Done with remodeling (part 2)

Continued from previous post
...then, after the concrete had hardened they came back and finished the framing of the old cellar entrance.

They tore off the old outside entrance...









...and then boxed in the cellar stairway.



















Complete with a door to the cellar.







Now we have a nice room to store our bikes, etc. while we are on the road in the winter.

Here is a final accounting of our expenses in remodeling the farmhouse (click on image for larger size). We spent $17,111.71. It turned out to be more expensive than we originally expected (isn't it always), but we feel it was worth it as we have a nice home base for summers and it will eventually become our permanent home when we can no longer full-time in our RV.
We plan on relaxing a bit and then start west for the next winter season on August 22. We will stop in Appleton for a few days and plan on arriving at the Nevada Treasure RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada on September 1.

Done with remodeling (part 1)

We have finally wrapped up our remodeling efforts, at least for this season, here at "The Farm". The final step was to pour a concrete floor and enclose the entrance to the cellar. The area was previously enclosed with a dirt floor and covered the old outside cellar entrance. It was filled with old dried out fire wood from when the house was heated with a wood/coal furnace.










Our contractor, Gerard Belanger and his son Jason had to wheelbarrow the concrete to the entrance as there was no way that the concrete truck could get to the rear of the house.






They had to wade into the concrete to do the leveling and then do the finishing through the window & door with a long handled float.

Then it was wait for a day for the concrete to harden before boxing in the cellar entrance.

To be continued...

"The Farm"

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a while. We've been very busy working on the farmhouse upgrades. What with daily 40 mile round trips to Traverse City and working on the house I just haven't had the energy. ;-(
Although, I'll admit that most of the grunt work has been done by our contractor, Gerard Belanger, and/or Teddy. My contribution has been for the most part with my checkbook.
We have replaced the flooring in the dining room, bedroom & living room and Teddy painted the kitchen, dining room & bathroom. In the kitchen I replaced the ceiling light with a ceiling fan/light fixture and built a microwave shelf over the range. We had our contractor completely redo the bathroom, replacing the vanity, toilet & shower and had a plumber move the washer & dryer from the bathroom to an adjacent utility room. Our contractor then built a linen closet in the old laundry space. We also tore down and rebuilt the old "bricks & boards" bookcase in the living room; put a glass top on Teddy's antique round table and I replaced six living room wall sconce light fixtures.
Along the way we also purchased a 40" digital HDTV, new kitchen appliances and several furniture items including a floor lamp, digital TV stand, white iron beadstead, wine/liquor butler and a 3 piece sectional loveseat for the living room. We also rescued our artwork which we had in storage from our Appleton home to decorate the walls.
Outside jobs included putting up a flagpole, installing shutters on all of the windows, purchasing a John Deere lawn tractor and since our DirecTV dish is permanently installed on the roof of the Cardinal I had to purchase an alternate DirecTV dish and install it on the outside of the house. Running the cable from the dish to the TV turned out to be a difficult job and I finally had to install crown molding in the dining room to hide the cables.
Click here for a link to a photo album showing before and after photos of some of the remodeling projects.

The Wedding

Our niece, Kathy Lawrence got married on Saturday July fourth. It was an outdoor wedding held at the Greystone Mansion Wedding Venue near Honor, Michigan. Kathy is the daughter of Teddy's sister Deborah and her husband Dr. Fred Lawrence. The groom was Ian Camp who with his parents, Elaine and Richard Camp, emigrated to the US from England when he was very young so the other side of the aisle was packed with visitors from the UK.











An unusual aspect of the wedding which I had never seen was the "sand ceremony" in which the Bride & Groom co-mingled two different colors of sand to represent the blending of the two families.





















After the ceremony the guests were treated to a buffet dinner...

...followed with an evening of celebration in Greystone's spacious ballroom.








Followed by the obligatory dance. :-)






As I write this, the happy couple are now somewhere in the Caribbean enjoying a honeymoon cruise.