The Project

So we bought an old house ten years ago.  It has been uninhabited for a couple years, and before that a widow lived there alone for ten years.  In realtorspeak, there had been some deferred maintenance.  That's what realtors say when the roof leaks and there's an 80-gallon electric hot water heater.  Some hot water heater salesman is hopefully frying in hell for selling a widow with a 30 gallon bathtub an expensive monstrosity.

We have poked away at remodeling, redoing one bathroom, adding another bathroom in the basement, refinishing wood floors, etc.  And my wife has stripped several square miles of hideous wallpaper (wallpaper is evil).

The kitchen will need a remodel at some point, but it's functional, but the bathroom upstairs...pink carpeting over green linoleum, pink and white tile in the shower, and faux marble sink and vanity.  Mold on the walls and really ugly lighting.  In short, something that looks good in 1972 probably needs an update.  That, and as the only room with carpeting in the house, it attracts Gracie, who likes to back-scratch on the carpet.  So not only is it ugly, it smells like Black Lab.

Since we can't afford a contractor, we decided to contract it out ourselves, working with Adam, a great guy /neighbor / carpenter.  He's helping me do the big stuff.  I have a plumber and electrician retained, and we'll do the tile ourselves.  The walls will be cedar and unfinished.

Surprise -- the plumber who is usually booked up for a month or two is free next week.  So we got a lotta work to get done before he comes.  This project just got fast-tracked.

So if I don't write much about canoes (which is, after all, what I should be writing about), forgive me.  I'm sorta busy hauling buckets of drywall to the utility trailer.

Oh, for the record, I hate remodeling.

Respectfully submitted,

     Canoelover