Category: CHRONICLES OF A BUNGLED REAL ESTATE DEAL

Kitchen Update & Counter Substitutions

Did I mention we’ve been working like dogs around here?

We installed the last cabinet in the kitchen and I got the first coat of stain on it. All of the cabinets from home depot are now ready for the second coat and then the sealer. It also looks like they’re going to match the ones we bought from the dealer going out of business. As a temporary means we installed sheets of MDX as counter tops. I had painted them white and we have been doing pretty well with them, but what I really want is soapstone counters and those are going to cost, so we have to save up! In the meantime I made a trip to Family Dollar and purchased 2 packs of self stick tiles. We cut them to fit and voila instant counter top. I took the pictures from 2 different angles to show how versatile this color is going to be. I mixed paint to paint the edges of the plywood brown to match, but just ran out of steam to get it done.


Spare Bedroom – Guest Ready – Finally!

We have been working like dogs for the past 2 days. Mom is coming to visit soon. She hasn’t been here since we first moved in a year and a half ago and were in the midst of the “Great Mold Tear Out”. So we have been working hard to make things nicer for this visit. Yesterday morning the spare bedroom was a ‘staging’ area for the upstairs bathroom. I won’t even show you a picture it was that bad! It had the old claw foot tub in the middle of it and all the various parts for the new vanity, sink, toilet, wall cabinets and their various contents. It also had exercise equipment, quilting boxes, various paperwork and books as well as linens covering the bed. Anyway, it too will need another coat of paint, (I ran out of that too) and about a million trim boards, but it looks pretty presentable. I still have a couple of photos to get printed and hang, but not bad for a days work. And yes, that’s Holly Hobbie on the bed – my original from the 70’s.

Tunnel Light has been turned ON!!

The light at the end of the tunnel was officially switched ON today with the installation of the sink and toilet in the upstairs bathroom. Woohoo, running water and no worries about tripping down the stairs in the middle of the night! Still need to install the shower, floor, linen closet and a million trim boards (especially around the window to hide that very red duct tape!), but who cares now?

The previously OH NO… More Mold upstairs bathroom update! AKA The Light Will soon be turned on in the Tunnel!

Part of this update post is copied from my original post, Oh No More Mold which required destruction of the upstairs bathroom also. I’m happy to say that it is almost all handled now. I’m including the original pictures as well as the updates so you can easily see the progress. The new plumbing has been done (but not without casualties) by hubby and buddies and we will actually be able to use the bathroom again (don’t panic, we’ve been trudging downstairs in the interim – a real pain in the butt in the middle of the night).

So we’ve had a productive and disappointing time of it. I tried to show the pictures in order so you can see the changes throughout.


We needed to expose the old plumbing that the previous owners had built this funky facade around it (out of old masonite board) so we could get the plumber in for an estimate to convert this fantastic old 6 foot claw foot tub into a shower and tub combo. We’ve also had to change out the old vanity sink due to more mold so we chose an old fashioned sink that looks a little more like it belongs and camouflages the new plumbing. We were able to put the new plumbing under the floor (where it belongs). As you can see, they had built a really funky facade around the tub too. I can’t figure out why either ~ it’s in near perfect condition. I painted the tub with Rustoleum Copper colored hammer paint as well as the drain vent pipe that has to stay. I don’t have the parts yet, but will also paint the shower enclosure bars the same color. I had 2 choices for the shower enclosure, either get the FUNKY too small conversion kit at Home Depot for $65 or spend $500 for the one from the restoration company so I chose option #3 – build my own for about the price of the FUNKY one. So the drawings are done and I’ll get the parts so look for that completion picture in the future. Okay, scratch that, we’ve decided to eliminate the old fashioned tub and opt for a more efficient and conventional shower that will also allow room for a linen closet and better storage. Anyone want to buy a turn of the century claw foot tub in excellent condition?

They also painted the wood floor a funky rust color and then had a cheap carpet remnant on top of that. We weren’t going to do anything but paint the floor for now, but found some serious molded rotted wood as we began the plumbing. We looked at doing ceramic tile and then actually settled on a Laura Ashley ‘exotic’ (their word for the thicker solid pieces) floating plank floor for 2 reasons. 1) The Laura Ashley floor is self contained, and 2) the backing foam is already mounted to the back of each board, it was on sale, it was about $1.25 less a square foot than doing the tile.


Productive in that we got to this point, disappointing that we found more mold all along the way so there was more old lathe and plaster to be torn down, and exciting that we can begin to visualize this room done. I tried to bleach it and use KILZ first on the mold, but it always seems to work the hard way and we had to tear out most of the back and one side wall. So after getting to the tear down point that we were comfortable with no more mold, we added 3/4 inch foam insulation board and then white washed bead board on top of that to create the turn of the century feel we were looking for to go with the claw foot tub. We’re building a new and better enclosure around the vent pipe.

We’ve also done the ceiling like an old tin ceiling. We priced the real stuff and the plastic replica and then decided on the fiberboard by Armstrong that now painted looks like it was original to the house. I sealed each seam with caulking, painted with BEHR kitchen and bath paint and then did a clear coat sprayed sealer (It is a bathroom and we wanted to protect against steam). We also added a powerful exhaust fan.
So all we need to do is finish the floor, shower, a decorative shower curtain and about a million trim boards and we’ll be all done., But at least we’ll have a sink and toilet upstairs at the end of the day which means the light will soon be turned on in the
tunnel.

History of a barn and the hope of a greenhouse

Many have asked so I’m now doing pictures and a bit of the history as I know it that surrounds our barn. We are ‘in town’ technically, but we have one of the last standing barns, It’s in great shape as it doesn’t leak and the floor and inside walls were made of half logs. It was built in 1850 according to the real estate information. The only thing the previous owner left behind of any value was an abstract Title that spelled out the history of the property, a story for another time.
The last owner had used it for storage and had it packed so full you couldn’t see all 4 walls at the same time. When they moved they took most of their things, but did leave behind a 60 yard dumpster full of junk (you know things like 60 year old vacuums, broken high chairs, plastic one gallon jugs, broken coat racks, etc… I could go on for pages.
We were not told that it is ‘sliding’ off its foundation by the previous owners, but the previous previous owner has told us it is. He said he shored up in the early 90’s before selling. Now we’re told the next guy put skirting (we were told it was for drainage) around the shoring to disguise it. This summer we’ll take off the skirting and see where we stand. Hubby is thinking about turning it into a workshop. Once we cleared away the debris we found a pretty neat barn. The building itself is about 28 x 30 and has a large attic area. There is a wood burning stove and old brick chimney. The sliding carriage doors (I couldn’t get a picture of these today – too many mud puddles) no longer slide open as that side is braced from the ground up, but look neat anyway. The graffiti is leftover from the local high school students. In the 80’s our barn was used to construct the homecoming float in each year and became a hangout for the kids. Someone replaced one of the windows with a vinyl slider that looks really out of place. Right now hubby uses it for mainly storage.
And this picture is especially for Barbara. This is the south west corner where you can begin to imagine the greenhouse made from our old sash windows. This spring we will be planting lilacs of various colors along the outside of the chain link fence to create a hedge to hide it and add a touch of privacy. You also have to imagine the yard is green. If you look close, there are still a few small patches of snow here and there. In that corner will be the greenhouse. The door will open towards the yard. I may even set it on an angle for a touch of charm. Now imagine on either side a 3 tiered flower bed made from railroad ties and full of LOTS of color.

History of a barn and the hope of a greenhouse

Many have asked so I’m now doing pictures and a bit of the history as I know it that surrounds our barn. We are ‘in town’ technically, but we have one of the last standing barns, It’s in great shape as it doesn’t leak and the floor and inside walls were made of half logs. It was built in 1850 according to the real estate information. The only thing the previous owner left behind of any value was an abstract Title that spelled out the history of the property, a story for another time.
The last owner had used it for storage and had it packed so full you couldn’t see all 4 walls at the same time. When they moved they took most of their things, but did leave behind a 60 yard dumpster full of junk (you know things like 60 year old vacuums, broken high chairs, plastic one gallon jugs, broken coat racks, etc… I could go on for pages.
We were not told that it is ‘sliding’ off its foundation by the previous owners, but the previous previous owner has told us it is. He said he shored up in the early 90’s before selling. Now we’re told the next guy put skirting (we were told it was for drainage) around the shoring to disguise it. This summer we’ll take off the skirting and see where we stand. Hubby is thinking about turning it into a workshop. Once we cleared away the debris we found a pretty neat barn. The building itself is about 28 x 30 and has a large attic area. There is a wood burning stove and old brick chimney. The sliding carriage doors (I couldn’t get a picture of these today – too many mud puddles) no longer slide open as that side is braced from the ground up, but look neat anyway. The graffiti is leftover from the local high school students. In the 80’s our barn was used to construct the homecoming float in each year and became a hangout for the kids. Someone replaced one of the windows with a vinyl slider that looks really out of place. Right now hubby uses it for mainly storage.
And this picture is especially for Barbara. This is the south west corner where you can begin to imagine the greenhouse made from our old sash windows. This spring we will be planting lilacs of various colors along the outside of the chain link fence to create a hedge to hide it and add a touch of privacy. You also have to imagine the yard is green. If you look close, there are still a few small patches of snow here and there. In that corner will be the greenhouse. The door will open towards the yard. I may even set it on an angle for a touch of charm. Now imagine on either side a 3 tiered flower bed made from railroad ties and full of LOTS of color.

Tin Ceiling

Doesn’t this tin ceiling piece look great?
Won’t it look great in my kitchen?
It will so fit with the character of this house.
Doesn’t it look like tin?
Well it’s not tin.
It’s really fiberboard.
Yep, really, it’s fiberboard, tongue and groove, lightweight and easy to install.
I tried an experiment and I think it’s going to work.

I’m using Rustoleum Silver Hammer Spray Paint
and 8 feet off the ground, they look just like tin
instead of this chalk white fiberboard.

Oh and did I mention there’s a $20 a square foot difference in price? Using real tin for a kitchen my size would have been in excess of $4000, the plastic substitute would have been around $2000. The fiberboard is now under $400. Real tin, as well as the plastic substitute would have required a grid system be installed first also. The fiberboard can be installed with just the use of a tube or two of liquid nails and a few cans of Rustoleum Silver Hammer spray paint.

The long awaited kitchen update

Just to recap, this all started in October 2006 due to non-disclosed mold by the previous owners (which we’re still fighting) that we found as it bled through their camouflage or rather ‘fresh’ paint. The entire downstairs bathroom, kitchen (cabinets & all), part of the upstairs bathroom and master bedroom closet had to be torn completely out before it was all over. There were also undisclosed leaks in the sun porch wall and floor and roof. So we had to do all new joist and ceiling.

We still need to do 2nd coats and sealing on many of the cabinets, but they will all match soon. So this entire kitchen is 90% new. Counter tops to replace the plywood are next. We still also need to install the decorative ceiling, flooring and new windows, but feel so good to be at this point. The plywood floor is actually growing on me. At least we were able to bring it all to code also as long as it was all torn out, we really didn’t have any choice.



The great TUB debate comes to an end!

For many months now we have been having a debate in our house about the CLAW FOOT TUB.

DO we keep it or not?

It started as this funky enclosure when we bought the house. I was sure that when I tore away the moldy enclosure that I’d find a tub on cinder blocks, but I found this great claw foot tub that just happened to be this ugly puke green color. We painted it a bronze color and and made all the plans to install the conversion shower kit, but in the end it looks like the claw foot tub will become the newest flower planter after all.

If we install a conventional tub and shower with a sliding door we’ll have 14 inches left over to build a built in towel shelf storage and we won’t have to worry about shower liners that may or may not fit the extra large tub (it’s over 6 feet long), and leaks from upstairs to down which has happened many times from our understanding and we’ll have a few extra square feet to the usable floor space. We’d been waiting to finish this bathroom until the plumbing was done which is what we’re doing now.

We found that parts of the main floor now need replaced. There had never been a proper connector on the toilet connection, just a wax ring between the toilet and the floor around this. We were going to do the floors later, but because of this new glitch along with all the sub floor that had to be cut and repaired when they did the plumbing we just decided that doing the floor now before putting in the new fixtures was the smartest thing to do.

We found this great sale at Menards (like a home depot) on an “exotic oiled teakwood plank” (which just means that the color is oiled teak and the exotic plank means it’s all one board) laminated floor made by Laura Ashley. Yeah, I know a designer floor! BUT, it has SOOOOOOOOOO many positives: It was MADE IN THE USA, it was on sale for the right price (less than the stuff made in china), the underlayment layer is already attached to the back of each plank (which means one less thing to buy or mess with, it was made in the USA, oh and did I mention it was on sale for the right price?

What a relief Kitchen Update


My new linen closet.
It’s so nice to be able to empty all those plastic totes after all these months.

These all have just the first coat of stain, but oh what a relief.


I’ve been remiss in keeping the updates done on the house. For those of you just tuning in, we were FORCED into this remodel when the previous owner did not include a horrendous case of mold on their disclosure form. It’s taken us 16 months to tear out and put back most of the downstairs bathroom, kitchen, upstairs bathroom and part of our bedroom. We have finally put back the insulation, walls and almost all the cabinets (yep, it was in the cabinets too) in the kitchen. We were able to get the majority of the cabinets from a cabinet guy going out of business and are able to do the remaining one with over the counter cabinets from home depot. The ones from home depot have to be stained, stained again and then sealed, but are great especially compared to the price of ‘designer’ cabinets.

SPRAY PAINT is like DUCT TAPE and is my new best friend

I love spray paint lately!! It’s like a woman’s version of duct tape. This house needed some re-decorating, but unfortunately there’s no budget for decorating since it was used on the forced remodel from the mold.

So, I’m getting inventive. I found this old berry basket in the trash they left behind. It was stained and horribly dirty, but I vacuumed all the cobwebs out, washed and let it dry for a good long while and then grabbed my spray paint can of silver hammered paint. After that coat dried I did a quick once over with bronze hammer paint. Now I know spray paint is not environmentally friendly, but I figure the small amount of paint I used is so much better than throwing something old into the trash. I have also salvaged all the old registers from the house that were rusting and peeling and with some elbow grease and copper colored Rustoleum hammer paint now have restored new ‘old’ well made heat registers.


I even used it on the claw foot tub. It was painted a sick seafoam green and peeling. So I scraped the peeling paint and grabbed the Rustoleum bronze hammer paint and voila! It looks really beautiful. I can’t wait until the rest of the bathroom is done. Updates to come!

Winter Snow time

I posted the Fall color pictures, so I thought I’d post Winter too and then Spring and Summer to depict an entire year here in the North Woods.

A snowboarder catches a gust on Teal Lake while a herd of deer check out the offerings on top of the paint river recently frozen over.


During the summer, Whiskey could stand on her hind legs and snatch a fresh apple from the lower branches of the the obviously endless apple tree (it’s February in the U.P. and I still have apples!!!!!!). Now, she just stands there and waits for them to fall or digs with her snout in the 3 feet (that’s a 4 foot fence behind her) deep snow for the ones that have recently fallen. Gunner just wants someone to play ball with him.