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In February of 2009, my husband and I bought our first home located on a few acres in Johnson, Vermont. We live here with our dog, Ollie, two cats: Elvis and Atticus, six Nigerian Dwarf goats: May, Chutney, Poppy, Juniper, Willow, and Jokers Wild, and about fifteen laying hens. And to top it all off we welcomed our daughter, Isabel, into the world on January 11th, 2011.

We're slowly updating our 1850's farmhouse while steadily working towards a healthy, meaningful, self-sufficient life together.

This blog details our endeavors along with our successes and failures- all in good fun. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again soon!

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I love a busy day (Part 2)

Lovingly Posted by Melissa Monday, December 14, 2009

Our busy day turned into a busy weekend.  Saturday afternoon, after a lovely visit from my Mom, Kyle and I got ambitious and decided to tackle the last major project in our guest room (which, then, overflowed into our Sunday).


When we moved into our house there were only three tiny closets to be spoken of, none of which resided in a bedroom.  This wouldn't normally bother me but as the rooms were all relatively small there wasn't much space for additional furniture such as dressers.  Over the course of a couple months we had created our master bedroom from two small bedrooms and Kyle even made a very functional closet out of one of our knee-walls.  So, one closet down.  It was time to hit the guest bedroom.



We had finished the insulation and sheetrock in this room a couple weeks ago but came to a stopping point where we realized it was sink or swim time for the wall that created a funky hallway next to our stairs that led to an even funkier little closet.  We hated that little hallway- the railing is just a little too low to really feel safe, some of the floorboards are split and are unsupported, and the closet itself just wasn't in a convenient spot (not to mention that it didn't have a light in it after we had the electrical wiring updated- can we say 'creepy dark hallway leading to a creepy dark closet?'  I know I can).  *The picture here is from right after we bought the place, so you have to try to imagine the flooring ripped up, and the railing slightly more substantial.*



So, as soon as Mom pulled out of the drive on Saturday, we grabbed the ventilator masks, and headed upstairs.  Pulling down my beautifully-painted plaster wall took no time at all, the lath came right off with a little help from the crowbar, and as it was an interior wall there was no old insulation to deal with!  Yippy skippy!  We threw the lath out the window- we'll burn it later- and swept up all the plaster.  I tried to snap a few photos but with all the dust floating in the air they didn't come out all that great, but you get the idea.



Now, we had to take down the lath on the other side of the wall- but how to do it without leaving a huge mess to clean up on the stairs?  Kyle was brilliant enough to grab a tarp and lay it over our too-low railing and across the floor.  Then, using a reciprocating saw, he cut out a square from the wall.  With just a little shimmy and a shove we pulled the wall down where we could remove the plaster and lath without sending stuff flying out into the hallway.  We're pretty smart cookies, huh?  Well, you try dusting every surface of your house twice a day just to have it covered again the next morning, trust me, you learn fast.  A little prevention goes a long way when it comes to home renovations (and it goes twice for demolition).


Sunday morning we got to sleep in a little bit.  After staying up late having dinner and drinks with some friends and family at The Tavern in Jeffersonville's Smuggler's Notch Inn the dogs were all too happy to sleep in as well.  So around 7am we rolled out of bed to don our Carhartts and get back to work.



We needed to finish removing the old insulation from the closet and install a light.  After removing the rest of the plaster and lath from the walls we found a few spaces that were letting daylight in!  Yikers- of course we had to run out to buy more cans of that spray-foam to seal all that up.  We bought seven cans this time, we're not fooling around anymore.  When we returned from the hardware store I got to work sealing all the little gaps and cracks while Kyle ran electrical wire around the closet.  After an hour or so we had successfully stopped all the major air leaks in the closet, installed an outlet, a switch, and (drumroll please) a light!  Woo hoo!  Ok ok, so we didn't happen to have a wall sconce for the light so we've just put up a temporary light for now, but it will make working in there alot easier.  Working in the closet with headlamps is a little fun when you first start out but it definitely gets a little old.

We're planning on getting some lumber on Wednesday to build our new wall so we can put up the drywall.  We're hoping to have this room completely finished by the end of the month so we can move in there while we finish up our master bedroom.  Still on the list of things to do for the guest bedroom:

  1. Build wall


  2. Finish insulating closet


  3. Finish putting up sheetrock


  4. Mud/tape sheetrock


  5. Build shelves in closet and install rod for hanging clothes


  6. Prime and paint


  7. Install light fixtures (one for the closet, and the new one I got for the bedroom)


  8. Fill gaps between floorboards with wood caulk


  9. Install baseboard trim and trim around windows


  10. Put up curtains and blinds


Whew, ok so when I make it all into a list it seems like alot but we'll get it done by the end of the month, I'm sure.  One step at a time, and then we'll be that much closer to having our upstairs finished.

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1 Responses to I love a busy day (Part 2)

  1. Donna Rasmussen Says:
    December 14, 2009 at 8:00 PM

  2. wow! I didn't know you were ripping down the whole wall!! Kyle must have LOVED ripping that up! ha ha!
    Good thing you guys didn't get a new house, it wouldn't be half this much fun...:) Can't wait to see it!! XXXXOOOO
    Mom