Renovating to Restore: Ridiculous Adventures Repairing the (amazing!) Borden Milk House in Wassaic NY
So what has everyone been up to for the last four months? Anything new or interesting going on in the world? Part of the reason for my lack of activity on the blog was that I couldn't use my right arm for the last two months (slows down my typing speed!). Other than that little … Continue reading Quarantine Projects
Replacing a septic line is a dirty, dirty job. And since few of us are anywhere near an office at this point, why bother trying to make a post like this safe for work?** About five seconds into this project - a project resplendent with moist caverns, hard shafts, suspiciously named parts,*** and a lot … Continue reading That’s What She Said*
It's a stressful time, so we've got to celebrate the wins when we get them. Kitchen As you may remember, we are (very slowly) preparing the kitchen for renovation, and this necessitated the removal of a built-in cabinet/drawers thing that acted as a wall between the original kitchen and the mud room (prep room? laundry … Continue reading Little Victories
Well, we've been hard at work (work harder, not smarter) in the yard/garden the past few weeks. We planted a bed of potatoes, a bed of potatoes & sugar snap peas (almost everything hates being near potatoes [more for me!], but sugar snap peas can tolerate them), and started a few trays of seedlings -- … Continue reading Gardening Update – Early April
Remember the gate? I was unhappy with it, but also just happy it was up? Gate looking shiny on its first day... before it started sloping downward into the mud. Well, over the following weeks/months it just kept slowly (not that slowly) sinking down to the point where it was pretty much unusable. I thought … Continue reading Gate part two!
This isn't going to be one of those quick easy projects. The first floor kitchen is one of the few rooms that the previous owner(s) did not start renovating: the electric and plumbing are older than other areas, and the walls, floor, and ceiling were last updated sometime before I was born. So we're sort … Continue reading The Kitchen – Big Project Post
The plan has always been to restore the house to it's former glory, while incorporating some modern luxuries (indoor plumbing, integrated networking, electricity, massive Ritz-inspired walk-in shower, etc). One of the early priorities, especially for a gigantic house like this one, was to get some less destructive power sources set up. We wanted to start … Continue reading Renewable Energy!
I immediately did not love the fence between the garage and the house - and not just because it was falling down and the posts rotting away into oblivion, but because it seemed unnecessary. After we moved in, though, I began appreciating the bit of privacy it provided (and potentially could provide) for our back … Continue reading Fence & Gate!
Projects being half-finished really bug me. I like to post about completed things (or rants about things that seem destined to never get done), so when certain people* have trouble with final-touch-follow-through I go a bit batty and don't post anything for weeks on end. Even when there is actual logic behind why things aren't … Continue reading The “half-finished” state (aka, never-ending higher priorities)
Remember the chimney? Back in May I got a few quotes for lining the whole thing and rebuilding the chimney from the roof line up. One of those quotes, from Empire Masonry & Chimney cost $200 to obtain (to be subtracted from the work if we went with them), and they were able to match … Continue reading The Chimney (part 2)
