We’ve seen a number of DIY shows where people live in their homes during a remodel.  In fact, we seriously considered fixing up the basement of our own project house to live in temporarily while we worked upstairs.  But, despite how tough trailer life was during this past winter, the sheer amount of dust has been so overwhelming, I can’t imagine the discomfort we would have had to endure by trying to live and work in the same space.  We fought drywall dust for months, and continued the fight as we literally sanded every square inch of the ship lap that we kept on the walls.  We swallowed the dust, inhaled the dust, wore the dust, and had to constantly dig the dust out of our noses, ears, and eyes.  But…….  the battle is finally over!!!  We’re done painting.  The ship lap has all been freshly stained with a clear poly to bring out the natural beauty of the wood, and piles of dust have been bagged up and carted off to the dump.  The house is looking great, so I’d like to claim victory, but there are all the scars it left on us, so we may have to call it a draw.

Ready for Floors:  The first time we saw this house, we cringed at the nasty vinyl tiles in the dining room and chuckled at the paint on the floor in the living room.  It’s not as if someone simply painted over old, hardwood flooring; they painted the plywood sub-floor.

We realized later that the paint probably just served as an initial, temporary treatment until the maple flooring was installed.  Of course, we know now that somebody ripped out all of that hardwood, though maybe they did us a favor; we didn’t have to tear it out or haul it away, so it made our workload a tiny bit lighter.

We plan to install hardwood laminate flooring in the dining room, kitchen, and office.  If things go right today, I’ll get started on that project tomorrow!  The mudroom will be the same tile that we used in the downstairs bathroom, and the sewing room, stairs, master bedroom, and living room will be carpeted.

Master Bath:  I shared photos of the downstairs bathroom before.  We really liked how the tile came out, so we continued the process upstairs in the master bath.  We stepped outside our comfort zone a bit by moving away from the standard browns, tans, and wood tones and went with gray, instead.  It’s different for us, but we think we’re really going to like it.

One of our grandsons spent last week up here with us, so I was fortunate to have some help installing the toilet, cabinets, and towel rods.

Despite the more modern approach, there’s no denying that it’s a huge improvement over where we started.

A Milestone Reached:  I was looking back through some older posts, and realized I arrived here on June 15, 2017.  Yep, it’s been over a full year since we started!  Fingers crossed that we’re actually nearing the finish line.

Some Good News from and Unlikely Source:  The County Assessor came out last week to update their records.  Despite the fact that we aren’t yet finished, his opinion was that our value here is well over twice what we paid (including our upgrades and renovations).  That means our annual property taxes will go up somewhat, but if and when we decide to sell, we should be able to make that profit we were hoping for.

It was sort of humorous.  He was so taken by our view, he actually took photos to send to his wife.   A nice compliment from a guy who has seen most of the properties in the county.