What to Buy

Not that we're super sticklers about, but we try to make each piece of furniture and hardware we put into the house have at least some suggestion of this historic period in which it was built. Recently, I started looking for table to put in the addition.

Can you tell the difference between the $600 designer end table and the $55 Target end table?

Option 1:

Option 2:

If These Walls Could Talk

Officially, the City of Quincy has our house listed as being built in 1923. It's the same year that Roy and Walt Disney founded the Walt Disney Company. Ireland joined the league of nations that year and Calvin Coolidge, former Governor of Massachusetts, became President of the United States.

I've never really questioned the construction date until our recent kitchen remodel. That's when I found the November 23, 1915 issue of The Boston Post stuck in the wall above the basement stairs. Do people really save a perfectly intact 8 year old newspaper in their wall, or is our house older than I thought? More research in definitely needed.

For now, we'll just have to look back on history and reflect on images of sunken German warships, $.98 women's hats, racist pancake mix, and the lost promise of rubber coats.

Floored

With the kitchen done (well, except for a few odds and ends), it was time to start working in the addition. Originally, we thought that putting in wall-to-wall carpeting would be a good option and provide added installation. But once we saw how well the new kitchen floor blended with the

original hardwood in the dining room, we decided to continue to flow.

I used Armstrong prefinished hardwood flooring. It matches almost exactly to the 100 year old flooring in the dining room and living room.

I did skip the recommended floor nailing gun rental/purchase, opting to do it by hand. This, I

think, went slower, but was cheaper and in the end looks great.

I used a piece of scrap flooring as a buffer when banging the boards in place. Most of the time, this didn't need more than a tap. There was some warping in the boards the did require more substantial manipulation.

A pry bar tightened the end joints.

Not too bad for a day's work.

Kitchen Remodel

I admit it: I'm not a very good blogger. While many people knew I was remodeling out kitchen over the last month, I did not post a single entry to share the process. Between work, school, and remodeling, the chances to blog have been few and far between. So, without further adieu, here is our new kitchen. Completion time: 6 weeks.

In the beginning.....

When we first moved in, the kitchen wasn't much to look at. Okay, it was terribly ugly.

With some TLC (read paint and cheap flooring), we were able to fix it up into something a little more charming; however, our budget remodel from a few years ago didn't solve our floor plan issues.

As with most old houses of the era, it was built with privacy in mind. Guests were not supposed to wander into the kitchen: that was the cook's space. The kitchen also included a pantry between the kitchen and dining room. This left us with a 10x12 dining room, a 3x6 pantry, and a 7x10 kitchen. With a little one on the way, there was no room for even a high chair in our kitchen.

What to do? Open it up.

I took of the week between Christmas and New Years to demo, then worked nights and weekends to finish the rest, with various helpers along the way. We now have a 10 x 25 kitchen/dining room combo with over 18 feet of counter space and more storage than we know what to do with. Here's the view from the dining room.

For perspective, here's the old view from the dining room.

As you can see, we kept the rainbow trout. We also kept the look of the tin tile back splash.

The wood floor in the kitchen is actually a pretty good match to the rest of the house. Better yet, it's pre-finished: no-need for sanding!

Because of the chimney, we did end up with some empty space behind one of the new walls. This was nothing compared to the almost 4x5 empty chamber I found between the kitchen and dining room, but I wanted to maximize every inch. So, I ordered a 95" tall cabinet with drawers and shelves that fit perfectly in the space.

We also added stained glass lighting for some color.

In review:

Hardest part: Ripping up the old kitchen floor. Seriously, there were like five layers of flooring. Unless you know with certainty that you hate the people you are selling your house to, please remove the old floor before putting down the new one.

Biggest splurge: Leaded glass doors on the end cabinets. I felt bad ripping out the old china cabinet. Originally, its character was one of the selling points of the house for use. The new glass doors seemed like an appropriate trade in terms of historical character.

Favorite part: The openness. When I walk in the front door the house seems huge!

Best buy: 42 inch wall cabinets. Though more expensive, these basically add another shelf to the inside of the wall cabinets. Not only is this good for extra storage, they make the kitchen seem super tall!

Times They Are 'A Changin'

Our little bungalow is starting to seem a whole lot smaller these days. For Sarah, Gilligan, and me, our little 950 square foot home was perfectly cozy. But the Puleo family is growing - we've got a little boy on the way!

With limited space, our new addition means we need to rethink our house. We tried moving, but the market didn't cooperate. So, we're working with what we've got. The guestroom/office is becoming the nursery. After some work, it will make a great space for baby Puleo. One problem: we won't have any space for guests. So our little addition means we're going to have a little addition.

Let the fun begin!

Room to Grow

When you have a tiny little house on a tiny little lot, there's not a whole lot of room to grow. But with a little one on the way, and with him slated to take up one of our two bedrooms, we really wanted to add some space for guests to stay and for us to have some sort of office.

Growing out was out of the question: we didn't want to lose any of our precious little yard space. Growing up was a possibility, but very expensive. We'd also have to add two rooms upstairs for the net gain of one because a good portion of one of our existing bedrooms would be taken up by a staircase.

The solution? Use the space we already have. Not wanting to relegate guests to the basement, we decided on building a room out onto our porch.

And yes, we hired a contractor. But just for the outside! I'm saving the inside for myself.

Step 1 was to jack up the existing porch roof so new supports, floor, and walls could be added.

Step 1: Jack up the existing roof so that new supports, walls, and flooring could be added.

Step 2: Create chaos.

Step 3 (week 2): Build stuff.

Finished Product

After a few Saturday mornings of work, the patio is finally finished. Total cost: less than $300.