A sinking feeling

I will admit, I may have changed my mind once or twice during this remodel.

But there are a few very special things that I have known for a long time that I must have - someday. One of those things: farm house sink. I adore these big old classic sinks.

Even Eric is on board with my hunt for an affordable farmhouse sink (they can be a wee bit pricey). So, when we found one (below), we were pretty pumped and put in the order.


We got the call Friday that our sink was ready for pick up! It is in a huge box.  Very heavy. Two person lifting job. So excited to open it up! I opened it this morning to check it out; it doesn't quite look as good as the one we ordered...

Serious problem. They need the sink for the cabinets and counters to work. Which is happening very soon. Not good. We ordered two more today. One out of three has to be intact...right?

Demo Daze

The week of September 9th, I was traveling for work. All week. I felt like I was in a time warp. Which, I guess I really was, due to the drastic time difference between the East and West Coast.  But, really it just felt strange because I barely talked to Eric and when I got back to the house a week later, I realized that during my absence, the ball had started rolling...big time. I tried not to take it personally.

Eric dug up all of the bushes - by himself! 

We got a new roof! "Weathered Wood" Honestly, I thought it was going to be dark brown.
It was hard to tell on a tiny little sample swatch.

But it's not leaking - yet. The last time the roof was replaced was the year that Hurricane Hugo hit.
Yep, time for a replacement.
The antenna and awning are gone. The shiny flashing is now a matte black. 

And last, but not least, the demo started! 

The Kitchen was gutted!
The side wall of the pantry was removed  and new framing was added over the previous pantry door opening.  It is no longer a pantry, but a "fridge nook" - the fridge will slide into the opening. The wall separating the "butler's pantry/ breakfast area" from the kitchen was also removed. So sad to loose that precious arched doorway. 

The sink will go under the first big window and the "breakfast bar" area will be under the second set of windows. 

The room looks enormous with the cabinets and wall removed! 

Things are starting to move along! Note to self: travel more often. 

Snakes on a wall

I considered the need for a more clever title for this post, but then I realized - if a Hollywood blockbuster can be called "snakes on a plane" - why waste my time getting clever for this little blog?

It all started when we were cleaning out the basement. That's right. BASEMENT. In North Carolina. If you live in NC you know that such a thing is unheard of (Michiganders, trust me. It is rare). Even more unheard of, it also has an outside door. The beauty of little miracles.

A real basement! 

This is the basement door that leads to the side yard. Pretty crafty. And yes. It pretty much looks this creepy.

As we were cleaning, I foolishly made a comment about the lack of insects, spiders, spider webs and other unmentionables normally found in basements. Then I foolishly proceeded to ask "have you seen evidence of snakes?".

He proceeded to foolishly answer: "No. You are so paranoid. There are no snakes down here." (that is a direct quote).

I assume you can see where this is going. Like the movie, the title may have given the plot away.

A section of the basement is  just crawl space. Ours was filled with all kinds of rubble. But no treasures worthy of Antiques Roadshow....yet.  Here, Eric is panning for treasure (i.e. cleaning). 

In one corner of the basement is a small "cellar" type area that is separated from the rest of the basement with wood walls. On the wall was an odd looking tool of some type hanging from a nail. It was stuck there and, try as I could, I could not get it off of the nail. Something was stuck. I put my face right up against the wall so I could see what part of the tool was catching the back of the nail when I saw a glimmer on the wall - in between the board slats - it was just in the corner of my eye. What was it? I took another look. It was another eye. It belonged to this guy (or girl?).

Deadly poisonous snake on a wall? Does anyone recognize this print?

Yes. The snakes head was inches from my face. I very "calmly" stepped backwards and then very "calmly" called my dashing husband to my side. His first words "Get Ollie upstairs". Yes, save the dog.

Ollie is faking. He doesn't really like the basement. 

Dashing husband was able to use a tool to fling my new friend from the wall and onto the floor...where dashing husband eradicated the beast. The snake was long. But skinny and really pretty small. My concern, aren't those little ones the ones you need to watch out for?

We survived. Snake on the wall did not. Unfortunately, we have a lot of clean up to do in the basement. So, avoiding it indefinitely is not an option. Hopefully there is no need for a sequel titled "Snakes on a Wall 2." Sequels are always bad.

Salvage

It was the first weekend. We knew there were lots of random little treasures we needed to rescue before the the demo started. Especially because we wouldn't be in charge of the demo. Our GC was handling that. Terrifying. We got to work unscrewing, unhinging, removing and piling  all of our little goodies away for safekeeping. 

No, I don't have a plan for every cabinet door (art canvas?) and hook (mudroom organization?) and random little metal shelf (make up caddy?) that I insisted be carried up to the attic...but I'll think of something when the time comes.

Amazing glass doors with awesome old ice crusher. Very efficient. 

Eric saves the glass doors! Please don't mind awkward rip in rear of pants...we 're on a budget.

Must ...save...every ...single hook. Here I am in the pantry - future fridge nook - salvaging all the glorious hooks!

Lots of random boards from the pantry. I refuse to believe they will not come in handy. Ideas?

Future spice rack? That may have been its original use... creative failure. Gotta love that the hip little ironing board! 

Oh no. What is the definition of hoarder? Pack rat?