CHRONICLES OF A BUNGLED REAL ESTATE DEAL – Page 4 – Chasing MY Life WHEREVER it Leads ME

House Update ~ Chronicles of a bungled real estate deal ~ Kitchen Counters & Floor Part 1

We have priced just about every type of kitchen counter top there is at every home improvement store within 150 miles. We finally decided to do it ourselves. We still wanted a farm style family kitchen feel. I had a piece of butcher block that had been siting around for years unused, it was part of a kitchen cart kit that mostly got destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. I recently sanded it and mineral oiled it. It has ‘weathered’ really well over the last month, so we finally decided we were going to put in butcher block counter tops. When all was said and done we are also going to save over $3000.00 dollars by using real wood instead of a manufactured cheap laminate.

We really like the color and it compliments the stain on the cabinets as wells as the floor tiles we’ve picked.

So today we started with the “baking center” side of the kitchen. It was a straighter shot with no cut outs. We thought that would be the safer way to test the waters so to speak and make sure we weren’t biting off more than we wanted.

Hubby started by attaching the side by side units together and putting a spacer in the rear to straighten out the edges. He then cut a thin piece of CDX as a base top.

Don’t you just love my kitchen as a staging area?

Then we laid out the first two pieces to match the grains. Then hubby cut the back splash pieces and we leveled and attached the back splashes to each piece. Then we took them back off and applied a good layer of heavy duty liquid nails.

We lined them up well and then weighted them down (I knew some day hubby’s weights would come in handy) and left them to cure. Tomorrow I will sand them good and then mineral oil them so they can start to cure.

We decided on 18×18 inch ceramic tile for the floor, but are not ready to do the floors yet, those will be last. But, every time we go to Home Depot I pick up 6 tiles and have just been laying them in the kitchen. Eventually I’ll have all the tiles without having broken my back to bring them home (they are really heavy) and I’m hoping that is about the time we’re actually ready to do the floor LOL.

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House Update – Chronicles of a Nightmare – Kathryn’s Room ~ Part 6

PSUEDO BEFORE

When we first moved in it was a mess of a room, but since it was our first I don’t have many before pictures. It soon became our “closet” when we forced to rip out ours in the master bedroom because of that nasty mold from the bathroom.

Kathryn’s room was the first one we accomplished when we moved in. The paneling is original to the room, but they had the ugliest wall board (similar to the stairway) on the walls so we pulled that off, put new wallboard over the old lathe and plaster and then texture painted. When the house was a duplex from 1943-1983, this room was the upstairs kitchen. It makes such a great bedroom though and has one of the best views to the north in the whole house!

AFTER

My aunt painted the mouse above and I made the clown on the shelf. below The old books on the shelf had been my grandmas and the jar full of flower petals are from some of the flowers hubby has given me over the years.

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House Update ~ Chronicles of a Bungled Real Estate Deal ~ Stairway ~ Part 5E ~ Sneak Peek

It really never occurred to us that the stairway may take an entire week to complete. With needing to primer and then paint we figured it would take 2 coats of paint. We were wrong though, it’s going to take 4 coats in some areas. The paint in those areas was soooooooooooo dull and dry, it must be decades old. So here is a sneak peek at what the new colors will look like. As you can see I haven’t been neglecting my blogging, just spending my time elsewhere this week.

Ijust love this new color, Chianti! We are painting the stairs and entry floor in stages so we can go up and down okay, but the paint dries fairly quickly so we should be done by Monday! YAY!!

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House Update – Chronicles of a Bungled Real Estate Deal ~ Stairway ~ Part 5D ~ Anantomy of making something out of nothing at all

The stairway sounds like a simple area to do, right? WRONG!! To start with was that broken stair which wasn’t in the inspection report so we assume happened when they were moving out. Speaking of that, it evidently became too difficult for them to lift items over the banister so they took out the upper banister and when they put it back just used 3 long screws through the nice wood on the top into old lathe and plaster – yeah real secure! They also had those 2 different UGLY wall boards covering that wall with molding that made no sense in the lines or angles or at least they didn’t until we removed the UGLY wall board to find the bad patch work to the lathe and plaster. So we removed the UGLY wall boards, patched the bad area and then texture painted over it. It was still weak, so in an effort to also create a continuity we decided to use moldings to match it all up.

With the cost of wood products being what they are, we decided to see what was in the barn. They had left behind “TONS” of old wood, but we weren’t sure if any of it was usable. Fortunately much of it was which gives a better continuity to the look using the turn of the century wood and saved us a ton of money too. Since it is all going to be painted anyway, the stain colors don’t matter.

We created an anchor board to secure the top banister to the wall and make it secure once again.

We kept ‘building’ and arranging until it matched up with the old molding and covered the patch area securely.

So the next post on this stairway will be all completed and painted! At least we’ll always know this exists on the second stair down.

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House UPDATE ~ Chronicles of a bungled Real Estate deal ~ Stairway ~ Part 5C

Hubby is getting ready to do the final painting of the spindles and stairs, but had to replace the broken step first. We weren’t sure what we were going to find inside, there had been so many other surprises in walls and such. The stairs were a bit of a challenge as they too were put together with ‘square’ nails. SO removing the molding pieces and edge that needed to be reused took a bit longer than planned.

Now he just needs to let the wood putty dry and then he can begin sanding the steps for painting.

So the bonus find under the step from when they put in the electrical in the closet below was a 1949 Chicago Tribune in near perfect condition.

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House UPDATE ~ Chronicles of a bungled Real Estate deal ~ Stairway ~ Part 5B

As I sat down to start the binding on this quilt it started snowing yet again!!

After hubby finished painting yesterday, he took the time to hang the quilt hangers and get the red, white and blue hung yesterday. It was by far the worst to hang with the turn in the stairway!

I love seeing these as you walk up and down the stairs. The red, white and blue was my very first quilt I made while hubby was deployed in 2004. The tropical colored one has a “twin” out there that I made for my cousin Jenn over at What I Did at School today for her birthday a few years ago.

It seems like we’ve been working on this project for months, but it’s really only been a few days. Tomorrow we’ll pick up the gloss trim paint and the textured floor paint for the stairs and then maybe we’ll yet finish this project this upcoming week.

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House Update ~ Chronicles of a Real Estate Nightmare ~ Stairway ~ Part 5A

We’re moving right along this week. It was just too cold to go outside so we’ve been trying to accomplish inside projects. If you’ll remember we stripped these walls of their UGLY wall boards, made repairs and did fresh texture paint. Today started the paint portion of the project which will be the same Oklahoma Wheat that we used in the living room and yesterday in Amber’s room.

The ceiling is painted BEHR Innocence white like the ceiling in Amber’s room and all of Kathryn’s room. The door casings will be Innocence White also, but semi-gloss which we thought we had, but will get on Monday. They were painted that dark beige you see, but it just looks like muddy water to me. We still have to finish the foyer tomorrow.

The banister spindles will also be painted with the semi-gloss BEHR Innocence White and the wood work cleaned and polished. It has been neglected for many years. The stairs are going to be sanded and painted brick red. Uh-oh I forgot to put the light back together.

This house also had NO linen closet anywhere! We added thes cabinets to make one upstairs just outside the bathroom and did a similar one downstairs just outside that bathroom. What a difference a linen cabinet makes. Here’s a sneak peek at one of the 2 quilts that will hang from the quilt hanger in the foyer. I have an almost matching one I hope to finish this weekend for the smaller of the two quilt hangers. This is a red, white and blue Yellow Brick Road.

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House Update ~ Chronicles of a Real Estate Nightmare ~ Stairway ~ Part 5A

The stairway was another area with no mold problems but was just UGLY! They had 2 different wall boards that didn’t match and molding that made no sense. We tried a couple of areas with painting over the paneling, but it was looking just as ugly. There was some texture coating already done on one side and the upstairs hallway so we decided to remove the paneling and texture coat that side too.

After we removed the ugly paneling we found texture coating already underneath, but in need of repair. So we repaired the bad areas and put a new coat on top of that. We also vowed to NEVER use texture paint again. We personally hate it and it makes a HUGE mess.

We’re going to change the old molding to molding that matches up with what you see there on the second story level. We are also going to paint the spindles under the banister to match. The plan is to carpet the stairs, but I may paint them in a better color prior to that as the carpeting will be the very last thing we do. Hubby is also securing the handrails better than they were and will be adding a handrail on the right hand side. I have a 6 foot oak quilt hanger that will get hung on the long wall and I’m working on a quilt to go there that I hope to finish on Sunday.

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House Update ~ Chronicles of a Real Estate Nightmare ~ Amber's Room ~ Part 4

BEFORE BEFORE

Amber’s room was not part of the mold issue, it was just ugly. It originally had a drab gray paneling and the molding was not done very well. The interim before pictures below don’t look so bad with just primer, but believe me it needed painted. The previous, previous owner had built a built-in desk in the alcove area and shelves above it for his daughter Amy which was cute, but not made very well and was now 25+ years old so we tore it apart and use the alcove for the dressers instead. We never got more than the primer on the walls before it started being used as a guest room.

INTERIM BEFORE

See what I mean about the molding?

DURING

Hubby has been a real trooper getting everything done on this house since so much of it wasn’t even planned. I did the cutting in and the trim work while hubby did the rolling. We started early and finished just about dinner time after 2 coats of BEHR Oklahoma Wheat which dried very quickly.

AFTER

We do need to do the molding around the ceiling after the room has dried a bit more. We’re going to stain it to match the closet and bedroom doors. It will give great contrast to the Oklahaoma Wheat on the walls and the Innocence on the ceiling. I just love the blues and sage green against the warm walls.

Amber, your room is ready!

♥

House Update ~ Chronicles of a Real Estate Nightmare ~ Amber’s Room ~ Part 4

BEFORE BEFORE

Amber’s room was not part of the mold issue, it was just ugly. It originally had a drab gray paneling and the molding was not done very well. The interim before pictures below don’t look so bad with just primer, but believe me it needed painted. The previous owner had built a built-in desk in the alcove area and shelves above it for his daughter Amy which was cute, but not made very well and was now 25+ years old so we tore it apart and use the alcove for the dressers instead. We never got more than the primer on the walls before it started being used as a guest room.

INTERIM BEFORE

See what I mean about the molding?

DURING

AFTER

Amber, your room is ready!

House Update ~ Chronicles of a Real Estate Nightmare ~ Kitchen Part 3

These first 2 pictures are what were taken when the house was on the market. Cute kitchen and sun porch right? I couldn’t wait to make that sun porch my studio/office.

These 2 pictures were taken of the kitchen just after we moved in and got everything put away.

We didn’t have any furnishings for the sun porch so we put my studio table our there and it became a staging area for unpacking and keeping the clutter out of the house itself. It was going to become my studio/office. It worked out great until it started to flood under the side wall. After we pulled up the old moldy carpet and linoleum I sat and cried and then we got to work. This truly became a work of Blood Sweat & Tears ~ all ours!

Hubby is pulling out the drywall that backed up to the downstairs bathroom where this all began. Before it was all over we also found mold in the cabinets. The interior shelves had never been painted and the underneath sides especially were atrocious. They had been contact paper over so it was pretty gross.

We were hopeful at saving the sun porch, but began to be doubtful and even hesitant at every board we pulled off and found more mold. We feared there would be no end.

After we removed the ceiling of the sun porch we also found that the ceiling joists were only old 2×4’s and ‘sistered’ together. There were no continuous joists anywhere in the room. There was also no insulation in the ceiling though we were told there was and there was a roof leak that the next door neighbor told us the previous owners had been trying to find, but never had. (We were never informed of the roof leak). Hubby put in continuous 2×6 ceiling joists and then we added R22 insulation throughout before putting up new drywall. We were told that the entire house had been insulated by the gas company in the years past for the elderly lady who lived here from 1948-1983, but these 2 rooms only consisted of crumpled up old Russian newspapers for insulation.

As we were pulling off each board we began to see a vision. As long as these walls had to come out to remove the mold, why not leave them off? So we closed up the original 30 inch door opening and made an 8 foot opening into the kitchen area to make a single “L” shaped family kitchen. And no, I didn’t really give up my studio. The formal dining room and parlor are becoming my studio/office as well as the 4th bedroom when necessary now that there was room for the large table in the kitchen.

So the above walls became this:

We strengthened the opening supports and increased the header to bring the entire area to code. As you look through the small doorway in the above picture you see the door to the downstairs bathroom where we found the original mold locations. That was then closed in to create a linen closet on the bath side of the hallway and cabinet space on the kitchen side.

Don’t mind the yellow, it was our version of primer to brighten the place up!

We were a long way from completion but at least we were solid now and the mold was gone, at least from the kitchen. The electrician came through and installed all new wiring and brought the entire kitchen to “code”. We installed 2 fixtures like this on the larger old sun porch side and one in the center of the old kitchen side.

Now the fun began. We needed cabinets and appliances. We had purchased the house with what we were told were a ‘couple’ of year old appliances. It turns out they were 14 years old and when the oven went out on Christmas Eve and then the refrigerator of New Years we were told they weren’t covered by the home warranty insurance due to age. We opted at that point to move the stove to the “new” side of the kitchen. The old stove was gas so we decided to make the new one electric out of ease on the cost of moving the gas line. It also allowed up to move the washer and dryer (previously in the basement) up to the first floor. The dryer was gas so it now connected to the old stove line. The washer and dryer went the way of the old stove and refrigerator when we discovered mold in the washer too and the dryer heating element went out. They too were not covered by the warranty due to age.

We found a cabinet distributor going out of business and his floor models matched VERY closely what Home Depot was selling on the floor. So we purchased his floor models to get us started and then purchased each successive unit as we needed and could. For the walls we used 4×8 sheets of plywood bead board over the insulation. We have just started working on trim molding and still have the ceiling and floor to finish, but those seem like little things compared to what we have already had to do.

I made custom shelves for the decorative jars that turned out quite nice. The cabinets are in various stages of staining; some done, some a single coat and others with 2 coats. So eventually the cabinets will all be the same colors. These are actually now ‘old’ pictures. Tomorrow I will update with current pictures as I continue the story and describe the rationale on the locations.

♥

House Update ~ Chronicles of a Nightmare ~ Downstairs Bathroom Part 2

This is the bathroom that began our nightmare. The original story can be seen here. In November 2006 I was taking a shower and noticed some dark blotches on several parts of the freshly painted ceiling and wall. Now I didn’t have my glasses on and wasn’t sure, but I was afraid it might be an issue. The biggest issue for us is that if they had been honest and disclosed the mold as they were supposed to by law, we would NOT have put a bid on this house because of my immune deficiency due Systemic Lupus wjicj I have battled for better than 20 years.

We took a sharp knife and peeled back part of the paint near one of the blotches and discovered our worst nightmare, black mold. Every spot we checked was the same. We took out an entire wall near the toilet and found it encased in mold.

We immediately called the Realtor to no avail so started by hiring another large dumpster (the first dumpster we had to hire to remove all the broken furniture and miscellaneous trash that they left behind in the barn, garage, house and basement (we had called the realtor about this, but were told they only left behind the things we would need for the house so we were on our own – yeah like I needed old wet moldy invoices from THEIR old business or 50 old gallon milk cartons or 4 broken hat racks or a broken vacuum from the early 1900’s or a broken high chair or the 40 cans of oil based paint that I couldn’t even get hazardous waste to take it was so old – I must have spent a small fortune on kitty litter and saved every newspaper in town and spent 2 weeks pouring old paint, letting It dry and than just tossing it as advised by waste management) or the 30 pounds of plastic sheeting cut into small unusaeable pieces or …

We began the arduous task of tearing out the bathroom walls. We found what we believe 3 separate sources of the mold. Source number 1 was behind the shower head wall. Now this is the biggest reason in the world not to use on of those over the shower head hanging caddies for shampoo and such. We found that pipe that goes to the shower head had bent and cracked. They had tied a pair of red stripe cotton capris around the leak and left it. It evidently continued to leak into the wall for an extended amount of time.

Behind the fiberglass shower walls was a thick layer of solid mold. That wall backed up to the kitchen which would need to be removed also, but I’m getting ahead of myself. In this same bathroom they had repaired a corroded sink pipe with electrical tape and just left it to continue rotting, so here is source number 2. Source number 3 was on that same sink where the pipes went through the floor to the basement and here we found the matching top to the capris tied around an old leak.

So before it was over, the only things left standing in this room were the bathtub and structural 2x4s (and even some of these had to be replaced). This room has all new plumbing and fixtures as well as walls, floor, ceiling and paint. This was a blessing in disguise because we also found all the faulty electrical (you know where they just twisted the wires together, cut off the ground and threw them into the wall behind a ‘new’ switch) and hired a reputable electrician to bring the entire house to code.

Since we had to do it anyway we decided to use bead board and old fashioned ceiling tiles to enhance the character of this old house.

It’s a hard room to photograph, but here’s the new bathroom:

Everything is painted in BEHR Innocence White and looks great. We also added a pedestal sink and sliding shower door. We put a hook into a stud to hold the shower caddy on the opposite end which is working out so much better. These awesome oak cabinets we found at a dealer closeout ($22 for all 3 cabinets because of their odd sizes) add a touch of warm color to the room. I have earth tone towels and sunflowers through out the room.

I still want to add a few cabinets to this end of the room, but they aren’t crucial just cosmetic. While we having to do this we were able to increase the storage are and have even added 2 linen closets to the house – 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs just outside each bathroom. As we understand it, this bathroom was a butler’s pantry when the house was built in 1892 and the little room at the end was a cold storage room. We have since insulated it and turned it into the ‘cats’ room for the time being.

We added an additional light in this room an I sealed each and every seam between the ceiling tiles with caulking before we painted and we added an exhaust fan. We wanted an authentic look since we had to do the ceiling anyway, but were not going to spend the money for real tin. For 10% of what the real tin would have cost we were able to use these Armstrong fiberb oards and seal and paint them to look like real tin.

I had painted the sub floor in the interim – what a relief to finally have a finished bathroom with “REAL” floor.

It’s Laura Ashley laminate in oiled teakwood and it is made in the USA!! And on sale is actually less expensive than the made in China stuff. It also a much superior quality.

♥

Category: CHRONICLES OF A BUNGLED REAL ESTATE DEAL