Alrighty, folks. It’s been two weeks because I hated everything last Friday (I still do, I’m just coping better) so here comes a big update. Two quick things:
1.) I am paying an electrician $75.00 an hour to send an underling to my house to do things. Ask me how many shits I give about working class white voters right now.
2.) I went to the house early this morning, and my dad was standing in the front yard and before I made it two steps out of the car he said “J.G. we’ve run into a big problem…” and before he could say anything else I got back in the car. I’ll explain the problem later.
First things first, a picture of the front porch:
As you can see, everything has been powerwashed and is Nazi father with a white glove clean, a new porch light has been hung, the railing has been scraped and repainted, the stairs have been fixed and strengthened and painted, and we have gone from a full white lattice and brick to gray brick and white lattice.
Moving into the entrance, to save money, we moved the light fixture that had been in the living room to the entrance way, and everything has been rewired and new outlets have been installed:
Nothing has been done in the living room yet, so on to the dining room and kitchen. As a reminder, this was the living room originally:
This was the living room two weeks ago:
And here is the living room looking into the kitchen now:
As you can see (and in some cases can not), the ceiling and supports have been rebuilt, the wall has been completely torn out, and the basement has been jacked up and reinforced and is sturdy as can be. The very noticeable droop (inch or more) that was where the dining room and kitchen met is gone, and now I doubt a soda can would even roll unless pushed. Where the wall once was, we will put in the bar with drop lighting and stools on the dining room side, with cabinets on the kitchen side. Here is another view, a few stepos forward showing the backdoor and where the old door to the 1/2 bath/pantry/laundry room used to be:
And here is a picture with my back catty corner to the new door aiming into the kitchen and showing the stairway to the basement:
Now if you look closely at the wall between the stairway and the outer house wall to the right, you will see a hole in the wall. That was today’s “big problem.” That hole was supposed to be the vent into the chimney for the custom hood we are building for over the stove. Unfortunately, we learned today that the chimney is completely clogged and jam packed with creosote or coal dust or who knows god what.
I’ve mentioned that besides my dad, the man doing the bulk of the work is the brother of a friend of the family, and he is sort of a traveling craftsman. He was also apparently ripped out of a Dickens novel, because when he was younger he was a chimney sweep, and he tried unclogging it and it wasn’t happening. So, since we fortunately do not have the walls up yet, we’re just running the vent another way.
Onward and upward. My office, save the flooring and the construction of the custom desks, is not finished. Here’s the original (well, after the carpet and shit was dragged out) that I don’t think I have ever showed you:
Here it was two weeks ago:
And here it is now, freshly painted in a color I like called “Clean Green”:
As you can see, everything is clean and fresh and I think soothing with a modern look with the fan, which is kind of what I wanted considering this room will be packed with electronic gear. You can see that power strips have been run all along the base of the wall, so I will never be looking for an outlet or having to deal with extension cords, etc. And if you want to visualize, this is the desk I will be making:
I very much like it, so if you don’t like the color you can just go ahead and eat a bag of salted dicks and paint your own god damned office whatever shit color you want (I warned you I am still in a mood).
The woodwork looks amazing, too:
Finally, we are going to enter into a space you all have never seen! Are you excited? I know you are. The third floor consists of two rooms of equal size with windows facing the front and the rear of the house. I only have several before pictures because it was so disgusting and smelled so bad I didn’t care to stay there longer (this was before the carpet was ripped out everywhere and you can imagine the smell):
NASTY!
One of the two rooms has been completed except for flooring, and here it is:
And this picture shows the woodworking in that room all cleaned up and shoots across the hallway into the second room on the third floor:
I also very much like the color here, although I am not as defensive as I am about the green. I mean, it’s blue. What kind of freak hates blue? The third floor is going to be “emergency bedrooms” for things like homecoming and holidays with a twin bed in each, and one will probably serve as a storage area. I’ve also reached out to several friends last Wednesday (something happened on Tuesday) who work with LGBT groups and a friend who works with abused women (although I suppose a lot of women might be leery about considering with a white dude in bumfuck WV) and stated that they can be used as safe places for people in crisis, in case someone is in a dangerous situation and needs a place quick. That’s one of the nice things about having a blog- I’ve been able to connect with a lot of people in the right places to be able to reach out to lend a hand if needed. If any of you know of anyone that is in that kind of toxic situation and needs a safe place for a while, you know where to ask, btw.
So that is where we are now. Lots of progress.
Corner Stone
Did you just say…”catty corner”?
***shutters***
Mary G
That woodwork is to die for. You almost never see anything that good in a 100-year-old house. Love the blue paint upstairs, and if you are happy with the clean green, good for you. It seems very bright in the sunny photos, almost fluorescent. Is that what you’re feeling defensive about?
I love you for thinking of providing shelter on your third floor. There’ll be a lot of need for it.
Congratulations. And thank you for the relief from the news. Please put up pet pictures if you have time.
John Cole
@Corner Stone: Fuck you I deal with hearing “dove” and “snuck” every fucking day of my empty miserable existence.
John Cole
@Mary G:
I just know the readers here.
Corner Stone
@John Cole: Is that “dove” like the bird? Or like you jumped forward leading with your yooge fucking melon?
NotMax
Which room will house the private server? :)
Perhaps answered before, but have you had a termite inspection done?
Overly cautious perhaps, but would have opted for a laminated 4 × 10 crossbeam as support across the top of the new archway. Pricier but durable.
hitchhiker
Huge fan of porches, color, ceiling fans, and slanted ceilings. I love that you bought this house & I wish I had something physical & satisfying to do right now. For me it’s all about getting out with the dog.
Mary G
@Corner Stone:
I wish I was good at thinking up puns. About 4 a.m. one will come to me.
Jerzy Russian
How is the heating system, especially in the upper rooms? You wouldn’t want your guests (or yourself) to freeze their asses off.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Mary G: When you do we’ll put it in the Louvre.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
This is going to be a great house – great bones. I had long conversation with a coworker today about the color in his new bathroom – I warned him away from green and blue. LOL.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Corner Stone: Maybe he lives in an Italian neighborhood.
Buffalo Rude
Beautiful house, John. I’m jealous. When I was working oil and gas plays in WV I had occasion to visit some nice old houses in Parkersburg and other little towns along the Ohio river to pay land/mineral rich people gobs of money to do nothing more than sign a shitty lease they were too cheap to properly negotiate, but I digress (yeah, it does still bother me as an aspiring decent human being). The woodwork and craftsmanship in some of those houses was astounding. Looks like you found a good one that just needed to be re-loved. Like I said, I’m jealous.
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: {Golf clapp}.
orchid moon
Starting to look very good! Love the fan in your office.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Corner Stone: Cole’s putting pandas on the wall, playful pandas.
BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Private servers go in the basement.
SiubhanDuinne
Any word on what happened/is happening/will happen with Walter’s and the house’s previous owner? I’m sure I’m not the only one fervently hoping that justice will be served.
Love the house and what you’re doing with it. Thanks for the update.
Corner Stone
@Poopyman: Did you just give me the clap? I feel cheated I didn’t at least get a slap and tickle.
raven
No one told me Mose died.
I can’t believe the things I’m seeing
I wonder ’bout some things I’ve heard
Everybody’s Crying Mercy
When they don’t know the meaning of the word
A bad enough situation
It’s sure enough getting worse
Everybody’s Crying Justice
Just as long as it’s business first
Toe to toe
Touch and go
Give a cheer
Get your souvenir
People running ’round in circles
Don’t know what they’re headed for
Everybody’s Crying Peace on Earth
Just as soon as we win this war
Straight ahead
Knock ’em dead
Pack your kit
Choose your hypocrite
Well you don’t have to go to off-Broadway
To see something plain absurd
Everybody’s Crying Mercy
When they don’t know the meaning of the word
Nobody knows the meaning of the word
gogol's wife
It’s going to be a palace. This is the first thing that’s cheered me up today.
I don’t want to live in Trump’s America.
Pogonip
@John Cole: Huh?
Corner Stone
@BillinGlendaleCA: The best pandas, believe me. We are going to have so many pandas. It’s going to be great, and very classy. Wouldn’t it be great if WV had more pandas again? I mean, if we were friends? Wouldn’t that be great panda wise?
Pogonip
@Buffalo Rude: What are oilnand gas plays?
Rosalita
@Corner Stone: did you mean “shudder”? If you’re going to rag on him spell it right
NotMax
Oh, a tip.
Do not buy barstools without having been able to sit on them.
Awful lot of them look spiffy but are decidedly uncomfortable to perch upon.
Morzer
Good news for John and other husks of humanity damaged by longterm Steeler fandom:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000741272/article/chuck-noll-foundation-for-brain-injury-research-established
Help is on the way!
Also too: I don’t care what everyone else says, I think John’s color scheme for his new love-shack is really rather tony.
NotMax
Walter Manor gonna be like the White House.
The Blue Room, the Green Room, and so on. ;)
Bvac
John, what is going on with that opening between the living room and kitchen? Is that a header behind those cut studs and is it resting on the jack studs? Hard to tell from the picture.
Batten Down the Hatches
I’ve got two rooms in that color green. It’s a delightful choice. Fnck the haters.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Corner Stone: ROTFLMFAO.
Woodrowfan
@SiubhanDuinne: me too especially if by “justice” you mean have a rusty pitchfork ramed up his hohah
cokane
god lord Cole, put 2/3 of this article below the fold please
NotMax
@Corner Stone
Here ya go.
JPL
John, the house is gorgeous. I know it’s a lot of work, but it will be worth it.
@raven: When are you heading home? Any news about the surgery?
HeidiMom
“Clean Green” is a great color, John!
Poopyman
@NotMax: I always assumed barstools were invented to keep the clientele from getting too comfortable so as to encourage turnover. Ergo, you’re starting from a bad design, comfort-wise, and unlikely to get better.
BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: I wouldn’t count on expecting any of Corner Stone’s nachos after that.
BillinGlendaleCA
You’ve done good with the ol’ house, Cole.
jibeaux
The house is going to be fantastic. Love that woodwork.
O/T, I’ve seen the ‘grabyourwallet” boycott list going around, and I’d like to start a list of places also that have been affirmatively good. So far I have Penzey’s, and Replacements, Ltd. (long progressive/LGBT history). Going to need more than that. I would like to also include options that are just “good local businesses not run by whackadoodles” and “good local minority run businesses.” Anyone else have national/online retailers to suggest that have proactively good guys?
Tami Ross
Long time lurker, very rare poster. Such a beautiful house, you are going to be so happy there! I spent 12 years living in DC, and conducted many a visitor tour. That green looks to be almost identical to “George Washington’s Mount Vernon Living Room Green,” and it is a beautiful, soothing yet stimulating color! On one visit, Mr. President (an excellent re-enactor) was present, and we had a lovely chat discussing his home, and the reasons for his color choices and other amenities. He said that this color green was good for the digestion! One of my most favorite DC memories!
Mary G
OT some Dems are still fighting, just got this email, a bit too late:
Mary G
@jibeaux: Costco
The Pale Scot
opps
Corner Stone
@Rosalita: Oh, my. It does seem as if I may have committed a bit of a faux paws there. Thank you for the tip on that.
NotMax
@Tami Ross
Touring Mount Vernon long ago was where first encountered the landscaping term ha-ha wall. If standing on the front veranda looking ahead at the Potomac, there’s one a little way off to the left.
jibeaux
@Mary G: Definitely Costco.
The Pale Scot
I like the full length windows in the
institutionalerr… Green!, ya, that’s the ticket.. green room.Edit: the strike is just suppose to be thru “institutional”, Unable to fix
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Yeah, you were unfortunately otherwise occupied. Can’t remember if we had a full thread about him or just honored him in an unrelated open thread, but Mose Allison is just the latest in a long, long list of great artists who left us this year.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Remembering an episode of Wait, Wait, Don’t Trll Me from years ago. The question or conversation had to do with the fact that Aristotle Onassis had all the bar stools on his yacht covered with leather made from the foreskin of a whale.
Peter Sagal (I think) asked, rhetorically, “Who would be brave enough to secure the foreskin of a whale?”
Whereupon one of the guest panelists replied “Call me Ishmohel.”
(Am sure I’m misremembering some of the details, but the general outline is accurate, as is the punch line. It’s been at least ten years, but I laugh every time I think of it.)
Gin & Tonic
@Rosalita: It’s an old joke here.
Shana
@Jerzy Russian: That’s what space heaters are for.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, Doug put up a dedicated thread the next day.
rikyrah
The progress on the house is terrific.
LOL at the Dickens reference
Kristine
Love the woodwork, Cole, and really looking forward to seeing the kitchen.
I’m a fan of Nicole Curtis/Rehab Addict, so I love watching this old house come back to life.
Woodrowfan
@NotMax: ah, that explains the “Ho Ho” in one of the Discworld novels…
Bex
@NotMax: Get ones with tractor seats. They’re the best.
Bex
@NotMax: Your forgot the gold room. With the thrones.
debit
Looking good, John. The green is a little too vibrant for my tastes, but then again I’m a person who debates about whether or not a misty grey is too overpowering.
Walter encountered his first Minnesota snow today. It went like this:
Me: Walter, let’s go outside!
Walter, bouncing to the door: Yay, I love outsi – WHAT IS THAT SHIT? OH HELL NO.
Me: I know you have to poop. Go outside.
Walter: Ain’t happening. I’ll hold it.
And so on. I had to eventually put his harness on and go out with him, where he speed pooped and then lunged for the back door. This is going to be a long winter.
John Cole
@The Pale Scot: It’s nowhere NEAR institutional green.
Boudica
That color green was popular in colonial times. I’ve toured mt vernon and other houses nearby. The tour guides said it was expensive to make green paint so people were showing off their wealth.
Olivia
It is a wonderful house and even if you aren’t doing it all yourself, you are doing a great job of managing it. Thanks for the update.
Steeplejack
@Rosalita:
I have been reliably informed that Corner Stone’s use of shutter is an ironic callback to the late General Stuck.
Larkspur
That is a wonderful green. I am on Team Clean Green.
I really like the idea of emergency safe spaces. I have a tiny apartment, so I’d have to do out-reach to find other people willing to provide a space (and I would do the house-keeping and other making-it-ready stuff). But I live right down the street from a major Planned Parenthood facility, and although there are always a few people loitering on the corner with fetus signs, the facility has strong community support. So I could see it being a place where out-of-luck out-of-staters might come, and I’d like to help make their stay as comfortable as possible given the difficult circumstances. I’d like to give them a ride back to a comfy little room with a bathroom and a fluffy quilt and a place to charge their cellphone, and I could either visit with them or leave them alone, whatever they need most.
Larkspur
@Boudica: Ooh. Back in the day, I think that green was really toxic as well as expensive. Or maybe it was just green clothing. Anyway, John’s green isn’t toxic, not one little bitty bit.
ETA: Yes, it was Scheele’s Green and Paris Green, among others. Might have had a role in Napoleon’s death. Eventually both were used as insecticides.
NotMax
@Larkspur
The paint was toxic, the wall coverings leached arsenic.
Good times.
Mary G
@debit: I guess Walter’s old owner just had him poop in the house? I can sympathize with the “Yay, I love outsi – WHAT IS THAT SHIT? OH HELL NO” reaction. Thanks for the laugh.
JPL
@debit: Smart dog!
Larkspur
@debit: I’m betting he’ll get into it when he sees other dogs romping. Or maybe you will have to buy him those booties.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Someone has been lying to you.
It is, indeed, a draw to the now rarely commenting Svensker.
Corner Stone
I would join Walter in not pissing on, etc.
Larkspur
@NotMax: I know. They should have had a darn EPA or some other annoying and intrusive and (shudder or shutter) regulatory agency.
Sarah
It looks amazing. I’m so impressed. I wish my house was happening so fast. Do you need some new pillows?
debit
@Larkspur: I have Mushers Secret. Chloe had tender tootsies and I tried booties with her but she would have none of it, but the wax seemed to help. If Walter keeps being a dainty little priss about it, I’ll put some on his pads and see if it makes a difference.
John Weiss
@NotMax: I agree with you. A lam beam would have been a better choice. When I had to span 25′ in the house I rebuilt in Dallas, lam beams weren’t an option (they hadn’t been invented yet), I used a mondo chunk of cedar, a 6×10, to do the trick.
Pogonip
@debit: Speed pooping? I hope you video’d it.
debit
@Pogonip: It was dark in my back yard, and, frankly, cold. Here’s how he speed poops: squats, starts pooping and then sort of scooch walks while still pooping so he can get a head start on his lunge to the door. It was inspiring.
Crod
@Bvac: yeah, that’s what it looks like. I zoomed in and it is as you described it. That needs to be corrected…that’s not a proper header… it’s an easy fix, add a full 2X4 runner under the cut studs. Based on the size of the opening I would double up on the horizontal studs to be safe. See this image: http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJIsv7-C1K99hICjIRSPyhywkjEoliL67jwDZzSVnJ5Pp4QYfuGw
Crod
@Crod: although, check the size of the final opening before adding the studs…want to ensure it is high enough and it matches other openings to keep things consistent.
Lisa
You are a remarkable and compassionate human being toward abused animals and women. That note about offering emergency beds to abused women shows incredible kindness. You are a good man, John. A real man.
PIGL
@John Weiss: The lam beams pretty much were invented because hunks of wood that big can’t be had nowadays, not even for ready money. The old post and beam buildings in western Canada built in the late 19th century or early 20th, used 24″x24″ posts of Douglas fir, four stories long. You can’t those on an 80 year rotation.
Larkspur
@debit: Ah, the traveling poop. I know a Westie who likes to poop while rotating on his hind legs and one time he pooped a perfect replica of Stonehenge. Why didn’t I take a picture? But I did scoop it up, depriving future generations of an amazing artifact.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Poopyman:
Drinking ≠ dining. Dining: finite. Meal served and it’s over. Turnover good. Drinking: infinite. Bar doesn’t care whether it’s one person drinking or a succession of people.
Larkspur
@PIGL: @John Weiss: I wish I knew stuff like this. Has anyone read a book called Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter by Nina MacLaughlin (2015). She was a magazine editor who got tired of magazine editing and answered a craigslist ad “seeking a carpenter’s assistant – women encouraged to apply. Experience good but not essential”, and she got the gig with a woman carpenter, and five years later they are still working together. It’s a cool book.
barbecue swinger
I came for the political commentary (around Katrina times) but stayed for the old house updates because the first house my husband and I owned was an 1850s era New Orleans shotgun, so I’m an old house fan. Your paint selections set off that gorgeous woodwork beautifully. Good luck with the continuing reno!
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Corner Stone:
Damn that Omnes Omnibus!
Anne Laurie
Bless you for this, John. If those women have dogs, or even cats, they’ll be glad to bunk anyplace that will let them bring their four-foots along — unfortunately, too many women stay with abusive partners because the women’s shelters can’t permit pets, and if they leave them behind they know the abuser will torture or kill the animal in retaliation. You might want to install a sturdy lock on the inside of the guestroom door, as a proof of good intentions…
Apart from that, you and your dad are moving along really fast, by my experience of home renovations. Everything looks perfectly fine, and the woodwork is beyond gorgeous!
NotMax
@John Weiss
Watched a building going up in 1966 (which subsequently worked in) that had laminated beams as roof supports.
Anne Laurie
@Larkspur:
As others have said, the green came from arsenic — which wasn’t actually deadly unless it sublimated, which required rooms more tightly sealed and efficiently heated than most Colonial homes could achieve.
Or unless a malefactor soaked a candlewick in it, which was a plot point in Phoebe Atwood Taylor’s 1932 mystery, and in a much more recent Terry Pratchett book as well.
stinger
Amazing progress on the house!
Nick
If you want to turn the basement into a BDSM style dungeon, I uhhh, know people that can help.
Ryan
I for one love the green. The contrast with the woodwork is especially striking. You can see the blue is okay, but no where near as nice a contrast.
Jean
The house is going to be beautiful. I love color.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack (tablet): Yeah.
Kay Eye
@Corner Stone: Don’t like the term catty corner? Cattywampus is also acceptable in some parts of Central Godforsaken Texas.
What a fine house. Though the green is an interesting color choice.
seaboogie
@debit:
Update on John’s house and Walter’s BMs – seems like old times…..
Ol' Nat
@Corner Stone:
Kitty, shudders! Pull it together!! (-:
Looks awesome, John! I *love* the doors with the little round things!! Hurray!
Suzanne
The home is lovely. I am very much into greys and monochrome looks for my personal living space, as I need my home to be where I recharge from all of the stimulus of the world, but I do enjoy color in other people’s houses. I like the blue. The woodwork is the best part.
Suzanne
@Nick: I wish there was more stylistic variation in dungeons. All the ones I see are a mix of “industrial” aesthetic (raw steel and exposed fasteners and the like) and the kind of “goth” shit teenagers and douchebags who get too into the Renaissance Faire like, with red velvet and leather. Pleh. I want to see what dungeon would be in a Design Within Reach catalog. Or Apple Store + St. Andrew’s Cross.
Mai.naem.mobile
You need to stop being defensive about your color choices.i think the green is just fvcking fine. Wheres the picture of Obama?
Also too,i saw the picture of Leni Riefenstahl with Shitgibbon at the Shinzo Abe meeting and the thought cam to me…please fucking tell me, interior designers around the country are not going to normalize the gold shit decor and turn that into a trend.HGTV is sort of an escape for me right now and I am not going to be happy if I see that crap on the HGTV shows.
John Reinan
I find these updates very comforting. Keep posting them.
opiejeanne
Your house is looking great, John. Thanks for sharing with us.
MzRAD
Third floor?! YAY: Team Cole does very good work. What are your garden/compost plans? An edible garden/greenhouse space *can* be protected from critters of all sorts. It’s also a great place to be in the dead of winter. Please to put in a foodie greenhouse, Team Cole. Kitchen garden/greenhouse just off the kitchen: please make it so. YAY!!!!
Jeff
I think the green is good. It’s never going to be an empty room, and artwork, framed posters/whatever will look great against that. Plus, it’ll be filled with monitors and assorted other computer stuff.