{"id":25043,"date":"2016-03-25T01:28:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T08:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/?p=25043"},"modified":"2016-03-25T01:28:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T08:28:43","slug":"i-dont-always-marry-my-first-cousin-but-when-i-do-our-house-looks-just-like-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/25\/i-dont-always-marry-my-first-cousin-but-when-i-do-our-house-looks-just-like-this\/","title":{"rendered":"I don’t always marry my first cousin, but when I do our house looks like …"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’ve seen the improvements in my wreck of a house and indeed there’ve been many. I take pride in showing off pictures like this:<\/p>\n

\"HouseExteriorwithBellyBandandNewPaint-03-CROPPED-SMALL_0815\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What I don’t often show you is how absolutely godawful some of it still looks. In some cases, it’s even worse than when I bought it, largely thanks to said improvements. Really, in some ways a tarpaper shack would be an improvement. I’m not kidding.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To wit, I give you the giant heaps of rubble courtesy of the two phases of the Great Bathroom Project. <\/p>\n

\"BathroomProject_RubblefromTwoPhases_SMALL_032416\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The rear one’s been there since October, and consists mostly of the misbegotten 4 x 12 addition we tore off. The nearer one is more recent and is made up of old interior walls we ripped out to complete the bathroom (and finally give it a door).<\/p>\n

These heaps will be hauled off and burned or hauled off to the landfill within the next few months, for which the neighbors will bless me (or at least stop cursing me under their breath). But more permanent problems remain.<\/p>\n

\"NWCorner_StillAMess_BedroomWall_SMALL_032416\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s the exterior wall of the (eventual) bedroom. The fact that is slopes four inches down to the left is only one of its problems.<\/p>\n

\"NWCorner_StillAMess_KitchenWall_SMALL_032416\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s the exterior wall of the kitchen and sunroom. Tarpaper. Really. And worse.<\/p>\n

These photos are both of the corner where the notorious not-a-garage used to be. What is now outside used to be inside. It was never pretty and now … it’s just wrong<\/i>. Just baaaaaad. Even worse because this is still the main entry to the house.<\/p>\n

There have<\/i> been improvements even here (the pleasant roofline exists in part thanks to you; it used to be a hodgepodge of crazy angles). But mostly this remains a sorry, sorry, sorry mess, even aside from the construction rubble and raw materials leaning against it. And sadly for the neighbors and my self-esteem (I may be descended from hillbillies, but they were house-proud hillbillies, as am I), there’s nothing I permanent I can do about it.<\/p>\n

Until the foundation is rebuilt and the back wing of the house finally leveled I can’t side these ghastly walls or build a nice porch or deck. With the foundation repair set for 2017 or 2018, this wreck must remain for now.<\/p>\n

This year I’m doing no big projects. Just taking a breath and saving for the next (and final) major repair. But I thought I’d at least try to make a few token cosmetic improvements this spring and summer. I’ll clean the property up of course and get all that construction rubble and spare materials out of there soon. But I want to do something a little more substantial to make the walls look nice, even if it can’t be something long-term<\/p>\n

I don’t know yet what. Any ideas? <\/p>\n

One thing I thought of was kind of fun. I’m considering tacking sheets of plywood over the torn up siding on that one long (bedroom) wall and painting simple murals on them. Trees and animals. Maybe hobbits; who knows? Or leprechauns in keeping with the official name of the place, which is Irish (“Mo Saoirse,” suggested by Commentariat member Pat). <\/p>\n

On the tarpaper-and-plastic sheeting (kitchen) wall, I’m not sure. Since that wall doesn’t need leveling (though it does need its foundation beam replaced), I might be able to do something more permanent, as long as I keep anything I do above the foundation area. Maybe I could trim and shingle around the kitchen door as I did on the front door. The front door looks nice, yes? Even though you still can’t enter there unless you take a three-foot step.<\/p>\n

\"FrontDoorWall-NearlyDone-02-SMALL_080614\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I really, really don’t know what to do where the bare stud wall is showing through plastic sheeting. Long term I’m thinking about possibly building a small tool\/work shed against that spot. But the area around it needs a handyman’s touch and there’s still the foundation beam to replace first. <\/p>\n

Meantime? Ha. Maybe tarpaper over the plastic. That would improve the neighborhood, wouldn’t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’ve seen the improvements in my wreck of a house and indeed there’ve been many. I take pride in showing off pictures like this: What I don’t often show you is how absolutely godawful some of it still looks. In some cases, it’s even worse than when I bought it, largely thanks to said improvements. Really, in some ways a tarpaper shack would be an improvement. I’m not kidding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,14,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-aesthetics","category-home-improvement","category-rural-and-small-town-living","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}