I'm baaaack!

Ottawa:

I realized how long it's been since I blogged when I logged on just now and found comments that had been left by some kind people who take the time to read this blog. I apologize to them for not having replied. I'm really not rude; I'm just scatterbrained.

The last post was almost exactly a year ago when John's mother died. The rest of the year was pretty much a blur after that. Some health problems surfaced and got taken care of. I spent a lot of time scanning all my old photographs. Everything. With the intention of editing/annotating them during the summer.

Well, intentions are nothing if not fleeting for a ditz like me. Needless to say the pictures did not get edited during the summer, but the Newfoundland house did. Two sides of it are now very different than they were when we arrived in June.

John did his Energizer Bunny impersonation all summer. I was to have helped him with the clapboard, of course, but needless to say my intentions once again were fleeting. Getting up on the scaffolding was simply beyond my capabilities (arthritis, fear of heights, general wimpishness) so we found a local fellow who was available for work.

Terry and John became an awesome duo, working in all weathers and even on Sundays, despite the disapproval of some in the community. Perhaps more on that later.

The intention this summer was to replace the worst of our windows -- the ones that had broken inner panes, rotting sashes, etc. Namely, four windows. Four turned into five. Five turned into seven. And before you know it, we had replaced ten and added one new window. Still have eight more to replace, but those are more modern (but no less ugly) and we can make do with them for a while yet.

We knew we would have company this summer so we had to make sure we had our guest rooms ready for visitors. The plan was to fix up the back bedroom to a point where it could be slept in. There had been a leak in one corner of this room which we discovered last year. The ceiling joist was rotten, as was one of the wall studs, so we knew we had to address that this summer.

As is often the case, one thing led to another. Fixing the damage caused by the leak led to conversations about the other rooms at that end of the house being rather small and useless as they stood. Perhaps it would be a good idea to incorporate them thus making a much larger bedroom. 

The walls we knocked down

This is one of the walls we knocked down together with the wall on left at right angles to it. The doorway shown leads into what was called the chimney room where the brick chimney from the kitchen stove went up to and through the roof. The chimney room is no more.

The new open space

This triggered the thought that we should keep such a large room for ourselves and give our current bedroom to guests. After all, they wouldn't be spending months and months. And so it came to pass. Not only is our bedroom the largest room in the house but one corner of it has been walled off for a future powder room. No more going downstairs at night to pee.

Our new bedroom (left) has been drywalled (not a right angle in the place); mudding, sanding and painting will come in 2011. 

Our old bedroom is now a guest room. The ceiling tiles need replacing and peeling old wall paper, but for now, it's okay. A second guest bedroom was cobbled together across the hall from the first. It desperately needs painting but it works for now. It still has a little sign on the door saying "Glen's room" left behind by the young man who grew up there.

The biggest job was outside. In addition to the windows, John and Terry replaced the wooden clapboard on two sides of the house, and on part of the third side. It went from peeling white to fresh Dory Buff (a historic colour). The guys did the cutting and nailing. I did the staining. And on days when the weather did not cooperate, I stained the clapboard in the shed.

The clapboard factory in our shed

 

John devised a great set-up for me. See picture above. The two long supports in the middle held a board while I was staining it; the others supported the finished boards to dry.

The house looks beautiful and apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so. Neighbours say the house has become a tourist attraction with everyone and their dog coming down to the cove to see the house that's being reno'd. Just wait till we get the rest done, a front door added and that wraparound bridge I want.

It was a very productive summer. Not only did we get a lot of work done, but we squired around three sets of visitors. We climbed Brimstone Head on Fogo Island twice. I would have done it a third time but we ran out of time that day and had to hightail it to the ferry. I should have lost weight with all that exercise. Alas, that tale reads otherwise.

John is talking about going down early next spring to get a start on the indoor work so that when the good weather arrives, he's ready to get going on the remaining clapboard work outdoors.

I'll make a separate entry with pictures of the outside of the house. Read on.