Kory and I started our weekend flat on the floor, literally. Somehow the crowbar managed to make its way under the air mattress we had been sleeping on and cut a massive hole in our makeshift bed. We woke up to find our "loyal" dog sleeping across the room on her well padded dog bed while we were on an airless air mattress. Some dog. Luckily the timing worked - Kory was heading to Punxsy to get our things, which included our crazy comfortable mattress! What a relief!
The weekend was full of lots of hard work, family style. We had my mom, dad, and little brother all down to help with some of our work load. The main focus was creating a space for our acceptably sized refrigerator. This process would include a bit of layout reconfiguration between our kitchen and living room. The plan was basically to shift the dividing wall back several feet and add an adjacent wall - think closet type refrigerator enclosure. While Kory headed to Punxsy to get all of our belongings, my dad did the demolition.
This is the wall before my dad and Kory got started...
And after the demolition and they reframed the refrigerator closet, this is what we have after day 1 - two hopeful men... stay tuned for the undisclosed surprise that was discovered during this home renovation.
Meanwhile, my hardworkin' little brother, Mikey, was in the basement painting all of our interior doors...
...And my decorator mom was trying to mount curtain rods to the impossibly thick plaster walls.
After my parents wrapped up their work for the day, Mikey and Kory headed out to the moving truck to attack the daunting task of moving all of our over-sized furniture into the house. Waiting until late evening added an additional challenge - maneuvering in the dark. Fortunately their catlike senses worked to their advantage and they managed to get everything inside, in one piece. Thank goodness for strong, hard working guys... And thank goodness for not having to move again, for a very long long time!
Before moving to Denver, Kory purchased an irresistably comfortable recliner which was quickly taken over by Sam. Because of the small size of the last place we rented, we were forced to put the recliner in storage. When Sam found her long lost napping spot in the living room she seemed overcome with joy. She sniffed, and sniffed and sniffed, confirming that her old faithful chair was back! It was pretty sweet... I think dogs remember more than the experts claim. There was definitely a fond memory in the scent of that chair...
After a long day of work, my furry friends welcomed bedtime in what felt like the world's most comfortable bed... (notice, no room for anyone else)
The following day was full of surprises... terrible ones, as usual.
When my dad went into the attic to do some electrical wiring, he found an absolute mess. He worked in the heat of our tiny attic for hours. I can barely sit up straight in our attic, so you can imagine the challenge the tiny area would create for my 6'4'' father. He kept saying, "The guy who did this was a complete idiot!" All I could think was, "Thank God my dad knows how to fix this stuff!" I think I thanked him 20 times over the course of the afternoon. My dad explained to us that the quality of the original work was phenomenal and that all of the problems he saw were related to what the last owner did...
While he was rewiring in the attic, he and Kory pulled back some of the insulation to reveal that the idiot that wired the kitchen also removed a portion of one of the walls that was load bearing. They explained to me that the living room ceiling was just hanging. There was nothing to support the ceiling! Somehow this shocked me... but I was so relieved that they discovered this major structural flaw in time to correct it before it was a major issue. They pointed out the hairline crack that was slowly revealing the issue that was lying beneath the surface of the drywall. They did the only thing they could and extended the wall out in order to support the living room ceiling. The layout of the house is much less open, but at least we don't have to worry about the ceiling caving in!
Unfortunately, this took up most of the day and did not leave my dad enough time to teach Kory how to drywall... so we have a framed in box in our living room... for now. In the coming days, we plan to contact the structural engineer that inspected our home before we purchased it, and gave no indication that there were any issues with the framing of the house.
What else could possibly be concealed in this house? I may not want to know the answer to that question!
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