January 17th

Halfway through January, that is simply incredible!!

We don’t spend much time at the ‘old’ house, after work Jef and I meet at the bungalow. I make some dinner and he gets to work. Dylan comes over during the day between classes and works on some projects and sometimes helps us in the evenings.

Update:
The 2 long attic walls are in place. Looks easier than it was since we had to pry up the roof rafters in some places to get the new walls standing straight (they may be the only actually straight walls in the whole house at this point.) It makes the space look really huge and we have modified our original plan… we will put in a wall to separate the space and have one bedroom (about 14’ square) with a family room (about that same size) at the top of the stairs. Putting in a bathroom will mean that we have to do some major roof remodel so that will have to be done later..

Jef has been working on putting the wing walls back in the living room (someone took them out years ago) and adding 2 columns. Even just roughed in it makes a big difference in the space, we really like it. Of course this also includes a beam that allows us to remove the supporting beam in the attic. I think Jef is enjoying himself, it is no doubt way over engineered but he is having such a good time building it. We also made 2 interesting discoveries.. first was that the house is made of adobe bricks with plaster walls on the inside and regular bricks on the outside.. and second that the living room and entry/dining room were originally separated by large pocket doors. That’s what happens when you start tearing things apart.

Probably the next project will need to be putting in a stair to the attic (the ladder is OK but we need a larger opening), running the electrical wiring (the old wiring is original to the house and very scary), and getting the wires run for the TV and internet so Dylan can move in to the house and be able to do his homework on line. It is so close to the university that he goes over and makes himself some food and works on a few things before he goes back over to the school.

I have taken my rug project to the bungalow so that I can work on it during the moments that I am not holding up boards or handing screws or drills to the work crew. This rug is something new and different for me, instead of braiding, it is woven, and instead of wool or polyester this one is made of cotton fabric. Since this is my first one I am anxious to see how it turns out when I take it off the frame. It is looking good, I have high hopes that it will work out when all is said and done. So does Emily since it would be her (somewhat late) Christmas present…