Lists are what we live on, what materials/tools we need to get for projects, what projects need to be done, what order are we doing them. And then there are the mornings where we just track what birds are seen on the property.
Morning watching the birds
One of the first things we did was create a layout of the house. Doing this was very helpful when ordering paint and flooring.
Finding flooring can be a difficult task. We looked at Lumber Liquidator and had settled on an engineered floor. I went to pay for it, then due to the sales guy not knowing how to process the payment correctly, we did not purchase it. I was so unhappy with them. Frankly, the lesson learned was when it is too difficult, it is not the right thing.
We moved on to looking local to our Vermont location. WW Lumber in Townsend, VT, happened to have a sale on hardwood flooring. The main reason we were looking at engineered floors is that we thought it would be cheaper. We also felt it would be close to the hardwood we wanted. Turns out by the time you add in the extras you need for an engineered floor, it is not significantly less expensive. We ordered the birch hardwood flooring and, the cost was within $300, of the flooring we canceled. We think we made the right choice. Katie was very happy since she was never really on board with the engineered flooring. The bonus was that the delivery was free and, they loaded it right into the house through the French doors to nowhere.
We went shopping for a refrigerator, stove, dishwasher. There are many scratch and dent places, such as Sears Outlet, which is now called American Freight. We found a refrigerator and dishwasher for much less than retail, with a scratch on the side. No one really looks there once it is installed? We wrapped them against weather and loaded them into the pickup truck, then took them north from NJ to VT.
If you are from a populated suburban area there are many things that come as a surprise. The installation of the stove was one of those things. In suburban NJ, when you buy a stove and have it delivered. The delivery people generally slide it in place, hook up the gas line. Then you are ready to go. None of that happens in Vermont. In Vermont, it requires a plumber to connect the propane and change the valves to accept propane. This lovely stove sat for a time while we got ready to have a plumber come in.
The refrigerator, however, slides right into place. We added a grill outside to be able to cook. Comfortable existence is now possible, while we do the rebuild.
When we laid out our rebuild list, many moving parts were considered. One thing we placed importance on was finishing bedrooms so we could sleep comfortably. Since the master bedroom needed a lot of work, including the bathroom, we started in the guest room. Paint, new floors, and baseboards make a giant difference. The before and after photo says it all. Gone are the dirty burgundy carpet and dingy gray walls. Replaced with bright walls and clean new hardwood floors.
HawkWind Designs 