Our Journey through the dust and rubble

The Plan

What's our plan for the 114 you may ask? Well, we are currently living in Ellensburg 100 miles away from the house but Dave and Kathy Barnes are looking after the house till March when we move to Waterville. Once we are in Waterville we will be staying in the Barnes's 5th Wheel trailer while we make 114 liveable.

114 is a very structurally sound house without sagging floors or a sunken foundation. There is hardly any creaking or groans which is very surprising for how old the house is. The previous owners "The Harmons" lived in the house for many years (how many? not sure yet). The Harmons did not have any children to wear the house out like our both of our families did. To take the place of children the Harmons had at least a million cats! They loved their feline friends and everyone in town knew this and would bring "spare cats" to 114 for adoption. Cats do not harm the structure of the house but boy they can sure stink a place up! The smell was horrific when we first had the tour of the place during the summer...even worse when we returned while it was raining...ugh. The tremendous damage is what allowed us to get such a great deal on the place but it also means that we will be gutting the entire house including much of the subfloor. When we are finished we will have a "new" house with the Crafstman charm.

We're Stuffed

Turkey Day in Waterville at Dad & Mom Barnes’s. Bruce & Nadine, Erik & Corrine w/ Berkley and Bennett, Jason and Joel. After dinner and a nap everyone walked across town to 114 and took the stinky tour! Other than the cat pee smell everyone liked the house. “So much potential” was a norm comment.

I noticed while we were there that our power cables coming to the house from the power pole was back in place. Two weeks ago while we were in town visiting the snow and wind had brought down a large tree branches onto the lines and ripped them halfway off the backside of 114. Dave (dad) called the PUD for us while we were gone and had it fixed for us. Thanks Dad.

Livingroom and Entryway

Here are some pictures from the living room and entryway of 114. The wonderful tangerine molding makes the living room so inviting. Love the molding, not the color. Notice the stains on the carpet. Cats, lots of cats..ugh. and the custom cabinetry over the fireplace. The ceiling has been lowered from the standard 9 foot. Lots of work to do here.  Posted by Picasa

Images from this August when we purchased 114

A few images

 Posted by Picasa

Is Bigger Better?

Check out this article about the comforts of a Craftsman Style Home. Yet another example of why we love the Craftsman Bungalow!

Is Bigger Better?

Site Design Complete

We finally got the site looking acceptable for the time being.

I (Josh) do a little bit of web design for work right now so I enjoy playing around with the code.

In case you are wondering the image on the top of this blog is our house!

Looking at the place causes us to feel just a little overwhelmed. There is so much work that we have to do to bring it back to life. We are really excited about jumping into the massive project but at the same time there is so much that we do not have figured out yet. I guess we will just tackle each project as it arises.

Greetings from 114 1st Street

Hello and welcome to our house renovation blog.

We just purchased our 1915-1917? Craftsman Bungalow this summer and have not had a chance to do any renovation yet. We have only ripped out the carpets...yep that is it.

We are currently living in a town about 100 miles away from 114. Trese is a nurse and I (josh) am working part time and finishing my degree.

We hope to use this house blog as a digital diary of all our renovation fun..renovation pain...renovation sorrow...renovation joy...renovation... whatever.

Enjoy and keep in mind that we are both people who really do not enjoy writing...yes, quite terrible writers really. Trese is a nurse and I am an engineer. Nuff said.