Monday, December 20, 2010

Renovation Lesson: The Part Where I Loose My Cool

Yesterday marked two months since we closed on the Behemoth, this weekend marked two days full of work on the house, some frustration and (unfortunately) we ended it being residents at our little house.
Friday we discussed moving and were on the fence as to whether or not we should make the move from our little house to the Behemoth. Saturday I walked into the big house and realized there was no way we could, because when I walked in I saw this.

Jus & his dad had been at this house Thursday night and decided that the plaster that lined the stairway was not salvageable so they started pulling down the plaster. Saturday I walked in to see piles of plaster on the stairs with nothing tarped, no plastic hanging in doorways and freshly painted rooms standing open. Needless to say, the house was covered in a layer of dust.

I know that when the living room wall came down many of you complimented me for being able to handle such a big project, but I have to tell you, this was my breaking point. I could not handle walking into the house to find everything covered in plaster dust. Jus heard about it (a lot), his dad heard about it (a little), and in the end I left the room because I couldn't believe what a mess had been created and how much work was left.
Luckily, Jus knows how to calm me down, within an hour the house was properly cordoned off and the piles of rubble were up. We stood at the base of the stairs talking about our options with the staircase. If you'll remember the staircase was a huge monstrosity that partially led nowhere.

It was decided that we'd start stripping the sides of the stairs so we could see what we were dealing with. My little sister, Banan, and I started pulling off the drywall that surrounded the steps and we found an older staircase under the current staircase.

Said staircase was wallpapered in 1950s gold grasscloth.
(Jus & I LOVE this!)

Then Jus got his saw and chopped the stairs in half (technically a little less that half).

And now we have a normal sized staircase!
(That's Jus's dad, the other culprit in getting my house all messy!)

How was your weekend?

4 comments:

danielle and dinosaur toes said...

oh wow, i know that was a lot of work, but it looks beautiful and you should be proud of yourself! now i want a staircase in my house!

rachelinaustin said...

Wow! That's a lot of work (and stress). The house looks like it has such great bones though and I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end, whenever that may be. I amazed at the progress so far!

Best of luck to you!!!

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh. I would have LOST it, then probably cried out of embarrassment over losing it in front of my father-in-law. We just moved into a new apartment, and we're trying to make it home as quickly as possible... It's so much work, and we just have 900 square feet to work with! I'm so impressed that you are undertaking all this right before Christmas and shortly after getting married. You go girl!!

Kelly @ turned UP to ELEVEN! said...

At first I was all - NOOOOO I love that huge staircase... then I stared at the image some more and though wow... that is REALLY odd how it leads to smacking your face on the next set of steps, not to mention all the lost area there. Unless you had stuff to display there [ie. clutter] all year it's a waste. I am loving all you're doing to this place I can't wait to see more.

And for the record I would have lost it seeing all that - you were totally justified. Messes always make me lose my cool I'm happy it was all remedied quickly for peace between you all ox