I feel like we’re finally seeing some very real, very positive results to all the time and effort we’ve been putting in to our project.  We have some photos to share, but before I get to that, I want to try to answer a question we get fairly frequently.

Naturally, people are curious when we’ll be finished and when we’ll be ready to move in.  They are both fair, reasonable questions and believe me when I tell you that we’d like very much to get there sooner, rather than later.  In reality, these are actually two separate questions and neither is easy to answer.  To the first; ‘When will we be finished?”, I look around and realize that there are so many things we can do here.  The house, obviously, is where our attentions are focused right now, but eventually, we want to replace the deck and put new siding on the outside.  We’d like to work on the barn, both inside and out, we want to develop the lower garage into a workshop, and there is absolutely no landscaping anywhere.  I think it’s safe to say this place could keep us busy for many years to come.

The second question is a little easier to work through, though we still don’t have a specific date.  When I first arrived, I had my sights set on October, hoping to be in before the weather turned colder.  It quickly became clear that we wouldn’t make that goal, but December sort of felt like a possibility.  I think I was just overly hopeful, since both of these targets were totally arbitrary.  Instead of continuing to set meaningless dates as goals that we can’t attain, we sort of have a checklist that will let us know when it’s time.  Some of the things on that list are pretty obvious; we have to have power, we have to have a working septic system, and we have to have running water.  Some of those are already complete, and I’m pleased to report that the last one will be ticked off later this week.  The well guys will be here on Thursday morning to drop the pump and connect the house to the well.  Beyond that, we need a working kitchen, we need a working bathroom, we need someplace to sleep, and we don’t want to suffer through the ever-present dust that comes with the sheetrock work we’re still doing.  For now, the RV is still relatively comfortable, so we’d rather take our time, do the job right, and not rush through our project.

With that said, this past week has felt incredibly productive.  For months, we’ve been stockpiling things like bathroom towel bars, overhead light fixtures, sinks, faucets, toilet paper holders, vent covers, and a ton of other assorted items that have just been taking up space.  Now, we have a pretty substantial stack of cardboard and empty boxes since we’ve been busy assembling and installing all of this ‘stuff’.  I shared a couple of ‘Before’ pictures yesterday, so now I’d like to show you where we’re at now.

The main level bathroom.  You may recall that it began as a small, odd, ‘L’-shaped room with a toilet and pedestal sink.  Those old fixtures came out, we moved two walls, we patched some holes, and moved the toilet.  We replaced the shoddy, self-stick vinyl tiles with ceramic tiles, we installed a new fan/light combo, and put in a vanity with drawers for storage.  Here’s how it progressed:

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And this is what it looks like now:

The pump room.  The pressure tank was simply in a small, dark, closet-like room in the basement.  The floor was bare concrete and the walls were just studs.

We insulated the walls and put up drywall, which we textured and painted, updated the electrical by adding an outlet, overhead light fixture, and wall switch, and put an epoxy coating down on the floor.  I still need to make the connections and add the wiring control panel to the wall, but it’s about an hour away from being finished; the last step before the water can be turned on.

The ‘crawl space’.  You might remember this space from our plumbing replacement adventure.  Since I needed a new electrical line to power the pump room light and outlet, I decided to install three lights and a dedicated outlet in the crawl space.  I think (I hope!) my time in this space is done for awhile, but it will make working under there a lot more convenient in the future.

And finally, the answer to being forced to spending time in laundromats.

The laundry room.  This began as a poorly lit room with a large, homemade wooden ‘pedestal’ for the washer and dryer.  The sheetrock that had been put up was barely fastened with just enough screws to keep it from falling down.  There was no insulation in the exterior walls, and the door was awkward and very short, leading down from the basement stairs.

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We started by removing the massive pedestal and then moved the door to a different wall.  This meant new framing and the light switch and wiring had to be moved.  We added a second, overhead light and put in a few extra outlets.  The plumbing was updated, the fixtures were replaced, and, like the other rooms, the sheetrock was fixed, taped, textured, and painted.  We applied the same epoxy to the floor that we used in the pump room, and today, I installed the deep-sink and moved the washer and dryer into place.

We may add cabinets, a counter top, and clothes rod later, but as soon as we have water, this room will be fully functional.  It’s clean, bright, big, and well lit.