And how much is THAT going to cost?



side of house framing continues



the framing goes up! back of house.

the tear down shows all the original flaws-surprised the house actually stands!

new front door

Let me cue up the 1986 movie  "The Money Pit", starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long.
This house is...old...and the unexpected does happen. There were some issues that resulted in an additional $10K charge that could not be helped. Does that mean I should stop buying new clothes and cute boots? Yes. Does that mean I should stop drinking wine and eating cheese? No.

Thank goodness my mom, here forward known lovingly as "The Hawk", is here overseeing the project. She has the most amazing sense of construction and knows to ask questions that even the owners of the contractor business were surprised. Took them aback too. Like the time she questioned the sub about the way he was laying the foundation and how it was off by 2"...my architect came by and found out this particular sub had disregarded everything he had been instructed to do. My architect made it very clear that he would not do business with them if this particular sub remained on my job or any future jobs. The sub was fired. Even though they said this sub had done numerous other "good" jobs for them, you can bet the homeowners were not home during the construction. The Hawk was home every minute and nothing...I mean nothing...gets by her. She knows the life stories of the subs and the project manager. The Hawk is also a mom too!

There hasn't been any heat in the house for over 2 weeks and it has started to get cold. We have a space heater and my boyfriend brought over another space heater and has offered up his house for mom to stay. She loves my boyfriend almost as much as I do!

Trying to save $12K on custom French doors on the ground  & second level, now that I had to shell out $10K extra. May opt to whittle down the size a bit and use standard doors. The upstairs French doors will now have a transom above instead of a custom half moon window. Little cuts here & there....but you can guar-an-tee that the wine cooler in the new kitchen is still on order as are the  Toto wall mounted toilets with dual flush!

About a month behind schedule. Snow may fall. Heat will have to come on soon. Oh...when the contractor brought back my unit that has the coils in it for the furnace, I noticed that three of the four sides were dented! and the cover was missing...! It appears that it was dropped at the construction warehouse. The solution: they could "bang it back into shape and use touch up paint" or "order a new one, at their cost". The Hawk didn't raise a dumb daughter. Of course I want a new one! And who loses the furnace cover? I can understand losing the Halloween candy that you hide somewhere in the house but a furnace cover?

The process has been exciting, expensive and challenging. The process is NOT for the faint of heart. Luckily (or maybe not), we are still living in the house. Dust everywhere. A college size frig. No washer/dryer. Went to the local laundromat and spent too  many quarters in lousy machines. Now I take all my laundry to my boyfriend's house. More fun that way too.

 Next step: meeting with electrical contractor, kitchen designer and my therapist...only kidding. Picking out the light fixtures, kitchen pendant, ceiling fan and outdoor lighting soon. Like I said, I am the luckiest girl in the world to be able to do this project. Love Old Town, love my neighborhood and love my mom!