Preparing for a major renovation

Hello dear friends, it is time for an update on some very exciting (and a little scary) renovations!

Earlier this year we spoke to a contractor about getting some help with unfinished projects around our old stone house. Over the years we have taken on some improvements but we still have many items on the to-do list that have dragged on for far too long.  And of course our stone house is 170 years old which means it has endured generations of daily wear and tear along with some cracked plaster walls and ceilings, sloping floors, doors that don't close properly and all of the other characteristics that lend charm but get annoying over time.  We interviewed 3 contractors and decided that we would engage the contractor that promised to cost us the most money by going with a complete gut and rebuild of the interior of the stone house.  :)  

In order to do this work we had to move everything out of the old house which was a huge undertaking as after 31 years we have accumulated a lot of "stuff".  Sorting, tossing, packing, donating was finally accomplished and we are trying to live in the addition we had built 11 years ago.  The situation is not ideal but at least we have our kitchen, and main floor bath with shower, and our dining room which we have converted into an emergency bed sitting room.  Now on to what our house looks like when it is empty!

Here is a view of our upstairs hall.  When we first viewed the house it was this hall that spoke to me.  A cathedral window and having rooms on both sides of the stairs made me so happy.  At the time we could see Lake Belwood from the cathedral window and we were pretty excited about the big original pine floor boards.  :)

The reality however was not quite so romantic.  The pine floorboards had been sanded down many times over the years leaving them a little thin in spots.  The boards were no longer thick enough to withstand more sanding so we covered them with runners and an area rug.  We replaced all of the original windows (including the cathedral window) in the house almost 30 years ago but the rebuilding of the window sill and casement was a challenge so this area was always cold in the winter.  The railing and spindles are not original to the house, we installed these to replace a makeshift railing the previous owners had installed that was outright dangerous.

The bathroom was probably a bedroom at one time.  We believe that power and plumbing was added in the 1950s and while it is still safe we are looking forward to an upgrade.  All new plumbing and wiring will be installed and although what we had was perfectly safe the new work will of course meet all of the current building codes which also means outlets on every wall.  We will be able to pack up our large collection of in use extension cords.

We have not shown Chantalaria's room any love or affection for many years.  (Yes, we do name the bedrooms!)  Originally we had a single bed in this room but over the years it turned into a bit of a storage room/office and eventually we stopped using it all together.  The floorboards in this room are weak and we had a leak in the roof so this poor room will benefit the most from the upgrades.

This is the aqua room and before we built our addition we used this as our master bedroom.  We are pretty sure that each of these rooms still have the original ceilings and definitely still have the original lathe and plaster walls.  We think someone tried to repair the ceiling in this room and covered it with stipple plaster.  We don't have any explanation for the beam in the ceiling.

Kodiak's room also has an original and wonky ceiling and original walls.  We had installed new flooring in both the aqua room and Kodiak's room to match the flooring that was installed in our addition.  My husband removed that flooring and we were able to donate it to the Restore.

I have had some questions about salvaging the materials from the stone house.  The contractor is removing the windows and we will be able to use them in other projects around the farm.  The floor boards and the wood trim are unfortunately all too damaged to be salvaged.  The original old doors with the old hardware were all donated to the Restore.  Sadly it is a challenge trying to find ways to repurpose some of these items.  Our old wooden blinds can't be donated as they have pull strings.  Other items like the spindles and railings will be left at the free centre at the dump.  Some items will be posted for free on facebook marketplace.  The materials that are ending up in the dumpster will be properly sorted and hopefully resold or used for something else. 

The library took forever to pack up.  We didn't realize how many books we managed to fit in this room.  The original floorboards in this room were lost long before we came here.  When we removed the carpet that was here we found OSB subflooring so we added wood laminate boards.  The contractor will have these boards removed for us to use in other buildings on our property.  The wood trim is original but quite damaged and cant be salvaged.  Originally this room would have been the parlour so it has the most elaborate trim in the house.

Our living room had the same OSB flooring with carpet when we moved in.  We installed the same wood laminate flooring on the entire main floor.  This room had very plain painted woodwork and when we tried to refinish it we found it had been badly damaged and filled in with cement!  Over the years we removed the baseboards, added chair rail and painted all of the wood to match.  We think that the hideous red brick fireplace was added in the 1970s and for years I have threatened to paint it.  This room will receive a new stone fireplace, a walnut mantle and stone hearth.  We love having a fireplace and in the cooler seasons use it almost every night so this investment will be well worth the expense.

This room used to be our old galley kitchen.  Once upon a time we think it may have been a little bed sitting room as it is accessed through what would have been the parlour.  It was used as a kitchen when we moved here.  Although the big window lets in lot of light at 7 X 12 feet the room was quite small for a kitchen.  We had less than 4 feet of counter space and it was not possible to open the oven door and fridge door at the same time.  This room will be come a laundry room/butler's pantry.  We were able to salvage almost all of the pine cupboards that were built by my father in 1997.  The old countertop is trash but the sink and and faucet are all still in good condition and will be donated.  

We have had questions about our dogs and how they are handling the activity.  The short answer is that Abby is fine but Vera has been feeling unsettled.  Hopefully they will adapt to the chaos in a few days.

Thank you for visiting my blog!  More updates to come!