First Projects

Most people's dream house doesn't include a large amount of trash haul off and demolition work in order to move in.  We aren't most people.
I feel like I have an ace in my pocket with Dusty.  Not only can he do anything he owns every tool known to man, including tractors.  He claims they are for work (they are) but I know he also looks forward to the days he gets to just work around the house while sitting in the tractor.  The first week here was a dream come true for him, so much brush to clear, so many weeds to scrape, so much gravel to spread.  The boys always get excited to see him at work so when the work was happening in our own backyard it was like hitting the jackpot!  Once the space was cleared we went to work on goat-head abatement and followed up with grass seed, hopefully by next spring we will have a patch of grass to call a backyard.

Our first "big" inside project was getting the boy's bedroom built.  The first day of school fell Monday after our moving weekend and it was really important to me to make this feel as much like home before the boys started at a new school.

This bedroom is currently being shared by our oldest two boys, Grayson and Radlee, and is in the addition, next to the kitchen.  It is not a big room by any means but it fits both of their beds easily and the closet is more than big enough for their clothes, I put a dresser in the wide hallway outside their room for their folded clothes which also acts as a "landing pad" when we come in the back door for bags, groceries, mail ect.  It is also my folding table on laundry day.

My favorite thing about this room is the 3 windows, it is so bright and has a great view out the back window into the fields behind the house.  The vaulted ceiling makes it feel like a really large room.  It obviously needs work and has had minimal decorating done but the boys are happy here and even though they won't admit it I think they really enjoy sharing a room.

There is space for a built in desk next to the closet and I am excited to make this a really special space in the room.  This room will eventually be just Grayson's and Radlee's will move next door where the kitchen is now.

The wall color is "chinchilla" by Martha Stewart at Home Depot in eggshell finish.  Typically I am a paint snob and prefer to only buy professional grade paint from a paint store, however we bought Glidden brand from Home Depot for this project and were very satisfied with the coverage and quality.  The color is a little more blue than I like my gray's but it has grown on me and I love how it changes tones throughout the day. 

Out with the old

Upon closing on the property our first priority was to get it cleaned up and cleared out.  I went after the inside and Dusty started work on the outside.  We had 29 days from the time we received the keys for this property and the day we had to hand over the keys for our other house.  With no bedrooms, and no shower or bathtub we had our work cut out for us.
Having been vacant for about 2 years it was grimey.  Thick, black cobwebs occupied the basement and corner rooms and bugs and dust bunnies turned up in most every corner.   I scrubbed and sanitized until it felt livable and then cleaned some more.  By the time I was done inside it was mostly rid of the musty smell and was beginning to feel like home.
The church we purchased it from left behind all of the church pews, all of their Sunday school furniture, various tables, chairs and other misc. items.

Just a sample of some of the lovely furniture we inherited.

I immediately went to work listing the leftover furniture on Craigslist.  I also started hauling the boxes and boxes of random decor, books, toys etc. from the basement and other nooks and crannies to the main room for a large yard sale.
We set the yard sale for the second weekend we owned the property and had high hopes of clearing the space so construction could begin.  I filled table after table with artificial flower arrangements, vases, lunch trays, coffee carafes, bibles and more, pricing most things around a quarter.  Foot traffic was light but a consistent stream of items left the building.  On Saturday an antiques dealer stopped by and bought all of the remaining church pews and they were hauled out that day.  By the end of Saturday the remains of the sale were re-boxed and ready for pick-up by the Youth Ranch on Monday morning and I had an extra $400 in my pocket.  Once those boxes had been hauled away it felt like a fresh start and a whole houseful of opportunities.  Not to mention that Radlee could now ride his bike.  In the house. 

Starting at square one: Exterior

It was the front of the building that drew me in.  I love the symmetry of it and the bell tower may be my favorite feature.  We have done a ton of scraping and grading and leveling but we have a loooong way to go, the weeds are a constant battle and until we get a lawn in there is little hope of winning the battle.  The house is on a busy highway, however it sits back from the road about 25 yards.  Dusty is in the process of building a large berm at the road, he brings home extra dirt whenever possible and is slowly building up a barrier, behind the berm we will plant pasture grass and fence the area for cows, I will also have a chicken coop nearby so the chickens can range with the cows.  Beyond the pasture we will have the front lawn that runs all the way to the house, the old elm tree will stay, the other tree in the front yard is not well and may not be able to be saved.  The current handicap ramp will be torn out and we have visions of adding a covered, wrap around front porch.  In the short term the entire exterior will get a fresh coat of paint, the louvers on the bell tower will be removed and a bell will be installed.  Eventually we hope to stucco the entire building, not only will stucco smooth out many of the surface imperfections but also tie the addition (currently sided) into the block building.  It needs a new roof, it doesn't leak but it isn't in great shape, there are 2 layers of cedar shakes and no tar paper.

The driveway is narrow directly off the road and then widens into a parking area.  We feel like there is way too much asphalt but I don't know if we will tear any of it out, the kids love having wide open spaces to ride their bikes.  The shop is on the west side of the house, the patch of dirt in front of the shop will become my garden, I am so excited to have such a large space to plant, I will have a mix of raised beds, trellises and ground plantings, I cannot wait until spring to get my  hands dirty!  The shop is 30x30 and was one of the major selling points for Dusty.  He quickly realized that it isn't big enough for his needs and is already planning a "bigger and better" version.  Behind the shop is our equipment yard, Dusty has hauled in and spread gravel over this area and parks all of our business' equipment here.

Continuing clockwise around the property is the well house, the main pump for the house water system is in here, it has also been transformed into the bike garage, the boys keep all of their dirt bikes and gear in here.

The back of the property is bordered by a chain link fence with an irrigation ditch just on the other side.  I would love to landscape this area better with a more attractive fence and grass running right up to the ditch bank to make it feel more like a stream.

The area to the east of the driveway, behind the house is more open dirt.  We have planted grass seed here for the time being but will eventually build a garage that is attached to the house.  The modular building that is there now is listed for sale, we have no need for another outbuilding and would rather have it moved than use it.

 Behind the modular is the side yard, Dusty has built a dirt-bike track for the boys and they can usually be found out there on motorcycles, bicycles or even their scooters.  It is by far their favorite feature of the property.  There is another outbuilding out there that houses the irrigation pump, we also use it as a garden shed for our landscaping tools.  I am hoping to plant a mini-orchard along the east side of the property with plenty of fruit trees and build a greenhouse.

 All of the exterior buildings will get a face lift to clean up their appearance and match the house, landscaping will be done and patios created.  I always love the exterior spaces of a home because they are constantly changing.  Once my furniture is set and my house is decorated I seldom change things around, I like the consistency inside.  However, outside the seasons lend themselves to create change in appearance and use, I am excited to see how the outside spaces of our home evolve.

Starting at square one, basement

I've always said I'm not a fan of basements, however, I recently realized that this is totally unfounded.  The basement in this house is huge, I haven't measured it but it has to be about 55'x25'.  Considering the age of the building the basement is tall, (about 7'6") there is a lot of duct work running across the ceiling but I am told that all of that can be eventually concealed.  It is one big room, the furnace is down there and in a framed off room but it isn't sheet rocked in, there are support posts everywhere throughout the space that will be tricky to work around when we eventually make it down here to renovate.  My plans for the basement are really loose because there are so many things on the list ahead of "basement renovation".  Currently it is functioning as storage, storage, storage.  I've unpacked maybe 1/4 of our stuff since we've moved and the rest is being stored down here.  It is like a treasure hunt every time I go downstairs to find something.  As much as I am itching to unpack I know that it is best to wait because of the constant dust from construction.  For now I am looking forward to "shopping my basement" as we finish rooms!

I have no pictures of the basement when we first bought the house.  It was filled with pre-school furniture and extra pews.  We also inherited at least 100 gallons of paint with the house.  These pictures are after I spent a good 2 days just clearing stuff out and vacuuming the loose concrete (and dead bugs) from the floor, it was far from clean but 1000% better than where it began.

At the bottom of the stairs there is a wide open space to the left and the furnace "room" to the right.  I imagine this open area becoming a game / theater room, I'd like doors at the bottom of the stairs to drown out noise and I would love to cut the east basement wall (where the tables and chairs are in pic below) and create a walk out garden area.  I imagine the whole space bright and open and not basement like at all.  There is already a door to outside, there are stairs to the front yard with a cover at ground level over them to prevent water from running down the stairs. 

Past the furnace is more open space, where all of the inherited paint is stored and the current laundry space.  I would love to make a large storage room down here for holiday decorations etc.  In the laundry room and open space behind, I imagine a guest suite with a bathroom and some large windows.

Obviously my plans for the basement are lofty and if you know me, you know I will change my mind at least 20 times before anything actually happens.  The fun part of living in this house during renovation is that we get to see how we use the space and how we want / need it to function and make adjustments as we go.

Starting at square one, upstairs addition

Attached to the original block building is a 30'x35' addition, it was built in 2001 and served as the church's kitchen, common area and restrooms.  There is a single (narrow) doorway from the addition to the original school building.

When you walk through the door from the old building into the addition there is a kitchen to your left.  It has a full sized stove/oven, dishwasher, refrigerator and large double sink.  I was used to having a huge walk in pantry so the (relative) lack of storage has forced me to be creative and leave much of my kitchen stuff boxed in the basement.  We did move a double cupboard into the space from one of the out builidngs to serve as a pantry.  There was a serious theme of blue flooring when we bought the house and the kitchen is no exception.  The oak cabinets are in good condition and we hope to reconfigure and refinish them in order to re-use them when we move the kitchen.  When planning the remodel we took special note of where the existing plumbing was in order to re-use as much of it as possible, a narrow part of this kitchen area will become the powder room with a door opening from the living room, and the majority of the kitchen space will become one of the boys' bedrooms.

The open space just beyond the kitchen served as a common area for the church.  When we originally saw the property there were at least 6 large tables set up in this area.  This has already become a bedroom that our two older boys are currently sharing (more details coming soon!).  It utilizes 3 of the windows and has a closet and built in desk area.

Next to the back door is the the women's bathroom.  It came complete with lovely wallpaper on the back wall, and mauve colored bathroom stalls.  We will remove one of the toilets and replace it with a bathtub.  We will add a third sink to the counter and lots of storage.  At 10'x10' this room is huge for a bathroom but I think it will be a great shared space for the 3 boys.

 

Behind the women's restroom is a wide hallway, there is a coat / utility closet at the end of the hallway which will eventually open to the back patio.  I'm thinking of using this hallway as a "mud room" type of area, with a bench for shoes and hooks for backpacks and coats.  It is close enough to the back door (which is the main door we use) but yet out of sight.  The first door on the right is the basement stairs, the second door is the men's restroom, it had one sink and blue bathroom dividers around the one toilet, this room will eventually become the laundry room.

The vaulted ceilings are my favorite part of this addition.  What could have easily been a confined space that felt obscure against the grand school building feels open and bright, widening the doorway and eventually opening the stairwell will make it an integrated space to the rest of the home.

Starting at square one, original building

How about a little tour?  I'll break it into 3 or 4 parts and explain how the building was configured and used when we bought it and what our plans are for the future.  Let's start with the interior of the main building, this is the 65'x35' original schoolhouse.  The ceilings are 13' tall with popcorn on the ceiling (installed post asbestos era) with 2 large beams that run across the ceiling.  I've been told that the beams are the remainder of the walls that made this a 2 room school house with a long hallway running between them.  I have a love hate relationship with them, I feel the scale is off (they aren't wide enough for as tall as they are) and there are only two of them, but I also like how they break up the space and think we could use them to make a really awesome ceiling statement.  If they can be torn down, (i.e. not structural) they will probably go, we can always add more appropriately sized beams later.  There was wall to wall blue carpet (with hardwood underneath) when we moved in and a variety of wall textures.  I like carpet in my living areas but if the hardwood under the carpet can be restored I may learn to live with area rugs, the walls will all eventurally be skim coated and given a consistently smoother texture.

This is the view from the front door, there are double doors with a transom above them, they open from under the original belltower that creates the covered front porch.  The doors will eventually be replaced but for now a little paint and new hardware will take them a long way.  I'm hoping to arch the transom window in order to match the arch on the exterior of the entry, it is a solid block wall though so I don't know how realistic that dream is.  This area will be our Great room, an open foyer leading into the living room to the left and dining room on the right.  The door straight ahead is the door to the new addition, and yes, that is a breaker box smack dab to the right of the door.  I've been told that this can be dropped into the basement fairly easily, I'm keeping my fingers crossed because this seems to be quite the decorating dilemma currently.  The door will be removed and the doorway will be widened and heightened.  The basement stairwell is directly behind that eyesore breaker box and our plan is to knock down the wall around the stairwell and put up a railing.  I think this will make these 3 spaces feel more like one cohesive space instead of 3 different rooms. This will be our Great room with an open foyer leading into the living room to the left and dining room on the right, in front of the kitchen.

To the right of the entry is the church's pulpit area, it is raised 2 steps from the main floor and will remain raised and become our new kitchen.  Behind the painting "Liveing Water's" is the baptismal, this wall will be removed so we can make use of the two boarded over windows in the baptismal for our kitchen.  I lobbied to keep the baptismal to use as a lap pool or hot tub but was quickly outvoted, especially when we realized those covered up windows could be put to use in the kitchen.

 

On each side of the pulpit is a small room. For the chruch these served as the baptismal entry / exit, hence the stairs.  The one to the right has 3 beautiful windows that face to the East and North, the lighting in there is magical throughout the day.  I have staked my claim to this room, I'm not sure what it will become but I see a "no boys allowed" sign posted on the door, consider it Mama's secret retreat.

The room to the left of the pulpit has one large window and an exterior door to my imaginary patio.  This room will have another door added from the kitchen and become the world's greatest pantry.  Imagine lots of storage, a sink, and counter space for days.  It will be the perfect prep kitchen (aka. the place to hide my cooking disaster when company arrives.)

There is debate whether a room will be added in the open space in front of the pantry to the left of the kitchen.  It is a fairly large wasted area but I'm afraid adding a room there will break up the symmetry of the space.

Looking left from the front door will be the living room, a wall will be built just behind the beam you can see in this pictue.  This wall will frame off 2 bedrooms, the master to the left (front of the building) and one kid room (to the right).

The area behind the pews is a long narrow (7' wide) area that is broken into 4 areas.  In the back corner  is open to the room and there is a coat hanging area with an exterior door, then a doorway into what I'm assuming was the cry room for the babies at church, then a doorway into a small bathroom with a toilet and sink that lead into an office that has a door into the sanctuary.  This entire area will become the master bath and closets.  The office will become my walk in closet, the bathroom and cry room will be reconfigured into a master bathroom and the back door / coat closet will become Dusty's closet and a door to a courtyard garden off of our bathroom. 

 

 

This is the view from the door to the addition, looking back towards the future living room.  The doorway on the back wall is into the office space that will become my closet, the 2 windows farthest right will be the Master Bedroom windows.

Whoa, putting that in words was tricky, if I've been unclear please let me know and I will try to explain it better.  I'll be back soon with pictures and plans for the exterior of the house, addition and the basement.

By the numbers

1905 - the year the original building was built as a two room school house.  It is all cinder block construction with 8" thick exterior block walls.

1968 - the year it was sold by the county and turned into a church

2001 - the year an addition was added in the back of the original building.  There is a full kitchen and a men's and women's restroom.

5,000 - the approximate square footage.  2,300 in the original building, 1,050 square feet in the upstairs addition and a 1,600 square feet basement under original building.  This is more square footage than we will ever need, however we hope the home will become a gathering place for both of our extended families over holidays and get-togethers.

18 - number of windows in original building. They are 7' tall x 3' wide and are either original or have been replaced with single pane glass or frosted plexiglass or just boarded over.  The glass on all of the windows on the west side of the house has been painted.  Most of the original (and lovely) window trim is intact.

0 - number of bedrooms when we bought it.  We will eventually make it 5 - 6 bedrooms.

3 - number of bathrooms when we bought it.  The term "bathroom" is used loosely, as in 4 toilets in 3 rooms, no showers or bathtubs.

2.5 - number of acres of land.

4 - number of outbuildings (shop, pump house, irrigation pump house, modular building)  The modular building is 900 square feet and has a kitchenette, bathroom and one bedroom, we've tried to think of a use for it but think we will try to sell it.

11 - number of 18' church pews (plus 2, 7' long pews) we inherited with the building, along with numerous hymnals, bibles, and other assorted vintage furniture

Infinity - number of goat-head weed-seeds on the property.  They are an ongoing battle and hurt like hell when stepped on.

2 - number of sides that border corn fields. (3, if you count the one directly across the highway from us).  I am slightly obsessed with the way the rows line up perfectly.

 

 1- Baptismal tub

 

1 - Piece of original art, titled "Liveing Water's" it is 8' wide x 4' tall.  One of the former Pastors visited and knew the man who painted it, I gave it to them as a sentimental piece.

 

5-10 years - how long we plan on the renovation taking, we are paying cash as we go and working on weekends and evenings.  Plus, I have lofty ambitions! We hope to have the main room pretty well completed within the next 18 months - 2 years.  The big picture includes the exterior, landscaping, basement renovation, garage addition etc.

Forever - how long we plan on living here