I didn’t want to hijack Solo’s Girl’s birthday thread (Happy belated birthday, BTW) so I thought I’d start my own.
I am currently in the process of remodeling my entire house. It’s been almost two years now groan
Who else is immersed in this insanity? How old are your houses and what are you doing to them? What are you doing, and what are you having done?
Mine was built in the 50’s and the original color was like a mauve pink.
pretty gross.
March of '02 is when it all started with the new paint, cupboards, cabinets, and sinks, tile in the kitchen and bathroom. Carpet followed along shortly after that. May of last year was the stucco, finally. Things look a lot better after that.
However,
That was nothing in comparison to all of the landscaping that had/has to be done. New fences were put up while I was couch-bound after surgery. Once I got back on my feet I had to hire some professional lumberjack guys to cut down a 50+ year old pine out of the front yard (terminte infested).
I could go on and on…
B.
Ours has been in a perennial state of remodel ever since we got it.
I will say though at the moment it’s not that messed up, most of it is put together just little touches are undone, like trimwork around floor and things like that. Nothing majorly affecting function is missing at moment.
Bought house in 1997, and have done kitchen floor, cabinets, countertop, all kitchen appliances (all 3 projects done at different times and by myself). Most of those though didnt affect function much beyond a day or two each though, and just trimwork crap has never been fnished fully yet cause I hate cutting weird angles into baseboard and so on.
Also redid main bathroom and master bathrooms, both of those were single day projects.
Cut a french door hole into a wall between living room and dining area, that was a mess for a few years. Finally completed the sheetrock/trimwork and installed french doors after about 2 years of just a hole with messy sheetrock edges and studs exposed.
Added some drains into basement floor near the furnace/water heater. Originally our house had a full unifnished basement so they had those plastic tubes running 15 feet from furnace drain to floor drain, well after basement was mostly finished (done before we moved in) those tubes kinda became a big hassle, so i busted up floor and cut into main drain pipe of house and added in another connection so I coudl put a drain with a trap in floor. Still havent re concreted the floor yet, just a hole with sand and pipes. Been about a year like that, reason is because I want to install a bathroom down there and thus need access to pipes and will have to bust up more floor to do so. Yeah fun.
Aside from that havent done any major work on my house, I did add a fully separate 3 car garage into backyard by myself. Took about 3 weeks to build that plus another week for concrete to dry (before building of course).
Now my parents house, that is another story. We added on a 20x20 addition, changed rooms around, bathrooms, hallway, along with all carpet, flooring, electrical, windows… Still not fully done, been about 4 years in the making. Damn it’s a right pain putting in new plumbing air pipes into existing houses, gotta run all the way from basement up through roof and go through inside of wallspace.
Also totally changed their kitchen, new cabinets, floor, counters, different design and shapes. Had to move plumbing and electrical, tore floor out down to joists. One of those jobs that would be a nightmare with little kids around cause it was days and days with no kitchen access and even longer without function.
Bungalow built in 1959.
Kitchen:
New wiring, plumbing, walls, floor, counter tops, built in dishwasher, appliances, tile backsplash.
Bathroom:
Completely gutted other than the ceiling, new everything (!), all 1" tile floor and shower stall, jetted tub, aluminum trim.
All over:
Pulled smelly carpet to reveal original hardwood, new baseboards, new paint, aluminum trim.
Still to do:
Wire and insulate gargage, paint hallway, perhaps more attic insulation and draft proofing, maybe a water heater soon. Still running the original furnace (knock on wood).
I have a long response for this, but I have to go sand something now.
my house was built in the 60’s i think. We redid the whooooooole thing. The only thing that didn’t change was the frame of the house. I took about 1 year for us to move back in but they are still working on the yard almost 2 years later.
My house was built in teh last teens/early twenties. I am the third owner and the last owner was a fucking MORON. Of course, I only found that out after I bought the house and started tearing into it. I could write a book…
I bought the house and was tearing down walls within 48 hours. I gutted all three downstairs rooms and one upstairs bedroom. rewired and insulated all the rooms and then had the sheet rock people put the walls back up. Then I had someone else do my floors.
We still don’t have much of a kitchen, as I am redoing the entire thing 30’s. I got cabinets from a remodeller who was tearing them out, I bought a late 30’s Chambers stove (I actully bought 2 and am rebuilding them into on efunctional stove) and my newest aqusition is a 1935 GE globe top refrigerator to be picked up from being repainted tomorrow. This weekend I’m tiling the kitchen floor.
The full bath was gutted a few months ago and is my first ‘unsupervised’ project. I got help from my dad setting up the new tub drain and running the waterlines from the basement, but I installed all the plumbing and electrical. Solgering in a wall up against plaster and lath from the next room is some serious stress!!! My dad, Demo, and brother-in-law took out the old PINK cast iron tub and put in the new steel one and then I had the new walls and ceiling put in. I tiled the walls last weekend and wil be grouting and installing the fixtures and tiolet this weekend. YEAH!
Most of the house is missing the trim boards, and I’ll get to them eventually.
Oh, and why was the last owner and idiot? Well, we found out that about half the updtairs was powered by electric lines run through disconnected gas lines and then MASKING TAPED together in an old fixture before being sealed over by drywall. He tore out 10 linear feet of exterior supporting walls and then rebuilt them on cinder blocks placed directly on the ground. He also cut in interior supporting wall in half and, of course, did not place a new support. That is the GOOD work. I have literally spent thousands correcting his crappy and dangerous home ‘improvement’ projects.
My house will be great when its done, but there are days when I just don’t want to go home to it…
(2,3,4,5)
This is basically a pre-divorce saga.
The remodel started out as replacing the carpet in the living room. When tearing it out, we realized that the fireplace (which dominated the living room) was just a set-in box. So we tore that out. Then it included the kitchen. And with that, we had to do a lot of rewiring (think tube insulators spliced into snake skin spliced into romex). Then we redid the rear entry that included a pantry, and in rewiring that, we had to open up the ceiling to get to the wiring, which opened up the possibility of vaulting the ceiling… Added decks to the outside, French doors in the back, redid the entry… Basically every room in the house except one. Well, not exactly true, as we replaced all the windows in the house.
We lived in ONE room. Drove me crazy. By the time it was all done, I didn’t even feel like it was my home any more (I wasn’t the one directing the work).
My advice? If you’re living alone, fine, gut the house and have a great time (but don’t expect it to take any less than twice your best time estimate). If you’re married, or have family, DON’T do the whole house and live in it at the same time.
My ‘new’ stove - a Chambers Model B, late 30’s to early 40’s, natural gas, made by the Chambers Stove Company, Shelbyville, Indiana.
Ok, this really isn’t mine. Mine is in pieces, but this is what it will look like. Under the fold down burner cover are three burners, a deep well, a griddle and a broiler. The door on the left is the oven, on the right is a storage area. My storage area has a burner in it, but that is extremely rare; and very dangerous, so I won’t be hooking it up.
On the back are two small lights, two shelves and a timer in the middle.
I found one for my dad as well and he uses it and LOVES it.
My ‘new’ frige. 1935/6 GE X-4.
Ok, this one isn’t mine either. Mine is at the garage getting a new paint job and will have a cobalt blue band instead of red.
It has a whopping 4 cubic feet of space inside and even fits TWO ice cube trays!!
Globe tops were only made for 13 months, from early 1935 to 1936. They are exceedingly rare and I was lucky to find this one. The acutally made two different globe tops, an X3 and an X4, they were for apartments and small homes. They are actually more efficient than modern refrigerators, the other one I bought was in daily use in the owners basement and they didn’t have high electric bills at all. They use a highly toxic - but very good - refrigerant so if they break or leak you’re SOL, because no one repairs them. But it’s been running for 70 years so far so I’m not worried!
People think I’m nuts for getting these appliances - I have mostly vintage small appliances as well - but find me a MODERN appliance that will be working in 50 years or so!!! (With the exception of Kitchen aid mixers and a few handful of others… but who can afford $299 for a toaster?)
(2)
Michelle, I want that stove.
That’s just the perfect stove.
Patricia, they are all over the place on the west coast - get one!!! they are on ebay all the time. There are A, B and C models. the high back B’s are the best looking. There are also commercial models that have two large ovens and six burners and a double size griddle.
See, now you HAVE to visit when you come out to the east coast next year!! I’ll even let you cook! laugh
2,3
Wow michelle you are into the old classic stuff.
I’ve seen a stove like that. It was in a frat house up at michigan tech in upper michgan. Worked great actually, and had the side burner as well.
Now the fridge is something I guess im not just into as much. You REALLY gotta be into those old things to have that as a main fridge in a house. The lack of storage space would bug me too much, I would have to use another fridge for real duty and the classic just for looks.
My grandparents had a few old fridges at home, weren’t quite as old as that bad boy but not that much newer. They had those big vertical handles that you would pull downward to open, and the icebox area (for 2 trays of cubes) was located in the upper center area of the fridge. Very rounded outer shape, all metal, and hugely bulky for the space inside. The big “option” they had on one of theirs was the “butter tray” spot, which was totally separately temp controlled to keep butter soft yet not fully warm.
Both of them worked for ~50 years, one of them is still in their basement, the other they finally took out of the kitchen and gave to my cousin for his basement. They just couldnt take the constant need of going up/down stairs to the second fridge since main one was so small (they are nearly 80 years old).
I’m not quite THAT crazy… the ‘real’ fridge will be moving to the basement. Ironicly enough, that fridge is not even two years old yet. I bought it in Frbruary 2002 when the 60’s fridge (avacado green) that came in the house died. I also have a 10 cf deep freeze in the basement so we’re plenty set on freezer space.
I actually have two monitor tops right now, the globe top for the kitchen and a ‘regular’ monitor top that I may use instead of the globe top. I like the globe top better, but the other is funky too… One is going to go up for sale, I’m just not sure which one yet.
The bigger one actually has defrost button too! Wow! SO modern!
(2)
Hey all,
House built in 1910 and each room can basically be divided into half, 1 guy was advanced and spaced the studs perfectly, the other guy was anywhere from 14" to 28". We had to remove the original furnace that was converted from coal to oil to gas, and put a new one in. But before we could do that we had to jack up the main level floor almost 4" and the second sory 2-3"stripped and redid the original wood floors(sweet find under 5 layers of carpet)Put about 900lbs of plaster on the walls. And of course repainted the upstairs from the magic carpet ride pepto-bismal pink, sky blue, orange, lime green etc up stairs. Redid the ceilings with stippling/spackle stuff. Had the Full and half bath redone. Put shelves in all the closets including the main level cedar closets.
Lots of work but amazing find…not one showing!!! 1800 square feet.
Peace,
T-Ren
Heh, actually Ko will do the cooking. hehehe
michelle, be sure to include PC’s in the renovation process 
haha.
Chuy, we have a PC. I’m typing on it now. It’s right next to the Mac.
I learned something today about the application of force. Basically, an antique refrigerator, when tipped over laterally onto one’s neck, exerts more force than the human neck was really designed to withstand. I got sandwiched between the refrigerator and my truck bed, and the left side of my neck took the brunt of the fall. Looks like I’ll be crackin’ open the ibuprofen bottle…
Awesome appliances, Michelle!
I thought I’d seen a thing or two, but I’ve never seen a refridgerator like that. Cool.
What a sheltered life I’ve led…
Our house was built in 1949 as a two bedroom/one bath. A “den” was added sometime in the 50’s and a master suite (with a loft office) was added in the late 70’s/early 80’s. The place was a rental for more than a decade (probably closer to two) before we bought it. It turns out the previous owner was a psychologist who had been convicted of child molestation some time after the master was mostly completed. He wasn’t allowed in the county to inspect it and he had had a bad string of property management companies “maintaining” it. Needless to say, it wasn’t in great shape when we bought it.
We’ve done a crapload to the place in the past 4 years, and the kitchen still looms. It’s so bad that I don’t really have the words to describe it. Half the kitchen and all of the laundry used to be the single-car garage. There’s bad texture on the walls, bad lino on the floors, bad (orange) tile on the countertops. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to rework it, but there are no half measures. When we do it, it has to be all or nothing. I’m probably going to have to hire someone just to tell me what to do.
Anyway, the most successful remodeling project to date has been the front bathroom. It had to be torn down to the studs and the subfloor and rebuilt from scratch. I did it all myself, which of course made it take a really freaking long time.
I have a bunch of before, during and after pics. A few follow…