House “progress”

Summer break is just not going to be long enough. I can already tell 😂. But LOOK at all that beautiful blank space! Saturdays with NOTHING on them. That is a dream long long awaited for, my friends. Today, we are going to go make a small attack at the neglected yard and try to mow/weed whack where we can. There is still debris everywhere, so it will be tricky to work around, but I’m worried that if we don’t do a little recon work, we will never be able to get it back. 

We will hopefully add “MOVING DAY” somewhere in there in late July. To be honest, right now, “I can’t see  it from my porch” as they say here in Arkansas. 

As of today, the house is still in studs with no drywall. The siding guys are currently pulling the last 2.5 weeks of siding abd starting over. Again. Also, the wrong kind of cedar siding arrived, so it will be another week before that gets here. Three exterior doors are shimmed and hung, but two are the wrong kind of door. 

Above: new bedroom wall, moved over 18 inches to allow for a linen cabinet by the door. 

Above: basement French doors (these are the correct doors) framed in. Yay! Doors! 

Above: my basement classroom, the food storage room   And twins’ bedroom to the left, bathroom straight ahead, and Corbin and Soren’s bedroom right. 

Looking into my kitchen (see the hole in the floor about 9 o’clock?) and the loft exterior wall that once had my beautiful new bookcase above. Notice the hvac ductwork fixed to the cape cod slanted wall up there instead of the floor or ceiling, so you have a straight visual up to an air vent when you walk in the front door. Why???? That’s getting moved, too. You can see that better in the pic below. 



New chimney flue and fireplace insert. Aaron fought hard for this one and his and Beau’s tenacity with insurance made it happen. 

Kitchen. There were EIGHTY GALLONS of KILZ applied to the soda blasted studs of the house. Anywhere that is not treated is either new construction, or has a clear coat KILZ treatment on it. This is where the restoration company knocked it out of the park. Insurance wanted to only repkacebroof shingles on the back of the house. They replaced the entire roof cap, new timbers and boards and blasted and treated the entire house. Way above and beyond, but I feel at peace knowing it was done and done correctly. 



This above view is from the guest room by the front door, looking into that huge closet it has on the right, and the main level bathroom on the left. New tubs and plumbing are roughed in, all new wiring, switch boxes, and electrical work, and lights are also in. 

The HVAC guys put a random hole with flashed duct work going to it in the center of my kitchen floor, and no one can answer why it’s there, or what it goes to..but there is no plan to have an air register hanging halfway out from under my kitchen island, so it needs to go before floors can go in....which I haven’t picked out, because insurance is only giving us just less than $2/sqft to spend on flooring... which is basically impossible, and nothing close to what I had before.  I think the rebuild is just at that paralyzed state where progress for everything is waiting on completion or correction of something else.

I met with the cabinetry company this week for the first time since the 2 weeks after the fire when he took measurements before demolition. We mapped out the kitchen and bathroom and bedroom cabinetry.  This was my first time in his shop.  It was kind of like going to Disneyland. It smelled soooo good like freshly mulled lumber, was full of toys, and  the sound of thrill (hammers and aircompressors) roared in the background.  Right off the bat, he complimented my husband’s beautiful handiwork in the kitchen remodel and on the built ins upstairs.  Beau, our contractor cringed audibly, for me abd about fell out of his chair ( he had made the same mistake/assumption) complimenting the “company” I “hired” to lay our kitchen tile. Also me. So the meeting started off with a good laugh. But then we sped right through as he realized he could speak carpentry with me and I wouldn’t fall behind.  I’m not making a ton of changes because I’m trying to stay within the perameter of free. But a few things will change. First, everything is new so that’s huge. I’m moving the microwave around the corner so it’s disguised a bit behind the fridge, and putting a pretty hood built in above the cooking range. I’m adding some length to the island, and they’re building a custom unit, instead of screwing a bunch of pre fab stock cabinets together. There were useless, unaccessible drawers under the island overhang that will now be purposefully taller storage cabinets for larger appliances like the waffle irons and crock pot. And making the island longer will allow us to fit 7 stools around it, instead of 6, so all of the children will have a spot up there. The built in beds in Sloane’s bedroom will have 6 drawers instead of 3, and a set of 4 drawers in between them, with shelving above. 

The master bathroom vanity will be counter height, which I’m excited about. The basement vanity will be a wall to wall unit with drawers and a cool open shelf for towels. My bookshelves on the loft will be just like they were before, AND someone else will paint them, this time. ;) Everything is custom built. Cabinets will be shaker style with a very slight bullnose to smooth sharp edges and corners. 

Ok lots more to come, but here’s where we are for now.