07 May, 2012

Cracking eggs

Still recovering here.  Thanks for all the well wishes.  I'm slowly pulling myself back together.
But on to the weekend's works. 
I actually felt almost decent on Saturday, and after waking up at 5:30 am (it's getting light so early up in Vermont), I was working by 7am.  The next big project: Oscar's room.
Here's a photo from the original real estate listing.  I have to say it actually looks almost decent.  It is not this bright in that room.  The wall colour is MUCH darker, the cupboards are a dark cream (shock!), even the ceiling is just 2 shades lighter than the walls.
This is a photo taken shortly after we moved in, which shows it in a more accurate (ahem) "light".
 The problem with this room has not only been the wall colour, but the layout.  I had to draw a little diagram to fully explain:


 That bed is enormous, and what you can't see in either of those photos was that there was a big built in bookcase along one wall.  And 3 doors leading into/out of the room .  This room is more of a thoroughfare through to the back bunk room, and the door to Ella's room (a remnant from it was all one apartment) was less than soundproof.

So, the plan: rip out the bookcase, block up the door between Oscar and Ella's room and rebuild a bookcase in that little nook, so that the room once again becomes rectangular (at the moment Oscar's bed head is against the door to Ella's room as it was blocking too much of the room when it was against the window).  That meant ripping off all the wainscoting and the enormous bookcase.  The bookcase was a much bigger deal than I'd bargained for as there was a huge thick piece of plywood screwed into the wall at the back, and we weren't able to get the screws out again and had to pry it off the wall - damaging a lot of the wall in the process.  We also uncovered lots of cracked and missing pieces of plaster behind the wainscoting.

But we got the room to this point: (actually I'd already started replastering the wall when I took this photo).  Where the walls are white is where the bookcase and wainscoting was.  But you can see how dark the wall colour is against the white.
 That's the mammoth piece of ply wood, resting against the hole where we took out the door between the two rooms.
 A gratuitous shot of the hallway and my lovely floors which by the end of the weekend were covered in dust and plaster.
 Plastering done.
 And this is what the bunk room looks like right now.  Only Kit's bed is accessible.  Fortunately we are in the height of rugby season, so the big boys won't be up for a few weeks.  Matt came up this weekend, but I'm on my own for the next few.
 And that was where the whole "cracking eggs" reference comes from; that saying "To make an omelette you have to crack eggs".  It's not only VT that's looking like that.  This is my lounge room in CT.  We have finally been bringing down a bunch of the VT stuff to sell.  I've been listing on craig's list this morning.
 Yes, things are very topsy turvy round here at the moment.  And some of you people who really pay attention may be thinking, but hang on, you haven't finished the dining room yet.  WELLL, since I need to order drywall/sheetrock to finish these jobs, (and building a cupboard in Ella's room on the other side of the door we took out), and wood etc, I thought I'd do all the demo stuff first and then I can hit all those up at once.  I am very fortunate to have a neighbour who's an amazing carpenter (and photographer) who is helping me out with these projects.  He measured everything up for me, and more importantly, he has all the tools.  Having someone to "hold my hand" through these projects has really given me the confidence to crack on and get them done.

But now, I'm off to repair and antique bedspread.....


3 comments:

  1. Wow!! I'm gobsmacked. The scale of these renovations is amazing!!!

    mum (from Devonport, on a work trip)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow!! I'm gobsmacked. The scale of these renovations is amazing!!!

    mum (from Devonport, on a work trip)

    ReplyDelete
  3. yep... wow.... Im too scared to buy a house that needs renovating. But you have done such an amazing job. How did Craigs list selling go? I loved Craigs List when we were in NY.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for reading my blog. I LOVE to have comments-even if I don't know you, please stop by and say HI! If you have a question for me, I'll answer in the comments, so please check back.

ShareThis