Deck the Walls...

The deck all framed in!  Looking good.  Liberty Construction rocks!
It is pretty neat to see the plan coming together and we keep imagining what it will be like a year from now. 

VPI Windows...to grid or not to grid?

To date our most stressful decision has been which window design and type to install.  Double hung, single hung, horizontal, vertical openings, grids- one row, the whole window, none etc. etc. etc...  (The rest of the house's windows have grids.) Significant other's window desire was a wall of picture windows.  I on the other hand desired windows that could be opened and I would be able to hear the tweets of nature, or the screams of my children in trouble.  The current window decisions are for the first and second floor windows- slash future enclosed deck turned into living room/dining room and larger master bedroom with a view vs. a master bedroom with a deck.  I also have been leaning towards partial grids for the windows.  I feel the look is more high end, but Joe feels that it is a better look for a prison.  I think that if there is at least one row of grids present it would help the windows tie in with the rest of the house and not scream, "HELLO! Addition...".  (It also looks like we are going to have to evict a squatter bird shanty too)

Mystery Fire...

Before buying Fugly we noticed bizarre charred fire damaged areas of the house, mainly a couple of kitchen cupboard doors, the outside of the side garage door, and the second floor window located above the garage side door.  Our guess is that something caught fire in the kitchen and the toaster/greasy pan was tossed outside possibly thought out...but whatever it was reignited and tried to finish the torch job of the house.  During the pre-purchase tours of the house there was a wet smoke smell that permeated the interior of the building.  But now with the drywall torn up, walls gone, and the rug and flooring gone I have not smelled that smell.  Knock on burnt wood- hopefully it stays that way!  But the mystery remains; was the cause a New Years Fondu Party gone wrong.....?  A feisty Candle Light Party....?

Mighty Machines and dirt work

The kids were excited to see a mighty machine in the yard.  They thought it was Christmas early!  As for actual dirt work we had some crazy waist high valleys flattened out and temporary gravel paths put in to get us through this winter.  In the spring we will reevaluate the lay of the land after spring run off and probably terrace out the back area of the house.

Master bath shopping deals!

A great discovery at the Sandpoint Idaho ReStore store.  Two recessed oval mirror vanities for $15 each.  I was looking at something similar at a local box store for $100 each.  These are much more robust and the frame can easily be painted.  Yippie!

Unfortunately there was not much for pedestal sinks at the ReStore at the time.  But we did find two sets at Lowes in Coeur d'Alane, American Standard 'Retrospect' which were much less in the store than found online.  I also found possible lights for the sides of the mirrored vanities. 

Adieu back decks, hello larger master suite and new keeping room

The thought here is to take the very seasonal upper and lower decks and turn them into year round use.  The increased square footage down stairs will now be a dining room on one side and conversation sitting area on the other.  Footings have already been poured and the decking pulled in preparation of the addition deck conversion.  We had considered winterizing the lower deck and keeping the upper one off of the master room open.  But there were worries about rain and snow run off destroying the future first floor (lower deck) living space.  Another great result, of turning the decks into year round living space, is that these spaces had the best views.  A planed future door off of the kitchen leading to a manicured patio outdoor/bbq area will take the place of the old outside deck. That is the plan anyway so far...

Can't wait till spring!

A fall stroll down to Fry Creek.  In the spring the bay will be filled with water, and fingers crossed we will have a new dock.  At 'low tide' the bay doesn't exactly look its best, but in 5 months when the water is let back into the lake it will be awesome! On the way we found a nice hornet nest and I'm 86% sure a set of elk tracks. 

The Master Bath: Bye Bye Whirlpool

Gone is the jetted tub (to be replaced by a clawfoot bath), the double vanity is also taking a hike.  The shower and the closet have been gutted too, as well as the interior wall that was separating the vanity from the shower.  The shower will now go on the left side (old whirlpool side) and the clawfoot will be where the shower had been.  The double vanity will be replaced by double pedestal sinks; hopefully less counter clutter, they will be much taller (we are 6' and 6'4"), and easy to clean. 
Our current shower quandary is that I would love a spacious walk in shower, preferably door free.  The husband though is obsessed with the price of shower pans and sadly I think an open European shower room would be totally awesome, but the other half has stated impossible.  So he has been obsessing on telephone booth size/shaped showers and words such as Shclutter (sp?) Maax Auleh- or something.... Personally I am not excited about showering in a box- my name is not Jack-ie. 

Before and in the middle- the front bedrooms

The current question is, leave the closest and carry it down the room and have a fantastically large kid's closet, or leave a bump out smaller closet in the center of the room (yeck), or scratch it and put closet elsewhere.  I'm leaning towards option one with the thought of installing a pass through Scoobie Do door to the other room (the play room). I think the kids would love it!

Fugly at a distance

And another 'before' street side. The plan is to bump out the two bedrooms and enclose the street facing balcony, add a nice large window on each side, hit the top with shingles, whitish trim paint, a different color on the cedar siding, wood (or faux wood) carriage doors and replace exterior lights for something a bit larger and or more to scale.

Still had not signed but....

Joe decided to start sawing down the overgrown chin high weeds/ shrubs.  We think the place has been abandoned for a couple of years.  I wonder if the 'waterfront' portion of the sign had been visible there would have been more people interested in the property? But then again the landscaping and house are not all that visually stimulating, plus everything is flashing fix me with dollar signs.  I hope we have not jumped from the boiling pot into the fire.  (Speaking of which there are bits of the house that do have fire damage...) 

The Big News

Surprising, and exciting news.  We thought the 'short' sale had fallen through, but outta left field- shazzaam!