I didn't get the cool bamboo daybed I wanted for the cottage, but that's ok, I did get a pretty cool Chinese Export temple vase lamp at a local auction and will put that somewhere in the cottage. The work is coming along. Electricians are doing their thing this week and my man Josh promised me that he would have two new floor joists and the last support beam in place by tomorrow night. I took down the temporary support post in the kitchen the other day and found that the floor is still a bit mushy upstairs. The new floor joists and the beam should take care of that.

Talked to my local plumber while we waited for our connection in Atlanta. Apparently he didn't get my last phone message about doing the bathroom work, but he will go in and take a look at the project while we are gone and let me know what he thinks and whether he wants to take on the job.

We'll be back over the weekend and I will make a concerted effort to get the foam guy on the horn to come and look the project over.

til then!

The Wow Factor

I've had lots of visitors over the last several days, including a couple who reads the blog and have a cottage down in Auditorium Park. To a person, they have all mentioned the view from the second floor. In fact, I should just go ahead and change the name of the cottage to: "The View."

If one is standing on what will be the deck, one can see from the Little River basin, over to Moose Point, Mac Point, and Searsport. Sears Island hits smack dab in the middle of the view in all it's undeveloped glory. Blue Hill has it's peak in the view and Turtle Head on Islesboro rounds out the southern end of the expanse. In the foreground is the mooring field. We think this one of the finest views in Bayside.

The downstairs bathroom

Pic of the downstairs bathroom. For those of you who know the house, the window in the bathroom used to be the exterior door at the top of the porch stairs. We are going to move the stairs over towards the rear of the house and then add a step or two down to the garage. The flat area of grass where the stairs are now will be a perfect terrace seating place for an outdoor table and chairs and the grill. If the pocketbook allows it will be a slate terrace.

I digress. The photo below is the downstairs bath. pocket door framing is not in yet so that we can accommodate the shower pan and the interior walls, either stall or tile. The shower will be on the right with the commode and sink on the left. Not a big bath, but big enough to work. We'll have to put up the exterior bathroom walls before insulating so the foam has something to stick to! We can experiment with the board walls this way as I am still not sure how the walls will be. (beadboard below and v-match or tongue and groove above? All tongue and groove, or all beadboard for that matter.)

The groove in the floor marks where the chimney board wall was. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with some solution for filling in a 2" gap between floors and I decided the easiest way was to just open the gap up to a medium board length and then inset a board to make a flush division between the floors. You can see the yellow board right there, waiting to go in. When the floors are sanded and painted, I don't think anyone will notice so much. One of my more expensive options was to floor over the whole thing, but I really like the floors and the colors on them as well. (well, the green floors upstairs and the blue floors in the parlor at least.)

I can see progress! It is the one thing that keeps me going on this place, that I can see the end of the tunnel. A lot of times renovations can get the better of a person or persons and all of a sudden there are all these hidden things that jump out and bite one's wallet. So far, that hasn't really happened here (fingers and toes permanently crossed) One of the things that appealed to me about Sunnyside was that it was a shell, with all it's flaws exposed. I was just thinking today that when I showed the cottage to my sister and asked if she would be a partner in the endeavor, she balked and said the renovation costs would be too much. I knew better.

I find myself cleaning and organizing for phase six, the electricians, who come on Monday. Below are photos of the original front parlor of the house. We have only taken out about four feet of the original parlor, but on the other hand, we have opened it up to the rest of the downstairs, making it feel a lot bigger. In my space planning head, I see a pullout couch and coffee table in this corner, and if I can fit it another chair facing the couch in the left of the photo with another chair and lamp in the corner of the stair, where I am standing to take the photo.



This plan would allow for full opening of the front doors in the summer.


I would like to put a desk at the bottom of the stairs here, and then perhaps mount a TV overhead in the corner, between the two windows so that it is visible to the rest of the room. The desk may make the room too crowded, there might just be bookshelves in this corner, kind of the kid activity corner.




After the electricians finish, all we will need is a bit of insulation and then the walls for this part of the house. I am very excited for it won't take but two or three days to finish the walls and trim here. I am taking this project one room or phase at a time and it keeps me grounded and not so overwhelmed.

My man Josh got enough framed out for the electricians to do their thing next week. He looked pretty green around the gills when I saw him this morning. He finished up and I spent a few hours there this afternoon cleaning and getting things ready for the electricians. I have a loooong way to go before the place is organized enough for them, so I will work over there early for the next few days and spend the afternoon and evenings here cleaning and doing laundry and working to get ready to go on Tuesday. I needed to get the door top table out from against the wall, so I decided to play act and "stage" a kitchen plan. So what you see here is the skeleton of how the downstairs will look when finished. I think we will have the downstairs done by the end of April and the upstairs easily done by the end of June.


This is the view from the front doors as it will be. You will be able to see the water from the front porch, through the house. One the right of the double doors will likely be a pull out couch and to the left a couple of chairs and a TV at the bottom of the stairs, perhaps mounted to the corner. The new bathroom on the right and the kitchen to the left. Straight ahead is the larger living room where the addition was put on.


View from the water side sliding doors. I am standing in the living room looking back through the house.



I took the last temporary "support" post out today and the house appears pretty solid. We are adding an 18' long 4 x 4" beam running underneath the floor joists on the second floor because that area is still pretty soft. I could still feel the floor move underneath my treads today. It is coming together nicely.

I may have to call a barn raising to do the interior walls. Booze, nail guns, and good friends....either a recipe for disaster or good times!

I want to share my madness. Now that I can see the cottage taking shape, I am constantly looking for furnishings. This amazing Victorian daybed is coming up for auction in North Carolina. It is English rather than American, which will keep the price down, made of maple, and is fashioned to look like bamboo. It comes up for sale on Sunday and I have a left bid on it. I don't think I'll get it because my bid was low, but we shall see. It would be a perfect day bed for the second floor guest room, and would fit perfectly into the day bed niche that we made in that room.

I spent a good amount of time at a local auction the other night. I found a very comfortable chair. I totally wanted it for the house; same period, would look great reupholstered, and very solid and comfortable. It was cataloged as Gothic Revival, but was actually a Renaissance Revival chair. I could see where it would go, I could see it all waxed up and good looking, but I couldn't see spending as much as the bidder on the phone wanted to, especially for a rental house. So, I didn't get it. Sigh.

The bathroom has been framed out on the first floor. I have gotten so used to having the downstairs open like a loft that it's a bit of a shock to see so much space taken up by the bathroom. My man Josh has not been pulled to work on other projects, but has had the stomach flu that's going around. He was supposed to work all yesterday getting the stairs all finished framed and getting the bathroom done, but it appears that he had to go back to bed or something because the framing didn't come together. It could have been that I told him to order two new floor joists and a 4 x 4" support beam to tie into the stair supports and so he had to wait for those, but since there is no bathroom at the cottage, I can see not really wanting to be there too long if I had the stomach flu!

We are off again next week for five days of work related travel. Greg is having a show in Florida and I am tagging along, dragging a new project with me to complete on the beach. It's a research project into a private collection. We are back for three days and then down to New York City for another show and for me to pick up a table I bought for a client. I know the electrical will be done by the time we return, and I wanted to get the plumbing squared away by then, but my goto plumber has not returned my calls. My other plumber is somewhere in the middle of America on a well-deserved road trip with his hunny.

I am going to try and contact the spray foam dude today again too.

flame on!

As is always the way, the interior framing was off to a great start and then Sunnyside was left empty while my man Josh went to help out at other job sites. Thinking that he would get the framing done by today, I scheduled the electricians for Monday. I figured that Josh would be there today as he said he would and so I got there this morning at around 7am to make sure that he didn't start any framing before we talked about it. I started to rip the closet in the master bedroom out and by the time I was done thwacking the walls with a sledgehammer and then pounding the nails out, cleaning up a bit of a mess downstairs, I realized with exasperation that he wasn't showing today. Texting back and forth revealed that Josh would be there tomorrow morning....the day I have a client meeting in Rockport. I told him to meet me there at 7am since there were things to discuss...like the fact that the closet he put so much effort into building was now a mere pile of wood again and that it wasn't his fault, but my own for not communicating that I didn't want the damn thing in the first place, but that I just plain forgot to tell anyone. Or the fact that one of the new floor boards in the hallway had a knot fall out of it this morning, so I can see straight upstairs!

By the way, I really want the Moravian Star chandelier for the hall upstairs
with matching sconces throughout the house , but they are way EXPENSIVE....I'll find a way.

It was a gorgeous day here in Maine 36 degrees and bright sunshine. I took one of our dogs on a 3 mile walk along the Shore Road after leaving messages for my plumber and the foam insulation guy to try and get them to come have a look at the space. My plumber can do the work while Greg and I are away next week if need be, and so we could have the plumbing phase completed too by the end of February, putting us on point to be ready for the end of May complete date.

I took Greg over to the house today and he concurred that I should take the closet out and perhaps put in a small built-in in that corner instead. We could just make a small bead board closet, large enough to hold a few things. Or I can find a small armoire to go against one wall.

I had grand plans to go work over there today, but had insomnia last night and so was up from 1am. I wanted to take out the closet today, but will wait for my man Josh tomororw. He is coming to frame up the downstairs bathroom and the dormers upstairs as well as the half kitchen wall and beam.

Did I mention that the house feels really solid now that walls are up upstairs and tied into the roof and the sides of the house. I remember vividly not wanting to be in the upstairs bedroom with another person my size when we first bought the place, in fact, I was petrified to do so. Now the house is completely solid...adding the walls downstairs will also help a great deal.

ran into a glitch today that was totally my fault. I kept thinking to myself that I didn't want that big closet in the master bedroom for which we had planned. It is too big for a summer cottage and really takes up most of the usable space in that bedroom. I would rather have an armoire in the room on one wall and then a chair or a small couch against the wall to make a comfy seating area.

Well. I wasn't thinking about that when my man Josh was up there today finishing off the wall framing on the second floor. When I got there this afternoon, there was the closet, big as life. After careful consideration of its size and the space, I came to the conclusion that I have to rip it out.

In the plan of the upstairs, I don't think we took into account that steps that have to be built to get up to the sliding glass doors. If we left the closet in place, the bedroom would be little more than a space with a bed, a table, a closet and steps to get up to the door...I want the space to be more than that...I want renters to have areas in the house where they can relax, rather than just rooms with beds.

Already, the increase for the stairway and the closet in the second bedroom has made that room a lot smaller than I expected. I will have to reverse the plan of the room and have the beds on opposite walls. The niche created by the stairs and the closet is just the right size for a single bed and the wall opposite will take a queen bed and tables nicely. The double doors and the closet make a nice open center space to the room. I think we'll be looking at closet organizers to make the most of the space so we won't have to have a chest of drawers in that room. Uncluttered will be the mode in this space to keep the open feeling of the upstairs.



Met with our friendly electrician today. I was surprised to hear from him this afternoon since I had only left him a message this morning. He wants to start in on rewiring on Wednesday of this week! I told him that I needed time to process the next phase and could we start on Monday? Sign of the times up here that one of the busiest electricians in town can start right away on rewiring the house. He thinks that three days will do it. Electric phase will be done by the end of next week! Things are moving quite along.

Davie, my electrician, said that he used to run around Bayside as a kid. He was blown away by the view from the bedroom upstairs and he kept referring to it, saying that he would be spending all of his time out on that deck on the second floor if the house was his...there is not a person who walks into this place who doesn't comment on the perfect location of the house to the water and to the rest of Bayside. Makes me feel good.

Davie also says that he might be able to move the electric wires from the pole to the house by running them underground. I will have to talk to the town about that and come up with a plan. There is a 15 foot wide town right of way that runs from the pole past the house, but I am afraid that we would run into problems with the neighbors. I believe there is enough room to run the wires up the side of the road and onto our property, but I have to check with the village about setbacks.

Seth (no relation) finally sent me these black and white images of their work putting in the roof stringers and by doing so, somewhat straightening the bow in the roof. He has told me of their horror stories of putting in the first stringer and it taking hours to fit it into place, trying everything they could think of to put a straight board up against a bowed roof line. Greg and Seth (no relation) I guess found that by buttressing the stringers with another board set into a form on the floor, they could sledgehammer the form across the floor and knock the stringer into place. Thank goodness they decided to start in the center of the house and work outwards towards the front of the house. When I got back home, I helped with the last stringers, which essentially dropped right into place.




Ok, that was three weeks ago and we are glad its over and we are glad that the second floor framing is essentially done. The house is already so much more solid feeling than when we bought it. It really doesn't shake at all anymore.

We have walls and doorways and a framed in bathroom on the second floor! I cannot tell you how excited I am to see this type of progress after three days away! Josh did an excellent job putting the hallway floor back in, a beautiful job framing the bathroom and the double door openings for the bedroom are exactly how I wanted them to be! If renters want the second floor open and airy, the five feet of open doorways will be perfect. Here are the latest shots of the upstairs.



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Further on to my post from yesterday, I thought I would show you the kitchen renovation at our house. Since I am not in Maine and not working on the cottage, I have to show you something!

We didn't have a lot of money when we started the renovation on the kitchen. Greg took off for Atlanta to see his parents one June and I decided it would be a good idea to take the ceiling down in the kitchen since it came to just above my head. The previous owner had used white bathroom tile and white grout for the kitchen counter tops. A bad idea was made worse since he never supported the extra weight of the tiles and grout and the counter tops started to crack almost immediately upon our moving into the house. The wooden parquet floor began to lift and separate about the same time.
Here is the old kitchen...starkly white and gray

I think our whole kitchen renovation (without the new stainless appliances) ran us about $1200.00 . It took us over five years to finish because Greg and I couldn't agree on paint initially and then we just got busy with other things. Last year he enlisted the help of our friends and while I was away he finished the kitchen, which you see below, before appliances. We now have a beautiful gas range and french door refrigerator.

We'll have lots of photo catch up to do if I can ever get back to Maine from Florida. All flights up the East Coast were canceled today and I am waiting to see if they cancel my flight tomorrow.
I spoke with Greg this afternoon and asked how Sunnyside was looking and he said that the upstairs is completely framed out, bedroom and bathrooms and the new hall floor has been put down ("new" being a relative term here since Josh, our young contractor toady, cut and installed reused boards from some wall we took out previously. I texted Josh to ask him to add framing out the new dormer shapes upstairs and filling in the window hole in the second bedroom. I am excited to see 90 percent of the framing job completed. Now for electric and plumbing!
Just so you have a few pictures for the day, and for those of you renting Sunnyside who are nervous about what we can do, here are some lovely photos of the house where we currently reside, which is about 4 miles south of Bayside.

This is the front of our house the day we moved into it in 2001

And the house a few days after we cut down all the trees in front and planted the clump birch in the garden. That birch is now over double in size

The ugly back of the house. This is about the photo that the real estate agent used in the materials to sell the house before we bought it. I kept telling my broker that I wasn't interested. You might just be able to see the sagging porch, for which we had estimates as high as $18,000 to $21,000 to fix. We went with the guy who charged us $1800.00. In this photo, the house is surrounded by about 7 trees that could easily come out, adding bright sunlight to the back yard.

Well, after we saw the possibilities, we jumped on the place and this is what it looks like today.

This is one of the lovely things that we had to fix before we painted.

We ended up essentially replacing the north wall of the house. (at least that wall is insulated)

Ok, ok so for an even more stunning contrast, I want to show you pictures of the living room at Little Bohemia.

This is the before picture of the oh so depressing room downstairs off the kitchen



This is a during photo of the destruction and renovation of the living room\

And this is a photo of the room after the walls were done and the new furniture installed.


This is a photo of what the only bedroom in Little Bohemia looked like, a built in bunk bed from the '60s. I really wanted to keep it, because it was totally charming and wonderfully built (and almost exactly what I want to do in one of the bedrooms in Sunnyside for overflow guests), but I couldn't rent it so well.

And the finished product.

On the road again today. Back on Thursday. There should be big changes and advancements by the time I get back...The builders start today on the interior walls and those should be done by the end of the week.

Sunnyside scored today when I found this amazing 7 foot x 3 foot braided rug at a local flea market for $15.00. It's called instant charm. I believe the rug dates from the 1970s or so...I just can't believe that was 40 years back!

The colors are not my favorites, which makes it easy for me to put over at Sunnyside. Because the exterior of the cottage is so distinctive, I want to give the interior it's own distinctiveness. So, it would be fun to kind of charm the place out. This rug is a nice start. The vintage wicker and the grain scale, and some of the centennial windsor furniture that were already here will be a great addition.

Greg surprised me when we were flipping through a magazine and he found a photo of a checkerboard painted wooden floor. It was really folky, like the photo below, but in more subdued colors, black and milk paint white perhaps. I have always thought that type of floor beautiful, so I think we want to go ahead and try a similar treatment on the kitchen floor downstairs.

I wish I had photos of the doors we picked out for upstairs. My friend and contractor, Larry, said that he had some doors in his barn from an old house in Belfast that I might want to use upstairs. I met him at his house yesterday and we found five matching doors. 7 feet tall and 28" wide. They are tall and skinny and will be charming when installed. We are putting double doors on each bedroom, one will be a pocket door and the other will be a swing door. When renters want to open up the space upstairs, they will be able to open both doors for incredible views and cross breezes and morning or afternoon light.

A fifth matching door was found for the bathroom upstairs. This door has a glass panel in the upper section that will add a bit of light from the bath to the upstairs hallway.

Saturday Random Pics from my camera from the week at Sunnyside

First we have the obligatory view pictures. What a gloriously bright and sunny week we've had. A bit of snow, but not much. The view straight out from the house is that of Sears Island just off the coast of Searsport. Its the largest undeveloped Island on the East Coast.

Merithew Square Park in the blazing winter sun from the second floor. I am beginning to adore the views from Sunnyside.

A rare picture of the old living room, which I plan to make the TV area. Right in this corner will either be a pull out couch or a few chairs and tables. It's the perfect spot for overflow guests. The house has very large windows and lots of sun. We are ready here for insulation and walls and some paint.

Framing don on the second floor. The house seems cozier to me now that the framing is done, and a beautiful job of it too. I have gotten several compliments on the framing job...thanks to Seth (no relation) who was responsible for the lion's share portion.

Greg's new stairs with temp treads. If you cannot read the message on the treads they say (Watch Your Step F**kers)

The funnest part of the week was watching the transformation of the dormer windows. In just minutes, Seth (no relation) cut out the old, original roof boards that came all the way down to the window edge and brought in a lot more light to the upstairs! These are the types of things that make me think we are making progress. Notice all the new roof trusses!

Voila!

Sorry that this here blog has not been updated in a few. We are busily trying to finish up the framing on the second floor. The house is so solid now, I am really impressed and glad. I heard stories from Greg and Seth (no relation) about putting up the roof stringers. Because the roof was bowed somewhat, the two of them spent something like seven hours sledgehammering the new roof stringers into place. There are homemade braces for the stringers, and new tools made out of duct tape, a part of an old tool, and a broken handle...I can't explain it better than that and neither can they. Seth tells me he has some black and white photos of some of their homemade tools in action. I'll post as soon as he gets them to me.

It's time to bring in the big guns.

Seth is leaving for a month's long drive across country, I am traveling back and forth to Florida a lot right now and Greg is sewing as fast as he can upstairs to keep ahead of his orders. With that in mind, I called in my contractor friend Larry to have one of his guys come over and start framing out the bathrooms and the bedrooms. I think I said before that Larry has old 7 foot tall solid oak doors from a house in Belfast that he would be happy to barter to me. I want to reuse these doors as pocket doors for the two bedrooms upstairs so that one can have both doors open to take advantage of the views and cross breezes from both rooms. When I asked Larry how long it might take to frame up the rooms, he told me 3 days! I would be far ahead of schedule if that was indeed the case. It would make me very happy! I am starting to get overwhelmed with rental inquiries about the place, so it makes me think that summer is right around the corner.

More soon!