Progress

The roofers began work today:

We were rather elated to find that the rafters are on 16" centers... and made of REAL two-by-fours. The house seems to have been very well built.


Aiyeeeee! There are Mexicans crawling all over our house! tee hee

Actually, they seemed to be very nice guys. One or two of them could even speak English.


We have NO idea why the weird plumbing retrofit left lovely pipes clinging to the outside of the house. That part of the upstairs IS the second bathroom, but couldn't they have made it a little less unsightly? Anyway, put that on the list of stuff to improve eventually.

The pool in the foreground appears to be one of those fiberglass inserts, and it was damaged by the collapse of the makeshift cover. Another item on the list.

Projected color idea?

Eventually I would also like to repaint the house a nice tidy khaki/sagey color with white trim and red accents and a metal roof. I know, the "old yellow house" thing is romantic and sweet and charming, but I think it would also be a great way to modernize the look a little. My interior decorating tastes run to the modern, almost even an industrial feel, but I've never been able to exercise this tendency anywhere else I've lived. This time around, I'm going to start making lists and plans so that when improvements are made, they're moving things toward a goal.

In Des Moines, just a few houses up the block from us, was a humongous old Queen-Anne house that was simply spectacular. It was bought by a realtor and an interior decorator, and one of the improvements they made was this ultra-modern kitchen. The juxtaposition and quirkiness of the old and the new made it a funky and wonderful place. I'd like to shoot for something like that -- take advantage of the old but not fall into the whole restoration trap.

It appears we will be closing on the house THIS WEEK. Rick is putting together our power-of-attorney documents, since I will likely be indisposed when the closing actually happens.

And darn it all, I'm going to be restricted from heavy lifting (i.e., moving) for at least six weeks post-op. Can you believe it? Let's just say I am very VERY thankful for friends who will be helping us.