In the Time of the Pandemic....

Although we’re still busy on the house renovations, a lot of other things in our lives have come to a screeching halt thanks to the big CV (as in Carona Virus), as I’m sure it has in your lives too. So I guess I have time to work on a post! Can’t believe my last one was so long ago. As of this publish, permitted construction jobs in the City of Savannah can continue working with the health emergency going on. We only have one crew that has decided not to work and one supplier that is closed until further notice. We leave it up to them as to whether they feel comfortable continuing.

Things have continued to move along. I’m so impressed with the work that is being done and again, can’t say enough about our construction company, JAK Homes, and the crews they have working for them and us. Thanks again for all you’re doing!

We are DARN close on the carriage house. If we needed to push, we could have it done within a month but there’s not a big hurry. We do plan on doing a long-term rental on it when the time for occupancy is near so we're keeping that in mind as far as finishes go. The latest on the carriage house:

• Floors have been sanded and stained. One more final light sand and polish and they’ll be considered done. They’ll do that right at the end to make sure all the crews don’t mar them.

• Wood trim is complete except for some paint touchup.

• Stair rails are complete except for some paint touch up.

• Doors are all in and door knobs are installed.

• Upstairs bathroom tile is complete.

• The upstairs bathroom cabinet is in and waiting for the counter top. Still need bathroom light fixtures, toilet and sink and sink and shower faucets, plus cabinet knobs.

• First floor bath has a wood floor so just waiting for the pedestal sink and toilet plus lights.

• Kitchen cabinets are in but we need the counter tops (picked out a quartzite that will be so gorgeous!), the backsplash tile, the sink and faucet and the appliances to be installed. Oh, and the door knobs and pulls.

• Ordered sconces and ceiling fans for the carriage house too.

Carriage House - Left: new woodword around the front door. Middle: Tile work in the 2nd floor bath. Love the little foot rest I had built in - right girls? Right: kitchen cabinets getting installed and my pretty stairway banister! Can't wait to see the kitchen stone and tile that I hope to share next time!

After talking with our good friends who are technology gurus, we decided to go ahead and wire the house for internet and security. There are so many brick walls in the home that are often two layers thick, we understood how this would hamper a wifi signal. So we had the house wired quickly before we had the dry-wall installed. Thank goodness we thought to do this before the drywall! Drywall is stacked in the house and ready to go though. That will make a huge change in the look of the place.

Two other things we are being proactive on: 1) a plug for a hybrid or all electric vehicle in the garage and 2) electrical for future roof solar panels. We don’t currently have a hybrid or electric vehicle but there’s a good chance we’ll have one in the near future. Also, we’ve been discussing solar and we think this will be a good move so we might as well get the infrastructure - a.k.a. wiring - in place now while the walls are open.

Then there’s landscaping. We’re getting some bids on what we want to do. We have drawings (see below) for the main courtyard that will include a fountain, planters and seating plus irrigation so we're getting bids on the brick work, irrigation and installation, fountains, and stone.

Along with the stone bids is "capping" the front steps (above). Currently they are just cement (Concrete? Never do remember the difference!) and kind of worn and ugly. The plan is to cap them with bull-nozed sandstone.

The porch pickets and railings are on site and being primed for painting! When these are installed they will make quite a dramatic change to the look of the house. You can see a small section of a front-porch post in the above picture. If you remember, the house had cast iron decorative posts and railings that were installed in the 1950s. We decided to take it back to what was surely the original look of the house.

Far left: checking rail height. Middle: Priming the wood in the courtyard. Many pickets leaning against the side tarp too. Far right: Pickets stored in the garden level of the main house.

Everyone who walks by compliments us on the stucco color and the beautiful mottled look. We love the finished look. There are a few areas where the color is a bit dark (too orange) and David is working on lightning it a bit but other than that, I feel it's a great success. We’ve capped the roof edges and vents with copper and we’ll have copper downspouts installed too. Having the porches finished will just add to the beauty. Our last exterior feature will be the shutters. So we’ll have the “salmon” colored stucco, cream window trim and porch pickets and brown shutters. Hoping to also have some window boxes with flowers to soften the front of the house.

What’s going on inside the main house? Not much and a lot. It’s tons of little things that aren’t really exciting but all add up to what the completed project will be.

Garden Level: The pictures left show more of a time-lapse of how far we've come.

The top picture was how it looked when we first purchased the house and cleaned out most of the trash and rubble from the floor.

The middle picture is from a little different angle but shows the cemented floor and the closets and shelves we're adding to split the room in half. The closer half (front of house) will be a bedroom and the back half will be a living room.

Bottom picture shows a close-up of the ceiling in the garden level. Before we added the batten between the beams, the ceiling WAS the floor of the parlor above. We had insulation installed and then the wood between the beams so we could leave the beams exposed. Notice the little wood arches above the doorways and windows? Those are also original and we'll be preserving those.

Windows are getting fixed because many of them were inoperable or broken. We aren’t putting sheet-rock on the walls in some of the garden level rooms so electrical wires are getting encased in special tubing so they can rest on the brick walls. You can also see some of the brick repair our mason has done. He is quite an artist and it will really show outside when he works on the courtyard. We're going to keep a rustic feel to this floor of the home.

Parlor Level: The holes in the walls created when the electrical crew came in to rewire, were all covered in mesh and the first two coats of plaster are being spread. The last coat is the finish layer that will have color added to it. We’re going to do a Venetian look finish that is kind of velvety. The ceiling medallions and plaster crown moldings are also being restored. This is all David of Corbel Plastering (also did the stucco) and he and his team are doing a great job.

This chunk of crown molding must weight 20 lbs!

The whole main floor entry area was taken up and extra joists were added for stability. Guess the wood floors would have had a bow in them with lots of squeaking if this hadn’t been done. The picture below is taken from the garden level bathroom looking up to the front door!

Third Floor: More plaster work and the bathrooms are getting tiled. Plus drywall in areas where there was no plaster or in the new addition.

Last but not least, I’m working with Carolyn of Hultman Interiors on some decorating ideas. She’s been a great sounding board on colors and design and keeps me super excited but still going in the right direction when it comes to a cohesive plan that follows my style. It’s been a great collaboration. So much to think of! In all that we’ve done so far, this is the scariest and the most time consuming part for me - but also a lot of fun. I’ve also got friends that lend me an opinion when I need it. Thanks to Kathy and Chris for listening to me go on and on!