Lazy Summer

Lately we've been...not slacking exactly, but definitely relaxing the pace of work on the house. Two weekends ago, Mike and Jack were forced one afternoon to discontinue work on the shed roof due to it being so hot that the roofing tar was melting! At the same time, I was indoors working on replacing the electrical outlets. After one shocking (get it?) experience, I turned off the electricity for safety's sake, and was thereafter working sans-A/C. Mike's mom and dad came over and installed the awesome custom over-the-stove cupboard that they built and stained to match the rest of the wood in the kitchen. This piece of cabinetry offers not only beauty, but dual functionality: it gives the range hood something to attach to, and handily stores both Tupperware and Ramen Noodles.

Last week we had a great visit with my sister Sara and brother-in-law Brad, who have been remodeling their home from top to bottom for a few years now. I think Mike was inspired by their basement bar area, and he may have filed away some ideas for his own future clubhouse/gameroom. It's been mentioned before, but bears repeating: one of the most rewarding results of working on a house is developing the ability to appreciate craftsmanship in other people's spaces.

Yesterday I was struck down by a case of the summer sniffles. I tried to stay in bed, but soon tired of telenovelas and Tylenol Cold, so in the afternoon I headed over to finish grouting the tub. Although the heat was punishing, I pushed onward (buoyed by a grape-tangerine Sno-Ball halfway through) and finished that tedious chore. I wisely decided against working on any electrical projects while alone, and instead had another Sno-Ball. Just kidding. I had two more Sno-Balls. Seriously, it was very hot.

I don't want to start listing all that is left to do on the rental, because I'm afraid it will be a longer list that I'd like. But we are really, really close.

But what about that linoleum?

Well, some time back I posted a picture of the bedroom floor on the rental side. It was a lovely green basket weave, but it wasn't really in good enough shape to save as there were extensive holes and water damage to the tiles. I'll post the picture again for reference:

Because of the terrible state of the linoleum (and, really, a desire to completely revamp the space) I decided it had to go. With a lot of effort and a couple of trips to the dump I managed to get the tiles removed from the floor and off the premises. I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of the floor when it was in this tile-less state, but it was not pretty. The old hardwood floors were completely covered with black glue and maybe some kind of black paper which was NOT coming off. It was nice for a while because it formed a space on which we were not afraid to stack tools, ladders, tile, paint, whatever because it was in such bad condition. At that point, I was pricing out carpet and engineered bamboo flooring thinking there was no WAY this floor was ever coming back.

Around this time, my sister Claire came into town for her friend Chantal's birthday (they celebrated at Jazz Fest, woohoo!) She mentioned that her friend's house (where they were staying) had some similar flooring issues. I took a break from working to go pick her up there, and she suggested that I come in to look at some pictures of how bad those floors had been and to get a first hand look at what refinishing had done for them.

Well, while I saw some "before" pictures of floors that were in pretty bad shape, and I noted that the "after" floors looked very nice, I was still not totally convinced. I was positive that the floors back at my place were in worse shape, and that there was no hope of successfully restoring them. However, at urging from just about everyone I know, I decided it couldn't hurt to have an expert look at them. An old friend from my college days does a lot of work in the construction / renovating industry down here, and through him I got the number for Vincent Hardwood Floors. That number is (504) 272-5588 and I highly recommend you call Vincent if you need any work done in this area. His crew was professional, friendly, and fast. And the results were AMAZING:

Boy, did that room get a face lift. Here are a couple more:

Thank you Vincent!!!

The Artist's Touch

So the past few weeks have been a true whirlwind. The renovation has been focused almost exclusively on the rental unit, because getting that income stream in will free up funds for developing the larger unit where we plan to live. A number of rather ambitious projects on the rental side are nearing completion, but none has had the amazing visual impact of the sheetrock repair and painting. And, while a number of helping hands were involved in the painting, for sheer technique, perseverance, and eye for detail, no one beats my Mom.

Unfortunately, I didn't really get too much of a chance to photograph the walls and ceiling before we painted. During the busiest time it seems as though I really forgot to take many pictures at all, but I can tell you for several weekends running both Mom and Dad were down here in lending all of their considerable painting expertise to this effort.

Mom and Dad really make a pretty incredible painting team. Dad generally does the "heavy lifting" with paint rollers and long poles and such, while Mom, with her fine eye for detail and her steady hand does the cutting in and woodwork (basically, the rest).

Just for spacing purposes, I threw the pictures of all of the nice edging throughout this post. This apartment used to be peach, deep red, and a wacky deep blue green all throughout. The new paint job makes *ME* want to live there.

These pictures really don't do justice to this paint job. The improvement is staggering over what was there previously, and I am still amazed at how nice it looks every time I walk in.

The Man with a Plan (and a chainsaw)

One of the most important sources of help in the process of both purchasing and renovating this property has been my parents. They have been amazingly supportive in almost every manner conceivable, from financial assistance to blood, sweat, tears, and an amazing amount of time and effort. They have driven here from Lafayette nearly every weekend since this project commenced, and that fact that I have not yet highlighted what they have helped me accomplish is really a bit embarrassing. To give you an idea of how incredibly generous they have been with their time, I can tell you that they were both down here on both Mother's Day and Father's Day this year. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad for being so supportive, generous, and wonderfully helpful.

One of the first things Dad did when he donned his working overalls was to remove the Japanese magnolia from the front of the house. The tree was sure to bloom beautifully, and offered some shade to the porch, so the decision to remove it was a difficult one. However, the fact that it was leaning against the house was an invitation to disaster; termites, moisture, and/or wind-related damage were eventually going to result from its position, and pruning it was simply not going to alleviate those risks. Furthermore, the thing was planted directly over the water main which supplies the house with water from the street, and I was afraid that damage to this pipe from its roots was inevitable.

So, the weekend after the first big plumbing push, Dad drives down from Lafayette and starts to tackle some outdoor projects, chief among these being (so he thinks) the removal of the tree. It was a Friday, and he was able to come in while I was still at work. I called him from the office early afternoon to see how it was coming along, and he said with the most casual emphasis, "Well, the tree's down." Not half an hour later I got an email from Jean-Paul, who had driven by to retrieve his "SOLD!" sign. He was *very* complimentary of the new look, so I was dying to get home to see it. When I got home, here is what I saw. AWESOME!





The difference is, in fact, pretty amazing, as the gingerbread and front porch are, in my opinion, quite nice looking. With a new pain job (somewhere down on the list of things I plan to do) it's going to sing. Here's another, more recent picture after a little yardwork and the addition of the ficus trees from my old apartment.

The other big outdoor project Dad tackled that weekend was the fence in the backyard. To be perfectly honest, that fence is somewhat of an enigma. It was built using a large amount of treated lumber (read: expensive), but its design leaves a *lot* to be desired. The fence was built in odd sections, with a small, 1.5-2 ft section at the bottom and maybe a 6 ft. section on top. The fenceposts were treated 4x4's, which with age have leaned, warped, and in some cases fallen down.


There was a big pile of lumber in the backyard that had apparently come from the downed sections of the fence, and Dad was able to use these to basically reconstruct the fence along the entire back property line. He even did battle with banana plants and helped reconstruct the neighbor's shed in the process, and I think even he was a bit surprised at how much effort this fence took compared to the earlier tree removal.



I am embarrassed to say, I can't find a picture of the completed fence. Here's a shot of the work in progress; I promise to add a picture of the finished work soon.

The hiatus is over!

Well, there's nothing like buying a house to make you too busy or too tired all the time to write blog entries, but believe it or not, I have received a couple of requests for information on the renovation. That's right, people asked for more blog entries! And to be perfectly honest, I am at a great point to resume blogging here because I am so proud of how the renovations are turning out.

I'll be posting a series of before / after picture entries today (or just "after" if I can't find a good "before" image). Please, please feel free to comment as Becky and I love the feedback. Thanks for your interest and for visiting.

Kaufman

Picture Post

Happy Mother's Day! Here's some photos for mom:

That's the old linoleum tile that was in the bedroom of the rental. I was pretty excited about cleaning it up and refurbishing it. What a fantastic green basket weave pattern! But Mike vetoed that in favor of finishing the pine wood floor boards underneath. To each his own!

This was the old floor of the closet in the rental side. I'd like to meet the design mastermind who chose all these tiles. But a little water damage rots out the subfloor, and people have a kneejerk reaction to put down a sturdy false floor:

I guess that's better. Check out the leopard wall!

No after photos for that spotty sheetrock yet.

Here's the new tile in the bathroom.

Mike's working hard here to get the grout in. Color: Haystack. Outcome: Awesome.

Feast your eyes on some during and after ceiling repair work.





That's some quality sheetrock floating. Nice work Mike and Mrs. Kaufman!

Unfortuantely, there are no current photos documenting the backyard fence makeover. But let me tell you, Mike's dad is a miracle worker with recycled treated lumber.

Now if only we could get rid of the lingering sewer gas stench...

Things are going to change around here!

Well, I figured out how to allow another person to post to the blog, and who else would I invite to help me document life in uptown New Orleans but the person with whom I happily spend most of it? My girlfriend Becky is a most welcome addition to this publication, and I hope very much that you enjoy her writing as much as I do.