Nan-Nan from OHW

[nan-nan]

Hi guys

I've been lurking for a couple of years. Some of you might remember my posts over on the other site:

"Back again with another house"

(am I allowed to post the link here?)

and

"Some before photos of our Vic Row House"

There are lots of photos there, if I can link to it.

We had decided to help out our kids with buying them places to rent from us. We could only afford handy-man specials, though, so we had renos to undertake.

The first was a Victorian row house, and the second a Craftsman-ish duplex, which was 2 apartments. We renovated that, and put one kid up with a room-mate and one kid down with a husband.

That last project started out well and then got the best of me. I became an emotional mess with the stress of unforeseen issues and tradesmen who didn't know what they were doing/took advantage/wouldn't finish their work...so I took a break from the big push to get it all done. There was no joy in my heart.

The kids have been in their places for a year and a half, and I am finally getting around to finishing up some projects like trim, exterior painting, etc. It's been going pretty well, but I've been stripping paint from an old door and wishing that I had never started. Why couldn't I just be happy with the lumpy paint???? I need some encouragement, so I have come here to find it.

I would love to talk about whitewashing the basement stone walls. Who has done it? Tell me how!

[Neighmond]

Lime and that-it's all right but it need to be redone every few years. Go ahead and link us if you can with the OHW posts-I sort of recall them a year or so ago.

Cheers!
Chaz

[heartwood]

well, what took ya so long??
welcome to our new digs!
...jade

[Don M]

Good to hear from you; glad you made the move!

[nan-nan]

Here is a link to the work that we did on the Row House in 2010:

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23498

and here is the link to the more recent (and still going) project:

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23498

I actually just finished (mostly) the porch this summer. We ended up replacing all the decking, since we discovered that the porch supports were...not there anymore. Then, the paint was so weathered, that I decided it would be best to strip it down to bare wood. I ran out of time before last winter came, and so I had to wait for this year to finish. The neighbours all breathed a sigh of relief.

I'll post updated photos on what we accomplished. Once I take them, that is.

In the meantime, we faced 2 additional "disasters" at the house. In the fall, a windstorm felled the huge pine in the back of the property. It missed the house, but it took out the shed, and 2 cars.

We also had a huge chunk of ice slide off the front this spring and smash the porch roof. So that has been rebuilt and is awaiting shingles.

[Don M]

It's always something with old homes although these happen with new ones as well!

[nan-nan]

Yes, I know life happens, but I was just getting over some major set-backs in the renos - having to rebuild the bathroom addition foundation and support structure, getting screwed over by the drywallers, and being abandoned by the electrician...it was starting to feel like that movie, "The Money Pit".

Plus I distinctly told my mother "This house doesn't need as much done. It won't be that bad." Famous last words.

[Kansas.1911]

Welcome, and I remember you. Glad you made the move.

Look back at what you've accomplished when you feel it never ends. Do you have a scrapbook of your before/afters?

[Gothichome]

Nan Nan, welcome to Wavy glass, Were abouts in Georgian Bay are you?

[nan-nan]

Hi again

We are in the Owen Sound area. Beautiful hills, Niagara Escarpment cliffs and water views of different bays are the scenery we get to drive by in this area. There are drop dead gorgeous century homes here, too, but many have been converted to lawyers offices, etc. There was money here at one point - the Great Lakes shipping industry, for one thing.

Today I am feeling like I got something accomplished. I had started stripping the basement door - I tried to get away with not doing it, but the POs had painted over huge drips and peeling paint and I thought "may as well do it right". That was weeks ago... It was a ton of work but I was able to finally get the primer coat on tonight after weeks of stripping.

That door is going to be one of the last parts of a 1 1/2 years project...(I think I see a pattern here). I've already boiled the door hardware, and stripped the painted wallpaper off the basement stairwell, filled the cracks, primed and painted those walls.

Next, I'm going to paint the stairs - I think I will try leaving the linoleum sheets that have been nailed onto the treads. It seems to give it some stability. Do you think that will work?

I do have lots of photos. I just have to figure out how to post them here. Any pointers would be appreciated.