Demo Day(s)

Demo: the bad, the ugly And the Good

The first step in rebuilding something is almost always to tear it apart. I can’t begin to tell you how terrifying and fun it is to rip apart a house! Physically it’s crazy exhausting but it’s definitely cathartic and I’m pretty sure this was Josh’s favorite part of the entire project.

The Bad: A really frustrating part of this demo was having to tear out work that a contractor was paid to do. This is a PSA to anyone who is considering work on your house and using a contractor. There are great contractors out there- really responsible people who take pride in what they do, but for every great contractor there are at least 2 people who have no idea what they’re doing and/or are simply out to cut corners and rip you off. Please observe the indoor decking that Josh is ripping out in the third photo. My mother paid a “contractor” (read thief) a lot of money to re-do the floor in the first floor and this is what she got. There are SO many reasons that this is the wrong way to have approached the new floor (we’ll get into that later) but in good news he built this indoor deck incredibly solidly which made it nearly impossible to rip out.

The Ugly: We filled up our porch with garbage at least 4 times- and there was some strange stuff in there. We found a mini fridge, several suitcases, some lawn chairs, a wood burning stove and soooo much dust dirt and mold. It was gross and freezing. On Valentines Day I got to drive a U-Haul full of trash to the dump when the real feel temperature was -15 degrees. It was super romantic.

The Good: Like I said- it was incredibly cathartic to rip apart the first floor. It also felt great to have a clear idea on how to get started without a lot of expertise. Putting everything back together was going to be an entirely different story. Outside of that it was pretty awesome to find the original sink from the house was still intact although super gross! It’s this massive double cast iron guy that you can’t find anymore and I knew there had to be a way to refinish it - but that’s a story for another day.

We get by with a little help from our friends

One of the things that I love about this town is how small it is and how people take care of each other. This MONSTER bacon egg & cheese was provided by Maggie of Maggie’s Krooked Cafe. Her breakfast sandwiches are not normally this large, although you do get a pretty hefty plate of food whenever you go there, but she knew we were doing crazy physical labor at the house and she figured she would try to feed us enough for the whole day whenever we came in to see her. You’ll notice it also came with a side of fruit, some breakfast potatoes and a salad- not weird at all. We love you Maggie!