Renovating Inside and Out

My house means a lot more to me than just a place to sleep and store my clothing. I consider my home my sanctuary, a place of calm that allows me to shed the chaos of the day and to relax and rejuvenate from whatever the outside world chooses to throw at me during the hours I spend away from the place I consider my refuge.

Consequently, the idea of renovating my house leaves me cold. Thinking about the furniture that needs moved to the middle of the room in question, or out of the room altogether, and the resulting clutter and disorganization, combined with the necessity of maneuvering the obstacle course we create while in the midst of a project makes me think long and hard before I undertake a renovation or improvement project. Even removing pictures from a wall so I can repaint bothers me, and I will delay a paint job for years before I get to the point where I roll up my sleeves, grit my teeth, and tackle the job in question.

Couple this dislike of turning my house into a chaotic mess to accomplish a restoration job with the addition of moving and purchasing an old house that definitely needs some work and you find a little old lady dreading the thought of what has to be done in the near future. Houses tend to double as black holes at the best of times; they always require something in the way of fix-up and it seems that not only does a person have to put up with disorder in order to make necessary changes and improvements, but this renovation usually does not come cheap. Good money chases after bad in the process of maintaining a residence. Older houses especially have the ability to demand attention and are very adept at sucking up financial resources.

I speak from experience. We bought a hundred plus year old house in Virginia City. As my husband remarked, "We finally own something older than we are." He is correct, and we figure as long as it lasts another thirty years, after that time period we really won't care. It is a great house, it already has a remodeled master bedroom and bath, it has a new propane heater, good plumbing and wiring, but it does need some work. Rod already has taken out a derelict gravity heater sitting unused in the dining room for years that for some odd reason no one ever bothered to remove. Other small chores awaiting our attention include the removal of an antiquated baseboard heater that we don't need, we must touch up some paint in several of the rooms, we plan to install a wood stove in the living room, and we had a closet that ran the length of one wall in the office that had to go. Whoever designed and built that useless monstrosity of a closet hopefully never picked up a hammer and nails again.

We also have work to do on the exterior of the house itself, including replacing the roof and doing some masonry work on our stone walled cold room. Outside projects don't unnerve me nearly as much as does the inside work as I don't have to look at the disorganization nor do I have to maneuver around objects not in their proper place when the mess remains outside.

We've already decided we will contract out the roof replacement Not only are we too old to scamper around on a pitched roof ten or more feet above the ground, but the roof also has some peaks and joins that we feel more qualified roofers can address properly.

However, we will do most of the remaining projects ourselves. Rod already has torn out the wall length closet in the office, with stunning results. The removal of that hideous, nonfunctional closet with its enormous amount of wasted space has not only added a little more than two feet of usable area to the room but it also has increased the brightness of the entire corner.

The inept carpenter who originally built that piece of work did the alteration years ago, as in the interim the next homeowners installed a new sub floor and carpeted the rest of the room but neglected to do anything at all in the closet itself.

Therefore, after removing the closet (and yes, I had to negotiate around desks and other assorted paraphernalia that we had moved to the middle of the room until this project reached completion), Rod installed new sheet rock on the wall and ceiling, taped and mudded it, smoothed it out, installed a sub floor to bring the closet area flooring up to the same level as the rest of the room, painted the walls, and put in an electrical outlet. We had no intentions of installing new carpeting so Rod bought tile and laid that on the new subfloor. He glued it, grouted it, smoothed it all out, and it looks fabulous as well as giving us extra usable space in the room.

This project far outweighed the inconvenience of the clutter and mess that we had to endure during the time it took to complete. The results really improved the entire room.

Our next big chore, the installation of the wood stove, will not bother me at all. I want that stove desperately. I am used to wood heat, I need that stove not only to keep warm, but also I use a wood stove for cooking, and I really missed that ability this winter. I know Rod will do a fantastic job of making the heat shield for the wall and floor where we will have our stove. I've seen the job he did laying the tile for the office, and I know the living room will look marvelous. With the wood stove in working order, I actually will be warm next winter.

We will begin this project in the near future.

We have numerous other small and large improvements to make in and around our new home. I hate the thought of the inconvenience and mess some of these little indoor improvements will entail, but I also appreciate what these changes will mean in our comfort and enjoyment of our sanctuary and our shelter from the world outside our home. We will prioritize these renovations and do them as time and money permit, but all the while we will appreciate our little shelter that is ours and keeps us safe and protected from the elements.