tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25151560203652755642024-03-18T02:10:04.038-07:00A Cliff May Way of LifeWe are living in a Cliff May that we've been remodeling to suit us and it has in turn changed us.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-46756418004235212872013-03-18T19:40:00.000-07:002013-03-18T19:40:02.448-07:00A Cliff May is both a home and a way of lifeWe bought our house in 2007 when it was at it's lowest point. We're architects, so we didn't judge it for that. We knew what we could do and we saw what it could be. (I'm working hard to track down pictures of the way it used to be, but that'll hopefully be another story.) Anyway, we would never have bought a house that had to be completely reinvented and turned into something it never was. We wanted to fix up a place that already had that special something. This house had it. It came with a way of life.<br />
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Cliff May is often dubbed the Father of the Ranch Style. If you understand what makes these designs so special, you wouldn't have to be told that they were invented in California. Windows go from the floor to the ceiling and there are as many of them as possible. They were painted the same color as the walls so the frame of the window would not stand out, but rather the visual opening. Even the doors have panes of glass like the windows and there are as many of those as possible as well. The most important thing about this house is that when you are inside, you still feel like you're outside. You cannot escape the daylight when it arrives in the morning and you cannot convince your children to sleep before it sets. It is also a very efficient home, leaving a small 1,300sf footprint in my yard that makes you realize how much more less really is.<br />
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This house is everything we ever hoped our home could be, except more. This house makes me want to go outside. A morning of clear sunshine after the gloomy winters we call "gray death" puts you in a mood to just grab your bike and take off. This house makes me want vegetable and flower gardens or to throw parties large enough that not everyone even has to fit inside to still feel like they're all at the same party. It's changed us. We even listen to bossa nova from time to time because it feels so right in this house.<br />
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The problem is that we've spent so much time working on the house, it hasn't left us much time to grow a garden or take off biking on the weekends, on the occasions when we actually have weather appropriate for either. The smell of spring doesn't remind me of lazing around in my hammock, but it strongly reminds me of the first two springs we owned this house when we worked all day long together from early in the morning until we had just enough energy left to change into pajamas at night. In that way, our house is a tease because we are now addicted to a lifestyle or at least this idea of a lifestyle that we haven't really been able to achieve. Of course we're so close to finishing, but I have the most wonderful child and now I'd just so much rather have another and maybe another than replace windows, though I will admit that the days when Zack and I used to do that together were some of my favorite days.<br />
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We are thinking of selling our house because of this. We at least know what we want if and when we move on. We have developed an irrational need for windows and as many of them as possible. We also know what it takes to feel like your outside when you're stuck inside and what the value of a well placed garden might be if we were ever blessed with time enough to have one. I don't want to stop living here, but I think this house has taught us everything it knows and changed us entirely. We now know what it takes to live happy and we want the opportunity to do it. Unfortunately, this means changing our situation from one where we work on the house to one where we simply enjoy a house where we can have more children and less projects.<br />
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The strange thing is that thinking of letting it go is less scary than I thought it would be. This house has defined us for so long that people are shocked to hear that we'd ever sell it, but the thing that we've most appreciated is the thing that can never be sold. It's the Cliff May Way of Life.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-50592046001688776812012-12-01T17:07:00.003-08:002012-12-01T17:07:48.551-08:00Cliff May Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: start;">I thought I'd post a few pictures of our house all decked out for Christmas. This is about as decked out as we get with a kiddo and cats running about.</span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-64763145995420119942012-11-27T20:36:00.002-08:002012-11-27T20:38:50.004-08:00Window Replacement... Awning Windows and Custom Built Assemblies!It's been over a year since I've posted and I will write another post soon to explain what all we've done and what all we have left to do. Right now, I'm finally posting about a topic so near and dear to my heart, it took me a while to write it out the way I wanted... WINDOWS! We still have one punched opening to replace still and plenty of the full-height windows, but we have done quite a bit of work so I wanted to share what we've learned to help anyone else know what to do or perhaps what not to do!<br />
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Just to explain why we had to replace all of our windows (for those of you who live where there's always fabulous weather): here in Kansas, the single-pane windows freeze over on the inside from condensation in the winter. When it's really cold, we can't see outside from our living room except through the insulated kitchen awning window we put in. Also, wood sliders don't hold up here. Ours never opened. The wood swells with temperature changes and varying humidity levels and we found as we demolished some of them that the metal parts inside had rusted out almost entirely so even if the wood was still the right size and shape, they wouldn't have opened anyway. We also require screens on our windows to keep the flying bugs out and the kitty cats in. So we didn't rip the windows out and throw them away because we didn't love them. We really did! But the point of them was to create a positive relationship between the inside and outside and in our case, the existing windows were creating a completely negative relationship!<br />
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<b>Replacing the Sliders</b><br />
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This part was easy thanks to Andersen Windows having a standard size that fits the opening just perfectly! It doesn't appear on their website that they even do standard sizes anymore so in case you're ordering your own, the ones we got were 59 3/4" x 31 1/2" actually (I think they were called 60x32) and they worked great for us. It left just enough shim space and wiggle room in the existing opening. The only dilemma we've had with this style of window is how to trim it out. Because they just barely fit in a 2x4 wall, it took us a while to come up with a good way of trimming the interior out that seemed consistent with the trim throughout the house. Here are some photos and a section I sketched up real quick:<br />
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<b>Replacing the Door/Full Height Windows</b><br />
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We got our door from Trustyle, which had a door type that matched the existing only we wouldn't be able to see daylight through this one! After careful measuring and finger crossing, we selected the TSL2020 2'-8" x 6'-6" x 1 3/4". Then we bought some 4x4 Douglas Fir posts and fitted these out to act as our door jamb just as the original doors were designed, only we used a 4x4 post on each side for stability. Our original post was completely rotted out at the bottom (most likely from water condensation). Here are some photos:<br />
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Once we got the posts in place after hours of measuring and fitting, we then proceeded to build the windows completely wrong. The way the original windows were made, they were installed from the outside on the face of the "frame." You can see where they were installed in the photos above. What we did wrong was to build the frames in place in between the "frame" members. We thought this would be easiest for some reason. It pretty much worked out though until we made another huge mistake. When ordering the insulated glass, we were not told and didn't realize that the seal on the insulated glass was about 5/8" thick. We'd counted on having about 3/8" overlap of the stops. See below for the disastrous results (of course we realized our error after completing the entire wall of windows).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGtFH5uy_JBIgSoE58JNnqgjvF_-kiu-LhIy2JF_MmVIrWrPI7e8tJXUuQ23Pkken7FPKbtqBqxgGeziGppoU2fbUoW_X9PUnYOl3gJ8JoKi6esxRC_Kmqq7xuDhc8kiZnjNN09GzLoUx/s1600/2009+March+039+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGtFH5uy_JBIgSoE58JNnqgjvF_-kiu-LhIy2JF_MmVIrWrPI7e8tJXUuQ23Pkken7FPKbtqBqxgGeziGppoU2fbUoW_X9PUnYOl3gJ8JoKi6esxRC_Kmqq7xuDhc8kiZnjNN09GzLoUx/s320/2009+March+039+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6HszR0FHSVcglOOCj_QDDgcZsl_GrFfSlE3VIcaPSkpH12aXBM_Qz_X4fdr76TAT_1hpGURwx9oEv0ebzISrnb9HzBza3JvgRV9Zho_KM1osCdvfxKMhp7cMwxj4he3bmqbJtIIz9HI1/s1600/2009+March+037+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6HszR0FHSVcglOOCj_QDDgcZsl_GrFfSlE3VIcaPSkpH12aXBM_Qz_X4fdr76TAT_1hpGURwx9oEv0ebzISrnb9HzBza3JvgRV9Zho_KM1osCdvfxKMhp7cMwxj4he3bmqbJtIIz9HI1/s320/2009+March+037+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitfrW_e-T3x6kR2iIBMRhuR3MUdQC_lpijyvpkIVKGpglnEiyXThVP47Ml87A4dOfj3f4MZuUkpHhtoXBfuGqgaLPlO756F4vOe0_VwIPb4FVGElgJqQCV2P1b1GUMPZuWd_XR-3iFTZPB/s1600/DSC09563+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitfrW_e-T3x6kR2iIBMRhuR3MUdQC_lpijyvpkIVKGpglnEiyXThVP47Ml87A4dOfj3f4MZuUkpHhtoXBfuGqgaLPlO756F4vOe0_VwIPb4FVGElgJqQCV2P1b1GUMPZuWd_XR-3iFTZPB/s320/DSC09563+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXgcO4ZPgbxK5HILmLKVmUbNsFH5dLh4kGFMiPFqGOy_TUykLyEfPOXnXca0ErE2Nw-NKNyB5KUePoI2BJs41m1RJISlb_REVKmusy6OxX9rj20srAXWmH3Dx0vRHe1nEkpIjNv2S_zpE/s1600/DSC09564+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXgcO4ZPgbxK5HILmLKVmUbNsFH5dLh4kGFMiPFqGOy_TUykLyEfPOXnXca0ErE2Nw-NKNyB5KUePoI2BJs41m1RJISlb_REVKmusy6OxX9rj20srAXWmH3Dx0vRHe1nEkpIjNv2S_zpE/s320/DSC09564+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwk-XP-XK0Ij0Lar98YIAKcjfvOeFKq-xutqvEMGmEKSUDKNMqV_KEc8qR7LeSm5MRAcnSw3yz4c4w5cj4QH2BnrJEepalGRXMOHXF8bpOyE_qUe7_ZxefZccxP5jiIrBHNmoCCxUAoguI/s1600/DSC09568+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwk-XP-XK0Ij0Lar98YIAKcjfvOeFKq-xutqvEMGmEKSUDKNMqV_KEc8qR7LeSm5MRAcnSw3yz4c4w5cj4QH2BnrJEepalGRXMOHXF8bpOyE_qUe7_ZxefZccxP5jiIrBHNmoCCxUAoguI/s320/DSC09568+%2528Medium%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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So we ripped those out and built the frames exactly the way we took them out: from the outside in one piece that overlaps the structural frame. This worked out much better. We designed them to fit 5/8" thick insulated glass so we used 2x4s for the window frames with 1x trim on the back that would overlap the glass 3/4" and then a stop on the outside. Here is a section once again a section drawn very quickly and some photos:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2OamRvu8bLiHGWgq03_JZC2Q49bgz7tdPOZ-B3wEhcQvENLXhff4MwWiZluNWXcnhF7QBABY4rlcx4mF9e30gfe78BfQBCh_A1V7jwVqgdLc-N4ltL6nkw9s3nC4ljfmMdQcyqGtf6ic/s1600/IMG_1484+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2OamRvu8bLiHGWgq03_JZC2Q49bgz7tdPOZ-B3wEhcQvENLXhff4MwWiZluNWXcnhF7QBABY4rlcx4mF9e30gfe78BfQBCh_A1V7jwVqgdLc-N4ltL6nkw9s3nC4ljfmMdQcyqGtf6ic/s400/IMG_1484+small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The most frustrating part of the whole experience was that it was so hard to find information about doing this. It turned out to be not such a big deal, but we wasted a lot of time and money figuring that out. Making your own windows is not rocket science. It's as simple as you'd expect. There just isn't any info online and people look at you crazy when you even mention it. So it was really important for me to write this super long post so that anyone else in a similar situation can see that it can be done! I'll probably write another post about how we finished out the door frame. You wouldn't BELIEVE the looks you get when you tell people that the 4x4s are the door frame and you just need the door and the parts and pieces, not a whole jamb! Yikes!</div>
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Anyway, we LOVE LOVE LOVE our awning windows and we especially LOVE LOVE our master bedroom full height windows and fully functioning door!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-8163112099308265572011-11-19T10:20:00.001-08:002011-11-19T10:26:07.966-08:00Here are some pictures of Liam's new room. We'll have furniture in there ASAP!!!! Here's a photo of the little guy:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNksvfVMdKit8JVZB9lzfCp1nCbFkvXTffjYEgYJbSWaAymk92FsSggdXLvHIpWvUPThvOZaXpsZ76i-RydSe6n8iEsAdT-S5PcCZOsVhpmbJFc6It9SHRR2XiHGMIwEUXR7FauCtPoyk/s1600/2011+October+475.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNksvfVMdKit8JVZB9lzfCp1nCbFkvXTffjYEgYJbSWaAymk92FsSggdXLvHIpWvUPThvOZaXpsZ76i-RydSe6n8iEsAdT-S5PcCZOsVhpmbJFc6It9SHRR2XiHGMIwEUXR7FauCtPoyk/s400/2011+October+475.JPG" width="298" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-19994705223446329612011-11-19T10:17:00.000-08:002011-11-19T10:17:51.433-08:00It's been a whileWe've obviously fallen behind on our updating because we decided to have a baby! We had a mad rush to finish up the master bedroom and bathroom before he was born and are now putting the finishing touches on his room and the guest room (now that he's 6 months old!).<br />
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Here are some pics of the master bathroom. We're still missing doors and window trim, but it's pretty close.<br />
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Here are some photos of the master bedroom before we moved a bunch of furniture in. We replaced the sliders (that never slid) with awning windows, made the bathroom bigger by taking out one of the closets, replacing it with what was a hall closet I think, and we rebuilt the floor-to-ceiling windows and put in a new door from TruStile.<br />
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And there's a picture from our entryway. I'll post pics of the empty but nearly complete nursery shortly!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-6998562137939272152009-09-23T17:38:00.000-07:002009-09-23T17:39:37.019-07:00Master Bedroom<a title="photo sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19011594@N02/3912514857/"><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 2px solid" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2448/3912514857_89333015e0_m.jpg" /></a>
<p>It's been gutted (almost) and the framing's almost done although I didn't get a picture of that yet. We're putting in our awning windows this weekend or next and really soon, we'll be rebuilding those floor to ceiling windows so they'll look very similar, but they'll be insulated so they won't ice over in the winter!
We've got so many projects going on right now and I want them all done before it gets cold!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-85136540932080989562009-04-19T18:28:00.000-07:002009-07-25T15:39:37.869-07:00New Mantle!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieLdgGZU_SDHLsHMh-tnzwkTi4ExNtyy9_A06-pf5KYGlHR97RG1yDNHwTUHqC88-b_H4G59y_LRloELHOywvmen7FBS7nHzqemUoA2u5hSdrHZOdprasQWhf974_sr4Q8X_NyNvI_73ZP/s1600-h/Remodel+003.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 268px; CURSOR: pointer" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326586150295637010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieLdgGZU_SDHLsHMh-tnzwkTi4ExNtyy9_A06-pf5KYGlHR97RG1yDNHwTUHqC88-b_H4G59y_LRloELHOywvmen7FBS7nHzqemUoA2u5hSdrHZOdprasQWhf974_sr4Q8X_NyNvI_73ZP/s400/Remodel+003.jpg" /></a> <div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">
</div><span style="font-family:arial;">We just finished the mantle for the fireplace, we're both excited to have something more than a brick ledge for a mantle. The mantle was made from baltic birch plywood and </span><span style="font-family:arial;">hangs off the existing brick ledge.</span>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:100%;">The mantle before...</span>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;">And after...</span>
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<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrXx1CyLqVODAq57GL5Go_b0mLcxxM_8-uXNII62sIGngbVGoVHsTmHh7hpXNDXSqapvBJ20IBBFGoCe2wewReREkCW1k6ZPapmSeC8_-NscUzfaNdDSdquuq8JHKlJ4OzKln6QdpyekiC/s1600-h/Remodel+006.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 268px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: pointer" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326594675619881234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrXx1CyLqVODAq57GL5Go_b0mLcxxM_8-uXNII62sIGngbVGoVHsTmHh7hpXNDXSqapvBJ20IBBFGoCe2wewReREkCW1k6ZPapmSeC8_-NscUzfaNdDSdquuq8JHKlJ4OzKln6QdpyekiC/s400/Remodel+006.jpg" /></a>
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi139Ls2zWw6H4f94YQmum4Zk8LDHAWTeNJLeA4rW0Lvxh6gOk9BhxAQPKFjd1WKAEBWAuH25bUk9cm3jJ9Dr2cMS2w4iuKzTiEW8ZQv-h3oRLDkHVUblQ1AOdGlIzUNIhZxNxweTkqgyrW/s1600-h/Remodel+005.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 268px; CURSOR: pointer" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326590173389012082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi139Ls2zWw6H4f94YQmum4Zk8LDHAWTeNJLeA4rW0Lvxh6gOk9BhxAQPKFjd1WKAEBWAuH25bUk9cm3jJ9Dr2cMS2w4iuKzTiEW8ZQv-h3oRLDkHVUblQ1AOdGlIzUNIhZxNxweTkqgyrW/s400/Remodel+005.jpg" /></a>
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaum7wd4MpnH2an0VoDWXSY70Eh9KClOGE4Tupwlnpvf6lO3b2tD3WJ7gVpJqd2FHKXqsOkbwuclW5G-hG6Ux_Gki_X5TywAQU0Gn1bdU5neiV3RTtBiMQc_uPxTltz7mRyPLqfY7LxxZ/s1600-h/Remodel+004.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 268px; CURSOR: pointer" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326590179179252002" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaum7wd4MpnH2an0VoDWXSY70Eh9KClOGE4Tupwlnpvf6lO3b2tD3WJ7gVpJqd2FHKXqsOkbwuclW5G-hG6Ux_Gki_X5TywAQU0Gn1bdU5neiV3RTtBiMQc_uPxTltz7mRyPLqfY7LxxZ/s400/Remodel+004.jpg" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-77523322884231350572009-01-25T20:07:00.001-08:002009-01-25T20:27:29.011-08:00Concrete Countertops (and running water)<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3227768122_6d328b6482_b.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 468px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 301px" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3227768122_6d328b6482_b.jpg" border="0" /></a>
<div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3227768122_6d328b6482_b.jpg"></a>
<div><div></div><div>We installed the two largest pieces of concrete countertops today and hooked up our new faucet and sink drain!</div></div><div> </div><div><div>
</div><div></div><div>We're very excited. We can now fill up containers taller than 4 inches without using the bathtub and within the next week we hope to have the dishwasher hooked up as well.</div><div>
<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3400/3226925821_581fd87402_b.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 513px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 793px" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3400/3226925821_581fd87402_b.jpg" border="0" /></a>
</div><div></div><div>
</div><div></div><div>The concrete countertops turned out very well. Zack wasn't too excited about the front edges, but I don't mind them. I think it looks just like a concrete countertop should. The edge around the sink will need an aluminum closure strip to hide that edge and to provide an easy joint to caulk.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-33538196444299013732008-12-08T13:18:00.000-08:002008-12-08T13:30:05.091-08:00Kitchen Still Moving Slowly<div><span style="font-family:arial;">We have pendants (but only two lightbulbs</span><span style="font-family:arial;">)! For the first time, we both really like the kitchen because it's starting to actually look like one!
</span>
<div>
<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLXfUhCn_1aKV_jzc6BeCfk1Pqj3LXjcaEBzA4R5o0qiC38InjASPjRFYE1_diaqtUmPAkGRVyjmhk8rHVFx5rvZU15Iaw5PL3FvDSckvNwHJFLKw1ULGyboJsB9zvZof4zTZ72UCwW6V/s1600-h/2008+December+017.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277533074977595714" style="WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLXfUhCn_1aKV_jzc6BeCfk1Pqj3LXjcaEBzA4R5o0qiC38InjASPjRFYE1_diaqtUmPAkGRVyjmhk8rHVFx5rvZU15Iaw5PL3FvDSckvNwHJFLKw1ULGyboJsB9zvZof4zTZ72UCwW6V/s400/2008+December+017.jpg" border="0" /></a>
<div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/3092995187_ff00551112_o.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiAmTmf_BZWucRj68rDOryOW0ZVzw4P-XvT9n29e-Zf0dsJydo2YifOZ_rpKIdy1afu5-L6x7fzBXZ0xdu4bYbu9xgaB9nssOGg37Wcc0Fd4AaiHOGrWAJ7BsJ79E6g4q7TCTAkjPb0vg/s1600-h/2008+December+005.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277533328366826514" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiAmTmf_BZWucRj68rDOryOW0ZVzw4P-XvT9n29e-Zf0dsJydo2YifOZ_rpKIdy1afu5-L6x7fzBXZ0xdu4bYbu9xgaB9nssOGg37Wcc0Fd4AaiHOGrWAJ7BsJ79E6g4q7TCTAkjPb0vg/s400/2008+December+005.jpg" border="0" /></a>
<div><div>
<div>We will be pouring the concrete countertops next weekend. The island countertop will be laminate with the exposed plywood edges. We're using this laminate:</div>
<div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgohMaHZTcVMnYfxVGbVK5i_Je45OkoXQ8WLI2Z7HTmpiCWxEBbnwsRZcAjjv6LqM7acXjCCdCqr6v39rAAchBsY0AbAFOJw8YRa-hXWQfUnvryXmqUxS7TPrcBWK9UG6gHYf8aK1Prgh/s1600-h/virrvarr_light_blue_Specifications_0001_LargeImage_Image.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277533935191658594" style="WIDTH: 289px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 289px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgohMaHZTcVMnYfxVGbVK5i_Je45OkoXQ8WLI2Z7HTmpiCWxEBbnwsRZcAjjv6LqM7acXjCCdCqr6v39rAAchBsY0AbAFOJw8YRa-hXWQfUnvryXmqUxS7TPrcBWK9UG6gHYf8aK1Prgh/s320/virrvarr_light_blue_Specifications_0001_LargeImage_Image.gif" border="0" /></a>
<div>
</div>
<div>And someday, we hope to have this Electrolux range:</div>
<div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFU-jx-7fBJPVAn6VWl_Ziug4WvaJ9E8XrXO1jZ6JcCEIn5DxLoNfoMIdsrK3biQVgzn8z3SRYGXWkpB_Flo7T5c_5-NLBKZS-B1M-n2Y5a_kk3SOSsrWxL93ypmNW6hAUC9PcpIEZ1iF/s1600-h/EW30ES65GS.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277534259584986098" style="WIDTH: 117px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 142px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFU-jx-7fBJPVAn6VWl_Ziug4WvaJ9E8XrXO1jZ6JcCEIn5DxLoNfoMIdsrK3biQVgzn8z3SRYGXWkpB_Flo7T5c_5-NLBKZS-B1M-n2Y5a_kk3SOSsrWxL93ypmNW6hAUC9PcpIEZ1iF/s320/EW30ES65GS.png" border="0" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-28995671449027617012008-09-04T18:56:00.001-07:002008-09-04T19:12:28.211-07:00The Story of the Floor<div><div><div><div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3131/2829585204_ed420f1abd_b.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3131/2829585204_ed420f1abd_b.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> </span>
<div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">We have a beautiful living room and kitchen -and corner bedroom- which are not quite yet done (ceiling, in particular) but we love them. The floors are natural and they have a water-based polyurethane on them which I highly recommend. However, I must tell you though you would never know, that these floors were stained Minwax Jacobean three times before they got to stay natural. The first time, we hadn't done a good job sanding and the stain didn't adhere so we sanded it off. The second time we stained it, the first coat of Super Fast Drying Minwax Polyurethane didn't dry for a week. It turns out we maybe didn't wipe up all of the stain very well and the polyurethane wasn't sticking to it. So we sanded it off and did it again but took hours to carefully wipe up all of the excess stain immediately so that there was no residue at all on the floors when we put down Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane. Three days later it was wet so we took it off again, afraid if it wasn't adhering to our floor that it wouldn't last. We're happy now and will never use Minwax again.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's a shot of our fireplace. It still needs a mantle and wood around the base of the hearth, but it looks so much better than it used to. I put a before picture up just to compare.</span>
</span></div>
<div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3063/2829588954_65105f2c87_d.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 243px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 427px" height="472" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3063/2829588954_65105f2c87_d.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2828747231_8b0f0ee3e4_b_d.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2828747231_8b0f0ee3e4_b_d.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2015/1911397551_038476c438_b_d.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2015/1911397551_038476c438_b_d.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">And just for fun, we got some cool new dining room chairs...</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><img style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3042/2829586558_811f3b5195_b_d.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-66795656458833082882008-07-24T13:26:00.000-07:002008-07-24T13:29:49.558-07:00And having nothing to do with our house...<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">I bought a bike! I hope to replace my usual red speedy ride with this new red one for my 2.5 mile daily commute.</span>
<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span>
<p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226680236304880690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAUOU7ZKs9-VgKcjkJga8q5fVfm4c5v_gkRF8y7aPfA9HM3OlrngPCJvmJBk162Yrfg4fz2TAmQWSe-rSSC2NJtCxd57BcvUti3xNSFgcY1-vmSOuQMwIQQ_Tyou3c19PlypQ9ptn6ckv/s400/Wcross-a.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">(And no that is not <em>my</em> white picket fence.)</span>
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-64738369045697878742008-07-24T07:41:00.000-07:002008-07-24T10:13:10.430-07:00Summer Progress<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">I guess it's been a while since I've updated, but we've been very busy and we just have so much going on, it goes so slowly. The date is 8-6-08 for the purchasing of the cabinets and living room furniture!!! So the floors need to be refinished the weekend before that so everything else has to be done this weekend in order for that to happen.</span>
<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">We still have to finish putting up the ceiling, install the new wood floor, sand some mud, paint the windows and structure, paint all of the walls and the ceiling touch up coat among a few other things.</span>
<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span>
<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">So here's the photos from the last couple of weeks.</span>
<div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>We poured a concrete hearth</strong></span>
</div>
<p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2666741148_eee1846304_o.jpg" border="0" /></p>
<p></p>
<p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>We started installing new wood floor for the kitchen</strong></span></p>
<img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3268/2665918667_f86bcb72f5_o_d.jpg" border="0" />
<div align="center">
</div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>We started painting</strong></span></div><div align="center">
</div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/2691426140_0a6aa7e440_o_d.jpg" border="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-19075440727744343712008-05-27T18:11:00.000-07:002008-05-27T18:14:17.262-07:00<span style="font-family:arial;">So we have installed some of our ceiling which looks GREAT! We've installed our window, our new exhaust fan and the drywall! We got a lot done this month. It's finally starting to show!</span>
<div><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2528999267_0b026c5daf_o.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2528999267_0b026c5daf_o.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>
<a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2528999267_0b026c5daf_o.jpg"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-63224442347142235122008-05-12T20:07:00.000-07:002008-05-12T20:17:27.074-07:00Lazy Dog Days<div><div>Been doing a lot of small things around the house. After this weekend, there should be great progress to show. This weekend, we're installing some ceiling and we're replacing the kitchen window so it will be an operable awning window and we will have cross-ventilation for the first time!!</div>
<div></div><div>The good news is that on Saturday we got a Boston Terrier of questionable age named Midas. He's everything we wanted in a Boston: he's excited and energetic when it's time to go out and he's a power napper to rival our cats when we're just hanging out.</div>
<div></div><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2293/2488277770_a6f121846d.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2293/2488277770_a6f121846d.jpg" border="0" /></a>
<div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2488257638_bb11ccb2fd.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2488257638_bb11ccb2fd.jpg" border="0" /></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-45778988201436859182008-04-10T18:01:00.000-07:002008-04-10T18:30:29.963-07:00An Update at Long Last<span style="font-family:arial;">We've moved very slowly this winter, <span style="font-family:arial;">but we </span><span style="font-family:arial;">did get a new furnace; we wired, insulated and drywalled our living room and hallway; and just last weekend, we ripped out our kitchen cabinets. We'll take out the drywall and tile floor this weekend.</span></span>
<div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">before</span><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187788584670374418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh649dNg7HNGG5koCJjRj5S7iJKDk0PDh2EYfgxZfwsrgoJujLCKBKGLe7vAssuD0Hu_LkJr3a8EUPYSGWsZpSL85H1PDaa5UmgS3wNPQ2KMj7c5VaMyIrlOpIQVvPYJKTxr2-UB_9nQBbR/s400/DSC00287(1).JPG" border="0" /> <span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">after</span></div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2300/2404537466_7cff198b70.jpg" border="0" /> <div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">So the kitchen isn't quite to the looking better stage yet, but it will be soon hopefully.</span></div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span>
<span style="font-family:Arial;">I was really hoping to find some old photographs or stashes of cold hard cash while we ripped out the cabinets, but we found something cool anyway. On the floor under the cabinets was a brochure from the builder of the home. It has yellowed and suffered a little bit of termite damage from the termite infestation years of long ago, but it's still mostly readable and very enjoyable as it advertises a "magazine cover home designed by Cliff May" built by Stanley Cowherd Company and "plastic topped mahogany cabinets" (I think ours got skimped on that part -- it was pretty ordinary masonite and plywood).</span>
<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span>
<a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2255/2403859885_14e0a7f9a2.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2255/2403859885_14e0a7f9a2.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2256/2404687814_1a419d3cef.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2256/2404687814_1a419d3cef.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2064/2403858799_e23cc7a5de.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2064/2403858799_e23cc7a5de.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2364/2404684532_9470efabef.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2364/2404684532_9470efabef.jpg" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-21327622448750726582008-01-19T21:19:00.001-08:002008-01-19T21:21:52.454-08:00So it's 5 degrees outside and our furnace broke!! You have to admit, that's pretty amazing timing on it's part.<span style="font-family:arial;">We <em>could</em> get it fixed for more than we want to spend on an old bottom-of-the line furnace, but we thought it would be money better spent on getting a more efficient model. We'd really love a heat pump, but that just may be too pricey. Any ideas?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-35181598604445007392008-01-02T07:27:00.000-08:002008-01-02T07:37:03.158-08:00Oh, Wait! Our Living Room Ceiling is Gone!So I just created this post to tell the world that my husband had a good idea.
Now, our living room ceiling is gone and we certainly didn't rip it out without thinking how on earth we were going to replace it. We were prepared to install drywall but we were afraid that with ceilings like we have that are so visible and get lots of light bouncing off of them that if we didn't do the drywall just right, it would be so obvious that we didn't know what we were doing. Since we're completely redoing the living room/kitchen this year, we can't really afford to hire it out. So, that's when my husband mentioned that we could cover the rafters in simple tongue and groove wood paneling and just paint it. Well, we're pros at woodworking and surprisingly, we've found that it's cheaper than hiring out the drywall work.
I thought this was a very good solution. So many Cliff Mays have the exposed rafters and decking. We obviously can't have that as it isn't the way our house was designed, but this is the next best thing really. We plan to do it for all of our ceilings when the time comes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-62045389953277784482007-12-31T13:05:00.000-08:002008-01-02T07:19:02.158-08:00Half of our living room ceiling is gone!!We tore down the drywall and Kimsul insulation in half of our living room this weekend! I can't express how refreshing it is to know it's out of the house and won't ever come back!! That insulation reeked and because it disintegrated as it fell to the ground, it transformed into a dust storm which overtook our house so the smell still lingers (as does the other half of the ceiling).
<div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2239/2150533162_2abc29ba2e.jpg?v=0" border="0" />
<div></div><div></div><div>The tearing down was most definitely the easy part. It's the picking up the dusty trash and the vacuuming and the dragging of the contractor bags to the garage that kills. The insulating goes quickly too.</div><div> </div><div></div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2230/2150533486_6a324c6c43.jpg?v=0" border="0" /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-84976497814502700902007-12-17T08:36:00.001-08:002007-12-17T08:41:58.343-08:00Laundry<span style="font-family:arial;">Who would have thought a laundry room would be so difficult? Considering that all of our return air runs around the space, the electrical panel is in there, the entire floor had to be replaced, the plumbing had to be done, the gas lines had to be removed from the old dryer, the furnace vent stack is in the corner and had to be replaced and framed around and all the ethernet was run from the bedrooms to the laundry room for us to put our hub in there and it has all new electrical, I'd say I'm pretty proud we got it done in 9 months. I can't believe it's been that long!! It's still not quite done, but will be in the next couple of days. We need to finish installing the base and need to create a dryer vent. We found out that there was none before, it was just vented with a flexible pipe to the crawlspace. Thankfully, I've got just the spot for the new vent. But as soon as that's done, we're in the laundry business!!</span>
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<span style="font-family:Arial;">When the final touches are done, we'll be 1/4 or 1/3 of the way through our remodel. Living room and kitchen are next!!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-57578463841674129292007-11-08T07:55:00.000-08:002007-11-08T08:00:59.392-08:00Progress photos<span style="font-family:arial;">I have all of the photos of our house before we bought it and what we've done since - through last week on Flikr. Please check it out.</span>
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<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/19011594@N02/"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://flickr.com/photos/19011594@N02/</span></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-76835915037440287302007-10-26T08:09:00.000-07:002007-10-26T08:12:17.788-07:00CondensationSo we have a problem. A huge problem. The 7 1/4" of space above our ceilings is wet, wet, wet and no amount of ventilation can fix it. I'm thinking we're going to have to rip down the wet, moldy drywall and have it filled with foam insulation. This is something unexpected. We originally thought a ridge vent would do it, but there's just not enough air movement, especially once we add any sort of insulation and I don't think it'll work.
Otherwise, we demolished our kitchen island. I will post pictures soon.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2515156020365275564.post-40044069581565541392007-07-24T07:44:00.000-07:002007-07-24T07:55:25.021-07:00The beginning<span style="font-family:arial;">Yes, my husband and I own the Cliff May rancho pictured on KCmodern.com's driving tour. This poor, 53-year-old beat-up beauty was forclosed and turned over to HUD. We fell in love when we didn't have much in our bank account and then found out that we didn't win the house after all because we had missed HUD's bidding period. I don't know whether we willed it to be so, but somehow we weren't all that surprised to find that the winning bidder's deal fell through. We were able to submit an offer afterward and won it!!! Since then, we've pretty much been broke. Thus begins the love/hate relationship that exists between us and our dwelling.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1