Week 27 – Joe

Amid the slow-paced progress of this fall we have managed to arrive at another small milestone.  Our new stairs are framed in and now provide a new, functional way to get to the 2nd floor.  [Edit from Amy: I’ve been imagining what the house will eventually be in my mind so much. It’s very satisfying to see a large missing element from my daydreams begin to materialize. I’ve imagined the walking up in this location so much that I sometimes walked to this location to walk upstairs only to realize there weren’t any stairs there. Duh.]

The stairs are being built by a longtime friend of mine.  He is even more of a perfectionist with his work than I am, so I know these are going to turn out great! Obviously, at this point the stairs are roughed-in.  They will eventually be finished with stained wood and a nice banister.  For now there are temporary treads in place.

You can see in this picture the area under the stairs where we might put a small desk for the family computer.  We also want to utilize the space under the landing as a book nook, hiding place, or just a cozy hangout place for Lucy and Aiden to hang out. This works well since the access to it would be in what we plan on making our playroom. [Edit from Amy: I’m looking forward to making this special little room]

 

Here is the view looking down to the landing from the 2nd floor.  The beam sticking out on the left will eventually be cut off.  Right now it allows for easier access to the furnace room on the other side.

[Edit from Amy: In this image below you can catch a glimpse of a very ongoing project of mine: removal of the old linoleum floor throughout most of the downstairs. You will notice the divide in flooring below the orange X on the wall. More on this snail-paced job later.]

Now that we have a secondary way upstairs we can now start the demo of the old stairs!

[Edit from Amy: The room that used to be connected to the old stairs was formerly a bedroom, hence the closets we had to demo in order to build the new stairs. That bedroom is now the downstairs bath. The door to the old staircase will now become an access to a linen closet- a luxury the likes of us have never experienced. In the near future we will have to decide if we want to demo the old staircase entirely or to only demo the top section that actually needs to be removed.  In the latter scenario the linen closet would open to a staircase to nowhere, which I find very appealing. First of all, why tear down something original if it does’t need to be? Second,  I feel Like having a secret staircase has untapped creative possibilities. I’m just not sure what those are yet. Any votes one way or another?]

Unrelated to the stairs, we did get another small demo project done.  The living room had this ugly closet that was probably added 20 or 30 years ago.

This was the easiest demo project yet.  [Edit from Amy: which just proves you weren’t around to witness the ninja kick wall.]  I managed to bring it down with just a hammer and my bare hands. [Edit from Amy: Show off.]

(I apologize for the poor photo quality…  I only had my phone camera with me at the time)

Eventually I just yanked it down…

Here is what it looks like now…

In other progress, I met with an insulation guy and got a bid that included the roof, walls, and basement.  We have a fall break coming up and our main goal is to make more progress on old and new windows (which will require more framing) so that we can have the house ready for winter.