Home Improvements, Round 2
Donation protected
Last spring we bought a small trailer at a bargain basement price (for the very good reason that it was unlivable).
Last summer--while the kids and I lived the high life with my family in St. Louis--Allen gutted the house and slept on a couch covered in sheetrock dust, insulation, wood debris, etc. He uncovered lots of charming things like a mummified possum under the house and enough spiders to be the stuff of my nightmares.
In two months' time he made remarkable changes to the house, very often using reclaimed/recycled/found materials. The kids and I moved in at the end of July and we've slowly been continuing the renovation process since then.
If you've ever renovated or built a home, however, you know that it's a process fraught with hidden problems and unexpected expenses. We've certainly found that to be the case, anyway.
Consequently, there is more work to be done. We have three main goals for this summer:
1. Complete the remodel of the bathroom and hallway storage areas. This includes demo, framing, sheetrock, mud/tape, tile/grout, texture/paint, trim.
2. Demo our kitchen floor version 1.0 (ceramic tile) and replace with version 2.0 (lineoleum).
3. Replace sections of drywall in the boys' room to maximize sleeping space (including the creation of two built-in beds).
There are other things (putting up door, window, base, and crown trim, moving a fence, refinishing the kitchen cabinets, etc.) but those are much lower a priority.
We are committed to using found/reclaimed materials whenever possible (it's good for the environment and it's free). But looking for these things takes time and chance; and with Allen working fulltime, there's not much in the way of time. Sometimes the best option is going to Home Depot and getting something brand-new, which requires some capital. That is where we are hoping that you might be kind enough to help.
We don't want to put ourselves as a cause before your usual recipients of charitable giving. We've lived with this work-in-progress for a year now and we could keep going as we are now.
But if you have a couple extra bucks burning a hole in your pocket or you have no idea what to give us for upcoming gift-giving occasions (birthdays/anniversaries/Christmas/etc.)...now you know what to do with it!
Alternately, if you are local and have some materials sitting around (say, a half roll of lineoleum left over from your last renovation), we would be very pleased to see if we can take them off your hands.
Thanks so much for your consideration. Our family motto is "every little bit helps." And thanks for reading the blog and keeping up with us (when I remember to post, that is).
Last summer--while the kids and I lived the high life with my family in St. Louis--Allen gutted the house and slept on a couch covered in sheetrock dust, insulation, wood debris, etc. He uncovered lots of charming things like a mummified possum under the house and enough spiders to be the stuff of my nightmares.
In two months' time he made remarkable changes to the house, very often using reclaimed/recycled/found materials. The kids and I moved in at the end of July and we've slowly been continuing the renovation process since then.
If you've ever renovated or built a home, however, you know that it's a process fraught with hidden problems and unexpected expenses. We've certainly found that to be the case, anyway.
Consequently, there is more work to be done. We have three main goals for this summer:
1. Complete the remodel of the bathroom and hallway storage areas. This includes demo, framing, sheetrock, mud/tape, tile/grout, texture/paint, trim.
2. Demo our kitchen floor version 1.0 (ceramic tile) and replace with version 2.0 (lineoleum).
3. Replace sections of drywall in the boys' room to maximize sleeping space (including the creation of two built-in beds).
There are other things (putting up door, window, base, and crown trim, moving a fence, refinishing the kitchen cabinets, etc.) but those are much lower a priority.
We are committed to using found/reclaimed materials whenever possible (it's good for the environment and it's free). But looking for these things takes time and chance; and with Allen working fulltime, there's not much in the way of time. Sometimes the best option is going to Home Depot and getting something brand-new, which requires some capital. That is where we are hoping that you might be kind enough to help.
We don't want to put ourselves as a cause before your usual recipients of charitable giving. We've lived with this work-in-progress for a year now and we could keep going as we are now.
But if you have a couple extra bucks burning a hole in your pocket or you have no idea what to give us for upcoming gift-giving occasions (birthdays/anniversaries/Christmas/etc.)...now you know what to do with it!
Alternately, if you are local and have some materials sitting around (say, a half roll of lineoleum left over from your last renovation), we would be very pleased to see if we can take them off your hands.
Thanks so much for your consideration. Our family motto is "every little bit helps." And thanks for reading the blog and keeping up with us (when I remember to post, that is).
Organizer
Jenny Cook
Organizer
Gladstone, OR
