Well, I did it! I found my barn! For any of you who weren't aware of it, I have been on a quest to find a barn to salvage and to use the barn wood in the remodel of my house. I have had this idea for several years now - even before I bought this house, but thinking that some day I would do this. So now that I have started the demo of the bathroom, I began looking in earnest.
Who knew there were entire websites where people could list their barn for sale?! Not me until I stumbled across them. I wrote to several people who had barns listed, asked some questions and asked for photos. Some were way too big - didn't need that much wood or the challenge of trying to take it apart. Some were over priced, .... no thank you. Then I found a simple listing and sent a note and got a reply back with some photos. It seemed to be a reasonable size and the price was unbelievably low! I am not sure how this one didn't get snatched up but I will just look at it as my gain. And what is really weird, is that I have gone back on all of the sites I was on and I can't find the listing so I can't even remember where I found it! (I know, I know, there are those out there reading this who are now just SURE that this is a scam, but I promise it's not!). It has wide board siding and some beams on the interior as well (some just had 2x4 framing), so I was even more excited. I have spoken on the phone with the owner, so I know it's legitimate. She and her sisters inherited the property after several deaths in the family and need to sell it.
As of right now, the hopeful plan is to salvage it around St. Patrick's Day. The barn is actually in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which will be a 9 hour drive for me but it seemed worth it. My son Jeff is only 5 hours away so he is planning on coming as well and I am officially inviting anyone who wants to experience the decommissioning of a barn to join me. Nope, I have no idea what I am doing but I will do it to the best of my abilities and will never sacrifice the safety of myself or anyone else for this project. I should be quite a sight driving down the highway pulling a load of barn wood in a trailer soon, huh?! If you are interested in joining in, let me know!! Oh yeah -and how weird is it that the sister who lives there in town lives on CONNIE STREET?!?!??! There goes that serendipity again!!!
So that's the biggest news I guess. The shower demolition was completed the day after I last wrote and all I can say is that the shower pan was NASTY! Let's just say that a mortar shower pan subjected to years of moisture that leaked for who knows how long grows some really ugly stuff!! The good news is that since it was so wet it made it break up better and I could haul it out in pieces! The air feels so much cleaner in there already. Next up will be to demo the rest of the bathroom, which should happen the last week of February when Brad goes out of town again. No way can I get the giant bath tub out so I have hired some guys to help me with that, but I will attempt to do as much of the rest as I can. So far the cost has been a whopping $15 for one trip to the landfill with a truck bed full of debris!! Well, and the cost of a massage a couple of days later, which I totally felt like I had earned! Once the bathroom vanity, tub and toilet are out, I can tear out all of the drywall and figure out a better way to lay out the room - hopefully without having to make any structural changes. I bought a computer program to help me design it which just arrived yesterday so I am anxious to try that out. (I wonder if they have a barn wood application in it?!). Also went to the Home Show so I got all kinds of fun ideas! Uh oh ..........
So besides the house, we got to celebrate Valentines Day! We are not usually ones for man made holidays but decided that we should go out this year so went to a great wine bar here that had a wine dinner where they matched each menu item with a wine. Had some really good food and wine! And of course my company at the table was the best part. Happy Valentines Day to my one and only. He is definitely a keeper - for my gift he actually got me a painting that an elephant did at the Sedgwick County Zoo! How freakin' cool is that?!?!?
So things are going well! Got another electric bill and they just get lower and lower each month! Definitely doing some things right and I guess all of those little things that I am doing all the time are adding up. Those cans of spray foam insulation have been a blessing on some occasions! I REALLY don't want to have to turn on the pond pump and the air conditioners again, but the time will come and we will do what we can to make it better.
The song I chose today is one I have liked for a long time but it definitely fits the bill for the theme of the house lately. It's by a lady named Cindy Bullens who I first heard as an opening act for someone we went to see in San Diego. I loved her right away and bought three of her CD's that night. This song is called "Hammer and Nails". It kind of speaks to building your life, your love and your home the right way! Here's to hammers and nails - and lately crowbars!!!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
.....If I had a hammer ...... I take out the $#%&@ shower!!!!
I have decided I am just not normal. While that may not be a revelation to many of you reading this, I have these moments now and then when I realize just how true that is. I spent most of today covered in sawdust, bits of tile and all kinds of things that I prefer not to think about - and I was happy! It was demo day!
Last time I wrote I mentioned the master bedroom shower had become non-functional due to a leaking shower pan. Well, Brad has been out of town and he HATES demolition messes, so I decided it was a good time to get rid of that nasty old shower. What I did not realize is that this particular shower was built to withstand Armageddon, an earthquake and a nuclear blast. Translation: it wasn't easy! Figures - the one thing in the house that I need gone is well built ..... other than, of course, the leaking shower pan part of it. So I have spent the last three days working on getting this thing out of my bathroom. In my head, this was supposed to take me a day and a half, two days tops. I am on day 3 and have about another half days work to go (see Armageddon reference above) and have a mountain of debris outside my door. Honestly, I have seen small houses with less lumber! It reminds me of a dog house my father built for our small dog once --- it took four grown men to lift it!! It's probably still in the backyard of that rental house we lived in! What's the saying - go big or go home!!!!
The good news in this mess is that it feels like progress!! FINALLY I am doing something that will actually lead to an improvement and something better and what I hoped for when I bought this house! Most of my time here has been spent putting my finger in the dike to prevent hemorrhaging but THIS is progress. I finally have something I can begin to get excited about - trust me I have run about 14 different layouts for this bathroom through my head already. Still not sure of the timing of this whole thing as it could be anywhere from next month to this summer, but I will settle for baby steps for now. Gone is good!
But as always, there are discoveries when you delve into "the underbelly" of this house. While these ones are minor, I have discovered that there is a part of me that looks forward to finding these quirky little "gifts" and I wonder what I will do when there are no more to be found. The most recent ones? A Jolly Rancher wrapper and a Monopoly house. Sounds benign enough, but still ....... can anyone explain to me exactly how a wrapper from a lemon Jolly Rancher got behind the cement backerboard of a tiled shower?! Intentional? Accidental? All I know is that it made me smile..... or perhaps more of a smirk. Again, I am not normal - most people probably wouldn't even notice it, but I had to sit and ponder .......
But the Monopoly house definitely made me smile. I was looking around the house to try to find out where to shut off the water supply to the shower so the pipes could be cut and capped. I opened up a small door that leads to a crawlspace and noticed something small and green. Shining my light on it, it turned out to be a plastic house from a Monopoly game. But this house was laying on it's side and for some weird reason, the first thing I thought of was that maybe this was related to the bad karma of the house and now that I found it and could "fix" it, better things were in store. (Again, see note above about "not normal"......) This one really puzzles me as it would not be a place that games would be stored (crawlspace, dirt floors, dirty), so how on earth did this thing get here?! I literally looked up the definition for serendipty and it said "an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident". Holy cow! I live in the House of Serendipity!!!! Okay, okay, not all of the discoveries have been desirable but ......
So I plan on doing something with this little green plastic house. (Is it destiny that Brad and I have decide on the exterior color of the house and have chosen green?!) Not sure what.... maybe a necklace.... or some sort of little shrine.... or add it the collection of oddities for the Museum of Fairfield Lane? I am just hoping that now that I have put it in a safe location in an upright position that things are looking up!
Other than the shower, the house seems to be holding it's own for now. I actually don't cry when we get electric bills anymore and they are actually continuing to decrease, even with the colder weather - although that is another story as it's been unseasonably warm. I'll take it. I am making progress, even if it's not as fast as I want. Did some big time repairs to the front entry atrium (repaired a leaking skylight, drywall replacement, huge gaps to the exterior, sanded off about a bazillion suckers from vines from the wood, repainted windows and molding) and in another week or so I should be totally done with it - finally!!!
I'm trying to have a life outside of the house and started a Yoga class and continue to take some classes on fusing glass, which I have found I truly love. Something about colored glass that just does it for me and to be able to create my own things is really fun. I can't wait to go again on Wednesday and see if my house numbers I did in glass turned out!
There have been things other than the house too. I made one more trip to Indianapolis in January for Jeff's final football banquet. Every mother deserves to hear people gush about her son! I am so proud of everything he accomplised in his four and a half years at Butler - both on and off the field. And for the second year in a row, he was given the Bulldog Pride Award, which is given to the player who best exemplifies "The Butler Way". In a nutshell, it just means he's a great guy, a role model, a leader and total team player. What more can a Mom ask for!
Brad and I got to go the KU vs. Baylor game - great game that set records for the loudest game ever I think! It was so fun and so amazing to be able to be a part of it! I spent a few days in Pittsburg with my Mom as she had another surgery for her glaucoma and had to have a shunt put in one of her eyes to reduce the pressure. She is such a trooper and a real inspiration. She never complains. I hope to be able to get there more often now that football traveling is over.
So that is life here at 1501 Fairfield Lane for now. It's 1 a.m. and I probably ought to head to bed. Brad gets home at 5 p.m. tomorrow and I am hoping I have the Demolition Disaster Area pretty well cleaned up by then. I am having a little bit of trouble with Grooveshark, which is the music component to this blog and it won't let me download the song I want - nor can I find it on their site - so I am going to have to go with a song today that I CAN find. For today, I have chosen an Amos Lee song. It's called "Bottom of the Barrel". I guess I chose it for a few reasons - I wanted a song about getting rid of the shower and getting to "the bottom of the barrel" seemed fitting, plus, the whole message of the song just sort of spoke to me ...."I keep on laughing .... it's okay if I'm crying...." Can't tell you how nice it to be able to laugh at some of this stuff again!
Oh yeah, and if you're waiting for my Christmas/Holiday cards, I still haven't sent them out yet! (she says with laughter......) I was shooting for Valentines Day but it may be more like St. Patrick's Day!!!
Last time I wrote I mentioned the master bedroom shower had become non-functional due to a leaking shower pan. Well, Brad has been out of town and he HATES demolition messes, so I decided it was a good time to get rid of that nasty old shower. What I did not realize is that this particular shower was built to withstand Armageddon, an earthquake and a nuclear blast. Translation: it wasn't easy! Figures - the one thing in the house that I need gone is well built ..... other than, of course, the leaking shower pan part of it. So I have spent the last three days working on getting this thing out of my bathroom. In my head, this was supposed to take me a day and a half, two days tops. I am on day 3 and have about another half days work to go (see Armageddon reference above) and have a mountain of debris outside my door. Honestly, I have seen small houses with less lumber! It reminds me of a dog house my father built for our small dog once --- it took four grown men to lift it!! It's probably still in the backyard of that rental house we lived in! What's the saying - go big or go home!!!!
The good news in this mess is that it feels like progress!! FINALLY I am doing something that will actually lead to an improvement and something better and what I hoped for when I bought this house! Most of my time here has been spent putting my finger in the dike to prevent hemorrhaging but THIS is progress. I finally have something I can begin to get excited about - trust me I have run about 14 different layouts for this bathroom through my head already. Still not sure of the timing of this whole thing as it could be anywhere from next month to this summer, but I will settle for baby steps for now. Gone is good!
But as always, there are discoveries when you delve into "the underbelly" of this house. While these ones are minor, I have discovered that there is a part of me that looks forward to finding these quirky little "gifts" and I wonder what I will do when there are no more to be found. The most recent ones? A Jolly Rancher wrapper and a Monopoly house. Sounds benign enough, but still ....... can anyone explain to me exactly how a wrapper from a lemon Jolly Rancher got behind the cement backerboard of a tiled shower?! Intentional? Accidental? All I know is that it made me smile..... or perhaps more of a smirk. Again, I am not normal - most people probably wouldn't even notice it, but I had to sit and ponder .......
But the Monopoly house definitely made me smile. I was looking around the house to try to find out where to shut off the water supply to the shower so the pipes could be cut and capped. I opened up a small door that leads to a crawlspace and noticed something small and green. Shining my light on it, it turned out to be a plastic house from a Monopoly game. But this house was laying on it's side and for some weird reason, the first thing I thought of was that maybe this was related to the bad karma of the house and now that I found it and could "fix" it, better things were in store. (Again, see note above about "not normal"......) This one really puzzles me as it would not be a place that games would be stored (crawlspace, dirt floors, dirty), so how on earth did this thing get here?! I literally looked up the definition for serendipty and it said "an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident". Holy cow! I live in the House of Serendipity!!!! Okay, okay, not all of the discoveries have been desirable but ......
So I plan on doing something with this little green plastic house. (Is it destiny that Brad and I have decide on the exterior color of the house and have chosen green?!) Not sure what.... maybe a necklace.... or some sort of little shrine.... or add it the collection of oddities for the Museum of Fairfield Lane? I am just hoping that now that I have put it in a safe location in an upright position that things are looking up!
Other than the shower, the house seems to be holding it's own for now. I actually don't cry when we get electric bills anymore and they are actually continuing to decrease, even with the colder weather - although that is another story as it's been unseasonably warm. I'll take it. I am making progress, even if it's not as fast as I want. Did some big time repairs to the front entry atrium (repaired a leaking skylight, drywall replacement, huge gaps to the exterior, sanded off about a bazillion suckers from vines from the wood, repainted windows and molding) and in another week or so I should be totally done with it - finally!!!
I'm trying to have a life outside of the house and started a Yoga class and continue to take some classes on fusing glass, which I have found I truly love. Something about colored glass that just does it for me and to be able to create my own things is really fun. I can't wait to go again on Wednesday and see if my house numbers I did in glass turned out!
There have been things other than the house too. I made one more trip to Indianapolis in January for Jeff's final football banquet. Every mother deserves to hear people gush about her son! I am so proud of everything he accomplised in his four and a half years at Butler - both on and off the field. And for the second year in a row, he was given the Bulldog Pride Award, which is given to the player who best exemplifies "The Butler Way". In a nutshell, it just means he's a great guy, a role model, a leader and total team player. What more can a Mom ask for!
Brad and I got to go the KU vs. Baylor game - great game that set records for the loudest game ever I think! It was so fun and so amazing to be able to be a part of it! I spent a few days in Pittsburg with my Mom as she had another surgery for her glaucoma and had to have a shunt put in one of her eyes to reduce the pressure. She is such a trooper and a real inspiration. She never complains. I hope to be able to get there more often now that football traveling is over.
So that is life here at 1501 Fairfield Lane for now. It's 1 a.m. and I probably ought to head to bed. Brad gets home at 5 p.m. tomorrow and I am hoping I have the Demolition Disaster Area pretty well cleaned up by then. I am having a little bit of trouble with Grooveshark, which is the music component to this blog and it won't let me download the song I want - nor can I find it on their site - so I am going to have to go with a song today that I CAN find. For today, I have chosen an Amos Lee song. It's called "Bottom of the Barrel". I guess I chose it for a few reasons - I wanted a song about getting rid of the shower and getting to "the bottom of the barrel" seemed fitting, plus, the whole message of the song just sort of spoke to me ...."I keep on laughing .... it's okay if I'm crying...." Can't tell you how nice it to be able to laugh at some of this stuff again!
Oh yeah, and if you're waiting for my Christmas/Holiday cards, I still haven't sent them out yet! (she says with laughter......) I was shooting for Valentines Day but it may be more like St. Patrick's Day!!!
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