Warning - Wet Paint, Do Not Touch

The hardwoods are in, preparation for paint has begun. This is exciting and transformational. Gone will be the blue and orange, replaced with a soothing earthy palette. Our colors have great names like Stem Green, Bungalow Gold, Belgian Waffle, and Duchess of Windsor Peach.

Oohhh...Shiny!

These photos speak for themselves. Love hardwood.

A Touch Of Home

Even though it was a little pre-mature, I started moving things to the pantry to get a little touch of home into the house. Lots of pantry space. Very well organized pantry space. I will really enjoy cooking in this kitchen.

Debris and His Cousin Debris

A phonetic explanation of this post title---we tend to intentionally mispronounce the word Debris as a little play on words based on some of the very interesting names we see on the news or hear in the more ethnic neighborhoods around town. So, as you may guess, this is intended to be said as Deh-briss and his brother Duh-bree, which well sounds like some rather interesting names. We couldn't resist this after hearing about a young girl in Nashville whose name, as printed on her birth certificate is L-A.

L-A? You may ask????? Why Ladasha, of course!

Well, enough of fun with phonics. Here is our current pile of Debris.

The Big Dig

Poncho, Jesus, and a really big hole--2 really big holes actually. The foundation needed some attention after 2 years of vacancy, failed rain gutters and water pouring right down on the foundation. Poncho and Jesus, shovels in hand in one day dug 12 feet down to the base of the foundation and repaired it completely with tar, foam, cement and all sorts of other good waterproofing stuff (that's my technical term for it). Everything is all good now, and there is no leakage into the basement, and the foundation should not have any issues at all. Though the photos aren't dramatic, this is actually the big stuff, and is so important to the longevity of our home.

Bringing Balance to Bogus

Back to the Bogus Room---On the left was bright brass ceiling fan. On the right was a tiny little spot light, pointed at the fireplace. Both just had to go. Replacing each are matching lights---Dothan Place Chandeliers by Jeremiah Lighting. A fabulous find by Joel.

Their Loss, Our Gain!

Introducing our new back door! This amazing Pella Fiberglass door was merchandise returned, and it is now in our family room leading out the back deck. The Crystal Rosettes in this door are beyond gorgeous, and the light filtering through them in the morning is a happy thing to see. I think this fits the house perfectly, and the camera just doesn't do it justice.

Onward Towards an Allergen Free Home

The humans in our home don't have bad allergies, but the fur kids do--so we try to be as allergen free as possible. Of course, that doesn't completely help our cat that seems to be allergic to cats (or humans), but it does make things better for them. All of the carpet is now out of the house--including in the massive upstairs guest suite---or should we say Guest SWEET!

Look Mom, No Leaks!

The ceilings in the Master Bedroom and Foyer where we had our huge messes are repaired!!! Just waiting on paint (which is now done, but wasn't at the time these photos were taken...)

Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

With our new plan to refinish and update the kitchen, we won't be doing copper. I found a stainless undermount sink on Overstock that looked fabulous. Since it was limited in quantity I went ahead and ordered it up. It comes with lots of accessory pieces, and will be perfect. I love the angles on it, and it's nice and big to hold large pots during summer canning season.

Don't Jump To Conclusions

Sometimes it is good to live with something before you make a decision. The kitchen in our house is one such thing. We didn't like it when we looked at the house, but now that we live here we have found the layout to be amazingly functional, and I even like the small skinny island---it has turned into my juice bar. The cabinets are honey oak, which I don't like, but I think we have found a solution to that which will save us literally about $20,000 dollars (can you say swimming pool???).

Enter cabinet refinishing. In researching, I found a company with an awesome portfolio. They are called Mojo Faux and are based in Murfreesboro. I have my fingers crossed that they will come as far as Gallatin, because I would love for them to do our kitchen. Here's a sample of their work:



Here is a Before Shot:







This one is After:








These two are a finish that I love that they call "Bronze Works":

Not So Bogus Anymore

The Bogus room is becoming progressively less and less bogus. It will be the showplace of the house in time. The horrible gross burgundy carpet is gone!!! The subfloor is in great shape, so just some minor re-levelling, and hardwoods can go in.

Not Long For The World

A month before we even owned the house we came across a killer deal on a Merchandise return door to replace the french doors. This is the french doors in their final moment on the house---they are now in the basement, and for sale. If you know anyone who wants a patio french door, just some paint to get rid of the orange, and they are in great shape!

Deconstruction

Recall the original dining room photos? Flanking each side of the fireplace were large built-ins. They weren't bad per se, but they didn't really work with the room, and certainly wouldn't work with our dining room furniture. So, we decided to remove them. They are currently stored in the basement, and will make a beautiful wall unit in the rec room when we later finish some space in the lower level.

Sorry for the bad photos in the next few posts--my camera settings were apparently off.

Old Friends

We love Hinoki Cypress trees. They are elegant, have gorgeous form, a unique close needle that is feather soft, and they smell good. These two have been with us a LONG time, and they have come with us through 5 moves now--this will be the last one. We're not moving again. They are in the permanent spot, flanking the sidewalk at the entry way to the house. They are landscape plants, but we consider them friends.

Arbor Day

We have finally freed the arbor! It's about 300 pounds, and gorgeous... Finally no longer overtaken with vines. Joel and Red were able to get all the vines off the stone wall, pull out the roots with the bobcat, and they also lifted all the flagstone in the side garden and stacked it. The ground is now de-weeded and leveled out, and everything ready to be re-set. The arbor makes such a lovely entrance to the side-yard. We're planning on planting Berkman's arborvitae's along the stone wall, followed by rose bushes, and the fronted with perennials including hosta and sedum. We'll re-lay the flagstone as a pathway with a widened patio area in the middle including a bench and a fountain. It should be a nice serenity garden to enjoy spending time in reading or relaxing.

The Midas Touch

Maybe this is a reverse Midas touch? What would it be called to turn Gold to Copper? I am experimenting with finishes on the mirrors in the upstairs guest suite. Right now everything is brass and gold. It's a little too tack-fabulous for me, and I want to tone the finish down. I decided to start with testing a copper finish on the mirror. I'll ultimately have to decide on a finish and send the fixtures off to be powder coated (the lovely gold swan faucets, etc..) I'm not sure I'm sold on the copper, so maybe a little antiquing will help.

Thoughts?

Low Maintenance Beauty

With the old EIFS gone, the James Hardie is going up. What an improvement! If you were curious what rot behind EIFS looks like, the piece of plywood shown is exactly that. We replaceed all the plywood behind to old EIFS, so structurally, the house is like brand new.





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Siding: n 1. Material, such as boards or shingles, used for surfacing the outside walls of a frame building.

We're going back in time just a hair here because I haven't kept up with my blog posts. The original siding on the home was a product called EIFS. EIFS is basically synthetic stucco, and was well liked in the 80's and 90's because of how closely it resembled real stucco, but at a fraction of the cost.

Most EIFS installed on buildings today has a vulnerable surface coating as thin as a soda cracker, applied over the top of foam insulation board that has the structural density of a Styrofoam cup. Because building materials expand and contract with temperature changes, the sealants and surface coatings can crack when EIFS is not installed correctly or maintained annually.

Cracks and installation errors can allow water to enter at roof lines, around windows and doors, at wall vents, utility penetrations, railing attachments, faucets, electric outlets and wall mounted light fixtures.

EIFS isn't necessarily bad. It is a good siding choice if it is maintained--that means sealed, caulked, etc....but if it has been let go, it is a bad bad thing. Given the house was vacant for over a year, no maintenance had taken place, and the EIFS rot was very visible.

As a result, we've gone through, identified every place where there is any fault in the EIFS and replaced it with a James Hardie stucco board--these boards are actually made of compressed concrete, and don't have the same issues that EIFS do (they also give the house the insurance rating of brick).

Below are the photos of the Siding replacement in progress:

By The Dawn's Early Light

We are just getting moving on our first morning at the new house. Sunrise was breathtaking.