And it continues.......the "chores" that were done in this post were over a 3 - 4 weekend period.
There is only one thing that is ALMOST as good as decorating this place....it's demolition. Granted, demoing a ceiling because of mold is not really that fun. We had to wear gloves, masks, protective glasses and use expensive trash bags.
He's giving me that look of "if you don't put that camera down and help me....."
Below is a picture of the hall. Notice who is on the ladder all of the time? This is where the muscles are needed the most.
What you can't see in this picture is the lack of stable floor in a portion of the hall and at the back door. When dragging the full contractor grade (expensive) trash bags out to the back deck, it was like playing hopscotch, except there were no numbers to jump on, but simply floor beams that you had to feel for.
We needed to get the mold out first before doing any type of other demoing, so that we were not breathing it. Did I mention it was hot???? You can't really run a fan during this because the dust was so bad.
The up side of pulling some of the ceiling out is that we were able to see how the trailer was constructed and which ways the beams ran.
Finally, it's time to re-build. Dad helped us with this leg of the project. As you can guess, the first thing to get fixed was the floor in the hall. They ripped out the current sub-floor, added a few braces and installed a new subfloor.
Also, the wall that housed the washer and dryer pipes needed to be replaced, as well as part of the wall that backed up to the washer and dryer, so they did that as well.
While they were working on that project, I was getting rid of the items that we were not going to re-use. The place had it's own "scent" (aka moldy stench"), so most of the furniture and contents had to be tossed. The kid helped me in the kitchen by boxing up what we were not going to use in there.
I was really unsure what to do with the items that we did not want, but was still useable. I felt really guilty for throwing them in the dump, but did not have the time to wash them before donating and they really needed washing. My Grandmother came over and offered to take them to her house, wash them, and take them to the thrift store. That made me feel a lot less wasteful.
It gets worse before it gets better - right???? I kept telling myself this.....and, it's still hot, really hot.
The carpet had to go. Tack strips are not fun to pull up, but I got really good at doing it. We discovered more places in the sub-floor that needed replacing, so we kept truding along.
It's soooo nice for the floor not to move/dip when you walk on it.
Here is our load to the dump - $70 worth to be exact. My uncle kept telling me - "Anything that is wood, toss it to the side and I will burn it". I understand why now. Ouch - I wasn't expecting that.
The next item on the to-do list was to prime - EVERYTHING....cabinets - inside and out, as well as all of the walls. Mom helped us this weekend. We used an oil based primer. It threw me for a loop, so luckily Mom was there and finished things up for me while I "slept it off". I really thought the priming would take all weekend, and that we would have to take another entire weekend to paint, but we got the priming done in one day...."we" meaning me and Mom until 3:00, then Mom finishing. We were able to paint the next day, but those pictures will be in post #3. No sneaking a peek!
The husband removed the upper portion of the bar, to open the space between the kitchen and living room up. This made a tremendous difference. The addition of a fridge from Mom's house was also VERY welcomed. Cold drinks and icecream are a must!
Before
After
We cleaned up some - which is very difficult to do with tools all over the place, but there was no reason to put them away until we were finished.
After the purchase of a former water bed base off of Craig's List with drawers in it for the kid's room, we painted and installed it. It was very inexpensive.
The next weekend, the husband and kid had a couple of events that kept them in town, so Dad and I worked. He tore out the yucky, sagging shelves in the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and rebuilt them. This was a very welcome addition. Before, I wouldn't dare reach under the cabinets, but after Mom crawled in there and painted and Dad replaced the shelves, it was MUCH better. He bought a dishwasher from Habitat, cut the cabinet away and "dry" installed it. We discovered a leak under the sink that we didn't have time to deal with, so this chore was added to the hubby's list for his next visit. He also brought me a much needed front porch light that my Step-Mom purchased for me. They have the absolute BEST Habitat near their house and get great deals.
Luckily, the A/C was fixed so we were comfortable.....finally....AND the stench was gone, completely. Between getting rid of the furniture and carpet and painting, everything smelled a lot better.
We sold some of the salvagable furniture on Craig's List and did not want to clutter the master with a dresser, so Dad built shelves in the master closet.
The next weekend Mom came back to help, as well as my Sister and her family. They had the task of cleaning out the storage building. We had NO IDEA what was in there. It was packed to the gills. I'll bet passer-bys thought that we were having a yard sale. There was stuff everywhere. From shoes and clothes, to canning jars (SCORE!), an old T.V., a couple barrels and two VERY HEAVY couches. It was still hot, very hot. We took several loads to the dump. My Sister gladly volunteered to ride with me - a 10 minute trip to the dump and back....good quality Sister bonding time in the A/C. Sorry, there are no picture of this - which my family is probably glad of. We looked really rough, and smelled bad too.
The husband and I laid the floors. This took about 2 days. Lowes
screwed up our order did not order the floors, so Mom had to go to another town to get them. They gave us a discount for our troubles, but we would've rather had the floors than get a late start.
My Brother-In-Law is a master craftsman, making custom furniture, so it was appropriate that he put down the shoe moulding. He has the patience for this and certainly the skill. He did an excellent job and it really added a lot aesthetically.
My Sister cleaned the windows which made a WORLD of difference. The windows are paper thin and she didn't break one, which is a feat in itself!
We were slowly but surely getting closer to the stage in the project where things were smelling better, looking better and soon liveable.
I spent every possible moment on Pinterest getting ideas for the place. This was/is the most fun part of the entire project. I got a recommendation from my neighbor on where to purchase fabric inexpensively and, sure enough, Leisure Fabrics in High Point was the BOMB!!! The owners were really nice and the fabric was $3 - $4 a yard. WOW!!! I got fabric for the kid's curtains and pillows for her room, fabric for curtains for the living room and pillows for the couch. I was also able to get 50 yards of nice trim for the pillows for $5 - for the entire 50 yards....yes, that's .05 a yard. No coupon needed!
I needed backing for the curtains, so I used the old
Dorothy's Originals that were in the trailer. Ruffles are not really my style, and these curtains are $150 a pair. I simply cut the ruffles off. I felt so good about reusing, even though I was cutting up $150 curtains. Not only is it good for the environment, but my pocket book is thanking me as well.
When it came to the master, I had a specific look that I was going for. I purchased some curtains at the
GW Boutique, but needed more. Sure enough, Mom had some in the cottage that is behind her beach house that worked perfectly. The colors were just right and I was able to use the rod as well.
Mom was also was my personal shopper. Any time I needed anything, gave her a BOLO (be on the lookout) and she came through for me.
This is all for now. Wait until next week for the final after photos.
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