Footings

The first full project we have to do at the new house is some structural work – adding some new supports in the basement to take the wave out of the floors, there just isn’t enough support down there currently.

Ryan started digging (jack hammer) the holes for new footings for some new posts we’ll add in.  This past weekend he got 4 holes done, 1 more to go then he’ll pour the footings.

The holes, nice and square!

Each will be 2x2x1 ft footing

Ryan is hoping to do the last hole some night this week.  It sure is a hot and humid week!  We have a 4 day weekend coming up – lots of house work planned!

Basement Project

Ryan took Friday off last week and we spent the day at the lake house.  I had the girls so didn’t do much myself but he got the insulation all removed from the basement ceiling!

On Sunday I did the final basement cleanup (sweeping and bagging up the tiny things – mostly mouse poop) and vacuuming.  The basement is ready for the next step next weekend!

On Saturday Alex went up to camp with her grandparents so we had just Bella which meant I had some time to help out a bit when she napped.  I got the tack pieces and trim out of the back room downstairs and Ryan and I started taking up the particle board in that room – upstairs we plan to leave it but in this room it was gross and had to come up – it’s not an easy project!  We got about 1/2 done.

Ryan also got some trim removed upstairs (no pictures due to lighting).  On Sunday we went around and removed all the window trim that we needed to so we could take measurements and get windows ordered.  We didn’t plan to order this early but we already picked out the kind we want (Anderson 400) and they are having a 10% off sale this week so we decided to put the order in and we’ll have them when we need them.  Always good to save some money.

 

Renovations

Evenings and weekend work has continued at the new house, we have a dumpster now so it’s a bit easier to cart everything out.  All the doors have been removed, all carpet except for a few stair treads has been removed.  2 walls have been removed in the bedrooms where the dormers will go.

Master bedroom – dormer and closets will go here.

Downstairs smaller room – carpet removed

Downstairs larger room carpet removed and evidently we’ll be removing this particle board stuff too!

Staircase – carpet removed from most of it.

Last weekend was busy as we had a family pig roast to attend out west and then we spent sunday with family and out buying a boat (lots of driving!).  Next weekend we should have our new (to us) boat and we’ll also be spending the night at the new house, and a 3 day work weekend on the house.  The basement work will get started next!

A new home

Even though the blog has been quiet it’s been an eventful 2 months.  First off – our second little one arrived almost 3 weeks early (like her sister) – June 11 – Isabella Georgiana.  She was 6lbs 10oz and was healthy as could be.  She’s 6 weeks old now and growing like a weed.  Her sister just adores her and that particular transition went better than I had hoped!

Also in June we closed on our Nashua house – it’s officially in new hands now that will hopefully love and appreciate it as much as we did.  We’ve actually been in touch with the new owners a bit via email answering questions.

Around the same time we found a new house that we couldn’t pass up – it’s 2.5 acres on a lake, very private property (surrounded by trees) with large yards.  It’s a cape cod style house – 2 floors, 3 bedrooms upstairs with 2 baths upstairs (one master).  It was built in 1974 and has never been updated so it has some work to do but nothing like our last project!

Our first night owning the house and we had already unloaded a trailer full 🙂

This weekend Ryan started right in on some projects!  First he mowed the lawn, our trailer makes it easy to borrow his dad’s mower so he had a rider and it still took quite a long time.

We won’t move in right away, we’d like to get the upstairs renovations done before we move in so that is done and we have a finished space to live in, no moving beds around.  We will spend nights there so we are moving in to certain rooms – the kitchen for one is a future renovation so we’re moving in there, and the livingroom and diningroom will be a livingroom and bedroom most likely while we do renovations.  The garage and basement will store tools and other items and we’ll keep one storage unit for sure while we work on the house.

The first project Ryan did was tear up the carpet upstairs, it’s hot up there but he got all the carpet and most of the underlayment up.  He’s going to finish that up today.

Master bedroom – sans carpet

Back bedroom sans carpet

Front bedroom sans carpet

I’ll do some more posts with more pictures (before pictures) of the house and what we plan on doing.  Upstairs though we plan to put in 2 dormers (master bedroom and front bedroom), adding closet space to the master and light to the front bedroom.  We’ll replace the doors and trim and windows throughout.  We’ll add ceiling fans and add a new heating and a/c system throughout.  We’ll put down new wood flooring throughout and we’ll completely renovate the bathrooms.

Once those projects are done we can move in and start work on the downstairs projects more.  There’s some structural work that will happen very early on and other downstairs projects that will happen because it makes sense at the time to do things all at once but the kitchen, livingroom, bathroom, washer room downstairs will all wait until we move in.

One last project

On memorial day my husband and I drove out to the house to move a truck load of stuff out and for me to get a final look at the house and do some final packing up.

While there I got the last of the kitchen packed, he started on the endless empty the attic project and I organized the tools in the basement into boxes to get moved later.  Finally we ended the trip with one last home project – painting the floor of the back porch to match the stairs.

A nice grey to protect the ‘mud room’

As I was doing it and seeing how nice that back porch looks I was wishing we had done it sooner and enjoyed it.  It’s such a nice large room but alas – priorities, it all gets done just as we sell.

While out there we also met with the buyers who are SO sweet and excited about the house.  It made us feel so much better about selling knowing it’s going to a family that will appreciate it almost as much as we do 🙂

And that’s it for me, Ryan is going out the next 2 weekends to pack up the attic and basement and the rest of the furniture, hopefully we can fit it all in our new second storage unit (yes we already filled one).  I’m done traveling now that i’m almost 36 weeks pregnant and Alex arrived at 37.

Goodbye Nashua 🙂

A final walk through – in pictures

The official pictures are in and I figured I would share them here with a little walk through, the official link should remain and is here : http://www.nashuavideotours.com/2015/19CourtlandStreet/

Our house for the last 6 years !

New front door, new decking, new railings, new ceiling. All made to look like the original. New front stairs too!

Come on in to the front entry – check out that lovingly restored banister and staircase (no more blue carpet on the stairs!)

Tiled entry, front closet and new wainscotting throughout the downstairs and stairway. New crown molding makes the house look more period.

Walk through the large archway into the front livingroom with cupola.

The livingroom opens into the diningroom with these knee-walls with columns that mimic the front porch columns.

The diningroom has original built-ins, new coffered ceiling and opens into the huge kitchen.

The kitchen… aaaahhhh…. new tile floor, all new everything. Access to the basement and back porch/mud room off the back.

Fridge/Freezer and microwave built-in to the cabinets

Double oven gas range with matching hood, huge sink with disposal. Tile backsplash.

Full bathroom on the first floor – marble and stone tile throughout, original tub and new everything else.

Not shown – the small room we used as a gym.

TV Room with full custom built-ins including 10 slow closing drawers in the base cabinets! Original maple floor in herringbone pattern.

Heading upstairs – new sconce lighting up the stairs, the railing wraps to the hallway upstairs. At the top of the stairs are 2 bedrooms.

The master bedroom – cupola goes all the way up through the attic. This cupola fits a queen bed with 2 nightstands perfectly.

The master bedroom has a full size walk in closet with cedar walls and a private porch!

Porch off the master

The private master bathroom has a tiled shower with glass walls and double vanity.

Another view of the shower

The nursery near the master bedroom is a large room with a cedar closet.

Heading down the hallway we have a full bathroom, also tiled shower with soaker tub, large vanity. Perfect for kids and guests.

Not shown is the second floor laundry at the end of the hallway on a custom pedestal that reduces vibration and noise very well!

Finally at the end of the hallway is another full size bedroom with closet.

There’s a back staircase down to the mud room and full stair up to the attic next to the washer/dryer.  That completes our tour.  Hopefully we’ll find someone to love this house as much as we do.  Now that we’ve been gone for a few months, back just to work on it, it’s not as hard to say goodbye as I thought.  It’s a beautiful house and if I could just transplant it I definitely would, I love everything about it except for the location and lot size!  Someday we’ll have our real dream house, for now someone else can get this one and hopefully love it like we did 🙂

 

The House is on the market

Not official yet but pictures were taken yesterday and we’re waiting just to see it go up on the MLS.  Ryan finished up lots of projects this weekend but I won’t have a lot of pictures until later.

Mirrors were hung in the bathroom monday morning

Monday Ryan got the mirrors and bars all hung in the bathroom.  A dump run, got some mulch to finish up the yard cleanup, the thresholds were all poly’d so they can be installed this week with the last of the shoe molding up stairs.

Diningroom->Livingroom

The house is cleaned up and ready for showing.  There are minimal interior changes left to finish up – mostly the back porch is the large project left and thresholds and shoe molding upstairs (which were waiting on floors to get finished).  A few paint touchups left and a closet system to install in the front closet.  Very close and hopefully we’ll have people looking at the house soon!

Once we get the official pictures i’ll do an updated post with those, i can’t wait to see them!

Floors!

Ryan and Dad have had a busy couple days already and the upstairs floors are looking amazing (from pictures anyway, they probably look even better in person).  Dad is home and Ryan is still doing poly as I type evidently but the first coat they did was Shellac so this is already the second coat, last coat to go on tomorrow.  Hopefully it dries fast.

Stairs sanded and scraped by hand — Ryan’s project while Dad did the sanding of the hallway and bedrooms upstairs

Poly on the stairs – i love the colors – old wood!

Back bedroom with tinted poly

Master bedroom!

Late night for Ryan, hopefully he can sleep in a bit tomorrow since he has to wait for the poly to dry anyhow.  This is a big ticket item getting checked off the list – the list is getting pretty small now thank goodness!

Oh and Ryan sent me a picture of the Diningroom – including the built-ins put back together and the new section of wainscoting/shadow boxes!

Built-ins!

Finished ceiling with crown is impressive!

New wainscoting – just one small section of wall to paint there by the kitchen (I think that’s done by now actually).

Everything is really coming along, I wish I could be there to help but this weekend was my nephew’s birthday party and I can’t be by the poly fumes anyhow 🙁

Glass is installed!

The Shower glass is installed!  The master bathroom is basically done (mirrors have to be hung and some bars).  Yay!

Shower glass

Partial wall of glass

I only get to witness it remotely but it sure looks nice in pictures!  Dad is already out there sanding floors while Ryan works remote today.  Going to be a productive weekend for them out there!

Plumbing is finished!

The master bathroom plumbing is finished thanks to Jason!  All we have left is the glass shower install (tomorrow) and the master bathroom is done (time for final inspection!).  I’ll call and set up the inspection for Monday.

Double vanity!

Shower!

Toilet!

Full bathroom shot

I bet Ryan can’t wait to use the new bathroom in full view of the neighbors this weekend (no curtains up) 🙂

Jason also got a new hose line installed on the back of the house (the original hose lines had burst and we were running a long hose out the door of the basement this last year).

Hose!

I also finished painting the doors/drawers for the built-ins, I just have to strip the hinges of paint and put the hardware back on and Ryan can pop them in tonight when he gets to NH.  He’s going to work remote tomorrow so Friday night he can get an early start sanding and working on the floors.  I bought all the poly today, going to be a long weekend since he took Monday off and pictures of the house are going to be taken monday to officially list it!