10 Things You Learn Living In A Construction Zone!

So…we have had access to the new house for 9 days. We stayed our first night in the house New Years Eve and planned to stay for a night or two. But…as those in the area know, we got some crazy winter weather so we haven’t really been able to get out of Summerville and to the other house. So, we have been here all week! Being in the house has been like living in a construction zone and I have learned a few things!

1. You will move things a million times! I seriously can’t tell you how many times we have moved various tools and fixtures around this house. We get everything nice and organized, in a location that it can stay for a while. Then, the next day, we are moving those tools or that table again! We have spent 7 nights here so far, our air mattress has been moved a total of 4 times (two of those today alone!)

Our easily moved bed…four times thus far!

2. You change layouts over and over again! When we first got the house we thought we would have a living room, dining room, and kitchen. I came back from a run to the store and now I no longer have a dining room! Good thing is, I get a library/sitting room now. So now we have a kitchen, living room, and library. But, that’s just a small example of how drastically things have changed so far!

Sketching….Round 2, or maybe 3?!?!

3. You make due with what you have! If you read the previous posts, you know we tore out the kitchen. Now we have no kitchen at all, not even a sink (more fun on that further down!). When tearing out our kitchen we had no idea we would end up stuck in the house for several days because of the winter storm. We have a refrigerator, bathroom sink, and fireplace. Best option of those three lead us to soup cooked in the fireplace Wednesday night! It took a while, but it works!

Soup cooking just left of the firewood!

4. You get creative! There are only three closets in this house, and they are All in one room! Two of our bedrooms have no closets. Since we are living here, we obviously have clothes. No closets = a ladder for hanging clothes!

Our very handy “closet!”

5. You won’t always get along! Remodeling is tough, remodeling while practically confined to your home during a winter storm is even tougher! We don’t always agree on things or speak so kindly to one another. Sometimes we are short tempered. But at the end of the day we sit back and appreciate all we are accomplishing and still love each other.

Still love each other after a week of construction life!

6. Things rarely go as planned! Our first weekend with demo went way faster than expected and we knocked it out (hahaha!) quickly. It wasn’t until we started marking studs in walls and hanging shiplap that we noticed how uneven this 100+ year old house is. Things are not measured out “as normal” and walls certainly aren’t straight around here! All creating challenges and hurdles for “easy” tasks. But it all adds character to the house.

One wall (of many!) complete with shiplap!

7. You change layouts…again! We had two things “done” and in motion, our bookshelves and our kitchen cabinets. Well, we woke up this morning and that was no longer the case, we decided on some more changes. All good changes, but changes none the less. If the builders for these items don’t kill us it will be a miracle!

Attempting to reconfigure the kitchen…again!

8. You trust those there to help, even if it’s your father-in-law! When people stop by here, they get put to work! And there is no telling what you will end up having to do when you get here. Several days ago the project of tearing up old floors was going on when John discovered old laminate flooring. Who knows how old that floor was and it seemed to be put down with tar! The struggle of removing the floors lead to the idea of burning it off….literally, with a torch! That’s where the trust comes in. My father was burning the floors while John scraped them. Absolute trust, that’s all I can say!

Trusting friends and family with flames!

9. You never know what you’ll find in the shower! If you will recall, we no longer have a kitchen sink. Thus, all dish washing, paint brush rinsing, rag cleaning, and other water related needs are taken care of in the bathroom. So, you need up finding things like paint rollers, scrapers, and troughs! You just never know what you may find while hoping in the shower around here.

This would be what one sees in the shower around here!

10. We have amazing family and friends! We truly have had a lot of help so far and we are very grateful for everyone who had pitched in so far. Next week, thanks to all the help we have had, there should be some very visible changes around here.

Nancy helping protect our stuff from paint being sprayed!

Cort helping scrape numbers….didn’t work so well though 😦

Dad helping with demo.

Andy lending a helping hand.

We are having a great time making this cottage our special little home so far! Even in the snow and ice this week we have really enjoyed being here and are excited to continue sharing this adventure with you!