White City Overlook Mansion 203K Rehab Project

Spring has Sprung! Here's our most recent projects as of June 2011

2011-06-21T11:51:00.000-04:00

Sunroom work in progress, landscaping, concrete work and french doors in sunroom finally yeah!

Winter 2010

2011-06-03T13:58:00.000-04:00

Here's some pics from over the wintertime, holidays, etc! Enjoy!

June 2011

2011-06-03T13:47:00.000-04:00

WOW where has the time gone?! haven't posted recently, but we've finished the apartment so we're scheduling inspections on that then we'll get that rented. The sunroom is now empty and we're starting to work on getting that room under control. Quotes coming in on installing the french doors in the living room, and the never ending saga of landscaping continues!

This weekend we hope to finish up the concrete repair and get the railings out by the street painted. We're having problems still with people wandering around our house, I don't get what people are thinking. We certainly wouldn't walk around your back yard and look in your windows, so why is it OK for you to do that to our house? Anyhoo, here's some pics...

9/29 ghosts in the closet?

2010-09-29T16:13:00.000-04:00

Oh, and I have not seen any signs of ghosts in the house and the dogs don't seem to have any ghost issues either :)

Whats New? 9/29

2010-09-29T16:00:00.001-04:00

Hey All, everyone wants to know whats new! Well, we're moved in, and continuing to work on the mansion. Found an original postcard from cardcow.com and purchased that. This is a great pic of the mansion from 1909, you can just see the roller coaster in the background to the right of the house. Once the trees and weeds die we'll see if we can find any remnants over in the woods.

Jim has been working on the property, clearing things out and getting it cleaned up. We brought plants over from the old house and put them in the beds getting ready for the fall.

I spent the weekend putting the new floor down in the breakfast room and wow what a difference

Dining room set FINALLY looks right!

We keep uncovering more surprises, it looks like there's a walkway and flowerbeds around the fountain. pretty cool!

Curtains going up!

All the boys settling in, Turner, Zack and Reggie

8/23 update

2010-08-23T10:33:00.000-04:00

Wow our stuffs moving in!! After 5 years the Chinese bed is finally assembled! Were moving!!!

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8/19

2010-08-19T16:18:00.000-04:00

Hey gang. Were about to start moving. You can see all the pics and video at

Http://www.whitecitymansion.com

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8/17. Yard work begins!

2010-08-17T07:53:00.000-04:00

Our awesome lawn guy Jim has started clearing out brush. What a job!!! Here's a before an after :-).

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8/17 today's the day!

2010-08-17T07:51:00.000-04:00

Today is the township final inspections. Really antsy that were gonna have to do more stuff. I must say though, the house is gorgeous and im so happy we did this. Even with all the stress, crappy contractors, bad mortgage companies and everything else. Its totally worth it. We worked our butts off but so glad we did it. Now we just have to pack, move and sell the other house ugh!!

Here's a couple o pics...

We were able to save this original section of subway tile thanks to phil and his ingenuity.

The bay window will be replaced with French doors as the house was originally designed...but nit quite yet :-)

Eventually, when were done messin with the outside well either get the rest done in vinyl or paint the while house so it all matches. No point doing it until were done construction.

Sunroom rocks. Well it will when we finish the interior!

Love it love it love it. It looks like a magazine ad and can't believe it's ours!!!

Living room.

Still need some landscaping but we have forever for that!

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2010-08-13T11:57:00.000-04:00

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8/12/10 - WE ARE NO LONGER AN FHA PROJECT!!!

2010-08-13T07:48:00.000-04:00

Well gang, we passed the FHA inspection yesterday! This will close the file on that portion of the project so we are able to refi the house with a different mortgage company, a smaller interest rate and pay off a chunk of it. Its been a long road due to contractor issues, mortgage company issues, etc. but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. August 17 (tuesday) is our Township inspection to close out the permits and get a C/O so we can move in. There's still work that needs to be done in preparation for that inspection, but for the most part we should be clear, there's still little stuff to be done, and we still have the whole apartment to finish, but there's no rush there. I just want to get moved in and get the other house sold asap.

Anyway, stay tuned for more updates, we're ready to PARTY at the mansion!!!

8/9. Almost there!

2010-08-10T09:27:00.001-04:00

Well we have a toilet that won't fit on the drain, a mirror that won't fit between the wall sconces and faucets that aren't fitting under the tub. Frikin plumbers keep coming back on us :-(. Sorry rich.

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Wow. 8/7

2010-08-08T17:33:00.001-04:00

What a weekend I'm pooped. Kitchen is cleaned and table together. First time sitting in our real kitchen. Love it! Fireplace log sets in kitchen and back living room fp done. Floors on one done. Now final trim, doors, cleaning, plumbing and electrical for inspection on Thursday. Wow. Were almost there!!!

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8/6/10

2010-08-06T07:47:00.000-04:00

Floors are sanded!

8/4/10 - 8 Days Left Till FHA Inspection!

2010-08-04T07:39:00.000-04:00

After 6 1/2 months and about 7 grand in paint, the painting is FINALLY done!! Chris, John & Crew did a great job pulling late hours to get it done for us. 4 Stars!!

8/2. Good night at the mansion

2010-08-02T21:28:00.000-04:00

Wowee!

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8/1 upsate

2010-08-01T15:22:00.001-04:00

Another non-productive weekend at the mansion. I can't wait to be done. Rich my plumber rocks. We have hot water and the utility sink is in the laundry room. Kitchen is 99% done. Finishing trim tomorrow. Painting. Not gonna talk about that. Hope things are better by end of day tomorrow.

All inspections are now scheduled including final FHA file closeout, plumbing, electrical, building and certificate of occupancy. Deadlines for contractor work are not negotiable and not sure why that's not understood.

Floors start getting sanded on Wednesday. Saturday gas blowers go in and final elect and plumbing happen.

Never again. Really this time. I mean it.

Bob the kitten used the litterbox today and #1 ate some kitten food. I said I wasn't getting attached. I lied.

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7/26. Wow. Bathroom has walls!!

2010-07-26T21:16:00.000-04:00

The room I want most is the room that will be done last :-)

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7/26/0

2010-07-26T06:53:00.000-04:00

Well, today was the day we were supposed to be done. 6 months ago we closed on the mansion. Were about 90% done at this point. Should be done in about 3 weeks.

New sheetrockers/painters started yesterday and got rest of master bath rocked/spackled.

Phil go kitchen mostly done and new windows in.

This week will see hopefully

1. Kitchen done, appliances in and trim up. Walls and trim painted.

2. Wood back up. Walls and ceiling painted.

3. Master bath primed, painted, trim up. Floors in.

All painting finished upon house.

Next week should be floor refinishing on one. Following week is any final elect and plumbing and inspections.

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7/24/10 - Can't take much more

2010-07-24T10:14:00.000-04:00

So after not showing up at all this week my sheetrocker/painter finally sent me an email at 5 this morning quitting. Nice. I am so sick of dealing with this stuff. This totally screws up the whole schedule, painting and sheetrock was supposed to be done by sunday so the floors could get done this week, this adds another week provided I can get someone to start on monday. Would rather they started today. SOOOO not happy.

Turner leaves tomorrow for a work trip, my work sucks and now I have to try to get down there and paint 5 rooms. So stressed and tired, don't know how much more I can take at this point.

Will be down house around noon today if anyone wants to pick up a brush or roller :(

Wowee!

2010-07-23T09:35:00.000-04:00

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7/21/10

2010-07-21T14:13:00.000-04:00

wwwwwwwoooooowwwwwwwww

7/19/10

2010-07-19T14:07:00.000-04:00

Well, we revised the kitchen plan due to radiator intrusion and location of ovens. went to Ikea yesterday and picked up the rest of what we need.

Sheetrock is up in the library and going up today in the master bath. That should be it on sheetrock. Next is finishing painting, putting up light fixtures and putting in bath fixtures.

When that's all done then floors will be done, gas logs go in then we call for final inspections!

The goal is to schedule finals for first/second week of august!

9/16/10

2010-07-16T13:47:00.000-04:00

WE PASSED PLUMBING!!!!

WAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO

BIG ASS TUB HERE I COME!!!! Oh wait, we have not hot water heater yet.. DAMN!

7/12/10

2010-07-13T10:21:00.000-04:00

These are the kitchen cabinets we ordered, hopefully we'll have them installed this week! Woohoo!

Siding goin up!

Railing for Door to Nowhere

Floors before....

Floors After!

Still ugly.

LOVE the doors!!!

And the babies are getting big :)

More History! Thanks Jim!!

2010-07-12T11:01:00.000-04:00

Zoom in and check out the people eating on the porch.

This explains all the chicken bones we found behind the sheetrock in the kitchen!!

Who Named it "White City?" Here's your answer!!

2010-07-12T10:54:00.002-04:00

4/10/10

2010-07-12T10:43:00.001-04:00

I must say, my current band of construction partners are awesome :) I am so glad to have found them!! Hard workers, great work, what more could I ask for!?

We received the draw check, but they only sent half of what they were supposed to, which isn't going to get us very far. Not happy to say the least. Left us enough for kitchen cabinets, but not much more. They need to do a further "review" of the items pulled from contingency which I don't understand. I think its time to get my attorney involved. We just continue to hemmorhage money that is supposed to be reimbursed from our rehab escrow account, yet can't get them to release us our funds.

Saturday we rented a truck to clear out the storage unit (that will free up some $$ each month. Now that the second floor is essentially done, there's no need for us to be paying storage fees on furniture. Started 8am, finished about 12 hours later. OK, so there was also a depot trip in there to pick up supplies the guys needed to continue on this week and a trip to the "old" house to bring over stuff I had packed up already. We're trying to get the old house ready to be shown for sale, it helps to not have boxes stacked to the ceilings! Hopefully the new house will be done so we can get the old one sold asap.

Sunday we went to ikea to order the kitchen cabinets, low and behold everything we needed was in stock! Two hours to buy, 2 hours to load van, only to realize it's not gonna fit, and we head home. Unload with some help from friends and we were just too pooped to go back for the rest. We'll go tonight and get it. This way we can get those assembled and installed this week and do another draw request for additional funds.

Great dinner sunday night at the diner with the sista, mom & co, Dave & Mike our rockin cool new neighbors. I haven't laughed so hard in months, it was a welcome change of pace!!

Plumber working to finish up so we can have plumbing inspection round III, hopefully this will be it this time.

Anyhoo, general feeling is stressed, frustrated, overwhelmed and underfunded. Running two houses isn't making it any easier. I can't wait to be done!!!

7/1/10 update

2010-07-06T19:29:00.001-04:00

We finally met the speciale family! Carmella stopped by Wednesday and spoke with my mom. Camille and rich stopped by Thursday. I didn't get nearly enough time with them, of course all the inspectors showed up at the same time! We did get some great info like there were French doors in the living room, location of the tunnel, etc. Really nice family and I hope to get together with them again soon!! I hope we can do justice to the happiness they had at the house!!

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Happy 4th of July,2010

2010-07-06T19:02:00.001-04:00

Well, Turner drug me away from the "project" for a few days. Best thing we coulda done. Feel refreshed and ready to finish this house!!

Paintings rolling along. Exterior doors are done, plumbing failed...again... But some things we can close up. Kitchen has walls, report is in for next draw.

This week will hopefully see gutters up. Siding done on back wall. Service upgrade. Painting finished and cabinets ordered.

Missy had three little babies. ;-)

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6/28/10

2010-06-28T13:47:00.000-04:00

Wow Phil, You ROCK...

Before...

During...

After....

6/28/10

2010-06-28T08:50:00.000-04:00

Well, not as far as I'd like to be after a weekend, I think I'm burned out and need a few days away. The guys, however, ROCKED this weekend!

Tim, my sheetrock/spackler extraordinaire finished the ceiling in the living room and the center hall and is almost done with the dining room. He also got all the sheetrock up in the kitchen, WOW what a difference!!

Phil did some more sanding and got most of the stain done on the second floor, it looks awesome! Though people are asking why we went with a dark stain. I'm 99% sure that in the 1800s they did not have light oak floors. To us, this house should have dark floors as it would have back in the day. I personally hate wood, I hate "yellow" oak floors even more. The red mahogony stain we put on looks great and it gives the rooms a rich old feel. Trust me, the rooms are big enough to handle the dark stain and it really finishes the rooms!

Started painting the living room, didn't get very far. (a) painting over texture is an awful project (b) I am not impressed with the color choice. I'm leavin it for Turner. I did get the primer coat done around the big window and the ugly cheap panelling there (the rest of the room is "real" wood so that's stayin. Eventually this will be opened back up to french doors, but due to our contractor issues we've run out of any extra $$.

I started painting the dining room two shades of purple. WOW does THAT look nice!! The colors are awesome and I can't wait to get these last rooms done. We're at the home stretch now, I can taste the end, but just gotta get through the next couple of weeks!

Plumbing rough in is Thursday, that should go fine, which means we can close up the rest of the walls and start finishing stuff up for the C/O. YEAH!

I will be at the house all day Thursday if anyone wants to stop by and pick up a paint brush!!

Here's a couple of pics!

6/22/10 second floor wow!

2010-06-23T20:14:00.001-04:00

Wow! Ceiling done. Floors sanded. Wow. Mortgage company is working with me on the draw. Just gotta get more paperwork straightened out.

Stain tomorrow, well be paintin on one this weekend!!!

6/22/10

2010-06-23T08:38:00.000-04:00

These guys ROCK. The floor in the whole bathroom on 2 is down, the wall for the potty room is built. The ceiling in the first floor foyer is skimcoated, the living room ceiling will get its final coat today. Phil is sanding the floors and starting the staining today. Viktor was back and shingled the back door roof.

I was able to get ahold of the company that REALLY holds our mortgage. Sent them the paperwork they needed and hopefully they'll be able to cut the draw check on thursday, and I'll have it on Friday.

What's next?

The second floor bedrooms will all be done by the end of the week (floors were the last thing)
This weekend we can start moving stuff out of the storage unit into the house and save $150/month.
Turner picked his colors for the first floor, so this weekend we'll get painting in the living room and
first floor stairway/center hall.
Friday Viktor will be back to put the doors in on the sunroom and button up the outside of the house, then we can do the siding /gutters! Yeah!

I'm flat out of money until the draw check comes in, so I can't schedule anything until I have that in hand, I don't want to have people working and not be able to pay them for the hard work they do!

Provided we get draw on friday, next week will be...

1. Kitchen walls go back up
2. Siding and gutters go on
3. Plumbing inspection on Thursday
4. Powder room and library walls go up
5. Second floor bath walls and ceiling go up.

Everyone's ready to roll, just money issues at this point....keep your fingers crossed that the mortgage company comes through for us! WE CAN GET THIS DONE ON TIME, I KNOW IT!!

here's a couple o pics!

Wowee! 6/21/10

2010-06-21T21:29:00.001-04:00

Plaster repair goin on!

Power goin on!

Ugly oak floor before...

Sample spot after ooohhhh

Floor goin in 2!

Back roof goin up!!

Almost ready for siding!!

Got some great guys now. Hopefully the draw will come in so I can keep them workin!!

Changed the info on the permits today so it's in our names now. Can't wait to see what they get done tomorrow!! :-). These guys rock!!

Plumbing rough in inspection July 1. That'll let us close things up. Can't wait!!

Monday 6/21/10 need help from infinity!!

2010-06-20T20:59:00.001-04:00

I'll be down the house tomorrow with our new crews. Also running to township to get my names on permits instead of old contractor gonna be a good week! Just hope infinity mortgage comes thru for me this time and gets the draw check cut for me this week. I really hate having to pay my attorney to get the mortgage company to cut my checks. This one and then just the final 10% holdback one, that's all that's left then we will be out of your hair. Please Rick, Tom, Harry. Can u please help me get this project done by cutting the checks from my escrow account on a timely basis? Not returning my calls or emails about an expected cut date is not very nice. It makes it really hard to schedule crews when i dont know when i can expect the check. We've taken the hit for the contractor you recommended that didnt complete the work, i really need your support here getting the last checks cut so we can finish the job on our own. Well be selling our house shortly and wouldn't hesitate recommending a mortgage company that was there for us when we needed them.

Update 6/16/10

2010-06-17T08:34:00.001-04:00

OK, so you're all probably wondering (1) where's she been? she's a posting maniac and there's no updates! Well, its been a crazy week. Lets just say that Dallas will no longer be working at the house and will not be finishing the project. Lets just say that when Viktor and crew came in and rebuilt the entire sunroom, re-plyed it and roofed it in all of 3 days, yet I still have no kitchen or bathroom, I knew there was no way we would have the project done the way we were going. No harm, no foul, not looking back any more, just looking at where we are at right now, and how we're going to get from here to done by July 26.

The draw paperwork is submitted for the remainder of the money in my escrow account so that I can get people working and paid, I'm depending on Infinity to come through (and make up for previous delays in draws) by making sure this one is done fast for me (I need you Rick!!!)

My plumber, Rich has now torn out 90% of the plumbing work the other guys did and reran it properly, 2 K to rerun plumbing I already paid 7K for...wait...not looking back....sorry. Anyway, its almost done and I called to schedule the rough in inspection and the township can't come out till July 1! THAT IS REALLY BAD. That means I can't close up any walls where there is plumbing until after then....REEEEEAAAALLLYYY bad. I have a call in to Ray, the master township guy to see if I can pay a surcharge to get them out faster, but I have't heard back from him yet, please keep your fingers crossed for me!

In the meantime, Viktor, my favorite sunroom contractors have been working up a quote to finish the outside stuff and start work on the carpentry throughout the first floor. I have to call him tomorrow to see what he's got for me.

Hired an awesome guy, Phil Russo who I found on craigslist to come button up the 2nd floor bathroom (subfloor, floor and walls where there's no plumbing, and close up the old doorway to the tub room) and then refinish all the floors on the second floor. He said he should be able to have that all done next week. We're refinishing the floors in a dark cherry mahogany stain to to match the doors on the 3rd floor which have a reddish hue...he's also restaining the 21 panel doors on the second floor as well.

I'm meeting a plaster guy at the house saturday morning to go over the texture stuff in the living room, first floor stairway and other spackle touch up so we can get those rooms painted.

Provided I can work out the $$, I would like to have Phil working on 2 next week, Viktor working on sheetrock in kitchen and siding, and the spackle guy finishing the texture repairs on 1. Only thing is he can't sand on 1 while Phil's doing floors on 2, so we'll have to see.

If we can pull this off next week that means next weekend we could potentially empty out the storage unit and start moving stuff into the bedrooms on the second floor. How cool would that be?

Keep your fingers crossed, and if you're bored saturday and feel like lending a hand, wander by we'll be cleaning the second floor and painting the back wall in the sunroom most likely.

Here's a couple of pics of the floor on the 3rd fl utility room that we got the floor done in over the weekend. Remember, this was the worst room in the house, and now it looks awesome!!

Befores....eeeeew creeepppyyy stinky....GROSS

After.....

OK, we might be getting there...... :)

Please help! Searching for...

2010-06-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

1. Siding contractor
2. Drywall/plaster repair contractor
3. kitchen cabinet installer
4. Floor refinisher
5. General handyman

Our GC will no longer be working on the project and I have 6 weeks to get it done. If you can recommend people please let me know!!!

Wow. All I got is wow.

2010-06-08T21:40:00.001-04:00

6/7/10 Update Good....bad...and ugly!

2010-06-08T15:01:00.000-04:00

Good, Bad & Ugly day at the mansion!

Good!
- Mom & Co stripped the metal railings and painted them NICE!
- Carpets went in on 3rd floor and look awesome! Woohoo!
- Had alot of friends visit and check out the goings on! Rockin cool!
- Went over stuff with GC and plan for next 7 weeks to get job done.
- Found an awesome crew to do the sunroom, they're fixing the sagging (8" sag) beams in the roof, building the wall and then the roof crew will come in and reply and reroof the whole sunroom. yeehaw! Awesome group of guys!
- Hopefully by end of week we will have a "done" sunroom Heeehawwww!
- Jay finished alot of the electrical stuff inside so now many of the rooms look more "finished"
- Bob tracking down floor folks so we can try to get second floor done and we can start moving crap in and get the other house sold.
- Carpet install guys also do tile install, hoping to get them to do the utility room floor...

Bad :(
- Had to use the money from my little blue car to pay for the sunroom (neighbor totalled it) :(
- Ben stepped on a nail and had to go get a tetanus shot Ouch!
- Before Ben left we found a ton of bad wood in the supporting wall of the kitchen that needs to be replaced. (no, I didn't put the nail there for ben to step on cuz he gave me bad news)
- Now that they've done the carpets on 3, none of the doors fit so they all have to be cut down to allow for carpet clearance grrrr

Ugly
- Kitchen wall with damage....UGLY
- Frikin plumbers who disappear for weeks? UGLY
- New grafitti on steps in park...UGLY (and sad that people have to be jerks)
- Less than 7 weeks to go and still a TON of work to do.

Hopeing that the rest of the week goes well and we get alot done. Frikin plumbers.

Here's some pics!

6/7/10

2010-06-07T08:19:00.001-04:00

Spent Saturday prepping 3rd fl bedrooms for carpet. Trying to save some money by removing quarter round ourselves. Took all day and it was HOT!! Turner sanded the tile in the bath on 3 so the surround could go up. Jay worked on electical all day. I spent Sunday in bed. Was terribly sick. Thinking I was dehydrated from Saturday.

Found a great roof/siding contractor..total r &s. They're starting Monday on redoing the sunroom. So excited on that!! Though the money is coming from the totaled car... This week will make or break the project and whether it will be done on time. I can't wait for this to be done. I can't handle the stress. So much for it being done in 8 weeks eh?

Anyhoo. It's Monday and I'm at the mansion waiting for carpet. Will be here all day rocking on the porch! Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

6/2/10

2010-06-01T15:24:00.000-04:00

So not happy at this point in time. Would I recommend a 203K loan to anyone? NO. It's now been 3 weeks since we requested the last draw check. No work is being done at the house and we have 8 weeks to complete it. We were at house all weekend putting up the shed, painting what we can, and doing little stuff, but at this point we have no complete bathrooms, no kitchen, the house is not livable. I can't hire someone else to do it because I've fronted all the cash that I can at this point.

I had to contact my lawyer this morning to get involved and try to get our escrow money released by the mortgage company so that the contractor can get back to work. Even after this one is released there's still alot of moenysitting in our account for the rest of the project, with 8 weeks to go, delays like this are not an option and should not be happening. We are obligated to finish the project by July 26, not completing it is NOT an option. They should be obligated to give us our money in a reasonable time frame.

Dealing with a project this size is bad enough just because of what it is, but when contractors are not working and mortgage companies will not give you YOUR OWN money, its too much.

Hopefully better news later this week :(

More Pics from Jim!

2010-05-28T12:02:00.001-04:00

Here's a couple more history articles Jim posted over on the Broad St. Yesteryears blog, He's so nice to let m "hijack" them!

5/28 update

2010-05-28T12:01:00.000-04:00

Working on putting a fence up so we can bring the pups down...about halfway done...

You can see by the pics just how far she came from the lake to lay her eggs...

Apparently our yard is a tutle hatchery. Sunday there was a snaper on the ridge laying eggs, there was a box turtle as well. The eggs were gone (raccoons) but Turner also saw a fancy wood turtle and another snapper on thursday.

This weekend we will be finishing the fence, putting up the garage and hopefully finishing up the cement work around the terrace so Mom can finish painting it. I have a couple of guys coming saturday to do some other work for us including fixing a couple of heating leaks and fixing the hole in the floor in the sunroom and maybe starting on the sunroom wall rebuild. We'll see how it goes! Stop by if you're bored, we can always use an extra hand!

Update 5/24/10

2010-05-25T12:36:00.000-04:00

Tough weekend, feeling very discouraged and stressed out. We have 8 weeks left on the project and way too much work left to be done by the contractors. My gang has finished painting all of the bedrooms on the second floor now and we're almost done with the center hall.

Had alot of visitors to the house which was awesome, working now on getting fence put up so we can bring the pups down and don't have to keep going back/forth when we're trying to work.

Hopefully I'll have a happier post next week :(

Borrowed from Jim C. This is from 1908!

2010-05-19T12:45:00.000-04:00

Note the manager is named Abbott....so funny!

5/16/10

2010-05-17T15:55:00.000-04:00

Well, we passed electrical but not plumbing. That means no walls can go back up until we track down the darn plumbers :(

Mom finished painting/cleaning on the 3rd floor and cleaned the terrace over the weekend. We finished painting the master bedroom, did final coat of peach in the upstairs tv room and did first coat in the guestroom.

Miss Kitty hung around all weekend supervising.

Turner tried out the chainsaw and cleared out the concrete lantern that was buried in the woods at the bottom of the side terrace. Pretty cool!

Went to Restore saturday and picked up windows for the sunroom wall and doors for various locations. Great deal! Filled the van for $60!

We have 9 weeks to finish the project....I'm worried.....

5/9/10

2010-05-10T08:06:00.000-04:00

Let's see, plumbers finished rough in, Ben finished ceilings on 2, Mom finished the terrace railings, Turner worked in apartment and did door repairs on 3 and I finished Roxy's room and repainted master bedroom on 2. This week will (hopefully) see the rough in inspection on plumbing and electrical complete so they can start closing up the bathrooms and start on the kitchen.

Here's some pics!

5/1/10-update

2010-05-03T08:54:00.001-04:00

Saturday was super busy at the house! The goal was to finish painting everything on the 3rd floor, we didn't quite get it all done, but we did get ALOT accomplished!

Zack's Living room-Done (again, after they painted ceilings and made a mess of the walls)

Zack's bedroom-Done

Its an ice blue...I like it!

Hallway before....

Hallway Done!

Here's Roxy's room below..

As soon as the plumbers are finished then we'll get the carpet installed!

Getting there I guess!!!

Mom also finished the yellow in the laundry room...

(That's Turner on his "virtual" eliptical...we don't have one yet, but he's practicing!)

Here's the 3rd floor bath...

These are some better pics of the Second floor rooms that are in progress...

Shower in master bath

Soaking tub raised to correct height to see out window Yeah!

Master Bedroom

New 21-panel doors which will be refinished in cherry along with the floors.

Below is Zack trying to get the stump out by the driveway, Turner hit it saturday with the van and slashed the tire. Zack tried hard, but alas, the stump won!

Thanks all I got for now!

Do You Know A Speciale??

2010-04-27T16:27:00.001-04:00

I'm trying to track down some of the Speciale kids to see if there's any photos of the mansion or property, but haven't been able to find any of them. If you can give me their names I will see if I can find them to see if we can fill in some blanks in the history! Thanks!!

You can email me at rx7suzy@yahoo.com

Suzy

4/26/10 Update

2010-04-27T16:04:00.000-04:00

Hey gang, not much to update, last week was rough (to say the least). We are now officially half way through the 6 months allowed for the rehab and it doesn't feel like we're half way done. Feeling like we will never get through this and be able to get done what we want to do. Anyway, I know, "quit yur whinin Suz and suck it up" I will try. Today is better, hopefully we'll see some significant changes at the house this week now that decent carpenters are on the job and the plumbers reappeared.

We will probably have to delay opening up the living room again until after the main rehab is done, and it doesn't look like we'll be able to put the window in on the staircase between 1 & 2. We will do whatever we can to keep the sunroom, even if it means holding off on other things that we are able to do ourselves later. It really stinks that we won't be able to fit things in that we were hoping for, but its more important that things, like, floor beams and plumbing are taken care of...Turner and I are good, but we're not plumbers or electricians, so let the experts do what they do, and we can play with doors and stuff later.

Disappointed, but trying to just look forward and get through the next couple of months so we can moved in there and get the Pennington house sold.

Mom & Co came down over the weekend and we got another section of outside railing painted, I was a mason again and went through another 5 buckets of concrete on the side stairs off the terrace, still alot of masonry to be done, but one piece at a time and it's looking really great. Mom & Co are down there this week, we've gotten the go-ahead to start painting again on 3, so they'll zip right through that which will be great, that way at least something will feel "done." Turner worked in the apartment stripping out the bathroom so that's progress there as well.

Not sure what we'd do without my mom, we wouldn't have anything done if it wasn't for her!!!

Contractors want to tear out the sheetrock in the kitchen, which, I fear will open up a whole new can of worms. I guess I need to just let them do what they do and keep painting....

Plumbers are now changing the vanity on 3 as well as in the apartment. Turner is gutting the apartment bathroom so we just keep finding more and more to do.

We're heading down tonight to see what's been accomplished so I hope tomorrow's post is a happier and more "upbeat" one for my favorite readers!

Stay tuned for happier posts (I hope!!)

Update 4/18/10

2010-04-19T15:24:00.000-04:00

Update 4/18/10

Busy weekend!!! Alarm system is now live. Met new friends Jim & Karen Colello from the broad st. yesteryears blog. So happy to be able to call them new friends!!! Can't wait to have them over for dinner and drinks on the patio overlooking the lakes.

Marble guy came yesterday to do a quote to refinish the ugly..oops sorry...."vintage" terazzo floors.

A ton of painting got done thanks to mom and co., Sherry & Roxy!

Zack's TV room before....

Zack's TV room after....

Master Bedroom Before...

Master Bedroom After...

Second Floor TV Room Before....

Second Floor TV Room After...(well, mid-painting!)

3rd floor bath before...

Bathroom 3 mid-painting!

Also primed Zack's bedroom, Roxy's Bedroom, part of the halls on both 2 & 3 and the guest room on 2.

Not much viewable progress in the master bath on 2, the plumbers have pretty much rerun all the plumbing in the house as well as the electrical and fixtures can't go in any further until inspections are done.

No way we'll be done by May, We are about half way through time-wise, and I'd say about half way on projects as well, if we finish sooner it'll be a miracle!!

That's all for now!

4/15/10 Update

2010-04-15T15:44:00.000-04:00

So, work stopped this week on the house due to a delay in the Draw check from escrow. I don't know WHY these contractors don't want to work for free!! We're fun folks, REALLY!!! Got that settled this morning so work should resume tomorrow, provided the crews haven't started on other jobs already. Puts us way behind as we're trying to get the inspections done so we can start closing stuff up. Frustrating, but not looking back, just forward!!!

My momma is doing crazy painter lady again and has the first bedroom primed, so ready to put some new fresh color in the house! The whole place smells better now with the plumbing buttoned up, a solid roof on it and all the yucky stuff gone.

Dumpster count: 7....and I think we're gonna need another one.

Back of the house looks like hell right now, but once they get that wall done and the new window in the stairway between 1/2 we can get that sided, what a different that'll make. Then I can paint the porch floors and get that looking new as well.

Squirrel count: 3. No racoons in the trap, but three squirrels...or the same squirrel 3 times. I'm going to have to mark him to see if he's just REALLY not smart.

2010-04-15T15:09:00.002-04:00

More history...

A park for Trenton - The Decou Farm the best location yet selected

House Spared as Fire Rages on Decou Farm

Park or No Park

Broad Street Park

Overlook Mansion For Sale

Party at the Mansion - 1892

White City Park & Sunday Recreation?

White City Park Sold

New Article borrowed from Jim's website!

2010-04-15T12:52:00.000-04:00

Reporter named Anna?

2010-04-15T12:41:00.002-04:00

Bob my GC said a reporter named Anna stopped by and wanted to write a story on the house. I called the number she gave and its the wrong number. Anna, if you see this, please comment here and I'll get in touch with you!! Thanks!
Suzy

4/12/10

2010-04-12T20:22:00.001-04:00

Chris was bust today! Got the driveway loop almost clear. It's in better shape then the other half!! Thinking gray for the entry hall on 1... Dining room got new ceiling and alot of new Sheetrock. Can't wait to paint!!

Update 4/10

2010-04-11T20:01:00.001-04:00

So we spent Saturday painting the masonry. Got about halfway down the side terrace. Spacklers said we can now start painting on 2 and 3 woohoo! Can we really pull this off by end of may?

I mowed the lawm on our craigslist John Deere. Super fun!! Found a box turtle in the brush and moved him down to the woods. Cricket exterminator came Saturday dead creepers everywhere. Set a haveaheart trap for the porch racoon. All wr got was two squirrels. Want to get her out before babies come. Here's a few pics!

Oh! And the old wall collapsed in the wind so were doing a brand new wall on the sunroom :-)

2010-04-08T15:43:00.000-04:00

This was "borrowed" from Jim C's blog. It gives us great insight into the condition of those back rooms. The staircase collapsed due to the damaged wood in the room underneath. The wood in both rooms as well as the safe room were all blackened and charred, which is why we had to take it off! Thanks Jim for the info!!!

Busy week at the house! 4/4/10

2010-04-05T17:32:00.001-04:00

Where to start!
1. Plumbing going in.
2. Electrical going in.
3. Found old champagne bottles. New treasure!
4. Went from creepy porch to oooooh wow. Now I remember why were doin this!!
5. Apparently raccoon is still living in porch, black footprints all over the white columns.
6. Sheetrock up EVERYWHERE!!

Here's the pics!

Creeepy

Less creepy

Oooohh

Creepy

Less creepy

Wow

Sista

The girls workin

Sistas

The pups look tiny at the house!!

Treasures!

3/31/10 Videos

2010-03-31T08:05:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple of videos from the house!

3/30 update!

2010-03-30T21:33:00.001-04:00

Wowee those sheetrock guys are good!! They are really moving along...except where I stuck my fingers in the wet spacklers in the 3rd floor bath. Oops!!! Sorry!!

Here's a couple of pics from tonight!

3/28/10 Update

2010-03-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

Busy weekend!!
Saturday worked on the masonry around the house, two buckets of concrete only got the main stairs done, picked up 4 more buckets at depot, hopefully that'll do it! Also finished painting outside of back door!

Saturday afternoon went to lowes to order all the bathroom fixtures, 3 hours later we had bath fixtures and 90% of the interior house paint. Thats ALOT of paint, my wrists hurt already! Might need to address the carpal tunnel by the time we're done!! While waiting for the lowes guy to get the order placed I'm on home depot's website via my phone ordering the tub and items lowes did not carry. Was funny! By the time we got home I was covered in concrete, white paint and all the stuff was ordered. Yeah! Though we're still fighting over faucets....

Sunday found us painting the trim in the vestibule and first floor foyer room where the staircase is. It took 3 of us all day to get the first coat done on the trim. The paint wouldn't dry as it was too cold in the house and they have the heat off since they're messing with the radiators (again). brrrr I thought summer was here! But wow what a difference!

I'm looking for someone who knows stone, there's a weird stone on the walls in the vestibule, if I try to clean it the water soaks IN before I can wipe it off, hard to scrub when the material eats the cleaner up. No idea what material it is but its dirty and buggin me!

Anyway, here's some pics!

This is that strange stone in the vestibule, any clue?

Thats me freezin my butt off while painting Sunday.

Vestibule!

Momma, the crazy painter lady!

WOW! What a difference a bit of white paint on the stairs makes!

Can't wait to do the walls and the refinished floors!!!

Floor Tiles-3/25/10

2010-03-26T07:47:00.002-04:00

Here's Giggi helping me choose floor tile....

And yes, that's the one we picked for the bathroom!

3/25/10 Update! Sheetrock going Up, Garage junk going out!

2010-03-26T07:46:00.000-04:00

Well, dumpster #7 arrived yesterday, hopefully that'll be the last one! It should be, all the demo is done, but again, there's still alot of garage to go in. We'll see!

Wow, what a difference a week makes! The widow walk is repaired and roofed (they basically had to rebuild the whole thing). We're still trying to get the fixtures/appliances ordered, I've got a price war going between the depot and lowes, we'll see how that turns out! Here's some pics mom took!

This is the safe room. WOW! No longer creepy!!!

New first floor stairway sheetrock...note the doorframe to the new powder room!

2nd fl stairway...beautiful light fixture, huh?

This is the 3rd floor utility/laundry room

2nd fl guest room

New Roof!

3rd Fl stairway

Roxy's Room

Zack's Bedroom

Lake Activity!

This Weekend's project...concrete repair!

Funny mom. How did that creepy thing end up back on my nice porch???

3/23/10-Couple more Pics

2010-03-24T09:23:00.000-04:00

Future Master Bathroom! NICE (well, eventually!)

New Wood!

3/23/10-we saw a ghost tonite

2010-03-23T21:02:00.001-04:00

We saw the ghost of the white city black cat tonight. Were wandering around the house and can hear a cat crying. Just like in the 1922 article. We walk outside and there she is sitting in the driveway. Solid black kitty. Does the cat still haunt the area? Hmmmm. Here's a copy of the article again for those that missed it.

This is why were doing this!!

2010-03-23T17:36:00.002-04:00

Our back yard :-)

Update 3/21/10

2010-03-23T17:34:00.001-04:00

Busy weekend!
1. Bought lawn tractor
2. Bought gas grill
3. Momma scrubbed scraped and painted the big back door and back windows
4. I scrubbed scraped and painted the front doors, windows and porch pillars
5. Turner scrubbed the yuck off the front of the house
6. Went to depot to order stuff ended up at lowes where they're doing a package price for us. Woohoo!

Going down tonite to see what other progress has been made! Here's some weekend pics!!

How is yhis ever going to come together!!

New kitchen door in!

Front porch coming along!! Wait till those baluster are white wow!!

Awe happily married couple workin together :-)

Freaking little window panes.

Moms project!!

Mom giving up? Naaaa

Future powder room!

Gotta love surprises 3/19/10

2010-03-19T15:38:00.000-04:00

Drum roll please....here's the sunroom that they finished uncovering yesterday. Sorry about the creepy pic, we were down there at like 8:30 so you're seeing it lit by our wonderful streetlight in the back yard!

3/19/10 Update!

2010-03-19T15:33:00.000-04:00

Powder room walls are studded out, sunroom is uncovered, and 2nd floor bath is a mess! (its supposed to be at this point!) Chris worked today continuing to clear out brush and trees, he found that the pool around the front fountain is about 2 feet deep. He got the trees out of it, but we'll wait on getting that back up and running for now, way too many messes going on! Check it out!

This is Roxy's bedroom wall...

Bathroom demo ewww!

Mid-Demo of the back rooms 3/16/10

2010-03-18T09:54:00.002-04:00

3/18/10 Interior work continues

2010-03-18T09:49:00.000-04:00

Well, it looks like the house exploded inside!

Doorway to powder room is done, and the walls are now studded

2nd floor bath is now gutted and they'll start the new layout, woohoo!

Plaster demo and repair begins in the stairways and bedrooms, nothing really to see except spackle lines, we should be able to start painting the 3rd floor rooms next week!

Back Room Demo 3/18/10

2010-03-18T09:44:00.001-04:00

Here's a few pics of the demo of the back rooms. We're keeping the sun porch area, but leaving the floor only of the other room to use as a deck. The very last pic shows after the one room is down. They still need to do siding and roof stuff on the sun room, but it's really neat. Was down there last night and sat on the patio looking out over the lakes....THATS why we're doing this :)

Bad news today :( 3/15/10

2010-03-15T14:24:00.000-04:00

Well, it looks like the back room from the center hall will have to go. When the fire happened "way back when" it did too much damage to the rafters to be able to save the roof structure so its coming down. We are still keeping the floor at this point to use as a deck, and keeping fingers crossed that we can save the roof over the sunroom, but we'll know for sure on that later this week. We'll see what happens!

Couple demo pics 3/14/10

2010-03-14T22:11:00.001-04:00

Sunroom surprise!

Kitchen after demo.

Location:Sioux Rd,Pennington,United States

Update! 3/14/10

2010-03-14T22:07:00.001-04:00

So we got home from vacation and boy did the house change!! While we were gone...

1. Mom painted the safe room
2. Roofers finished the main roof. Alot of repairs were done to the rafters and wood underneath. Apartment and porches are next.
3. Garage demoed 90% Last cleanup had to wait for bee guy to come get the huge hive out.
4. Right back porch room peeled inside to find glass windows floor to ceiling in good shape.
5. Collapsed staircase removed and original porch floor revealed to be in good shape
Floor in window room also has underlayer of wood floor condition to be determined
6. Removalof drop ceilings in 3rd fl utility and library.
7. Old doorway in first fl hall reopened for powder room
8. Kitchen gutted and now empty.
9. 2nd floor bath gutted and ready to go
10. 3rd floor utility room floor removed and ready for laminate

They've really done alot while we were gone. Especially with the continued rain issue

A ton of bushes were cleared but still more to go. Will wait on a chipper until everythings cut as they're pretty expensive to rent.

Will load pics later!!

Wow. Another surprise! 3/13/10

2010-03-12T08:49:00.001-05:00

So they started peeling the back rooms to see if we could save them. Apparently the back room behin the safe was a sunroom that they just covered over in panelling. Window are all in good shape and intact. So cool!! They're peeling the other room today to see if that half is also glass or open. Looks like we have a sunroom!!!!

More work! 3/13/10

2010-03-12T08:46:00.001-05:00

Work begins!

2010-03-12T08:19:00.001-05:00

WOW 3/5/10

2010-03-05T16:10:00.000-05:00

Chris was VERY busy today. We had NO idea there were metal gates on those stairs, how cool is that!?

Exterior Yard Work-3/5/10!

2010-03-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

Bye Bye Overgrown Bushes!!!

3/4/10 update

2010-03-04T17:10:00.000-05:00

We picked out shingles today! Yeah! GAF timberline prestige 30. Color old pewter which is a dark gray architectual shingle. Cousin Chris is going tommorow to take down bushes. Hopefully well really get rolling next week! Woohoo!

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More Pics! Thanks Mom!!

2010-03-03T21:04:00.002-05:00

How the heck did I let them talk me into saving this floor?!?

The one thing that surprises everyone is that there is no "grand" staircase, its wider than usual but not fancy as one would expect from a house like this.

Takin a break!

Weary Painters

New Neighbors!

Suuuuzzzz its raining inside again!!

Molds for the concrete ballisters from the railings on the terrace, porch and stairs to park. Behind these is the famous "tunnel" thats been bricked up and closed in. Sorry folks!

Pipe Dreams...not sure WHY the plumbers are not excited to work for us! Our pipes aren't THAT complicated...OK well maybe a little :)

Note the alarm system wiring mounted on the wall. WOW.

CREEPY!!!

Hopefully we can open this back up to be doors out to the side yard.

This is the LAST time I'm redoing a house...no really, it is!!

Couple more pics of the Breakfast Room! 2/28/10

2010-03-03T07:51:00.001-05:00

Those lines in the windows are the burgler alarm system. If the window gets broken it sets the alarms off. Pretty cool!

Door to nowhere. This is the door that is inside the door on the front porch. When they redid the front porch they cemented the door shut. Not sure what we're going to do with that!

heyyy, thats not the breakfast room! Gotta love those 50's yellow tiles in the apartment bathroom I'm admiring so much :)

Possible change in rehab plans...

2010-03-01T20:38:00.001-05:00

After poking around more in the back rooms we discovered that the entire original porch structure is intact, not just the floor. We are now looking at opening the walls back up and leaving it as a porch instead of tear off. It will depend on the cost to repair the 10x20 area where the staircase came thru and reroof it. Well see what the gc says on that, stay tuned!!!

2/27/10 update

2010-03-01T20:34:00.004-05:00

Busy weekend at the house! Finally finished the future coat room! Went to lowes clearance and got great closet organizers at 90% off which will go in that room. Cemented the foundation ( the room used to be an outside porch) drylocked the cement and painted the floors. Floors taking forever to dry, still sticky Monday night. Chris demo-ed the ceiling in the apartment and tore the carpeting off the stairs so clumsey old me doesn't take a header down them! Mom finished painting the walls of the breakfast room and we consolidated all of the supplies there so they're out of the way for the contractors. Plumber Rich is here fixing the broken pipes so we have all the heat running. Turner got the potty and tub working in the apartment so we have a working bathroom! Yeah!

These pics are the "after" in the utility room. We'll use this as the coat room off the kitchen for my coat collection and shoes!

This is the kitchen sans table. It looks huge!

These pics are the before, during and after of the breafast room. Note how cool the arch and staircase look in the ladder photo. Thanks Mom!!! You look like you're having too much fun!!

Treasure hunting

2010-03-01T20:26:00.001-05:00

Boys still hoping to find hidden treasures in the back rooms before they're demoed

Mudroom Cleaning/Repainting - 2/20/10

2010-02-22T07:57:00.000-05:00

This weekends project was cleaning, scraping and repainting the mudroom off of the kitchen.

Here's the before...

Here's the during....

Here's the after!

Couple more Pics borrowed from Jim C's Yesteryears Blog-Jim I owe you a Beer!!

2010-02-19T10:34:00.001-05:00

Again, I can't thank Jim enough for letting us borrow these tidbits from his blog. I don't know where you're finding these but thank you so much!!!

This is a picture of Spring Lake in Trenton Illustrated by Ellwood Parsons Robbins published in 1891. Click on the picture for greater clarity. Notice the mansion steps immediately to the left of the open-sided building. The sign next to the buggy states, "No Fishing Allowed on Sunday". The image on the lake, added by Mr. Robbins, states "Silver Spring", one of the many springs that feed the lake.

This is another view of Spring Lake from Ellwood Parsons Robbins' Trenton Illustrated published in 1891. The sign above the SILVER SPRING sign reads, "No Net Fishing Allowed Shooting on our Premises Anywhere UNDER PENALTY OF LAW". Of interest is the building on top of the bluff which appears to be an observation platform.

What's the news this week? 2/17/2010

2010-02-18T07:38:00.001-05:00

Lets see, I found a nice guy who lives in the area to come over and peel the siding off the back rooms we're demo-ing and to take the old appliances strewn through the various kitchens. He'll get some $$ by recycling everything, and it should probably save us almost a full dumpster (which I'm sure we will fill with other "crap"), probably from the apartment.

All the permits have been applied for(demo, plumbing, electrical, roof) , now we just have to wait to get the go ahead for that. Hopefully Hamilton will be good to us and get those going quickly. We can move forward on the floors, structural repairs, drywall, painting, but need to avoid any water damage areas until the roof is done.

The plumber is coming out next week to fix the couple of plumbing issues that is preventing us using the radiators in the apartment. After he comes then I can get Master Wes out to look at the 3rd circulation pump on the boilers, we're pretty sure that one is not working as some of the radiators are not getting warm.

Question, how is it that radiator heat set on 50 at the huge house feels WARMER than forced hot air set on 72 at the other house? We may not need snuggies after all!!

I really wanted to have the floors stained a dark cherry but we weren't sure we could fit that in the budget due to the large area we're refinishing, but Super GC Bob was able to fit it in for us, I am SO GLAD. I REALLY hate when you refinish floors and they look yellow, now the floors will represent the warm rich feel of the house.

Found out this week that the rehab funds are now available for draws so we can really get rolling now. Asked Bob how long he actually thinks to finish the project and he's saying 2 months. This is great that it'll be done sooner, BUT when the last draw happens any $$ left in escrow goes against the principal...including the 6 months of mortgage payment we built in. If the job is done in 2 months, we start paying in 3...this means I'm already 3 months behind in selling the old house. AHHHH!!! I don't want to have to carry both houses if we can avoid it. I must now become a packing maniac!!! :)

We have Heat!

2010-02-16T07:28:00.000-05:00

The egyptian god "ToFreakinCold" has bestowed the Overlook Mansion with one Wes Black from Princeton Fuel, master of boilers and radiators. Wes worked his butt off yesterday and was able to get the heat going in most of the house. There's a couple of plumbing issues that need to be addressed, and then we can get him back out to get the rest of the house up and running. Have Oil Heat? We recommend Princeton Fuel, HANDS DOWN. Thanks guys for all your help and effort to get the house up and running, it was so nice to walk in last night and have it be over 50 degrees!

Kitchen Surprise!

2010-02-08T07:57:00.001-05:00

We wanted to see what the condition of the kitchen walls is behind the cabinets. Behind a layer of 70's marble laminate, and 50's red laminate we found the original white subway tiles. We're hoping to save them to use as the backsplash in the kitchen as most are in good shape...

Enclosed Porch-Pre Demo

2010-02-08T07:54:00.000-05:00

Boys will be boys. Here's Turner, Zack & Adam looking for treasures...

We tore off a panel in the left porch room to see what is behind it. Found the corner of the existing house and the rest is concrete block to the edge of the apartment....

Heat and water take 1

2010-02-06T16:19:00.002-05:00

So yesterday they finally figured out which valve goes to the house so water is on. Wes spent the afternoon reassembling all the radiators and we flipped the switch. Water EVERYWHERE. Apparently when they drained the pipes they took apart all the shut off valves in the kitchens and bathrooms. Was raining in the dining room. Shut it down now we need the plumber out to split the boiler from the house so we van get heat. Just hope no pipes break now that they're full of water. Grrrrr. Bob started the permit process so work should start for real shortly. Next week will be a better week.....I hope!!!

Park Dedication at the Staircase....borrowed from Jim's Broadstreet yesteryears Blog!

2010-02-03T08:09:00.001-05:00

Here's a couple of pics that Jim posted on his Yesteryears blog from the park dedication back in 56. We're still torn as whether to clear those stairs or not, would look cool, but don't want to invite people into our backyard either...maybe a gate at the top....we'll see!

Keep the home fires burning...

2010-01-30T17:33:00.001-05:00

Love the house for what it will be 6 months from now....

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Brrr chilly!

2010-01-30T17:32:00.002-05:00

Well it was 16 degrees when we headed down to meet the chimney guy. He inspected all 8 chimneys and were good to burn. Thank goodness as there's no heat yet. Got our first fire going in the living room to try to keep warm and get new locks on. Had wood delivered so we should be good to go. Note that this is the first fire in the fireplace since 1983, the sellers didn't remember their parents ever using the fireplaces, but even after almost 30 years they're in good condition! Yeah!

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It's ours!

2010-01-30T17:24:00.002-05:00

After a near five hour closing it's finally ours. Delays from the mortgage company and mis-information made it a real mess! After running the title company ragged and an emergency trip to the bank and an adult beverage at wildflowers we finally got things rolling. The poor sellers left New Hampshire at 2:30am to be there and were driving home afterwards, so not finishing was not an option. Oh well, nothing ever goes easy for us! We finally finished signing the last piece of paper at 5:40pm friday, so the property is finally ours! Yeah!

Closing Scheduled!

2010-01-27T08:12:00.001-05:00

Closing is scheduled for 1 pm January 29, 2010. The house will now be known as the "Abbott Overlook Mansion" Established 1820, Reestablished 2010.