Saturday, December 15, 2012

Early Christmas

Baby it's cold in our fridge! 
Today I arrived home to find a few gigantic Christmas gifts on their way into the house.  

Floors!!!!

Voila!
Oh happy day, our floors have been transformed! The old doug fir kitchen/bedrooms and white oak living room look amazing... and temporarily smell awful. 

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Trim

Finding an exact trim molding match to complete our new wall between the living room and kitchen proved to be quite a feat!  After using up every last scrap of trim molding we had saved after our multi-stepped crazed demolition... Ryan made a trip to the Rebuilding Center and got lucky.   It looks beautiful Ryan, well done!


Color Theory

Gabriel's Light:










Otis Madera:























Dreaming of the day:























Gray & Wild Oats:

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Whose junk is this anyway?

So the other day Aunt Jane, her lovely little truck, a load of our construction junk, and I all loaded up and headed to the dump!  It took us 10 minutes to load the truck, 10 minutes to get to the dump, and 10 minutes to drop the load.  (Plus 10 more minutes to purchase the perfect christmas tree on the way back to the house.)  The little tree will look great in front of your fireplace Jane! Nice pick, and thank you again.
 

Monday, November 26, 2012

Clamp-tastic

You can never use too many clamps. 
(Thanks for all the clamps Grant.)

Beyond a simple paint job...

This past holiday weekend we knocked out more than just a few small projects... we scraped, washed, primed, painted, sanded, repainted, caulked, mudded, sanded some more, used the shop vac every 30 minutes, and transplanted some random perennials.  
We love the new color in the living room and are very excited to have our kitchen and bathroom window frames back in place.  We've said goodbye to the old wallpaper in the kitchen nook and Ryan only has a few minor putty knife induced finger cuts to deal with.  Thank you again to the honored "Guest of the day" and the paint shop master.
Ryan: "Check out my cool new drill pack."
Super Excited Painter: "These are awesome!"




Friday, November 23, 2012

Monday, November 19, 2012

Paint samples, oh dear....

From paint swatches to samples to a soon to be newly painted house... it's almost time for the painting professional to arrive.  Dad, we can't wait!


Sunday, November 18, 2012

Gutter situation

Living in rainy Portland means that working gutters are a must.
Yesterday, our clogged gutters had some extreme malfunctions... so this ridiculous temporary fix was quickly patched together in the middle of a mid-morning rain shower.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Surgery #2


Disclaimer:
Due to the graphic nature of these frankenstein fingers, I offer an apology on behalf of Ryan's post for making your stomach turn... eeeew.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Mudding

Why oh why does the mudding of the drywall take sooooooo long? 
Thank you Peter for the extra hours of mud work...because apparently ryan's getting eaten by a giant hole in the ceiling. 

THE HEAT IS ON

Thank you new gas line, new thermostat, and new furnace!
Now all we need are a few new registers and we'll be good to go, cheers to a warm house on a chilly rainy November evening.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

A step by step guide to new walls... Schoonover style.

1. Start with torn out lath and plaster walls. Finish framing out weird basement stairwell areas and old chimney location to create a linen closet. (Kitchen stairwell box shown here, top left.)
2. Buy excessive amounts of insulation and suit-up.  Full body coverage recommended. 
3. Cut endless strips of itchy fiberglass to puzzle-piece together for entire kitchen and bathroom.
4. Call in the reinforcements. (Mild supervision required.) 


Further tips:  
Wear neon. 
Don't break the shocks in the Schoonover family station wagon by overloading the vehicle at Lowes.
Be sure to wear the same work gear and utilize the same drilling stance as your twin.


This post is dedicated to our friends who let us shower at their houses.

When the lovely plumber Randy, from Randy Rodgers Plumbing, finally arrived... amazing things began happening very quickly. Old pipes were ripped out, new were pipes put in, and city permits were filed. 










Then we went for a visit to Hippo Hardware.
Whew.  Think 3 stories of old, new and even older hardware piled everywhere you look.  (This nice little notice was discretely posted near the toilets.) A fantastically helpful plumbing guy refurbished our old shower and tub hardware and sold us this beautiful new faucet.  Now we can't wait to use it!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

framing

Thanks to the help from these very loveable/stylish schoonovers we now have a new header in the wall-less kitchen.

Kitchen update

Cooking in the garage in the rain vs. new toaster oven

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The Electricians came!

Hallelujah!

Now, all we need are a few walls, a whole lot of finishing work, and some plaster ceiling patches. (yes, that is a giant ceiling hole around the new bathroom fan/light fixture...?!!) 

Sam's House

Sometimes you just gotta take a break to build this 2 yr. old an awesome cardboard fort for his, "very little [birthday] party." 


Once upon a time there was a chimney...

Now you see it.  Now you don't!
With help from some incredible friends our chimney has recently gone from intact to in-the-backyard.
 Tapp'n em in and scooping em out! From the roof to the basement, thanks to Mikael, Adam and Samantha.

Jason Skipton came in to save the day and finished the entire job! Thanks yo. (We found this can in an old kitchen exhaust hole stuck mid way through the chimney.)
The project isn't complete without a great view from the top.
Or a view from the kitchen prior to the roof patch, looking up... and looking down.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

DEMOLITION DAY #2

With some truly amazing help from some incredible friends the demolition day list is now complete!!!!! We filled a dumpster with old piles from the driveway, bathroom plaster walls, kitchen tiles, kitchen plaster walls and much much more.
Samantha is a maniac when it comes to old wood and shop vacs.
Adam: "um, Becca, if you don't wear that face mask I will".  
Aubry, AKA bathroom plaster attack man.  
Mikael, you rock the crowbar!
Rae, thanks so much for picking up the ice-cream sandwiches and Junie thank you for testing them.
and Becca thanks for checking out that magic free pile down the block with me!


Best goodwill buy ever.

Like new programable coffee pot... $7.99   
No longer boiling water in the back yard on the camp stove at 6 am in the cold darkness... priceless.



Homage to the old kitchen wallpaper

This is a pictorial ode to everything both amazing and time consuming about our old kitchen wallpaper. Over 3 layers of incredible vintage patterns and lead based paint have resulted in hours of scraping and cleaning.  Maybe one of these days it will be done.  But for now, we're still scraping. 


Sunday, September 23, 2012

Oregonian clipping circa 1933 (fell out of the ceiling)


W.C.

Saturday was a good day.  We have officially replaced the taped up clear plastic sheeting that was acting as both an ineffective wall and door to our bathroom.  Hello new drywall and actual door!  Also, our completely refinished and gleaming bathtub arrived this morning.  It's currently waiting in the garage until we can install it in it's permanent bathroom location.  This gives us ample opportunity to gaze at it admiringly while eating breakfast, accessing our junk and generally living in said garage.




Saturday, September 15, 2012

First rule of a remodel

Dad: Well, you know what the first rule of remodeling is don't you?
Leah: No. What's the first rule of remodeling?
Dad: It always costs more than you think.
Leah: Oh.

Thanks Dad. We're learning quickly.




Friday, August 31, 2012

Old stuff

Corroded bathroom vent pipes, old wallpaper rolls, beaded silk hat, 1961 Oregon Journal newspapers, and electrical work circa 1927.
Not pictured, but found: 
small old cameo necklace pendant, jello box from the '60's, pocket watch, old penny, and a crumpled newspaper page from 1931.



Sunday, August 26, 2012

The first rule of demolition: mark the walls your taking out. So, I don't know if this is a rule, but Leah is really good at marking walls. "Yes" means take the wall out and "no" means keep it. Is this confusing to you too? 

Today we knocked out the wall separating the kitchen from the living room and cleared out the linen closet from the bathroom. Who needs storage when you only have 720 sq ft of living space. 

Asbestos and black mold converged to form a dense cloud of dust during the demolition. We decided to roll the the dice this weekend and forget the respirators. Who wants to wear a darth vader mask for 6 hours straight, while snot and sweat, and nervous itching cause you to scream for relief. Not me. I'd rather breath deep the mistakes of past generations and like my grandfather, trust that at the end of the day everything is gonna be fine. I was raised a calvinist and if I'm predestined to die from lung cancer there's not much I can do about that.  ~ Ryan 

***DISCLAIMER:
Apparently the magnitude of this house project, extensive amounts of dust particles, and a stiff gin and tonic have gone to Ryan's head.   Mom, don't worry, face masks were worn at all times.  ("Yes"- clearly means, bust out this wall, to the person yielding the sledge hammer. "No"-don't bust down said wall.) ~ Leah 


ASBESTOS ?


Totally.




Saturday, August 25, 2012

Hidden Heater!

We found this old pressure heater boarded up in the side of the kitchen. We disconnected a couple of pipes and carried it out to the station wagon. Not sure how much it weighs, but we're taking it over to the scrap yard to see if we can get some dollar bills for this beast. Now were struggling to figure out what to do with the extra space...panic room? 



Thursday, August 23, 2012

North Portland Tool Library rocks!! It's way better than the run of the mill library where there are books, newspapers, magazines, and if your lucky internet access. No, the tool library has chop saws, cement floats, lawn mowers, extension cords, rakes, fruit pickers, chainsaws, chisels, sledge hammers, tile cutters....you name it, they got. You don't even need a library card to check it out...just a piece of mail from your current address. Forget books. I'm checking out a table saw. 

Actually we started with one lawn mower, an extension tree branch cutter, one circular saw and a sledge hammer. Apparently, we were lucky to get the sledge hammer, a very popular item at the tool library. 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Work Party!

We filled the dumpster Saturday with some incredible help. Tshombe single handedly demolished the basement and carried a bath tub on his back. (literally)  Sam was super busy Saturday. He helped to pick out a door from the Rebuilding Center, organized the hinges, screws, and door knobs, dumped the bag of hinges, screws, and door knobs on the floor and then re-organized them. He banged things with a screw driver, raced around the back yard, and managed to still have time to throw some things in the trash. Grant and Katie were a huge help removing the kitchen floor and hanging a new garage door. You guys are awesome! 
THANK YOU!! 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Demolition!

Toilet

Last week we removed the toilet from the house and placed it in the front yard. It needed to go and we were happy to see it exit the house. But we didn't have a plan for going to the bathroom. 

We discovered that the library, Lowes, and Fred Meyer were all good options with in 5 minutes. But Saturday something truly amazing happened....a bathroom [pictured here] magically showed up across the street! 

Yes! 

Sunday, August 19, 2012

First Step


Our first step was to immediately head to Lowes and test out a new toilet. This trip is subsequently followed by 1, 2 or 3 Lowes runs a day, every day. 

New shop vac? 
Check!


Thursday, August 9, 2012

Kitchen Assessment

From the old cupbards, to the missing oven, the awful flooring, to the leaky sink and bad countertops...we need a new kitchen! Please don't forget the gross fridge, broken windows, bad lighting, and broken electrical outlets. But, this old walpaper I found under the chipping lead paint is pretty neat.