Fireplaces

In the previous post I told you we have four fireplaces, four mantels, and five chimneys.  I am very excited about having mantels to decorate each season once we move.  Let me break it down for you:

The living room has a working wood stove insert in the fireplace.  The stove has a mantel as well.  The living room also has a brick area with a mantel that I have been told was previously a wood stove of some type as well.  That makes two mantels and one fireplace in the living room.

The front room which will be a bedroom, previously a den, also has a chimney with a fireplace and mantel.  We believe this one is probably a working fireplace, but we will have it closed off before we move since it will one day be a child's room.

The master bedroom, the original living room of the house, also has a fireplace.  This fireplace had about a foot and half of leaves and dirt when we removed the front cover.  This fireplace also has a mantel.

The most exciting find of our renovation was a fireplace.   Remember this hallway closet connecting the bathroom to the master bedroom.  We were hoping when we took down this wall it would present us with the back side of the chimney from the fireplace in the bedroom.  We wanted the exposed brick to be a focal point in our master bathroom.

So Alex and Dad got to work demoing.  

This little cubby had housed shoes before we bought the house.  

It didn't take Dad very long to realize what was going on behind this cubby.  It was screwed into the brick.  So they kept at it.

Then we found it -- another fireplace (and more original wood)! 

We were SO excited!  We reworked our original design for our master bathroom and closet so we could incorporate the fireplace into our bathroom.  How awesome is that?  A fireplace in our master bathroom and bedroom.  We decided to run electric through the fireplaces and close the chimney.  We will have electric logs in both the bathroom and the bedroom.  

Another exciting component our of master bath is the tub.  Some of y'all will be totally grossed out by this and that's completely okay.  I couldn't be more excited.  Next to the house in the cow pasture was a clawfoot tub being used as a water trough.  I told Alex I wanted it in our bathroom.  We emptied the water and checked the condition, which was actually fairly good seeing as how it had been outside as a water trough for who knows how many years.  

The tub after we moved it to Alex's Papaw's house.  

Rusted Bottom 

Rusted feet we found in Papaw's shed.

We sent the tub and feet off to be sandblasted and primed.  We then decided to paint the tub white and the feet black (although I preferred chrome feet).

The tub after a coat of paint

Me inside the tub - the inside isn't perfect, but it'll be a perfect fit in our imperfect home.

The picture below is the area for the master bathroom, closet and guest bathroom after the walls were taken down.  The tub in the picture is the original tub that we moved to the guest bathroom (the wall on the front right of the picture).  The front left side of the picture (where the ladder is) was closed off for the master closet.  And about halfway through that wood board on the right side of the picture is where we put a wall up.  For a better idea, check out the picture below.  

 

 The bathroom after we framed up everything.  This is the view from the master bedroom.  The back left corner is where the toilet will go (we still don't have a working toilet in the house).  The left front of the picture is where our double 60-inch vanity will go.  The half wall is where Alex's walk-in shower is.   The fireplace is to the right of this picture followed by the closet and the clawfoot tub will sit perpendicular to the wall to the right with a chandelier above it.

Alex's walk-in marble shower - he loves it!

The Tour...Before

This task of remodeling a 1937 house to make it our own home has been an adventure to say the least.  Let me show you around.  All of these pictures were taking prior to the auction, before we purchased the house.  This place was a mess.

The kitchen

The front room - this is becoming a bedroom.

Front bedroom - this room is becoming Kiff's room.

Front bedroom again.  Before we began renovations, you had to go through this room to get to the front room (2nd picture).  We took about 3.5 feet from this room to make a hallway and new front door. 

Original bathroom - We were able to keep these built-ins in tact and we hope to rebuild them back in the house in the dining room.  

Double vanity in the original bathroom, shower at the end.  

Tub followed by two, yes TWO, toilets.  So weird.  We kept this  tub and moved it to the guest bathroom. 

This is the hallway behind the tub in the previous picture - it allowed you to get from  the living room, through the bathroom, to this hallway-type closet, into the master bedroom (below), into the kitchen, and back to the living room.  

The master bathroom - this room smelled like cat urine, so the carpet was the first to go, followed by the weird wallpaper paneling. Again, junk everywhere.

This was/will be the dining room (which was originally a back porch I believe.  This is the only room in the house that had drywall as the original walls and ceiling.  

Dining room again.  

Dining room again with a door to outside.  The door on the right goes to the old well room.  

I don't have any before the purchase pictures of the living room, laundry room, or the pantry.  

One of the first things we did after buying the house was pull up the carpet in both bedrooms.  Under the red carpet we found GORGEOUS hard wood floors.  So we got really excited and pulled up the green cat urine smelling carpet to find vinyl floors.  So we pulled up a corner of the vinyl and found hardwood there as well.  This turned out to be more challenging than we thought.  Alex just finished 10+ hours getting the black tar-like substance under the vinyl off the hardwood floors, but it will most definitely be worth it in the end. 

The floors under the red carpet - beautiful!

The front two bedrooms had 2 inch plank horizontal pine walls and ceilings.  We decided to pull the strange wallpaper paneling down in the master bedroom and we found studs - no pine planks.  This was a huge disappointment.  Well one day while I was home with Kiff, Alex decided to go ahead and pull down all the paneling, because we were going to replace with sheetrock.  He called me and told me to come over.  I gathered Kiff and we went to the house only to find 3/4 of the room had the same plank walls and ceiling as the other rooms.  The portion we originally pulled off had been a doorway, which was why there was no planks.  

Our very first peek into our room where we were hopeful we would have plank walls!

Part of this door frame is where we cut into and had our feelings hurt.  

Above the fireplace in our room - finding more original wood.  There are 4 fire places in the house, four mantels, and five chimneys.  

Pulling down the tile ceiling to find original plank ceilings.  

Ceiling tiles and paneling gone.  

Semi 360 view of the room - don't get dizzy.  

We assume this to be Kiff's (the first one) handwriting on the walls.  I wanted to leave some of this exposed and put a frame around it, but we got a bit paint happy and painted over it.  I'm glad we have this picture!

After removing the ceiling tiles in the living room and kitchen - the tiles that are in this picture are holding up the insulation from the attic - there was a wall there previously.  We built a faux beam to match another one in the living room.  

 So this post has become a bit longer than intended (it was just supposed to be the tour remember), so I'm going to stop myself here.  Stay tuned for one of the more exciting moments in our renovation coming up next!

The Olde Homestead

I've decided this blog needed some updating.  I toyed with switching over to Wordpress, but my familiarity with Blogspot kept me around.  Be on the lookout for more updates to come.  Last May, after several months of waiting and anticipating, we were able to purchase Alex's great-grandmother's (Grannie Greer) home.

I took this right after we signed the papers for the house.

The front of our house - May 2014. 

With the help of my (Georgina) parents, we have been able to do the majority of the remodeling ourselves.  My mom has done all the painting.  She has stripped, primed, and painted every wall, ceiling, trim, and cabinet in every room in the house.  Having a carpenter as a dad (both of us) has proved to be extremely helpful.  Dad has helped with the ceilings, walls, floors, really everything.  He has also helped teach Alex more things about construction.  I can't wait to show you more.  Stay tuned for a tour!

Seven Months and growing...

**One day, when I actually blog from my computer, I will post Kiff's "monthly" (more like month and a half) pictures.**

Height:  27 inches
Weight: 17 lbs 8 oz

Likes: Shoes, toys, car keys, cell phone, really anything he can get his hands (and mouth) on.  He has also found his voice and loves to hear himself SCREAM.  Yes, scream.  He talks, coos, and babbles, (currently says the da and ba sounds) but he will also let out a screech to let you know how he feels.  Sometimes, I think he just likes to see everybody's reactions.

Dislikes: Mom out of the picture.  He has suddenly become a very big momma's boy and does not like for me to be out of the picture.  If he sees me walk in the room, it's over.  He has to come to me or a meltdown will follow.  This is all very strange to me because he doesn't freak out when I drop him off at daycare or at least he doesn't when I walk away.

 
Sleeping: Not much has changed, he sleeps most of the night about 3-4 times a week.  **I refuse to say my child sleeps through the night when he is waking.  According to most peds, STTN is 5 or more hours, which is ridiculous.  Kiff was actually sleeping from 9 pm - 8 am before I started back work, with NO wake ups.  Now he will sleep 8-10 hours with 1 - 2 wake ups. 

Eating: 3 5 oz bottles at daycare, nursing on demand on the weekends.  Kiff is definitely digging more food now.  I try to take one day a week to make a week or more worth of food (in case I ever get behind in my food making).  It has been so quick, easy, and inexpensive to make Kiff's food.  We've bite size pieces of some fruits and veggies, but he is digging the purees right now.  I imagine next week I will start sending a cup of food for daycare as well.  For us the whole "feed your baby real food, he'll sleep all night" was a lie.  His sleeping has not improved (it actually digressed due to tummy issues with digesting solids) since the introduction of solids.

Playing:   Loving everything in his grasp.  He is starting to enjoy independent play a bit more.  He can sit on the floor and play with his toys for a little while before getting aggravated that mommy isn't right there.  Alex's cousins got us this AWESOME play mat for Kiff for Christmas, seriously one of our favorite gifts. Future parents, do not waste money on the small 3'x3' play mats.  This is a fisher price Discover 'N Grow Jumbo Play Mat.  I know the picture is small, but you can tell how much larger it is in comparison to most mats.  It has been awesome for our living room. 

Six Months and Growing

Height:  27 inches
Weight: 17 lbs 8 oz

Likes: Bath time.  Kiff outgrew his blue infant tub, but wasn't quite sitting up unassisted yet, so we blew up the ducky tub and he loves it.  He splashes and plays with his toys and looks up and grins.  I can't wait to get him in a pool next summer.   Mommy.  He is really turning in to a mommy's boy, which I love, but can also be exhausting.  He doesn't mind who holds him, as long as mommy is out of sight.  This often requires me ducking under tables, behind seats, or covering myself with a coat so he doesn't see me.

Dislikes: I still can't think of anything that he dislikes.  He's such a happy baby.

 
Sleeping: Doing better.  We have a full night's rest about once a week, but the night that follows is usually really poor sleeping.

Eating: 3 5 oz bottles at daycare, nursing on demand on the weekends.  Taking very little interest in food.  So far we've tried egg yolk, sweet potato, peas, and potatoes.  He seemed to enjoy the mashed potatoes from Outback.  He is also using a sippy cup when we eat.  He mostly just plays with it, but he will bring it to his mouth and turn upwards. 

Playing:   We are constantly saying (and being told) Kiff is nosy and it is so true.  He will not sleep or eat if there are things going on around him.  He is trying very hard to crawl, but mostly flaps his arms and legs around on the floor, but whenever he gets his belly off the ground I'm sure he will go go go. For now, he rolls anywhere he wants to go. 

Five Months and Growing

Height:  27 inches
Weight: 16 lbs 3 oz

Likes: Three words: Fisher Price Jumperoo. Oh. My.  Goodness.  Kiff gets so excited in his jumperoo.  He jumps and laughs and talks.  There is a jumperoo at daycare and one at the nursery at church.  I can usually pick him up from either place and he is in the jumperoo.  He likes his momma now.  He is starting to get clingy to me.  Someone else can have him and he is so very happy, until I pass his line of sight.  Then he is crying and won't stop until I go and acknowledge him.  This makes cleaning very difficult.  Kiff also is loving the dogs lately.  He'll grab Delilah by the face and "hold" her head in his hand (because honestly, can anyone really "hold" a Great Dane's head?).  He did the same thing with my brother's dogs and Alex's parents' dogs.  

Dislikes: I can't think of anything that he dislikes.  He's such a happy baby.

 
Sleeping: Since the sleep regression, I upped his bottles from 4 oz to 5 oz at daycare, that took care of 1 out of the 3 wake ups.  We also moved his bedtime up to 7:30 instead of 8 (with the goal of a 7 pm bedtime) and that took care of another wake up.  He now only wakes once between 3 and 4 in the am, nurses quickly and his back to sleep until 6.

Eating: 3 5 oz bottles at daycare.  In an attempt to get him to sleep longer, we tried feeding him an egg yolk.  He seemed interested at first, but quickly changed his mind.  It did not help with the sleep and we have not tried anything else.  Honestly, it is so much easier just breastfeeding.  Food just complicates things; although, I'm sure solids will start sometime this month.

Playing:  Kiff is so interactive.  He talks all the time.  His favorite syllable is the "duh" sounds.  Alex swears he is saying "Da-da", but I know better.  Until he intentionally says something, it's just noises.  At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  We've been putting him on the floor more recently to see if he'll try and crawl.  He either pushes his legs or lifts his chest, just not both at the same time, so he reminds us of a beached whale.

Kiff is growing so quickly and as much as I enjoy watching him learn new things and grow, it is so bittersweet.  We're having revival at church and the guest pastor told a story of butterfly hair clips in his bathroom and how he told his wife to tell their daughter to use the kid bathroom and not take theirs over.  The wife gently told him that before long, there will not be any butterfly hair clips on the bathroom counter because their little girl will be grown.  I was blubbering my eyes out.  I am really trying to cherish every moment with Kiff and find joy in the early mornings or late nights.

Four Months and Growing

Height: 26 inches
Weight: 15 pounds

Likes: Nana Fran brought home two old swings from work that were no longer used.  The fisher price kind that hang on an outdoor swing set.  We immediately set one up at Nana and Papaws and Kiff fell in love.  We quickly set up ours at our house as well.  If Kiff is being a fussy butt, I put on his jacket, grab a blanket, and put him in the swing; he's happy within minutes.  He's loving bath time more and more each bath, shown by more and more water on the floor than in the tub by the end of his bath.  Kiff has also found his feet, making diaper changes increasingly difficult.  I have a feeling his socks will not be staying on much longer.
Dislikes: Kiff still doesn't like being on his back, and he's starting to learn to turn over from back to belly.  He can get to his side and he throws his little legs, but hasn't quite made it to his belly yet.  Alex also makes this noise that sounds like he's trying to clear his throat, it makes Kiff cry.

 
Sleeping: Oh growth spurt and sleep regression, how I loathe thee.  About 2 weeks ago, Kiff started waking several times a night.  It has been zero fun.

Eating: I know he is taking 4 oz per sitting since that is how much I send in his bottles for daycare.  I feed him in the morning, he usually takes 3-4 4 oz bottles at daycare, and I feed him 3-4 times in the evening.  We have no plans to start solids for another month or so.
Playing:  Kiff is grabbing at everything with in his reach and quickly placing these items in his mouth: feet, oball, bib, paci string, Sophie, everything really.  Sophie is probably is favorite toy.  He's showing all the signs of teething, but we still haven't seen or felt any trying to pop through.

It is so special to pick Kiff up in the afternoons after a long day of work.  I enjoy taking him home and just loving on him sweetly.  He's such a sweet boy and time really is going by too quick.  Before we know it, it'll be Christmas and he'll by 6 months old.  I'm in no rush for him to grow up.