We are on the eve of a new year and this blog is being written from our new home! We may be sleeping on an air mattress tonight, but we will start 2018 waking up in our new home in Downtown Summerville and we couldn’t be more excited!
As you may know from the previous blog, we closed on the new house forever ago! At least, it seemed like forever to us. One of the contingencies in our contract was that the seller had 30 days to empty the home. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when you are waiting for keys to your new house so you can start renovations and get moved in…it seems like forever! But it finally happened on Thursday and it’s been a very busy few days for the Coles!
Thursday was a close to normal day (for one of us at least!). We knew the movers were coming to get the belongings starting on Thursday so we felt pretty optimistic about getting the keys Thursday evening. John really wanted to make sure we got those keys so he leant a friendly hand and helped get things packed and moved out! Thanks to him jumping in and helping, he walked away that afternoon with keys in hand. Yay!!
Friday was spent prepping by John. A large portion of the day was spent getting the water heater in proper working condition. Since it had not been used in quite some time the lines needed to be cleaned, a job I was happy to let him do. He got that done and all the “essentials” unpacked into the living room to begin our renovations. I, on the other hand, took care of sending the pup off to stay with grandparents for a while so we could put in the long hours and not be neglecting her…Thanks Dad and Betsy for keeping her!
And then it was Saturday…oh boy! That’s when the fun really began. We came into the long weekend very optimistic with high hopes of being productive. We had no clue it would be as productive at is was. We ended up getting a lot done.
First…my assignment was to remove all the chair railing and decorative molding from the dining room. I managed that with pretty good success if I say so myself! While I was doing that John worked on making the “laundry room” truly an area that the washer and dryer could both go. It meant taking out the closet in the back porch area but you really couldn’t get to it anyway and now we don’t have to worry about being able to wash our clothes…it’s will be more of a matter of finding the energy and time!
Next came the big project for the day. The biggest demolition project happening before we move in is the kitchen and dining room area. We had previously decided to take down the wall so we could make it a much larger open area. We also needed to remove all appliances, counter tops, and cabinets. The kitchen will be getting a complete make over. Just as we got ready to start, Andy came stoping by. Although he says he was just stopping in to say hey, he got put to work pretty quickly. He got to take the first swing with the sledge hammer and next thing I knew, him and John will tearing it up and I was hauling it all out. It was no time before we had the cabinets torn out and a nice little hole in the wall that would soon be coming down. The best part of all of it was that we found great hardwood floors under the raised layer of floor that’s in the kitchen now. So we ended up with a hidden treasure of matching hardwoods to the rest of the house, something we were not really confident we’d find! Andy was a huge help during this initial process and we were grateful he just “stopped to say hi”!
Next on the agenda was the columns between the living room and the dining room. They weren’t really a huge deal but they were kinda driving me crazy, so they had to go. They came out pretty easily and we were ready to keep rolling on the kitchen demo.
As luck would have it, my Dad and Betsy showed up about that time. So, as it goes, Dad got the fun of helping John tear down the wall that had to come down. John and Dad got a big portion of it down and there are some great beams we were able to hold on to for a future project. As my Dad was wrapping up Andy showed back up (this time intending to work because he knew a wall would be coming down!) and it was almost as if they traded off. Dad was out and Andy was in. John always had a helping hand on the demo and I did my best to keep hauling stuff out so we could keep things moving along.
Next, John and Andy tackled taking the chandelier down out of the dining room. This light hung incredibly low, and while it was probably very nice when the house was decorated differently, it just wasn’t going to work for us. Unfortunately the light came down just a tad too late, I knocked my head on it pretty good before they got around to taking it down. But it’s down, and hopefully found a new home at my Mom and Charlie’s house…we shall see!
As they wrapped things up I made a quick run to the store. We had made tremendous progress, more than either of us thought would be done in a day, and we had a game plan for the new layout of the house. John and I were both happy about the plan and knew exactly what we were going to do with each living area.
Well….that’s not how things were when I got back from my very quick run to the store! When I came in no words were needed, I could tell from the expression from both John and Andy that they were up to no good. Turns out, they had come up with a completely different game plan! And, surprisingly enough, I am completely on board! We won’t be doing the giant farmhouse table like we planned, nor will I have an office space in the kitchen like I thought. But I am very excited about the revised layout of the living spaces we have…you’ll have to just wait and see though!
Today has been spent hauling trash and cleaning up. Demolitions leave a lot of dust! After cleaning pretty good, a trip to the dump, setting up our bedroom, and getting rid of the appliances took up most of our day. But, it has all paid off! We get to spend our very first night in the historic home we’ve always dreamed of on New Years Eve! Yeah, it’s gonna be a little noisier than it would out at the Crab Shack. Traffic will take some getting used to and hearing the train go by a few blocks away (like it is right now!) will have to eventually be tuned out. But we have our perfect little cottage and we get to start 2018 waking up in it.
We are so excited about all 2018 has in store for us. Outside of the new house we know we will have many wonderful adventures together again this year. To me, our adventures are just like fine wine…they are getting better as we are getting older! We are learning our way together and our adventures are so much fun. We hope you have had a wonderful 2017 and that 2018 is going to be full of adventure for you and yours. As we say goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018 remember to enjoy life, have fun, and look out for your neighbor! We can all learn more by helping others and by being kind. Happy New Year Everyone from Coles Adventures at Coles Cottage!!
Coles Adventures 