Renovations

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BetteTheRed said:
Mine is an early 60s bungalow in a nice neighbourhood with mature trees. Very unimproved. Everything works fine (except those things that are currently in process, like the blasted furnace that was diagnosed terminal this a.m.), nothing is improved. There is one telephone jack in the entire house, the lack of outlets gets a bit tiresome, the kitchen doesn't even have a dishwasher, the basement is half finished, no air conditioning (and that decision was confirmed today). I keep it painted, somewhat uniquely, there's a ton of original artwork on the walls, and the original hardwood floors are nice. The gardens are eclectically, somewhat messily, productive, colourful, interesting. I have nice sturdy fences, both for privacy, and for dog containment.

I often find it difficult for a woman alone to find good tradespeople, to afford them, to have access to the tools and knowledge to manage a house on your own. It's easier if you have a couple with a variety of skills, I think.
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I should be closer, I am good at general repairs ... especially when my sol repairs to a corner to make facetiae at the awful human condition without devilish equality (to certain limits)! Then many Christians question equality ... causing imbalance in the Golden Rule ...

However emotions can blind one to this kind of faith ... and deligate communication to a lesser level ... as just more words that are not understood ... and yet they say God is the word and the word is God ... but incarnate as not understanding how the word appears ...
 
That was similar to my parents house. It was living room, bedroom, bedroom and across the back the kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bedroom, with bathroom at the end. Then the basement finished. Then a massive carport with workshop on the end, then a 2nd story. Ended up that the last change cost him his ability to live there. House became too big, along with some other challenges. It is too bad.
 
My mom and step dad have a bungalow. I think it's 1940's/ early 50's. It's got character, like original glass door handles, rounded corners, an archway, and a split door to pass things through the kitchen to the dining room. It never gets used. That door stays completely open but my mother is reluctant to remove it because of that quirky character detail. Small living room open to small dining room. Hardwood floors. I think the hall floor was replaced some time ago. Decent sized kitchen with an eating corner/ space for table. The spice cupboard used to be a fold down ironing board in the wall - my mom finally changed that and updated the other cupboards. Small upstairs bathroom which was renovated with a jacuzzi tub, 20 years ago, that never gets used, 2 small bedrooms - one functions as a den/ tv room/ guest room with a fold out couch. It might be craftsman style bungalow, I think. Downstairs, the basement and garage are a big, semi organized, semi pigsty, workspace, storage, and half suite w/ bedroom built when I was a teen, still unfinished bathroom and laundry.

My parents are finding more needs to be done than ever these days. They had to replace the furnace, replace the dishwasher and some of the plumbing due to water accident that went through the floor/ ceiling. They recently replaced part of the back deck which was renovated only about 10 years ago. (Relative who's a shipbuilder fixed the deck for free both times - but with the big plumbing jobs they call the plumbers.) It was already rotting in places. They had to fix the driveway. A bunch of other things. My mother wants to stay there indefinitely. There is no way she will go to a seniors' home. But it's like a leaky boat, that house. One thing gets patched up, another thing goes.
 
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Seeler - I think you have basically the same house as me! We use the smallest bedroom as an office area. One of the others became 'my' room - sewing - calligraphy - art/craft supplies for grands - stuff that just won't go anywhere else. My guy has the nearly double garage for his woodworking. The car doesn't know what a garage is.
 
I pictured you and Seeler living in similar spaces for some reason, Kay. I picture where people are with what they've said and their "voices" here and I do think of you and Seeler writing from similar locations.
 
Kimmio, it's absolutely normal that, once housing gets to a certain age, there's stuff that has to be done on a rotating basis, and it, too often, intersects with some other thing that's going to go. Everything has a 10-15-25-50 year lifespan and then it's trying to manage/balance stuff out when a bunch of crap goes at once (you do not want to hear about my 4 weeks, between shower fixtures wyrdly installed by a long-ago plumber, a new furnace, leaking pipes and water heaters and the spectre of my driveway soon and a roof in the next decade in my head).

I use the smallest bedroom (which was my childhood bedroom - it's the smallest - and coldest - in the house) as my den/office The other bedroom is my spare bedroom/yoga room/craft room (currently occupied by my daughter). The fair-sized master bedroom, with a walkout to the back gardens, is mine. My single garage, however, which I would like my car to see, is full of other people's junk. My parents' junk, my siblings' junk (not much - but I swear there's still a box named "Cat's Cowboy Boots" in the back corner of a back corner somewhere), my children's junk.
 
The neighbours just down the street had a similar aged/ style of house. This past summer they had the whole house lifted off the foundation and hauled away. I was there along with a bit of a block party, with the lawn chairs out late at night, to watch - it doesn't happen everyday. Interesting, and a bit bitterweet to see an old neighbourhood home rolling down the street, and an empty lot left behind. It was rather funny to see the house roll by. They sold the house, as is, to people in Washington State - went by barge. So, it was to be put on a lot there, I guess. Apparently, whatever the deal was, it was worth it. Talk about re-use and recycle! The owners of the property are in the midst of building a bigger, brand new home.
 
I knew of a couple that moved every 18=24 months ... they never lived in one place long enough to accumulate much ... the advantage of over-emotionalism, dynamics of leaving even your thoughts behind!

Tis a paranormal etude in metaphysics ... how thing become instead of just bean!
 
One of my adult kids bought a used house and moved it to their acreage. It is a big place with a double attached garage. They claim it was much cheaper than building a new home but didn't share numbers. First they got the site levelled, the basement hole dug out and the foundation made. The moving company cut the garages off the side and moved them several miles to their new space. Then they went back and got the house and carefully placed it so the two bits matched as best as possible- turned out the garages are a quarter of an inch low - easily dealt with as the flooring needed a repair anyway.

There were pilot vehicles ahead and behind and all traffic was stopped on the highway so they could pass. It was a very close call getting across the bridge! I'll try to attach some poor quality photos - not sure I know what I'm doing!
 

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Even the Romans had pilots ... front people to take the blame when Ayres are trump ET'd out ... Gabriel's work ... Jazzy!
 
First loves are hard to get beyond ... just arche stuff out there ...

It could be an curios experience thou' ...
 
All I remember of our Lada (it was my new husband's car; I had never owned a car before) is *putt, putt, putt...bang!; putt, putt, putt...bang!* and the broken driver door which necessitated that the driver crank open the window and open it from the outside.
 
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Moving in to my new office. Finally.

The paint was something I had leftover, but it's a nice sky blue to contrast the basement setting. Simple big box store laminate going down against a starter strip that will eventually give way to carpet once the rest of the basement is done. Looove my new mitre saw. Tools are great.
 
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