current projects

We're back on the project front right now...

Currently our focus is on two exciting things, one ongoing and one that shouldn't take us longer than the winter.

- Demo on the Wee house when we have a few spare hours on the weekends

and

- Figuring out stair treads for our beach condo's spiral staircase

If you guessed that the wee house demo was the ongoing project, you'd be a winner! It will constantly be our "filler" project between major to-do's for now. The demo has been going along swimmingly well these last few weekends. Even though we move a little slower in the cold, I've been very pleased at what has gotten done during our few smashing hours over there. You forget that sometimes demo can be so gratifying for the renovator soul. Fast demo can remind me that maybe, just maybe, we won't be stuck with a crappy house for the rest of our natural lives. And that with continual hard work there is more than a snowballs chance in hell that we'll actually turn this house into something nice.

I'm going to file this optimistic moment away for when I really need it.

Which I'm sure will be soon.

The before shot of the room we've been focusing on currently...

As for the stair treads at the beach condo, we're still shopping around for the right material for them. Like all our other projects it has been a lot of up in the air "what should we do" discussing. Waffling back and forth with what our budget will be and how to get the biggest bang for our bucks combined with ease of DIY ability. So far we're leaning towards cutting out the treads from wood and staining them.

The before shot of our stairs with their blue carpet, chipping white paint and plastic handrail.

Why work on the beach condo when we have so many other projects going on, like a crap hole of a giant house? Simple- because it needs love to. The beach house was dated and was uncomfortable at times to stay in. In order for us to maximize our investment, we needed to be able to attract renters and have ourselves be comfortable there in the off season. Hence the slow climb out of the early 90's to get the condo up and kicking. Last year we invested a ton of money and time into the condo, which has resulted in some great improvements. This year we wanted scale back and take a breather from the heavy duty major projects down there.

Which is why our only project for down there this off season was to get the stairs and teeny tiny hallway done. Paint, new stairs and a new door for our heater closet. Thats all! Maybe I'm over simplifying the steps by condensing them down into three items, but it will be a (relatively) small project that should have a nice impact in further improving the place.