The Ten Year Plan: Year Three
It's that time of year again. Time to reflect on what we did and didn't get done on the house. While we were traveling over the holidays, we had a series of really great discussions about direction and projects for the next year. Of course, I will be away at school working on my thesis, so it's anybody's guess how much of that we will actually get done.
Anyhow, back to the Plan.
Paint exterior of house- Finish living rooms
I'm beginning to think we will never finish the living rooms. We built the shed this fall to store the bicycles that have been jamming up the front parlour for too long, and then we obtained a large piano that is taking up half the room. I'd hoped to have more free time to work on those rooms while interning in San Francisco in the fall, but that just was not to happen. Anyway, this is one of the projects we have decided to work on a bit harder this year. Foundation replacementRemove Fright Box under house, redo plumbing- Redo upstairs bath and add half bath under stairs
I separated this out from the Fright Box section above because it's really turned into a separate project. We'd like to be able to do this this year, in part because three to four adults in a house with one functional bathroom really sucks. But half the problem is having enough time to do the work. First, we must work on the parlours. Remove chimney, replace furnace thing- Install gas fireplace in living room, upstairs
This is another one I separated out, because to be honest, the gas fireplaces are a luxury now that we have the furnace (not that that is really great, alas). I'd still like to do this sooner than later, but it's not going to happen in 2007. - Re-roof
The last of the really really huge projects. We basically need to rebuild most of the roof from the rafters. It's just waiting for money, now. - Insulate crawlspace and attic
We've actually been considering hiring some day labourers to help us do this, it is so unpleasant. - Remove fake wooden panelling, stabilize plaster, and repaint all rooms
Not much progress here, but we've decided to tackle the dining room once we finish the parlours and move the desks there (our dining room is currently housing a start-up in true Silicon Valley tradition). - Block air infiltration around various doors
Noel began work on this in November, installing a sill on the side door. The front doors also need some adjustment, and he plans to work on that as a small project while I'm away at school. - Replace window sashes
Stalled indefinitely. - Strip ugly pink paint from as much woodwork as possible
I'm actually becoming quite attached to the pink. Well, no, but lots of other stuff comes first. - Remove linoleum from floors/refinish wooden floors
We're debating whether to do this or not, now. We'll eventually redo all the floors in the house, so maybe we'll wait for that and save the time/money. Remove the concrete driveway extension into the back yard- Related landscaping/gardening
I debated whether this should be stricken from the list, if only to give me a feeling of accomplishment, but there is a bunch of ongoing work on the landscaping still in progress. I'm going to be moving the rose hedge significantly this winter, regrading the front lawn, and working on some hardscape. I decided against planting more fruit trees this winter because of time and energy limits, but I have lots of seeds to work on, in any case. We'd also like to do some vegetables this year, so I'm perusing seed catalogs and plotting where I can jam them in. And at some point, I ought to get that irrigation system all installed and functional. Repair front porch/re-rebuild front steps
It was pretty cool to get the stairs done this year. They finally feel right. There's some touching-up to do on the paint, but they're holding up nicely.- Repair side porch, remove steps, and turn into a conservatory
Much later. - Draw detailed plans for the Day of Glory
We've finished the floorplan and site plan, and now I need to get to work on a set of working drawings. I don't know whether I can fit that in around my thesis and some side work I'm doing, but I do enjoy working on this project, and it can be done from far away.
So that was the third year. We didn't get as many things on the plan done as we might have liked, but given everything we did in year two, and the extent of the things we did do this year that weren't on the list, it was not a bad year, progress-wise. It feels like we're making real progress, if slow. Happy New Year!
Technorati Tags: renovations, ten year plan
posted by ayse on 01/02/07