The Farmhouse Adventure : The last 3 weeks

It has been a busy 3 weeks around here. The kitchen is still al-fresco, but less breezy than before. The addition has been framed in, which is so exciting.

There were some pretty hairy moments when we had a thunderstorm and water was pouring into the kitchen and bathroom. Michael and crew were wrestling that giant tarp like some sort of rodeo event. By the time it was all done, the poor guys were soaked! It has been a bit windy here recently. We have drop cloths, or Magic Carpets, as Matt calls them over the doors that lead to the open areas. The house seemed to breathe with every gust of wind. The drop cloths would sway in and out. This North County (of San Diego) girl has been freezing!

We have been looking at our WONDERFUL architect's drawings since November; it is fun to see the drawings turn into 3-D. Actually, the lovely Katy Esser came to our house on the second day of moving to discuss plans and ideas. Katy was especially kind and encouraging to me that day. I was seriously wondering what I had done to our family. Katy has designed both of our houses (here is the first house right after we finished construction http://www.katyesserarchitect.com/portfolio.php ) We have nothing but great things to say about her. Check her out if you need an architect! http://www.katyesserarchitect.com/

I am a little overwhelmed where to begin....

We have entertained the neighbors with a flying bathtub.

The Truss Dude lifted the tub after he delivered the trusses.

Can't blame the guys for not wanting to haul a cast iron tub up a flight of stairs-- an upside to having the backside of your house open.

Matt has been traveling like crazy for the last 3 weeks. He is such a DYI stud that he tries to cram his weekend full of everything that he can possibly get done into two days. On Saturday (yesterday), he went to Second Use in SODO and then to Black Diamond to run down salvage windows for the addition. Every little penny counts...

On Thursday, Michael gave us our instructions for the weekend. We wanted to pull down the last plaster ceiling upstairs. Sacrilege, I know! Like in the boys room, the ceiling had been poorly patched over the last however many years. It is dingy and hangs down at least 1.5 inches in the middle. Just what I want hanging over my little girl's bed!

Here are the before pics. I really wish I had taken a better pic of the ceiling. They had carpet in this room because the floors were "bad." We pulled it up and the nicest fir floor in the whole house was under the carpet!!! Notice E's bedroom in the background... AKA the closet!

In any event, Michael said "You are really lucky. They put a layer of blanket insulation under the fluffy stuff. You can just roll it up so do that before you take down the ceiling." He climbed right up to the attic. Matt went inside as he doesn't do anything with heights so that left me. (Deep breath) Up the shaky ladder I went to get further directions.

I don't have any photos of the scene up there and you are welcome. On Saturday, I began the horrible, horrible job of pulling the insulation. There are many awful jobs in the world..... Honey Bucket cleaner, septic tank inspector, ingrown toe nail surgeon, emptying the dishwasher---- and pulling nappy, yucky, poopy insulation from old attics!!!!

I was digging into the fluffy stuff next to mice/rat holes hoping that they weren't new tunnels. Did I mention that we still have knob and tube wiring in the attic?!?!? I was trying to not get electrocuted and also not contract hanta virus when I discovered something had killed a blue jay. Rats don't do that. What else was up there.... a wolverine?

A couple of times the light I had up there got disconnected. Let me just tell you, I was worried about what was in the shadows! I would scream to turn the light on, which didn't travel well with my respirator on. Matt would panic that I was being electrocuted.

This is as close of a pic as I have to my adventure up there.

A couple rounds of that. and Matt was ready for me to come down. He decided to take one for the team and pull the ceiling down from below--- rat poop, yuckies, and itchy insulation included. I thought I had made a good dent until I look at him.