A Sunday of Surprises

There's nothing like a little DIY home renovation to get your blood pumping.  Among the contracted work, Jared and I agreed to do the finishing touches, as well as tackle certain jobs that weren't on the list for the carpenters.  One such job was the paneling in the front living room.  When first diving into this house, both the living room and the dining/kitchen were decorated with the faux pas paneling that was popular back in the day.  Of course, when the kitchen was being renovated, the paneling had to come down, and I was not sad to see it go.  There also was the added benefit of not having to remove it ourselves.  However, the living room was a different story.

This room, other than the water damage under the window, really didn't need too much to be livable.  Paneling, though hideous, is not that difficult to live with.  The problem with having carpenters around is that Jared gets in the mood to do something handy as well.  So we decided that even if the Rabbits aren't going to tear off the paneling, we can do it ourselves!

Of course, in the time that we've been living here, this room as acquired some furnishing and a whole lot of junk.  So we had to clean up and rearrange a bit before tearing into the job.

Looks harmless enough, doesn't it?  In this house, we have learned that just because the walls are intact on the surface, that doesn't mean it's not a Pandora's box just waiting to burst open under the seemingly harmless paneling.  So we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best...

Jared removed the trim and wasted no time pulling down the sheets of death.  Apparently, Ullr thinks he's helping.

At least we prepared ourselves for some surprises.  In actuality, this didn't really surprise us that much.  The first surprise was a small outlet under the bookcase that had been covered.  Not that big of a deal.  The first few sheets came off just fine, and then we discovered a hole in the wall where an old wall heater used to be.  There were intact units in the other living area as well as in the master bedroom.  As we had no intention of using them, they've since been pulled out and patched over.  However, Jared and I don't know why this one was removed before the others.  Still, this hole didn't really concern either of us.

With the water damage to the exterior of the home, we really should have assumed that there was some to this wall.  The room behind the door was added on, and it appears as though the former owners discovered this house had a drinking problem ages ago.  Luckily, though they left the damaged frame work in the wall, they did reinforce what was there with new lumber.  Clearly, once the added room was finished, there were no more leaks at this location.  So other than being an annoying patch, this surprise didn't totally derail our project.

But of course, the surprises just couldn't stop there!  Behold, the mysterious doorway!  From what we have seen, this door used to go right into the hallway on the other side of the wall.  However, it was original to the house, and neither Jared, nor Pete, nor I can figure out WHY.  If you go through the arch into the dining room and immediately turn left, you will go through a doorway into the same hallway that this old doorway used to go...What is the point?  We know that all of the doors in that hallway are original because there's no disruption of the hardwood.  This surprise definitely caught us off guard.  It's also big enough to need a good size sheet of drywall.  So are you counting?  This doorway makes four surprises since taking off the paneling in this room.  I think it's a little excessive.

I took this picture while standing right under the arch.  With the main door on the right, the door to the addition, the door to the bathroom, the door to the closet where the laundry is going, and the door to the spare bedroom, that hallway was chalk full of doors.  I would think that being in that space with all the doors closed would be like something out of a horror film.  What's behind door number one?

So if our calculations are correct, which they are, the door would have been on the blank wall.  I took a closer look at the wall when we discovered the doorway, and I could see a little discrepancy on this side of the wall.  If we hadn't have taken down the paneling and discovered the door, there's no way any of us would have know that there was anything behind that wall.  Even though you can run your hand over the wall and feel a slight bump where the frame is, it's so slight, I didn't even notice it until I really looked.  I still can't fathom why anyone would want so many doors in one place.

But wait, there's more!  This gash in the wall we uncovered with the last little bit of paneling.  All we can figure out about this one is that someone decided to fiddle with the wiring for the outlet right underneath this area in the wall.  The outlet is controlled by a light switch on the other side of the wall.  For whatever reason, someone decided to play electrician before they put up the paneling.

To make the patch job easier, Jared enlarged the hole and made it nice and clean.  The black wire going up goes to the switch on the other side of the wall which then comes back down via white wire and controls the outlet down below.  Someone had fun with that.

Jared also had to enlarge and clean up the water damaged hole to patch later.  So there's all the surprises!  I do think that five surprises for a room of that size is overkill, but it definitely explains why they put the paneling up.  However, now that the paneling is GONE, the room looks a million times better than it did, even though it's got a few holes to be fixed.  In all honesty, though, the absence of paneling makes the room seem bigger for some reason.

Moving on to the outside, Pete has just about finished with the ex door.  The window is great, though we've had to get used to not using that door.

Also, Pete's been bringing his ancient dog with him for the last few days.  Max, as he's called, has already marked his territory at least three times inside, so he's been banished from the indoors.











I know this has been a long post already, but there are a few other things that have happened in the last week or so.

The back porch got finished the other day.  With the absence of our normal back door, this has been amazing.

This little deck area has enough space for a small chair.  It also has a great view of the sunrise in the morning!

It might not look like much, but the contents of this large box contain a magical water fountain that is used to keep a person clean.  Even though the master bathroom hasn't made much progress since day one, we've got the goods to finally finish the space, so I'm hoping it won't be long until Jared and I can shower in our own home.  Also, we won't have to take cold showers, because........

WE HAVE HOT WATER!!!  The new crew came in bright and early Wednesday morning and put the water heater up in the attic.  Though we currently don't have the ability to shower in our home, when we do, we'll have some nice hot water!

Moving on, the old railings and supports for the overhang HAD to come down.  These nice new posts should last quite awhile.

It's a good thing our kitchen door and new back door are functional, because the new window went in on Wednesday too.  The new crew did this in a matter of minutes.  I'm really hoping that they come back soon, as they got more done in four hours than Pete has done in a four day period.

It might not look like much, but that, my friends, is the gateway to doggy paradise.  Last night, Jared and I took Ullr for a short walk, and when we came back, our fence, gates and all, was finished.

Needless to say, Ullr LOVES his new play space.  He spent a good majority of the evening sprinting around the yard, and boy can that dog run.  It was such a great feeling to see the joy he showed when playing.  The trick is to get him to come inside, now.








The last little bit of this renovation is on its way out.  Jared has put the pressure on our contractor to have his guys out of here by the 26th.  I find myself constantly reminding myself that the deadline is THIS Friday!  Though I have my doubts as to whether the Rabbits will be able to complete the rest of it in time, Jared and I have finally laid down the law with Glenn.  Hopefully by this time next week, I'll have an actual bathroom!

The list of to-do's is getting smaller.  Here's what's left:

• The ceiling in the family room is getting refinished
• The master bath needs to be started
• New countertops have yet to be installed (due to a misunderstanding when we ordered them)
• Pantry in the kitchen still needs to be finished
• The laundry room needs outlets and an exhaust for the dryer 
• Back deck railing to be finished
• Various random patches throughout the house

This post has been long enough!  Have a good Sunday afternoon.