More Work to the Exterior

Clapboards and rain gutters installed. Still have to paint the clapboards yellow and replace the shutters:

Windows and Clapboard, Day 1

We're doing half the windows now and half next year. Here we are, pre-work. (Yes, ceilings really were that low in the 1970s.)

This is about noontime:

By the end of the first day, all six windows were in place and I'd bought five replacement baseboard heaters. (It made sense to do all the energy-efficient changes at once...) More to come...

Exterior Repair, Part 1

Simply removing the front entryway overhang

got a bit more complicated than we thought, when we found significant water damage:

At the contractor's advice, we contracted our insurer....

---

UPDATE: Here we are at the end of Day 1:

Man With Power Tools

Darren decided to take down some dead trees:

We'll have enough firewood to last all summer....

Yes, Formica... You Got a Problem With That?

One of the tensions in remodeling a "mid-century modest" house is wanting to create a jewel box without outbuilding the neighborhood. Our countertops and cabinets are late 1970s and we have no desire to replace them anytime soon. That means that the countertop we want to put in between the two rooms shouldn't be marble or granite.

Here's the spot we want to put it:

We decided that a 1970s split just calls out for Formica, so here's a preview of what we're thinking of installing:

Details to follow...

Kitchen Work Continues

The kitchen mini-reno continues:

"I accidentally hung the doors upside-down. Can you reach the knobs if you jump?"

Day 2 (Sort Of) of the Kitchen Mini-Reno

New electrical outlet, sheetrock; first coat of mudding; made doorway wider; reinforced half-wall; prepared top of half-wall for countertop:

And the archaeological dig continues: under the ugly green 1990s vinyl tile squares is an even uglier 1980s floral sheet vinyl. Beneath that is a 1970s Moroccan theme vinyl tile:

Unfortunately, there is no hardwood flooring or ceramic tile beneath that.

---

We've already picked out some new "real" tile, which will go in at a later time, as time, installer schedule, and budget permit: Level Just 10 x 20" porcelain tile in Oro:

(The pattern won't look at "crazy-quilt" as this: the manufacturer is just trying to show the variations.... We'll also be installing in a brick pattern)

The Kitchen Mini-Reno Begins

We're slowly chipping away at the ugliness that is our kitchen. Because we don't have the finances to do a full renovation at this point, we're tackling projects a step at a time. Here's where we're at after one day of light demo: (The backsplash tile was removed earlier this month)

Above: under the ugly white paneling was an even uglier brown one, if you can believe it......

Above: And under that was some hideous floral wallpaper. It's like an archaeological dig in here!......

Above: The post is gone and it really opens up the space! (Yes, we checked to make sure it wasn't load-bearing first....)