appreciate it!

Sneak Peek of Tomorrow’s Post

I’m very tired from today’s cleaning adventures, so I’m going to postpone today’s post of our rehabbing the Smoke House until tomorrow.  But here’s a sneak peak of just how dirty it was, and how clean we were able to get it.  I still cant believe: (1) that someone could live like this, and (2) that we could get it so clean!

Look how clean the freezer looks compared to the fridge!

Clean drawers on the top and far right, and nasty ones below.  Every single cabinet and drawer looked like this.  I still don’t get it.  Did he urinate or vomit all over the kitchen every day?  He must have really tried hard to get it this dirty.

Much more to come tomorrow.  Stay tuned!