The One With Walls

Look! I have walls! There will be bedrooms... with real closets! And plumbing - I have plumbing!




Today was a really great day. I got to walk around the basement and feel the rooms that were created. And they are just as I had envisioned. I am so pleased! And after an extremely hard day yesterday, it was nice to come home and be encouraged by all of the progress that was made.

The One With Photos

I'm having a little trouble with this slideshow business. But I think if you double-click on "full screen" at the bottom of the viewer it will take you to the photos. These are just a few photos of the progress we're making on the house.

The One With Wetsy and Gassie

Tonight we borrowed Pete's supercharged monster truck to bring home some them fancy indoor plumbin' toilets. I introduce to you: Wetsy and Gassie.


What... your toilets don't have names? They're so cute! And environmentally friendly, of course. Press one for liquids and two for number twos solids.

The One With Aleksandr

The new routine when I walk home from the train after work is to stop by the house and see any new progress. Tonight, Alex, my general contractor, was there and he told me all about his extended family and about the rice he is in charge of cooking tomorrow for his mother-in-law's birthday. Alex is good people and I'm glad he's working on my project! He has a great heart and it's fun to decipher his Ukrainian accent. He has six (!) children and I've met the four youngest, all boys (!), during the bidding phase. Slavic comes with him most often and I try to bribe him with homemade cookies so he'll like me but he's super shy. He's helped me measure refrigerators and stomp on the floors upstairs so I can hear how much noise they make, so I think he likes me a little. Alex says at the end of the project he will bring his family and his big wok to the house and we will eat rice together. I can't wait!

The One With the Hooker

Just as I was rolling a wheelbarrow full of plaster around the house an old man started walking into my front yard. He was hollering over the sound of saws and hammering so I stopped to talk to him. He introduced himself as "The Godfather of Greenwich" and proceeded to ask if I knew that there were a couple of hookers living across the street. Then he pointed and said, "that's my house, I'm Bob Hooker." He went on to tell some stories and ask about what we were doing to the house. He called me Cindy a couple of times and I asked him who Cindy was.

"You're Cindy."

"I'm not Cindy, I'm Katie."

"Oh. Well, who is Cindy?"

"I don't know Cindy."

"I don't know Cindy either."

"Okay then."

"Welcome to the neighborhood!"

The One With Demolition

Today was a BIG day! The demolition went great. So many people came to help, and I can't believe everything we accomplished.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Actually, we ended up taking out the whole wall on both sides, but I don't have a picture of that. But you get the idea of what it will be like. That single change makes all the difference in that house! The basement looks amazing, too. You wouldn't believe how much stuff came out of there, for a seemingly unfinished basement.

Betsy and Jojo were animals tearing down the basement ceiling and bathroom with Scott. Sarah Larson came over for a couple of hours of work before she had to get to the bakery. She did a great job of filling the dumpster! Sara Vulgan took the mantle down and we found more brick behind the paneling! She also took all the "tiles" down in the main bathroom and got the cabinets out with Heath, who also disconnected the toilet and got that bad boy outta there! Caleb was the professional of the day with his very official tool belt. He completely dismantled the wall between the living room and kitchen - and it looks AMAZING! I took down all of the window coverings (and folded the curtains and stashed them in the garage for Mom and Betsy to sift through the fabric later!) and Caleb let me take the first swing at the wall! Then Sarah Gregory and I spent a good portion of the morning hauling the destroyed lath and plaster around the house to the dumpster. Then we went to town scraping the tile adhesive off the wall in the main bath. Matt stopped in for a few hours of labor, mostly in the basement and putting his muscles to use hauling out big, heavy items. Benjamin came by later in the afternoon to help out after he finished building with Habitat all day! He helped Caleb frame in the new wall. And the guys pulled up the kitchen countertop and they just so happened to discover the oak floors in the kitchen. Oak floors! Oh, and they are in the bathroom, too! Molly pulled up the nasty tiles to discover hardwood. Such great surprises! Even Pete and Katie stopped by to lend a hand for a little bit between work and shows and showers. The generosity of my community is incredible.

Molly made us a huge taco lunch complete with margaritas! And we picnicked in the backyard sunshine. It was hard to get moving again after that, but it had to be done. Everyone worked so hard. It was even harder to work after dinner, but the guys pulled through. I still can't believe we accomplished so much! There were definitely some overwhelming moments and a whole lot of noise that made me cringe, but I kept thinking to myself that these were the sounds of love. Friends loving me and giving up their day off to help build this house into something beautiful. I am so grateful.

Up tomorrow: sanding and sealing the basement walls.

The One Where I Freak Out

All summer on my way to and from the neighborhood taco shop I passed by this one green house. I love the color green they painted this house. The only flaw was that the trim needed to black. Black would have made the house really pop! So when I bought a house I just figured I'd paint it this green with black trim. Only, my little Cape Cod house just didn't really seem like the green and black type. Then one day, coming home from The ReBuilding Center, I found this yellow house that stopped me in my tracks. At the time, I couldn't find my camera, and now I can't even remember which street the house lived. All I know is that it was kind of a brown mustard, if you will, and it was stunning. So I found a paint swatch that I thought was close and gave the code to the painter. Apparently he had to go to several stores to get enough paint for them to mix because this particular color of yellow needs a special base paint, and apparently they only sell this base paint in small quantities because it's only used as a trim color. Perfect! I totally picked a horrible color to paint my house. WHY DO THEY MAKE PAINT SWATCHES TWO INCHES BY AN INCH AND EXPECT YOU TO ENVISION A WHOLE BUILDING IN THAT COLOR? Anyway, with April being the wettest month recorded in Portland's history, they haven't painted the house yet. And tonight I sat at the food carts on Mississippi with friends and looked at the awful yellow building across the street. I'm terrified that the yellow I picked will look like the awful yellow on this building. And I just have to wait and wait and wait to see how it turns out. This is my first time picking an exterior color... I'm scared and I want a do-over!

The One Where I Jump In

I'll write the back story at some point, but for now I want to introduce this diamond-in-the-rough:


Isn't she a beauty? Every time I go to the house I am so full of joy. It's full of potential and so peaceful. I love being in every room. I love being in the backyard. I love being on the front steps. I love being there and dreaming of all the possibilities in the neighborhood, wondering who will live there with me over the years and the people we'll have over for dinner, and the food we will grow and conversations we will share.

More than anything, I feel so well taken care of through this whole process. From the encouragement and possibility from my parents, and my roommates, friends, landlords, my Realtor, broker, and even and especially the sellers. This is such an incredible time and I'm trying to take in as much as I can. I can hardly believe that at the end of the week I will own a home.

And a 30-year mortgage.