Dear Family and Friends,
It’s all going so fast, right now. Projects that have been in the works for weeks and months are finally showing results.
However, as we were having some startup difficulties, we turned our attention to the overgrown yard and really neglected the inside of the house. Now that winter is upon us, we are focusing indoors and the work involved.
To be honest, by this point I had originally thought we would be finishing up the inside of the house and have it all done. In reality we still have a grand total of 0 rooms finished. Yes, that is a big, fat ZERO.
Sometimes we feel like we are squatting in a construction site in our own home. But there is that famous saying:
You can do things of great quality, fast and inexpensively—just not all three at the same time.
~ Unknown (to me)
So we have decided to do things of great quality as inexpensively as possible. This does mean that it will take just a tad bit lot longer than I was expecting / hoping. We are also able to do a lot of the work ourselves if we are willing to take our time. (I think this is known as “sweat equity”.)
So I am learning mudding and skimming techniques on the sly. Primarily because no one here really does either. Framing, drywalling and taping are not as well known here. This has led to some great disagreements between us, as I want solid framing and Germans just do things differently here. But this has also lead to us being able to make some (what I consider) solid decisions taking the best of both worlds and the building traditions of each.
Right now I am positive this will all work out better than people are prophesying. I could, however, use some real encouragement that this IS doable without screwing things up royally.
After spending over a month planning the ground floor changes, we have decided on starting in the bedroom and stairwell after all.
The current order of projects is:
Master bedroom
- reinsulation
- drywalling ceiling and wall (replacing that dark and problematic wood plank)
- mudding and skimming walls and ceiling
- painting walls and ceiling
- replacing the wardrobe after cutting it down in depth
(hoping to fit the wardrobe, as well, but that is still up for discussion) - Moving in.
We will be doing the flooring of the entire level at once, so we will be living on subfloor for the time being.
Attic
- Adding insulation
- Inserting an attic access door and stairs
Stairwell
- Reinsulation
- Drywalling ceiling
- Mudding and skimming ceiling and walls
Hallway and the other two rooms
- Removing carpet and poorly done moulding
- Fixing walls, skimming if necessary
- Priming and painting the beautiful spruce shiplap walls and ceilings (Thomas debates the “beautiful” part of that sentence)
- Moving our stuff into those rooms
- Create an office
- Store personal belongings more accessibly
Painting of the hallway and stairwell will wait until we have finished the downstairs. I want these areas to flow together well.
The bathroom will be redone, but we are not sure exactly how and how much we are going to do. If we had the money, know-how and time, I would tear the whole thing out and rebuild it. As it is, I want to wait until we know more about what we are going to do with the heating system and downstairs.
This all should keep us busy for the next few months, at least.
