I figured this would probably be a good place to keep you all up to date on how the changes at Chez Nous are going. First, a refresher course of how our house used to look:
Our house, with small boy
The front steps, then and now
The front door, then and now
The kitchen
Ooo, that was a little messy. Let’s try that again. The kitchen, then and now
That pile of wood? Is all of the wood flooring we had put in a few years ago. Easy come, easy go. We’ve donated almost all of our appliances and much of the interior—flooring, drywall, wrought iron—to Habitat for Humanity, which apparently can use all of it in new projects they’re doing, which gives us a three-fer: a warm fuzzy feeling, satisfaction knowing we haven’t exploded the landfills more than we normally do, and a tax deduction. Yay, team.
The back deck
That bit where the red-handled pole is coming out of the deck is where they’re laying the foundation for the new staircase.
Since I’ve taken these photos, they’ve also removed the front porch and the roof. But those pictures will have to wait for next month’s entry.
What’s weird about this whole process is seeing that our big, solid house is nothing of the sort. Easy to change the facade, easy to change all of the details. As I said to Darin, we could have gone from Mediterranean Revival to Tudor if we’d wanted to. (His response: “No, no we couldn’t.”) It’s just a big framework with plaster stuck on the outside.
So…you went for the distressed, post-tornado, rustic look. It’s a bold statement.
What do you plan on doing with the front steps?
The distressed, post-tornado look is our standard look: I’m not much of a housekeeper. (Check out that first pic of the kitchen.) However, the remodel is really bringing it to a whole new level and for that I give it two snaps up.
Interestingly (YMMV), the front steps are the last part of the original house on the site. Reportedly, the people who owned it in the early 80s told the town they wanted to remodel the 85 yo house, then proceeded to tear down everything except the front steps. After that the town said, You know, from now on a “remodel” means “you keep the original foundation plus two walls…or else we charge you big.” Yes, you have my house to thank for that!
Anyhow, however old those steps were… I have no idea where they are now. Probably donated along with the rest of the house materials/appliances.
Wanted to ask about Mellow Dew ice cream.
How does it look today? Has there been much progress?
Scott said he saw studs in a recent drive by.