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?

Introducing

Introducing : our new (first) house -

View from the front yard - gotta love that antenna, awning, and gigantic bushes.

Please come in! Glass door knobs on every single door! Complete with skeleton key. 

Butler's pantry in the kitchen - this must survive the remodel!  I love it.  I love it.

 

I adore this old kitchen... and that HUGE window! But there is no room for appliances with the current set up...problem.  

Red counter tops! You can not get this from the picture, but they are coated in layers and layers and layers of funky grime. 

Huge window (still in the kitchen) the widows crank out to open - so neat! Down side : apparent sacrifice area...  kidding!  It's some kind of rust/ paint. I think. 

Gourmet stove next to the built in ironing board. 

Bedroom number 3. With a wall of gorgeous old windows! 

Look at all the light! And that fancy AC unit. 

The floors are gorgeous. Just imagine how amazing  they are going to be when they are cleaned up! 

Bedroom number 2! That pile in the corner was apparently a cat's pee pad. 

Some type of technology called a "typewriter" and an old school desk! 

The ONE and ONLY bathroom. 

Love that arched bathtub/ shower area! 

Bedroom number 1. We are planning to use this as the master. 

Bedroom 1 - the Master. 

Front entrance, fireplace and awesome old widows! 

Living room and front door. 

Entrance from the breakfast nook/ butlers pantry into the kitchen. Beautiful framing of that fridge! 

 

French doors from the dining room to the front porch. 

+

The closer

I can not believe the amount of time that has passed since we first toured this house to this day. I have quietly been expecting something to fall through. I didn't know what it would be - but I was so certain that it would, I really didn't even want to talk about the house to other people...I was afraid I would jinx it. So many little parts had to work together. I didn't think they all could.  They did. We made it to close.

Since we received the letter on time, we were actually able to move the close date up from Friday to Wednesday. The closing was a bit tricky since so many parties were involved in this deal. This was not a traditional ownership with one simple seller.

From what we have learned, the couple who built and lived in the house in 1933 left the house to their two daughters when they passed away. Each daughter owned a 1/2 interest in the home. Daughter B was married and moved out of the house at some point. She later passed away, leaving her interest in the home to her husband. When Daughter B's husband then passed away, the interest in the home went to his two nephews (we are not certain if they had no children of their own, or if they too were no longer living). The nephews are both still alive and well and each one is married. That makes four.

Then there was the other daughter, V, she makes five. The one who, from what we know, has lived in the house essentially since it was built in 1933, or very shortly thereafter. She was never married. She had no children. She did not do a lot of home repairs :)

About a year and a half ago, she was no longer able to live in the home on her own and had to move to an assisted living facility. From what we know, she did not want to leave the house - and thus, it sat vacant for a nearly two years until it was decided that the property would need to be sold.

She was not able to come to the closing, but we were told, that took a lot of convincing by her Realtor and the other four co-owners. It seems V was convinced that she WAS coming to the closing. Who can blame her?

Only two parties were able to be present at closing, which meant their attorney in fact (one of the brothers) had to sign each document on behalf of himself, his brother, his brother's wife and the other daughter, V. It was a long closing. Our trusty closing attorney (below) maneuvered everyone skillfully through the paperwork. 

We all waited patiently while that poor man was required to sign as attorney in fact for those three other owners over, and over, and over again. And - when it was all over. We needed a drink. Oh - and I should add, Eric and I now owned a house. 

Closer to close

The scientists, geologists, clean up crew and back hoe operator dug up the backyard, conducted multiple tests, removed twenty some tons of soil from the yard and got rid of all the nasty stuff. I think they said two full dump trucks? I can say with scientific certainty that it was nasty stuff because I watched some of the removal during my lunch break. The soil was tinted green and the smell was so heavy, I tasted it all afternoon. The nice*  people at the state of  North Carolina very timely* reviewed the handy work, a series of soil samples, final test results, a certified report and finally everyone agreed...alas, the lust had been subdued.

A little over a month after we first learned the tank had been leaking oil, and a few days prior to close, we received a letter from the State proclaiming that no further action was required to clean up the contamination. (Note to self: consider framing letter as very expensive piece of artwork, next to other very expensive pieces of artwork...i.e., college degrees).

Honestly, we were lucky. We had the soil test before it was our responsibility, had it timely remedied, and the removal was paid for by the sellers. We also learned that clean-ups regularly cost more than double what ours did. OK, we were very lucky.

Unforeseen side effect: our soon to be next-door neighbor got curious watching us digging around in the backyard.

She had her own soil tested. Surprise, her tank had also been leaking. She now has a back yard full of new soil and grass seed and a very large bill for the clean-up. Lesson: do not have your soil tested for leaking chemicals.



Figuring out the renovation loan, working with the general contractor, figuring out the work needed, the money involved, the inspections, and other surprises took a bit longer than anticipated. The original closing was scheduled for July 31st; we all agreed that in order to actually get to close, we would need to push it back a month to August 31st. That month took forever...



* please note sarcasm. 

LUST

Professor Kilbert one day told us that everyone loves environmental law because it is so sexy. Much sexier than other areas of the law. Now, that is something I had never thought of before. And I wondered, where is this guy going with this?

Professor Kilbert

Then I learned all about the "LUST". The Leaking Underground Storage Tank. Whoa. That is sexy. Kilbert really knows his stuff. When I learned we had one - not just in the text books - but in our very own soon to be backyard, I started taking my studying of the LUST a bit more seriously. I mean, I really dove into reading everything I could get my hands on. I blew up the NC DENR's website and read every guidance document more than once. http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/wm/ust

What I learned, in a nutshell: that shit is expensive to clean up. I could probably get an A on that test now...