Renovation is personals; MWM Seeks approval

We have crossed a threshold, two weeks of non stop construction by skilled men (others) and expert oversight (also others). It is worth a recap and an update. At the end of Day 1 the back of house looked like THIS:

4-4-2011

...and today it looks like THIS:

4-18-2011

To the untrained eye this may not look much different and while this is in fact "true" you can see we've added a construction lamp which is a very big step.

But it isn't all pseudo progress and tripod illumination, we've had a chance to lift up the "skirt" of this old "gal" and take a closer look at what's made her stand for these last 100 years. And stand she has, confidently and tilted slightly off angle the way of many proud Americans before her.

slightly cocked American

So, where the timid may find fault in the slightly off angle.... the Duke stands as a reminder that this country wasn't founded on the straight and narrow and the where the weak-willed may fall back on level and plumb, the confident man furrows brow and slightly tilts.

Cockiness or no... the last 100 years hasn't been kind. Some of the more troubling finds are studs almost fully rotten and laughably small roof rafters. Still, despite obvious opportunity, nothing has ever really failed in his house structurally, it all just sort of settled.

A ledger no more...

Officially zero studs on the east wall contact the plate

The neighbors recently exposed foundation after years of rodent tunneling...(don't worry he knows... and it's being fixed)

Half cocked indeed.

deconstructing elegance (like that band that kept playing as the Titanic sank)

Timing is everything.

When it comes to home renovation this old saying is most certainly true. From the submission deadlines to the project construction schedule dates, times and deadlines control almost every phase of the work. If we hadn't filed with the BZA by the end of October it was impossible to get a review before the middle of February, if we hadn't had the review it would have been impossible to start construction by April and the window of good weather for early spring. The construction schedule is much the same - windows, doors and finishes are all tied up in a delicate balancing act of order and delivery so that everything falls in to place at the right time. Everything is managed, nothing is left to chance and with our critical professional oversight we can guarantee that no schedule conflicts will befall our project. It's simple organization and one of the tenants of good project management and the hallmark of professional....professionalism, or something.

So it came as some surprise to find out that the dinner party we scheduled for the week before construction start was in fact scheduled for the week after construction start. But, plans were made and they would be kept come hell or hole in the ground instead of kitchen. I'll spare you the narrative of dinner conversation because it was recorded and I have embedded below via video. simply click play and scroll through the photos below to be transported to a lovely dinner party conversation amongst construction.

press play and scroll down

It actually wasn't half bad, in a room full of architects forgiveness was easy to find - afterall it's because of the help from these guys that the house looks the way it does today.

Urban pioneering - a return to life with the unwashed masses

Contracts signed, deposits cashed, and timelines finalized- demolition began on Monday and it's some seriously nasty business. The clock is ticking on our time without hot water - The boiler was drained and the worlds greatest craigslist find was decommissioned minutes later so we can look forward to a months worth of both cold showers and laundry based arguments.

But as to slow reveal that is the demolition process, the patient observer is rewarded with a look under this house's skirt... And what a lovely skirt it's been:

Then

and now

This is simply textbook wall framing at it's best

Impatient Optimism... Conversations with Sanguine Man

Self-composed Not given to worry Liberal
Tends to follow rather than lead Cordial Peaceable
Talkative Not averse to change Adjusts easily
Tends to prefer informality Aware of surroundings Lacking in initiative
Prone to carelessness, hedonism, flightiness, and lust

Patience: It's a difficult thing to find today. Just the word alone makes me uncomfortable and conjures images of this guy complaining about the internets and young people. It's practically a dirty word or at least a risky proposition... the patient man waits while the impatient man acts - patience as it were is not often associated with leadership. Action, after all, gives one the sense of making progress... be it forward or backward at least it's something, and when waiting for a construction start date the sense of action sometimes trumps the wiser patience.

But with patience comes 'optimism' and after 6 months of permit, 2 months of contract negotiations and a last minute call to a loan officer it is with much optimism that we approach a construction start scheduled for Monday morning. You see, I really have no choice but to be optimistic, because the bare facts are crippling. Take for instance the careful planning that has gone into choosing which kitchen objects get packed away in the closet and which are moved into the dining room to be used during construction. This is the 'sophie's choice' of most households and i'm sure glad the stand mixer made the final cut.

this will come in handy when we have no oven, microwave or running water.

Optimism... without it I might be playing out in my mind over and over again the process of moving that thing around and around my dining room table until september... Also, a curated collection of the good china is hanging around - sometime around the fourth month of 2011 it became bad to use paper plates. I'm sure washing dishes in a fashionable bathroom hand sink is a piece of cake.